A review of Blackberry Q10 compared to the Blackberry 9930

I tell you it is a whole new ball game. First of all, I had to get a SIM cutter to cut my regular SIM to a micro SIM. I didn’t want to go through the hassles of going to the telco shop to get a micro SIM. Secondly, I had to install the Blackberry Link. The BlackBerry Link is the latest version of BlackBerry Desktop Software to be used with your BlackBerry 10 device.

The Q10 is the first device to run BlackBerry 10 OS and it is different from previous OSes. I would also say that it would be better to read the phone manual instead of delving head first into the handset. You might get frustrated if you do not.

Design and features.

Since I was already used to the look and feel of the BB 9930, I liked the Q10. No offence meant, but I think this is a phone built for a man. It feels good to hold and the curved sides and edges give it a good grip.

Compared to the 9930-screen size of 480×640, the Q10 has bigger, higher resolution screen of 720×720. The Q10 10.35mm thickness makes it fractionally thinner than the 9930. The Q10 has a Super AMOLED screen which is generally very bright and vivid, while the BlackBerry Bold 9930 has the TFT LCD.

If there is one feature I miss badly in the 9930, it is the central control line between the display and the top of the keyboard. It is GONE!! No Back button, No Optical Navigator, No Call Buttons and no Menu button. The Q10 has done away with the need for these controls. This has been my biggest challenge and it is a major paradigm shift for me. I am still battling with this!! So this means that I am forced to use the BB Q10 as a touch and type device.

The swiping from top down and bottom up is something I am still getting used to. You definitely cannot achieve much with greasy fingers. You need to practise a lot of swiping to get the hang of it.

is one of the shortcut on the Q10 is now an icon situated at bottom right corner of the screen; different from the

Some of the cool features on this device are as follows:

• The mic shortcut on the keyboard which allows you dictate text to your phone
• Keyboard shortcuts. Whip out your Q10 and type “fb” and you are immediately on Facebook without having to launch the app. This is the same for “Tweet” for Twitter or even “text” for SMS
• The 8MP camera on the Q10 is an improvement over the 5MP camera of the 9930.

Processing Speed.

Though I have not really gotten the benefit of this feature, I found out that the Q10 has 2 cores while the BlackBerry Bold 9930. This means that this will enhance system performance on heavy applications that support multiple core use. The RAM for running apps on the Q10 is 2048 MB compared to 768MB of the 9930.

Battery Life

Compared to the 9930, the Q10 has a longer battery life. I can use the Q10 throughout the day and get back home with some to spare. There is definitely an improvement in this regard.

Conclusion

Hmm… Truth be told, I am still wondering whether it was good to do away with the central control line in the Q10. Maybe I am old fashioned or I am already used to features expected from a Blackberry, there is really nothing that would compel someone to change from the 9930 to the Q10 except the person just wants the latest Blackberry phone.

And to top it all, not many app developers have developed apps for the Q10 since it is still early days.

Overall, I will give the Q10 6.0/10.0