Contents of delivery:

• Telephone
• Battery Li-Ion 1800 mAh
• Charger (5V, 750 mAh)
• USB cable
• UK Plug (Europe Plug)
• Wired stereo headset
• Instruction

Positioning

RIM has long rested on the laurels of the corporate segment and believed that the appearance of the iPhone threatens everyone except it. RIM executives firmly believed that corporate users would remain loyal to Blackberry, never fall for beautiful iOS interfaces, prefer the absence additional programs main function is to work with mail. One of the former market leaders, Motorola, held roughly the same views in the late 90s, believing that it would retain market share and business users. It turned out that all the calculations went to waste and serious people in suits began to purchase phones not only for work, but also for entertainment - they were attracted by the opportunity not only to solve business issues, but also to play in their free minutes. In 2010, RIM made the same mistake, although they tried to fix it several times. Having missed the boom in touchscreen phones, the company has been aggressively trying to regain its leadership in the corporate segment. The reasons for these misses are detailed in several materials, I recommend this one.

The QNX platform, which RIM bought in 2010, was intended to enter the embedded market. computer systems in cars, which promised to show stunning growth. The company saw its future here, too. But at the moment when RIM realized that they had no future in smartphones with the developments that they had, they decided to use QNX here too - this is how the smartphone direction of this OS appeared. QNX-smartphones were originally scheduled for release at the end of 2011, but then the date was postponed, the announcement of the first device took place at the end of January 2013. It is curious that the first smartphone on this platform is a long-liver, it was developed for so long that by the time it was released, it had lost its original luster.

In terms of positioning, the Blackberry Z10 model is Blackberry's promise (together with the announcement of RIM became Blackberry) to return to the market and play an active role in the segment modern devices. This is the company's flagship, which should be manna from heaven for Blackberry fans and the weapon with which the company will work its way up to market share growth. The description of the product was allowed only in superlatives, the whole presentation was about what revolutions happened with the release of the Z10. But if we discard all this husk, then we will see a product that may be interesting as a toy for those who have money and, by a happy coincidence, these were RIM device users in the past.

An amazing situation has developed in the market when two platforms dominate - iPhone and Android. They are simple, understandable, well studied and have become somewhat boring. Very often people want to see an alternative to these platforms, they are attracted by something new. Of course, it is worth talking not about all people, but only about mavericks, those who are looking for new experiences - their number has always been small. Sometimes we call them geeks or technology enthusiasts. These people do not buy a product to use it out of the box, they are attracted by the opportunity to delve into the insides, explore the possibilities, and the rarer the product, the more interesting the process of studying it. Perhaps we can recall another platform that was very attractive to this audience - MeeGo. First and latest smartphone on MeeGo for the general public - Nokia N9.

There are many parallels between Nokia N9 and Blackberry Z10. Both products are flagships and the companies had high hopes for them. There was a lot of PR and hype around both systems. Moreover, the Blackberry Z10 ideologically copies the interface of MeeGo and Nokia N9, which most people either do not remember or prefer not to remember.

The only difference between these devices is that MeeGo was killed by a strong-willed decision of Stephen Elop, President of Nokia. With the support of Nokia, this system had good chances to gain a foothold in the market. Blackberry 10 has no such chances in the current situation for the company of the same name. But on the other hand, we will see a large number of products from Blackberry on this operating system, and the Z10 is not the first and last product.

Comparison with Nokia N9

In addition to geeks, this product is interesting for those who are nostalgic for the good old days and Blackberry smartphones. Fans of the company yearly wait for notable models and do not get them, yearning, they can choose the Z10 as the object of realization of their nostalgia. I am sure that there will be many such people and they will make up the second large group of buyers. Unfortunately, it is impossible to say that the Blackberry Z10 can offer something interesting to the mass consumer. This is a very niche model, not designed for noticeable success and does not have any prerequisites for this.

