[deadcowboy]

I could write a book on my smartphone preferences, but I'll try to keep it simple. The size change of the iPhone 5's screen ruined the iOS experience for me, so I've been waiting for the Q10 with baited breath for far too long.

Hardware:
-The best. The size, the feel, there's nothing that feels so solid and 'right.' The notification light is amazing. Keyboard is amazing, obviously--clicky, no issues.
-But why is there no dedicated end call button? Patently ridiculous when considering how imprecise the touch experience can be.

Software:
-This is where things will hopefully improve. The touch experience is sluggish and imprecise, to be kind. The swiping experience should be more fluid, but it ends up feeling as though its more hassle than it's worth.
-Why, when I read a text message, if I'm in a conversation, does the message still appear as new until I exit the conversation and view the hub notification list?
-Why is it almost impossible to press any small buttons? This makes the internet browser experience a labor, as every page must zoomed in to use properly. But even then, button presses will not register unless it is perfectly centered on the button.
-Why is the lower navigation bar so large? (probably because the touch software/firmware is so imprecise). The iPhone is conversely extremely fluid, lag-free, and extremely precise. No one can touch Apple's touch expertise, and that's such a shame.
-Simply put, nothing is easy or effortless about BB10. Nothing is just simple, though the underlying UI experience would make you believe that it might be so.
-Downloaded apps are terrible. The BB World app is terrible. Dropbox integration is almost great, but requires a separate app to remain synced? Weird and, you guessed it, terrible.
-There is not simple note taking application, weird. I would figure this might require almost no effort. It was my most used iPhone feature. If I want to edit a text file from my dropbox, I am bounced around a few different screens and apps before I am finally able to edit/create new, etc. The experience is exhausting.
-Why are there dedicated app icons for the Phone and Camera when there are dedicated on-screen buttons in the bottom corners? There are so many paths to the same destination, that the OS experience feels like a jumbled mess when it should feel streamlined. This is unfortunate, because I really love the new Blackberry Hub.
-One of the biggest problems I have is the ridiculous use of UI space when in certain apps, for instance, when sending a text message: I have a menubar, a recipient bar (which is needlessly large), a small window for scrolling though my conversation, a needlessly large text input bar (with a ridiculously large and garish emoticon button that I can't for the life on me figure out how to disable--business phone, yeah right), and then the ever present navigation bar that is large, obtrusive, and generally ingratiating. The navigation bar usually appears in different apps with a back button and a share button. Why do I want a giant share button everpresent? I don't know, I don't want to accidentally share anything with numerous social media outlets, so please relegate yourself to a side-submenu. Why is sharing such a buzz feature all of a sudden?
-The quality of apps on BB World is generally very poor.
-No menubar battery % icon? Why not? I'm certainly not going to swipe down the rolldown quicksettings menu, click 'settings', then 'About,' then the dropmenu and choose 'hardware', then scroll down the page to find my remaining battery percentage every time I need to find out how much battery life I actually have left. I've seen people on these boards try to pass this off as an easy operation, but it's absolutely exhausting, when a simple menubar meter could serve the same purpose (or even a peek icon or something). Don't delude yourself into thinking that this is a non-issue for BB users.
-BB Maps is okay, but generally unresponsive and frustratingly difficult to use when scrolling around the map to find one's own route. I'm sure Google Maps will remedy this (when Google finally embraces the platform).
-For some reason, my iCloud contacts are doubled (might have something to do with linkedin and facebook) and I can find no way to easily disable the duplicate entries. I can do it one at a time however. BB Link on the PC is useless for managing contacts. And I can't sync my GMail contacts in BB10. It's kind of awful. But I am sure everything will be worked out eventually, and will someday be better than competitors' offerings.

For the good: I see potential in the OS. If responsiveness could be bettered, it could become a fun OS. The peek function is genius. The way one moves around apps and runs apps in the background is great. Blackberry hub is great, if a little crowded and confusing with all the different swipes and buttons to switch hub sub-sections like 'hub' or 'email1' or 'email2' or 'texts'. But in general, it's a little bit brilliant (or it could be if someone logical would simplify the operations of the OS).

And to end this post, all I really want in this phone is a Dropbox syncing note-taking application. I don't understand how there can be 20 different super-polished offerings on iPhone, yet none available for BB OS7 or BB10--at least in my short experience.

