Originally Posted by
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.
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