Design, dimensions, controls

To begin with, the company traditionally adheres to two color schemes - black and white. These are the colors available for the Z10.

The phone size is 130x65.6x9 mm, weight is 137.5 grams. The phone fits well in the hand, the back wall is made of plastic, it is velvety, very pleasant to the touch. Unfortunately, all body materials are inexpensive - it's plastic and plastic again. Given the cost at the level of the iPhone 5 and comparable to other flagships, we can say that Blackberry decided to save a lot on materials. Companies usually try to introduce new materials or technologies in their flagships, Blackberry did neither. For some reason, I always want to compare the Z10 with Sony Xperia Z, which has a glass front and back panel, which can be considered an innovation in materials. Even Nokia N9 was made in an unusual case for that time.

On the other hand, someone can say that time-tested solutions are better and you don’t have to indulge in bold experiments, many people need predictability. Then they will definitely not be disappointed in the Z10, it is very predictable.

On the upper end of the device are the on / off key, 3.5mm headset jack. On the left side is a microHDMI connector and next to it is a microUSB connector for a charger. On the right side - a paired volume rocker, in the middle - a button voice commands. An 8-megapixel lens and an LED flash are visible on the back cover.

The LED indicator was brought to the front surface, it is to the right of the speaker grille. Has a proximity sensor front-camera. The design of this device is not very individual, it resembles many modern smartphones - the unique appearance that was so characteristic of Blackberry in the past is not observed here. From afar, it will be difficult to distinguish this device from the same Motorola Droid X.

Motorola Droid X

There are no complaints about the phone in terms of build quality, everything is quite good and reliable. The back cover opens with ease, inside you can see the vertically elongated battery, as well as a slot for microSD-cards and microSIM. Also allow me to show comparative photos with other phones.

Comparison with samsung galaxy S3

Comparison with Apple iPhone 5

Comparison with BlackBerry Bold 9930

Display

The flagships of 2012 had screens with a diagonal of 4.5-4.7 inches and an HD resolution of 1280x720 pixels, in 2013 the trend was a slight increase in the diagonal while maintaining the size of the case and an increase in resolution to Full HD (1920x1080 pixels). Since the Blackberry Z10 was supposed to appear in early 2012, it uses the screen of the previous generation - the characteristics are typical for last year's flagships: 4.2 inches, 1280x720 pixels, 355 dpi. The screen brightness is adjusted automatically, you can't disable this setting (a typical solution for companies when there are problems with power consumption). The good news is that, nevertheless, they retained the brightness setting, which can be set manually (the backlight is adjusted from this level). For my taste, this is a fairly good, compromise solution - Nokia, for example, usually did not give such an opportunity.

The screen is 15:9, which is somewhat unusual, but does not cause any inconvenience. In the sun, it glares, but not much - the picture fades, but it is quite readable.

From the pleasant - you can adjust the size of the fonts, from delicate and almost weightless to giant. This will be a pleasant help for those who have impaired vision. Perhaps only in Z10 and Samsung smartphones this parameter was given attention, it is important for many people.

The backlight when reading web pages or books is clearly visible at the bottom of the screen, it can annoy someone with its pattern, but you quickly get used to this feature of the device.

Comparing picture quality with Full HD displays does not make sense, such a comparison will lose the Z10. It can be compared to the Galaxy S3, which has been on the market for almost a year and will soon receive a replacement.

Screen comparison with Samsung Galaxy S3 (top of frame)

The last point, which for some reason is diligently bypassed in Z10 reviews or attributed to the keyboard - the manufacturer used a device slightly different from competitors touch screen to achieve a soft touch. Perhaps, this device is amazing due to this parameter, when typing on the keyboard there is a feeling of softness, smoothness and simplicity. There is no such thing on Android smartphones or iPhones. For some, this may be the deciding factor. But besides this parameter, the display has no advantages, it is somewhat outdated for 2013. Color reproduction and brightness are far from the maximum, this is a good level, nothing more.

