New Blackberry Devices Featuring BB10 Announced

Blackberry have really been struggling to get a descent foot hold in the mobile market over the last few years, with Apple and Android devices swamping the market it’s not really surprising.

However, Blackberry won’t go down without a fight. The company that manufacture Blackberry devices, Research In Motion (RIM) have re-branded themselves to simply ‘Blackberry’. Is this a sign of new beginnings at Blackberry? Well possibly. A new name is not the only new string to Blackberry’s bow, they have just launched two new devices which both sport the latest BB10 operating system.

Blackberry Z10

The Z10 is the flagship BB10 OS device. We will start this time by the dimensions, which are: 130 x 65.6 x 9 (mm) and 137.5 grams in weight. The Z10 is equipped with a dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor clocked at 1.5Ghz (the same CPU as the Galaxy S3). It is supported by 2GB of RAM and storage is provided by 16GB of internal memory and will of course have the obligatory MicroSD slot for expanded storage.

The Z10 has a 4.2 inch screen, with a resolution of 1280 x 768 which is of course multi-touch enabled (looking a lot like the S3 spec sheet isn’t it). The Blackberry Z10 is chock full of goodies under the hood to get you connected – bluetooth 4.0, WiFi b/g/n, 4G LTE, HSPA +, NFC, FM receiver, Micro-USB and Micro-HDMI outputs are all present and correct as well as a light sensor, proximity sensor, and an accelerometer.

There is a rear-facing camera of 8MP with auto focus & digital zoom and also a front-facing camera of 2MP. The whole package is powered by a 1800mAh battery.

As mentioned above, the Blackberry Z10 with have the latest version of Blackberry’s own in house operating system – BB10. According to blackberry this is the best mobile OS on the market and if leagues ahead of their previous renditions of BB OS.

Blackberry Q10

Unlike the Z10, the Q10 is mainly intended for aficionados of Blackberry, those who like it old school and prefer a full physical keyboard. It has the same Snapdragon S4 CPU as the Z10 and also the same 2GB RAM. However, the screen is a Super AMOLED, 3.1 inch touch screen  with a resolution of 720 x 720 and a pixel density of 330 dpi. As with the Z10, it also supports multi touch. The Q10 also has 16GB of internal memory, up to 64 GB expandable storage through the Micro-SD slot.

With regards to getting connected, Blackberry haven’t yet released as much information about this side of things but it would be reasonable to presume that it will have a similar (if not the same) level of connectivity as the Blackberry Z10.

Again, just like the Z10 the Q10 has the same front & rare cameras, a light sensor, proximity sensor, and an accelerometer. For dimensions: 119.6 x 66.8 x 10.35 mm, and 139 grams in weight.

Prices for both devices are expected over the next few days.

BB10 Operating System

This is most likely the part of the package the Blackberry has spend the most time. After all, previous versions of the OS left a lot to be desired with performance issues a plenty and a horrific app manager. Let’s a take a look at some of BB10′s new features:

• The Hub: This aggregates all of your social media messages from contacts, email, text messaging and a whole lot more. It’s basically a one stop shop for keeping in touch.
• BlackBerry Flow: A multitasking system which provides real-time management of up to 8 applications.
• Stations: Is a customised view of application depending on how you are using the device. For example, you could have “Personal” to show all your social networking and personal emails or “Work” to show your LinkedIn, route planner and browser.

• The virtual keyboard: makes it possible the transition from one language to another in the same message, and without recourse to prior setting. Perfect for the multi-linguists like me.
• BlackBerry Messenger: Which now allows Blackberry to make video calls.
• BBM ScreenShare: Allows users to carry out screen sharing between BlackBerry devices.
• Camera: Which includes a photo editor with features and filters similar to those of Instagram.
• TimeShift: Camera captures a few milliseconds before and after the shooting, to allow you to choose which capture you prefer to save.
• BlackBerry World: The app store made ​​by Blackberry, with 70 000 applications at launch. Let’s hope this has improved!

Some will love this devices, others will not. Nevertheless, they seems to be good alternatives to the Galaxy SIII and iPhone 5, especially if you want to specs of these high devices but miss having a ‘real’ keyboard. Blackberry still has a lot to prove and I can’t help but think that this is a case of too little, too late. I suppose only time will tell.

Will you be getting a BB10 device? Tell us why (or why not) in the comments section below…