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Has the BlackBerry Z10 ripened or soured since its launch?

BlackBerry Z10
BlackBerry Z10
“BlackBerry had been in need of a reinvention for years, and the Z10 was as big a reboot as possible.” says Pocketnow’s Michael Fisher.

Michael Fisher of PocketNow has just posted an interesting review of the BlackBerry Z10. Interesting, because the review was published months after the launch of the device.

Fisher says there is a method to his madness. All product launches, he says, follow the same script. There is initial hype and buzz followed by reviews from the media, and then everyone forgets about the device in question and moves on to the next thing.

But Fisher wondered aloud about how the device was holding up. Has the BlackBerry Z10 ripened or soured since it launched in early February?

“BlackBerry had been in need of a reinvention for years, and the Z10 was as big a reboot as possible.” says Fisher. He says the design of the phone, while boasting a certain “corporate elegance” was clearly not its strongest suit.

“The design of the Z10 was pretty generic when it launched, and that will only grow as companies like HTC, Nokia and Apple start to use higher end materials,” he says. Still the phone feels “more substantial than its 136 grams would suggest, and it holds up to drops and scuffs pretty well.”

Fisher says the Z10’s camera, “while good for casual shots, has suffered a bit from the recent popularization of low-light photography and optical image stabilization”. He says the camera’s perception has diminished a bit due to its “no frills approach”.

On the software side, Fisher says the BlackBerry’s swiping gestures are so sticky and intuitive that he has found himself swiping on non-BlackBerry products. “The gesture is that addictive” he says.

Fisher is even more enthusiastic about the BlackBerry Hub, which he says is “one of our favourite messaging solutions”. He calls the BlackBerry software keyboard “outstanding”, and finds himself composing entire sentences from simple upswipes, because the software has learned his habits.

One of the main areas of critique for the BlackBerry Z10 and Q10 has been the app selection, but Fisher says the new BlackBerrys boast an “incredible number of titles” considering the age of the devices. Still, he says, many of these apps are Android ports, and their performance is iffy.

“Four months after launch” says Fisher, “the BlackBerry Z10 stays true to its roots. Like its ancestors, it’s first and foremost a messaging machine”. Fisher says some will be put off by the lack of apps available on the new BlackBerry’s and most would be unlikely to switch from another smartphone.

“Hopefully, someday, the ecosystems supporting it will catch up,” he concludes.

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About The Author /

Cantech Letter founder and editor Nick Waddell has lived in five Canadian provinces and is proud of his country's often overlooked contributions to the world of science and technology. Waddell takes a regular shift on the Canadian media circuit, making appearances on CTV, CBC and BNN, and contributing to publications such as Canadian Business and Business Insider.
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Comment

  1. I had to use my brothers iphone to make a call and I was irritated when I couldn’t make the same swiping gestures on the iphone

  2. I moved from an S3 to a Z10 and I love it ! I actually don’t miss any apps . A cool feature i use all the time is the simple HDMI out , purchased a 5$ cable with regular microHDMI and watch movie, youtube etc on my big screen or when travelling

  3. I love the Z10 but after syncing my work email with the device, it started to have issues!

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