*** The Official BlackBerry Z10 & Q10 Thread ***

[Yas786]

I've had an iPhone 3G, 3GS & 4. I then decided that I'd give BlackBerry a chance so picked up a Bold 9900.

It's been an OK phone at best. The keyboard is great, best typing experience I've had. The screen is nice and clear and the battery life was OK for me. The thing that has really disappointing me about the 9900 was the amount of freezes it had. I could just be typing a text message and the hour glass would appear for 30 seconds. I could be taking a picture, the hourglass would appear, on Twitter, Facebook, anything... This constant freezing issue has really made me hesitant to get a Z10 once my contract is up and it's making me lean back towards iPhone. That, plus the camera. I love to take pictures and the camera on the 9900 isn't great, and looking at comparison shots, the Z10 falls short of the iPhone 5 camera.

I'm in a bind

Ive had my Z10 now for about a mth and i have had absolutely no freezes whatsoever...in fact a lot of people over at crackberry have more or less said the same thing. Ive only had to reboot my Z10 twice since ive had it ie got a new voda sim so had to pull the battery and one time i accidentally turned it off as i unknowingly pushed the top button for a bit too long.

But freezes are a thing of the past, the Z10 flies and its smooth, well the OS is very smooth and i hardly get any lag. The only lag i see on my Z10 is in the setting menu's but its not not a huge amount of lag.

What you forget is the 9900, as great a phone it is, is now over 2 yrs old. Its using an ancient OS which is hardly efficient compared to BB10. My 9900 as well used to freeze up now and again and the battery wasnt great, that much ill agree with.

Photo wise?, yes its not that great but ive managed to get some great shots. But then i didnt buy the Z10 to take photos, ive got a digi cam for that. But for me, its fine the camera. Obviously people are different in their needs and wants so if you feel the Z10 camera isnt up to par then you might as well get the iphone5 or something.

What i would suggest is go into a store that has a z10 on display and have a play around with it for yourself. Like i said everyone is different in their needs and wants in a phone and you may find its not for you or vice versa.

Looking forward to seeing the Q10 being released and having a play with it but highly unlikely ill swap my z10 for one....id miss the screen real estate for one thing and the keyboard on the z10 is perfect for me.

 

[thep02]

BB stock up 5+% on favorable reception in UK and Canada and an upgrade from Morgan Stanley, up 32% on the year.

 

[richard smith]

I've had my z10 since the day it came out. Took a little getting used to but not too long. I have to say I love the phone. It's fast, responsive has a great browser and it just fits perfectly in the hand - way better than the ergonomically dreadful samsung S2/3.

Its a company phone and we're a blackberry house for corporate email but we've been evaluating other phones (Ios/android) so i've had my fair share of phones to play with and nothing comes close to the blackberry in terms of the OS.

Using IOS in particular after Z10 is painful. It feels so dated.

BES10 connectivity works a treat and the balance feature is very neat being able to separate work from personal use. Being able to control and push work only apps works well to control what can access the internal corporate network.

Work Drives is a wicked app to essentially map drives to your Z10, browse and open files like you would on a PC. Oh, the installed office suite is also great.

Only area where I would say the z10 (and BB10 in general) is weak is that app selection is limited at the moment. Not an issue for me as I want a phone that makes calls and does email and allows me to access stuff on our internal network when i'm travelling and it does this great.

 

[Yas786]

For anyone wanting the Q10, which is the keyboard version of BB10.

Looks like April 26th is the day it will be released, sim free of course.

http://crackberry.com/blackberry-q10-hit-uk-shores-april-26th

£500+ for the honour of owning one, think its a bit high tbh. Anyhow wont be getting one as i like my Z10 far too much but ill definitely go and have a play with one.

 

[Hxc]

For anyone wanting the Q10, which is the keyboard version of BB10.

Looks like April 26th is the day it will be released, sim free of course.

http://crackberry.com/blackberry-q10-hit-uk-shores-april-26th

£500+ for the honour of owning one, think its a bit high tbh. Anyhow wont be getting one as i like my Z10 far too much but ill definitely go and have a play with one.

The 9900 was £500+ on release, people seem to be forgetting. It was significantly inferior OS wise vs it's market at the time; the Q10 not so much, it's different, yes, but not neccisarily worse than iOS/Android like BB7 was.

 

[sansnom]

Does the Z10 support airplay for use with all these new airplay home-sound systems?

It's a feature I like on the current iphones/androids. Not sure if BB supports it though which would make the BB entirely out of question for me.

 

[cheechm]

I don't believe so, mainly because there is absolutely no need in an enterprise situation.

