About.com Rating
Since day one, BlackBerry phones have been squarely aimed at the business user first and foremost. The BlackBerry Q10, the second phone from RIM to feature the BB10 operating system, is certainly no different, despite the addition of some multimedia bells and whistles. Any BlackBerry fans who were disappointed that the Canadian manufacturer had gone all candy bar style with the Z10 can rest assured that the physical qwerty keyboard is still alive and kicking in this phone.
Design and Build Quality
The Q10 looks and feels very similar to the BlackBerry Bold range at first glance. The thin body with rounded edges, the physical keyboard beneath the slightly rectangular screen, and the slick, businesslike styling all fit nicely into the BlackBerry way of making phones. But as you look closer, you can clearly see that some thought has gone into making this phone.
For a start, the screen is larger (to make using it as a touch screen easier) and the keyboard is more compressed below it. Whilst this should make it more difficult to type, it really doesn't. The keys are well spaced, with a metal bar running along the top of each row to add spacing and a slight tilt to the keys that feels great when typing using the two thumb method BlackBerry users applaud so much (I have to admit that it is an easy way to type once you are used to it).
Gone is the physical home button from the front of the device, along with the BB button and the back button, all replaced by a touch screen versions.
The power/lock button now sits at the top edge of the phone, with the volume rocker on the right-hand side. The physical buttons which do remain feel slightly flimsy, but all in all the Q10 is a well designed addition to the BB family.
Display
Whilst it might not be huge, the Q10 screen is a big leap up in terms of quality when compared to anything seen on a BlackBerry 7 phone. It is also perfectly square, which is not something I have seen on a RIM device before, making using the touch functions easier. With a resolution of 720x720, the 3.1inch display isn't going to be winning awards for quality with multimedia fans, but is does produce sharp text thanks to its 328 pixels per inch.
Colours and blacks are very good, and even though in some cases colours do look a bit too bright, the overall image quality is better than you might expect. Brightness seems to be a bit of an issue, particularly in bright sunlight, but it is still perfectly usable. Previous BlackBerry phones have used LCD screens, and as the Q10 display is Super AMOLED, battery life should also be improved (LCD screens tend to use more power than AMOLED).
Software Features
The boffins at RIM have clearly put a lot of thought into the BlackBerry 10.1 operating system. The need to include touch screen functions without making the physical keyboard seem obsolete seems to have been made a priority, as there are some clever shortcuts to be found on the Q10. For example, type “text Dave” whilst on the home screen and the SMS app will automatically open with Dave's contact details pre-filled (if you have more than one friend called Dave, the Q10 will ask which you wish to text).
Another key feature of the new OS is BlackBerry Hub. The hub allows you to keep track of what is important to you, including emails, messages and notifications, from within any app. Simply swipe in from the side of the screen and the hub appears. You can then choose to read a new message or reply to a text, or you can simply swipe the hub closed again. This whole process is very smooth and soon becomes second nature when using the phone.
You might be thinking that this just sounds like the notification panel that has been a feature of Android for a long time, and you would be right except that on the BlackBerry Q10 it really stands out as a useful feature, particularly for those who might be using the device for business. It also integrates seamlessly with BBM, the free BlackBerry messaging service, which is of course the core of the communication features on the Q10.
One of the big problems I found with the BlackBerry Q10 is the lack of big name apps, or indeed decent apps in general. The apps available for your phone is now such an important feature for many buyers, and it is a fair bet that lack of software is a big part of why RIM and BlackBerry phones are struggling to grab a slice of the smartphone market. If this phone if just used for work, it isn't so much of a problem. But if the Q10 is going to be your only phone, not being able to run the big apps that your friends and family all use could be a disappointment.
Performance
It is clear that the Q10 is not designed to be a multimedia powerhouse of a phone. It features a good, but not great, 1.5GHz dual-core processor and 2GB of RAM, so it clearly cannot be called bleeding edge. Nevertheless, it certainly isn't sluggish, aside from when loading some of the more CPU-intensive apps, and I really didn't find the lack of processing power a problem when doing the things the Q10 is primarily designed to do.
Casual puzzle and other simple games can be enjoyed on the Q10, but don't expect to have much fun playing the latest 3D titles, it just isn't up to the task. The small, square screen doesn't really lend itself to gaming anyway. There is a decent amount of space to store your software and other data, with 16GB of internal storage and the potential to expand that to 64GB with a MicroSD card, but that is pretty much standard these days.
The battery life of the Q10 is as good as we have come to expect from BlackBerry phones. It easily lasts more than a day on a full charge if you are careful about which services you leave running. If you are very careful, the phone will even push two days without a charge.
Bottom Line
Whilst this is a big leap on from BB7 handsets, and could be perfect for business users looking to upgrade from their ageing Bold 9900, the Q10 isn't going to set the world of smartphones on fire. There are better handset options available if you are looking for multimedia features, apps or display quality, and if you really must have a BlackBerry 10 phone, the Z10 or Q5 both look like they could be a better choice. At $199 on a two-year plan, the Q10 isn't going to break the bank, but when you consider the fact that you can get a Galaxy S4, iPhone 5 or HTC One for the same price, it doesn't seem like such a great deal. There is much to like about the Q10, but I can't help feeling that it will fail to appeal to anyone except business users or hardcore BlackBerry fans.