[Udayan K]

Hello CB!

I've been a regular reader of CB but a first time poster. Please forgive if I do something wrong.

I (still) use the BB Curve 8520 and I have been using it for the past 2 years. I love the phone (my first BB!) because it gets all my work done and needless to say, I love BlackBerry. But I've used it and abused it and it's time to move on.

I am from India and we do not have the "contract" system here. As a result, BlackBerry phones are very expensive for a student such as me (both Q10 and Z30 are ~$600). However, with the Z10 prices dropping drastically (now ~$400), I am really keen on getting it. As is the case almost everywhere, the sales people at mobile stores here are never inclined to show you the BlackBerry and hence I haven't been able to play around with it much but I am very excited to try it.

There are a few things that are holding me back from going and getting it.

It's old. The online stores are cheapest shops to buy but I don't know how old is the stock of phones that they have.

Also, it is very confusing when I think about where BlackBerry is heading. Is it going to be around for say the next 1.5-2 years to support my phone? Because I intend to use it for that long. I believe I wouldn't need many apps and whichever ones I need, I'll find them in BB. I'll be reading, texting, surfing the net and using You-tube a lot. Also, I'll be checking mails and seldom using social networking. I don't care much for the camera but I'll be listening to music a lot. I read that the new OS updates improve the battery life which is a massive prerequisite for me because I am out most of the day.

While most of my peers are advising me against it, my heart is set on the Z10. Everyone says BlackBerry is dead but I know they are not. I love BB but I don't want to spend all my saved up money on it if it isn't going to be what I expect. The alternative is Nexus 5. While I don't prefer Android, although I've used enough of it to get around, I know that the sheer quality and size of the N5 is definitely going to fulfill my needs and more. Also, I know it will easily last for the next 2 years. So the brain says I should go for Nexus5 because I know I won't go wrong on that one. But it is approx. $485 for the 16 GB (which I am ready to pay).

What do I do? Help! Sorry if I made any mistake, was my first post. Again, there is no "contract" system and hence the high cost of all the phones. I have to spend wisely.

Thanks & Cheers!

EDIT: The idea with the Nexus is, I would use it for almost 2 years and hopefully, by that time, I would have enough money to buy the latest BlackBerry then! Also, I don't really want to cross the $500 mark, that's my limit for now. Anything more - not a chance.

[jaydee5799]

Hi and welcome.
If BlackBerry were dead like you friends say, we all (2.5 million?) wouldn't be here on CRACKBERRY!
Get the Z10. It will be so much more amazing than what you are using now.

[Labba Labbala]

Get nexus 5 none can beat the price and the other Android features

Posted via CB10

[Sid007]

You also got the Q5 option. It's cheaper and it's awesome (that's what I'm using right now).
I got it for 300$ and i'm sure you'll find it for cheaper in hollyday's sale or something.

Posted via CB10

[Javid Gozalov]

With the usage you yourself require, the Z10 shouldn't have any problems fulfilling.

I cannot comment on the Nexus, but I've seen some good reviews on it too.

I'm rolling on my Z10 and have had 0 problems with it, 64GB SD Card and loads of music. Great stuff

Good luck!

Posted via CB10

[cgallaer]

Are there any apps that you use that are "must haves?" If so, check to see which phone has them. On UI alone, I think BB10 is superior to Android.

[SmileDahling]

I'm more drawn toward the Z10. It's an amazing device. I trust that BB will be around to update it based on the direction that the CEO Chen is taking. The nexus 5 is a fine phone but the Z10 is something special. Also, you might be able to swing a Z30 for that price. Shop around - you might find one used or the price could drop after the holidays. That would be an even better investment.

[GS51]

I say go for the Z10, but i have one question for you what do you mean "its old"?
its been released like 8 months ago and its hardware specs are on par with a ton of devices out there.

[mitchy_mitch]

If you're into apps and poor battery life; go with the Nexus 5. If you're into emails, messages, and good reception; go with the BlackBerry

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[howarmat]

id consider z30 over the aging z10. I know it costs more but you get bigger battery and screen and you have a year younger hardware inside which makes things like miracast possible while the z10 misses out on some things like that. Nexus 5 is great too and would recommend it to anyone looking for android device. Its only draw back might be the small battery compared to other 5 inch sized androids. I honestly dont have issues with battery life though and get 4-5 hours of screen on time per charge with it.

