Can the one-time king of business
mobile survive in the modern smartphone world?
It was once called the “CrackBerry”. Five
years ago, a BlackBerry smartphone was a necessary accessory for anyone who
hoped to be taken seriously in the business world. But Canada’s finest
stuttered and stumbled after more advanced phones too k the stage, realizing
too late the importance of touch, the value of apps, and the willingness of
working people around the world to bring their own Androids and iPhones into
the office.
The company now known as BlackBerry is
betting the maple syrup farm on two new releases: the BlackBerry Z10 and Q10,
both running the BlackBerry Z10 and Q10, both running the BlackBerry 10
operating system. They’re the fruit of years of acquisitions and study, a break
from old software that aims to keep BlackBerry’s focus on messaging and
communication. They show a lot of promise, but they may not be enough to bring
the company back to leadership on the very smartphone world it helped create.
BlackBerry’s
new touch-screen phone, the Z10, uses the innovative BlackBerry 10 OS, but is
it enough to help reverse the company’s fortunes?
The phones
The flagship BlackBerry Z10 is a thoroughly
modern smartphone with a thoroughly modern mobile OS. It’s attractive and well
built, with a 4.2-inch 1,280-by-768 LCD that higher density than those of the
iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy SIII, and a 2GB of RAM that ensure consistently
good performance. Call quality is strong, and the speakerphone is excellent;
there’s even moderately accurate (though not perfect) voice dictation. An
8-megapixel main camera and a front-facing 2MP camera with 720p video recording
complete the picture.
Unfortunately, the Z10 doesn’t set itself
dramatically apart from other leading slab-style smartphones. It’s another nice
black slab. Even if the Z10 is competitive with the latest offerings from
Apple, Google, and Microsoft, can it be competitive enough without a more
distinctive approach? I’d have been more profoundly moved if the first
BlackBerry 10 phone one of the spectacular hardware keyboards BlackBerry is
famous for.
The
flagship BlackBerry Z10 is a thoroughly modern smartphone with a thoroughly
modern mobile OS
Not that you’ll have to wait long for one of
those. I’ve spent some time with the “coming soon” BlackBerry Q10, which does
have a hardware keyboard, and have been even more impressed with it than I was
with the Z10. The Q10’s features parallel a lot of the Z10’s, but the phone
feels just like a BlackBerry Bold, though it’s a little taller and wider and
has a much larger screen. RIM gets to play with the fact that it isn’t entirely
a one-handed device-you’re going to type with two hands, so you probably won’t
have to reach all the way across its keyboard with one.
That keyboard is Bold-quality, too, with
larger keys that make it even easier to type accurately. And the Q10 will
support many, if not all, of the familiar BlackBerry keyboard shortcuts. If you
start typing from any screen, it will start a universal search; if your typing
becomes the name of a contact or an email address, it’ll start an email. Yes,
this is more direct and effective than the Z10’s interface. It’s even quicker
to get things done.
Phone
comparison: The design of the BlackBerry Z10 makes it look a lot like other
Samsung and Apple smartphones.
This could be either good or bad news,
depending on whether BlackBerry wants to be known for its keyboard-equipped
smartphones on 2013. Given its release schedule, it looks like BlackBerry would
prefer to focus on the Z10. But because we’ve seen so many phones designed just
like it, the understated Z10 could fade into the background and it wouldn’t be
surprising if that has an impact on sales.
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BlackBerry
Z10 specs
·
Price: $199.99
·
Carriers: AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon
·
Dimensions (HWD): 5.1 by 2.6 by 0.35 inches
·
Weight: 4.8 ounces
·
Screen Size: 4.2 inches
·
Screen Type: 1,280-by-768LCD
·
Screen Density: 356ppi
·
Processor: 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcoom
Snapdragon S4
·
Storage: 16BG internal, up to 64GB micro card
·
Camera: 8MP rear, 2MP front
·
Video Capture: 1080p rear, 720p front
·
Wi-Fi: 802.11a/b/g/n (2.4GHz, 5GHz)
·
Bluetooth: 4.0
·
NFC: Yes
·
4G LTE?: Yes
·
Battery: 1,800mAh
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