Despite their functionality and advancements made in auto correct software, not everyone has come to love touch screens keyboards and prefer a traditional keyboard on their phone. This is the field where BlackBerry has always been able to excel in and their new Q10 for Verizon is no exception.
The phone keeps with the traditional BlackBerry look that faithful users have come to love. The front of the handset is half screen half keyboard. Around the edges are buttons for volume, mute, and lock/unlock in addition to the headphone, Micro USB, and Micro HDMI jacks. It also has both a 2 MP front facing and an 8 MP rear facing camera. The front camera takes good pictures, but unfortunately does not compare in quality to those of the Samsung Galaxy S4 or iPhone 5.
Speed is no issue with the BlackBerry Q10. Using a 1.5 GHz Snapdragon S4 processor and 2 GB of RAM, the phone reacts fast to your commands. It includes 16 GB of memory which you can expand by 32 GB with the use of an SD card. In addition, Verizon’s 4G network will ensure that you are never waiting for webpages to load.
For navigation and opening apps, you use the 720×720 resolution 3.1 inch touchscreen display. This works much better than a track ball and also serves to free up a little more real estate on the phone. The screen is still tough to get used to compared to the giant screens on full touch screen smartphones where you can see much more information all on one screen. The silver lining is that this smaller screen does take up less battery, which is a huge plus if you are frequently working on your phone and need as much time as you can get out of it.
The Q10 runs on the same BlackBerry 10 OS as the BlackBerry Z10 meaning it includes BlackBerry Hub, which compiles messages from across several accounts all into one place. You can take full advantage of this feature since you have a full keyboard on your phone to get the most out of your messaging experience. However, like with the Z10, the app store is lacking and can not yet compare to those of other operating systems. If you are using it mostly for staying connected though and love the tactile keyboard of BlackBerry’s, you will not be disappointed with this upgrade.