The smartphone market has changed quite a bit over the past few
years. Once a major competitor in the smartphone market, BlackBerry has
lost much of its market share as many former BlackBerry users have
switched to iOS and Android. Despite its troubled history, the company
remains and is fighting to regain its stronghold in the smartphone
market. Whether you’ve stayed loyal to BlackBerry through the years or are simply considering all smartphones on the market today, BlackBerry’s new Z10 may catch your eye.
The new Z10 is BlackBerry’s first device to run on the latest version
of BlackBerry’s operating system, BlackBerry 10 (BB10). Needless to
say, there’s a lot riding on the Z10, and things are looking
somewhat hopeful. BlackBerry reportedly has already received an order
for 1 million BlackBerry Z10 devices from an established partner. Not
long ago, the company also announced its BB10 store reached a milestone
of 100,000 apps.
Let's first give you a quick walk-around of the Z10 in action, with the
BB10 operating system and then we'll dive in deeper to design, user
experience and performance characteristics.
Before we dive into the full hands-on review to see what the Z10 and
BB10 OS has to offer, let’s take a quick look at the specifications of
the device:
 |
|
| Processor and memory | 1.5 GHz Dual Core Snapdragon S4 Plus 2GB RAM 16GB Flash |
| Operating System | BlackBerry 10 |
| Connectivity | Z10
Quad band LTE 2, 5, 4, 17 (700/850/1700/1900 MHz)
Quad band HSPA+ 1, 2, 4, 5/6, (850/1700/1900/2100 MHz)
Quad band EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
*Note: HSPA+ Band 4 (AWS) is carrier dependent Z10 (4G - Verizon) LTE Band-13 (700 MHz) CDMA Cell-band and PCS-band (800/1900 MHz) WCDMA Band-1 and Band-8 (2100/900 MHz) GSM/EDGE Quad Bands (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) 802.11 a/b/g/n; 2.4 GHz / 5 GHz 4G Mobile Hotspot Bluetooth 4.0 GPS NFC |
| Ports and expansion | microUSB micro HDMI microSD |
| Display | 4.2-inch 1280 x 768 resolution, 356 PPI 24-bit color depth |
| Size and weight | 5.12 x 2.58 x 0.35 inches 4.78 ounces |
| Cameras and multimedia | 8MP rear camera with LED flash, continuous and touch to focus, image stabilization; 1080p HD video recording 2MP front-facing camera with image and video stabilization; 720p HD video recording |
| Apps | BlackBerry Hub, Contacts, BlackBerry Browser, BlackBerry Calendar, BBM, Text Messages, BlackBerry World, BlackBerry Remember, Docs To Go, Pictures, Music, Videos, Story Maker, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare, BlackBerry Maps, Games, YouTube, Voice Control, Weather, Clock, Calculator, Compass, File Manager, Box, BlackBerry Connect for Dropbox, Print To Go, Smart Tags, Settings, Adobe Reader, Phone, Camera/Video Camera/Time Shift, Setup, Help, SIM Toolkit, Search |
| Battery | 1800mAH removable battery Up to 10 hours talk time (3G) Up to 13 days standby time |
| Availability | AT&T $199.99 after discounts and with a 2-year contract Verizon Wireless $199.99 after discounts and with a 2-year contract |
The Z10 features a 1.5GHz dual-core
Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus processor, 16GB of internal storage, 2GB of
RAM, an 8MP rear-facing camera, 2MP front-facing camera, and a 1,800 mAh
battery. Although some users may miss BlackBerry’s famous hardware
QWERTY keyboard, BlackBerry decided to mimic its competition by giving
the Z10 a traditional candy-bar form factor with a 4.2-inch touchscreen
(1280 x 768) and an on-screen predictive keyboard.
The BlackBerry Z10 is available from AT&T (left) Verizon Wireless (right).
When you first glance at the BlackBerry Z10, one of its main competitors--the iPhone--is sure to come to mind. Although the Z10 has a similar exterior look to Apple’s iPhone 5, there are some key differences. For starters, the front of the Z10 has no hardware buttons. Instead, the BB10 OS uses gestures for navigation. We’ll take a closer look at how some of these gestures work in the coming pages.
