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If there’s one thing BlackBerry fans have in common, it’s their love of physical keyboards. But many fans were lured away by apps available on touch screen phones such as Android and iPhone. With the BlackBerry Q10, BlackBerry fans can have the best of both worlds: a physical keyboard for typing and a touch screen for apps.
This is the second phone to run on the BlackBerry 10 operating system, following in the footsteps of its older sibling the BlackBerry Z10. The Q10 aims to satisfy those who crave the tactile sensation of a physical keyboard as well as those who want to navigate using a touch screen.
Design
BlackBerry stayed true to its RIM roots when designing the Q10, revisiting a classic style while adding features that bring the phone into the future. The style of this phone is similar enough to its predecessors that many people may not recognize that your new phone is in fact new. But as they see you maneuver deftly through the screens and apps, they’ll soon realize this isn’t the BlackBerry of days past.
The phone retains the curved corners of previous generations while streamlining the keyboard into straight rows. Gone is the curvature of the keyboard in the shape of a smile. No longer do the keys need to be spaced to make way for a trackball or trackpad. The touch screen is all you need for navigation.
The addition of the physical keyboard requires sacrificing some screen space. The Q10 screen measures 3.1″ diagonally and is square-shaped, much like classic TV and computer monitors. The screen size allows you to reach from the bottom space bar on the keyboard to the top of the screen with your thumb so you can type and tap one-handed.
What the screen cedes in quantity it makes up for in quality. The screen is bright and the colors are vivid. Text is sharp and easy to read. The screen resolution rivals the Retina display of the iPhone.
The feel of the phone is solid, this isn’t the thinnest or lightest phone around. The Q10 has heft and exudes gravitas, it isn’t a fashion statement. The phone comes in black or white and weighs 4.9oz/139g.
The phone is equipped with NFC (Near Field Communication) and can serve as a Wi-Fi Hotspot for up to 8 other devices.
Keyboard
The keyboard is the biggest draw for this phone and much attention has been paid to its design. They keys are large and well spaced. The surface of the keys is molded so your fingers will nestle comfortably in their curves. If you’re a thumb typist, as many BlackBerry users are, you can type quickly without worrying about your thumbs slipping off of your target keys.
The keyboard retains a dedicated $ key, affirming its intent as a phone meant for business.
Storage
The phone comes with 16GB of internal storage which can be increased with a microSD card up to 64GB, for a total of 80GB of possible storage. Connect to Dropbox is a native icon on the phone so you can easily move your content to the Cloud.
Battery Life
The only people who will be disappointed in the Q10 battery life will be those who adore charging their phones. The battery is 16% more powerful than the battery of the BlackBerry Z10, yet the Q10’s screen is smaller, using less juice. The Q10 has a stated battery life of 21.23 hours of usage time and 16 days of standby time, meaning you should be able to make it through a day or two without looking at a charging cable, unless you’re an exceptionally heavy BlackBerry user. I often found my battery more than half full at the end of the day.
Camera
The Q10 camera is easily accessible from the home screen, the lock screen and the camera app. The phone has an 8MP rear camera with flash and video and a 2MP front-facing camera. The camera has an HDR mode (High Dynamic Range) that blends multiple shots for optimal images. You can take pictures in multiple screen modes, such as auto, action, white board, night and boost. You can also edit photos on the phone and then share them directly via email, text message, BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), Facebook, Twitter, Dropbox and NFC.
Here are some sample photos I took with the Q10:
Note that because of the square shape of the Q10 screen, photos are square shaped as well. The good news is that you no longer have to waste any time choosing between landscape and portrait modes. Turn the phone 90° and your view will be unchanged.
Hub
BlackBerry’s Hub feature organizes your notifications efficiently in one place so your email, calendar, Facebook, Twitter, text messages, BBM messages, LinkedIn and other communications are threaded in chronological order. Accessing Hub is easy from any screen by swiping up and to the right from any screen, Γ.
Instant Actions/Shortcuts
A very handy feature of the Q10 is Instant Actions — the phone figures out what you want to do the instant you start typing. Type “mail Joe” and the phone will show you a menu of options, including emailing your contacts named Joe. Type “call” and start typing the name or phone number to place a phone call.
You can find available Instant Action shortcuts at the BlackBerry Q10 Support website.