 

[sansnom]

I don't believe so, mainly because there is absolutely no need in an enterprise situation.

not sure I understand what you mean.

 

[Yas786]

Does the Z10 support airplay for use with all these new airplay home-sound systems?

It's a feature I like on the current iphones/androids. Not sure if BB supports it though which would make the BB entirely out of question for me.

Not at the moment i dont think it does. It does do streaming via DNLA, the other night i was streaming a movie on my xbox360 via DNLA...worked very very well.

I don't believe so, mainly because there is absolutely no need in an enterprise situation.

LOL BB's arent just for enterprise use you know??...well not anymore. The z10 is as multimedia friendly as an iphone or an Android...just at the moment, apps wise its not as good as iphone or Android but its getting better day by day.

 

[Johnnytoxic]

I used a Z10 the other day at work, it felt so clunky compared to iPhone and Android, The Settings UI wasn't very smooth animation wise. Maybe I needed to give it more time; there is no way Blackberry will claw back any market with the OS as it is now. If it takes time to get used to, people who are trying them in shops or testing a friends for a few minutes will not be very impressed.

 

[Yas786]

I used a Z10 the other day at work, it felt so clunky compared to iPhone and Android, The Settings UI wasn't very smooth animation wise. Maybe I needed to give it more time; there is no way Blackberry will claw back any market with the OS as it is now. If it takes time to get used to, people who are trying them in shops or testing a friends for a few minutes will not be very impressed.

Yes and i have said it before that the reason why the settings is slow is because while the OS is built using cascades...for some odd reason they decided to write the settings screen in adobe air. Hopefully this will be addressed in a future update to speed it up. As fior being clunky against iphones and Android??...i actually find the iphone and my s3 clunky compared to the Z10...probably because im so used to swiping around my screen to get around the OS.

Personally ive had quite a few of my iphone/android friends ask me about the Z10, i give them mine to play around with it and they are very impressed with the phone itself. They love the 'true' multi tasking ability of the phone and are in awe of how easy it is to get around the phone using swipes. It does take a bit of time getting used to the gestures on the phone but once you get used to them, it becomes second nature. In fact when i pick up my s3, i find myself trying to swipe up n down without any luck.

Would i recommend someone to buy it?? yes but id also recommend them to go and try it out if they can because everyone has different needs/wants when it comes to phones and this phone may not suit everyone.

As for market share??, well later this week we will find out just how well the Z10 has done in Canada and the UK as the quarterly results will be out. Blackberry are NOT in any way, shape or form thinking they can be number 1, they are looking at cementing 3rd spot then moving on from there. Anyone who has listened to what the CEO of Blackberry has said in the past few mths would know that.

Anyhow CPW now has the Q10 up for pre-order, the QWERTY keyboard version of BB10: http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/news/coming-soon/blackberry-q10

 

[jrwagh333]

I really am stuck on what to throw my money on and spend the next 2 years of my life with.

iPhone 5 or BB Z10

Like I have said before, I have been an iPhone 3G, 3GS & 4 user until I jumped ship onto BlackBerry with the 9900.

The 9900 has been a great phone when it comes to pure communication, especially e-mails. I get all my e-mails through instantly, all my Tweets and all my Facebook notifications, this is great, my favorite part about jumping over to BlackBerry.

The things I missed with my iPhone were the great quality camera and just the wide choice of apps. I'm not an app whore by any means, but it was nice to keep up to date with my other iPhone friends. For example 'Snap Chat' seems to be the new app people are using for the next five minutes, and being with BlackBerry, I'm missing out on things like that. Also the camera quality is nowhere near as good as it was with my iPhone 4. The lack of an auto-focus camera on the 9900 was a horrible thing to deal with.

Things I would miss by not going back to an iPhone: App selection & camera.
Things I would miss by leaving BlackBerry: Brilliant communication, push notifications & BBM.

I'm not an avid BBM user, I have 7 contacts and speak to about 2 at the most, but it is still a nice thing to have, but I could live without it.

The thing that is making me sit on the fence with not getting a Z10 is all the freezes and hangs I have had with my 9900. Like I have said in a previous post. I could just be typing out an SMS and I'll get the hourglass logo appear on the screen for 10 seconds... Sometimes I will be checking twitter, switch to BBM to type a message and the phone just freezes all together and I have to do a battery pull... the worse situation is when I'm trying to quickly grab a picture, at a concert or event and my phone freezes when opening up the camera app, thus making me miss the moment... If the Z10 has 100% got rid of the freezing/hanging issue, this will sway my decision more towards the Z10.

any input and opinions are appreciated. I understand this is a Blackberry thread, so opinions are going to be a bit biased haha

 

[Robbo]

You've thought it through quite well and I'd personally recommend the iPhone 5 over the Z10, as a general rule anyway.