In terms of size, the Z10 is also larger than the iPhone 5. Here’s how they compare:
Above the display, you’ll notice the front-facing 2 megapixel camera
that’s just to the right of the center of the phone. The microphone is
located below the display in the center. Above and below the display, you’ll notice the phone’s matte casing which extends to the sides of the device.
On the left edge of the BlackBerry Z10, you’ll find a micro HDMI port and a microUSB port. A speaker is located on the bottom edge of the Z10. The right edge of the Z10 houses the volume rocker with a mute button in the center. When using the camera, the up and down volume keys function as shutter keys. You’ll find the headset jack and Power button on the top edge of the phone.
When you flip the Z10 over you’ll notice the soft, textured cover along with the BlackBerry logo. The rear-facing 8 megapixel camera and LED flash are located in the upper left corner of the phone. The rear cover is easy to remove and provides access to the user-replaceable battery, SIM card slot, and microSD card slot.
The Z10 runs on BlackBerry’s latest OS, BlackBerry 10 which uses gestures for navigation (in fact, there aren’t any navigation buttons on the phone). Since most users won’t be overly familiar with the gesture controls in BB10, let’s take a brief look at some of the more useful gestures.
When the phone is in sleep mode, you can wake it by pressing the Power button or by swiping your finger from the bottom of the screen upwards. If you are concerned about the latter motion accidentally turning on the phone, you can disable this setting in the Settings menu. Unlocking the Z10 is pretty intuitive – simply slide your finger up from the bottom of the screen.
After unlocking the phone, you'll see the first main home screen. By default, you’ll find three main screens that display the apps that come with the Z10. To access any panel quickly, tap the appropriate dot located below the app grid. You can also slide your finger along the dots to switch from one panel to the next very quickly. When an application is open, an additional panel will appear. This panel is denoted by four dots and is called the Active Frames page. This panel shows all open apps and lets you open and close apps. You can have up to eight apps open at a time.
The BlackBerry Hub is a unified inbox that displays all of your messages and notifications from various accounts. To access the BlackBerry Hub from anywhere on the phone, swipe your finger from the bottom of the screen upward and then to the right, making an inverted L shape. While using the BlackBerry Hub, you can swipe inward from the left of the screen to reveal individual inboxes. If you drag your finger down from the middle of the screen while in the BlackBerry Hub, you’ll see a quick view of your appointments for the day. This can be handy when you need to check your availability before responding to a meeting request.
BlackBerry recognizes many of its customers are likely to be business professionals that require a secure device. To meet the needs of these users, BlackBerry has implemented password protection, a screen lock, and a feature known as BlackBerry Balance which lets you have separate profiles for work and personal data. With BlackBerry Balance, you can store business apps and information on your work profile while music and other personal files are stored in a personal profile. When configured, you can switch between work and personal spaces by dragging your finger down from the middle of the home screen and selecting Personal or Work.
BlackBerry Balance provides the security companies demand in the form of a work profile and a separate profile for a user's personal files.
To access various phone settings, drag your finger from the top of the screen downward, just as you would in Android. This swipe gesture will give you access to Settings, Bluetooth, Alarm, Rotation Lock, Wi-Fi, and Notifications. To turn off notifications and put your phone in Do Not Disturb mode, simply swipe down from the lock screen. When you do this, you’ll see the BlackBerry clock along with Alarm options. To exit this mode, swipe down from the top of the screen and select Exit or swipe up from the bottom of the screen to unlock the phone.
To display the keyboard at any time, swipe two fingers up from the bottom of the screen. Of course, the keyboard will also appear automatically when entering text is necessary (such as entering a web address or composing an email.)
Although previous BlackBerry users may miss the company’s beloved hardware keyboard when using the Z10, BlackBerry did its best to offer a keyboard that users will embrace. To facilitate quick typing, BlackBerry included text prediction with the Z10's on-screen keyboard. To insert a word highlighted on the keyboard, flick upwards on the key beneath the word. If you’d rather have the words appear in a column above the keyboard or not at all, you can change this in the Settings menu. During our testing of the phone, we found the predictive text feature to be quite handy. It definitely saves time when tapping out long phrases. The software is designed to be adaptive and offer better predictions the more you use it.
