[SirJes]

Great thread,by far better than the reviews out there,Wish this would make it further than crackberry. I understand the app thing,but although most say that bb10 being a new os is not an "excuse".....I would still say give it time

[rav813]

Part III

Here's a question for the BlackBerry gurus: What are 'Messages'? They are listed separately from BBM, Text, Facebook, etc. When I go into a contact to add a custom tone specific to that contact, I can do it for the Phone ringtone no problem, but the only other choice I have is Messages. There's no option for text or BBM or anything else. Is that normal? Is that a BB10 thing? If so it's disappointing.

That's been around since 7.1 (maybe earlier)...I had it on my 9900. All messages (email, text, etc) are grouped together with the same sound - became a bit of a nuisance for me, since I could not differentiate between a text (act now) and an email (act later) immediately...solved it by assigned custom LEDs for each message type as well.

[bigbbrybeliever]

This is a great post. Thanks for the detailed information.

I'm not going to lie, I bought the verizon torch 9960 a little over a year ago right after the release, when everyone was oohhh'ing and ahhhh'ing over it. I had the Android Galaxy 1, and missed the BB feel. I am a huge e-mail user and BB by far tops everyone, so I came back.

Everyone was talking about the 9960 like it was great, kind of how people are about the z10 right now. So I jumped on the wagon and came back to BB.

With the 9960 people were saying its snappy and no more hourglass or hangups....that was the case for the first month...then I got restarts, hourglass hangups, slow browsing...tons of issues that I thought were resolved with the new chip and redesigned phone. Some say it was a bad phone, i was on my 3rd and same issues after 1 month of use. Only upgrades I did were whatever was pushed by verizon, and had all of 3 apps on it (FB, Scoremobile-which never works right, and a unit convertor for work). Also sick of App memory leak-seriously WTH is that, only thing i give credit to Apple for is that the iphone's never seem to have this issue.

Reason I am here mentioning this is because I am severely gun shy now. I just got my wife the iphone 5, yes she hates it and so do I---that was a mistake to buy, so basically is going to come down to the GS3 or the Z10.

I hear rave reviews about the GS3...not many people do not like it, I guess it is user preference..like i said i'm a huge e-mail user, but I also want a phone that has a solid OS and is snappy.

I don't upgrade until late march (right around when the z10 comes to the US for verizon--i hope?) , so i will continue to follow the z10 and its issues/non-issues. But I'm scared to death that i will get sucked into a phone that 1-2 months down the like starts choking and slowing up, and that a company who "promises" all the better apps that are "coming" doesn't come thru like they say.

I'm very weary of BB right now, so while the hype is all for the z10, I think we have to wait a little bit to see how it handles day to day activities for long periods of time. Let's see if there is a slowdown of performance after 1-2 months of usage. Also, lets see how fast they upgrade their app store and OS.

Just my 2 cents...i do like blackberry, but there performance has been sub-par to this point, and I've been with them for a while.

I didn't own any BB phone but I have had a PB 64GB for more than a year now. The BB10 OS used for Z10 comes from the PB OS which is based on the QNX system.
Starting day one I got my PB up to now, I never experienced any issue or slowdown in performance. Actually, with each upgrade in the OS, the performance of the device become better and better. BB10 OS shall be better than the PB OS, so I don't think you need to worry about the performance of Z10 will decrease as time goes.
One thing I like the OS is that it is so stable. In more than one year, It never ever crashed. I never need to reboot except after the automatic OS upgrades.
On the other hands, I owned a Window 8 laptop for just 3 months, it crashed many times already.

[RoverSpitfire]

Why would you setup your icloud calendars on the iphone as calDAV? I just went into the iPhones settings and under icloud entered my icloud email and password and everything sync'd on its own. I never needed to setup calDAV or cardDAV separately when I used my iPhone.