I really love the hardware, so I'll be sticking it out with my new T-Mobile Q10, even if I really should be returning to the iPhone for its inarguably more impressive ease of use and robust featureset (I can search my entire email server with my iPhone, yet I can't even access my GMail draft folder on my Q10, though it appears in the dropdown menu). It's a great phone with a seriously half-baked operating system that could someday become the best operating system if some logical people would steer the OS engineers in the right direction. As it stands, it is an exhausting user experience, and not as fresh and simple as I had hoped.

Thank for reading. I know this seems harsh, but it's my honest opinion. I really want to love this phone, and I'm willing to stick it out for a couple years, but I can't recommend it to friends.

p.s. at this point, I would love to be running vanilla Android on the Q10.

one more thing: I am absolutely flummoxed by the camera icon present on the lock screen. I am assuming this is supposed to be some sort of quick-launch for the phone's camera, but I can't for the life of me figure out how it works.

---
Remembered Positives:
-And I don't know how I left this out, but I wanted to praise the clock app. It's similar to all the others, but the ability to set alarms and timers using a radial pin on an analogue clock is ingenious, and somehow more intuitive than anything I've used before.

-The compass is similarly great and better than any I've used before (and I've just realized that it's the perfect way to right oneself when stepping off the subway in NYC).

-The calculator is also a welcome upgrade, with the built-in tip calculator and measurement converter (though the tip calc's skeumorphic design flourishes are woefully out of place and unwelcome in what is a mostly modern OS user interface).

-Further, the phone's set of rings, tones, alerts, and alarms are far cleaner and more modern than anything offered by Apple (or anyone else, for that matter). That is to say: I find Apple's tones are annoying and old fashioned (if iconic); they make me cringe. But I actually welcome BB10's quick tones; there is something so immensely positive about them, yet they are also very professional and seemingly simple (I'd wager a lot of thought goes into each sound). The alarm is particularly pleasant, gradually increasing in volume, lulling [sic] me awake in the morning.

[howarmat]

thanks for the review and concerns! Hopefully BB is aware of most things you mentioned. I share your opinion on a few of them myself. I hate to say it but its a new OS and will take time to mature into where Android and iOS are today

[hccaver]

-Why is it almost impossible to press any small buttons? This makes the internet browser experience a labor, as every page must zoomed in to use properly. But even then, button presses will not register unless it is perfectly centered on the button.

Does this mean that browsing the web is difficult on the smaller screen? I know I have a very hard time reading .PDF's on my Bold 9000 @ work. I am hoping the 3.1" screen makes this easier if I end up getting a Q10. It's the phone I've been waiting on for some time, but now that it's here, I'm 2nd guessing myself.

I read most of your post and some of these issues are what I'm worried about. At this point, I'm just not so sure that I should wait and pick up a Q10 later after the kinks are worked out. I'm fighting my urge to use my "upgrade" on a different device, then get the Q later.

I havent been able to properly demo it either. Verizon didnt have theirs up and running in-store. Only the phone itself, turned off.

[buu511]

I have had all possible iphones and now a Q10. While I share some of your problems I cannot understand your OS and touchscreen issues. I don't like the inconsistent scrolling of bb 10 but otherwise the touchscreen works perfectly fine.

Sent from my Q10

[hccaver]

I have had all possible iphones and now a Q10. While I share some of your problems I cannot understand your OS and touchscreen issues. I don't like the inconsistent scrolling of bb 10 but otherwise the touchscreen works perfectly fine.

Sent from my Q10

Though I've only been able to turn one on, I too had to "push" the screen for it to recognize my touch. I've heard in a couple of reviews that the reviewers too had trouble with touch sensitivity (not sensitive enough). Is there a setting to increase touch sensitivity? Thanks

[buu511]

I think it might have to do with the OS version. I had trouble selecting anything in the lowest row before updating the firmware.

Sent from my Q10

[greg99]

I agree with all. I'm only 24 hours into ownership, but there are some processes that just don't work as well as on the iPhone.

A few related items that I would add:

* There is not an easy way to delete individual email messages. The iPhone will let you delete from the list with a simple swipe (and a confirm button if you choose). It is much slower to delete messages on the Q.

* It is very difficult to select a series of messages, for instance when filing, if you have to scroll down. If you scroll too fast, the bar on the right side of the screen disappears and you have to start over.

There are other items (positive and negative) but I'll do another post in a couple of days after I get more time with it. Right now, the battery is a potential deal breaker, but it's not yet fair to assess it.

