BlackBerry Q10 (GSM)
BlackBerry Pushing 10.3.1 System Update to Most Phones
BlackBerry today said BlackBerry OS 10.3.1 is available for device owners to download. The latest version of BlackBerry's operating system includes the Amazon Appstore for Android apps and brings back keyboard shortcuts to devices with physical keyboards. The OS also improves BlackBerry Blend (desktop messaging client), BlackBerry Assistant (voice commands), BlackBerry Hub (adds instant actions), and the Calendar app (adds Meeting Mode). The update also improves battery life and camera performance. BlackBerry 10.3.1 is available to the BlackBerry Q5, Q10, Z3, Z10, Z30, BlackBerry Porsche Design P'9983, and the Passport.
AT&T Says BlackBerry 10.2.1 Available to Q10, Z10
AT&T today said owners of the BlackBerry Q10 and Z10 smartphones can download and install BlackBerry OS 10.2.1. This update adds a wide range of new features to the Q10 and Z10 handsets. Some include: a customizable pinch gesture for filtering BlackBerry Hub content; the ability to access BBM from within any app; improved sound for BBM voice/video chats; more lock screen notifications; picture password; and improved battery life monitoring. AT&T says the free update can be installed manually via Wi-Fi.
BlackBerry Updates Twitter for BB10 Phones
BlackBerry today announced that a new version of Twitter is available to devices running BlackBerry OS10, such as the Z10 and Q10. The updated application adds a number of new features, including the ability to view, create, subscribe, and edit Twitter lists; see trends based on personal interests and location; and scroll through tweeted images in the photo image gallery. The new app also showcases related account profiles, makes it easier to see which tweets have video links, and syncs read DMs across all devices and Twitter accounts. Twitter 10.2.1 is free to download from the BlackBerry World app store.
BlackBerry Selling Unlocked Z10, Q10 to U.S. Customers
BlackBerry has made unlocked versions of its smartphones available for sale through its U.S. web store. The Z10 and Q10 are both available in either black or white. The Z10, which has a 4.2-inch touch screen, costs $449, and the Q10, which has a QWERTY keyboard, costs $549. BlackBerry is sitting on $1 billion in unsold Z10 inventory and may be taken private by a group of equity bankers led by Fairfax Financial.
AT&T to Sell BlackBerry Q10 June 21 for $199
AT&T today announced that the BlackBerry Q10 will be available beginning June 21 for $199.99 with a new contract. AT&T is also offering a minimum trade-in reimbursement of $100 to customers who swap their old phone for the Q10.
BlackBerry Q10 Hits AT&T June 5 for $199
AT&T today announced that customers interested in the BlackBerry Q10 will be able to preorder the smartphone beginning June 5. It will cost $199.99 with a new contract. AT&T didn't say when it will ship, nor when it will reach retail stores.
Cincinnati Bell Launches BlackBerry Z10
Cincinnati Bell today announced the availability of the BlackBerry Z10 smartphone. It can be purchased online or in Cincinnati Bell's retail stores for $299.99 with a new two-year contract. Cincinnati Bell also announced that it will offer the BlackBerry Q10 beginning in July for $299.99 with a new contract. For a limited time, Cincinnati Bell is offering a $50 Visa gift card with the purchase of either the Z10 or Q10.
BlackBerry Makes Skype Available to Q10
BlackBerry today announced that owners of its BlackBerry Q10 smartphone may download Skype from the BlackBerry World app store. Skype requires BlackBerry OS 10.1. The Q10 ships with BBOS 10.1 installed, and is launching in Canada and other select markets this week. The Q10 isn't expected to reach the U.S until late May. For the time being, BlackBerry Z10 owners will not be able to access or download Skype because the Z10 runs BBOS 10. BlackBerry said that it will update the Z10 to BlackBerry OS 10.1 next month. More details about the minor operating system bump will be provided by BlackBerry during its developer conference scheduled to take place the week of May 13.
T-Mobile to Accept BlackBerry Q10 Preorders April 29
T-Mobile USA today said business customers interested in the BlackBerry Q10, which will support T-Mobile's LTE 4G network, can order the device online beginning April 29. Exact availability and pricing details, however, will be shared at a later date.
BlackBerry Q10 to Arrive Late May with $249 Price Tag
The BlackBerry Q10 will reach AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile USA, and Verizon Wireless stores by late May, according to various reports. Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal both report that the Q10's price tag will be $249, but none of the U.S. network operators have announced firm availability and pricing details. The Q10 will be the second BlackBerry 10 device to reach the market after the Z10. It differs from the Z10 in that it has a smaller screen and a QWERTY keyboard.