You are correct. But that's just Apple putting a pretty front end on CardDAV and CalDAV, which are still running underneath. It gets really technical, but if you look at the plist files inside your calendar library files on the Mac your iCal is sync'd to, you can see all the CalDAV settings.

The very fact that Apple uses CalDAV is what enables non-Apple devices like the Z10 to connect to the iCloud. Over on the BB support forums, users have connected to their iCal accounts using other applications (like Mozilla Thunderbird), but still experiencing failures on the Z10.

When you setup access to your iCloud account on the Z10 you just enter your iCloud info and the Z10 handles the rest. Or tries to. You can also go in an setup IMAP, CardDAV and CalDAV separately if you so wish.

On an iPhone, you setup the whole shooting match in the iCloud settings. But you can still connect an iPhone to other CardDav and CalDAV accounts if you want to as well (like Google Calendars). Similar process as the Z10, but not advertised because Apple wants you in the orchard.

Again, I'm impressed with BB's support. I got an e-mail again today from my Tech Support rep who wanted to setup a live session tomorrow. But I'm off to Palo Alto for the weekend. He said no problem, he'd set a reminder for Tuesday and call me back then. Bad news is this is a real bug even though it works for some. Good news is that BB is serious about solving it.

My wife's bringing the Z10 with us. Curious to see how Silicon Valley responds to it. My buddy in San Jose seems to think it will get respect, just because it's new and Silicon Valley likes anything new.

[Rennteam]

I own the iPhone 5 and owned every single iPhone generation before, including the first iPhone. Since I am a gadget freak, I bought and used other phones too of course and right now, I am using the iPhone 5 as a daily phone and a Samsung Galaxy Note II as my second phone, especially when a tablet (I own the iPad 4 and the Nexus 10) is too big for my needs. The Z10 was supposed to replace my Galaxy Note II (I know, smaller display but I always liked Blackberry and my last BB 9900 was really nice and worked fine, until I got bored of it) and I always like to try new things, why not. Well, the Z10 is a disappointment. For the money I paid (600 EUR, got it sent over from London, I live in Germany), the Z10 doesn't live up to it's hype. I wonder how many iPhone 5 users actually switched to the Z10 or are using one just for fun, like I do because the difference is huge in every possible way. I also always wondered why iPhone 4 or 4S users won't switch to the iPhone 5 but rather try something else? What made you unhappy with your iPhone? So far, my iPhone 5 battery life is the best of any smartphone I owned (with the exception of the Note II but this puppy has a gigantic battery). If people aren't happy with battery life of the iPhone 5, they usually don't have a clue about the quirks of the iPhone and iOS apps. Little hint: Avoid third party push apps, especially if they are free and do not set up your new iPhone 5 from an old iPhone 4/4S/etc. backup. Then, you're good after the first couple of charging cycles. I use my iPhone 5 at 100% display brightness (I am farsighted and don't always carry my glasses with me), all data and push services, incl. cloud services and an Exchange mail account are active all the time. In the morning, at around 7:15 am, I have 100% battery capacity and when I get home around 9 pm, I have around 30% left after heavy usage of my iPhone 5 (no games though, they really suck out the battery life pretty fast). The iPhone 5 is also faster, lighter, thinner than the iPhone 4S and the larger display really makes a difference, believe it or not. Reception also seems to be better, so I really don't understand why people won't upgrade. Well... the internet...the talk...the crap...I get it. [BOX][/BOX]