Greg

[deadcowboy]

thanks for the review and concerns! Hopefully BB is aware of most things you mentioned. I share your opinion on a few of them myself. I hate to say it but its a new OS and will take time to mature into where Android and iOS are today

While this is true, it's not as if Blackberry is trailblazing, here. They have had four, great, model, mobile operating systems (iOS, Android, WP8, & WebOS) from which they should have learned more. I do appreciate their forward-thinking take on integration and BB hub, but that doesn't preclude them from criticism when they've had ample time to create a more polished environment.

---

Does this mean that browsing the web is difficult on the smaller screen? I know I have a very hard time reading .PDF's on my Bold 9000 @ work. I am hoping the 3.1" screen makes this easier if I end up getting a Q10. It's the phone I've been waiting on for some time, but now that it's here, I'm 2nd guessing myself.

The browser application is robust (including a desktop mode, among other power-user settings, which I really, really appreciate), but it is not easy to use, unfortunately. The screen isn't actually that small, as pages render about the same size as the do on my iPhone (determined by the width of a page). The problem is that I can use my thumb to hit a small hyperlink on the iPhone when not zoomed, whereas I can't even register a click with a precisely positioned index finger on my Q10. Basically, hitting any link requires pinch-and-zoom to a large size...and this gets tiresome if you are navigating through web pages with any regularity.

Let's put it this way, I find it functionally impossible to press the 'X'-button in the URL text box in order to clear the URL and type a new search term or URL into the box. The URL is highlighted when you click on the box, so if you don't try to click the 'X,' you can use the backspace button on the keyboard or type in a new line of text, outright. But out of habit, I often go for the 'X' button, which should be easy to click, as it is a piece of the UI design, after all, but I find impossible to target before my fourth click. This example extends to everything in BB10 on the Q10, unfortunately, but it really becomes pronounced when using the browser.

---

Though I've only been able to turn one on, I too had to "push" the screen for it to recognize my touch. I've heard in a couple of reviews that the reviewers too had trouble with touch sensitivity (not sensitive enough). Is there a setting to increase touch sensitivity? Thanks

I feel the same way about the touch screen, and hopefully Blackberry will be able to fix the touch issues with a software or firmware update. It would alleviate many of the issues I have with BB10. Though I think there is far more to the solution than simply adjusting sensitivity. It would be hard for anyone who has used an iPhone to deny the leagues between the two phones' touch implementations.

--

Now, don't get me wrong. I really like Blackberry and want to see them succeed, but they really need to improve the OS, quickly, if they want to be taken seriously as either a business phone or a consumer phone---a line that they are trying to straddle (wobbily-so), as evidenced by the oft-appearing 'share' button that is often as large or larger than the 'end call' button.

And I can't reiterate this enough, please include an option in settings to disable the giant emoticon button from the text screen. The emoticons are well designed, but I won't be using them. And I can't imagine the CEO of a company using them, either. Disclosure: I am a 20-something creative in the film industry.

[lynxs_claw]

one more thing: I am absolutely flummoxed by the camera icon present on the lock screen. I am assuming this is supposed to be some sort of quick-launch for the phone's camera, but I can't for the life of me figure out how it works.

Hold your finger down on the icon .. you'll see a camera icon appear on the middle of the screen with a duration circle increasing around it. Once the circle is complete, you'll be in camera mode.

[deadcowboy]

Hold your finger down on the icon .. you'll see a camera icon appear on the middle of the screen with a duration circle increasing around it. Once the circle is complete, you'll be in camera mode.

Thanks for the tip, works like a charm.

I wouldn't mind this functionality being implemented in the notification area on the lock screen. As it stands, I often have to swipe up to unlock, and then up and right to get to my BB Hub, then right once or twice again (depending on which pane I left open) to show the menu, and then click the appropriate submenu, and then click my new message. It could even just be one button that takes you to the all-inclusive BB Hub.

And if not reimplement the functionality, at least allow the 'up & right swipe' to unlock and enter the BB Hub immediately from the lock screen.

Also I left some new, positive observations in my original post, above.

[gknix]

Wow I didn't expect there to be so many problems with the q10, as the touch experience for me with the z10 is perfect. I actually wanted to say the opposite where I find the only touch screen experience that is on par with the iPhone is the z10. The androids for some reason are all of for some reason.

That being said, I was just about to purchase a q10 today... but this is putting me off about the browsing experience.

The other concern I've been having is the waste of screen estate in certain applications like a static url bar in the browser.

Can anyone confirm whether the q10 is really unresponsive foe browsing like the op stated?


Posted via CB10

[dahhbears]

Wow I didn't expect there to be so many problems with the q10, as the touch experience for me with the z10 is perfect. I actually wanted to say the opposite where I find the only touch screen experience that is on par with the iPhone is the z10. The androids for some reason are all of for some reason.