As for software side, BB10 obvious lacks native apps at this point. Things will change in the coming OS 10.2.1 and some form of android APK installation but its yet to be seen how all that will play out. BB10 is much better than 10 months ago but some features from older BBOS still have not found their way back into the new OS. From what your needs are I think bb10 would cover your just as much as the android device would BUT i recommend the z30 over the z10 at this point for going for 2 years of use

[jchavealot]

Z10

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[Azensun]

If possible, spend time with each one and find out what suits you best. For me, I will stay with BlackBerry as long as they're available! Best of luck.

[grover5]

If you get the Z10 then buy the battery charger bundle to satisfy your battery needs. It will still be less total than the nexus based on the prices you quoted.

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[Bsbudd]

If you compare the specs of those two phones it is easy to figure out which one to pick.
Buy whatever you think is right for yourself. You can always resell the phone and buy a different one.

[MozThaGreat]

Do yourself a favor and get the Nexus5. I've had my Z10 now since may/june and even though I got it for free I still don't know why I picked this phone. I love BlackBerry but its too frustrating sometimes, for example it doesn't recognize email addresses from within any app. On os7 if somebody put an email address on FB I could do instant reply by hitting the email address directly. And now I can barely get my Facebook app working properly and I unfortunately do feel left out by not having the popular apps all of my friends have. Sorry to say this will definitely be the last BlackBerry device I'll ever use. Still stuck on 10.1smh.

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[BB30000]

Z10! Best phone I have ever used, smooth, very little issues and is truly a wonderful experience ! App updates monthly, I've 3 OS updates since March! Each one better than the next. Trust me, they are on it. BB has plenty of cash, QNX, 75 million users, new management, and 4 new devices in one year! BB isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

Via The BlackBerry Z10 Experience.

[MartyRC]

I would get the Z10.

The Nexus 5 is a fantastic phone, but one of my deal breakers is that, I will not buy a phone with no expandable memory,and/or removal battery. The Nexus does not have either of those options. I am not sure if you have those same preferences or not.
BB10 does not have all of the apps, but it will have all of the ones you will need.

The Nexus also has a pretty bad battery life from my experience.

Both are great choices though, you cannot go wrong with either of them.

Hope this helped a bit.

[collinc93]

Do yourself a favor and get the Nexus5. I've had my Z10 now since may/june and even though I got it for free I still don't know why I picked this phone. I love BlackBerry but its too frustrating sometimes, for example it doesn't recognize email addresses from within any app. On os7 if somebody put an email address on FB I could do instant reply by hitting the email address directly. And now I can barely get my Facebook app working properly and I unfortunately do feel left out by not having the popular apps all of my friends have. Sorry to say this will definitely be the last BlackBerry device I'll ever use. Still stuck on 10.1smh.

Posted via CB10

search through the Z10 forum here you might get some information that may assist you...if not go with whatever you feel you need..

[20degrees]

Nexus 5 is a nice device. It's a good experience with vanilla android if you've never tried it.

I'd go with the Z10 cause I really like the device's design and bb10. But it's really your call.

You can't lose with N5 though.

Z10

[yessuz]

Hi. I had same question (n5 vs z10)

Then z10 became available for 179� and aaaalllll questions were answered. Bought z10.

Awesome value for money!!!

And better phone experience than android imho

Posted via Ultracool Z10 on 10.2.1.1055 leak. Iphone... save files on your iphone browser, lol

[goku_vegeta]

Hello CB!

I've been a regular reader of CB but a first time poster. Please forgive if I do something wrong.

I (still) use the BB Curve 8520 and I have been using it for the past 2 years. I love the phone (my first BB!) because it gets all my work done and needless to say, I love BlackBerry. But I've used it and abused it and it's time to move on.