Battery

Phones from Blackberry have always been famous for the fact that they were able to work for a long time, and this was one of the features of the brand, its strong point. Already in the Blackberry 9900, the battery life has become a weak point that most users have complained about. There was a hope that with the release of the new OS, code optimization and the use of the old chipset would allow for long-term operation, but this did not happen.

The phone uses lithium ion battery 1800 mAh capacity. According to the manufacturer, it can provide up to 310 hours of standby time and up to 10 hours of talk time. In my opinion, these indicators are very crafty, since in ordinary life the device works much less and the operating time depends heavily on what you are doing and how you charge it.

Let's start with the charger - the complete charger has the following parameters: 5V, 750 mAh. With its help, the battery charges for exactly three hours, which may not seem very convenient to many. Alternatively, leave your phone plugged in overnight. You can use high current chargers (1A or even 2A), in which case you will shorten the battery life somewhat, but at 2A it will take about 1.5 hours to fully charge. Here everyone must choose for himself what attracts him more.

It so happened that when working with the Z10, I constantly discharged the device for dinner and therefore took with me external batteries, which made it possible to discover a rather funny and interesting thing. The phone uses some “smart” charging algorithm, which, apparently, identifies a “foreign” Charger– Charging times get insanely long, and a couple of devices didn’t work with the Z10 at all, the phone just turned them off.

Over time, the operation of the smartphone in combat conditions is not all smooth sailing, a lot depends on what programs you use. For example, the phone has pre-installed Twitter/Facebook applications, and when they are used, the device starts to heat up mercilessly. As you understand, the hotter the phone gets, the faster the battery drains. I honestly don't understand how ordinary social networking clients can create such a load on the processor, but the case becomes uncomfortably hot and the battery evaporates before our eyes. With an average screen backlight and using Twitter, you can completely drain the battery in a couple of hours. In ordinary, everyday life, with several tens of minutes of calls, twenty minutes on the network via 3G, a couple of SMS, this device lasts a little more than half a day. Exactly with the same load, the iPhone provides at least 24 hours of work and it still has 15-20 percent of the charge. The difference in operating time is huge and often it is described by poorly optimized software. For example, I expected that when listening to music, the operating time would also be minimal, but it turned out to be very high. But as soon as you install a third-party player, you get case heating and a drastic reduction in operating time.

In the most optimistic scenario, you will get one light day of work, but this means that you almost never need to use your phone (I had an email check every 30 minutes, the same for social networks, etc. - Wi-Fi is always on). It is possible that in the absence of mail or social networks, you can extend the work time to one and a half days. But here we must ask the question whether it is worth taking a device in which the operating time is so short. Somehow it reminded me of the situation with HTC One X, which did not know how to work under load and lived for 5-6 hours. With Blackberry Z10 something similar, a weak battery and unoptimized software. True, there is various options fillings of the device, which affect its performance, performance.

It's a pity that the status bar does not show the phone's operating time as a percentage, in the "Settings" section you can find an indication of the battery charge, but the measurement step is 5 percent, which is quite unusual and cannot be explained in any way.

Hardware platform, performance

The model is available in two versions - with the TI OMAP 4470 chipset, this is a dual-core processor with a maximum frequency of 1.5 GHz (model STL100-1), and also on the MSM8960 chipset from Qualcomm - it is also dual-core and with the same frequency, the only difference is support for LTE. There are three versions built on the chipset from Qualcomm - STL100-2, STL100-3, STL100-4, they differ in frequencies and distribution regions.

The review considers the STL100-1 model, but, already completing this material, I found a model on Qualcomm and tried to compare them in the same tasks (STL100-2). The difference was noticeable not only with a stopwatch in hand, but also noticeable by eye. The STL100-1 model warmed up faster, while the STL100-2 was not so “hot” in normal tasks and worked longer. With Wi-Fi alone, the Qualcomm chipset's gain was noticeable, giving an overall run time boost of 15-20 percent. At the same time they started using mobile network 3G, the Qualcomm chipset turned out to be a little less efficient (although I personally expected something different).

