Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

[UPDATE] More than 8 months with this device, and with the new OS 10.2.1 update, I have updated this review to reflect the new things I've learned and some of the fixes they have released. First of all, let me say that although I'm giving the phone 5 stars, I am in NO WAY saying it is a perfect phone. There are definitely faults in the OS, and I will detail all of them in this review. It is a 5 star phone for me since I love having a physical keyboard and the problems it has are problems that can be fixed with a software update. And I am actively participating in their beta zone program to make sure these issues are brought to their attention so that they will be fixed. Hardware: Let me start with what you'll see right away when you pick up the phone. The build quality of this phone is top notch. I'm actually a little sick of the plastic and glass slabs that make up 90% of the phone market. The only ones of those phones that stand out are the original iPhone with the metal back, and the HTC One. The back of this device looks like carbon fiber. Everyone's first thought is that it must be fake. It is actually a proprietary material they made for this device, they call "glass weave" so it's actually really close to being carbon fiber and it's 100% legit, not just a pattern printed on plastic. The fret going across the back above the battery door is stainless steel. The bezel surrounding the phone is black, but it's actually steel, so still not plastic. The frets in between the keys are stainless steel as well. So basically, the only plastic you'll ever touch while using this phone are the individual keys on the keyboard. To me, regardless of how nice the HTC One is compared to the other slabs, it's still just a slab of glass on a slab of metal. The HTC One doesn't have a back cover so you can access the battery, so you're stuck with the battery like you would be with an iphone. This is bad if you are a power user that normally would either opt for a 3rd party high capacity battery replacement, or someone who will carry around a second battery to swap out when the one in the phone runs out. Yes, there are plenty of people who use their phones that much that this is necessary. It's also bad for the rest of us because batteries don't last forever. They start to lose their overall capacity soon after you start to use it and recharge it. Eventually you will NEED to replace the battery. On phones like the HTC One and iPhone you're stuck either figuring out how to open the phone up to replace the battery, finding someone who knows how to do this, or buying a new phone. The Q10 manages to combine premium materials with a lot of intricate lines. It really looks like a lot of craftsmanship went into putting these phones together. The frets actually dovetails into the bezel like different parts of furniture interlocking together. The only complaint about the build quality is an issue with the spacebar that I've read some people having. Mine is actually rock solid, but I've heard enough people say the same thing to know it must be a real issue with at least some of the phones out there. The screen is a Super AMOLED screen, and the touchscreen is responsive. The Super AMOLED is very vibrant and the pixel density is impressive. So images look sharp and colors really pop. I really like the screen. One issue with the screen that I've read about is that it's not as bright as a normal LCD screen, and this is true. So some people complain that in direct sunlight it's hard to make out what's on the screen. Personally, I live in South Florida and the sun is blazing here year round, and so far I don't find it that bad. I have used the Q10 outdoors without an issue, but it is definitely not as bright as other phones I've used with LCD's. Another issue with the Super AMOLED screen is if you've seen pictures or videos of the phone running and sometimes you're viewing it from an angle, you'll notice a greenish tint to the screen. This happens with every Super AMOLED screen I've seen, but it only really happens from an angle. For you looking right at the screen this effect doesn't happen. And even from an angle, the tint on this particular phone is VERY light and barely noticeable. [UPDATE] And now with OS 10.2.1 they added a "white balance" slider where you can slide it from cooler to warmer in color tone. I've read that the warmer setting is easier on the eyes if you're using the phone in complete darkness, buy I kept mine in the middle since it hasn't bothered me. Software: Now this is where the phone shows its immaturity. I hate comparing it to my previous BlackBerry because I understand this is a brand new OS, they are trying to move forward and not get stuck in the past, which is what doomed them to lose their place as the number 1 smartphone in the first place. But it is a fact that regardless of your feelings about how they lagged behind in their hardware, the way they had their software configured to run for the sake of efficient communications was actually very good. So a lot of these features would be amazing features to have on the Q10. That's the only reason why I might make that comparison. I do not want them to go back to their old ways, I simply want good, common sense, features to be added to this phone. First, there is something called universal search. This is a great feature since the phone has a keyboard that never goes away. You can start typing from the homescreen without needing to launch an app or anything before, and it'll start populating options and searches based on what you're typing. For example, if you wanted to search the internet for something, instead of launching the browser app, navigating to google or bing and then typing your search query, on the Q10, all you have to do is start typing the search query right from the homescreen. Then out of your options, just touch the icon for google