BlackBerry Z10 Preorders for Verizon Begin March 14
Verizon Wireless today announced that interested customers may preorder the BlackBerry Z10 beginning March 14. The Z10 costs $199.99 with a new contract and will be available online and in stores on March 28. Verizon is selling the Z10 in both black and white; the white model is exclusive to Verizon. Verizon also reiterated that it will sell the QWERTY-equipped BlackBerry Q10 later this year, though exact availability and pricing details have yet to be announced. AT&T also recently announced the Z10's availability. AT&T began accepting preorders for the Z10 earlier this week, and it arrives in AT&T stores March 22.
BlackBerry to Cease Sales In Japan
BlackBerry will not sell its new Z10 and Q10 handsets in the Japanese market, reports Reuters. The company's share of the Japanese market has shrunk from 5% to 0.3%, and the smartphone maker can no longer justify the cost of modifying its software to accommodate the Japanese language. BlackBerry will also stop selling its older handsets, though it will continue to provide support for its existing user base. "We are in the process of launching BlackBerry 10 globally in key markets and we are seeing positive demand for the BlackBerry Z10 in countries where it has already launched," said spokeswoman Amy McDowell in a statement provided to media. "Japan is not a major market for BlackBerry and we have no plans to launch BlackBerry 10 devices there at this time. However, we will continue to support BlackBerry customers in Japan." The Z10 and Q10 are the first smartphones to run BlackBerry 10, the company's new operating system. They won't go on sale in the U.S. until later this year.
BlackBerry Changes Tune on Q10 Arrival
BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins indicated recently that the Q10 BlackBerry 10 smartphone may not reach U.S. store shelves until May or June. Speaking to the Associated Press, Heins said the device will arrive eight to 10 weeks after the Z10. The Z10 isn't going on sale until mid-March or later, which puts the Q10's release closer to the end of the second quarter. BlackBerry had first suggested that the Q10 might reach U.S. stores as soon as April, but that appears unlikely. AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon Wireless have all indicated plans to sell the Q10, but T-Mobile USA has not. The Q10 differs from the Z10 in that it has a physical QWERTY keyboard.
BlackBerry to Update BB10 Android Runtime to Jelly Bean
BlackBerry today announced that it plans to update the Android runtime within its BlackBerry 10 platform to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Currently, the runtime is at Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread. BlackBerry 10 can run repackaged Android applications, and in fact, about 40% of the 70,000 apps available in BlackBerry App world are ported Android apps. The runtime within BB10 is what makes them work. By updating the runtime to a more modern version of Android, it will help developers looking to port their Android 4+ apps to the BB10 platform. BlackBerry also announced a preview version of the BlackBerry 10.1 native SDK for the Q10. The current SDK supports the Z10. This additional SDK will allow developers to create apps customized for the Q10 hardware, which includes a physical keyboard. It can be downloaded from BlackBerry's developer portal. The Z10 and Q10 are expected to reach the U.S. in March and April, respectively.
U.S. Carriers Detail BlackBerry 10 Launch Plans
All four of the major U.S. wireless network operators have committed to support the new BlackBerry 10 platform and Z10 and Q10 smartphones from BlackBerry. Here is a breakdown of what the carriers have announced so far.
- AT&T: AT&T will offer both the Z10 and the Q10. RIM said the Z10 is expected to go on sale in mid-March, with the Q10 following in April the earliest. AT&T did not announce pricing for either handset, nor exact sales dates.
- Sprint: Sprint has only committed to selling the Q10 "later this year," though RIM says it will be April. Sprint has not announced pricing details, though it will offer unlimited LTE 4G service to the Q10 when it goes on sale.
- T-Mobile USA: T-Mobile announced plans to sell the Z10, but not the Q10. It has not announced pricing details, but its variant of the Z10 will support its LTE 4G network.
- Verizon Wireless: Verizon plans to offer both the Z10 and Q10. Verizon did not announce exact availability, but it did price the Z10 at $199 with a new contract. It will also be the only carrier selling the white Z10.
