Gadgetory

blackberry returns to its roots with a physical QWERTY keyboard and we've got some thoughts about it I'm Michael Fisher this is PocketNow and this is our video review of the blackberry q10 the q10 is in many ways a younger squatter's z10 with a physical keyboard tacked on but while other companies might use that change in form factor to skimp on specifications blackberry largely doesn't in fact one of our favorite things about the q10 is that it doesn't make too many compromises and hardware we'll talk about those and follow it up with build quality software and some test notes the spec sheet is probably the least interesting thing about the q10 so let's get it out of the way right up top if facts and figures don't fill your balloon use this time effectively subscribe to pocket now is youtube channel or follow us on social networks the q10 gets its power from a 1.5 gigahertz Qualcomm Snapdragon s4 backed up by two gigs of RAM and 16 gigs of storage augmenta bowl up to 32 gigs via a micro SD card there's all the usual acronyms here 4G LTE NFC Wi-Fi a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0 onboard as well that's the exact same loadout as you'll find on the flagship z10 and the battery is actually larger on the q10 here 2100 milliamp hours versus 1800 on the z10 more on that later what's not larger is the display because the q10 packs the QWERTY keyboard that gives the device its name it doesn't have as much room for a screen at 3.1 inches on the diagonal it's pretty small but BlackBerry didn't compromise on resolution which at 720 by 720 delivers a very sharp 330 PPI it's also an AMOLED panel instead of the LCD found on the flagship meaning blacks are deeper and colors more saturated a larger battery and a physical keyboard usually means slightly expanded dimensions and the q10 is no exception it's a plump little handset at 10.35 millimeters thick and it's widened body makes it feel heavier than its 139 grams would suggest the added padding is minor though and it combines with wide radius corners and a soft touch coating over the glass we've battery cover to make the q10 feel really nice the hand the machined metal volume and mute keys sit right under the thumb the power standby key is up top but with an easy reach of a forefinger and the charging and micro HDMI ports sit off to the left leaving room at the bottom for a microphone and a wide speakerphone port the q10 doesn't quite reach the level of premium look and feel as the old Blackberry Bold 9000 but it does update the design nicely for 2013 while still retaining the classic blackberry notification light which we love as for the keyboard itself those angled keys do the BlackBerry name proud they're a little crowded but the steel frets setting them apart are attractive and functional blackberry told us they serve to keep the keys from popping off during impacts with the ground once we got used to a physical keyboard again we were able to bang out text pretty quickly though our unit shipped with blackberries excellent word prediction software turned off a choice we found puzzling once we flipped it back on using the q10 became more efficient not as fast as the predictive text on the z10 but certainly fast enough those still looking for a physical keyboard on a 2013 smartphone won't be disappointed here the software is another story blackberry deserves a lot of credit for the design and fluidity of its blackberry 10 platform which we covered exhaustively in our BlackBerry z10 review the design cues are identical on the q10 if flattened for the new screens aspect ratio but some of the fluidity has been sacrificed as well we wouldn't call the q10 laggy but it's not difficult to get it to stutter and sometimes it's just downright slow a good example is marking items as red in the BlackBerry hub an action which often takes much longer than it should sometimes the lag causes issues with text selection which is better in version 10.1 than it was in the initial release but it could still use some work playing a moderately graphically intense game like sparkle 2 didn't give us too much trouble though it did stutter from time to time the big problem for blackberry 10 remains the app ecosystem an issue we covered pretty extensively both in the initial review and in the z10 episode of after the buzz suffice to say though BlackBerry World now offers over 120,000 apps it's still missing a very wide swath of the most popular titles a problem exacerbated by the cute ends smaller display which makes it incompatible with some of the titles already released for the z10 if you don't mind using the mobile versions of websites like Yelp you'll be fine with the q10 the browser renders page as well and allows bookmarks on the home screen but many apps that require deeper level integration like Shazam Spotify or Netflix are still nowhere to be found older Android titles are supported and side loading is possible for users willing to do a little work also we do expect more modern Android titles to come to the BlackBerry 10 platform soon but for now more casual smartphone users should do some serious research into BlackBerry's app situation before buying on the bright side the core features of blackberry 10 that so captivated us on the z10 are still here in force the hub with its peak functionality for notifications is still excellent if slow the multitasking active frames are still fun and useful and the q10 s physical keyboard means you can just start typing from the home screen to initiate a search probably our favorite feature ported from Palms webOS plus you get all BlackBerry's traditional keyboard shortcuts as well we tested the q10 on ATT's 3G and LTE networks between Massachusetts and Maine over the course of five days we had no issues with coverage the device getting reception everywhere from downtown to the coastal boonies and throughput was excellent callers said we sounded fine and didn't complain about any background noise and that persisted over speakerphone which was also loud and clear on our end even more impressive was voice and video quality over blackberry messenger whose new version supports video chat with screen sharing the two megapixel webcam delivered sharp video with good color balance between two cute ends won over cellular and won over Wi-Fi and of course the bbm text chat continues to impress with speed delivery notifications and more the q10 sports an 8 megapixel primary camera that does very well with still photos in ample outdoor light colors tend to be a bit oversaturated and exposure control is a bit too aggressive but we were happy to see HDR finally make it to blackberry shots are cropped to one-to-one squares by default presumably because of the q10 s square display but you can select four by three or 16 by 9 if you prefer the q10 is still slow to focus so you'll want to give it ample time before snapping the shutter indoor photos get a little grayer a little less vibrant and low-light photos aren't really very good at all we've uploaded a raw video sample separately so you can draw your own conclusions all in all it's a serviceable camera but its software needs more than time shift mode to be more than a one-trick pony while we weren't blown away by the battery performance on the z10 the q10 is an entirely different story its outstanding in five days of testing we've never been able to run the q10 s battery dry with normal usage even with heavy use we usually still find ourselves with more than 20% charge at the end of the day for the kind of message heavy road warriors who will be buying the q10 that's awesome news the blackberry q10 is a very predictable device it looks like a texting machine that also does a little more and that's exactly what it is if you're looking for a media powerhouse stocked with apps this isn't it but if you're a blackberry loyalists shopping for a messaging focused smartphone with an excellent physical QWERTY keyboard and outstanding battery life the q10 is right up your alley it loses points for the smaller screen but gains them right back with battery life and an excellent physical keyboard so we give the blackberry q10 the same score as its z10 predecessor seven out of ten be sure and check out our full thoughts on the blackberry q10 in our quick review at pocketnow.com but before you go drop us a like if you enjoyed the video leave a comment below if you have something to say follow us in all the usual feeds and thank you as always for watching we'll see you next time