I don't think you can compare the 9900 to the Z10 though, it's really a totally different sort of thing.

Make sure you try them both out extensively if you can.

 

[Yas786]

I really am stuck on what to throw my money on and spend the next 2 years of my life with.

iPhone 5 or BB Z10

Like I have said before, I have been an iPhone 3G, 3GS & 4 user until I jumped ship onto BlackBerry with the 9900.

The 9900 has been a great phone when it comes to pure communication, especially e-mails. I get all my e-mails through instantly, all my Tweets and all my Facebook notifications, this is great, my favorite part about jumping over to BlackBerry.

The things I missed with my iPhone were the great quality camera and just the wide choice of apps. I'm not an app whore by any means, but it was nice to keep up to date with my other iPhone friends. For example 'Snap Chat' seems to be the new app people are using for the next five minutes, and being with BlackBerry, I'm missing out on things like that. Also the camera quality is nowhere near as good as it was with my iPhone 4. The lack of an auto-focus camera on the 9900 was a horrible thing to deal with.

Things I would miss by not going back to an iPhone: App selection & camera.
Things I would miss by leaving BlackBerry: Brilliant communication, push notifications & BBM.

I'm not an avid BBM user, I have 7 contacts and speak to about 2 at the most, but it is still a nice thing to have, but I could live without it.

The thing that is making me sit on the fence with not getting a Z10 is all the freezes and hangs I have had with my 9900. Like I have said in a previous post. I could just be typing out an SMS and I'll get the hourglass logo appear on the screen for 10 seconds... Sometimes I will be checking twitter, switch to BBM to type a message and the phone just freezes all together and I have to do a battery pull... the worse situation is when I'm trying to quickly grab a picture, at a concert or event and my phone freezes when opening up the camera app, thus making me miss the moment... If the Z10 has 100% got rid of the freezing/hanging issue, this will sway my decision more towards the Z10.

any input and opinions are appreciated. I understand this is a Blackberry thread, so opinions are going to be a bit biased haha

Right as i replied to your post at the top, i shall do so again.

The lagging of the 9900 and the Z10 is non existent, it really is. For instance i can have 8 apps running at the same time and switch seamlessly between them without the Z10 skipping a beat so your concerns about the hourglass is justified but as i said i have NOT seen any laggy behaviour from the OS in general...only lag i get is in the settings and phone call app but thats because it was made with Adobe air rather than cascades. But honestly its minute really in the grand scheme of things, it doesnt stop me from enjoying the phone...i get far more lag on my quad core S3 than i do on the S3.

The only minus i would give the Z10 over the iphone5 is the app selection, but as you said your not a huge app whore...similar to me. The camera on the z10 is much much better than the 9900, i can guarantee you that as first of all it doesnt it does have auto focus. The camera app on the Z10 opens fast and again i havent seen any lags when taking pics.

Also its been about 2 and half weeks since i last rebooted my device and its yet to slow down or give me hassles. Whereas with my 9900 i was having to battery pull every other day or so but battery pulls are now a thing of the past.

The only way you will know for sure is to go and try a Z10 out if you can and if you do, make sure the damn retail staff take it off the bloody retail mode...god only knows why BB decided to put that feature in because tbh it actually puts people off from buying it. But seriously if you can go and try one out and see how you get on with it.

In fact ill even offer to show you mine but im in east london and work in Canary Wharf..i dont know if you are from London yourself but im more than happy to let you have a play with mine as long as you buy me a coffee or something. But the offer is there if you want to take it up, just send me a trust message if you like and we can take it from there. I will say that i do not use twitter, it doesnt interest me but if you really want to see it in action then ill gladly set mine up so you can have a look around.

Anyhow thats my honest advice, im not saying get a z10, what i am saying is have a play with one to see if it suits your needs. For the record i spent almost 2 weeks going into shops and playing with their z10 on display and then i made up my mind to ditch my 9900 and move over to the z10. A decision i dont regret making one single bit even with the new iphone and the million core cpu ladled Android handsets.

 

[thep02]

BB quarterly results out this morning, though I heard last week that sales of the z10, which had looked good, fell off a cliff however that was before US sales started, big day for BB nevertheless.

Ok they're out, a very interesting page, they lost 3 m subscribers, which is higher than expectations but delivered a mil Z10's, I'm not sure whether those deliveries are sales though, positive earnings per share as well which is better than expectations, interesting page of ups and downs, IMHO they're still in the game but not thriving.

