By Today RIM went all in with their latest update to the fading mobile platform that once had a stranglehold on the enterprise market. Did I say RIM? I meant BlackBerry, as the company has now been unified under the single brand. It all accompanies the launch of BlackBerry 10 and the first two devices to run it, the BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10.
The Z10 is BlackBerry’s all-touch device featuring a 4.2-inch display with a 1280×768 resolution, equaling a pixel density of 356ppi. The phone carries a 1.5GHz dual-core CPU with 2GB of RAM, an 8MP camera, and 16GB or 32GB storage options. The Q10 has similar internal hardware, but features a full QWERTY keyboard and 3.1-inch display at 330ppi.
For BB10’s flagship handsets, the hardware seems a little light when compared to the latest Android devices (and even the iPhone 5). But BlackBerry is hoping to succeed not on hardware alone, but also on through their brand new software platform, which reinvents the BlackBerry ecosystem for the touchscreen era.
A new emphasis has been placed on multi-tasking via “BlackBerry Flow,” a system not unlike Android 4.x’s multi-tasking application launcher, and integration with social networks and other communications platforms looks to create a more robust experience while recapturing BlackBerry’s position as the leader in mobile messaging. Apps also look to play a bigger role than ever in the BlackBerry experience.
It’s a bold move forward for BlackBerry, but at first glance we still wonder if they have done enough. The new OS looks slick and contains some intriguing functionality, but nothing that transcends what we have seen from other mobile platforms. Same goes for the hardware. In short, this could be BB’s last hurrah. Android certainly shouldn’t feel threatened.
Yawn.
Your mom
K.
Your dad.
Well…good luck to them. I truely do hope they do better than Microsoft. At this point its sink or swim for Rim and BB. Godspeed
I feel the same I wish them all the best and hope they at least get BOLD enough to try out some new things an push the industry forward as they used to!
BlackBerry/RIM were the ones who introduced me to the smartphone world… and I have a small glimmer of hope that we can see the return of the Blackberry into the market once again… But with Android/iPhone already dominating the market share (consumer and business), I have no idea what Blackberry is planning to facilitate their comeback.
I wonder how long it will take before someone gets CM10.1 on it… LOL
I’m guessing this thing will be quick and smooth even stock and run great on that dual core. Too bad it’s probably too late for them.
Their grave is pre dug. Might need to dig it a little bigger for all the unsold blackberries that are gonna have to go in with the company though.
Hate to break it too ya, but there are a lot of people excited to get this.
Me? Not one of them. I’ve tested it out at work already, very nice, but not so nice that I can’t do the same thing or more on my Androids. Also, the screen size doesn’t cut it for these mitts. :)
I woulddn’t mind having this a secondary device..you know….just to switch up the flava abit…..
Did they at least face the speakers forward??? :-)
It’s out the bottom. Better, but FF speaker would have been nicer.
Can the market sustain a 4th ecosystem? I’m not so sure it’s doing all that well with three, and the third has the muscle of windows behind it. This might just be BBs death rattle
I sure think it can…we’ve got a population of 300mil+ in the US….probably a good 220mil probably have phones..so the market is a ripe for some blackberrys! lol
WP has never been strong enough, do you seriously consider MS a contender to BB ecosystem?
different is…microsoft has the funds to go years and years to basically fight for 3rd….blackberry does not. so yes microsoft is a contender to BB and there really is no ecosystem for BB as BB doesn’t have an ecosystem like Apple, android or microsoft(and i am not talking just apps either…i mean an actual ecosystem)
I’m gonna laugh my ass off when your proven wrong sweetheart
what exactly am i wrong about? Microsoft has deep pockets…proven fact therefore financially they can afford to keep pumping money into wp even if they are losing market share more so than rim can with blackberry.
Can it? absolutely…. If not Windows Phone is going get knocked out of the race.. I see Windows Phone getting killed more so I mean if they weren’t why would Nokia want to try and look into maybe producing something in the android world? BB10 is going to be more successful in my opinion.
Pick looks like a droidx2
That’s a whole lot of bezel
That’s because the OS uses bezel gestures
*shrug*
I watched the whole keynote and came away impressed. The hub is pretty slick, the keyboard is downright amazing, the only thing I’m wondering about is battery life. It’s too early to say whether or not I would switch from Android but I would like to get my hands on one and try it out.
It seem finally something in motion.
Too bad it looks like it might be the motion of a turd being flushed.
So now it’s a fruit vs a fruit vs a robot vs some small flacid thingy.
Geez…death to BB i guess, and it looks like alot of us arent too confident in its return. I thought the hardware and software were rock solid and just enough for em’. They made up for the underpowered chip with 2GB of ram, i guess to keep everything running smoothly. I thought they would have touched on the attempt for an emulator to allow android apps to run. I think that would have been a great Royal Flush to entice former BB users to come back. Shoot! I might have went back if they had a well fleshed out emulator……what do you think guys?