Back to the Z10: While this is the best touch display BB they ever built, the Z10 is nothing special to me, "just another" smartphone among many. No BIS support anymore (funny that BB actually wants to sell this as the biggest advantage), the GUI is nice (it reminds me of WebOS but is far from the smoothness of iOS, somewhere between Android and WP8), the BB Hub is too "crowded" (I actually prefer the iOS mail client) and good apps are almost non existent. I have 29 apps I use all day long (business) on my iPhone 5, only one is available for OS10 and it isn't even a vital app I need. Many Android apps don't work well and I can count the "good" native OS10 apps on one hand. Also the ambient light sensor of the Z10 just drives me crazy because in darker environments I can barely see a thing because the display gets too dark. Call quality is OK (Vodafone Germany) but I have a slight background white noise, barely audible but it is there and while battery life has improved over the last couple of days, it isn't even close to the iPhone 5. Same goes to the quality of the camera, good photos in daylight, crappy photos in darker environments, the iPhone 5 camera is much better.
The only think I like about the Z10 is actually the virtual keyboard (it works really well but this is a software thing and could be replicated by Android or iOS too) but it isn't even a bit enough to lure me away from the iPhone. The apps availability alone would actually make me rather use an iPhone 3GS than the Z10. If people here in the forum say that don't need apps, then they don't need the Z10. A smartphone without apps? Seriously?!
I get it: This is the Z10 forum and I don't want to sound like a troll by bashing a very good BB phone. It IS a very good BB phone. However, it is only a very mediocre smartphone from my point of view. I would put it, experience-wise, somewhere between the Samsung Galaxy S2 and the S3.
BB clearly lost a chance to make a point in the smartphone world. Sad. Also keep in mind that the next generation Samsung Galaxy and iPhone are due next soon. So if the Z10 can't even cope with the current generation, not by a long shot, how can it keep up with the next generation?
That said, I think people here need to evaluate their decision to go for a Z10 very very carefully. If you come from a BB, the Z10 may be the right phone for you. If you come from an iPhone or Android phone or even WP8, be careful. All this hype here about the Z10 is just some enthusiasm by people who A. never owned a first class smartphone of the latest generation, B. people who come from previous BB devices or C. people who had crappy smartphones before. I know this sounds kind of arrogant and all but don't say you haven't be warned. I suggest looking at ALL choices before going for a Z10. The Z10 isn't cheap and if you get it with a contract, you could be stuck with it for the next 12-24 months. I am no troll, I can answer any question you have about the Z10 and most other smartphones on the market, I just try to lure you guys away from this overwhelming hype surrounding the Z10. There is no reason for that.

