Winky Electronics Co., Ltd |
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Smartphone makers believe in trickle-down economics. They build their portfolios top to bottom, looking to get as much bang out of the flagship as they can and, after the hype around it has settled, they bring out the more affordable packages to keep the cash rolling in. The big question - always - is how much of the flagship specs will trickle down the ranks.
Having delivered the latest BlackBerry 10 OS in a classic messenger form factor, a midrange package combining touchscreen with the iconic hardware keyboard was next on the Canadians' to-do list. The Q10 came at a price not a lot of people can afford, so the Q5 promises to deliver the same experience without sweeping the fluff out of your pocket.
BlackBerry Q5 official photos
At first glance, the Q5 has all the important checkboxes ticked. You get a dual-core Krait chipset, a 3.1" display of the same 720 x 720 pixel resolution and a four-row QWERTY keyboard for that serious texting and emailing.
The screen is no longer AMOLED, the camera has been downgraded from 8MP to 5MP and the CPU has been downclocked by 300 MHz. These are things, which sure make the Q10 the more desirable package, but not the kind that will dramatically change the user experience. It looks like the BlackBerry Q5 is much closer to the BlackBerry Q10 than its name suggests.
That, and the more affordable price tag, may actually help the Q5 convince more users than its bigger and more advanced sibling. We are about to see how much of that potential translates in real-life performance. Join us on the next page, where the Q5 gets unboxed and handled.
NETWORK | Technology | GSM / HSPA / LTE |
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LAUNCH | Announced | 2013, May |
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Status | Available. Released 2013, June |
BODY | Dimensions | 120 x 66 x 10.8 mm (4.72 x 2.60 x 0.43 in) |
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Weight | 120 g (4.23 oz) | |
Keyboard | QWERTY | |
SIM | Micro-SIM |
DISPLAY | Type | IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors |
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Size | 3.1 inches (~39.1% screen-to-body ratio) | |
Resolution | 720 x 720 pixels (~328 ppi pixel density) | |
Multitouch | Yes |
PLATFORM | OS | BlackBerry OS 10.2, upgradable to v10.3.1 |
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Chipset | Qualcomm MSM8960 Snapdragon S4 Plus | |
CPU | Dual-core 1.2 GHz Krait | |
GPU | Adreno 225 |
MEMORY | Card slot | microSD, up to 32 GB (dedicated slot) |
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Internal | 8 GB, 2 GB RAM |
CAMERA | Primary | 5 MP, f/2.4, 30mm, 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 |
SOUND | Alert types | Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones |
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Loudspeaker | Yes | |
3.5mm jack | Yes |
COMMS | WLAN | Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, hotspot |
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Bluetooth | v4.0, A2DP, LE | |
GPS | Yes, with A-GPS | |
NFC | Yes (market dependent) | |
Radio | FM radio (after SW upgrade) | |
USB | microUSB v2.0 |
FEATURES | Sensors | Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass |
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Messaging | SMS, MMS, Email, Push Email, IM, BBM 6 | |
Browser | HTML5 | |
Java | Yes, MIDP 2.1 | |
- BlackBerry maps - Organizer - Document viewer - Photo viewer - MP3/WMA/WAV/eAAC+ player - Xvid/MP4/WMV/MKV/H.264 player - Voice memo/dial - Predictive text input |
BATTERY | Non-removable Li-Ion 2180 mAh battery | |
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Stand-by | Up to 336 h (3G) | |
Talk time | Up to 12 h 30 min (3G) |
MISC | Colors | Black, White, Red, Gray, Pink |
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SAR US | 1.33 W/kg (head) 0.85 W/kg (body) | |
SAR EU | 1.38 W/kg (head) 0.85 W/kg (body) | |
Price group | 3/10 |
TESTS | Display | Contrast ratio: 1293:1 (nominal) / 1.682:1 (sunlight) |
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Camera | Photo / Video | |
Loudspeaker | Voice 75dB / Noise 69dB / Ring 76dB | |
Audio quality | Noise -91.7dB / Crosstalk -90.7dB | |
Battery life | ||
Disclaimer. We can not guarantee that the information on this page is 100% correct.