[MikeLip]

Yeah, I've read the reviews. Some bloggers love the Z10. Others hate it. They all seem to have an agenda, and none answer the questions I'd like answered. My last device was the 9930 - I went from the 8330, the Storm 2, and the 9930. All three were good, but had shortcomings. Oddly I rather liked the Storm 2 as a touchscreen. But I loved the 9930. However the siren song of the new Android releases caught me and I have been there for a while with the S3 and Note 2.

But the questions I have relate to living with the Z10. I don't want fans gushing at me about how great the Z10 is. I am fully aware that it will have it's problems and that right now the app store is a bit barren, although it seems as if I should be able to do what I need. The 9930 did. And the Playbook more or less does - yes, I have one. So, lets get on with it.

One thing the BBs always did (and my 9930 still does) better than anyone else is communicate. Text and email handling were superb. I see BB has killed BIS - I don't know how much that affects email, but since I don't have BIS now and I'm OK with it I guess I'll live. Otherwise how do the native email and SMS clients seem? Are they better or worse than they were in the OS6 days?

Sound - my Storm, despite whatever you might have seen as failings, was a super phone. As a handset or speakerphone it was unbeatable. How does the Z10 stack up as a phone?

I read there is on-board mapping and nav, in partnership with Tomtom. That gives me hope, but it was only briefly mentioned in the Crackberry review (which, frankly, sucked - it was more a propaganda piece than a review). Does it work? Does it work WELL? I doubt there are any third party nav apps out there yet - am I right? If there is not that makes the native nav app all the more important.

The camera I couldn't care less about - it obviously works and can take decent pics. Good enough. Any social networking crap loaded is going to get ignored. But I use my phone to carry documents with me. Do I have dropbox or any other cloud storage available? Is there a PDF reader available? Is the Kindle app (which handles PDFs very well) as good as it is on other devices?

I have lots of contacts, and they live on Google. The nice thing is I can sync those across multiple Android devices. Am I going to be able to bring those in to the Z10 without a lot of pain and suffering?

I want this phone to WORK for me. It's business first - with some playing around added when I'm bored or idle. I don't want to buy this phone only to say Hey, I should have grabbed my Nexus 7 tab because I can't view this document, make this note, set this reminder, set an alarm, etc etc etc. Reviews seem to think that social and games are what everyone wants. They're not, and I want to know the homely, actual working details - not glitz and flair. The things that will get me through a working day or a customer/supplier visit or whatever.

[Z10Tastic]

It's the best smartphone on the market for work. I have my whole computer saved on my phone with fully active , editable Microsoft Office documents.

Posted via CB10

[ubizmo]

One thing the BBs always did (and my 9930 still does) better than anyone else is communicate. Text and email handling were superb. I see BB has killed BIS - I don't know how much that affects email, but since I don't have BIS now and I'm OK with it I guess I'll live. Otherwise how do the native email and SMS clients seem? Are they better or worse than they were in the OS6 days?

You'll get mixed reviews. You can no longer "Delete on handheld" only, as you could in legacy BBOS. This is a real problem for some people, but if you've been away from BB for awhile, you're probably no longer fixated on that. You'll see other threads about the 30-day limit. That is, you can only store email on your phone for 30 days. If your account is an ActiveSync account, you can remote search for older email, but if it's IMAP, such as any free Gmail account, you can't. BB is rumored to be working on a fix for this, but you should know about it up front.

Sound - my Storm, despite whatever you might have seen as failings, was a super phone. As a handset or speakerphone it was unbeatable. How does the Z10 stack up as a phone?

I find call quality to be excellent, with no dropped calls so far. My Samsung Galaxy Blaze dropped calls fairly often. For listening to podcasts etc. through the speakers, the sound is clear but I wish they'd raise the loudness limit just a bit. It's about the same as my Blaze; I'd just like a bit more oomph.

