BlackBerry's Reinvention: A Look at the BlackBerry Z10

By Kulvinder Gill | Thursday, January 31st, 2013

BlackBerry has finally unveiled the long awaited BlackBerry Z10 in hopes that this will bring them level with Android and Apple who have taken a large chunk of the market share.

With the new Z10, BlackBerry has moved away from their traditional screen and keyboard approach to a total touch screen experience. The new device is bigger and thicker at 130mm x 65.6mm x 9mm than an iPhone but has almost everything diehard BlackBerry fans have been waiting for: a sleek, modern, and professional touch-screen with an up-to-date OS to match and 4G LTE support. But what else is new? Here at Eze Castle we have done our research and bring you all the information you need.

Interface

BlackBerry has merged home-screens, widgets, app lists and a unified inbox into one slick interface, offering up an easy-to-navigate user experience. The main home-screen comprises of 'Active Frames' (mini-applications), which gives you an overview of information from a particular app and launch the full version when tapped. Users can select up to eight of these active frames, which arrange themselves in order of most recently used, with the latest app appearing in the top left position.

BlackBerry Hub, Flow and Peek

The new operating system features a string of new additions to the BlackBerry to equip it to compete with modern smartphones. The new system will have features called the BlackBerry Hub, Flow, and Peek, which make it easier for users to move between apps, emails and social media platforms.Keyboard

The BlackBerry Z10 has a touch screen keyboard, which includes a ‘gesture typing’ feature that allows users to ping predicated words into their messages. The new touchscreen keyboard aims to provides an effortless typing experience. It learns your writing style and suggests words to help you type faster, more accurately and with the least amount of effort.

BlackBerry Messenger (BBM)

The popular BlackBerry Messenger app has also been updated to include a video facility allowing users to chat face-to-face as well as a picture editing feature. This new picture editing feature allows the user to pinpoint and adjust elements of their picture to get the photo they want.

Camera

The new ‘Time Shift’ feature captures milliseconds before and after your photo—so you can scroll back on the dial to open and create the perfect picture. For example; open one friend’s eyes and then forward to catch your other friend smiling, before combining it all to create that picture perfect moment.

Applications

More than 70,000 apps will be available to download, including Skype, Kindle, WhatsApp and Angry Birds, however, this is still a far cry from the iPhone's nearly 750,000 apps.

Pre-loaded Apps: BlackBerry Hub, Contacts, Browser, Calendar, BBM, Text Messages, BlackBerry World, BlackBerry Remember, Docs To Go, Pictures, Music, Videos, Story Maker, Facebook^, Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare, BlackBerry Maps, Games, YouTube , BlackBerry Newsstand, 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 and Search.

Our Assessment?

Overall the BlackBerry Z10 delivers the must have features that will allow it to compete with the iPhone, however, many are wondering if it is too little to late to effectively capture market share from its strong competitors. We'll just have to wait and see user reactions. It is now available for sale in the UK, however, US users will have to wait unti March 2013 to give it a test spin.