If someone you know has a BB10 device, you can also use BlackBerry Messenger to have a video conversation. You can also share your screen with that person using BlackBerry Messenger.
The number of applications available in BlackBerry World for the BlackBerry 10 OS is still relatively limited in comparison to other platforms. Even so, you’ll find many of today’s popular apps on the platform including Kindle, AccuWeather, eBay, Kayak, ESPN ScoreCenter, Box, Slacker Radio, and much more.
Although there is a definite learning curve involved with using a new OS, it didn’t take us long to feel comfortable using BB10. Overall, the OS provided a pleasant user experience.
The BlackBerry Z10 is available from AT&T (left) Verizon Wireless (right).
When you first glance at the BlackBerry Z10, one of its main competitors--the iPhone--is sure to come to mind. Although the Z10 has a similar exterior look to Apple’s iPhone 5, there are some key differences. For starters, the front of the Z10 has no hardware buttons. Instead, the BB10 OS uses gestures for navigation. We’ll take a closer look at how some of these gestures work in the coming pages.
In terms of size, the Z10 is also larger than the iPhone 5. Here’s how they compare:
| BlackBerry Z10 | Apple iPhone 5 | |
| Height (inches) | 5.12 | 4.87 |
| Width (inches) | 2.58 | 2.31 |
| Depth (inches) | 0.35 | 0.30 |
| Weight (ounces) | 4.78 | 3.95 |
| Display | 4.2-inch (1280 x 768) |
4-inch (1136 x 640) |
On the left edge of the BlackBerry Z10, you’ll find a micro HDMI port and a microUSB port. A speaker is located on the bottom edge of the Z10. The right edge of the Z10 houses the volume rocker with a mute button in the center. When using the camera, the up and down volume keys function as shutter keys. You’ll find the headset jack and Power button on the top edge of the phone.
When you flip the Z10 over you’ll notice the soft, textured cover along with the BlackBerry logo. The rear-facing 8 megapixel camera and LED flash are located in the upper left corner of the phone. The rear cover is easy to remove and provides access to the user-replaceable battery, SIM card slot, and microSD card slot.
The Z10 runs on BlackBerry’s latest OS, BlackBerry 10 which uses gestures for navigation (in fact, there aren’t any navigation buttons on the phone). Since most users won’t be overly familiar with the gesture controls in BB10, let’s take a brief look at some of the more useful gestures.
When the phone is in sleep mode, you can wake it by pressing the Power button or by swiping your finger from the bottom of the screen upwards. If you are concerned about the latter motion accidentally turning on the phone, you can disable this setting in the Settings menu. Unlocking the Z10 is pretty intuitive – simply slide your finger up from the bottom of the screen.
After unlocking the phone, you'll see the first main home screen. By default, you’ll find three main screens that display the apps that come with the Z10. To access any panel quickly, tap the appropriate dot located below the app grid. You can also slide your finger along the dots to switch from one panel to the next very quickly. When an application is open, an additional panel will appear. This panel is denoted by four dots and is called the Active Frames page. This panel shows all open apps and lets you open and close apps. You can have up to eight apps open at a time.
The BlackBerry Hub is a unified inbox that displays all of your messages and notifications from various accounts. To access the BlackBerry Hub from anywhere on the phone, swipe your finger from the bottom of the screen upward and then to the right, making an inverted L shape. While using the BlackBerry Hub, you can swipe inward from the left of the screen to reveal individual inboxes. If you drag your finger down from the middle of the screen while in the BlackBerry Hub, you’ll see a quick view of your appointments for the day. This can be handy when you need to check your availability before responding to a meeting request.
BlackBerry recognizes many of its customers are likely to be business professionals that require a secure device. To meet the needs of these users, BlackBerry has implemented password protection, a screen lock, and a feature known as BlackBerry Balance which lets you have separate profiles for work and personal data. With BlackBerry Balance, you can store business apps and information on your work profile while music and other personal files are stored in a personal profile. When configured, you can switch between work and personal spaces by dragging your finger down from the middle of the home screen and selecting Personal or Work.
BlackBerry Balance provides the security companies demand in the form of a work profile and a separate profile for a user's personal files.