According to subjective impressions, the STL100-1 model is not as good as other options, it has a worse implementation of power consumption. This does not give a huge increase in the life of the phone, but it is still noticeable. Subjectively, the number of freezes on the Qualcomm chipset is also less (it's possible that you just didn't use the phone so much, didn't set up all the accounts, and so on).

Complaints about the speed of the phone in system applications, interface, no. Everything is quite fast and smooth, but, unfortunately, there is no such speed as on the iPhone 5. Fast, but not too fast. For most users, the speed of work will seem sufficient. True, there is one trick here - with the warming up of the case, the application launch time increases, and the speed of their work decreases. Sometimes apps naturally freeze and you wait for your phone to unload them from memory.

Memory, memory cards

The device is available in only one version with 16 GB of internal memory, of which 10.8 GB is available to you. Can install microSD card memory capacity up to 64 GB, which will solve all your memory problems. In my opinion, this is more than enough for most people, and there are no pitfalls.

Volume random access memory 2 GB, of which 1.3 GB is available after system boot. Up to 8 applications can be opened in memory, which provides enough memory for all tasks. However, memory management is not optimal, there are often situations when trying to load a new application results in slow work phone, you need to close applications in memory to speed up its work.

Communication options

When connected to a PC, the phone automatically detects the operating system (MacOS/Windows) and offers to install Blackberry Link, which is downloaded from the company's website. Only after installing this program will drivers be installed that will allow you to see the phone's memory as a removable media. For a memory card, such dances with a tambourine are not needed, it is immediately visible as a removable medium.

In my opinion, this is a very stupid idea, as it limits the connection of the Z10 to only places where you can install a synchronization program (if you do not use a card, but only the built-in memory). Visible when plugged in virtual disk with drivers and setup file, but the attempt to manually install the drivers was unsuccessful (in Windows, I also liked the request to restart the computer - why so much fuss around the usual USB Mass Storage?).

Bluetooth version 4.0, yes NFC support, as well as dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n and hardware GPS. There is nothing to say - everything works, and thanks for that.

Camera - photo and video

Blackberry usually did not pay much attention to the cameras in their phones and did not chase megapixels. The Z10 introduces an 8-megapixel camera for the first time on a Blackberry. LED flash(uses OmniVision OV8830 chip with BSI2 technology).

You can call the camera by long pressing on its icon, you will see a very simple interface. You can shoot by touching the screen anywhere (if burst shooting is set, it will go as long as you hold your finger). The focus point can be changed by simply dragging it to the side. You can also zoom in with your fingers. Geotags are supported, flash works in automatic mode.

Of the interesting features, only Time Shift is worth mentioning, this is a technology from Scalado, which was bought by Nokia not so long ago and there is something similar in Lumia. You can take multiple shots of your friends' faces and then select the expression you like for each face. That is, you do not need to choose different photos, just set the right faces. A curious feature that is not so interesting in everyday life.

Pictures on the screen of the phone do not look too impressive, the backlight when viewing them is not too bright (and there is no way to fix this). But on a computer they look good, although the algorithm for improving their quality is clearly visible (brightness is stretched, details are lost - they tried to make the pictures brighter). Take a look at a few shots in comparison with the Samsung Galaxy S3.

Blackberry Z10	Samsung Galaxy S3

All about the BlackBerry 10 operating system

We were all anxiously anticipating December 2019 as the two years remaining before BlackBerry 10 and BBOS expired, but today BlackBerry announced that it will continue to support BlackBerry 10 mission-critical infrastructure and services and network access for BBOS devices beyond 2019 .

Like the previous announcement where BlackBerry noted that some ancillary services such as BlackBerry World, BlackBerry Travel and PlayBook Video Calling would be closed, there is some negative news in this announcement that you also need to be aware of.

