BlackBerry Q10 review: revenge of the keyboard | The Verge
In any discussion about BlackBerry, The Bold is the one you really want is a line you could ve used at practically any point in the last five years. And so it is again: When the full-touch what to expect when you re expecting Z10 started hitting retail earlier this year to mediocre reviews , you couldn t help but think, This isn t BlackBerry s wheelhouse. The Bold is the one I really want.
Of course, it s not actually what to expect when you re expecting called the Bold this time around, what to expect when you re expecting but the Q10 is the spiritual successor to BlackBerry what to expect when you re expecting s flagship line of portrait QWERTY phones. Make no mistake, this is BlackBerry s bread and butter no one can lay a more authentic claim to the portrait QWERTY form factor than these guys can. (Arguably, what to expect when you re expecting that s because no one else is really trying to make a good portrait QWERTY phone, but that s another matter entirely.)
And like I said, I feel like we ve been here before, because this is the part of the review where I tell you that the smartphone landscape has changed, that no one actually wants portrait QWERTY anymore, that full-touch is the only way to go. It s the part where I say that the Q10 is trying to be the best of a dead and irrelevant what to expect when you re expecting breed, while the Z10 does little to make up the massive amount of ground that BlackBerry has lost to the iPhones, the Galaxy S4s, and the Ones of the world. It s the exact same thing I could ve told you two years ago when we were talking about the Touch, the Curve, and the Bold.
The Z10 was panned, in part, for its crushingly boring design. It s practically the antithesis of design, what to expect when you re expecting really an unornamented matte black plastic box, thrown together as an afterthought. The Q10 is undeniably a chip off the same block, but it works better this time around: the four straight rows of physical keys, separated by satin metal lines, do an admirable job of breaking up the monotony.
The Q10 also features a nice chamfer and a gentle curve between the front, side, and back, giving it far greater "holdability" than the Z10 it feels good. The back of the Q10 has a matte, three-dimensional carbon fiber look that is classier than it sounds; it has less texture than the Z10 s rear, but the soft-touch finish still has plenty of grip.
It doesn t have the "precious object" presence of an HTC One or an iPhone 5 but in some respect, I think BlackBerry basically nailed the look and feel of the Q10, which is remarkable considering its forgettable Z10 bloodline. what to expect when you re expecting This is more or less exactly what I would expect a modern portrait QWERTY phone to look like: a touchscreen that is neither too big nor too small, a perfectly sized keyboard (more on that in a bit), and an understated, business-appropriate look interspersed with high-end detail. It's what I expect a modern portrait QWERTY phone to look like
The Q10 s 720 x 720 AMOLED display is good, but not great. It s a bit warm whites come through as very, very light yellows and the maximum what to expect when you re expecting brightness is surprisingly low (this really shows when holding it up next to the Z10, which is much brighter at full tilt). Touch responsiveness was fine, though I would ve liked a "glove mode" since it was introduced on the Nokia Lumia 920 and recently featured on the Galaxy S4, it s something I d like to see become standard this year, particularly since I live in an area of the country with a real winter.
I had one annoyance brought about by BlackBerry 10 s reliance on gestures: you need to swipe up from the bottom to bring up the multitasking screen and "go home." That s totally fine on the Z10, where you ve got a big bezel beneath the display on which to start your swipe, but on the Q10, that means you need to basically swipe up from the keyboard. It just feels weird, what to expect when you re expecting like BlackBerry didn t consider the notion of a physical keyboard when it designed that gesture. I also found myself occasionally what to expect when you re expecting swiping up to scroll a menu or web page and inadvertently bringing up the multitasking display likewise, that isn t an issue either on the Z10 where the bottom of the screen is much lower relative to your thumb.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, let s talk about the keyboard," you re thinking. Or, at least, that s what you re likely thinking if you re a BlackBerry diehard who patiently held fast through the Z10 launch to get your hands on the hardware this company is known for.
I m happy to report that I think this keyboard is going to satisfy BlackBerry loyalists. I don t pretend to be a hardcore portrait QWERTY user, but I ve used my fair share of Curves and Bolds through the years, and there s no sign with the Q10 that BlackBerry what to expect when you re expecting has forgotten its roots. The keys are "Bold-style" that is, there s no space between them, but each one has a distinct ridge that guides your angled thumb in the right direction and they run literally what to expect when you re expecting edge-to-edge, so you re taking maximum advantage of the phone s roughly 2.6-inch width. They re clicky, they feel great, and they re somehow magically designed to minimize mistyping
In any discussion about BlackBerry, The Bold is the one you really want is a line you could ve used at practically any point in the last five years. And so it is again: When the full-touch what to expect when you re expecting Z10 started hitting retail earlier this year to mediocre reviews , you couldn t help but think, This isn t BlackBerry s wheelhouse. The Bold is the one I really want.