BB charge retailers $256 in the USA, they'd shift shed loads if they sold them direct for that kind of figure!!

 

[jrwagh333]

Thanks for that genrous offer Yas, but I'm all the way down South, so nowhere near London.

I think I'm going to go in to town and have a long play with a Z10 today as I'm starting to lean more towards it. Can i ask why you have chose the Z10 for yourself? I know you are a big BlackBerry fan, but I was just wondering if you ever thought the grass looked greener on the other side.

 

[Yas786]

Thanks for that genrous offer Yas, but I'm all the way down South, so nowhere near London.

I think I'm going to go in to town and have a long play with a Z10 today as I'm starting to lean more towards it. Can i ask why you have chose the Z10 for yourself? I know you are a big BlackBerry fan, but I was just wondering if you ever thought the grass looked greener on the other side.

No problem mate, like i said the offer is there if you want to take it up . If you do into a store that has them on display, i beg you to ask them to take it off the retail mode that majority of stores i have been into, have them on the devices. Basically its just a demo of the features without you having much input etc.

Why did i choose the Z10??, simply because for me the device is perfect in every respect. Yes im a huge BB fan, have been for quite some yrs now and have never felt disappointed by them even when the iphone/Androids were racing ahead with their thousands of apps.
As for the grass is greener on the other side, nope i never thought that. Up until a yr ago, i was dual wielding a 9900 and an iphone4 and even though i liked the iphone4 with its amazing apps..the device that kept me most interested was the 9900 believe it or not. My iphone4 was used solely as a gaming and multimedia device, i never made calls on it, texts, emails etc...all of that was done on my 9900. Now last yr i ditched the iphone4 and got the HTC One X which i then ditched for the S3. Again still had my 9900 but used the S3 purely for apps and multimedia useage.
Now since getting the Z10, the S3 is sitting in a corner of my room gathering dust but i have put it up for sale.

Dont get me wrong, i love mobile phones and will give every platform a chance but at this present time and moment, based on my needs and wants...the Z10 fits me perfectly. Im not saying the Z10 is perfect as a phone, far from it...there are things that id like to see come back ie profile management is one huge ommission from the OS. But otherwise the z10 is perfect for me, sure the apps are lacking but like you said your not a huge app fan, same as me. The apps i have on my Z10 are ones that help me communicate more efficiently. Also before the Z10 i was a hardware keyboard guy, one of the main reasons why i loved my 9900 so much. But after spending a couple of weeks going into stores and playing around with the Z10, i found that the keyboard on the z10 is just as good, if not better than my 9900. In fact i can type faster on my z10 than i can on my 9900 now, if you really want a keyboard version of the Z10 then the Q10 will be out in a few weeks time so perhaps hold out for that. But honestly id be very surprised if you didnt get on with the Z10 keyboard. And im a guy who hated touchscreen keyboards with a vengeance but not the Z10.

This is why i highly recommend that anyone who is interested in the Z10, to go into a store and have a play with one if possible.

Anyhow sorry for the long-ish post lol. But seriously do spend some time playing around with one to see if it fits your needs/wants and if it doesnt, then its no big deal. Its not for everyone and the last thing you want is buyers remorse.

Hope whatever device you decide to choose upon is the right one for you. You can also get a lot of advice from crackberry if you need to. The guys there are pretty knowledgeable.

 

[jrwagh333]

So I have decied that I will go the Z10 route!

The factors that made my decision where the fact that True Push for GMail on the iPhone is no longer possible unless you pay $5 a month for a paid Google Apps account. And I took a quick look over at CrackBerry at the 'Working Android Sideloaded Apps' and most of the apps I will want are there!

So now I just have one question left and that is how to go about it...
I have 6 months left on my current 9900 contract, which is about £127ish. I can send my phone to 02 Recycle for about £105 so that will cover the cost of paying off the contract. But I would liked to keep my current number and port it over to my Z10, which will also be on 02... How would I go about doing this? I was thinking I can buy the Z10 and then pay off my 9900 contract and asking them to then port my number over to my Z10? Once that is done I can send my phone off to 02 Recycle, as it just seems a lot easier than selling on eBay.

Thoughts/Suggestions?

EDIT: But I am now thinking that since Google has Disabled ActivSync, and BB10 doesn't have BIS, I won't be able to get true, instant push on the Z10 either... Not good.

 

[KIA]

BlackBerry Q10 Priced at £579 SIM-Free

http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2013/04/blackberry-q10-priced-at-579-sim-free/

Hahahahahaha.

 

[Robbo]

Get your orders in.