TeK Analysis: BlackBerry Z10 - an all touch all terrain - TeK.sapo

The Z10 is on sale in Portugal from the beginning April. Inaugurates a new phase in the life of a Canadian company, supported by a new generation of operating system, which focuses on a completely redesigned interface to a logical touch did not characterize the brand’s products.

In the box, the Z10 brings a phones and a charger that is also a USB cable in addition to smartphone design that keeps “the BlackBerry,” which is as if to say look good and robust air.

First positive note: the back cover is easy to remove and put the SIM card or memory card. There is no danger from nails or fingers hurt. According positive note, it is implicit in the first: the rear of the unit opens, giving access to the battery, which can be useful in case of failure of the original part but in some brands, like Apple, or more recently the LG, it is not possible .

Still on the rear cover is to say that the choice of the brand by a piece of plastic, instead of resorting to other more noble materials as it has done in the top of the range previously released, has been the target some criticism.

The argument has some reason to be, given that the Z10 has a price in store (no loyalty contracts and associated data) above 500 euros, but it is clear that the final effect is not so different visually and is guaranteed additional protection risks and accidents that may damage the device.

Advancing to the 4.2-inch screen we have the whole area of ??interaction with the operating system on this all touch which keys only have the same one on top, on and off the equipment and the traditional volume keys on the right side area.

The screen resolution is 1280×768 pixels which ensures something like 355 pixels per inch, rather than the iPhone 5. Multimedia content for consumption Quality of Experience also ensured by two core Snapdragon 1.5 GHz becomes evident. The sound aloud is less spectacular. The way to ensure clear tone is with phones placed, ensuring an experience on a positive note and also help prevent embarrassing figures.

Navigating the BlackBerry Z10

All the navigation logic in Z10 is new for any frequent user of the brand. For those who never used it too, since debut a logic distinct navigation, which has some similarities here and there with other platforms, but without compromising the originality of the proposal.

Even if you already know the moves command screen operations here have a meaning different from the usual, your thumb will eventually try to old habits and forget that to activate screens and “dispatching” applications in BB10 (minimize them or close them) the first step is to drag his finger upwards from the bottom of the screen. Should start the motion through the brand name engraved at the bottom center of the screen.

A presentation of the main tools of the system, you will find in the main menu of the equipment, not much different in appearance from that which animates the competitive platforms. It consists of small icons of respective applications, which suited up in three scre ens that are accessible off your finger from right to left.

When you go back (sliding your finger from right to left a few times) is the BlackBerry Hub, one of the new operating system, which stands always on the far left of the screen are several available.

It is a useful tool to centralize information about messages, calls and notifications received by use, that from a single screen has access to an updated summary of activity in the various services you use.

When you switch on the device for the first time defines what sources of information you want to integrate the Hub and what information can be shared.

Between the screen BlackBerry Hub and the main application menu there is still room for a screen that will minimize the applications that are open and you want to keep in stand by . There is space for four blocks. Swiping your finger upwards on the screen you can access a second screen that doubles the capacity of the thumbnails ready to manage multiple tasks on the device.

This system – multitasking management – is also an original BlackBerry, against the limitation in the number of applications that can be kept in stand by simultaneously it is also interesting and provides easy access to each of the content in question.

Before entering the applications themselves there is another shortcut that can exploit for easy access to some features of the equipment, such as definitions, Bluetooth, notifications or alarm. Place your finger on the top of the screen to the center, and pull down the menu to access shortcuts to these features.

Maps and applications
As refers to tools that integrate the equipment, experiments with less positive notes go to the Maps app pre-installed, still far away from a Google Maps, for example.

Image processing and information between zoom ins and zoom outs is not bright. The application itself is also slow to load. However, the platform when said detection well in location, even in places “less visible” to the GPS signal.

The results were less positive in the next research services (that are not referenced in the map) like restaurants, cafes or hairdressers. The best result of the three criteria was to research restaurants but, depending on location, Numas ran better times than others …

An interesting feature of the map application in integrated BB10 is traffic information, but is not working for Portugal. The application allows however the point to point navigation and managed to respond with reliable information to take us to some places around Lisbon.

Less positive was also the experience with the application store, which also has a long way to go to provide serious competition to the two largest platforms in the market. The BlackBerry ensures that ensures already more than 100 000 applications compatible with the system, but the truth is still out true anchors of the mobile ecosystem. Regarding national applications, the supply is also small and undiversified. We highlight the app facing the tourism and leisure and there is also some content offering news, which includes the SAPO News.

Positives
On the positive side, it is worth highlighting the good response of the tactile interface that works well even with sites not scaled to the size of a phone screen and navigation options almost microscopic in size. The interface of the Z10 is assertive and precise in response to touch, it is also possible to prove the most demanding games in terms of skill.

The camera with a 8-megapixel sensor, also fulfills its role. The images collected can be worked with a number of Instagram-style effects and easily shared in a message, the messaging service via social networking Bluetooth or NFC. The video can be recorded in high definition, an option that is also available for the Story Maker.

This tool is another new system that allows mixing result funny videos, photos and joining a song which can be chosen from a list of pre-defined or selected by the user. The end result has a professional look and can have an excellent image quality if you choose to opt for high definition.

Another novelty is the BB10 voice control, a sort of Siri for BlackBerry. The application lets you give commands to make calls, create notes, schedule a meeting, looking up information on the device or change the Facebook status.

With a clear diction orders are understood without major problems, which makes debut a good start for the BlackBerry, albeit with some points (critical) to perfect. The range of options / tasks is that it is still relatively limited and there is even one of the important improvements to consider an upgrade. One note: orders of web search are preferably directed to Bing.

Another curiosity is that the application, although it is available in Portuguese, understand and translate search terms in Portuguese, for example to find applications installed on a device located for Portuguese as Calendar or Calculator.

The same voice recognition technology can also be used to dictate messages or notes and this type of tasks the Portuguese is one of the options available. In the first experiments we did the results were satisfactory but when we used words with more vowels open to interpretation has been less faithful or even surprising.

The voice features are supported in the Z10 screen with large icons for mail voice and new calendar entries. The address book, which can gather information from various sources, is also affordable and easy to use virtual keyboard is generous.

close with a note to the multiple connectivity options the Z10 with support for 3G/4G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth , DLNA (for information sharing on home networks) and NFC. One more note to the HDMI connection available, though the cable will not be included in the package.

With the exception of the recognition of Wi-Fi available in a place that was not always achieved successfully without a reset system, the remaining experiments in this area have positive note, highlighting the NFC which is certainly a simple and quick way to share links or files between devices.

In the Z10, the option of sharing via NFC is listed in the same menu where the others are lined sharing options (email, Facebook, and others), a choice that facilitates the selection and use of technology and that still is not followed by all manufacturers.

Have you tried the Z10? Let us also your opinion on these or other characteristics of the device is not addressed in the analysis.

The Z10 was ceded to TeK for testing by Vodafone, such as TMN and Optimus sells the equipment from the beginning April.

Written under the new Orthographic Agreement

Cristina A. Ferreira