To access various phone settings, drag your finger from the top of the screen downward, just as you would in Android. This swipe gesture will give you access to Settings, Bluetooth, Alarm, Rotation Lock, Wi-Fi, and Notifications. To turn off notifications and put your phone in Do Not Disturb mode, simply swipe down from the lock screen. When you do this, you’ll see the BlackBerry clock along with Alarm options. To exit this mode, swipe down from the top of the screen and select Exit or swipe up from the bottom of the screen to unlock the phone.
To display the keyboard at any time, swipe two fingers up from the bottom of the screen. Of course, the keyboard will also appear automatically when entering text is necessary (such as entering a web address or composing an email.)
Although previous BlackBerry users may miss the company’s beloved hardware keyboard when using the Z10, BlackBerry did its best to offer a keyboard that users will embrace. To facilitate quick typing, BlackBerry included text prediction with the Z10's on-screen keyboard. To insert a word highlighted on the keyboard, flick upwards on the key beneath the word. If you’d rather have the words appear in a column above the keyboard or not at all, you can change this in the Settings menu. During our testing of the phone, we found the predictive text feature to be quite handy. It definitely saves time when tapping out long phrases. The software is designed to be adaptive and offer better predictions the more you use it.
If someone you know has a BB10 device, you can also use BlackBerry Messenger to have a video conversation. You can also share your screen with that person using BlackBerry Messenger.
The number of applications available in BlackBerry World for the BlackBerry 10 OS is still relatively limited in comparison to other platforms. Even so, you’ll find many of today’s popular apps on the platform including Kindle, AccuWeather, eBay, Kayak, ESPN ScoreCenter, Box, Slacker Radio, and much more.
Although there is a definite learning curve involved with using a new OS, it didn’t take us long to feel comfortable using BB10. Overall, the OS provided a pleasant user experience.
The Z10 has an 8 megapixel rear-facing camera with LED flash. This
camera also features continuous and touch to focus capabilities. During
our testing of the camera, it did a good job at focusing on our subjects
with only a slight delay. We found the continuous focusing capabilities
to be quite handy. We also liked that BlackBerry lets you use the
volume keys as shutter buttons.
Overall, sample images taken using the Z10’s rear-facing camera were crisp and had excellent color. The camera had no problems capturing excellent outdoor images. Indoor shots using the flash (when necessary) produced acceptable results as well. Some of the indoor shots can get a little noisy in low lit environments, but this is pretty common among camera phone images and the Z10 does as good, if not better, than other camera phones we’ve used indoors.
BlackBerry includes a feature known as Time Shift mode with the Z10’s camera. This feature takes a series of pictures and lets you select faces from those pictures to create the best image. This concept isn’t new (we’ve seen it on other cameras) but it’s a nice addition that BlackBerry has included. While testing this feature, our results were mixed. Some images created using Time Shift mode turned out ok but others showed some flaws. For example, we took a picture of two adults using Time Shift mode. The adults weren’t moving – just smiling at the camera. At first glance, our final image looked promising. Once we uploaded the image to our desktop to view the image full screen however, we could clearly see where the faces were swapped and stitched together. The man’s beard in the image was blurry while the woman’s chin was offset from the rest of her face. Even though we like the idea of Time Shift, the implementation of the feature doesn’t always produce usable results.
The Z10 utilizes an 1800mAH removable battery that is suppose to last for up to 10 hours of talk time on a 3G network and up to 13 days of standby time. Because BlackBerry doesn’t let you disable the sleep mode on the phone (the longest duration the phone will remain on before going to sleep is 5 minutes), we weren’t able to run our standard Hot Hardware web browsing test on this phone. However, BlackBerry does enable the phone to stay awake when playing a video so we loaded the Z10 up with a 1080p clip and had it play continuously until the phone shut down. While running this test, 3G, 4G, and Wi-Fi radios were enabled and the screen was set to 50% brightness. The phone lasted for 5 hours and 28 minutes before shutting down.
In real-world use, the phone was able to get us through a day with moderate use while checking email, taking pictures, surfing the web, etc. That said, heavy users who demand a lot from their phone will likely want to carry their charger and/or a spare battery to ensure they can make it through the day without issue.