Of course, it s not actually what to expect when you re expecting called the Bold this time around, what to expect when you re expecting but the Q10 is the spiritual successor to BlackBerry what to expect when you re expecting s flagship line of portrait QWERTY phones. Make no mistake, this is BlackBerry s bread and butter no one can lay a more authentic claim to the portrait QWERTY form factor than these guys can. (Arguably, what to expect when you re expecting that s because no one else is really trying to make a good portrait QWERTY phone, but that s another matter entirely.)
And like I said, I feel like we ve been here before, because this is the part of the review where I tell you that the smartphone landscape has changed, that no one actually wants portrait QWERTY anymore, that full-touch is the only way to go. It s the part where I say that the Q10 is trying to be the best of a dead and irrelevant what to expect when you re expecting breed, while the Z10 does little to make up the massive amount of ground that BlackBerry has lost to the iPhones, the Galaxy S4s, and the Ones of the world. It s the exact same thing I could ve told you two years ago when we were talking about the Touch, the Curve, and the Bold.
The Z10 was panned, in part, for its crushingly boring design. It s practically the antithesis of design, what to expect when you re expecting really an unornamented matte black plastic box, thrown together as an afterthought. The Q10 is undeniably a chip off the same block, but it works better this time around: the four straight rows of physical keys, separated by satin metal lines, do an admirable job of breaking up the monotony.
The Q10 also features a nice chamfer and a gentle curve between the front, side, and back, giving it far greater "holdability" than the Z10 it feels good. The back of the Q10 has a matte, three-dimensional carbon fiber look that is classier than it sounds; it has less texture than the Z10 s rear, but the soft-touch finish still has plenty of grip.
It doesn t have the "precious object" presence of an HTC One or an iPhone 5 but in some respect, I think BlackBerry basically nailed the look and feel of the Q10, which is remarkable considering its forgettable Z10 bloodline. what to expect when you re expecting This is more or less exactly what I would expect a modern portrait QWERTY phone to look like: a touchscreen that is neither too big nor too small, a perfectly sized keyboard (more on that in a bit), and an understated, business-appropriate look interspersed with high-end detail. It's what I expect a modern portrait QWERTY phone to look like
The Q10 s 720 x 720 AMOLED display is good, but not great. It s a bit warm whites come through as very, very light yellows and the maximum what to expect when you re expecting brightness is surprisingly low (this really shows when holding it up next to the Z10, which is much brighter at full tilt). Touch responsiveness was fine, though I would ve liked a "glove mode" since it was introduced on the Nokia Lumia 920 and recently featured on the Galaxy S4, it s something I d like to see become standard this year, particularly since I live in an area of the country with a real winter.
I had one annoyance brought about by BlackBerry 10 s reliance on gestures: you need to swipe up from the bottom to bring up the multitasking screen and "go home." That s totally fine on the Z10, where you ve got a big bezel beneath the display on which to start your swipe, but on the Q10, that means you need to basically swipe up from the keyboard. It just feels weird, what to expect when you re expecting like BlackBerry didn t consider the notion of a physical keyboard when it designed that gesture. I also found myself occasionally what to expect when you re expecting swiping up to scroll a menu or web page and inadvertently bringing up the multitasking display likewise, that isn t an issue either on the Z10 where the bottom of the screen is much lower relative to your thumb.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, let s talk about the keyboard," you re thinking. Or, at least, that s what you re likely thinking if you re a BlackBerry diehard who patiently held fast through the Z10 launch to get your hands on the hardware this company is known for.
I m happy to report that I think this keyboard is going to satisfy BlackBerry loyalists. I don t pretend to be a hardcore portrait QWERTY user, but I ve used my fair share of Curves and Bolds through the years, and there s no sign with the Q10 that BlackBerry what to expect when you re expecting has forgotten its roots. The keys are "Bold-style" that is, there s no space between them, but each one has a distinct ridge that guides your angled thumb in the right direction and they run literally what to expect when you re expecting edge-to-edge, so you re taking maximum advantage of the phone s roughly 2.6-inch width. They re clicky, they feel great, and they re somehow magically designed to minimize mistyping
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