Personal Small Business Enterprise

BlackBerry Z10: The Everyday User

Posted March 11, 2013 in Business, New Technology, Smartphones by 1

In this five-part series, we’ll bring you information and hands-on insight into the new BlackBerry Z10. With input from five Bell employees of varying perspective, ranging from “The Tech Expert to “The Busy Executive“, we’ll provide a well-rounded view of the new BlackBerry Z10, its operating system and its capabilities.

I’m a heavy mobile user: constantly texting, BBM’ing, setting myself reminders in the calendar, making notes during meetings and using my device as a media player for my car. For the most part, BlackBerry has always been my brand of choice for all my mobile needs. Well, most of them. I’ve been an avid BlackBerry user for many years and have owned various models. This year I did something I’ve never done before: I cheated on BlackBerry. I got a second device; another smartphone to see what all the hype was about with the apps and games that my BlackBerry didn’t seem to have (besides Brick Breaker). And, I admit, it was eye opening. There was a totally different world of Angry Birds and DropBox out there. Yet, I remained loyal to BlackBerry even when most of my BBM contacts began moving to other smartphones. I knew something good was coming, I just had to wait patiently. Finally my patience paid off and the new BlackBerry Z10 arrived.

I’ve been using the Z10 since its release and several key features have stood out for me:

BlackBerry Flow – With all the time I spend on my device, one of the best features of the Z10 is BlackBerry Flow. I’m constantly switching between the web browser, to my inbox, to my BBMs and back, and BlackBerry Flow eliminates the choppiness transitioning between my most-used applications and really enhances the user experience. Now, I can be surfing through Facebook and, with a short slide to the right, I can flow into my BlackBerry Hub, back into the web browser or back to my home screen. The best part is you can do it all with your thumb and hardly ever have to take it off the screen. It’s truly a seamless experience.

BlackBerry Hub – BlackBerry Hub is like the Grand Central Station of the device. Every account that I’ve set up is right there: emails, texts, tweets, BBMs and more. BlackBerry Hub allows you to peek and flow in and out to see all of your updates in one place. I’m always trying to do 20 things at once, so the Hub is great for me. It integrates with your calendar, too, so it’s always present. This is key, especially if you’re using it as both a personal and professional device. Have to admit, it’s nice not having to carry two devices during the work week.

BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) – Ahh, my beloved BBM. BlackBerry has stayed true to the essence of BBM with the Z10, but with new features that really make it better. Now it has BBM Video, Screen Share and the ability to add contacts through its on-board NFC technology. No more “add me, PIN # 024949C…”! All you have to do is touch compatible devices back to back and you’re done; your BBM contacts are updated just like that. BBM also now has Screen Sharing ability, which is great if you want to share pics or documents with other BBM users without actually sending them the file; definitely a handy feature for business users who need to have video conferencing abilities while travelling. Now you can walk through presentations, spreadsheets and invoices without physically sending a file. On the personal side of things, Screen Share can be used to share family photos from a recent party or vacation without having to publish dozens of photos online.

BlackBerry World – This revitalized digital marketplace takes us well beyond basic games and applications and now delivers a full multimedia experience, with music, TV shows and movies right at your fingertips. With one click, you can purchase a movie, download it right to your Z10, pay for it using your credit card, PayPal or your carrier billing system, and then – with the extremely handy mini HDMI output – you can plug into your TV and watch the movie right from your device. And, because it’s an LTE enabled device (which makes downloading, streaming and surfing extremely fast), I was able to purchase a movie while waiting for the bus, start watching on my commute, then plug it into the TV and finish watching when I got home – talk about a seamless experience! I really love the way BlackBerry has taken the Flow experience beyond the day-to-day functionality of the device and made it a part of the overall user experience.

The BlackBerry Z10 is definitely a game changing device. As a die-hard BlackBerry fan, it not only lived up to my expectations (benchmarked by my BlackBerry Bold 9900) but far exceeded them. There have been no compromises made to quality or the user experience and all of the time RIM spent perfecting the device really shines through. Whether it’s the new user interface, the BlackBerry 10 operating system, or the upgrades made to BlackBerry staples such as the keyboard and BBM, the new Z10 is a device I would highly recommend to any mobile user. It certainly lived up to the fanfare and I’m excited to see what BlackBerry has in store for us in the near future.

Let us know what you think

One response to “BlackBerry Z10: The Everyday User”

  1. Julien says:

    Hi,

    I just got the Q10.
    Here are few points I would like to point out (see improvements):

    1.Why did Blackberry remove the Extended Remote email search?
    2.Setting airplane mode everynight before going to bed is not really convenient.
    3. It used to be very easy to sms/email someone from the phone log.. it is not available anymore
    4.Once a picture is taken there is no way to retrieve any information (size/date,etc..)

    Thank you for your article,

    Julien

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