BLACKBERRY Z10

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Five weeks with BlackBerries make-or-break smartphone. But was it good enough to melt his Android-loving heart?

Day 01

Things get off to a bad start:  I unbox the Z10 only to find that some joker has replaced it with  an iPhone 5. OK, not really, but if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Apple must be flattered indeed. I give it my standard bending and caressing test, and despite its all-plastic body, instantly warm to its dimpled, rubberised back and solid build. Removing the back panel reveals  a microSD slot and removable battery – welcome sights for a gadget slave driver such as myself. Turning it on fires up a tutorialdesigned to teach me BB 10 OS’ new gestures. Naturally, I skip it. But the Z10’s icon-filled homescreen welcomes me anyway, and I let my experimental finger get to work. Swiping down reveals a settings and toggle menu – easy enough for a battle-worn Knight of Android. Straight into settings to load up all my email accounts, and boom: I’ve officially popped my BlackBerry cherry. It’s worryingly easy to do. A few haphazard swipes later and I chance upon the BB Hub, where all emails, texts and messages live. Turns out to get there I just swipe up and to the
right from within any app. All of my messages combined into an inbox- on-steroids, without having to tap  a bunch of buttons to flip between accounts? Messaging nirvana. After a bit more swiping (it’s pretty addictive), I notice a few things wrong with the screen. Firstly, it feels tiny compared  with my gargantuan Galaxy Note. Secondly, it’s very dim. I attempt to do something about the latter problem, but even with the brightness cranked up my eyes crave more lumens. Sadface.jpg. Maybe a trip to BlackBerry World will make me feel better. Or maybe not. There were 70,000
apps promised at launch, but numbers alone do not a quality experience make. And my first impressions of BB World are pretty grim. It feels like buying a new car only to discover that the engine is hollow but for a panting hamster in a wheel. No Google Maps. No Skype. No WhatsApp. No Spotify. At least Angry Birds Space temporarily eases my woes. The browser is great though, rendering desktop versions of heavy websites such as BBC with ease. Plus it still supports Flash, and coupled with a 4G sim, it’s seriously speedy.

Day 02 

The Time Shift camera feature, which lets you swap faces into group shots, is a winner. I’m even able to get perfect photos of my girlfriend’s kittens with it – they’re usually too focused on turning my hands into mincemeat to pose.  It’s a shame that slight motion blurring spoils my video footage  of them fighting though. 

Day 03 

In 2005, an oil depot in exploded 10 miles away from my house. People woke up in a cold sweat 28 miles away. I slept right through it. That’s why I need five alarms in the morning. The Z10 limits you to one. Spot the problem? For the first time in my life, I can’t blame the metro for my late arrival to work. 

Day 05 

Either I was spoilt by the Note’s 2500mAh battery, or something is seriously wrong. I had 46% left at lunch and I’m still having to recharge for my commute home. At least the Z10 is hot enough to warm my hands. That’s normal, right? 

Day 10 

I don’t need a million apps. A few games, a journey planner and I’m happy. Plus, I’ve worked out how to side-load Android apps: all it took

Day 15  

An alarm app fixed my oversleeping woes, but the metro is still slow, so I spend my lengthy journey writing a review on the Z10. I’m soon an unstoppable typing machine thanks to its excellent onscreen keyboard – it’s as good as SwiftKey on Android. High praise. 

Day 22 

 I’ve finally cracked and bought the spare-battery-and-charger bundle. The Z10’s battery life hasn’t improved and I needed reassurance in case I found myself stranded on yet another slow-moving metro. 

Day 34

I have phantom swipe syndrome.  I swipe around every other device  I use, so deeply embedded within me are the Z10’s gestures. I’m addicted to them. I’m addicted to the insanely fast multitasking and instant Hub peek. I’m a slave to  the red LED. I think I’ve become  a BlackBerry user without even meaning to. And it feels good.

RESULT

Not one for app lovers, but for multitasking and messaging, the BlackBerry Z10 is a beast