Call quality on the Z10 was as good as most other phones we've reviewed. The speakerphone was clear as well and we had no complaints while using this phone to make and receive calls.
Overall, sample images taken using the Z10’s rear-facing camera were crisp and had excellent color. The camera had no problems capturing excellent outdoor images. Indoor shots using the flash (when necessary) produced acceptable results as well. Some of the indoor shots can get a little noisy in low lit environments, but this is pretty common among camera phone images and the Z10 does as good, if not better, than other camera phones we’ve used indoors.
BlackBerry includes a feature known as Time Shift mode with the Z10’s camera. This feature takes a series of pictures and lets you select faces from those pictures to create the best image. This concept isn’t new (we’ve seen it on other cameras) but it’s a nice addition that BlackBerry has included. While testing this feature, our results were mixed. Some images created using Time Shift mode turned out ok but others showed some flaws. For example, we took a picture of two adults using Time Shift mode. The adults weren’t moving – just smiling at the camera. At first glance, our final image looked promising. Once we uploaded the image to our desktop to view the image full screen however, we could clearly see where the faces were swapped and stitched together. The man’s beard in the image was blurry while the woman’s chin was offset from the rest of her face. Even though we like the idea of Time Shift, the implementation of the feature doesn’t always produce usable results.
The Z10 utilizes an 1800mAH removable battery that is suppose to last for up to 10 hours of talk time on a 3G network and up to 13 days of standby time. Because BlackBerry doesn’t let you disable the sleep mode on the phone (the longest duration the phone will remain on before going to sleep is 5 minutes), we weren’t able to run our standard Hot Hardware web browsing test on this phone. However, BlackBerry does enable the phone to stay awake when playing a video so we loaded the Z10 up with a 1080p clip and had it play continuously until the phone shut down. While running this test, 3G, 4G, and Wi-Fi radios were enabled and the screen was set to 50% brightness. The phone lasted for 5 hours and 28 minutes before shutting down.
In real-world use, the phone was able to get us through a day with moderate use while checking email, taking pictures, surfing the web, etc. That said, heavy users who demand a lot from their phone will likely want to carry their charger and/or a spare battery to ensure they can make it through the day without issue.
Call quality on the Z10 was as good as most other phones we've reviewed. The speakerphone was clear as well and we had no complaints while using this phone to make and receive calls.
Although many of our standard benchmarks aren’t available for
BlackBerry 10, we were able to run a few web-based benchmark tests to
get a better feel for how the Z10 compares to other smartphones
available today.
The BB10 Browser supports Adobe Flash, but it’s not turned on by default. To enable it, open the Browser and navigate to Settings. Select Display and Actions and then slide to enable Adobe Flash. The Browser also supports private browsing, which can be enabled from the Settings menu as well.
In the SunSpider JavaScript benchmark, the Z10 performed very well, earning the 3rd place spot behind the Samsung Galaxy Note II and the HTC One X.
Rightware’s BrowserMark 2.0 benchmark claims the Z10’s web browser is superior to 99% of all phone browsers. With a score of 2624, the Z10 earns the second spot in our comparison chart behind the LG Optimus G. Impressive, actually.
Although our comparison numbers for Mozilla’s Kraken v 1.1 benchmark are rather limited, it is interesting to see the Z10 comes in third place behind two Android devices which outscore the Z10 by decent margins. The Z10 outscores the iPhone 4S (iOS 6.1.2) and the Lumia 920 (Windows Phone 8), however.
Octane is a modern benchmark that measures a JavaScript engine’s performance by running a suite of tests representative of today’s complex and demanding web applications. Octane‘s goal is to measure the performance of JavaScript code found in large, real-world web applications.
Using Google’s Octane benchmark, we see a similar story as with Kraken—the Z10 comes in behind the Android devices but outscores the iPhone and Windows Phone 8 handsets.
Microsoft Fishbowl is an HTML5 driven benchmark that measure web graphics performance. The BlackBerry Z10 really shines in Microsoft’s Fish Bowl benchmark, earning the top score by a considerable margin.