The zero key doubles as a launcher of Voice Command, similar to the iPhone’s Siri. Hold down the zero key and say, “Call home,” and a menu of options appears, including calling the number you have saved as “Home” in your contacts list. You can also assign single keys as speed dial buttons.
Apps
BlackBerry World continues to grow with over 100,000 apps in the store. Skype is now available in beta/test mode and Kindle is now available as an app. You may miss Netflix, Google Maps, Pandora and Spotify, however Web Apps may get you by with apps such as Google Maps.
BlackBerry World has added music and videos so you now can download those to your device.
Availability
The BlackBerry Q10 is available from Verizon for $199.99 with a two-year contract and $599.99 without a contract.
Bottom Line
Like the Z10, the BlackBerry Q10 is designed for those who want to get the job done without wasting time. Features such as the keyboard, Instant Action shortcuts and Hub make the phone extremely efficient to use. If you’re looking for a phone with a well-designed keyboard combined with a touch screen, and you don’t mind sacrificing some screen space for the convenience of the keyboard, then the Q10 may just be the phone for you.
Do you prefer physical keyboards to virtual ones? Are you excited that BlackBerry has launched a phone with a physical keyboard? Let us know in the Comments section below!
Blackberry really needs a good phone that will sell a lot, they have been loosing against iphone and android for a long time now. Maybe the Q10 is that phone…
Hi Johan, Yes, the physical keyboard certainly distinguishes this phone from the iPhone and most Android phones. If enough people are craving that keyboard and want apps and a touch screen, then the Q10 should be successful.
Blackberry is a VIP phone, There are many Brande phone but if you have a blackberry than you will notice among people. Q10 is allowing your every move to flow into the next. Nice and cool informative article … Thaks
Hi Mahendra, Yes, BlackBerry owners tend to notice other BlackBerry phones. They may notice the differences between the Q10 and previous models.
You’re right, the flow between screens and using the apps is extremely smooth.
Hey Carolyn,
Thanks for this detailed article…..I have been tracking the updates of BlackBerry Q10 and its touch screen brother Z10 since their inception in February (I guess)….I think the new BB10 OS is pretty good too….but the problem is people have been still preferring android OS and iOS over it….that’s the reason is has suffered a huge loss in the last quarter…..BlackBerry needs to think out of the box in order to survive in the rat race of the worldwide smartphone market…..what’s your thought???
Hi Aditya, The Q10 was launched in the US just last month, the Z10 was released first.
I like that BlackBerry is going back to its roots. Many people struggle to type on a virtual keyboard and prefer a physical keyboard. By offering a phone with both a physical keyboard and a touch screen, BlackBerry is giving users the best of both worlds.
There are lots of Smartphone’s having much better specification than blackberry Q10..In my perspective,most of the people around the world would prefer using the Android Smartphone’s .Instead of imitating features of Android(which has done a huge damage to BlackBerry) , Blackberry should come out with something innovative and introduce some unique features …we all know that they have the capability to do so !
Regards,
Pramod
Hi Pramod, The BlackBerry Q10 does have innovative features such as Hub. The Q10 is both a functional phone and one that can have apps and entertainment. Will it be enough to fight for market share against the iPhone and Android? Time will tell!
It is a good smartphone but it’s not great as per market conditions. For the price, I can get an iPhone 5, why should I buy this bulky phone? Plus, almost all apps these days have optimized for touch interface.
Hi Rakesh, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! Believe it or not, some people have complained that the iPhone 5 is in fact too light. See, The Weirdest Thing People Hate About the iPhone 5 Some people will prefer the heft of the BlackBerry over the featherweight of the iPhone 5. Plus some people do prefer a physical keyboard.
There is no one phone that is perfect for everyone. Whether enough people will prefer the BlackBerry Q10 over the iPhone 5 remains to be seen. Thanks so much for stopping by to share your thoughts, Rakesh!
I have always been a fan of physical keyboards as touchscreen keyboard simply do not compare to the feel you get and speed you are able to do when using a physical keyboard on a mobile phone. I had the curve blackberry 3 years back which I replaced with an Xperia Arc. Since I have thick fingers, I find it very difficult typing my messages on a touchscreen without having to use the backspace. I did not have that problem with my BB Curve before. This makes the Q10 really tempting for me. Maybe I will buy as a gift for myself these days as this unit certainly does offers the best of both touchscreen and physical keyboard.
