Blackberry Q10 smart phone Released 2013, April 139g,
10.4mm thickness BlackBerry OS 10 16GB storage, microSD card slot
2100mAh battery
Introduction
Some revolutions end in triumph, others in tyranny. It's a walk on
the edge of a blade between glory and the guillotine. And
BlackBerry has had its share of revolutions - the most recent ones
being the rebranding and the OS gone touch-only two iterations ago.
The Z10, powered by the gesture-heavy BB10 OS, was... is... a
revolution of sorts, too.
Next thing you know, it's business as usual over at BlackBerry.
They're back to what they do best. The revolution is over and the
message is out. There couldn't have been a better messenger either.
Not a QWERTY messenger that we can think of, anyway.
BlackBerry Q10 official pictures
Oh well, the BlackBerry Q10 sees the Canadians back to business but
the business isn't what it used to be. That said, the time-tested
form factor isn't a simple copy-paste job. In fact, getting rid of
the trackpad and call keys is nothing short of a revolutionary
change.
BlackBerry Q10 official pictures
The swipe-driven BB10 OS provides plenty of new, exciting ways of
interacting with the device, while keyboard shortcuts and Instant
Actions will add extra speed and flexibility but, considering the
Q10 is a phone for loyal BlackBerry users, old habits will have to
be broken. Here's what they'll be getting in return with the
BlackBerry Q10.
Key features
- Four-row hardware QWERTY keyboard
- Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, tri/quad-band UMTS/HSPA, 100 Mbps LTE
- 3.1" 16M-color 720p (720 x 720 pixels) Super AMOLED capacitive
touchscreen
- Dual-core 1.5 GHz Krait, 2GB RAM, Adreno 225 (LTE version)
/Dual-core 1.5 GHz ARM Cortex-A9, 2GB RAM, PowerVR SGX544 (non-LTE)
- BlackBerry 10.1 OS; Office document editor
- BlackBerry Hub is a unified inbox of all your communication and
social networking accounts
- BBM with video chat and screen sharing
- Impressively good 8 MP auto-focus camera with face detection and
Time Shift; LED flash
- Full HD (1080p) video recording at 30fps; 720p on the front-facing
camera
- 2MP front facing camera
- 16GB of storage, microSD card slot; Dropbox and Box.NET integration
- Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot; Wi-Fi sync
- Bluetooth 4.0
- NFC
- standard microUSB port, microHDMI
- 3.5mm audio jack
- GPS receiver with A-GPS
Main disadvantages
- Brand new UI has a steep learning curve
- BlackBerry Maps may be even worse than Apple Maps
- No FM radio
- BlackBerry World is still missing key apps
- Screen size is too small by today's standards and the 1:1 aspect is
awkward for video watching
The BlackBerry Q10 isn't as powerful as the full-touch BlackBerry
Z10, and it doesn't need to be. The Q10 features an
energy-efficient 3.1" Super AMOLED display at 720 x 720 pixels,
which won't put a massive strain on the GPU either. AMOLED
technology debuts on a BlackBerry phone, with its top-notch
contrast and outdoor legibility. At 720 x 720 pixels, it boasts the
seriously good 328ppi - not as impressive as Full-HD screens but
well into Retina territory.
The BlackBerry 10 OS is a brand new platform and even though the
10.1 update brought some welcome additions, it is still an infant
OS that needs polishing. BlackBerry is already working on the 10.2
update, with more major revisions to follow. Maps will only get
better we hope and the app repository will surely expand with more
content.
BlackBerry Q10 at HQ
The future-proofing of the Q10 should be less of an issue for
BlackBerry though - they may be losing market share but there must
still be enough users who will see the Q10 as the ultimate upgrade.
It's the future of the entire messenger concept that's more in
question. Let's see what the BlackBerry Q10 can do about that.
DISPLAY | Type | Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors |
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Size | 3.1 inches (~38.8% screen-to-body ratio) |
Resolution | 720 x 720 pixels (~328 ppi pixel density) |
Multitouch | Yes |
PLATFORM | OS | BlackBerry OS 10, upgradable to v10.3.1 |
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Chipset | Snapdragon S4 (LTE version)/ TI OMAP 4470 (Non-LTE) |
CPU | Dual-core 1.5 GHz Krait (LTE version)/ Cortex-A9 (Non-LTE) |
GPU | Adreno 225 (LTE version)/ PowerVR SGX544 (Non-LTE) |
CAMERA | Primary | 8 MP, f/2.2, 31mm, autofocus, LED flash, check quality |
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Features | Geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, HDR, panorama |
Video | 1080p@30fps, check quality |
Secondary | 2 MP, 720p |
COMMS | WLAN | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual band, hotspot |
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