
Review: BlackBerry 10 is better, much better, late than never - shawndumas
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/02/review-blackberry-10-is-better-much-better-late-than-never/
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manishsharan
I am not falling for BB again !

In my last iteration of smartphone purchase, I bought a latest-at-the-time
Iphone 3GS for my wife and the latest-at-the-time Blackberry Bold. Since then
I have watched in envy as my wife could get so much done on her phone than I
could on my BB. My BB never did much beyond email and BBM ( I love BBM )

In this iteration, I recently placed an order for Nexus 4 and a Iphone 5.
maybe if they are still around in 3~4 years from now, sure I could consider
going back to BB.

~~~
kunai
Did you even read the review? This isn't related AT ALL to the old OS7 Bold or
any other Blackberry line, which were awful. BB10 can do much more than an
iPhone and be just as productive while providing a rich media experience.

~~~
untog
It's still relevant. Increasingly, mobile OSes are less about where they are
now than where they will be. Apple have been outstanding in that regard-
providing OS updates to really quite old phones. Vanilla Android has been just
as great, but individual Android manufacturers less so. MS has been terrible.
BB has a history of being terrible.

So, Blackberry's past is relevant. No, they might not repeat it, but absent of
any other evidence, we can only judge them by past conduct.

 _just as productive while providing a rich media experience._

I don't even know what that _means_

~~~
zmonkeyz
Then I can only judge Apple by OS 7.

~~~
eropple
Mac System 7 was released in 1997. The earliest BlackBerry Bold (assuming
that's the one under discussion, which I'm not clear of) was released in
December 2009.

One of these things is not like the other.

------
Osiris
I welcome any competition into the mobile OS market, especially if it brings a
refreshing new take on design and user experience.

My devices all run Android and while it's usable, I'm not a huge fan of many
aspects of the OS. While I don't plan on getting a BB10 device, I am
interested to see if or how its innovations cause other OS vendors to adjust
their own user experience.

~~~
dmix
I'm fine with the Android OS, still not a fan of the hardware. Although its
gotten better, Android phones are still nowhere near the physical build
quality of the iPhone 4 (including the S3 which I'm currently using).

~~~
pavanky
When I held the iphone 5 it felt like I could damage it if I held it with a
tight grip[ (I am a big man). My One X doesn't feel that way.

Perhaps what physical build quality means is subjective?

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easternmonk
Blackberry has done a good job. It may not be iPhone/Android killer but it is
definitely at par with the best in the league. Had BB come up with this 2
years back it would have been great. But I am willing to give them a chance. I
hope the voice and screen sharing works good.

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kunai
Lovely. This is really the first true smartphone OS since webOS that I'm
actually excited for. The gestures are a little worrisome, however, with a
4-inch display. I have small hands, and it seems the gestures would require
use of two hands...

Another thing I noticed -- it seems like the UI's colors and typefaces were
ripped straight from Android's Holo interface. No big deal, just something I
noticed.

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KeyBoardG
I was put off just in the new BBM, where some options were hidden under the
left swipe menu, other the right swipe menu and yet more under the top swipe
menu. Not to mention options hidden under the button bar at the bottom. I
don't want to spend my time looking all over in apps for an action. They need
to set strict guidelines on where things go.

~~~
purephase
I sat down with a handset a few months ago with a QA guy at BlackBerry and had
basically the same feedback for them. Apparently, it is something they're
working on. I haven't seen the OS since launch so I don't know if this was
addressed, at all.

They're hardly alone in this regard. iOS/Android suffers from the same
problem.

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rcb
Does anyone know if BB has the ability to push OS updates direct to customer
handsets? Years ago such updates required carrier "approval"/intervention,
which meant updates occurred infrequently (usually after significant delay),
if ever.

Edit: US carriers, specifically AT&T.

~~~
shawn-butler
Nope. [0] However, on unlocked phones you can load whatever image will work.

[0] [http://us.blackberry.com/support/apps-and-
software/desktop-a...](http://us.blackberry.com/support/apps-and-
software/desktop-and-device-download-sites.html)

~~~
Pwnguinz
Not sure about BB10, but with previous BB's, you could always load whatever
image will work. The "Network Carrier" branded version was unnecessary even if
you had a branded BB.

Somewhat like Android. You can also load tweaked custom OS's, or "hybrid OS's"
as they're known in the BB community.

~~~
shawn-butler
Don't really think that's true. I mean it was in some sense but for example if
you loaded a seperate spectrum compatible, carrier "image" it might be fine
until the next reboot at which time the carrier service books would get
reloaded.

So for example, you may have installed the bb maps and on the next reboot away
they would disappear to be replaced with a link to purchase "AT&T Navigator",
etc. The "AT&T Mall" would reappear, etc.

Service book configuration was something fairly unique to BB and allowed
carriers to configure the user experience to a pretty significant extent.

Doesn't really apply to BB10 afaik so it's just reminiscing about the bad old
days, irregardless.

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tlack
Anyone got the inside info on why they are waiting so long to release these in
America? Should have been available unlocked at launch if they really wanted
to regain the hearts and minds of the fickle American consumer.

~~~
arbitrage
Is an unlocked phone really that important to the majority of American
consumers? They've showed quite readily in the past that they really don't
care that much.

~~~
Dirlewanger
No. Majority would give you a blank stare if you mentioned a mobile phone
being locked/unlocked.

~~~
illuminate
I think T-Mobile may help to change that.

------
sgt
It's also QNX based, so should be pretty rock solid, being a microkernel based
RTOS with a small memory footprint. Also (interestingly), its network stack is
based on NetBSD code.

------
zmmmmm
It's great to see a fully gesture based phone. I've always thought this would
be the most natural way to interact with a touch based device, and it's always
the gesture based apps and interactions that I enjoy using most on my phone.
My only hesitation is whether gestures interfere with normal use of the phone.
Will it confuse interactions in the game I am playing with the swipe to go
back to the home screen, for example? If it does, it's going to be hugely
problematic. But if it's done well it will be the most enjoyable and natural
interface out there, I think.

~~~
icki
I'd have to agree with you that gesture interactions tend to feel more natural
then typical button pressing (e.g. pinch-to-zoom), but can be a little awkward
for first time users. A customer who stops by a mobile phone kiosk while
walking through their local mall might not know how to handle a BB10 device
without assistance from a sales associate. However, gestures often become
second-nature, and users rarely find themselves asking "how do I do this
again?"

Swipe-upwards to unlock/return to homescreen requires initial contact with the
screen's bezel, which should mitigate the number of times this gesture is
unnecessarily actuated.

~~~
zmmmmm
> Swipe-upwards to unlock/return to homescreen requires initial contact with
> the screen's bezel

Hopefully that works well. However when playing games it's pretty easy to hit
the bezel when you're aiming for something on the edge of the screen. I always
used to have this problem (and still do) on Android phones with their
capacitive / on screen buttons.

~~~
fi0660
It works surprisingly well in Nokia N9. I think games are also allowed to
disable the gestures while the game is in non-paused state.

------
tcdowney
I just found out about their 10k Developer Commitment last Friday and a few
close friends and I are scrambling to get a Blackberry native app finished in
time for the upcoming submissions deadline. Never having done this before all
I can say is that it's been fun! :)

BlackBerry 10 is much nicer than I had anticipated and, although I won't be
moving away from Android, I am excited for BlackBerry to make a serious effort
at returning to the market. :)

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bambax
I'm not sure about gestures (can they be done with one hand?) but the unified
inbox ("hub") sounds like a fantastic idea.

I don't understand why I can't see all messages from all my email accounts in
one window, together with voice messages and texts (Tweets may be a little
overwhelming, but they can be filtered out).

This really sounds great -- although it's probably not hard to replicate on
another platform.

~~~
compilercreator
I got my Z10 yesterday and I can confirm that the phone (and all the gestures)
are completely usable with just one hand. The phone size was selected pretty
intelligently. I don't think the UI design would have worked with a bigger
phone.

~~~
purephase
If you don't mind me asking, what platform were you on before? I'm considering
ditching my iPhone for the Z10 as I'm so tired of Apple. I really miss the
unified inbox in BlackBerry world and the hub sounds promising. App selection
is not that important to me.

~~~
compilercreator
I was using galaxy s2x. A variant of s2 with a 4.5 inch screen. That was hard
to use single handed. This is my first blackberry so no idea how it compares
with previous blackberry handsets.

------
adjin
I thought it has a lot of interesting ideas. Although much of them can be
emulated by any other platform, if BB proves to continue innovation especially
in the business/corporate sector it could gather quite a following.

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rayiner
I'm psyched about the Q10. Just release it and take my money!

~~~
MBCook
I'm surprised they're not promoting it more, it seems like an obvious win for
they keyboard loving crowd.

Too bad it may be delayed until mid year.

[http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/02/blackberry-q10-may-
be...](http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/02/blackberry-q10-may-be-delayed/)

------
muyuu
My old Blackberry Curve 3G, which I use alongside an Android phone, still
gives me a battery life of 3 days solid under normal usage.

Will they match that?

------
malkia
Any word on PlayBook getting the BB10?

~~~
scrabble
They've always said that all PlayBooks will receive BB10. Who knows when
though.

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janlukacs
i think people should give it a chance, too much negativity due to fanboyism.

~~~
fusiongyro
Is it fanboyism, or could it instead be:

\- I need a phone that works

\- I only need one phone

\- I don't want a phone from a defunct manufacturer

\- App availability is more significant than platform quality

The first one means I don't want to debug your beta product. The second one
prevents me from experimentally getting a bunch of different phones and seeing
which one I like better. The third gives me pause when dealing with
Blackberry, who have been having huge corporate troubles for years. The fourth
is a reminder that if I were to switch there are lots of apps I'd be giving up
with no replacement (SmartGo Books comes to mind).

The idea that Apple has everyone brainwashed is really quite absurd.
Overpriced? Maybe. Overhyped? Probably. Bad? No.

------
speeder
Go blackberry!!!!

Become another market for me to sell my stuff \o/

------
helloamar
I trusted blackberry from the bold 9000, with that trust I got a playbook
thinking they will add more apps but after waiting for more than a year I got
the iPad4,

Now I have a bold 9900, time to change my phone in a couple of months ,now the
bb10 arrives I'm waiting for the apps that keeps my business running if it
didn't show up I'm going to get the iPhone