[meltbox360]

I own the iPhone 5 and owned every single iPhone generation before, including the first iPhone. Since I am a gadget freak, I bought and used other phones too of course and right now, I am using the iPhone 5 as a daily phone and a Samsung Galaxy Note II as my second phone, especially when a tablet (I own the iPad 4 and the Nexus 10) is too big for my needs. The Z10 was supposed to replace my Galaxy Note II (I know, smaller display but I always liked Blackberry and my last BB 9900 was really nice and worked fine, until I got bored of it) and I always like to try new things, why not. Well, the Z10 is a disappointment. For the money I paid (600 EUR, got it sent over from London, I live in Germany), the Z10 doesn't live up to it's hype. I wonder how many iPhone 5 users actually switched to the Z10 or are using one just for fun, like I do because the difference is huge in every possible way. I also always wondered why iPhone 4 or 4S users won't switch to the iPhone 5 but rather try something else? What made you unhappy with your iPhone? So far, my iPhone 5 battery life is the best of any smartphone I owned (with the exception of the Note II but this puppy has a gigantic battery). If people aren't happy with battery life of the iPhone 5, they usually don't have a clue about the quirks of the iPhone and iOS apps. Little hint: Avoid third party push apps, especially if they are free and do not set up your new iPhone 5 from an old iPhone 4/4S/etc. backup. Then, you're good after the first couple of charging cycles. I use my iPhone 5 at 100% display brightness (I am farsighted and don't always carry my glasses with me), all data and push services, incl. cloud services and an Exchange mail account are active all the time. In the morning, at around 7:15 am, I have 100% battery capacity and when I get home around 9 pm, I have around 30% left after heavy usage of my iPhone 5 (no games though, they really suck out the battery life pretty fast). The iPhone 5 is also faster, lighter, thinner than the iPhone 4S and the larger display really makes a difference, believe it or not. Reception also seems to be better, so I really don't understand why people won't upgrade. Well... the internet...the talk...the crap...I get it. [BOX][/BOX]
Back to the Z10: While this is the best touch display BB they ever built, the Z10 is nothing special to me, "just another" smartphone among many. No BIS support anymore (funny that BB actually wants to sell this as the biggest advantage), the GUI is nice (it reminds me of WebOS but is far from the smoothness of iOS, somewhere between Android and WP8), the BB Hub is too "crowded" (I actually prefer the iOS mail client) and good apps are almost non existent. I have 29 apps I use all day long (business) on my iPhone 5, only one is available for OS10 and it isn't even a vital app I need. Many Android apps don't work well and I can count the "good" native OS10 apps on one hand. Also the ambient light sensor of the Z10 just drives me crazy because in darker environments I can barely see a thing because the display gets too dark. Call quality is OK (Vodafone Germany) but I have a slight background white noise, barely audible but it is there and while battery life has improved over the last couple of days, it isn't even close to the iPhone 5. Same goes to the quality of the camera, good photos in daylight, crappy photos in darker environments, the iPhone 5 camera is much better.
The only think I like about the Z10 is actually the virtual keyboard (it works really well but this is a software thing and could be replicated by Android or iOS too) but it isn't even a bit enough to lure me away from the iPhone. The apps availability alone would actually make me rather use an iPhone 3GS than the Z10. If people here in the forum say that don't need apps, then they don't need the Z10. A smartphone without apps? Seriously?!
I get it: This is the Z10 forum and I don't want to sound like a troll by bashing a very good BB phone. It IS a very good BB phone. However, it is only a very mediocre smartphone from my point of view. I would put it, experience-wise, somewhere between the Samsung Galaxy S2 and the S3.
BB clearly lost a chance to make a point in the smartphone world. Sad. Also keep in mind that the next generation Samsung Galaxy and iPhone are due next soon. So if the Z10 can't even cope with the current generation, not by a long shot, how can it keep up with the next generation?
That said, I think people here need to evaluate their decision to go for a Z10 very very carefully. If you come from a BB, the Z10 may be the right phone for you. If you come from an iPhone or Android phone or even WP8, be careful. All this hype here about the Z10 is just some enthusiasm by people who A. never owned a first class smartphone of the latest generation, B. people who come from previous BB devices or C. people who had crappy smartphones before. I know this sounds kind of arrogant and all but don't say you haven't be warned. I suggest looking at ALL choices before going for a Z10. The Z10 isn't cheap and if you get it with a contract, you could be stuck with it for the next 12-24 months. I am no troll, I can answer any question you have about the Z10 and most other smartphones on the market, I just try to lure you guys away from this overwhelming hype surrounding the Z10. There is no reason for that.

TROLL! 1!1!11!!1
Jk
You have some good points but I don't agree with your placement of the z10 for UI smoothness. Windows phone dominates there by a ridiculous margin. I have used some not great specced windows phones and yet it always feels super snappy and the animations are also notch above the iPhone. I can't speak for the z10 but if it is just below windows phone then I think it's just around ios.

Edit: The more I wait the more I suspect BB held back US release so they could get 10.1 out before it hits stores in the US. Not too bitter about that since the US market will be highly critical. If I really can't live with the Z10 I will probably go windows phone myself. Truth is I will probably be satisfied enough at the very least from what I read.

[b320]

... Edit: The more I wait the more I suspect BB held back US release so they could get 10.1 out before it hits stores in the US. Not too bitter about that since the US market will be highly critical. If I really can't live with the Z10 I will probably go windows phone myself. Truth is I will probably be satisfied enough at the very least from what I read.