Recently, we spend most of our time reviewing the features and capabilities of QWERTY BlackBerry smartphones on Android based— BlackBerry KEY2 and KEYone. In a crowded marketplace, the physical keyboard is the main thing that differentiates BlackBerry smartphones from other manufacturers' devices. But today, in our Retrospective section, we will talk about several fully touch devices based on the BlackBerry 10 operating system - smartphones with a diagonal of 5 inches - BlackBerry Z30, Z3 and Leap.

Important information for BlackBerry 10 or BlackBerry PlayBook users who continue to use the Box app to store and sync files. As reported on the Box website, Box for BlackBerry 10 and BlackBerry PlayBook will no longer work as of November 12, 2018.

Developers continue to prepare for the end of the placement paid apps in BlackBerry World, and we're seeing more and more BlackBerry 10 apps being made free. Today, all applications from Sven Ziegler IT Solutions such as ReadItNow, ReadOut and others have become free.

Sven currently has six BlackBerry 10 apps left in BlackBerry World, and if you haven't downloaded them yet, now is definitely the perfect time to try them out. Here full list available applications.

Well, the results are impressive. The score is in line with the scores of the iPhone 5, Galaxy S III and HTC One S. This is a very good result for the Blackberry Z10, which means that the filling in it is no worse than last year's flagships from Apple, Samsung and HTC.

>> Read the continuation of the review. BlackBerry 10 operating system and other details about the BlackBerry Z10

Operating system

So it's time to talk about the most important thing that is in the Blackberry Z10. If the case of a smartphone is similar to all other modern devices, the filling is similar to flagships, then the operating system here is new and completely different. First, we must immediately accept that this is not Android or iOS. Yes, something similar, but the ideology is completely different.

And I immediately want to say about one unpleasant thing - the turn-on time of the smartphone. As it was in previous BB phones, this is how it remained in the Z10: the gadget turns on for a long time, about 1-2 minutes. If something suddenly fails or you just decide to restart your smartphone, then on fast loading do not hope.

And now about the pleasant - for the correct operation of BB OS 10 is not needed special rate with connected BES or BIS. These features from carriers were essential for all previous generations of Blackberry to work. Now it is enough to insert any SIM-card into the device, and cellular will. Yes, BIS and BES provide many other features such as traffic compression, security, corporate mail, unlimited Internet, free roaming and so on, but these are just additions that you can do without - especially when you consider that the same BIS costs from 390 rubles for the user. per month, depending on the operator.

Let's start with the lock screen, it's very interesting here. If you need to move the slider on iPhone, in recent Android versions- swipe across the screen (in earlier ones - move the ring), then in BB OS 10 you need to raise the "blind". As you move across the screen from bottom to top, this "curtain" of the lock screen will smoothly dissolve and show the last open application. Nice and convenient solution.

We have become accustomed to the eternal confrontation between the two main operating systems Android and iOS, and a small, but very stubborn, third - Windows phone. It was in the field of this great battle of the three above-mentioned operating systems that another, once incredibly famous, BlackBerry company decided to show its teeth with the OS of the same name, but with its own taste and style developed over a long time. It's no secret that the BlackBerry Z10 was released a year ago, but only recently its official sales began in Russia, so it's time for us to tell you in more detail about whether this smartphone is worth its place in the sun, or not?

Package Contents BlackBerry Z10

The smartphone comes in a small black package with a bundle that perfectly matches the concept of minimalism. In addition to the smartphone itself, the kit includes a cable for charging and synchronization, network adapter as well as headphones. This headset looks stylish, but without too much pathos, (in-ear headphones) in black with a remote control and a microphone in it. The sound that these headphones give out is pretty good, but far from ideal, there were also questions about the comfort of using them, because after listening to music through them for a long time, I was eager to take them off as soon as possible.

