Finally... the Canadians got something right....
Right now I'm doing the impossible. I am writing a blog post... with one thumb. let's see you do that with your iphone.
I have had the blackberry z10 for a week now so I thought it was time to fill y'all in. I think the fact that I am using it to write this when perfectly good laptops are available says plenty. Don't you?
Let me start by saying this... I used to lose my razr maxx at least once a day. I have yet to lose the z10... because I simply can't make myself put it down.
A smartphone is a tool... well several tools actually... so I will break the review down like that. How does it perform in its various roles?
As a communication device:
It is likely the best in the world bar none. The typing experience is amazing. I hate on screen keyboards and yet here I typing up a blog post on one. Everything is fast. A text or call or email comes in and no matter where you are or what you're doing with the phone a single swipe let's you handle it... or you can just give a quick peek and ignore it. Everything flows. I don't mean you exit your app or game or whatever and respond to the text or email. I mean you swipe... reply... and swipe again and you're right back where you were doing what you were doing. You don't exit the browser to respond to an email. You just flow into the email then to the calendar... then to contacts... then to twitter... and eventually flow right back into the browser where you were. No stupid home button crap.
As a browser:
It is crazy good. And crazy fast. I hate browsing on mobile devices... ok well I used to. Now I do it a lot. another cool tidbit... I have multiple wireless networks set up around my house. as I walk around it automatically switches between the networks without even telling me. It just happens. Like it is all one big network. As signal strength weakens on one network and gains on another... it switches. like magic. HTML5 performance is fantastic... and oh look! I can view flash pages. I can actually use youtube.com. So thanks... but I don't need an app for that.
Media consumption:
Fantastic. I read my Kindle books.. rock my tunes.. watch my movies... everything. No netflix yet. There is a workaround but its not a big deal to me.
Battery life?
I have never had to top it off. I use it hard all day
I don't know what else to say. Charge it at night. That's all.
Apps?
I am not a huge app guy. Why do I need apps with a browser this good? Example... there is no Blogger app. android has a Blogger app. Yet here I am blogging. That said there are lots of good apps and good games... but it is a new ecosystem. On the other hand... you can side load android apps and run them just fine. I mentioned that right? It runs android apps.
Camera?
I am not sure its as good as the one on my old blackberry 9810... but I really like it. The timeshift feature just rocks. The camera has a learning curve and we're still making friends. Sometimes there are low light issues. Haven't quite figured it out yet.
Overall?
It's what God intended cellphones to be. Seriously. If you're into getting shit done... this is your phone. Whatever it is that I have to get done... gets done faster with the Z10.
Try it. Maybe it isn't for you. Maybe it is.
*** UPDATE***
I've decided to demonstrate with a concrete example what I mean about speeding things up. An iPhone5 is here on my desk next to my Z10. The iPhone5 goes ***DING***. I pick it up... hit the home button like its 1995... and the lock screen comes up. I put in the code... and suddenly I am in the browser. I hit the home button again... because I love me some 1995... now I am at the home screen and I am looking around at a bunch icons to see why it went ding. Then I hit "messages" and only then do I see what is going on.
Constrast this with the Z10. It goes ding. I pick it up and swipe from bottom to top. At the lock screen I'm shown that I have a new text message. one more swipe and I'm in the text message that was just sent to me. So much for 1995.
*** This post was brought to you by the Letter Z, and the Number 10***
21 comments:
" Whatever it is that I have to get done... gets done faster with the Z10"
They should use that in a commercial
Thanks for this post. I am considering getting a new phone.....and I hate my iphone (which my previous employer bought for me. Thank goodness for that. I'd hate to think I paid for this beating).
play with it. If you use your phone for email... texting... and communicating... also driving NAV is very good on the phone. Built in turn by turn... the Z10 rocks.
If you need a toy or have lots of niche specific apps that you need... it may not be for you.
Nice review.
Uh oh, Nate is in complete agreement with Denninger on something...
The end of the world is nigh! *laugh*
If I Wouldn't own an N9, I would buy it. Most of the things you mentioned were on the N9 1.5 years ago: swiping, no-home, messages in start screen, good (not as Good as Z10) browser etc.
Does it have Swype for the keyboard?
the keyboard uses swiftkey predictive text... and the words appear over the letters or on the space bar. So its not swype persay... but you end up swiping words up to the text line all the time.
Sailfish doesn't really compare to BB10... though Sailfish is significantly more beautiful than iOS or Android.
The iPhone5 goes ***DING***. I pick it up... hit the home button like its 1995... and the lock screen comes up. I put in the code... and suddenly I am in the browser. I hit the home button again... because I love me some 1995... now I am at the home screen and I am looking around at a bunch icons to see why it went ding. Then I hit "messages" and only then do I see what is going on.
You can set your messages, and various other notifications, to appear on your lock screen.
I CAN HAS MAKE IPHONE APPROXIMATE THIS FUNCTIONALITY!!!!
Call me when the real Blackberry with an actual keyboard is available. Glad to hear the OS doesn't suck, though.
Use'ta love BB back in the day, and I didn't even like the thing as something to walk around with. But. ERP systems talked to it, the BES was da bomb, remote wipe and remote reset are required functions that nobody else had, enterprise e-mail just effing worked, as did my Yahoo and Google accounts, etc etc etc. I just didn't like the little scrolley wheel, and it was too wide, and the screen kinda sucked, and other "phones" had lots of toy features. Bu when I got off BB I got a BB knockoff because I really, really can't stand typing on a screen - gotta have the tiny keyboard.
I never understood why BB nosedived. People seriously want a phone just to play angry birds? And don't care about e-mail and remote management? And BB always had great battery life.
Glad to see BB has a new thing, and it's competitive.
-Bill
Looks like I will finally get a smartphone.
Will check it out this week for sure.
Guys... if you're into physical keyboards... fear not. The Q10 comes out in a just a few weeks... and from what we can tell... its battery life will rival the old 9700's... which is to say... you will charge it twice a week if it needs it or not.
I still can't believe I wrote all this on a cellphone without a physical keyboard.
And you spelled it all correctly! Whoohooo!! Seriously, I am glad you like your phone. Are you also going to get the new one when it comes out?
It occurs to me that you have the same phone as the fool in the WH, yet you won't touch anything Lincoln is on. I find that strangely peculiar.
All presidents are given blackberrys. There is a reason. Note the fool in the WH claimed he would keep his iphone.
That is a relief. I was in smartypants mode. Sorry about that. I used to hear you guys call these crapberry phones. So they have improved them that much. I am glad to see some things can improve rather than the other way around.
WP8 is for old people with eye-problems that need big boring "tiles"!
Add a tpu-case to S3 and it will be colourful and durable, and you can easily completly change the user interface...! Xperia Z have all the specs anyone will ever need, but S4-specs will be even better...
Z10 browser does not even have text reflow, and that is not ok today!
Dear Nate,
thanks for sharing this valuable info.
What a fantastic mobile! I buy this soon.
Blackberry-z10 is very exclusive smartphone I am very happyu to your post and blackberry-z10 model is awesome thanks for shearing about this.
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