BlackBerry OS 10/BlackBerry Z10 review

After a 5 day delay from AT&T, they came through and gave me the network unlock code so I can use the phone with my carrier up in Canuckland. 

The Z10 was the very first phone running CrackBerry 10, and was released in 2013. 

I upgraded to a Nokia Lumia 800 when I got fed up of my Motorola i1 running bloody Android 1.5, never to be updated. CrackBerry 10 was but a few months away when I got my Windows Phone, and in retrospect, I kick myself for having taken Lumia 800 instead of waiting for the Z10. The Lumia 800 was a good phone, no doubt about it, but I fell in love with BlackBerry 10 after purchasing my Q5. And now, with the Z10, while I have to sacrifice the physical keyboard, the trade-off is ABSOLUTELY worth it -- I usually despise virtual keyboards but the Z10 handles great, and pops up with a lot of words to autocomplete which appear right over the letters, and selecting it only requires a quick swipe up. Very intuitive and effective.

The Hub was showcased as the center piece of CrackBerry 10, and it contains pretty much everything -- SMS, email, BlackBerry messenger, system notifications, calls, Shitbook and Twit-ter should you use this garbitch. The Hub can be accessed from anywhere with a swipe up and then right, and you can peek at notifictions by holding the gesture, and swiping left to return to other applications. 

CrackBerry 10 requires an initial learning curve, but once you get the hang of it, it's bloody amazing. It was awesome on the Q5, but the smaller screen sometimes made things a little cramped. With the Z10, though, it is absolutely perfect. Since I use mostly larger phablet phones -- Redmi Note, Dooger Dagger are 5.5 inches -- I was anticipating finding the 4.2" screen too small, but absolutely not. Android on smaller screens can be an absolute pain, but Crackberry OS's swipe/gesture interface lends itself perfectly to this size.

The Z10 supports HD Voice (as it is known up in Canuckland) and therefore has crystal clear call quality. Even on the older GSM network sound was clear and crisp, and I didn't hear any of that annoying background buzz I heard on so many other of my phones. 

Signal was good on both GSM and HSPA+, and the Z10 also supports LTE. However, it has significantely weaker signal. This was the case with both my current and former carriers. However, LTE is much more tolerent about weak signals, and unless the Z10 is showing no signal data speeds are very consistent and ridiculously fast. 

Battery life is shorter than it is with my Q5, but compared to my old Galaxy Nexus who barely lasted 12 hours on a charge, it is an absolute nuclear reactor. The Z10 has a removable battery, thankfully, and I might get a new, extended battery for it. Unless I find a Z30 for a decent price, I will be sticking with the Z10 until I can get my hands on one of those uber-rare Jolla phones.

Bottom line -- CrackBerry 10 is the tits. I sourly regret taking the Lumia 800, because quite simply put, I absolutely love the Z10. CrackBerry 10 is very, very good and definitively should be considered as a more than worthy alternative to both Android and Windows Phone.

Nice review, next time I'm due for an upgrade I'll consider getting this phone.

The Z10 is no longer on sale -- I got mine used but in pristine condition -- but, since you had a Bold, you'd probably like the Classic. It is a throwback to the old Crackberries, with call/menu keys and the iconic keyboard (in contrast to the Q5 and Q10, which lacked both) and is pretty similar in size to the last few models of the Bold series. The Passport has a much larger screen and footprint, but also has a wickedly awesome keyboard and if it wasn't so damn expensive I would get it. There's also the Leap, which I guess can be considered a successor to the Z10. The Q5 is also excellent and hardware-wise it has good specs ad performance for an entry-level model. They're all great in their own way, it boils down to whenever you prefer a hardware keyboard or don't mind virtual keyboards. 

Oh and also, the Z10 has 16GB of storage, and also takes microSD, so mine has 32 right now. My 16GB card holds 300ish songs and isn't even 1/3 full.

Good to know. I'll ask you next time I'm changing phones. I'm really fond of my White Berry (just wish the screen was just a little bigger).

Your Bold has a 2.5" screen if I have the right model in mind, the Classic is 3.5" and the Passport 4.5", so if you'd like something just a little bigger, the Classic would be the better option for you. The Passport is very nice, but 4.5" and a physical keyboard makes for basically a big, square phone. I kind of like the form factor but I understand why some people would be put off by it. The Leap is also 4.2, or 4.5", I can't remember exactly.

Ok makes sense. A good compromise between screen size and encumbrance would be ideal. After all if you're going to carry your phone everywhere you don't want to be lugging one the size of a tablet.

My Q5 is 3.1", and it's kind of cramped for my big mitts, but it does fit with your criteria of something slightly bigger, and being an entry-level would be more affordable. As a reference, in my neck of Canuckland, the Classic costs $50 on top of requiring a two-year contract with a plan of minimum $70 per month. The Passport is a whopping $250 with the same requirements. So really, getting a contract phone is downright madness, hence why I hunt down my own phones. 

Lugging around a phone the size of a tablet isn't so bad. Remember I used the Doogee Phablet for quite a long time, and it was 6.8". I had no problems, but I wear cargo pants with very deep pockets. Calling with this beast was not a fun experience, though. Hell, I have seen a 7" Blu phablet on eBay, and almost got it, but I've heard mixed reviews of this brand so I steered clear. Besides, I want nothing to do with Android anymore. 

I'd do a video review but the Z10 has became my primary phone, and contains a lot of private shite, so unless I wipe it clean, I do not really feel comfortable doing one such review.

I have big hands as well so that can be a problem but wearing cargo pants is not always an option so it's good to have a phone that fits in the inside pocket of a jacket. My girl has a smart phone and it's almost the size of a paperback but a handbag really helps. I'm not going to carry a handbag anytime soon so I have to settle for a smaller phone.

Prices seem a bit high. I have a thirty euro plan and it's definitely not the cheapest around. I'll have to check when I can get an update. My White Berry started bugging out the other day and I had to remove the battery to get it to boot again (the menu would vanish).

Yeah, my Bold 9000 sometimes would brown out as well, I used an application to do a software battery pull and it would work just fine again. My Torch 9800 with BlackBerry OS 7 was much more solid, though, and I had it running for months and it still would be A-1.

Looks to me like the Q5 or Classic would be the better option for you. I certainly hope you can get them for less than the absolutely mental 350 euros they wanted for the Q10. Don't know if European carriers do this as well, but sometimes some models can purchased as a bundle in electronics retail stores. I got my Alcatel, HTC Desire, Q5 and Moto X in such bundles. Most expensive of the bunch was the Q5 at 150 bucks, or roughly 100 euros.