or bing and it'll automatically bring you to the search results. It's blazingly fast to get things done this way, and to me it's worth losing screen real-estate to have this feature. Now here are a few issues with the universal search as it is now. The contacts results are only sorted alphabetically, when they should be sorted by relevance or by how often you contact each individual. For example, when I want to call my mother, I'll simply start typing "mom" from the homescreen. Even though "mom" matched my address book entry "Mom" 100%, it'll show me "Jenn's Mom" and "Juan's Mom" before "Mom" simply because j comes before m. And unfortunately it only shows the top 2 and I actually have to touch the icon for more results to see the mom I wanted to contact in the first place... It SHOULD order it with "Mom" first since that matches what I'm typing the most, or if they go by popularity, it should also put "Mom" first since I make sure to regularly talk to my mother while I pretty much never call those other two entries. They are just there so if they happen to text or call me for some reason I know who it is... [UPDATE] One of my favorite features of my old BB phones was the universal search and the extended search options. One in particular that I was really sad to find missing from the Q10 when it first came out was youtube. Basically before, if I wanted to find a video by searching for it, instead of launching the app or going to the website and then clicking search, and then typing, all I would do is start typing, then touch the youtube icon, and it would automatically launch the youtube app and show me the results of that search. It was super quick and I loved showing up my friends when they went to look for a video how I would have it up and playing before they even got it to where they can start typing the search. And this was back with my old Bold 9900 on that old outdated hardware and software. Well, when I first got the Q10, the youtube extended search option doesn't show up anymore, and I was a little disappointed in that. HOWEVER I found out that the extended search options are not really something the OS control, but the apps themselves. And since there isn't an actual youtube app (made by youtube for the BB10) this time around, that's why the universal search option for youtube isn't present. There is a 3rd party youtube app called Super Tube (which is FREE) that actually adds the universal search extended search option. So once you download that app, this awesome extended search option makes its triumphant return!! And the Super Tube app is a great app, better than the normal youtube app in my opinion. So no compromise there. Another issue I have with the Q10 is that it appears they tried to simplify the interface a bit when it comes to setting notification sounds and profiles. With previous BB's like my Bold 9900, I was able to not only turn vibrate on and off, I was also able to set how many times it will vibrate and even the length of each vibration. And this was for each individual notification type. So for example, I could have my text messages vibrate 2 times quickly (short vibration length), and my facebook notification would vibrate one long time (one vibration but long duration), phone calls would be 3 vibrations quickly, and voicemail will be 2 medium. So even if I have the phone on vibrate only or I couldn't hear the tone, I knew what just came in by the feel of the vibration. With the Q10, you can still set the number of times, but you no longer could set the duration of the vibrations. I really wish they add that feature back in a future OS update. Another notification feature that went away that was useful was individual volume controls for different notifications. Now you just have one master volume that applies to notifications for phone calls, BBM, texts, emails, etc. Before you were able to change them individually, so maybe make texts ring louder than email because you find them more urgent, or make your phone ringtone a little quieter than the BBM messages. Or any combination you choose, just giving examples. Again, hopefully that will be added back in a future update. Right now they are considering ideas for more locking options instead of just a password lock. I personally like using a normal password instead of the pattern lock (since some people can figure those out by looking at the smudges on the screen), but more options never hurt anyone. They are considering facial recognition, pattern lock, and pin lock. I hope they do expand on this in a future update. I will keep using the password myself, but I think it's a good idea for them to give options to those who might want to choose them. [UPDATE] They have added what they call picture lock. It is actually quite clever. It is hard to explain how it works, but let's just say that even if someone is watching over your shoulder and clearly watches you unlock your device, that person still wouldn't know how you did it. I want to see people say the same about pin lock or pattern lock... Heck, pattern lock is so easy to break since you can most of the time see the pattern streaked onto the screen since that's the motion they do the most besides scrolling up and down... Here's an issue I really don't like. Their music player doesn't allow you to pick the folder it includes in the library. It basically scans your phone and memory card for any music files and they automatically show up in the music library. The bad part about this is I have a whole folder of mp3 files that are just custom ringtones I use. They are for notifications, I don't want them being mixed into my music playlist... The music player is also missing an equalizer, something the Bold 9900's music player had, so don't understand why they had to cut useful features like that. [UPDATE] I'm not really sure if they fixed anything in the stock music player or not, but I've found a great 3rd party music app