Hands-On: BlackBerry Z10 and Q10
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 10 to Reach U.S. Stores in March
BlackBerry today announced that AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile USA, and Verizon Wireless will all be offering details regarding preorders for the Z10 and the Q10 in the next 24 hours. RIM did not say when they will go on sale in the U.S., but the Z10 is launching in the U.K. tomorrow, and in Canada on Friday. RIM said pricing and availability will be announced individually by carriers around the world closer to their actual launch. None of the U.S. carriers have announced a launch date, but the Wall Street Journal reports that neither the Z10 nor the Q10 will reach store shelves before the middle of March. According to RIM CEO Thorsten Heins, the delay is due to the testing processor needed by American wireless network operators. "They do the best they can," said Heins. "Would I have loved to see it earlier? Absolutely. Make no mistake everyone's trying to pull the date in."
BlackBerry Link Desktop App Keeps Z10 and Q10 Synced
Research In Motion today announced BlackBerry Link, a revised version of its BlackBerry Desktop Manager application that works with BlackBerry 10 devices. BlackBerry Link, which is compatible with both Windows and Mac computers, allows BlackBerry 10 device owners to sync their devices to their computers, as well as back them up and perform system updates. BlackBerry Link is also used to sync content, such as movies and music, between smartphones, PCs, and PlayBook tablets. BlackBerry Link is free to download. It will be available in the coming weeks.
White BlackBerry Z10 Exclusive to Verizon for $199
Verizon Wireless today announced that it will sell the BlackBerry Z10 and the Q10 for $199.99 with a new two-year contract. Both devices will be available in black and white, but the white Z10 will be exclusive to Verizon for an unknown amount of time. Verizon did not announce when the devices will go on sale.
RIM Debuts BlackBerry 10 Operating System
Research In Motion today formally introduced all the core features of BlackBery 10, its brand new operating system. BlackBerry 10 is a wholly new platform built on a QNX core with a new gesture-based user interface. BlackBerry 10 is centered on two key ideas: BlackBerry Hub and BlackBerry Flow. BlackBerry Hub is the central repository for all incoming messages, including email, SMS, IM, BBM, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and so on. It can be called up at any time from within any other application. BlackBerry Flow represents the gestures themselves and how the operating system responds to finger movements across the screen. The new platform supports up to eight applications running at any one time, which are accessed in a new feature called Active Frames. The Active Frame panel makes it easy to see what apps are running and switch between them quickly. RIM has reengineered the touchscreen keyboard to be faster and more intuitive. For example, the touchscreen keyboard in BlackBerry 10 learns how users type. It tracks where they hit particular keys as well as what words they use to improve typing accuracy. The browser has been fully rebuilt to support HTML5, in addition to Adobe Flash. It has features such as pinch-to-zoom. The camera application is faster and more feature-rich. It includes touch-to-focus/shoot, different shoot modes (normal, burst), scenes (action, night), and TimeShift for capturing the best shot of peoples' faces. The gallery application has been given far more advanced editing capabilities, including crop, rotate, red-eye reduction, filters/effects, and easy sharing to social networks. BlackBerry 10 adds an app called Story Maker, which can be used to piece together video segments with titles and credits to create mini movies. Last, BlackBerry 10 brings peace of mind to business customers with BlackBerry Safeguard and BlackBerry Balance. Safeguard can be used to encrypt user data, manage online privacy, and find or lock a lost/stolen device. BlackBerry Balance is RIM's work-personal life management tool that keeps business and personal data segregated from one another on the device. BlackBerry 10 is first available on the Z10 and Q10, which will ship in the coming weeks.
RIM Reveals Z10 and Q10, the First BlackBerry 10 Smartphones
Research In Motion today announced the Z10 and Q10, the first two smartphones to run its brand new BlackBerry 10 operating system. The Z10 and Q10 share many features, though physically they are somewhat different; the Z10 is a candybar touch phone, and the Q10 is a monoblock QWERTY device with a smaller touch screen. Both devices are powered by 1.5GHz dual-core processors with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of built-in storage. They also support removable microSD cards up to 32GB. The Z10 and Q10 each carries an 8-megapixel main camera with LED flash that captures 1080p HD video, with a secondary camera rating 2 megapixels with 720p HD video capture. Wireless support includes 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy, NFC, and GPS, in addition to 4G mobile hotspot. They also include microUSB and microHDMI ports, as well as a 3.5mm headphone jack.
- Z10: The Z10 features a 4.2-inch LCD touch screen with 1280 x 768 pixels, making a pixel density of 356 pixels per inch. It is 9mm thick.
- Q10: The Q10 is a more traditional-looking BlackBerry smartphone in that it has a smaller, 720 x 720 pixel screen and a physical QWERTY keyboard.