I am from India and we do not have the "contract" system here. As a result, BlackBerry phones are very expensive for a student such as me (both Q10 and Z30 are ~$600). However, with the Z10 prices dropping drastically (now ~$400), I am really keen on getting it. As is the case almost everywhere, the sales people at mobile stores here are never inclined to show you the BlackBerry and hence I haven't been able to play around with it much but I am very excited to try it.

There are a few things that are holding me back from going and getting it.

It's old. The online stores are cheapest shops to buy but I don't know how old is the stock of phones that they have.

Also, it is very confusing when I think about where BlackBerry is heading. Is it going to be around for say the next 1.5-2 years to support my phone? Because I intend to use it for that long. I believe I wouldn't need many apps and whichever ones I need, I'll find them in BB. I'll be reading, texting, surfing the net and using You-tube a lot. Also, I'll be checking mails and seldom using social networking. I don't care much for the camera but I'll be listening to music a lot. I read that the new OS updates improve the battery life which is a massive prerequisite for me because I am out most of the day.

While most of my peers are advising me against it, my heart is set on the Z10. Everyone says BlackBerry is dead but I know they are not. I love BB but I don't want to spend all my saved up money on it if it isn't going to be what I expect. The alternative is Nexus 5. While I don't prefer Android, although I've used enough of it to get around, I know that the sheer quality and size of the N5 is definitely going to fulfill my needs and more. Also, I know it will easily last for the next 2 years. So the brain says I should go for Nexus5 because I know I won't go wrong on that one. But it is approx. $485 for the 16 GB (which I am ready to pay).

What do I do? Help! Sorry if I made any mistake, was my first post. Again, there is no "contract" system and hence the high cost of all the phones. I have to spend wisely.

Thanks & Cheers!

EDIT: The idea with the Nexus is, I would use it for almost 2 years and hopefully, by that time, I would have enough money to buy the latest BlackBerry then! Also, I don't really want to cross the $500 mark, that's my limit for now. Anything more - not a chance.

So just to quickly sum up the recommendations and offer some more thoughts,
The Nexus 5 is a great Android device, arguably the best Android experience if you're looking for a solid well rounded device. Google Play is full of great apps no doubt and Android has had so many iterations that it keeps on getting better. A lot of what people who bash the Android platform say (such as the lag argument) have been for the most part resolved. The platform has matured well and the Nexus 5 is a great choice for an Android handset.

The Z10 on the other hand, it's still got enough power to run BlackBerry 10 (Another point for the vertical integration model), yes you will miss out on features like Miracast and a built in FM radio tuner (Like the BlackBerry 7 Curve series of devices) although those are the only true compromises. Battery life on the Z10 is going to vary widely, not going to lie about it one bit here.

Depending on your region there are 3 variants of the Z10 (The STL100-2 and STL100-3 can be considered 1 variant as the only difference between them is the radio bands they support and no other hardware differences exist, as far as I know). The STL100-1 is the HSPA+ variant and judging by what people have been posting here, It seems like these guys are have been getting slightly better battery life then us with the LTE variants (although I'm not sure how scientific these comparisons).

I did have a testing unit for the OMAP variant of the Z10 and the battery life was alright, although of course it was preproduction software so it's a dated comparison at best. My actual final hardware Z10 is an STL100-3, I've tried with both LTE on and off, if I'm in a good reception area it goes the whole day, if I have Wi-Fi, it even lasts longer (I've done about 20 hours when connected to Wi-Fi the whole time). The only caveat with battery power on the Z10 at least in my experience is the signal strength. Low reception areas tend to kill the battery on the Z10 faster than on my 9900 for some reason.
App support for native apps is growing, although a number of Android titles can also be sideloaded (or directly installed with 10.2.1).

Other notable mentions include the BlackBerry Hub as a great place for all your notifications to come together and be organized. The BlackBerry 10 browser is competitive with any other mobile OS platform, plus you've also got Flash support. It's one of those things for me which I didn't think I would need after owning multiple iOS products and Android devices (After the 4.1 update) but once it's required it's really awesome to have it there.