called Neutron Music Player. It's not free unfortunately, but if listening to music is important to you, I am telling you it is worth it. Not only does it have an equalizer, but it actually makes your music sound better than the stock music player. It processes the music much cleaner and if you're an audiophile you'll notice the difference. So I definitely recommend that. [UPDATE]One huge advantage of having a physical keyboard that never goes away was the ability to set almost every key as a speed dial for your contacts. So from the homescreen, without having to launch the phone app, contacts app, or anything, all you had to do was hold down the key you set before and it'll start dialing. For example, if one of my friends was set as the letter "c" on my speed dial list, all I had to do was hold down "c" from the homescreen and it's already calling that friend. It makes making multiple phone calls EXTREMELY fast and efficient. That feature didn't make it into the Q10 at launch, but with OS 10.2.1, they finally added back one-button home-screen speed dialing!! Now all you have to do to make a call to someone on your speed dial list is from the homescreen, hold the button corresponding to the contact you assigned to it, and it'll make the call. Fast, easy, and no need to even look at the phone once in the process! :-) Lastly, and everyone should already know this, apps. Now before people start complaining about how BlackBerry 10 doesn't have the millions of apps iPhone or Android has, remember that those platforms have been around for YEARS. Even though the name Blackberry has been around for years, this new OS is completely new, not at all backwards compatible with their previous OS's, so that means they had to start from scratch with apps since none of the old apps will work in the new OS. So considering this fact, it's quite impressive that they have about 100,000 apps already within the first few months of these new phones being on the market. [UPDATE] With OS 10.2.1, you can now install Android apps the same way you would do it from an Android device. All you'll have to do is load one of these Android marketplace apps on your phone and then browse, search, download, and install, just like you would on an Android. Please feel free to comment if you need further assistance in accomplishing this. Now I'm sure you're wondering how I'm giving this phone 5 stars while listing nothing but what I consider negatives or places where the phone can improve. It's simple, constructive criticism helps people make a purchasing decision more than blind praise. But here are the definite positive aspects of the phone. The mindset behind this new OS is to fluidly move from doing one thing to the other. Other smartphones seem more like app-loaders than phones, since you go back and forth between a home screen into an app, back out, then into another app, then back out, then into another app. With BB10, you can go into apps and do what you need there, while using the communications functions of the phones in a fluid movement from one to the other instead of the back and forth. From any app, all you have to do is drag your thumb from the bottom of the screen upward, then slide it over to the right, and you basically end up dragging the screen you were just looking at over to the side a little and doing that exposes the "Hub" (which is the communications backbone of the phone) so you can see who just texted you, emailed you, or what facebook notification you just got, etc. etc. without having to exit the app you were just using. It's still there, off to the side a little waiting for you to make your decision on what to do. If you choose to address the notification, just continue that movement to the side and the app will slide away and now you're in the Hub to handle that text or whatever. If you decide that your activities in that app is more important than the notification that just came in, just reverse that motion and you drag the app back to being full screen and you continue doing what you were doing. I've found this feature very useful and very intuitive once you get used to the gestures. Speaking of the hub, it's a really great concept that I'm liking. You can fully customize it, but it's basically a "grand central station" for all of your communications. All of your texts, emails, facebook notifications, twitter notifications, whatsapp, etc. all go into this hub. So no matter how someone decides to try to contact you, you don't need to go searching, it goes to one place. And from that hub you can actually reply without needing to exit and launch the app. Meaning if someone sends you a facebook message, you go into your hub, read the message there, then simply type your response as if you're responding to a text, and hit send, and you've just sent your friend a facebook message back. All without even touching the facebook app. This is the same deal with Twitter and any other social group you belong to. [UPDATE] When the phone first came out, one issue was if you started a new text message using compose instead of finding the conversation and opening it, the conversation you had up to that point wouldn't show up until AFTER you sent the message. This was a problem if you don't remember what the last things you said to each other way and that could affect what you want to send this time. Well, with the latest OS update, 10.2.1 this issue has been fixed! Definitely moving in the right direction! [UPDATE] With OS 10.2.1, they added something called a "priority hub." You can't say that you ONLY talk to your best friends or family members. No matter how much we try, we end up communicating with people we find "important" along with those we just don't. I guess it's like the difference between an acquaintance and an actual friend. Well, with the priority hub, it lets you organize that a bit better. You assign your close friends, your significant other, your family to