The overall design of the BlackBerry Z10 can be summed up in the following words: stylish, solid and not boring. In front we are greeted by a 4.2-inch display, above which is a 2MP front camera, a proximity sensor (for some reason they forgot about the automatic brightness control sensor here), as well as an LED flash; at the bottom of the screen you will find a very NOT modest scale logo and the name of the manufacturer's company; and only then, on top of the screen and all the sensors, they placed protective glass, though it is not known what, but it definitely is! Above the glass there was a place for a speaker hole, and under it - for a conversational microphone. Turning the device, we see in the upper right corner there is an 8 megapixel camera, and a flash (popularly known as a "flashlight"), and that's it. Just kidding, there was also room for another, solid in size, manufacturer's logo (this time inlaid into the back panel). Removing the cover reveals a modest 1800 mAh battery and two slots for micro SIM and microSD. In the very back cover there was a place for an NFC antenna. It is removed with ease, and over time, it is quite possible that it will begin to take on a life of its own.

Now, as for the ends. They are made of soft-touch plastic (actually, like the whole phone), and they placed the following elements on themselves: the right end is the volume buttons and the Pause / Play button, the bottom is a slot for the earpiece, the left side is the connector for charging and synchronization , as well as micro HDMI. The upper end, we left for a snack, because it's just a nuisance. An audio jack, a standard 3.5 mm jack, and (attention!) a power button were placed on the top edge. It was placed in the very center of the upper end, the same frankly not convenient location of the main button, the last time we saw it during the inspection of the Lenovo S920, but it can be forgiven, because it clearly does not have big ambitions. The designers of the BlackBerry Z10 probably aimed to surpass the iPhone, but they clearly failed, because the second has a frankly smaller size (in size), and only a 4-inch display.

Apart from the badly placed power button, the overall ergonomics of the BlackBerry Z10 is top notch, its edges and corners are nicely smoothed, which makes it comfortable to hold in one hand, but I don’t mean easy one-handed operation, this is to blame for the too wide bezel around, and without that not small, display. The entire smartphone is made of soft-touch plastic, so it will not be easy to slip out of your hand. But we have complaints about the build quality of the BlackBerry Z10, because for many reviews, rear panel a little crackle at the top, below the camera hole.

BlackBerry Z10 display

Release this smartphone was planned back in 2012, when the standard display size was 4.5-4.7 inches, but time passed, the standards grew, and it was too late to redraw the design for new market requirements, so the BlackBerry Z10 received a 4.2-inch display with a resolution of 1280 x 720, then there is HD, and the pixel density per inch in it was 355 pixels, which is not so bad. The screen does not have an oleophobic coating, so it collects prints with great pleasure. In the sun, the image fades, although the text remains readable. According to the characteristics, this smartphone has an automatic light control sensor, but we were not able to evaluate the quality of its work. It is not possible to turn on the auto-brightness option, nor to turn it off, this is a typical solution for companies that have problems with power consumption. Outdoors on a bright sunny day, fortunately we caught such while testing the BlackBerry Z10, we had to increase the brightness manually. In general, it should be said that the viewing angles and brightness of the display installed here are far from the maximum values, and in general it is already a little outdated, as for modern flagships, but as they say, "it will go to beer."

With sound, fortunately, everything is very, very good. The sound quality is excellent, it is quite clear, but of course without bass. There is also enough volume reserve, even in a noisy place you will still hear your “blueberry” (you are unlikely to miss an SMS or a message). We consider the location of the speaker on the bottom end to be quite successful, and you simply won’t be able to drown it out. The quality of the sound played through the headphones largely depends on the headphones themselves, but the volume margin already depends on the device on which this sound is played. The volume reserve of the Z10 is enough, but not by much (in a noisy place it may not be enough). The 3.5 mm audio jack itself also gives out its own "candelabra" refusing to adequately play music with certain headphones, such as Sennheiser and Urbanista, but with the Razer Hommerhead Pro, the listening experience was only positive.