Essentially the Z30 has all of these benefits, but it's BlackBerry Amplified The only downsides with the Z30 are the screen technology and pixel density. I'll admit both are subjective but with AMOLED displays comes the potential for burn in. The pentile display arrangement is supposed to help with burn in although for mobile I don't think a solution exists (Plasma Display Panels (PDP's) have solved this issue ingeniously with "pixel shift" and "orbiter")

SO in conclusion, if you catch a Z30 for under 500 dollars, consider it over the Z10 if you do choose to go for BlackBerry 10. I would definitely recommend you consider your use case scenarios though, probably figuring out what you want and need to do on your device alone can sometimes make the decision for you.

AND Welcome to CrackBerry

[Udayan K]

Thanks a lot guys! It is nice to see that none of you are biased.

I think as cgallaer mentioned, I will see which apps I need. But I'm sure 90% of them are there on BB. Here's a list from off the top of my head: Flipboard, Facebook, Twitter, Truecaller, Whatsapp, You-tube, Skype, a good, accurate weather app - these are must haves for me. Also maps and navigation is a HUGE requirement. I've heard Google Maps don't work, is that true? Add in a few games, none in particular, and I think I'm good to go.

I know I should go for the Z30 but as I said, it's simply too expensive and beyond my budget. If I had the cash, I'd definitely buy one. I guess that tells me deep down, I want the Z10. :P Basically, I need a quick, fast UI.

The reason I said the Z10 is old because it is old hardware and as someone mentioned here, it might limit the phone by not being able to run certain things like miracast. Now I'm not going to use miracast at all but are there other features/apps that might/don't work? I said it's old because I don't want the Z10 to, you know, phase out gradually when BlackBerry comes up with new phones. It will keep receiving updates right? Another reason I said it's old because most online stores here will have the old inventory. Is it the same stock of phones from which you guys have bought/are buying? I guess it is because BB won't really manufacture more Z10s right?

One last thing, how safe is ebay? Because they have this one seller selling the Z10 for approx. $315 which is a huge push toward getting the Z10. But everyone's telling me not to buy from ebay - it's kind of like the grey market and if you're lucky, you'll get a good piece. Also, do you guys know of any online shop/store where I could buy and ship it here to India. For example, an online store selling the unlocked Z10 at around $250 and shipping costs around $50-$100 dollars will still be cheaper than what I will pay here.

[Udayan K]

goku_vegeta, thanks a lot for the advice! And the warm welcome!

I know Z30 is the better phone but I simply don't want to (can't) spend so much.You're saying I should get the STL100-1 variant?

Another question I forgot to ask - does the Z10 play .mkv using its default video player? Even if it didn't, I'm sure there is an app for that? I could just hook it up to my TV with the HDMI, right? I think this feature is awesome!

[goku_vegeta]

goku_vegeta, thanks a lot for the advice! And the warm welcome!

I know Z30 is the better phone but I simply don't want to (can't) spend so much.You're saying I should get the STL100-1 variant?

Another question I forgot to ask - does the Z10 play .mkv using its default video player? Even if it didn't, I'm sure there is an app for that? I could just hook it up to my TV with the HDMI, right? I think this feature is awesome!

If the STL100-1 is the locally available variant I would normally say stick to it. Although since you are on CrackBerry, I'd say might as well hunt down an STL100-2 or STL100-3. The CPU has a slight edge. But the GPU on the STL100-1 has an edge. The STL100-1 is also capable of features like Miracast, although since BlackBerry won't enable it (causes fragmentation among products with the same product line)

Bottom line is check the HSPA bands your country has, if they've got LTE, even better if you like yourself some 4G goodness.

Posted via CB10

[goku_vegeta]

goku_vegeta, thanks a lot for the advice! And the warm welcome!

I know Z30 is the better phone but I simply don't want to (can't) spend so much.You're saying I should get the STL100-1 variant?

Another question I forgot to ask - does the Z10 play .mkv using its default video player? Even if it didn't, I'm sure there is an app for that? I could just hook it up to my TV with the HDMI, right? I think this feature is awesome!

Yes it does, although the audio codec can't be ac3, and there's one more that it doesn't support. I'll hunt it down for you later. Although third party video players will work without these limitations. I use KalemSoft as a backup video player.

Yes you can hook up an HDMI cable, usually without too much hassle.

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