BlackBerry Z10 - Tech Specs and Links to Resources

Blackberry Z10 – The former Research In Motion (RIM) fight back?

Blackberry once was, and still is for many, the financial and government phone of choice because of the encryption around its data, including email, and its physical keyboard.

The Blackberry Z10 has a touchscreen keyboard, an after the (smartphone) event acknowledgement that users are comfortable with this method of input (compared to a physical QWERTY keyboard).

For what is a reasonably pricey phone, its plastic case which doesn’t equate to premium quality, will disappoint some users.

It does most things to be expected from a high-end phone, with few flaws apparently – though without the king hit killers points that would make technophiles race out and buy it. Some may find it useful that (unlike iPhone and HTC One) its 16GB internal memory is upgradeable through supporting microSD slots of supporting cards up to 32GB (and rumours of a 64GB variant).

• Blackberry 10.1 OS, on a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus MSM8960 system chip

• Rear facing 8 megapixel camera, with a 1080p HD camcorder (1920 x 1080) and digital image stabilisation. Front facing 2 megapixel camera for video calling (720p)

• Accelerometer, gyroscope and compass sensors

• 105mm display, 1280 x 768 pixels (15:9 aspect ratio)

Features

• ARM 1.5GHz dual-core Krait processor

• A HUB and FLOW where all communication tools (email, Facebook, Twitter) sit in one place

• Unmatched security

• ‘TimeShift’ feature for camera app – allows user to dial back the time on certain pictures so that people aren’t making less than ideal faces

• Voice Control – allows phone to be operated by spoken commands (apparently using a natural voice)

Specs

• Battery – 1800 mAh removeable. 10 hours talk time (on 3G), 13 days standby time

• Memory – 16GB internal, up to 64GB (microSDXC) removeable

• Size – 130mm high/66mm wide/9mm deep

• Screen 105mm diagonal

• Weight – 138g

Commentary

Comment by Peter Kerr for Scoop Techlab

The Blackberry Z10 (and its physical QWERTY keyboard brother the Q10) could be the last toss of the dice for the formerly named Research In Motion.

The Canadian company, now formally named Blackberry, has been a latecomer to the smartphone explosion.

These two flagship phones are widely regarded as a last chance to stay relevant in a world dominated by the iPhone (iOS operating system), Samsung and a host of other smaller phone makers (Android operating system).

Blackberry has improved its own operating system (BB10), which most reviewers rate as being stable and exciting, but not necessarily something around which users will want to go through a new learning curve .

The other challenge for Blackberry will be that as yet it has few apps for its system.

Even previously strong supporters of Blackberry, investment bank Morgan Stanley with more than 55,000 staff is sticking with the older models from 2011 as reported in The Guardian.

Meanwhile the U.S. head of sales, Richard Piasentin got the boot in June as 2.7 million units were shipped Stateside, but its overall market share fell to 5.1% from 5.9%.

Which is a pity, because as with other consumer goods, competition helps keep prices and features keen for the end user.

As James Sanders comments in his blog in the TechRepublic, “the Z10 is a fantastic deal if you’re not squeamish about being on the frontier in a new ecosystem; being an early adopter is always a bit risky” [with regard to the new operating system]. “If you’re comfortable in that position, don’t require a physical keyboard, and have neither the desire, hands, nor pockets large enough to accommodate a much larger phone, the Z10 is a solid choice.”

Content Note: This post has been enabled by Telecom NZ , but the thoughts are the blogger's own. Find out more about Telecom Moblile Phone Picks here. Scoop TechLab is a project of Scoop Independent Media www.scoop.co.nz. It is edited by Scoop Editor Alastair Thompson.

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