Home  ›  News  ›

Hands-On: BlackBerry Z10 and Q10

Z10 Q10 BB10 Comments  22  

Jan 30, 2013, 12:53 PM   by Eric M. Zeman

Here is a first look at the BlackBerry Z10 and Q10 smartphones. Both phones run the new BlackBerry 10 platform and will reach U.S. carriers in mid-March.

BlackBerry, which used to be called RIM, announced two new smartphones today, the Z10 and the Q10. Here is a quick look at the Z10.

The Z10 is the monoblock touch phone that has a 4.2-inch screen. Think of it as a PlayBook Mini. It has a simple design that's very reminiscent of the PlayBook with its corners and edges. It is conservative, which is what we've come to expect from RIM and its devices. It certainly doesn't look cheap, and the overall impression it leaves is a good one in terms of overall appeal.

RIM CEO Thorsten Heins said the Z10 and Q10 aren't made of plastic, but that's what the materials feel like to me. They have a plastick-y feel, there's no doubt of that, but if they are made of plastic, it is good plastic. The manufacture, fit and finish all felt solid, which is something we've nearly always said of BlackBerry devices. These weren't manufactured in some chintzy, hole-in-the-grand plant.

Z10  

I found the Z10 comfortable to hold and use. It doesn't sacrifice one-handed functionality for a too-large screen. It measures a hair under 10mm thick, and is thin enough that it will slip easily into pockets. It is lighter than I expected it to be in the hand.

The screen measures 4.2 inches, a measurement that RIM said it will use in future touch screen devices, and includes 1280 x 768 pixels. It is an LCD panel and looks good. It has a high pixel density and I didn't see any individual pixels in my time with it. It is plenty bright and colorful, as well. It's a very good screen.

The buttons on the outside of the device could be much better. I particularly didn't care for the volume toggle on the right edge. It had a cheap feel and travel and feedback weren't that good. The screen lock button, which is on top, had a better feel to it. The Z10 has a headphone jack on top, and both microUSB and microHDMI ports on the left edge.

The user interface is of course BlackBerry 10, which is brand new. For a brand new UI, it looks extremely polished and quick, though some of the gestures needed to control it take time to learn properly. We'll detail BlackBerry 10 in a separate post.

If you want to know if the Z10 hardware is better than the iPhone or a Galaxy S III, all I can say is that the hardware falls in the middle of the two: not so good as the iPhone, but a smidge better than the GSIII.

About the author, Eric M. Zeman:

Eric has been covering the mobile telecommunications industry for 17 years at various print and online publications. He studied at Rutgers Newark and University of Kentucky, and has a degree in writing. He likes playing guitar, attending concerts, listening to music, and driving sports cars.

Related

more news about:

BlackBerry
BlackBerry 10
 

Comments

This forum is closed.

This forum is closed.

exibitsman

Jan 30, 2013, 5:28 PM

z10

Looks just like the BB dev alpha devices
That they gave to app developers. What a waist
Of time. I'll stick with my Gs3 😁 🙂 😁 🙂 😁 😁 🙂
I think it is more of an elbow of time than a waist, but that's just me....
...
True story:
I know someone who owns a StarTac and is "sittin this whole stupid smartphone fad out!"

🤣

Jump ship! Don't be afraid 👀
...
That's funny. I have a GSIII and I WILL be selling it to buy a Q10 at full retail.
...
dadayk12

Jan 30, 2013, 7:14 PM

finally

thats what we need for our corporation. need to tell my boss and officemates to upgrade our BB's once this "angels' are available..
T Bone

Jan 30, 2013, 3:46 PM

Processors?

Last year we were given the excuse that the reason for the delay from Q4 2012 to Q1 2013 was because there was a shortage of a certain kind of dual core processor that they needed...

So...do these things actually have a dual core processor, or were they just make stuff up?
Processor 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4
dual-core

https://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?p=4021 » 🤭
...
crackberry

Jan 30, 2013, 1:02 PM

Screen?

Is the screen plastic or glass?????
The Z10 I know is hardened display glass where the touch technology is integrated into the glass.

I am unsure of the Q10 although I would assume its the same
...
 
 
Page  1  of 1

Subscribe to news & reviews with RSS Follow @phonescoop on Threads Follow @phonescoop on Mastodon Phone Scoop on Facebook Follow on Instagram

 

Playwire

All content Copyright 2001-2024 Phone Factor, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Content on this site may not be copied or republished without formal permission.