Usage and User Experience
I’ve used several Blackberrys over the years, staring with the Curve, then the Bold 9700, 9780, 9900 and then finally the Torch 9800. I have to admit, the Bold 9900 was a fairly decent phone. I hated the Torch 9800. But when I got my hands on the Z10 … I thought, WOW! This is truely something else.
The overall user experience on the Z10 was much better than I expected. The UI (user interface) was simple and easy to navigate. Swiping right-to-left to access the icons, menus and pages was smooth and pretty fast (unlike some of the second generation Android phones). This is all thanks the nippy Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ S4 dual-core processor running at 1.5 GHz.
From the home screen, swiping left-to-right will reveal the Blackberry “Hub”. An all-in-one place to access all your social feeds. Simply peek into the BlackBerry Hub from any app with just a swipe, and you can flow effortlessly in and out of your messages and conversations.
Removing the back plate reveals the removeable battery, a micro SD card slot, a micro-SIM card slot. Notice the back plate itself … it hides a square-shaped bump, which I understand is part of the NFC (near field communication) circuitry.
Emails and setting up accounts
The Z10 allows you to create email accounts and add social media with ease. You don’t need to download Twitter or Facebook apps. Just enter your username and password and you’re done! As for setting my Gmail and Exchange accounts, it was dead simple … I was done within 5 minutes.
There have been reports of minor bugs with the Blackberry OS 10, such as duplicate contacts and calendar items. The only way to fix this is to delete the account and reset the phone, then re-add the account again. Like all new gadgets, bugs are bound to appear, I guess they’ll fix this issue with their next OS 10.1 update when it come out in July.
Although the Z10 features a touch keyboard, Blackberry has done something different with it. The new touchscreen keyboard provides an effortless typing experience. It can actually learn your writing style and suggests words to help you type faster, more accurately and with the least amount of effort. I found typing on the Z10 much better than on the iPhone.
The overall diemensions meausres Height 130mm (5.12 in) x Width 65.6mm (2.58 in) x Depth 9mm (0.35 in), which is bigger than the iPhone 4 but about the same size as the Sony Experia Z.
Battery Life
The overall battery life is what you would expect from a high-spec smartphone such as the Z10. It will last about a full day with continuous use … and we’re talking surfing, accessing maps, social blogging, checking and replying to emails as well as listening to music and taking photos. Obviously, if you’re using 4G LTE it will drain the battery much faster than 3G. Ideally, I recommend you use WiFi connection where possible.
If you leave phone on standby (switched on but no usage) it will actually last quite a fair bit … upto 2-3 days.