I read there is on-board mapping and nav, in partnership with Tomtom. That gives me hope, but it was only briefly mentioned in the Crackberry review (which, frankly, sucked - it was more a propaganda piece than a review). Does it work? Does it work WELL? I doubt there are any third party nav apps out there yet - am I right? If there is not that makes the native nav app all the more important.

BB Maps is there, and it's functional, but not deluxe. It gives you spoken turn-by-turn navigation. Opinions vary about its quality, especially in terms of finding points of interest. Third-party solutions are available for navigation. These are Waze and Mireo Don't Panic. Google Maps is not available. It's possible to sideload Google Maps, but there appear to be reliability problems with it sideloaded. For people who need satellite view occasionally, Google Maps and Nokia Maps work well in the browser. You can't get voice nav that way, but you can get satellite view of wherever you are, when you need it.

The camera I couldn't care less about - it obviously works and can take decent pics. Good enough. Any social networking crap loaded is going to get ignored. But I use my phone to carry documents with me. Do I have dropbox or any other cloud storage available?

Yes. DropBox and Box are integrated, and so is Evernote.

Is there a PDF reader available? Is the Kindle app (which handles PDFs very well) as good as it is on other devices?

There's a PDF reader and a Kindle app. I haven't found the Kindle app to be that great for PDF viewing.

[MikeLip]

<snipped>
Yes. DropBox and Box are integrated, and so is Evernote.



There's a PDF reader and a Kindle app. I haven't found the Kindle app to be that great for PDF viewing.

Awwww YEAH. Exactly what I wanted to know. Thank you!!!! I did read the Don't Panic review - it's not what I'd call in depth, since while the reviewer played with it, they didn't actually use it and see how well it routes. I hope it's better than Waze, which has an unfortunate tendency to give me tours of out of the way places no where near my destination I guess not deluxe is OK. Google Nav generally gets me where I need to be and it's pretty bare bones. So I will give Don't Panic a try since I like the name and reference to Hitchikers Guide.

I use Kindle to handle huge PDFs - Underwriters Labs standards, typically 400 pages or so. I email them to the address you get with a Kindle account and they get loaded on my device all nicely flowed.

Having Dropbox integration is awesome. And I'm an Evernote junk collector, so that's a plus. Thanks again!

[MikeLip]

It's the best smartphone on the market for work. I have my whole computer saved on my phone with fully active , editable Microsoft Office documents.

Posted via CB10

Thanks! I saw the office suite you get with the Z10 - it was presented briefly in one of the reviews - I think it was the BGR review but I could be wrong on that. It looks quite nice.

[Slamdunc1]

Phone is great as per speakers. Testing fine. Email kit as good as the old os for functionality.
Push email seems okay with outlook.com mixed with yahoo. Don't use Gmail so can't comment on that side.
Typing on screen is awesome

Some like me are also having rebooting issues.

Apps have to be in open frame s to run at present, sucks a bit but expected to change on release of new os updates a pi releases.







Mike posted via CB10

[ubizmo]

I was experimenting with the Don't Panic free trial yesterday. For this app, you buy the maps and they are loaded onto the device, with perpetual free updates. The North America map costs $25 or so, I believe. It's about 2 GB, so it takes up some space, but of course the advantage is it'll work even when your cell signal is bad, and it's also very smooth, since it's not constantly sucking map tiles from the network. It offers lane management, which is nice, but it doesn't say the street names. BB Maps does say the street names, but doesn't tell you which lane to be in. I haven't used Don't Panic long enough to comment on how well it finds things.

I really haven't experimented with large PDFs, either in the Adobe Reader app or Kindle, so I can't comment too much. The Adobe app has text reflow and some ability to control the font size, and that's a help.

There's a memo app called "Remember" that's baked into the OS, and this is integrated with Evernote. It doesn't have all of Evernote's features, but it lets you get at your stuff and sync new memos to Evernote.

[MikeLip]

Thank you. I thought I'd miss push, but I can live with a 15 minute delay

I am an electronic engineer (well, that's my training, but I was recently dragooned into management - I just have to do engineering too!) and I am stuck on RPN calculators, and anything that can script and graph functions and find intersections. If it backsolves that would be great too. Are there any apps like that?