It's a double-edged sword. I don't think they held it back themselves for two reasons: 1. they would significantly sour relations with carriers (who they desperately need) if it was their choice and then were as public as they are about blaming the US carriers for the delay and, more importantly, 2. they need to ship the device in the US badly, really badly. BlackBerry (or its OEM partners) must ship devices and keep pushing out newer and newer device models in the US throughout the next 2 years if it is to survive, survive as a device maker that is.

[RoverSpitfire]

Update on the iCal issue. It's become an official KB issue at BlackBerry. You can see it here KB33729-iCloud calendar account fails to integrate on BlackBerry 10

[RoverSpitfire]

On a related note, I overheard people talking about BlackBerry 10 and the Z10 at two airports in Canada. Terrific buzz!

But as soon I crossed into the US, no interest at all. Everyone on the plane had Apple devices. But then, I was flying to Apple's home town so not really a surprise.

We've tried showing it to some folks in Silicon Valley. Polite curiosity to disinterest. Just shows the size of the challenge in the US market they will face. I think it worked out well to launch in BlackBerry friendly markets first before tackling the US. The war will be won or lost based on the US consumer, and as the phone stands today, it would lose. If they don't get the US consumer, I believe they will soldier on based on their Enterprise client base and probably live to fight another day, but they'll never rise to second place without US consumers. Samsung is expecting to ship 10 million Galaxy S4's a month when it launches.

But I'm confident that BlackBerry is working hard to get 10.1 ready so that the Z10 and Q10 have a fighting chance!

[inffy]

There is no way that BB could take the first or second place of the GLOBAL mobile markets, not in a near future.

iOS and Android are waaay to big for BB to get them tackled. BB is fighting with Windows Phone and coming Sailfish devices (meego) and Samsungs Tizen devices for the third place. Although the latter ones won't actually make any marks imho, so third place is a possibility but getting past Apple or Samsung....that would take a biiiiiiiig miracle

[nyplaya610]

I only know two people on my facebook with interest on blackberry. Everyone else mocks it. They need to get as creative as possible while marketing that device in the US.

[inffy]

I only know two people on my facebook with interest on blackberry. Everyone else mocks it. They need to get as creative as possible while marketing that device in the US.

lol

I think your facebook friend opionions are kinda useless ground when talking about the global interest to the Z10. They are iPhone users right?

Have they even seen to phone? Don't think so...
Have they used it more than 5mins? I doubt it...

geez...

[jrohland]

I'd be fine if BlackBerry ignores the US market forever. Just withdraw and concentrate on the emerging markets. The US is so yesterday. It's in collapse along with Europe. If the phone is not sold here (in the states) it won't get bad press. And the smarter more aggressive (not lazy) people of the world will appreciate a phone made for business not gaming and watching TV.

[gng11]

How many calendars do you have? Maybe it's because you only have one calendar? Though I would think it would sync at least the primary calendar for me.

Yes, I tried the settings above. I've tried every set of settings I can find online. Sadly, none of it worked. And I've not heard back from BlackBerry at all.

So today I finalized the decision and went back to the iPhone 4S. But it's not an unhappy ending for the Z10!

My wife has taken it over and she loves it! She is a much more basic user who expects far less out of her phone. She primarily uses it for e-mail, messaging and browsing. For this limited set of functionality BB10 and the Z10 excel. She likes the screen size, she likes the gesture based UI, she likes the Hub, and she's happy with the Weather apps.

I enjoyed all of those things too, but my needs are so much more. I look to sync multiple calendars, I play games, I use more apps for: travel; banking; buying movie tickets; making notes (I use Evernote extensively and the native Evernote in Z10 is nearly useless to a power user with established notebooks); I buy and sell things on Kijiji; I use it to assist shopping (Canadian Tire, LCBO, Groupon); and I use it to watch movies that are tied to iTunes. The Z10 may get there some day, but I can't take the productivity hit until then.

I still love the UI though, and the feel of the hardware device even. I'm optimistic that it can become a great platform, but BB is going to have to keep working flat out to get there. They are still way behind, and will fall even further back when Apple and Samsung launch their next round of phones this year.