your priority hub. Now you can switch your hub to only display priority messages and it'll only show them. This update also added a pop-down instant preview of incoming messages, working together with the priority hub you can now set it to only display previews from your priority contacts, so not every incoming message will show the instant preview. Those are just quick examples of how those new features can be used, you can customize them any way you wish. I mentioned universal search before, but there's another neat aspect to this. They call it "Type and Go" and basically from the homescreen, there are several shortcut commands you can start typing that will perform certain functions. Like you can simply start typing "Email Chris" and it'll have an option to start the email that you simply type the text you want and hit send. Or you can also type "fb I am hungry" and it'll actually update your facebook status to "I am hungry" without needing to go into your facebook app. You can also type "tweet Going out tonight" and you guessed it, it'll tweet that via twitter without you needing to open twitter. This feature is a very nice concept and helps you be very productive so you spend less time staring at your phone but you complete everything you want to get done anyway. There are still some minor issues like I've mentioned before about the search contact listings, but it's all issues that will probably be fixed or ironed out as the OS matures a bit. It's still very early on, but it's a very polished machine for what it is. [UPDATE] When the phone first came out, swiping down from the top of the screen is generally the gesture to pull up settings for whatever app you're using. From the home screen, swiping down from the top will being down the quick settings available for the phone. In the beginning, these quick settings were set and you cannot change them. Now, you have full customizing ability with this menu. And along with that, they added a ton of different things you can set to the quick settings. My favorite is the flashlight. No more launching apps, just swipe down and touch the flashlight icon. Repeat to turn it off. [UPDATE] Another thing I've started to notice in the 8 months of using this phone, is just how quickly I get the camera up. You might think I'm making this up, but literally I've found myself [cheekily] commenting to my friend "Wow, takes you that long to find your camera?" when I see my friend trying to get to it. Apparently the camera app is just that, an app, on most phones, namely Android phones. So when you scroll to another page of apps, the phone app icon will scroll away with that page it is on. So if you're not already on that page, you have to scroll around to find it. Of course, this is after waking up the phone, and unlocking the phone. Well, on BB10, the camera icon is static, like the phone call icon. So no matter which page of apps you're on, the camera button is always right there on the bottom right. Also, even if your phone is locked, the camera button is still there for the using. And no, this doesn't mean your phone will switch to the camera all of the time accidentally while your screen is locked. While the phone is locked, you have to press and hold the camera icon for it to turn on. Pretty hard to do this by accident. But I've really started to realize just how fast and easy this is when I watch my friends clumsily fumble about their phone looking for the camera app, lol. I kind of feel bad while pointing it out, but I kind of don't, lol. [UPDATE] Another addition with OS 10.2.1 is lock screen notification previews. You can see a quick preview of your notifications from the lock screen with this update. Which is nice, didn't like that you had to unlock the screen before you know if the notifications you have are important or not. Some people will argue that with all of these autocomplete features that they can type just as fast or faster on their touchscreens, but the fact of the matter is the physical keyboard is more accurate. I don't NEED autocorrect at all while typing texts to my friends. You will never see an autocorrect fail where I meant to say one thing and my phone decided to post something completely different and sometimes really inappropriate. If sending out clear and precise information to everyone is important to you, then having this keyboard is a definite must. Imagine saying something very inappropriate by accident to your boss or some other business contact. That could mean some serious issues down the road... And although honestly your options for phones with a physical keyboard is very slim, I'm happy to say I don't only recommend the Q10 simply because of a lack of choices, but it's actually a very nice phone. Just be warned that there is a learning curve. There is no back button or anything like that, navigation through the phone is purely via gestures on the screen. So you do have to memorize and get used to these gestures, so it might be a little clunky and frustrating at first, but once you get used to it (took me less than a few hours of playing with the phone to get used to them) it's actually very fun and intuitive to use. But give it some time, maybe up to a week if you're really ingrained into the way other phones work... For keyboard lovers, it is definitely the best phone out there, hands down, no discussion. I really hope this review has been informative enough for you to make a decision on whether or not this phone is worth your hard-earned money. If you have any questions please feel free to ask them in the comments. :-) [UPDATE] So after 8 months of using this phone, and especially after the OS update to 10.2.1 I went from thinking this is a great phone and a great start for a new OS, to simply really loving the phone. There is definitely still room for improvement in the OS, but so far most of the important things are definitely covered, so the 5-star review stands. :-)