The BlackBerry Z10 has its own apps for playing Music and Videos, which can hardly be called advanced, and they don't look very advanced either. But of course, do not forget about those for whom this device was created, namely the business segment. There is no equalizer in the music player, as well as no way to adjust the sound, and BlackBerry will not play all formats. For example, having uploaded an audio file in FLAC format, you will not be able to find it in the music player, but opening the built-in file manager and clicking on the same music track in FLAC format, it will start playing in the standard player. Well, that's just ridiculous!

With the playback of Video, things turned out better. The application itself looks rather ascetic and has no additional function other than video playback.

In general, throughout the history of its development, BlackBerry paid little attention to the cameras of its devices, and did not follow the trend, the race for megapixels, so equipping the Z10 with an 8 megapixel main camera (using the OmniVision OV8830 chip with BSI2 technology) can be considered a big step forward for the entire company (although, of course, 8 megapixels is no longer a lot today, but at the time of release it was the flagship resolution, as for a camera). The BlackBerry Z10 camera is also equipped with an LED flash. You can launch the camera, as from the lock screen, you don’t need to pull up like in iOS devices, but just click on the camera icon and wait 3 seconds, or simply by clicking on the camera icon from the application menu. The camera interface is very, very primitive (as, by the way, in most BlackBerry 10 OS applications), in order to take a picture, you need to click on the screen anywhere. To zoom in, you need to pinch the screen, while the flash works on the machine. Of the interesting features that the BlackBerry Z10 is equipped with, it is worth noting only Time Shift, this is a Scalado technology that Nokia recently acquired and something similar exists in the devices of the line. You can take multiple shots of your friends' faces and then select the expression you like best for each face. That is, you do not need to select different photos, just adjust the face of each individual person. Interesting feature, which, unfortunately, is not so interesting in everyday life.

The picture quality is far from ideal. The photos are very illuminated (i.e. elongated precisely due to the software increase in brightness), due to which the pictures lose in detail. But on a sunny bright day, the quality turns like a pumpkin into a Cinderella carriage, and becomes acceptable for the 8 MP main camera of a flagship device.

The smartphone that came to us for review runs on BlackBerry 10 OS, version 10.2.1.2141, straight out of the box. To call this OS excellent, it’s just that the language does not turn, but the adjective “interesting” is just right for her. The Blackberry 10 OS is like everyone else, and at the same time unlike any other. The OS does not have a separate application menu (just like in iOS), and at the same time, you can easily download the apps you like right from the browser window (like in Android). The developers of the BlackBerry 10 OS deserve special thanks for giving us all the opportunity to freely install applications from the “green robot”, that is, right from the same browser window you can download yourself “. Apk » file and install it next to other programs tailored for BlackBerry. Unfortunately, these applications are not updated, just like their counterparts from Android, but for example, it is possible to install and freely use Privat24 and Viber without waiting for them to appear in BlackBerry World (this is an analogue of the AppStore and Google Play), which is a huge plus. Although, of course, not all applications work adequately on the Blackberry 10 OS.

We have no desire to sort through all the programs that are installed in the BlackBerry 10 OS, but I want to say that they all look pretty bland, without imagination, that is, they were created with only one purpose (Music for playing music, and a calculator for calculations. And all).

Managing your smartphone with gestures is one of its most important advantages. Swiping up from the bottom of the screen closes any application, putting it into standby mode. The same gesture, but on the screen off, will wake up the phone, which is good news, because the location of the power button in the BlackBerry Z10 can hardly be called successful. By swiping your finger from the bottom up, and then without removing your finger, swipe to the right, you will go to the world-famous BlackBerry Hub, which is the only center for receiving all kinds of messages (SMS, calls, Email, Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, LinkdIn and of course BBM). This hub is very, very handy for keeping track of your daily activities (or in case your memory fails you, you can track your activities throughout the day simply step by step). We would really like to see the same BlackBerry Hub on all mobile operating systems without exception that currently exist.