I have at least 4.

[mset]

I'd be fine if BlackBerry ignores the US market forever. Just withdraw and concentrate on the emerging markets. The US is so yesterday. It's in collapse along with Europe. If the phone is not sold here (in the states) it won't get bad press. And the smarter more aggressive (not lazy) people of the world will appreciate a phone made for business not gaming and watching TV.

Wow, it's amazing how much wrong information can be conveyed in such a short post. I'll just point out that the U.S. is barely out of 1st place as the world's biggest smartphone market. You clearly haven't travelled that much. If you had, you'd know what a huge influence American culture continues to be abroad. The U.S. is a critical market for BB.

Also, smartphone demand worldwide will be *all about* 'gaming and watching TV', as you put it, or to put it more succinctly, it will be all about social networks and personal connectivity, as well as content consumption. Not sending spreadsheets around.

[anon62607]

I'd be fine if BlackBerry ignores the US market forever. Just withdraw and concentrate on the emerging markets. The US is so yesterday. It's in collapse along with Europe. If the phone is not sold here (in the states) it won't get bad press. And the smarter more aggressive (not lazy) people of the world will appreciate a phone made for business not gaming and watching TV.

I'm wandering through Dubai terminal 1 right now, which in 2008 would have been filled with people carrying blackberries. Now the vast majority are carrying android phones, I saw one Nokia N8 (I think) and the remainder iPhones. I haven't seen a blackberry being carried by someone yet. Not that Dubai is really an emerging market or anything but a lot of the people passing though this or terminal 2 are coming or going to emerging markets and it seems like they are appreciating phones other than blackberries too.

Edit:
I just walked though the food court counting every phone that I saw. Two iPhones and two androids, and one I couldn't identify but it wasn't blackberry. No feature phones interestingly.

Russian speaking couple just walked past, add one more iPhone to the list.

I walked down to the duty free too. Th phone section was by area mostly devoted to android, the iPhone section was small and up front, the blackberry section was small and in the middle. No Z10. 9900, Porsche design and one other model sold.

Once again in 2008 it would have been hard to spot anything but blackberry in this airport.

I also think people might be overestimating what emerging markets might think of as a business phone. They are probably more likely to use very inexpensive or free email and calendar services rather than have an IT department run a fleet of company owned phones, and for that it might be that android is even better as a business tool than blackberry is.

[Chris Marsch]

?..will appreciate a phone made for business not gaming and watching TV.

Interesting wrong point of view in many resaons - repeating the old RIM error defining them selfs as a "business" tool - but it was only a good communication tool (which is of cause an important part of business, but not the only one). Seeing iPhone and others only as a gaming device completly ignores reality. Ever managed a complete business through your phone? - probably not... ! I never had fun using Google Analytics ( for example ) on an old Blackberry 7.

Hopefully will the new RIM aka Blackberry will NOT repeat this mis-interpretation of reality...

[nyplaya610]

lol

I think your facebook friend opionions are kinda useless ground when talking about the global interest to the Z10. They are iPhone users right?

Have they even seen to phone? Don't think so...
Have they used it more than 5mins? I doubt it...

geez...

I've posted videos of what BB10 can do but some still bash it like "you are still with blackberry?" "Who uses blackberrys now a days?" But that's because blackberry (old OS) has been in decline for the past 5years here in the US. As for what they use, I'd say iphone and androids.

[b320]

I've posted videos of what BB10 can do but some still bash it like "you are still with blackberry?" "Who uses blackberrys now a days?" But that's because blackberry (old OS) has been in decline for the past 5years here in the US. As for what they use, I'd say iphone and androids.

Thanks for posting the video. Tell the bashers to take their hateration (props to CB guys) somewhere else.

[RoverSpitfire]

Okay, I'm back from a weekend in Palo Alto, California and there's an important update today.

