[JR A]

...my girlfriend has finally seen the light and is now a fully fledged Z10/BB10 supporter and addict!

She has been the BIGGEST critic of BlackBerry but after finally USING one for several hours, she has seen the light. She was a big Android user and was considering the iPhone 5.

What's even better, she works for one of the Big 3 carriers. So you already know which phone she'll be showing off and singing praises to every minute of her ~40 hour work week


I'll admit. I said the biggest "I TOLD YOU SO!" in my life when she brought home her Z10. And, like I told her, people will never get over the old perception of BB and know how great the phones are until they actually start using them.

Her favorite features:

- No home button. Although she said this one pissed her off when she first picked up the device because she was confused on how to get past the lock screen and start using the phone. But after someone showed her how to swipe up, she fell in love. This is a common deterrent on the sales floor of any cell phone store where there isn't someone who can readily explain how to even turn on or get to the home screen.

- Hub. She noticed a huge difference of seamless communication. Just a swipe up and to the right with her thumb to get to her messages and call history.

- Build Quality and Feel of the phone. This is something overlooked too much. She is short and petite with small hands. The phone for her is just the right size, but more importantly, the weight and ergonomics of the phone aren't uncomfortable for her like the iPhone felt. Also, the feel of material of the battery cover was the "icing on the cake" in her words.

- Keyboard. She loves typing on the Z10. She is getting used to the swipe-up for word completion, but she said she could tell that it's easier for her to type on this than other touchscreen phones. When I told her that the Z10 has heat sensors in the touchscreen that learn your finger placement for typing tendencies, she said, "What? That's freakin' cool!"

- BBM. Screen share, Voice Calls w/ wifi and Video Chat. She was amazed that this phone, and this app, can do all of that natively without her having to install something else and having the ability to still video chat and have phone conversations through wifi (great for when there is poor reception). She doesn't know anyone else with a BB10 (I'm still holding out for the A10) other than coworkers, so she didn't really test out the messaging side. I did tell her what it's like with the delivery receipts and she immediately saw the usefulness of it.

- Screen Capture. My GF is anything but tech savvy, which means she's totally qualified to work for a big cell phone carrier company . Okay, kidding aside. She isn't the most tech savvy, but she absolutely LOVES that she can easily take a screen shot of her phone by just holding down the two volume keys. Something so simple and so useful, and again, she remarked that not only is it so easy to do, she was happy that she didn't have to download an app to do this. And the saved screen shots go right to her pictures gallery. Very easy.

- Web Browser. She said it was fast. And when I showed her how how to turn on Flash she loved it even more. She uses the web browser on the Z10 pretty much just like her laptop/desktop and doesn't experience the limitations of mobile browsing like before.



And to be honest, the lack of apps hasn't hindered the experience much at all. The key app she was looking for was Pandora. There is no official Pandora app for BB10, but there is a third party app called Apollo that accesses Pandora's info and allows the user to use the app just as if they were using Pandora. Other notable apps are her banking apps. The bank and credit unions she uses don't support BB10, and there are no sideload options at the moment. But because the web browser is as powerful as it is, she just logs on via the browser as if she were using her laptop. No complaints there.

The apps situation isn't that big of a deal in this case.

[theRock1975]

Heh, don't rub it in too much.

Posted via CB10

[Arabianhorse]

You can easily get into developer mode and port Pandora into the "Z". GoodEReader has converted APK files to bar files and has a great loader you can download to your computer. Check it out in the forums (search). I have Pandora on my white Z10 and my PlayBook. Cheers.

[bigbadben10]

Good job OP. She must be a keeper lol ;-)

Posted via CB10

[JR A]

You can easily get into developer mode and port Pandora into the "Z". GoodEReader has converted APK files to bar files and has a great loader you can download to your computer. Check it out in the forums (search). I have Pandora on my white Z10 and my PlayBook. Cheers.

Good to know.

