After changing its name from a BlackBerry and RIM have launched the BlackBerry excellent Z10, the Canadian company will try again with a device aimed at all users accustomed to using a physical QWERTY keyboard. The BlackBerry Q10 is the true successor of the previous Bold smartphone line which, along with the cheapest Q5, should be the natural upgrade to BB10 for existing customers.
With dimensions of 119.6 × 66.8 × 10.35 mm and weight of 139 grams, the BlackBerry Q10 is definitely a terminal, compact and comfortable to carry in your pocket. The construction materials are plastic, but it still gives an idea of solidity and sturdiness.
The display is a capacitive SuperAMOLED square, the diagonal of 3.1 inches and HD resolution of 720 × 720 pixels, with a density of about 328 ppi and good brightness. Above the display are placed light sensors and proximity, the speaker and the front camera of 2 mega pixels.
Below we find the physical keyboard, which, compared to older models of BlackBerry, it loses the trackpad, replaced by the possibility to directly use the touch screen display. Among the rows of keys, we notice the subtle and elegant aluminum bars, to certify the care with which the company has made the device.
On the sides of the BlackBerry Q10, on the top we have the power button, the audio jack of 3.5 mm and two microphones for noise cancellation, on the right side are the volume rocker and the mute button, which also activates voice commands, on the left, we find the microUSB and micro HDMI ports, while at the bottom are positioned speaker for hands-free and listen to the music and the main microphone.
In the back, there is the 8-mega pixel main camera with LED flash and removable flap, under which there are slots for micro SIM and Micro SD, in addition to the lithium-ion battery from 2,100 mAh. The purchase package is very simple and reminiscent of the Z10, and includes charger, USB cable and earphone’s standard type.
Table of Contents
BlackBerry Q10: Features
The processor Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus (MSM8960) dual-core 1.5 GHz Krait animates the BlackBerry Q10, flanked by the graphics chip Adreno 225 and 2 GB of RAM. The storage memory is 16 GB expandable with microSD up to 32 GB more. Regarding the telephone connectivity, in the European model SQN100-3 are supported four band 2G GSM / GPRS (850/900/1800/1900), four bands 3G HSPA (850/900/1900/2100) and four bands 4G LTE ( 800/900/1800/2600).
The other connectivity included Wi-Fi 802.11 a / b / g / n dual band 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP and low energy (LE), A-GPS and NFC. It is missing the FM radio while there are gyroscope, accelerometer and magnetometer (compass), in addition to the aforementioned light sensors and proximity.
The main camera of the BlackBerry Q10 is 8-mega pixel camera takes pictures up to a resolution of 3,264 × 2,448 pixels and record video up to 1080p at 30 fps. It is equipped with auto focus, touchfocus, backlight. Image stabilization and video face detection, geo-tagging, HDR, 5x digital zoom and dedicated image processor. The lenses are formed by 5 elements and have aperture f/2.2.
The front camera is fixed focus and 3x digital zoom, and is capable of recording video up to 720p. The QWERTY keyboard is equipped with a system of self-correction of words, a software able to predict the next word, and an engine of personalized learning, which learns about the way in which you type the keys. In this way, it can optimize the writing.
BlackBerry Q10: Performance
In general, we must say that the performance of the BlackBerry Q10 is more than satisfactory. The terminal maintains a good flow during the execution of various applications, and the task manager allows you to switch from one application to another in a simple and rapid.
Initially, we had doubts about the form factor of the display, with a ratio of 1:1 and therefore, significantly different from that of the Z10, especially with regard to yield and use of applications, but, after downloading a fair number of apps of different kinds, we can say that the performance is good and there are no distortion or black bars that reduce the size of the display.
The BlackBerry Hub and BlackBerry Messenger (we tested the new version of the latter, which includes BBM Channels) are, without a doubt, one of the points the strength of the BB10 system, accompanied by an excellent center for notifications not miss any message or updates from favorite social network.
As for the multimedia aspects, in which the previous generations of BlackBerry certainly not excelled, we can say that the Canadian company has really done a good job: the audio has a good quality with the built-in speaker, and we can add that the position on the side band instead of the back improves the yield.
Even the camera can take pictures and video of good quality in both standard and in HDR mode. A note on the applications on BlackBerry World: it is true that the number of apps for BB10 is considerably lower than that of apps for iOS or Android, and it is also true that only a fraction of them is native applications designed specifically for BB10, but BlackBerry is working hard on this, and we can say with confidence that you already have most of the applications that we might need. Sure there are some shortcomings, but they are often preventable with the use of the Internet browser.
Conclusions
After a few days of testing, we must say that the BlackBerry Q10 has really satisfied. The practicality of the new BB10 operating system combined with the improved ergonomics of the physical keyboard will not disappoint users looking for a terminal with this form factor. Perhaps the price is a bit ‘high, though the smartphone is available at lower prices from several vendors.
Where to Buy BlackBerry Q10
- 2G: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 3G: 850 / 1900 / 2100 4G: LTE 700 / 850 / 1700 /...
- 3.1" Super AMOLED Capacitive Multi-Touchscreen + Full Physical QWERTY keyboard
- BlackBerry 10 (upgradable), Dual-Core 1.5 GHz Krait Processor, Chipset:...
- 8 Megapixel Camera with Autofocus & LED Flash + Front-Facing 2 Megapixel Camera
- Internal Memory: 16GB, 2GB RAM + microSD Slot Expandable up to 64GB
Features
Design
Performance
Value of Money
PROS : Excellent physical keyboard, BB10, BB Messenger, BlackBerry Hub.
CONS : Price.
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