My BlackBerry support contact has told me that the root cause of the iCloud CalDAV issue has been identified and confirmed by BlackBerry developers and a fix will be forthcoming in the next OS update! (He didn't say when that might be.) Kudos to BlackBerry for listening, finding the problem, and producing a solution. The issue is indeed similar to the CalDAV issues sometimes seen on Gmail. Well done BlackBerry! I'd bet we'll see that update before US launch.

On another note, speaking of the US launch. I went down to Silicon Valley this past weekend. I had my trusty iPhone 4S with roaming data, and my wife had the Z10 with phone and SMS only (plus of course wifi). My friend from Yahoo! I was there to visit was interested, by the device and said he hopes they can make a comeback. As some might know, Yahoo! last year walked away from BlackBerry as a supported corporate device because as Marissa Meyer put it, she wanted all employees at Yahoo! to have smartphones. (So by extension, BB7 devices aren't smartphones. Ouch!) Now that the Z10 is out are they going back? Not really. The reason Marissa wanted folks on iPhones and Android is because that's what customers will be using. Until the Z10 gets traction, they won't spend any time on it. Which of course is the trap that BlackBerry is in. If people don't use it, there won't be a critical mass to draw enough developers. If there aren't enough developers and businesses supporting BB10, it won't draw consumers. And around we go again.

Perhaps not surprisingly, I saw zero BlackBerries of any variety in the Bay area. I saw a handful of Android phones. Everyone else that had iPhones. And that means pretty much every person you saw. All iPhones.

[DJRikko]

That's pretty great. I've been directing people from Twitter to Crackberry, and most of their issues are with the calendar sync. I'm glad that BB will be bringing a fix to this issue, because it seems very technical, and people won't have the patience to deal with it. The coming update is going to be pretty big, so it has to be before the US release so that those of us who have a Z10 can Beta the solutions before any Americans groan and cause bad publicity, lol.

[zipro]

Just withdraw and concentrate on the emerging markets.

they could do that, but not with 700$ flagship phones. In the emerging markets, 700$ is what people make in 2-3 months. The only western country which still has a significant BB market share is the UK. And there it's not the expensive top-of-the-line business phones that are in people's hands - it's the cheap entry-level BBs which are predominantly bought by teenagers and young adults. Of course, most of these have by now turned to Android.

[Jack_Yugis]

I think you like Z10 more than Iphone 4s

[dknv9]

Oh, hey, your green card arrived today...

I'd be fine if BlackBerry ignores the US market forever. Just withdraw and concentrate on the emerging markets. The US is so yesterday. It's in collapse along with Europe. If the phone is not sold here (in the states) it won't get bad press. And the smarter more aggressive (not lazy) people of the world will appreciate a phone made for business not gaming and watching TV.

[RoverSpitfire]

Okay, quick update. I haven't been using the Z10 at all because I went out and got an iPhone 5. So now I can compare the 4S to 5 to Z10.

The main reason I went and got the iPhone 5 was the support. I still can't backup my phone, so I will lose everything when I apply the OS upgrade. BlackBerry confirmed the issue is the same one PlayBook users have had for years:
* one of the installed apps is blocking the backup process
* BB can't tell which one it is without testing them
* they refused to test them because they would have to buy the apps to do that
* my only option is to delete apps one at a time until it works and hope for the best

Sorry folks, that's **** poor. You don't get that malarkey with Apple. I can't just wipe my phone and start over every time there's an OS update. Nor do I want to spend hours testing combinations of apps. So yeah, the Z10 is now just an experiment I pull out every now and then to play with on wifi.

I am still going to update it though and see if the fix for the ICal issue is in there. And since I don't depend on the phone any more, I can wipe it and reinstall everything if I want to without disrupting my mobile world.

I like the Z10, but I'm sorry it has to come along a ways before it's ready to be a primary device.

And I know folks don't want to hear it, but the backup and restore process from the iPhone 4S to 5 was simple, seamless and worked on the first try.