Is the BlackBerry Z10 a good smartphone? In short, yes. Should you buy one? That depends. If you’re a loyal BlackBerry user who has been waiting a long time for a new handset, the Z10 is a great step in the right direction. In addition, customers who place a high value on both personal and corporate security will likely appreciate the Z10’s security features. However, if you have already made the switch to Android, iOS, or Windows Phone, there may not be enough compelling features on the Z10 to entice you to switch platforms. In addition, although the BlackBerry World store is growing, it still lags behind the other more established platforms from Apple and Google.
Once we overcame the learning curve associated with picking up a new OS, we were very comfortable with the Z10. Performance was responsive and nimble. We also appreciate the fact that BlackBerry lets heavy users swap batteries if necessary. All in all, the Z10 is a good phone that delivers some of BlackBerry’s most-loved functionality in a modern package but unfortunately the Z10 doesn’t offer anything that really knocks our socks off in terms of features, function, or performance.
The BlackBerry Z10 has been a long time coming. The company has had many ups and downs through the years and there’s a lot riding on the Z10. Over the past year, BlackBerry, formerly Research in Motion, has made some big changes. Some of those changes have helped the company return to profitability in its most recent quarter. Still, the company has a long road ahead with the Z10 and other BB10 handsets it if wants to remain a viable competitor in the smartphone market. The Z10 feels like a good start at least.
FROM: http://hothardware.com
The BB10 Browser supports Adobe Flash, but it’s not turned on by default. To enable it, open the Browser and navigate to Settings. Select Display and Actions and then slide to enable Adobe Flash. The Browser also supports private browsing, which can be enabled from the Settings menu as well.
In the SunSpider JavaScript benchmark, the Z10 performed very well, earning the 3rd place spot behind the Samsung Galaxy Note II and the HTC One X.
Rightware’s BrowserMark 2.0 benchmark claims the Z10’s web browser is superior to 99% of all phone browsers. With a score of 2624, the Z10 earns the second spot in our comparison chart behind the LG Optimus G. Impressive, actually.
Although our comparison numbers for Mozilla’s Kraken v 1.1 benchmark are rather limited, it is interesting to see the Z10 comes in third place behind two Android devices which outscore the Z10 by decent margins. The Z10 outscores the iPhone 4S (iOS 6.1.2) and the Lumia 920 (Windows Phone 8), however.
Octane is a modern benchmark that measures a JavaScript engine’s performance by running a suite of tests representative of today’s complex and demanding web applications. Octane‘s goal is to measure the performance of JavaScript code found in large, real-world web applications.
Using Google’s Octane benchmark, we see a similar story as with Kraken—the Z10 comes in behind the Android devices but outscores the iPhone and Windows Phone 8 handsets.
Microsoft Fishbowl is an HTML5 driven benchmark that measure web graphics performance. The BlackBerry Z10 really shines in Microsoft’s Fish Bowl benchmark, earning the top score by a considerable margin.
Is the BlackBerry Z10 a good smartphone? In short, yes. Should you buy one? That depends. If you’re a loyal BlackBerry user who has been waiting a long time for a new handset, the Z10 is a great step in the right direction. In addition, customers who place a high value on both personal and corporate security will likely appreciate the Z10’s security features. However, if you have already made the switch to Android, iOS, or Windows Phone, there may not be enough compelling features on the Z10 to entice you to switch platforms. In addition, although the BlackBerry World store is growing, it still lags behind the other more established platforms from Apple and Google.
Once we overcame the learning curve associated with picking up a new OS, we were very comfortable with the Z10. Performance was responsive and nimble. We also appreciate the fact that BlackBerry lets heavy users swap batteries if necessary. All in all, the Z10 is a good phone that delivers some of BlackBerry’s most-loved functionality in a modern package but unfortunately the Z10 doesn’t offer anything that really knocks our socks off in terms of features, function, or performance.
The BlackBerry Z10 has been a long time coming. The company has had many ups and downs through the years and there’s a lot riding on the Z10. Over the past year, BlackBerry, formerly Research in Motion, has made some big changes. Some of those changes have helped the company return to profitability in its most recent quarter. Still, the company has a long road ahead with the Z10 and other BB10 handsets it if wants to remain a viable competitor in the smartphone market. The Z10 feels like a good start at least.
 |
 |
|
|
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar