The woes of Type and Go on BB10 10.1

For anyone with a BB10 device running 10.1 software, you will of course know about Type and Go. Universal search on steroids as I call it. The ability to type a few letters from any home screen and start carrying out an action from that point. For example 'tw hello' will generate a result screen offering to post a tweet saying hello. (as pictured) 'em' will offer composing an email and so on.

Now this is fantastic, and rather than opening the twitter app, pressing compose new, and then starting to type, you can just start to type. Saves a few swipes, which will be great news to those who moan about all the swiping they have to do on this new OS.

However, if you dare to venture to things like 'em dav' or 'ca dav' the results are not quite so silky smooth. Calling Dave or emailing him should be a simple command, but using Dave as an example, most will have more that one of them in their phonebook. So instead of a simple result list of the 3 Daves in your phone book, it will list them all by every email address they have combined in there. If you have the contact linked to Facebook and other contact populating apps, you could find yourself presented with 10 email addresses, over kill maybe?

The solution here would be to have to results display the actual contact, as a singular name, from which you could then decide to pick the home, work, or private email of the person, rather than listing them all at once.

It's the same with the results for calls.

The solution is really quite a simple one, and I shall explain but not before saying this.

For years now, the act of sending an email has required a few presses here and there before we are ready to compose it, that's nothing new. So it really frustrates the hell out of me when an idea is put forwards to save a few milliseconds of your day, and sadly it doesn't work as well as was hoped. STOP being so bloody lazy and just do it the old way, it's really not a big deal.

For example, to start this email, from the home screen I typed 'em', compose email popped up, selecting that the compose screen appeared with the cursor in the address field, it typed 'bl' and it auto completed blog, and I got typing. Is that really a big deal? Seriously? Still seems pretty darn convenient to me.

Once again, I am aware that the address field of the compose email screen also digs through ALL your contact lists to offer you the email addresses of your contacts. And agree this is something that needs to be allowed to be filtered from a search setting. But that said, to others it's perfect. After all BlackBerry gave BB10 Balance which if being used would not be mixing in your private Facebook contacts with you business contacts list.

Something does indeed need to be done to allow the user some control over what appears where, but for now I offer a simple work around solution.

The contacts toggle screen pictured below allows you to sort out what shows in your main contacts list, so Facebook can be filtered out for example. The only real solution I can think of at this point, a quick fix, is to filter out the rubbish from your main contacts feed. Then when calling someone it may be easier to type 'co' select contacts from the results then start typing their name from the contacts screen. Slightly longer winded but effective all the same. Sadly these filters will NOT change what appears on the main type and go screen. 

Regards

Michael

Sent from my BlackBerry Q10

My gripes about BB10 and the handsets

So before I get started on this entry I just want to make one thing clear as day, I am NOT taking a dig at Blackberry here. I just thought with all the fanboi style posts I have made recently, it was about time I balanced the books a little and made an entry about the 'not so good' aspects of BB10 as a whole, and its devices, the Z10 and Q10.

I have spent a lot of time on Crackberry recently, trawling through the forums, and getting into discussions here and there about things I feel are genuine issues, from my experience with the handsets and OS at least.

Now that I have used the Q for a couple of weeks now (getting there anyway) I thought now would be a good time for this. So lets get going.

First up, the debate over screen size and quality. With 17,000 views and over 350 replies, for a balanced discussion about these matters, this thread is the place to be.q10-vs-z10-screen-size-debate

The intention of this thread was to simply hear some opinions about why some chose the Q with the physical keyboard over the Z and touchscreen. And to see what made people sacrifice some screen real estate for the experience of real buttons. As you can see, it became quite popular, and for the main part actually quite interesting to get an insight into how people use their handset, and what they demand from them.

For me, this is how I see it.

The Z and Q both have superb screens, both to view, and to operate inside the BB10 OS. Ultimately one of the two devices is going to be my favourite, or daily driver. And it wasn't long after opening the box to the Q10 that I knew which it would be. Having spent a couple of months with the Z, and got to know its keyboard pretty well, there is no doubt that the Z10 touchscreen keyboard (TSK) was quite simply the best TSK I have ever used. Trying to switch between that and the Galaxy S2 screen is a nightmare, with the S2 seeming slow and unresponsive, let alone unforgiving. 

The Z really does put most others to shame, in fact I will go out on a limb and say its the best TSK on the market today. With its predictive word suggestions learning how you speak, and its forgiving nature and smart auto correction, you can make a real mess of a whole sentence, and the Z will get what you mean, and sort it out. A bit like the relationship between doctors and pharmacists.

BUT, this is a gripe post remember, so lets get into the nitty gritty here.

As intelligent as the software for the TSK is, it can get a little carried away at times, and its intelligence and smart learning becomes its achillies heel. Make a typo too many times for a word it doesn't know to auto correct, and it will learn the typo, and use it to replace other attempts at the right word.

Example, I have a bad habit of typing 'ypu' instead of 'you'. By pressing the spacebar after making the typo after a while will actually confirm the word is indeed RIGHT. So it will now replace you with ypu on a regular basis. This is partially my fault for not seeing the word appearing and correcting it, and over time I can correct it in one of two ways...

1/ clear all the learned words and start over. Removing a single word from the catalogue is not an option at this point. 

2/ watching the space bar, and concentrating each time I type the word, and each time ypu appears, correcting it until the phone learns not to use it anymore.

Sadly both solutions require me to be less productive to solve a simple issue, admittedly of my own making.

The next issue with the touchscreens now moves onto the Q10. Like the 9900 was at launch, the screen of the Q10 is a little desensitised, and the last few mm's of the edges seem to have no real abilities. The line between bezel and beginning of the display is the issue here. The most common issue users are reporting is the lack of response to the End Call key. Frustratingly hammering away on the red part of the screen, long press, short burst of presses, but no end to the call. 

I have to be honest here and say that since the OS went from .238 up to .273 it seems less of an issue for me at least. There are other times when the screen seems a bit awkward to use, with the selection of small areas at the edge of the screen being problematic. On the odd occasion by pressing the very edge of the screen, you will actually select something that is just OFF screen. Almost as if the phone thinks it is displaying a slightly longer or wider image than it actually is. (if that makes sense)

Staying on the theme of screens, the other complaint that seems to be getting touted about is screen legibility in daylight. With the Q10 packing a sharp and crisp AMOLED display, the legibility of the screen for me on a bright sunny day has never been an issue for me. That said, if you don't keep your screen clean, that's when I notice the legibility becoming an issue, as the smears more than anything else cause the reflective issues. Others however state that regardless of how bright the settings are put at, reading the screen, along with the dark theme are simply impossible. Now we all have different eyes, and live in different countries, so I'm not going to doubt anyone here. But at the same time others, some well respected commentators on Blackberry and mobile devices, state they have NO issue whatsoever with reading the screen, day on day, in rather sunny parts of the world.

Like everything, all opinions are relative, so there is no right or wrong anywhere in this blog, just my own observations, and quotes from others with similar findings.

Lets get away from the screen now and dig a little deeper. How about the depths of the OS?

Now one of the big selling points of BB10 is the 'active panes'. For those not familiar, let me explain quickly. All mobile OS's these days claim to have true multitasking, leaving one application running properly while another is opened and used. The Blackberry way of doing this is to use active panes, this is where an application is minimised on the screen along with other apps that are running. Each of these applications is then capable of displaying a condensed version of its content while minimised. So for example a weather app will show a summary, a news feed will show individual headlines. 

I have to say the active panes are a great little thing, especially for watching for replies to tweets, or keeping an eye on the weather without constantly opening the apps. 

But again, this is about gripes so here goes again.

3rd party app devs seem to have really grasped the concept well, and made the active panes really used full, Blaq, CB, BeBuzz, all having great active panes.

BeBuzz, what is generally a notifications app have had the sense to use their active pane as a battery monitor, a great and helpful little tool especially with its 'time left' section.

However, Blackberry, the creators of these great little panes seem to have done very little with them at all. 

My example would be a simple one, the native clock.

Now the clock has 4 views. Normal clock, World Clock, Stopwatch and Timer. The most common one for me to keep open is the timer, being able just to flick the screen on to see how much time is remaining. Frustratingly, the native app minimised to the clock app only. So regardless of what display would be of use to you, you are left with just the simple clock view. I'm sure there has to be a way that the timer and stopwatch could minimise into usable active panes. If 3rd party devs can do it, come on Blackberry, sort it out.

Digging in a little deeper we start to find a few more little frustrating niggles that really get a bit irritating.

Type and Go function as a whole is a great idea, and can really speed up certain processes, such as sending a simple tweet, or FB update from within the OS. Simply typing 'tw' then starting to compose the tweet will see Type and Go offer the 'send tweet' option when you are done typing. Press it, and its done tweet sent. No opening apps, pressing compose etc, its all done simply and effectively from the home screens of the OS.

BUT (gripe time)

If you want to send an email you have a couple of options, and this is where it gets a little sticky. Typing 'em' will prompt the device to offer 'compose email' at this point. So you can press the option there, then immediately start typing the contacts name, which will present the list of options matching the letters entered, or after 'em' a space then start typing the contact name. Now both these are super efficient ways of getting an email started, there is no doubting that for a second, the problem however lays with the search function itself. Now I should add here that until the issue was raised, I had not noticed it. But once it was mentioned it is something you just become aware of.

Throughout the search settings of the device you can tell the OS where it should look for the information. Different apps, areas of the phone, and indeed 3rd party databases too. Sadly for some reason, the search parameters do not apply to email, so as you start to type the contact name, it will offer every contact matching the characters, including from apps like Facebook and Twitter. 

For those only using their devices for personal use, this is nothing more than a minor irritation. For those using it as business and personal, it becomes a little more of a headache. Contacts who have linked profiles within your device, it will drag down and offer every email address for them. Some might find this helpful, others a hindrance. Either way, it would be nice to have a little control over it.

The next issue for me, again deep within the heart of the beast is notifications.

Back in the days of OS7 the notification settings were so very simple. A little bland to look at, a little too simple maybe with drop down menus and separate sections of in and out of holster etc. The drop downs would offer a whole list of sounds which on selecting it, you could then hit 'try' and you would hear what you had chosen. 

For some reason with OS10 Blackberry have decided that simple was not the way, and nor was having options. Instead the new settings allow a few choice sounds and very little more. To get anything other than what they offer, you need to start browsing the device, and in doing so you dive into a complex sub menu after sub menu of places to find sounds. You are not able to preview the sound, instead you select it and return to the notifications screen. Upon which, if the sounds is not to your liking, you start over again.

I would love to have the simplicity of the notifications back. Heck they even took away all the sounds most of us were so familiar with.

Even the volume of the notifications is dumbed down to one simple slider that is the master control for all sounds within that notifications status, be it normal, loud, work etc. I loved the control of making one email far louder than the rest, hard to miss, and in my face, but at this point OS10 isn't going to allow that at all!

Along with notifications comes my beloved BeBuzz, the custom LED app which gives a custom colour flash to notify of emails from each account, and 3rd party app notifications too. For years now it has been my backup notifications, so if I miss the sound, I would have a visual notification which would repeat. Even with the phone on silent, I knew exactly which notifications awaited me without having to pick the handset up. Sadly with OS10 this isn't quite as smooth as it could be, mainly because the app must remain in an active pane to allow it to work. One simple closure of the wrong app results in NO LED notifications.

My gripe about this? Well its simple. With later versions of OS7 allowing this as a native app through certain carriers (so I am told), I was really hoping that the all singing and dancing OS10 would present us with the coloured LED options from within notifications settings. Alas, its not the case. So notifications are stripped out, dumbed down.... and still on boring old RED !

With all that said and done, I am still left applauding Blackberry on their amazing transition from being old and stuck in their ways, to the modern day, all singing, all dancing devices. People will always have a pop, whatever the state of the OS. When OS7 was the current system people commented on how out of date and boring BB now was, and how if they didn't move into the 21st century BB would fail for sure. Boring interfaces, physical keyboards, and tiny screens. 

Out came the Z10, lovely screen, great new OS in its infant stage, and a true new kid on the block, stepping the game up with its buttonless design and gestures for navigation. Needless to say, the opposition said it was a failure before it even got going, the legacy hardcore users said it was an insult to Blackberry, and the people in the middle bought it and formed educated opinions of it.

My opinion has always been simple. If physical keyboards stopped existing tomorrow, I now know I would have the safety of the Z10's beautifully thought out TSK to turn to. My productivity would drop, my web usage would plummet, but I would be able to use a device without wanting to smash it on the floor.

Then it was the Q's turn. The TRUE next generation of Blackberry in my opinion. Taking a proven system, a great form factor, and firing it way into the 21st century. Again, unable to please all of the people all of the time, there have been again been critics who feel it is blasphemy against all that Blackberry stands for, to launch a device like this. Complaining that keyboard shortcuts are missing which make the device SO unproductive, that other features are not present, and that its not a proper Blackberry without them.

Well, I guess to a degree I join those whiners, with my rant and gripes above. But with one key difference.

My comments, feedback, reviews, and suggestions are just that. I accept that BB10 is a new OS, and has a long way to go yet. Heck no OS has even been perfectly rolled out with no changes needed to it. And in its first few usable releases, I think OS10 has proven itself to be something that will really grow into something great. My comments are not meant to mock or put down this infant OS, but are there to create conversation, to put across my point of view, and hopefully in some small way, contribute towards the direction that the OS takes as is continues to evolve.

One final thing though...

BBM Groups, what the hell happened there?

After not having used groups for years now, I thought it would be nice to have a group for photography a few days ago, so out went the invites. After 10 or so joined, a few friends started commenting that they could no longer see the group, or had received weird notifications saying they could not join 'another' group as they were already at their devices maximum... then showing NONE! 

Being kicked out of a group is one thing, but what happened next is where it all gets worrying. Reports then started that peoples phones, from BBM to the whole OS had dramatically slowed down, some saying it was almost unusable. A couple even resorting to restoring their handsets, and one returning theirs to a store for an exchange, so bad had the issue got.

All issues that I am aware of occurred on a Blackberry Z10, most if not all were running OS 10.0. My Q10 on 10.1 seems unaffected by the issue. Either way, I hope the rollout of the fix for this is swift. Mainly as the BBM Groups function is now rather lovely, and I would love to get a group up and running again, but don't want people screwing up their devices to join.

Right, that will do me for now, I'm sure I will have other moans and songs of praise over the coming weeks.

Thanks for reading.

Dear Blackberry trackpad

My dearest trackpad, old friend, and great companion.
You came into my life in 2009, replacing my trackball, and making so much sense. An optical device replacing a physical ball that was oh so prone to getting clogged up when using the phone with greasy fingers or dirty hands. The way you reflected sunlight with that beautiful purple glow. Functioning with or without gloves, in all conditions, you changed the way I used my Blackberry forever.

Being able to zip around the screen with ease, selecting text, and accurately placing the pointer over the smallest of links, your accuracy was super. No more stuttering and spluttering across the screen as the trackball registered, then didn't, then did......

As first people doubted your ability to do what the faithful trackball could, like the move from a mouse with a ball to an optical mouse, its a big leap of faith for some. But the package the 8520 offered, complete with you, made it worth that leap of faith. After months of becoming best friends, you made your way onto the 9700 which just had to be mine.

As time went on it seemed like trackpad and Blackberry were a match made in heaven, but then this happened.... That's right, you know what I'm talking about.. YOU! You left me!

The first new handset to appear without you was the Z10, and of course it made perfect sense that you were not there, its a touchscreen after all. But then rumours of the Q10 appeared, and you were no where to be seen. They told us we would be OK without you, that things had moved on, we had changed and grown apart, but I wasn't so sure. When the day came when it was time for the Q10 to come into my life I was worried, would I cope?

So a week after getting my hands on the new love of my life, I thought it only fair to write you a letter to tell you how I am getting on without you, and to be honest, most of the time I don't think about you too much. But from time to time, there are those moment when I remember how you felt to use, and how easily we did some things together. Selecting text in long emails, selecting multiple messages to delete or move, and all those delicate and intimate things that only you could do.

Blackberry have given us options to move on from you, and I have to say I think I'm falling in love all over again, but I cant deny you were an important part of my life, and I will always remember you, and occasionally pine for you.
Thank you for everything you did for me, and all the fun times we had together.






PS for those a little worried, this is just a light hearted entry, and I have not lost the plot.... I lost that a LONG time ago!

One week later... My Blackberry Q10

Well its coming up for a week now since the mainstream launch of the Blackberry Q10, and I thought it was time to hammer the keyboard of the laptop for a while and give the Q a bit of a break. So while Z and Q sit on the side and rest for a bit, lets take a look at my first week (almost) with my latest Blackberry.

So, the Blackberry Q10 is the second handset to be launched from Blackberry since they changed their name from RIM. Sporting the almost entirely new BB10 operating system, its a far cry from my first Blackberry which was an 8320. Not quite as ancient as some out there who rocked the side scroller, but certainly old enough to remember how very different the operation of a Blackberry was then. That was WAY back in 2007. In fact its only in writing this entry that I had any idea I have been using a BB for 6 years now. Then again, given just how many of them I have got through in that time, maybe that's about right.
For those not in the know, this is an 8320..

Back then I could send and receive email while I was on the move, and occasionally if needed, check things on the internet. Browsing then was more necessity  than social and passtime. Oh how things have changed. But very quickly, if there is one thing I have never got over, it has to be the contrasting keys. With the numerical keypad being reverse colours, making it easier to type numbers. Small issue, and would totally ruin the current Q10, but that's my gripe over with.

So, leaping forwards a few years, and blasting past the 8520, 9700, 9900, and Z10 that all followed the first one, and we arrive at the current day. The first fair thing to say is, having experienced the progress from one device to the next, going from a trackball to the trackpad, and then to the trackless device, the progress has been tiresome at best, sometimes sitting so still, that to be a BB user felt like you were in a timewarp and heading backwards while the world around you shot forwards.

Well those days are gone now, and finally it feels like us BB users are on an even playing field with the rest of the smartphone users out there. I would even be so bold as to say that in some respects, we are a step ahead. In one respect a Q10 user has one asset to their disposal that no other real smartphone user has, and that's a physical keyboard. Sure there are other phones out there with physical keyboards, but at this point, none have the same processing power or abilities as the Q.

So, back on track, there was a first week with a Q10 meant to be going on here...

Receiving the box from the courier, the package was very small, and remembering how the Z10 had come packaged I knew what to expect. A phone, a battery, a SIM, a data cable and charger plug, and a cheap pair of headphones. So on opening the box and taking everything out, I was delighted to find a pair of the new premium headphones in there, and a week later I am still over the moon with them. The right balance between sound quality while maintaining some awareness of whats happening around you, like traffic.

Putting the phone together it was then time to see this glass weave battery cover there has been so much talk about. Having been torn between white and black handsets and finally settling for black, I was relieved when I finally felt the back cover in my fingers. Having used a Z for 2-3 months, I have grown used to the level of grip the back of that offers. All the preview images showed the glass weave for the black, and the Z10 style textured back for the white. Having never been happy with the back of the 9900, I was concerned the Q10 would be slippery with its glass weave... WRONG. Its lovely waxy and soft feel give it great grip in the hands, and belay any worries about letting it slip. So off to a good start then.

Powering up for the first time, I knew most of what to expect, with having been baptised into the world of BB10 with using the Z for a few months. All that was left to see was how well the gestures, screens and software would work with this new, non smiling physical qwerty.
Once the introductions were made it was time to get on with the formalities of setting the device up. First up, time to set up a new account, as you obviously cant run two devices on one Blackberry account. Even with the demise of BIS, things like Blackberry World, and Protect require you to have an account for each live device you are running. Obviously a straight device swap would just require logging in with your existing details. With new username and account running, it was time to get to know the Q.

Starting with what most would consider THE important part of a smartphones soul.. Apps! Personally to me they are a nice addition, but I am pretty content with the standard package of native apps on the BB10 devices, they do most things I want to do on a day to day basis. However, having already added a good few to the Z10's arsenal of weapons, I thought it only fair to equip the Q equally.
I would have liked to have done this, but sadly there are a few apps which have not yet ported over. Yes, its that age old problem, right OS, wrong device. And with the different form factors of the two being so far apart, it would be wrong to expect all apps to work out of the box. The only one I actually pine for right now is BeBuzz, no relation to Bieber!
I did however hear that Blackberry are helping the devs out by testing and automatically porting over any Z10 apps that are Q ready, and this should take place in the coming weeks. I sincerely hope BeBuzz is in there.

Speaking of native apps and software, I thought this was the right time to mention all is NOT well. While the 'shortfallings' of the Hub have already been discussed, I thought I would quickly touch on Twitter, and its native app on BB10. Yes its simple and easy on the eye, but its also pretty bland and a touch dumb too. The way it interacts with the contacts list for composing a tweet with a mention in it, the limited actions available from the app it self. It has a habit of repeating tweets, so on opening one, as it builds it will create a long list of the same text over and over. I wont go on for ages, but in short I find the native Twitter SO irritating, I wont use it. Instead I prefer to use Blaq, with its much nicer and more user friendly interface. Mentions on there are dealt with by a progressive search, with suggestions appearing at the top as you type the names. Unlike the native app which insists on opening a contacts list.

So working with the actual device on a day to day basis, I can only say its an absolute delight to use. I still switch between the Z and the Q, depending on which is closer to hand. The other deciding factor is what I am planning to do with the device, browse, view video or having a long blogging session or forum session.
I wont say gaming as that's truly not my forte, but know it is important to some people, and appreciate their needs.
Needless to say, having been housebound for most of the past week, forums like Crackberry have been my main haunt, and with the Q being the new kid on the block, the choice was pretty obvious. Me and the Q have spent some quality time over the past few days, putting it through its paces, and seeing what its really made of. Testing the battery to see what sort of beating it can take on a full charge. The camera seeing how all the different settings work, and what gives the optimal results, and of course the most important thing to me, seeing how well I can manage going back to a physical keyboard after months away.

With regards to the keyboard, a few days before the Q arrived I picked up my old 9900 for the first time in ages, and immediately became attached to the feel of keys under my thumbs again, could the Q really match that feeling. Well the short answer is yes! And exceed it too. Even though the difference is measured in millimetres rather than centimetres, the loss of the smile from the keyboard made me wonder how different typing would be. Well maybe its coming from the flatness of the Z, or maybe its just the difference in unnoticeable, but either way the new flat lines of the keyboard work fine, and typing is a joy. I am back in my old ways of typing for the sake of typing, and not having to stare at the sensationless buttons of a touchscreen while I do it. So keyboard is a big thumbs up.

Camera, I wont go on too much about it, but as I have said in previous entries, it is a more than capable camera, and pleasing for the average point and shoot user. If you are not happy with the results of the pictures, you probably need to start looking at using a proper camera rather than the relying on the camera on a cellphone and hoping for DSLR results. Yes there are other camera phones out there which have more scope, but the emphasis here is on the simplicity of the use of the Q10's camera.
Read more here... Q10 Camera Test

Speaking of what you see, the screen on the Q, the super AMOLED display is a lovely thing. Some have complained about the whites being grey, or there being saturation of blues, but somehow with all their knowledge, seem to have overlooked the technologies behind AMOLED. It is sharp, crisp, clear and bright. Sunlight legibility is fine with the right brightness setting, although mine resides around 30%

The battery, well I think it is fair to say that it unsurprisingly manages to out perform that of its counterpart. For someone who uses their phone every few minutes for something throughout the day, the Q does a fine job of lasting out the day without a charge. Managing beyond 12 hours for me by modern day standards is really quite a feat. Of course as I have said numerous times, there are many contributing factors to how long a battery will last a day, and it doesn't take a power user to drain a battery in under 12 hours. Process sapping apps, poor network connection, unused connections NFC, Bluetooth, Wifi, etc can all lead to the early demise of the battery too.

So in summary, before this day passes me by.
The Q10 is a very capable device, and should certainly meet all the wants and needs of the die hard physical keyboard fans. You don't have to be old or a technophobe to want to use a physical keyboard. its just a preference. Its productive, its comfortable, and lets be honest, its nice to be a little different. Although with the instant success of the Q10 I'm not sure how long you will stand out for, before you are running with the crowd.
Blackberry have done well with the device, making it current, powerful, and pleasing to use. Ticking all the boxes from both looks and performance stand points, the Q is here, and ready to shake up the smartphone market just ever so slightly, and prove one thing for sure..... The days of the physical keyboard are FAR from over, and as an additional note, Blackberry is very much alive, and here to stay....

Sorry haters :)

More discussions about the Q10, and more of my comments can be found on a popular thread on Crackberry, or on link below.

http://forums.crackberry.com/blackberry-q10-f272/q10-vs-z10-screen-size-debate-802693/

Thanks for reading.

Phone porn!

Just a few snaps of the sexy new BlackBerry Q10.

That's right, slow evening, but I liked how the pictures came out..

Taken on my BlackBerry Z10 haha

Regards
Michael

Sent from my BlackBerry Q10

Out in the wild, a proper test for the Blackberry Q10 camera

So after yesterdays quick test of the camera on the Q10, I thought it was time to get out and about an give it a bit of a better run through its paces. HDR vs normal, architecture, nature, people and motion (burst mode)

All pictures were taken in 16:9 aspect ratio, and with the mixed HDR and normal mode switched on.
I am not posting ALL the images taken in both HDR and normal for the sake of people reading. So will instead post a few examples of both, then the rest of the shots will be MY preferred picture of the 2.

So here is what became of the test. First up we have some simple landscape shots, across the open expanse of Blackheath towards the village. HDR and normal.

Next up, a walk through the entrance to Greenwich Park offered some lovely perspective shots, and some tree images which always appeal to me. One in particular is the picture I snapped of a single tree back in the winter. Sadly without the original image as reference I was unable to recreate the shot, but got a summer shot of it with the Q10 all the same.

Just for good measure, here is the winter shot too.

Next up, from the lookout point over Greenwich, and the historic buildings, right out to the Thames, it was time to get some landscape shots with far focal points, and varying subject matters. From long grassy fields, surrounded by the buildings, to close up shots of the architecture. The aim, to see how the camera can capture lighting differences, depth of field and colour reproduction. Again, I think it faired pretty well here. So a selection of my favourites.

Of the shots of the architecture, this following shot has to be my favourite. The normal mode of the camera capturing just the right balance between light and shade, and really pulling out the character in the buildings. All while working well with the bright skies above it.

From here, it was time for the obligatory columns and stair shots, so lets get them out of the way. Not my favourites by far, but thought it only fair to share the weak along with the strong shots.

Again of all the shots from this sequence, the following was my favourite, purely because of the way the image pops so well. Credit to HDR there.

Moving onto the world famous Cutty Sark, restored to all her glory, a perfect chance to see how much detail the camera can capture, while working with the lighting conditions. Again all shots were taken in both modes, but I have picked the ones I feel came out the best. The balance between a pleasing image, and decent level of detail. The rigging of the boat is the real test for the lense.

The second image I have posted in both normal and HDR, you can be the judge of what YOU like and dont like. I know which I prefer.

Onto the final sections now, thanks for hanging in there.
The walk back to the car took us through the local market, and I grabbed a few shots to really see what colour reproduction was like. I think its fair to say the colours really pop out of the pictures nicely here, and show what the camera can do as a simple point and shoot.

Right, last selection here, and its a few images taken on the road through the park. Some perspective shots using the yellow lines on the road as a subject, and the point closest to the camera as the point of focus, producing a pretty pleasing shallow depth of field, and the nice blurred back ground.
Finishing off with a couple of images of skateboarders racing down the hill, using the burst mode on the camera. I think it fair to point out that by this time I was getting a little tired and hungry, so rather than waiting for the right scene, I just did a few bursts and chose the best. Maybe burst is something I need to re-visit at some point soon.

So let me summarise now.
First up, this is the Blackberry Q10, the work horse of the family, and not the media loving Z10. Both are very capable units, and the Q currently benefits from having the newer OS 10.1 over the !0.0 of the Z. Which means it has slightly tweeked camera settings and the advantage of HDR (for now)
For such a handy little phone which already packs a huge punch with its physical QWERTY keyboard, its great social integration into its Hub, and its powerful web and messaging presence, to have a camera this capable on it is a true delight and bonus.
Coming from the abomination that was the 9900's camera this is chalk and cheese, night and day... you get the picture (no pun intended)
Its no DSLR, its not a crazy spec'ed Galaxy S4 with masses of settings and options.
Its a simple camera with the following choices
3 aspect ratios 1:1 4:3 and 16:9 (as used today)
4 modes, normal, stabilisation, burst and HDR (the handset also allows capture in a combo of HDR and normal at the same time, producing 2 images to choose from)
Flash, on, off or auto
And 5 scenes, Auto, Action, Whiteboard, Night and Beach or Snow

Compared to even the settings on my S2, the Blackberry Q10 is VERY simple to say the least, but images on the BB are more than acceptable.

Over all, I have to say I am impressed. I am sure that if the conditions were controllable, like indoor environment, and it was put up against some of the bigger dogs out there, there would be some surprises and maybe even some upsets here and there.

If anyone wants full size versions, or both HDR and normals of a specific shot, just let me know via comments or email.

But for now, thats the Blackberry Q10 camera out in the wild, and now back home safe and resting from its adventure.

Also, if you want to see the video camera being testing out in the wild today, the full HD test is right here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZv6d4cjWpE

A quick Q10 camera test

After a couple of days of messing about with the phone, I thought with the arrival of some sunshine, maybe it was time to give the camera a field test.

So without further discussion, here goes.

First up some simple shots.

The pairs of pictures are examples of HDR vs standard camera pictures. I am torn between them. Sometimes the HDR over corrects the image to almost make it too even. See what you think.

More detailed blog to follow about the camera soon. But for now, enjoy the first of the bunch.

First full battery cycle on the Q10

Well after coming off a nice long charge at 8am this morning, and tolerating ten hours of almost full on use, the battery is finally coming to an end.
Over an hour of calls, NFC transfers, Wifi connection as well as 3G, browsing the net, BBM, Whatsapp, bogging lots, taking pictures and videos, and whatever else I could do with it to challenge it and get to know my Q10 a little better.

I have just enough juice left to pop this little entry up, before it dies totally and gets its first full charge from completely flat. Then the true test begins I guess.

So, not a bad run for its first go, it's certainly taken some abuse.
I should point out that the Z also came off charge at the same time and is now down to 6%, with far less use today than usual. Not sure if the signal has been a problem here today, but both on the same network.

Right, before it dies, I'm done.

Blackberry Q10 audio options

In my brief mini review earlier I mentioned premium headphones and the BlackBerry wireless speaker system, but I just realised I didn't post images of either, so here you are.

First up the very funky, tiny bit fiddly and totally good quality 'premium' headphones.
Main cool think about them is their anti-tangle wires. Previously found on headphones bundled with things like the HTC, any one familiar with anti-tangle will know just how much time they can save when pulling them from your pocket screwed up in a ball.
I have used these before in the form of A-Jays 3's, and have to say I am totally sold on anti tangles forever now.
The concept is simple, as pictured the wires are flat, so don't tie themselves up into a ball of tangled wire like conventional ones do.
Quality wise, they fit the ear beautifully once you have decided which ear bud to use. 3 to choose from, two with different sized loops, designed to squash then expand in the outer part of the ear to ensure a snug fit. Or the third option is no loop, so the bud sits gently inside the ear.
Sound is nice, anyone expecting super sharp tops, or deep bass will be disappointed. But if you grabbed a load of standard bundled headphones from BlackBerry of the past, and other devices, I'm pretty confident these would come out very near the top at worst.

Then we have the previously mentioned BlackBerry wireless bluetooth speaker. First up, a handy light little package, which is charged up using the same micro usb charger as the mainstream phones of the world, Inc the BlackBerry's. It's folded hinge design makes it great to clip on to bag chest straps, sun visors, or other thin layers of material, holding it firmly in place for whichever use you have in mind for it.
Very simple to sync up to, easy to discover via bluetooth settings, and can be up and running literally in one minute from taking it out of the box.
Volume buttons hidden away on the underside allow you to control the volume from the speaker itself, or indeed from the device that is streaming the audio. Also on the side is the power switch. A simple on/off slide back and forth style switch, complete with multi coloured LED.
Using different colours to tell you what's going on. Flashing rather than static LED, green showing on charge, blue connected via bluetooth, and red when powering on and off, or sitting on but idle.
Smartly (but maybe obviously) it will also multi indicate, so blue/green flashes to show its on charge but connected etc.
Sound quality, well it's a free standing small speaker unit, so don't expect ground shaking bass or anything. But the sound that does come out it pleasant, clear and nice to listen to. More for casual poolside or beach use, or just chilling in the park, rather than being the centre of a party.
A second use is to use it in the car as a handsfree speaker. Obviously the lack of a mic means it's not going to do the job all alone. But anyone who has tried using the handsfree on most phones will find that once you turn the volume up enough to hear the person, in a car on the motorway for example, the sound quality is lost, and conversation becomes hard.
With this little gem on your sun visor, you can be sure the conversation would be crystal clear.

And here it is, complete with a hand to demonstrate the size of the unit.

Welcome to the Blackberry Q10

A long time in the making, but finally its here and I have to say, 1 hour in, MY GOD its good!

I have to say this first though, getting the handset has been a bloody nightmare to say the least, fighting with Yodel to get them to deliver the damn thing has kind of tainted the joy of getting it.
There is more about the epic battle in earlier blog entries.

So back to the Q10.
First up, it's fair to say I am a die hard qwerty fan, and a strong believer that the days of the physical keyboard are far from over. In fact for me, as the past hour has shown, it's a must. Plain and simple.
The Z10 has without a doubt been the best touchscreen phone I have ever used. No bones about it, the fluidity of the experience is amazing. But after months of use I still never overcame the annoyance and frustration of the keyboard predicting or correcting me on something simple, or the sheer inaccuracy of it. YES, touchscreen can be super fast, the Z is no exception, with its very forgiving predictive text and corrections. As well as a very smart learning curve, which unlike any other handset I have used, can predict almost who sentences.

However, when it comes to freedom of expression and being able to type what you want, how you want, and make words up whenever you choose, the qwerty wins every time.

So, step back a second and let's start over.
Buying mine from CPWH, I was lucky enough to get the BlackBerry bluetooth speaker system for free, which is a nice little bonus. Compact little thing, but great for sitting in the garden or office etc. I can see it getting a fair bit of use. Also doubles as a hands free for the car too as it clips to the sun visor, so win win.

Unpacking the Q10's little retail box, you realise that BlackBerry have followed the lead of brands like Apple, and made their retail offerings very sparce, but I have to be fair and say all the essentials are there. Phone, charger, data cable, headphones. Speaking of headphones, what an enormous leap forwards with the quality of headphones BlackBerry have made. In-ear anti-tangle headphones, great inline controls. Brilliant, well done BlackBerry. Not sure about Apples 'years in the making' effort, but these unannounced surprises are a great addition.

Moving on from audio, setting the phone up was a nice simple process, certainly more user friendly than the first time around with the Z10, what a nightmare that was. But then at the same time the process is nothing like device swaps of the past. Gone are the days of any BIS involvement. Simple on screen prompts put you through the various sections of set up in an easy to understand format. Once done, and all emails are set up, it syncs with the server and in a matter of minutes you are up and running. The key here is being cloud ready. If you are on Gmail etc, then the set up is a piece of cake, pulling down contacts and calendars from your online account. Second time is a treat for me for sure.

Once set up, it's time to get going with customising and setting up your preferences. The defaults are pretty well thought out, with dark theme as standard, various tones set up for native apps, and volume set to maximum (yup that scared the pants off me first message!). The aforementioned native apps as you probably know are a lot about staying in touch, BBM, Linked In, Facebook, Twitter, and all meeting up nicely in the infamous Hub. Speaking of the hub, for me it's still not perfect, but after months of use of the Z10, BB10 has become second nature, and interacting from one place is indeed a great idea. Just a shame there are not a few more user customisable options in there.

The biggest thing missing for me is the social feeds, all my Twitter updates and new tweets. But again I have to say I have grown used to Blaq saving the say there, and have been quick to install it on the Q10 as well as the Z.

The biggest joy of all is without a doubt the keyboard, for me at least. Firm, solid keys, my fingers dance around the keyboard with ease, and as they start to remember what is where, the speed of my typing increases. I have already surpassed the longest blog entry I have ever done on the Z, by double at least I would say, and I'm happy to keep going. No frustrations, just happy thinking and typing away. The straightening out of the keyboard is a little peculiar  maybe, but again you adjust quickly. Sitting in the dark, looking around as I type, I know my accuracy is far better than a touchscreen would ever be, for me at least.

The glass weave, weird looking back was a big worry for me, thinking it was going to be slippery as the back of the 9900 was, but looks are truly deceiving. And to think I almost went for a white Q10 because the back looked gripper. Phew close call there. It's waxy in feel, and has the right level of grip. Not being shiny also removes the worry of scratching it. The feel of the rest of the device is also decidedly solid and robust. No unpleasant creeks or squeeks coming from the chassis.

The screen is super sharp as you would expect from an OLED display. With screens improving year after year, it's hard to appreciate the screen until I sit it next to my other two handsets, then the difference is very apparent. With one of those being the Z10, it doesn't take a genius to work out which BB10 device has the nicer screen.

The rest of the story is yet to be told, battery testing, app testing, reliability, and over all preference of use (although I think I have already decided that one)

A final note though, and one for anyone trying to decide which BlackBerry device to buy.
If you are like me, and you spend most of your day emailing, messaging, tweeting etc, aka communicating with your phone, then the Q is the obvious choice. I know the argument is screen real estate, but the truth is, with the onscreen keyboard up, the Z's screen is exactly the same size as the Q.
If however you use your handset for games, Web, navigation etc, then the Z is probably the right option for you. The onscreen keyboard as an occasional input device is truly splendid. Forgiving, intuitive, and easy to get along with. Word suggestions, swipe gestures and great layout make it a pleasing experience. But would I have written a blog entry like this one on the Z.... Jeez no! Only the Q has what it takes to ramble on for hours in my trying to be helpful manner.

I shall be sure to post some updates soon, but for now I will give this poor new phone a breather.

Summary, now the chips are down, BlackBerry have brought TWO awesome phones to the market. Worth the extended wait for sure, now just to keep up the momentum and make and keep the BB10 movement current. Well done BlackBerry, well done indeed.

An update on my Z10, day to day use.

Its coming up for a week now since I started using the Z10 as my main day to day handset, and retired my 9900 for good. A true leap of faith by my standards having been a loyal and heavy physical keyboard user for so long now. But that decision was helped along as soon as I laid thumbs on the delightful Z10 touchscreen keyboard. Filling me with confidence that this could really work out well, and maybe the days of physical keyboard were really over.
The first 3 days I used the Z10 I was off work, Friday and the weekend, so use was casual, I was cycling the battery a few times to get a true picture of what it could do on a full charge, and not venturing out too much. Just a simple sit on the side until it flashed level of use.

A few irritations were found, and are on going, which I shall come back to in a moment, but for now lets look at the main situation. Daily usage levels.
For me, without even having to look at it closely, I already know that my use of the new handset is far lower than how much I would have been on the 9900. There are a number of reasons for this, but the main one is simple. Its a touch screen. Regardless of how good the screen is, its winter here in London, and using the touchscreen, with confidence is just not possible with gloves on. Yes I could wear my gloves that are for using with touchscreens, but I am a creature of habit and prefer wearing the gloves I like, rather than the gloves I NEED to use to be able to use my phone. Walking too and from the station, waiting on the platform etc, I just don't use the phone in the same way. I'm sure as the weather warms up this part of it will change.

Then there are the other reasons, which I can actually tie in with my gripes and irritations. So here goes.
The Hub. As great as it is, with the integration of apps such as Facebook and Twitter into it, it is seriously flawed at this stage. The only Twitter notifications that come in are direct messages or mentions, which kind of makes sense as The Hub is about YOUR messages and communications. However for a big Twitter user, you need to keep the main app open and refresh your feeds. Gone are the days when you will receive notification that there are new tweets to read.
As for Facebook, it seems a little hit and miss right now, you will get a few notifications through about comments and mentions, but then it stops. Quite annoying, as when you go into apps the FB icon is showing the 'splat' on it identifying that there is new activity on the account.
I am generally a bit of a social whore, using the old Social Feeds app to update BBM, Facebook and Twitter at the same time with all sorts of news feeds that I get in from Sky News app (not available) and Twitter, which we know doesn't populate my Hub now. Needless to say I am more a social misfit now, and have hardly used any social sites. Possibly not a bad thing, but has filled me with a little feeling of loneliness lol.

Lets move on before I sound too desperate for attention.

Notifications.
Stripped back to basics, and a single sound per notification type (email, BBM, twitter etc) and a simple red flashing LED. For me as I have said in previous reviews, the whole selling point of a Blackberry to me has always been the ability to know what or who is contacting me without ever needing to pick the phone up. Different sounds for each email account, and social feed. As well as BBM etc. Different colours and combination's of flashes. But alas, its all no more. Instead I am stuck with a vague notification that something on my Blackberry Z10 wants my attention. Might be an email, but no idea which account its from. Hmmm, this really needs sorting out, as I know I am far from the only person missing having BeBuzz on my Blackberry.
Same with the sounds, all the settings for different profiles are a mess, with silent being set up as default still with audible notifications, and all the other settings within being a bit hit and miss in how they will make the phone behave. For something as fundamental as the notifications, something has gone wrong here, and needs sorting out asap. Hell I was almost expecting the Z10 on BB10 to some with some sort of in-built LED colour controlling software. Instead there isn't even a 3rd part app on the market for it yet.
Notifications... Disappointed so far.

Apps
Other favourite apps that have made it to the market however have not failed to impress, with things such as BeWeather, you can see a lot of time has gone into making this app silky smooth. A pleasure to check the weather, and all view expandable at a single swipe. Amazingly this is from the same company who make BeBuzz. So much attention to one app, and seemingly nothing on another. Shame, but I hope something is in the pipeline here. The multi pane view on BeWeather is delicious, animations are on par with Android and iOS, and I don't have a bad word to say about the app. In fact its my saviour right now with regards to apps, and gives me hope that the rest that are missing will be as wonderful as this when they come to Blackberry World, soon I hope.
WhatsApp, EyeEm, and Spotify all still missing and no sign of them coming any time soon, if at all at this rate.
Google Chat has taken WhatsApp's place in my 3rd party IM app at the moment, and I am happy to say that its a nice interface on the Z10, much nicer than it was on the OS7 phones. Its notifications DO populate in the Hub which is a relief and a reprieve for the Hub in this respect.
I would really love to see Spotify appear soon, I have seen comments that it can be side loaded and runs OK , so surely the official app cant be that far away. I hope!

Battery
Now that I am back to my usual day to day weekday routine, there are no big issues with the battery life. Yes it still eats away a lot quicker than the 9900 did, and a huge amount more than older devices, but plugged in for a bit here and there, it manages a day without an issue. It certainly seems to hang in a lot longer than it did for its first few charging cycles anyway. In the world of touchscreen phones, it fairs OK really. I will survive with it, that much is sure.

Keyboard
As I have already mentioned, in certain situations the keyboard is simply not usable, gloves on is a no no, as is the case with most touchscreen phones, although I must admit the Galaxy S2 does very well here and is pretty usable with gloves on. Even unlocking the Z10 with gloves on is a bit hit and miss to be fair. So my quick out the pocket, glance, and reply interactions are over with. In general though the user experience is very good. The predictive words are good, and the spelling corrections are usually spot on. I am however yet to do an extensive email, blog or Facebook update yet.
For BBM conversations and brief exchanges though it does a great job, and as it gets to know me a little better, the offerings of words on the frets for flicking is getting a lot better too. Even profanity is taken care of there, which is f***in relief !
All that said, I still think I would be more productive, interactive and use the device more with a physical keyboard. I stand by my original statement from years ago that there is simply NO replacement for a physical QWERTY keyboard. So I welcome the Q10 with open arms. Cant wait to give one a spin, and think the happy compromise will be found with one for sure. Simple things like entering silly words like 'whaaaaaaat' and 'eeeeew' and all the other rubbish I pad my conversations out with, are a chore on a device that assumes you have made a typo of some sort.

In the hand
A lot of thought has clearly gone into the design and feel of the Z10 in the hand. Everyone who has had a look at my handset has commented how it feels in the hand, decent weighted, secure and good grip on it. That got me wondering about why handset manufacturers go to so much effort to make ergonomic devices, when so many people go out and put them in cases of all shapes and sizes.
But back on track, as advertised, the Z10 performs well in the hand, and one handed messaging is indeed very simple to do, with the thumb reaching across the screen with ease. For those of us with medium to large hands anyway. The word suggestions on the frets of course make this even easier.
For games and video viewing again its fit for purpose, and does a great job of handling them. In short, gripping the handset in most situations is not an issue, and only with gloves on does the handset feel a little at risk of slipping. Shape and materials are a great match.

So I shall leave it there for now. Camera testing continues and I continue to be pleased with what it throws out. The latest example of which is sleepy Tuvaaq all curled up. This is using the flash in a dark room. And I shall also add on there my little macro shot of my Voodoo Doll Ninja, just because its a fun picture.


So back to summing up. Here are my hopes for the road ahead for my Blackberry experience.
In general the device is fine, but lacking in apps. This isn't Blackberry's fault of course, and we can only hope that they hear our calls and get a move on. Something tells me that things will be a little better by the time the Z10 and BB10 devices reach the USA and UAE markets, and not the smaller markets of the UK and other such places. By the time it launches in the US, if the apps are not up to par with the competition I would predict that BB will once again start to lose its edge. Only the die hards waiting on the Q10 are going to be the ones who can save them if this happens. The qwerty market is a pretty captive one all things considered, so this would explain why Blackberry decided to launch the contender first, and back it up with the dead cert later.
A Q10 will most definitely come into my possession, but which becomes my primary handset is yet to be seem. Overall the Z10 is a superb handset and I love owning it. I know a few people who have had handset failures, and a couple who have sent them back already, mainly because of the lack of apps.

Lets see how the story pans out from here on in, and see if the sideloaders become the unofficial saviour of Blackberry, as jailbreaking iPhones is to Apple.



PS.. My one major gripe.
A glitch I keep getting with the calender. Interested to hear if anyone has the same problem.
Going into calender and NOT selecting a calender at the top from the drop down. Add an appointment title and location, then selecting a time to start the appointment... The calender simply crashes and closes.
The two ways around this are, first select a calender to add the appointment to, which is easy enough, but pointless if I have my default set up already.
Or the other is to save the appointment with no times, then re-open and 'edit' the appointment to add times.

Either way, its something that needs sorting out, as the calender, like the email, is a fundamental part of the whole ethos of the device, so not functioning properly is a pain. Also doesn't seem to sync to Google too well either. Contacts do, calender doesn't.
Some of this may be settings, so I will take a closer look when time allows.

My Blackberry Z10, the story so far.

Blackberry Playbook and Blackberry Z10

I have been using the Z10 for a couple of days now and and really starting to get to grips with it, and see how it behaves. Having put some thought into it all and started to see whats present and whats missing in comparison to the outgoing Bold 9900. I have also had time to cycle the battery fully once now, so although its not a great indicator of overall battery life, its a first impression for sure.

On the first day, and in the subsequent review, I complained about the lack of accessories in the retail box. From speaking to friends, I am far from the only one that thinks the contents were a little sparse to say the least. I have never been gentle or kind to my phones, and never will be, its an accessory, not a prized possession, and is treated accordingly, so battle scars are inevitable. But the gesture of a small pouch, even similar material to the Playbook cover would have been nice.. Blackberry, are you listening?

So, in the real world, being used as a primary devices, how does it fair. First up, battery. Having used Blackberry's since the 8320, I am used to a certain level of battery life. Given that the devices are small with small screens, its never been an issue. When the 9900 came about, suddenly Blackberry users around the world started to understand the woes of touchscreen users, and started to experience the all too common problem. So thats about 19 hours including 7 hours of non use. This is using the phones default settings for everything from brightness to screen timeout. 2 hours 45 mins to get a full charge back in the handset after this. In general any handset I have gets plugged in while at work anyway, so battery isnt an issue on an average working day, but out in the wild for a day might be. Time will tell.

Back to actually using the device, and things get a little better. Buttery smooth is the only way I can describe it, just as seen on the demo videos, apps can take a couple of seconds to open if they are particularly big or complex ones, like higher res games etc, but thats more than acceptable given the smoothness they then play with. Im not a heavy gamer, so its not fair for me to critique this area of the device much more, but games such as Run In Crowd perform beautifully. As does streaming media.

Browser
The biggest surprise for me so far is the browser. Now the S2 browser loads pretty quickly on 3G and quite a bit faster on WiFi, but the Z10 BB10 browser is all new as we have all heard, so how would it fair. Well I thought the best way to test them would be to get them on the wifi and search the web for a few sites at the same time, as most do on their video demo's.
The first thing I noticed when doing this was that the Samsung, where one was available, would connect to and load the mobile site, where the Z10 would load the full site. When testing on Sky News for example, the S2 loaded the mobile site, smoothly and quickly, and the Z10 went for the full site, with all its flash content. Before loading the site a pop up appeared advising it was a data rich site with a large amount of Flash content, and asking if I wanted to proceed, which I did. One OK'ed, it loaded the site very quickly and the content was great on the eye and well displayed. As I ran through the various sites, the S2 would again and again go for the mobile site. When one wasnt available, it would load the full site, still very quickly, but noticably slower than the Z10.Then it was time to test against the iPod Touch 5th Gen, running iOS6. Again it was a very close matched affair, but the iPod would like the S2 choose to load mobile sites first.
It is fair to say that loading the mobile site isnt a bad thing at all, less data, and quicker loading, but it didnt give a very accurate comparison.
The summary then is simple. All 3 devices are very capable at displaying feature rich content on their browsers, on the sites I tested with, the Z10 was marginally quicker over wifi than the other 2, but very little in it at all. So if nothing else, BB10's browser is 'on par' with the others, if not a little quicker. Personally I would say the Z10 came out on top, by a hair.

While testing though, one thing I did notice was the differences in screens of all 3, and how they display colours and fonts. I have to openly concede that the screen of the iPod seems very sharp in comparison, and whilst both screens are perfectly readable with small fonts, the sharpness of the smallest lettering on the iPod seems just that little bit clearer. And for the record I have just had my eyes tested and had a perfect result, so no, im not blind. That said, all 3 give nice easy to read displays with the smallest of fonts. The differences are more to do with how the browsers work, and choose to display the websites, with each using a slightly different layout to enhance certain parts of the website. Again their behaviour differs completely when tapped to zoom.

One thing I have learned from these comparisons, is that accurate comparisons are simply not possible. Even with the browsers, some will claim to be fully loaded, but still sneekily be loading more content like links, roll over images, and other banner images, so a loaded site is not always as it appears.
So right now it is not really possible to say one is better than the other. All 3 are great devices for browsing with, and once you get familiar with their actions, you can have a great browsing experience on any of them.
Over all though, as far as the Blackberry experience goes, even compared to the Playbook, the BB10 Z10 has an amazing browser, and one most BB users have been waiting a LONG time for.

Battery
Its still early days, and only one complete cycle has been done, as I said in the intro. But I will be sure to keep a close eye on things over the coming days and let me opinions be known, honestly.
Today for example, since the phone came off charge yesterday evening, it has had a fair bit of use, and as I write now, at 12.15pm, its down at 35%, which is certainly no triumph. Lets hope things are going to improve a bit after a few cycles of the battery. At this stage, I would certainly be considering a spare battery if things are staying like this. Just for days when im out in the wild so to speak. One advantage over close back handsets for sure.

General use
As I have previously said, this is not a simple change from one Blackberry to another, its not just a slightly different keyboard or OS to get used to, its starting over. New behaviours, interfaces, inputs, the whole nine yards. I am however happy to say that once you get using the Z10 it becomes second nature, the gestures just happen, comfort and security is found in the keyboard, and the worry of not being able to swap over passes. One thing I will say though, and I was thinking about this while walking the dogs last night, this isnt for everyone. I really dont think the die hard qwerty users will transition over without a fight, and the Q10 is still going to be their saviour. Just a shame its 2 months away yet. Some of my friends are far from impressed by this gap in release dates. I have to agree, now knowing how far apart they are going to be, even the markets have reacted badly. The early indications were that the Q10 would follow shortly,but this 'shortly' is like missing a bus and waiting another day for it. Its NOT a short wait.
I do however look forwards to getting to grips with the Q10 when it launches, and seeing how the 2 months have changed my perspective on using a touchscreen.
I can say with confidence that while doing the browser test, I remembered why I dislike touchscreens so much, or have done up until now.

Keyboard
As I say above, the keyboard, for me anyway, is a real breakthrough. Having used the Galaxy S2, the iPod Touch and the Z10 all within second of each other, I can categorically say my preference is the Z10 without a second thought. Next being the S2, which just seems more compatible with my thumbs, and its behaviour somehow seems to know which letter I was going for when its too close to call. The iPod however is a nightmare for me, constant typo's, even when I go back to correct. On the S2 I use Adaptxt for a keyboard, which has a pretty good predictive text dictionary, so the occasional typo is forgiven. On the Blackberry however the BB10 keyboard is truly brilliant in many ways.
First, using the whole area of the bottom of the screen helps with larger fingers for sure. Rather than the other 2 devices which choose to narrow and have smaller keys because of this.
Secondly there is how the keyboard and device behave when typing. There are of course the predictive word assists, which appear on the frets between the rows of keys, which can be flicked to the message above. For a while you find yourself looking for the right words to appear, and this slows you down, but after some time has passed you just type messages the same way you would on a qwerty, and when you see the long word appear you are able to flick it up. This quickly becomes second nature.
Then it is only fair to say, that BB10 seems to have probably the most adaptive and powerful correction service out there at the moment. Watching the message appear can sometimes look like you are typing perfectly, and most of the time you are, but from time to time you will hit dptn instead of from, and somehow from this BB10 realises you mean FROM, and will replace it. Occasionally I look at the word I am currently typing, and realise its totally wrong, but when I look at the space bar, there is the word I was meaning to type, all ready to jump into its place when I hit the space.
Of course, this can be annoying early days when typing fast without noticing the word substitutions, and like all other devices, can lead to some very interesting messages being sent. Although fair to say, less than those of the iPhone which has a site dedicated to it.
All that said, I DO still think that the Z10 and its fantastic keyboard is still a step too far for some out of their comfort zones. However its fair to say that if a Z10 keyboard is not good enough for them to ditch their 9900 or 9700, no other touchscreen device out there is going to cut the mustard either.

Messaging
A very different experience indeed, from email to BBM, adding attachments, and formatting etc has all changed. Thats not a bad thing, but is yet another thing to get used to. It took me a while to realise that the options to attach, send image, format text etc, are all at the bottom of the message compose page, which is accessible by a long press on the space bar to make the keyboard disappear, or in BBM, swiping down from the text entry window. A little annoying that 2 native applications have different behaviours for removing the keyboard from the screen. Composing the message from the hub is pretty simple though, with a single press of the compose button at the bottom, you are neatly presented with the options from which you can compose a message, BBM, Text, Email, Twitter, LinkedIn. The clever thing here is that whichever option you choose, it does not need to launch the app. So a Facebook status will be sent from the hub directly, without having to first open Facebook. Same with Twitter and so on. Sounds a bit petty, but its one less action, and by not opening the app, you will not automatically repopulate the news feed either. Pretty nifty if you ask me.
Handling multiple messages through the hub, if you have text, email and BBM, as well as other notifications coming through, is seemless. Flicking in and out of each message rather than switching from app to app constantly. Im sure in some way this will also save on data use and battery too, not having 4 apps all running at the same time. The Hub certainly gets the thumbs up from me, now that I can use it how it was intended. Takes a while to get used to, but learning is worth it for sure.

Screen and icons
Blackberry has come under heavy criticism for its decision on the look of the screen with the app icons looking somewhat dated. Coming from an Android device, which without a doubt has the most configurable, customisable and freshest look, the Z10 screens do without a doubt look a little lame and dated. Beta if nothing else. But that said, you dont want fancy fonts on the keyboard of your PC do you? The appearance of a qwerty physical keyboard is uniform and functional, and its functional that I think Blackberry have gone for here. Dont judge a book by its cover so to speak, its what lays behind the icon that matters at the end of the day. Had Blackberry chosen to follow the trend and have 'pretty' icons, im sure Apple would have found some sort of patent infringement there, and a long court case would ensue. Instead this is very unique, very original, and most of all practical. And indeed, what lays behind the icons is nothing short of beauty. Smooth apps, with great interaction, and for me, I could not ask for more.
That said, I am not a huge app lover. There may be millions available, but I am happy with just a small fistful of apps on my Blackberry.

Apps
Now speaking of apps, this is where things get a little itchy for me. At the launch Thornsten cleverly said apps like Skype, Whatsapp etc were 'committed' to Blackberry10. I can tell you now, at this point, as committed as they are, they are NOT yet available. Which is a little disappointing, its not like QNX and BB10 is a surprise or anything, so something tells me these were late decisions. However there are others too, which have not yet announced if they will be coming to BB10.
Spotify, EyeEm, Google Maps.. 3 examples of apps I do actually find helpful to have on my Blackberry, none of which are available, and some which may never be available. We have heard so much about how Android apps port over with ease to BB10, so why are these apps not there yet? I subscribe to Spotify, so am keen to know if I will get it back on my Blackberry or not. And Whatsapp is great for staying in touch with non BB users. Its not a great app, laggy to say the least, but its handy for the occasional hi message. For now, I will have to rely on my good old fashioned SMS messages, of which I have unlimited. Thats a relief.
One other app I NEED to have back is BeBuzz or similar. A flashing red LED just doesnt do it for me. I need my colours back. Someone please port over a decent app for this ASAP!

Summary
So now I am getting used to the Z10, everything is fitting into place. Happy with the camera, but will never be as instant to use as my trusty 9700 and 9900. Software is a delight, BB10 really is a change of direction and hopefully fortune for Blackberry. The Hub, simply brilliant concept which works well in the real world, once you get used to how it functions.
Its just seeing how this battery will pan out, and getting a few more mainstream non business focused apps out there for the end user, and asap.

PS...

Dear Blackberry, (and EE)
I am STILL not impressed by the lack of accessories with the Z10. For a new device on the market I was really hoping to get something to slip the handset into. For now I will have to use one of the funky socks for the iPod.
Once I get a chance I shall accessorize with some new headphones and a decent case. Although the battery cover flip case for the Galaxy range would be ace for the Z10 *wink wink

Right thats me done, thanks for reading, and I shall report back with more next time there is something to tell.

In the meantime be sure to check out the camera test blog. More camera tests will follow shortly with different subject matter and lighting conditions.

Z10 Camera test against Galaxy S2

First impressions of the Z10