I am very supportive of BB making a comeback. Afterall, i did own a BB device for almost 6 years! 2004-2010
Sorry but it is too late. They dicked around too long and missed the boat.
Sell to Microsoft, they could use the help
I feel all of the specs are directly aimed at iphone5..it beats the iphone5 in every spec except the size (BB is a bit bigger…but not by much). BB knows going against Android is suicide…..so they are going to take out the smaller guys (as far as market share)…..
Its a lot smaller then I realized.
If they were considering a name change, I would’ve chosen something that isn’t synonymous with “antiquated”
I’m actually surprised the specs are good. Considering current phones don’t take advantage of dual and quad core processors this phone with 2gb ram should run smooth. I would much rather BlackBerry take the third spot from Microsoft, and maybe one day the second spot from Apple. I think BlackBerry could push innovation and Android better than Apple.
Holy Bezel! it looks like it needs a 5 inch screen but instead they put a 4.2 incher on it. Also only a dual core? Is it March 2011 again or something, did i travel back in time? This is supposed to BlackBerries top of the line effort. One they have been working on for years. Think about what HTC or Samsung, or even Apple could put out with 4 years of development on a single phone.
The phone itself is ok, its already outdated a bit but its ok. But if this is the best they can do to try and save the company they are in serious trouble.
quad cores haven’t existed for years. you said yourself this is something they have been working on for years, so it only makes sense its not going to have this years hardware in it.
Palm part 2 ugly phone good luck they will need it
The Q10 looks dope. Runs super smooth. I can see a lot of people jumping on these — not Android fanboys, of course — but regular consumers still hear the word “BlackBerry” and associate it with “smartphone.”
Here’s to hoping BlackBerry does well. God knows Android needs better competition than Apple :/
Lots of Commercial and Government users are looking at this phone too. They have a bit of a following still. :) I wouldn’t mind giving it a spin either.
They should have come out with this at the beginning of last year while people were still interested. I’m afraid this might be to little to late.
I hope Android takes note, I could use a few more neat features in our OS. Like how I can swipe my icons on the lockscreen to open the apps I have shortcut on there, but I can’t use gestures like that in the main home screen. Let Android keep eating the apple/blackberry pies and gain all the power!
The only way this will work, imo, is if the battery life is beyond fantastic and they market that point relentlessly, and they have a spectacular overall advertising campaign. Even then, it won’t bring them back to anywhere near where they were. Best they could hope for is to get their stock up a bit and then sell.
Will be interesting to see if enough diehard BB fans will go for the new hardware and platform while Android is on a steam rolling spree
I am rooting for WP and BB….but then again I like underdogs…..Heck I might cheer for iOS in a year (because by then android has beat it into near oblivion :P)
But android will most likely stay at the top of my OS list
The PocketNow post on this says Verizon has posted information saying this is going to be $200 on contract. After so long with nothing that seems insanely high to me.
“Update: Verizon doesn’t have a date to share yet, but it does have a price – its Z10 will be going for just about $200 on-contract…”
http://pocketnow.com/2013/01/30/blackberry-10-carriers
I think it’s very nice, but not as good as the best Android devices.
what is up with all that basel? well apple better start innovating soon instead of suing because their OS have become stale, boring and it is the oldest OS around, start sending people to the drawing boards instead of courtrooms.
COME’ ON WERE IN 2013 AND STILL USING DUAL CORE BLACKBERRY REALLY?
not every OS needs quadcore like android does…..
+1
This is like deja vu from Palm.
I think this phone looks solid, if I didn’t love my Note or android died I’d go to this phone over an iPhone or windows phone. I actually always really enjoyed my blackberries my bold 9650 was a tank. Also u don’t have to have quad cores to be smooth, I bet that blackberry runs just as smooth as any quad core device running android (and that is not bashing android as I own two quad core android phones)
man i hope they do well….but realistically they should have pulled something a little more amazing out …I do not see this being it… by the the time these phones get going… the next generation of phones will be out and they will get crushed….
Apparently Blackberry doesn’t believe in expandable memory? As cards???
I bet it will have a great batter life. Its an easily done selling point
Excuse me, but how is that “light compared to the iPhone 5?”
I can see many of the BB10 features ported into a launcher. The keyboard I can see being ported as an app as well. It does have good stuff, but I simply don’t like the device. One of the things that Android did that spoiled me for other Operating Systems was the ability to port features over from other operating Systems.
I also find a lot of the gesture movements reminiscent of WebOS. All in all this is a good step for Blackberry. I wish them the best in terms of doing well and staying afloat as a company
Well their stock took a dip with today’s presentation so that’s an even worse sign
Reminds me of the death strugglings of Palm, but we’ll see.
My confidence that the Phandroid community knows less about mobile tech than any other website has been restored.