Hi Emily, You may really like the Q10. The typing on it is very easy due to the size, shape and placement of they keys on the keyboard. Definitely head to a store to see if you like typing on the phone. If you know someone who has the phone, even better! See if you can try it out in person to give it a full test.
Still in QWERTY keypads? I wonder how will this model compete with the existing giants in the market. Blackberry is a good brand, but the question is, how can they compete?
Hi Manny, Excellent point. Many people say they want a physical keyboard but will they be willing to switch away from their Android and iPhones? We will see if that happens.
Iam not a fan of blackberry’s, never owned one, but ive been able to use quite a few and never liked them, the Q10 on the other side seems like a very different story.
Hi Nancy, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! I wasn’t a fan of BlackBerry phones before either, even though I do like having a physical keyboard. The new BlackBerry phones have the Hub feature which I find quite helpful, like having a bulletin board of all of my important information in one place.
Take a look at the Q10 to see if you like it. You may find that the phone is a good fit for you!
Hi Carolyn
For some reason BlackBerry is not very popular in Denmark. I almost never hear or see information about BlackBerry phones. It is all about iPhone, androids and Windows Phone. Maybe it is more popular in the US. I do think that BlackBerry is having a hard time to keep up with Apple and Google these years. I just changed my Windows Phone for a Samsung Galaxy SIII and I really love it 🙂
Hi Thomas, Wow, I’m surprised you switched from Windows Phone to the Galaxy S3. The S3 is a fantastic phone but I thought you were a die-hard Windows Phone fan, Thomas. Interesting. I’m so glad you’re pleased with your S3, that’s the most important thing!
Yes, BlackBerry was more popular here in North America than in Europe. In Europe Nokia was more popular than in North America. But with the top two phones now being Android and iPhone, both Europe and North America have similar adoption rates for both phones. Who knows what the next five years will hold?
Hi Carolyn
I was considering a new Windows Phone 8, but I still think there is too many simple things that Microsoft has not fixed in Windows Phone and then there is the lack of quality apps in the Windows Store. I am very happy with my new Galaxy phone. In fact I have just posted a post about it on my blog 🙂
Very cool, Thomas. The S3 is a great phone. I’m headed to your place now to check out your article!
Well said Carolyn, I have used BlackBerry phones in past (currently using Andro) and they were just very good for almost every work, fast efficient and cool.
Hi Rajnish, Yes, there is much to recommend this BlackBerry phone. I don’t know whether it will be enough to persuade people to give BlackBerry another try, but this phone is certainly worth checking out!
Carolyn, nice review and a nice phone. I still think that the QWERTY keyboard is not enough for Blackberry to make any ripples in the smartphone market though.
Hi Frank, You may be very right. Time will tell whether BlackBerry will succeed in revamping their business. It would be great to have an option to have a great phone with a physical keyboard and a worthy alternative to Android and iPhone. I hope that BlackBerry succeeds!
My first smartphone was a blackberry as well a couple of years ago, and I am still a huge fan of the brand. It’s perfect email service makes this smart device the best choice for business users, and from this aspect the bb hasn’t got any enemies on the market…
Hi Peter, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! You have a good point, BlackBerry is an efficient phone for the business user and most smartphone manufacturers don’t seem to be targeting that market. It will be interesting to see the future for BlackBerry. They have the right ingredients to be successful again!
Blackberry is a very trusted mobile phone with many awesome features. This mobile also helps in increasing personality of a person. I really liked the clearity of 8Mp camera of Blackberry Q10.
Thanks Carolyn for sharing about this phone. 🙂
Hi Chetan, You’re right, BlackBerry has a stellar reputation, but its phones fell behind the times. The Q10 and Z10 represent the future of Blackberry. This is a solid phone that may help bring the company back to dominance.
Blackberry the name is enough for buying it ! Two years before i was using a blackberry phone and i was a satisfied user.Blackberry brand name helps you to increase your personality too.The fact is that black berry is loosing to its rival Iphone. Q10 is quite overpriced when looking upon it’s features. we can get other phones with better features at a lower price than Q10. It’s an informative article about Q10 thanks for sharing it!
Hi Nithin, Yes, BlackBerry has an excellent reputation of building quality phones. I’m not sure whether BlackBerry will be able to compete with iPhone and Android, but time will tell if they are successful.