Blackberry Q10 (Review) : A Traditional Blackberry with the Right dilution of Android and Apple.... In other Words, A Fruit Cocktail!

"Fantastic, Fast. innovative, The Next Big thing" are 4 words that don't describe the Q10. The Q10 is Blackberry as it was made to be. It is the Blackberry 10 device for those few Blackberry-lovers out there. It has a stylish design, a QWERTY keyboard and a 3.1 inch multi-touch display but is that really enough to hide from the fact that Blackberry 10 OS is a failed attempt at iOS and Android?

HARDWARE

I chose to review the Q10 before the Z10 because frankly, I like to focus on the positive features of a device when I review it but with the Z10, there truly isn't anything to commend Blackberry on, but I wont go into too much detail on the Z10 because you're here to read about the Q10 and see it for what it truly is. Lets talk about the hardware, amazingly smooth keys that make for comfortable typing. The Q10 has a rather small 3.1 inch display which has a fairly low pixel resolution when compared to other flagship smart phones like the Samsung Galaxy S4.  Although bad, the resolution is much better than what ive seen on previous Blackberry devices like the Bold 9900. The Back of the device has a rather premium looking carbon fibre like design but once its in your hands, it just feels plasticy and not at all premium! Don't get me wrong, I love the design but im very disappointed with regards to the little details like speaker grills and  parts where Blackberry should have added premium materials like they did with the 9900. Under its plastic exterior, the Q10 packs a Snapdragon S4 Quad-core processor.  Overall , I think the Spec sheet isn't exiting to many but is definitely an improvement for previous Blackberry owners, its a good spec update but Blackberry users are a minority and Blackberry needs to reach out and expand their horizons and draw in new customers but with this hardware, I just don't understand why anyone would leave their flagship S4's or even the S3 for this phone.

CAMERA

The Rear shooter is a 8MP camera which makes for crisp detailed pictures. The camera is really good and is definitely a camera that id use everyday. The flash helps in low-light situations but I find that the flash gives the pictures and unusual glowing hue. The Q10 also has a fair front-facing camera that can be used to take pictures or used in 3rd part applications like Skype. 

TOUR

On the front you shall find a the QWERTY keyboard, Blackberry Branding, a headset speaker, a front-facing camera and an LED indicator. On the bottom of the device, you'll find the main speaker grill which produces amazing crisp sound quality however its placing is bad as the sound isn't firing at you but away from you. On the top theres a classic Blackberry Sleep/Wake button and on the right -hand side you'll find the volume rocker and the programmable button. On the Left-hand side is a Micro- HDMI port and a micro USB port for charging the phone.

BLACKBERRY 10.1 OS

Blackberry 10 is Blackberry's last attempt to get you, the end user to join the Blackberry eco-system abandoning all android and iOS have to offer for what seems like a joke if you ask me. Blackberry 10 virtually takes features from iOS and Android and calls them their own! Apple and Google  haven't even bothered to do anything about it because I think even they feel sorry for Blackberry's failed attempt. Blackberry 10 just feels like you living in 2008. The software has a good look to it but at the end of the day the features are outdated and aren't useful. An example is one of Blackberry 10's key features is Blackberry Remind which does what Apple's Reminders did in iOS 5 (in 2011)!

Photo Credit - BerryReview

BLACKBERRY BALANCE

Blackberry Balance is a feature that separates your work files from your personal files, which I think is an amazing feature. It works well and its definitely a feature I love in Blackberry 10. It really defines Blackberry as a work phone and a personal phone for real business people.  Its more features like these that I want to see.

BLACKBERRY HUB

Blackberry Hub allows you to have a peek at your notifications at a glance from any application by just swiping across the screen. The feature is similar to Android and iOS's Notifications but the layout is unique. It works fairly well, however I would have liked to see Blackberry allow you to reply to messages from Blackberry Hub. 