[MikeLip]

I was experimenting with the Don't Panic free trial yesterday. For this app, you buy the maps and they are loaded onto the device, with perpetual free updates. The North America map costs $25 or so, I believe. It's about 2 GB, so it takes up some space, but of course the advantage is it'll work even when your cell signal is bad, and it's also very smooth, since it's not constantly sucking map tiles from the network. It offers lane management, which is nice, but it doesn't say the street names. BB Maps does say the street names, but doesn't tell you which lane to be in. I haven't used Don't Panic long enough to comment on how well it finds things.

I really haven't experimented with large PDFs, either in the Adobe Reader app or Kindle, so I can't comment too much. The Adobe app has text reflow and some ability to control the font size, and that's a help.

There's a memo app called "Remember" that's baked into the OS, and this is integrated with Evernote. It doesn't have all of Evernote's features, but it lets you get at your stuff and sync new memos to Evernote.

I always turn the voices off on my satnavs. I hear too many voices already Lane management always seemed to be a feature I can do without. My Garmins do that and they always pop up when I want to see the danged MAP. They have a tendency to stay on too long and the info I want next - like which way do I turn at the foot of the ramp - is obscured until the last second. Somehow I always found the lanes before I had you, Mr Garmin . I don't mind popping for the $25 if it's worth it.

[Norg]

I really liked and can relate with what MikeLip had to say... in a nutshell that's pretty similar to my situation. However, contrary to Mike I took the plunge and purchased my Z10 last week.

I too will no doubt have a list of comments and suggestions to eventually share, and certainly will in due time as I try out, test and evaluate my Z10 based on my mainly business needs.

Based on my limited 10 days of use, I'm very optimistic by the feel, look and communication aspects. Cheers to the new Z10.

Posted via CB10

[HartfordWhalers]

Thank you. I thought I'd miss push, but I can live with a 15 minute delay

I am an electronic engineer (well, that's my training, but I was recently dragooned into management - I just have to do engineering too!) and I am stuck on RPN calculators, and anything that can script and graph functions and find intersections. If it backsolves that would be great too. Are there any apps like that?

Ive got 4 email accounts and the delays have been minimal

Posted via CB10

[joeemy]

how does the bbmaps work, does it use data or mobile. just wondering about the cost of using it..

[shotgunboss]

I live in a small town that shows up on maps as a exit on the interstate, the town is actually 5 miles to the east, the blackberry map app Will route to my door! For that I give it an A+, for lack of certain features I give it a C

Posted via CB10

[3rdStone]

Having Dropbox integration is awesome. And I'm an Evernote junk collector, so that's a plus. Thanks again!

But note - The Evernote functionality is pretty limited on the Z10, and it is NOT like the Evernote app on Android. For example, all of your notes from Evernote are listed in alphabetical order in the BB Z10 "Remember App" and there is no way to sort them by date. (Unless you put the date at the front of all of your note titles.

[ghgrossman]

True. The Evernote integration is not a replacement for Evernote , however Z10 search is awesome and you can still find things on Evernote quickly - more quickly in fact than I can through side loaded Android app.


Posted via CB10 / Verizon Z10

[drewread]

Magellan Compass is a great mapping app. You have your choice of map providers (Google maps, map quest and many others, even US Aviation maps!), search providers and event providers. Maps can be stored or cached locally (as long as the map provider allows it.) it is a very complex app, but once learned it offers endless functionality. And better yet, if you buy it on the playbook, it is free on the Z10 (I assume the opposite also works.)

If your email providers support push IMAP (P-IMAP) or ActiveSync then email is very fast .

Posted via CB10

[irweezyy]

Also with splashtop, you can have access to your whole computer on the go as long as it's powered on and connected to Internet

Posted via CB10

[MikeLip]

Well, I just started this thread a couple hours ago and have already gotten more and better information than from all the reviews I've read. And this forum seems VERY active. Thanks to everyone who is contributing Any other info I can get will be appreciated. The 10 will be landing in a couple hours and now I can't wait!

