BlackBerry has finally, officially unveiled its maiden BB10 flagship, all-touch device, the Z10, and you can read all about RIM BlackBerry’s new handset in our review. But, if you’re looking to see how it and BB10 stack up against the competition running Android, iOS and Windows Phone, you’ve come to the right place. Check out our chart below for all the specs you can handle.
A lot of news came out of BlackBerry’s camp this morning, and it’s quite possible you may have missed a fair amount of it. Fear not, readers: we decided to bundle all of the news together into one convenient place so you can pick and choose what coverage you want to follow. Head below the break and you’ll be greeted by a full listing of all things BlackBerry and BB10.
Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, RIM
Looking to catch up with what was surely one of the most important events for the company formerly known as RIM? You can do so with our liveblog, or you can now watch (or rewatch) the entire keynote courtesy of a video replay BlackBerry had made available. Hit the source link to get started — the whole thing runs just over an hour.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, RIM
Source: BlackBerry
Liked what you saw? Even happier then, as a Brit, you’ll likely be getting your hands on it months before your US cousins. UK networks have started to announce availability for the handset, with EE, O2, Three and Vodafone already confirmed to be stocking the Z10. Retailers that will also be selling the new BB10 hardware in the British Isles include Carphone Warehouse and Phones 4U.
Retailer Phones 4U will launch both color options (exclusively, at least initially) although it hasn’t ventured a contract-free price just yet. The Carphone Warehouse, meanwhile will be offering the Z10 free on contracts of £36 per month on the major networks.
Vodafone will offer the Z10 for £29 on the £42 a month Red Data plan, including unlimited calls and texts as well as 2GB of internet. It’ll be free on the £47 a month variant of the plan, or cost £69 one-off payment on the £37 per month plan. Three UK hasn’t revealed any details beyond that it’ll be stocking the handset.
While all Z10 devices sold will be ready for 4G, according the Waterloo crew, the BlackBerry Z10 will be available to utilize EE’s existing 4G service immediately. The price? It’ll be £50 on a £41 per-month 24 month package, with 1GB of mobile data, as well as unlimited UK calls and texts. No word just yet on whether Orange and T-Mobile will be offering cheaper bundles later. We’ll update here when we hear more pricing details from the other players.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, RIM
If you like what you’ve seen so far from RIM BlackBerry’s big launch event today, then you might want to know when you can get it? Those in the US might have hoped the rumors weren’t true, but indeed, you will have to wait until March before you can get your hands on BlackBerry 10. Though when it does land, customers of AT&T, Verizon, Sprint (only Q10 confirmed) and T-Mobile (Z10 confirmed) will all be able to get onboard. BlackBerry’s giving its home turf a little bit of a head start with a February 5th release date and Bell, Rogers, Koodo, Telus and Virgin Mobile confirmed as carrying. But — as had already been hinted at — it’s the UK that gets the goods first, with the Z10 and Q10 both available starting tomorrow on all the major carriers. US pricing will depend on each operator, but expect to pay around $200.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, RIM
Source: T-Mobile
BlackBerry unveiled Alicia Keys as its new spokesperson, but turns out she’s been posting from her iPhone. Seems a little dubious, but we’ll see. More »
If you didn’t get the hint from the constant appearances during the BlackBerry 10 video promos, BlackBerry loves Alicia Keys. And it looks like she might like it back. Filled with analogies of new lovers and “exclusively dating” a mobile platform, Alicia Keys is now BlackBerry’s Global Creative Director. We’re not sure what her work remit will be (although there was a mention of app development) but we presume Will.I.Am is somewhere, crying in a pool of money.
Other famous fans that BlackBerry mentioned on stage include Neil Gaiman and Robert Rodriguez — creative types are looking forward to their new free BlackBerry phone.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, RIM
Beyond the several standard applications unveiled today for BlackBerry 10, RIM’s got a much, much longer list of standouts from the BlackBerry World store to share. The New York Times, ESPN, and BBC are just a few of the biggies on the list, as well as a flock of Angry Birds heading up the gaming charge. Head past the break for a taste of those 70,000 apps RIM’s touting.
Gallery: BlackBerry 10 app roundup
Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, RIM
One cannot overstate the importance of this phone. This, the BlackBerry Z10, is the device upon which the fate of BlackBerry (formerly Research in Motion) hangs. That’s not to say that the company will disappear if the Z10 — and the BlackBerry 10 OS that it contains — is not a mass-market success. But if this phone does not do its job of extending the reach of the ‘Berry OS beyond those die-hard loyalists who have clung on to their Bolds and Torches and Storms, it’s safe to say that BlackBerry is in for some very hard times.
The company hasn’t exactly bet the proverbial farm on this BB10 release, but with massive financial losses tempered only by job cuts, plus an absolutely tectonic shift among the executive leadership and corporate culture architected by CEO and President Thorsten Heins, the phrase “make or break” feels pretty apt. So, then, is this the phone that’s good enough to woo buyers away from the Galaxy S III or the iPhone 5 or any of the other delicious devices on the other platforms? The short answer is that no, as of now it isn’t quite — but of course it’s a lot more complicated than that. Join us as we explore.
Gallery: BlackBerry Z10 review
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, RIM
For years now, the BlackBerry OS has occupied something of a special state, almost feeling as if it were thrown down into a pit and locked into a bar of carbonite, preserved in stasis for future generations to see. Want to show your kids what using a smartphone was like in 2006? You just needed to find a Bold on display at the local electronics store and let your little ones gaze wide-eyed at a sea of menus and tiny buttons.
BB7, then, was a disappointment for many, feeling like a bare-minimum update to those versions that came before rather than the complete QNX-based retooling we’d all been waiting for. The PlayBook showed us what was possible with a clean-sheet approach to a BlackBerry OS, and we wanted that on a phone. Now, two years after the release of that tablet, here we have it. It’s BlackBerry 10. It’s a wholly new experience, very different even than the PlayBook, and in general it’s quite good. But is it good enough to thrive in a world dominated by iOS and Android? Let’s find out.
Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, RIM
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