The heart of this smartphone is the well-known draconian processor, the 2-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus (model number MSM8960), which operates at a frequency of 1.5 GHz. It has 2 GB of RAM, and 16 GB of internal memory, and for those who do not have enough of this, they will also offer a card slot. microSD memory. BlackBerry Z10 is hard to name fast smartphone that we have ever held in our hands. It has enough smoothness in work, especially when working with its own pre-installed applications, but after installing any third-party application (especially apk - a file from Android), you may have the desire to slap it on something hard. It is much slower than the iPhone 5, and much slower than most of today's flagship Android smartphones. You will be able to drive in Real Racing 3, as this application is in BlackBerry World.

This is one of the "Achilles heels" of this smartphone. It is powered by a 1800 mAh battery, and according to the manufacturer, this will last for 10 hours of talk time, but this Myth has been disproved! In our memory, the longest time battery life, which we managed to get, was about 17 hours, this is with Wi-Fi constantly on, mobile internet, constant synchronization, surfing the Internet, using the phone in general, taking pictures, and constantly chatting in in social networks. Having removed the device from charging early in the morning, around midnight it stopped showing signs of life. Most likely, the developers should have, firstly, squeezed a larger battery here, and secondly, sewed in a software optimization program.

Conclusion. The BlackBerry Z10 is hard not to love. This smartphone, like all other gadgets on the market, has its drawbacks (of which there are many), but at the same time it has several undeniable advantages, the importance of which should affect your desire to purchase it. But compared to the variety of smartphones that currently exist on the market, the Z10 is no good. He loses over and over again in the competition with most of the "mobile phones". The problem is that its market launch has been delayed a little, which is why the BlackBerry Z10 is almost a year behind the modern "Smartphone - Proma".

The advantages of the BlackBerry Z10 include:

• Interesting design;
• Practical case material;
• Good display;
• High-quality and loud sound;
• Easy installation of applications from Android;
• Data security;
• Blackberry Hub;
• Average power.

The cons of the BlackBerry Z10 include:

• Inconvenient location of the power button;
• Poor build quality
• Lack of automatic brightness control;
• Incompatibility with some headphones;
• Weak camera;
• Very weak battery.

The BlackBerry Z10 should appeal to fans of the BlackBerry brand who appreciate their attention to data security, as well as their signature services like the BlackBerry Hub and BBM. This OS is very promising (although still a very raw platform), and after some time after you start using BlackBerry, you understand that there is something in it. Something that makes you prefer it, instead of your favorite Android.

Alternatives to BlackBerry Z10

Considering that the BlackBerry Z10 is the flagship of the Canadian manufacturer, it would be worth comparing it with the iPhone, Samsung, Sony and HTC, but, unfortunately, it’s just not up to the hand to do this (after all, any flagship device from these manufacturers will tear the Z10 like a monkey newspaper), therefore, it is better to compare the blueberry with mini versions of the same flagships. You can buy BlackBerry Z10 from $250.

Galaxy S4 is a smaller and less powerful version of last year Samsung flagship S4. The S4 Mini has a 4.3-inch display with a crushing 540 x 960 resolution. At the heart of the flagship mini is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 400, which is only marginally better than the processor found in the Z10. The cameras of both devices have a resolution of 8 megapixels, but the soft camera settings of the “south Korean” smartphone are its huge advantage. Our choice falls on the Samsung I9190 Galaxy S4 Mini, which also starts at $250.

Also a pretty good alternative to the flagship from the Canadians. One mini has the same 4.3-inch display, but with HD resolution. The heart of the HTC One mini 601e is also the Qualcomm Snapdragon 400. Both smartphones listed in the alternatives are based on Android 4.2 JellyBean. The camera of the Taiwanese device has only 4 megapixels, but is also very well configured in software, compared to the BlackBerry Z10. You can buy HTC One mini 601e for $340.

Translation of an article from the site vinsee.com.ua