[edu3110]

Great story OP! We welcome your girlfriend to the light!

Posted via CB10

[Jamez Avila]

Sweet! Make sure to sideload some of the big name apps for her like instagram, Netflix, Pandora, Pinterest so she doesn't feel like she's missing out on those.

Posted via CB on my Z10

[CharlieHipHop]

I'm glad your girl is happy with her Z, but I really hope you were being ironic when you called it a monumental moment in your life.

Just saying...

Posted via CB10

[raino]

"Big 3," JR? Who's the recipient of that burn?

[JR A]

I'm glad your girl is happy with her Z, but I really hope you were being ironic when you called it a monumental moment in your life.

Just saying...

Posted via CB10

Internet Rule # 4,080... At least one person will not catch your humor or sarcasm via text alone.

"Big 3," JR? Who's the recipient of that burn?

I don't know what to make of this comment lol

[JR A]

Small point of order. It does not use heat sensors. It uses a technique called heat mapping. What it does is watch for users to tap a key then, if they hit backspace and hit the key next to the first key, they move the touch point appropriately.

Great story though. I've sold one by simply showing the guy how to use it. Something the AT&T counter droid had no interest in doing.

Heat mapping is still heat sensing. The phone still has to "sense" where the keys are being pressed before they can be "mapped".

[raino]

I don't know what to make of this comment lol

LOL I was asking which one you dropped to make the "Big 4" the "Big 3"

[JR A]

LOL I was asking which one you dropped to make the "Big 4" the "Big 3"

Oh, haha.

I just say Big 3 because it reminds me of Ford, GM, Chrysler kinda Big 3. To my understanding, Sprint AT&T and Verizon would be the Big 3, T-Mobile being the 4th.

[blackberryivica]

Q10 best battery life ever! Tree day and still 19% left! Awesome

Posted via CB10

[Jamez Avila]

Q10 best battery life ever! Tree day and still 19% left! Awesome

Posted via CB10

Three days?? Doesn't sound like you're using it.

Posted via CB on my Z10

[Masahiro]

Heat mapping is still heat sensing. The phone still has to "sense" where the keys are being pressed before they can be "mapped".

That's simply the capacitive screen at work.

Posted via CB10

[Mr.Monty]

Lol glad she is enjoying her new BlackBerry
If I may offer a suggestion for the lack of native Pandora app, have her try out Slacker radio.

[BlackberryFan777]

She loves you, dude. Hope you know that. :-)

[rim_investor]

I didn't know about the screen capture function...VERY USEFUL!

Posted via CB10

[JR A]

As Masahiro said in post #17, it does NOT use heat, it uses capacitance. More specifically, it uses the interruption of the electrical field just above the surface of the screen. See Capacitive. Once it detects that you pressed somewhere, by sensing the interruption of the electrical field, it determines what key you were trying to press. If you press R, then backspace and press E, it notes that. If you do that a certain number of times, it moves the detection point for the E key toward the R key, on the assumption that you don't reach far enough to the left when you press the E key. This programming algorithm is referred to as heat mapping, although, on BlackBerry devices, it has nothing to do with heat.

I'm just telling you what BlackBerry told me. *shrugs*

[Bobert_123]

lol make sure you point her towards CB if she's having any problems you can't help her with.

[JR A]

lol make sure you point her towards CB if she's having any problems you can't help her with.

I can't point her to CB! Because I need CB to get answers to give her to make me look good!!!

[CharlieHipHop]

I didn't know about the screen capture function...VERY USEFUL!

Posted via CB10

To me, that's the best part. I love discovering all the cool features on a daily basis, even after three months of heavy use.

Posted via CB10

[kfh227]

heat sensors?

[kfh227]

The only "banking app" I would use is TD Ameritrade. And I had two of their apps on Android. Compared to the web version of hte web site, those apps sucked. I'd rather use the web page ... and guess what, my Z10 does that just fine.