[MikeLip]

Two additional questions - what kind of caclulators are there available - are any RPN? And also is there any app like Berrybuzz that lets you personalize alerts - the LED, tones and vibrate? I liked that on the older BBs.

[kevmodee]

Where is Shazam?

[niss63]

But note - The Evernote functionality is pretty limited on the Z10, and it is NOT like the Evernote app on Android. For example, all of your notes from Evernote are listed in alphabetical order in the BB Z10 "Remember App" and there is no way to sort them by date. (Unless you put the date at the front of all of your note titles.

It's not native, but the side load for Evernote works well.

True. The Evernote integration is not a replacement for Evernote , however Z10 search is awesome and you can still find things on Evernote quickly - more quickly in fact than I can through side loaded Android app.


Posted via CB10 / Verizon Z10

But without rich text, the note in the Remember app is sorely lacking.

If I'm already in Evernote, it is faster to search within the side loaded app.

@MikeLIp - The Z10 is a good phone with great potential, but the business side of email and SMS is not great. The 9900 is definitely superior in dealing with communications. (Coming from the perspective of a non BES user.)

The document handling of the Z10 is better than the 9900, and it handles PDF's well. The Kindle app is great for reading books, but I haven't used it for PDF documents.

When pushed hard, using Excel spreadsheets, PDF documents, Word Documents, Power Point, etc., the phone can tend to get warm and lock up or reboot itself.

The browsing experience on the Z10 is awesome and nothing I"ve seen can beat it.

When a developer does a good job building an app for the Z10, it is amazing. This phone never misses a beat when things are right.

Dropbox is excellent. The Playcloud app brings out the best of it, as well as other cloud syncing options.

It is a new OS and is cutting edge, so there are many issues that need to be addressed or re-thought. I have a list of probably forty items that are lacking in some area. However, it is a real leap forward in potential, and once the kinks are ironed out, I think the Z10 will be the new gold standard for smart phones.

To put it succinctly, my 9900 is in my backpack so that it is nearby, but the Z10 is in my pocket.

[MikeLip]

<snip>To put it succinctly, my 9900 is in my backpack so that it is nearby, but the Z10 is in my pocket.

That is exactly the sort of information I am looking for. Thank you. And yeah, I know 10 is new and there will be issues to iron out. But that's half the fun. I suspect I will carry the Note 2 at first until I get comfortable with the Z10, but I am looking forward to something new and maybe better than iOS and Android.

[aryan77]

I ve had a z10 for well over a month now and I got to say I am absolutely happy with it. Does all what I need. For navigation people here have mentioned almost all the apps but missed out one which is an excellent turn by turn navigation app called wisepilot. Though it is an android port it works seamlessly and the maps are excellent. The only gripe is that as of yet though they have a feature to download the maps locally on to the phone it is not active using this android port version. However if you are generally in and around areas where cell fone reception is not a problem then I don't find it to be a big problem. It costs around 20 dollars for a years subscription and is well worth it. Hopefully the developers will release a native app soon.

Hope this helps.

Posted via CB10

[Hamilton Guy]

And also is there any app like Berrybuzz that lets you personalize alerts - the LED, tones and vibrate? I liked that on the older BBs.

I just bought Hub++ and it offers very good functionality. They have started a thread to communicate with and get input from their clients, so are quite proactive:
http://forums.crackberry.com/blackbe...thread-776735/

[msdivarose]

Two additional questions - what kind of caclulators are there available - are any RPN? And also is there any app like Berrybuzz that lets you personalize alerts - the LED, tones and vibrate? I liked that on the older BBs.

There is no RPN Calculator currently on the Z10 but they are available in Blackberry World also there is an app called HUB++ LED Disco Edition for $2.99 that has LED, Audio, and Vibrate. I hope this helps.