DOCS TO GO

Edit and write your own Microsoft Office Word, exel or powerpoint documents ,basically polaris with blackberry branding! Docs to go is really helpful as you can edit documents on the way to meeting on the streets of south africa and nobody will steal the phone because even thieves don't want blackberrys. Maybe that would be a good feature for blackberry to add to their brochures... You're welcome Blackberry! No seriously , Docs to go on the Q10 is hard to use due to the small screen , so I find it useless on the Q10 also getting the documents onto your PC can be a lengthy task. (installing unneeded software)

BLACKBERRY WORLD

Blackberry World would either make or brake Blackberry 10. It doesn't matter how bad the Operating system is, if Blackberry world had a good selection of apps then the software would be shadowed. Sadly thats not the case. I do commend Blackberry for trying - blackberry gave out several "Dev Alpha"devices to help developers get a feel of Blackberry 10 but few of them developed worth while applications and as a result, blackberry world isn't just okay, its scarce! Although Blackberry now allows you to port android applications they don't work that well or they don't work at all! On the Q10 you will hardly find android applications that will run on its unusual square screen, same goes with the Q5. Another thing Blackberry introduced is music and videos to the Blackberry World, which indeed opens new opportunities but why buy music on blackberry when you can buy it on Apple and listen to it on your computer and on your iPad/iPods where as you can only listen to Blackberry music on your Blackberry 10 Smartphone. (Blackberry "World" isn't available on previous Blackberry devices)

BLACKBERRY MESSENGER

Blackberry Messenger got a new blackberry 10 facelift however no matter how popular BBM is, i still think the platform is slow and that other platforms like ChatOn and whatsapp are the best messaging platforms. BBM was the major factor on previous Blackberry smart phones but with no BIS (Blackberry Internet Services) It just isn't needed. I have also found lately that there are more people using whatsapp than BBM. I just think BBM features are outdated and Blackberry just played attention on useless details instead of focusing on the bigger picture. I find myself hardly using features like BBM Voice and Video as their simple aren't enough people with Blackberry 10 smart phones.

SOFTWARE CONCLUSION

Overall I think Blackberry OS 10 is a really big improvement from Blackberry OS7. It has better graphics, a better layout and is faster but with dated features and annoying gestures this OS update just isn't enough to make people move from Android or iOS to Blackberry 10. From a Software standpoint, Blackberry 10 just seems confused! Is it a flagship device? Is it a Social phone? Is it a Blackberry? It just seems as though blackberry tried too hard. They were to busy trying to mimic their competition that they lost view of what Blackberry was really about, now it doesn't feel like im holding a Blackberry in my hands.

CONCLUSION

 I would firstly like to address a complaint that surfaced recently that said im against Blackberry, I am in no way against Blackberry, im fact I like blackberry's. There was just a unique feeling about using a Blackberry handset and being part of the Blackberry eco-system but that feeling truly lacks in OS 10. I feel as though Blackberry has done an amazing job on the Q10, its gorgeous and captures a see in it a slight hint of what blackberry was and what it wants to be, thats just it - Blackberry isn't there as yet and  I cant justify and I doubt anyone else would spend R8000 on the Q10 when you can get a higher specced Galaxy S4 for the same price. I keep telling myself that Blackberry can only improve from OS10 but at the same time I remind myself that Blackberry's time is limited and their funds are rapidly drying up. I Love Blackberrys and I hope blackberry will be continue but at this moment in time, Blackberry 10 is only appealing to SOME previous Blackberry Owners. Blackberry 10 just isn't good enough for the majority of tech users. With regards to the Q10 in particular, I believe Blackberry could have really made this a good phone as there are no QWERTY keyboard smart phones with these specs but the software lets it down and stops eager consumers from buying it. Blackberry 10 was suppose to be the rebirth or death of Blackberry but it really feels like Blackberry is just on "life Support" at the moment, neither here nor there. Blackberry is still in the game but they need to do something before funds deflate, time lapses and most importantly consumers loose interest... 

Basically everything boils down to us, we need to stop blaming blackberry. I am in no way saying you cant criticize them, im simply saying that you should give them a chance. You cant expect them to get better if they don't have customers to better the eco-sytem for. So for the final verdict - Should you buy a Q10 ? Yes and No. The Blackberry Q10 is a excellent work phone. It does will do what you need it to do on a daily basis but nothing more. Its a good phone for a person who wants just that but for the avid gamers, teen or even a app-lover I wouldn't recommend this phone. If you are adamant on getting a Blackberry 10 device, Id recommend waiting for the launch of the Blackberry A10 later this year or the iPhone 5S. In conclusion ... Blackberry's fruits may be dry but the Blackberry's seeds can always disperse to give life to new technology ... or Blackberry can stay Blackberry!


Thanks to Shailen Desai for this Review unit and thanks to all of you for reading this and supporting my blog. Please note,  The content of this Blog post belongs collectively to iGeekDroid, iBlogUnscripted and Mikail Jassat unless otherwise stated. Any use of this content is plagiarism unless prior permission is given my the author.

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