That being said, I was just about to purchase a q10 today... but this is putting me off about the browsing experience.

The other concern I've been having is the waste of screen estate in certain applications like a static url bar in the browser.

Can anyone confirm whether the q10 is really unresponsive foe browsing like the op stated?


Posted via CB10

Honestly, if you are going to buy the Q10 for a browsing experience then you should definitely look for another phone. The Q!0 browsing is great at one thing and that is to look at what you need and move on to the next thing. There is no way the Q10 screen can be compared to other smartphones with bigger screen simply because the real estate is not there. It's a communication device first, entertainment later. Although I do understand what you are trying to ask. Hopefully, this helps!

[thecurryman]

the iphone and q10 are completely different sides of the cell phone spectrum...its like comparing apples to oranges, yeah the're both fruits but thats it. people use the q10 because it has KEYBOARD which in my opinion is the deciding factor. That phone was built with communications as the forefront and media consumption in the back!

As far as apps go, W8 doesnt even have half the apps android/ios do and its been out for 2 years now....things take time

[Caymancroc]

I hate to say it but its a new OS and will take time to mature into where Android and iOS are today

This statement would be okay if the year were 2009. However, it isn't and BlackBerry has delayed this device by years into the marketplace. It should operate flawlessly with relative ease and cohesiveness.

Posted via CB10

[Caymancroc]

Can anyone confirm whether the q10 is really unresponsive foe browsing like the op stated?

I agree with the OP on all statements including the fact that iPhone is much more responsive.

I also am like the OP in that the device should go back (an might because iCloud calendar still isn't working). However, the phone hardware and battery are so good it is hard to deny that BlackBerry isn't trying. I do love the phone hardware. Like I said in one of my posts, it is easily the best phone hardware wise I can remember holding.

Posted via CB10

[anon(5830442)]

I like the idea of Q10 and vanilla android. Google is releasing the S4 and the htc one, why not the Q10?

[copperred1.3]

* There is not an easy way to delete individual email messages. The iPhone will let you delete from the list with a simple swipe (and a confirm button if you choose). It is much slower to delete messages on the Q.

Greg

Doesn't the iPhone require a swipe and then a tap to delete? On BB10, you can touch and hold to select the message, then swipe to the trash icon to delete it in one motion (disable confirmation). This may not be as quick as iPhone but I've found it to be pretty fast.

Posted via CB10

[copperred1.3]

As it stands, I often have to swipe up to unlock, and then up and right to get to my BB Hub, then right once or twice again (depending on which pane I left open) to show the menu, and then click the appropriate submenu, and then click my new message.

You can save some steps by swiping right on the back button in the bottom left corner once you get to the hub. It will take you all the way back to the root view and pop open the filters on the left. That way you can go from an open email to any other message account with a single swipe and a tap.

Posted via CB10

[greg99]

Doesn't the iPhone require a swipe and then a tap to delete? On BB10, you can touch and hold to select the message, then swipe to the trash icon to delete it in one motion (disable confirmation). This may not be as quick as iPhone but I've found it to be pretty fast.

Thanks - I had not discovered this one yet. That isn't bad - not quite as easy as the iPhone, but a lot easier than I thought.

Edited to highlight the currently notable event that an experienced BB10 user politely answered the confused question of a newbie Q10 user, who then thanked such user for teaching him something that he didn't know. Not a single trolling element in the exchange.

Anything is possible!!!

[deadcowboy]

That's why I said "depending on which screen I left open. If I was in an email account but I want to be BlackBerry hub, then there are two extra taps/swipes (requiring 4 in order to get to a message after unlocking and entering the hub...iOS literally requires one swipe from the lock screen to enter a text).

I'm still pretty frustrated when I am replying to someone I've been texting, and bb10 won't recognize that I've seen the notification and continues with the blinking red light, even though the conversation is open and I'm responding. I have to swipe or tap back to register that I've seen the text. It make no sense.

Posted via CB10

[Amaka Ajaero]

I have a Q10 and also have over 1700 contacts in it (its a purpose fone) i always have a great need to broadcast messages, unfortunately if i do that with the Q10 it says message sent but recipients dont get the messages. i am sure its because of the number of contacts in it...kindly advise if there is a way i can go about it in other to resolve this issue. i need to broad cast messages pls

[Amaka Ajaero1]

i never got a solution to my bbm issues. had to delete loads of contacts sadly. i just hate the Q10. not just I but quite a few of us... all so called high end phones are never to be relied upon. they are just not business friendly