When I first cast my eyes on BlackBerry latest BB10 at Singtel Booth (IT Show 2013), I fall in love with its sleek, elegant exterior and weight immediately. Having carried iPhone 4S for a while, the 136g smartphone felt as light as feather.
Available in white as well, BlackBerry BB10 is the first smartphone powered by BlackBerry® 10, the re-designed, re-engineered, and re-invented BlackBerry platform that creates a new and unique mobile computing experience.
This is the fastest, most advanced BlackBerry smartphone yet. It features a 1.5 Ghz dual core processor with 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, and an expandable memory card slot that supports up to 64GB cards.
Charles Dufourcq, Country Director for BlackBerry Singapore said, “2013 is definitely a big year for BlackBerry in Singapore. Ten years have passed since BlackBerry smartphones were first officially introduced here. And today, it is my pleasure to announce that BlackBerry 10 is coming to Singapore with the new BlackBerry Z10 smartphone. We expect BlackBerry fans will be extremely delighted with the BlackBerry Z10 smartphone powered by BlackBerry 10, which offers a faster and smarter experience that continuously adapts to a customer’s needs.”
The smartphone also includes the latest enhancements in high density pixel and screen technology to display clear, sharp, and incredibly vivid images. It features a micro HDMI out port for presentations, and advanced sensors such NFC (near field communications) to support mobile payments and the exchange of information with a tap of the smartphone.
Enough of the hard facts, let’s drill down to the softer side of things:
BlackBerry 10 – Second Nature Within Days
BlackBerry 10 is a robust and reliable platform that is smooth and responsive. It has a modern design and a gesture-based interface that is highly discoverable. It is designed to support, learn, and adapt to the way you work and share. Even for a seasoned iPhone user like myself, getting used to this friendly interface took less than 2 days.
BlackBerry® Hub – Your Essential One Stop Shop
This is the one single place to manage all your conversations whether personal or work email, BBM™ messages, social media updates or notifications. With the ability to “peek” into the BlackBerry Hub from anywhere, so you’re always only one swipe away from what matters to you!
BlackBerry® Flow – No More Awkward Shifts Between Apps
Features and apps are enabled to flow seamlessly together, helping you complete the task at hand effortlessly and efficiently. For example, you can tap on an attendee listed for a meeting to see their latest tweet or LinkedIn profile. Or tap the thumbnail of a picture you just took to launch the Picture editor and quickly apply a transformation or filter, then instantly share it with your contacts. Skip the irritating procedure of having to continuously pull up list of running apps to switch between them.
BB10 Keyboard – Understands & Adapt To You
This incredible keyboard actually learns the common words you use, how you usually use them in sentences and offers them up to you so you can type faster and more accurately. You simply need to swipe the suggested text upwards to input them into your text messages.
Time Shift – Ultimate Cheat To Photo Taking
If you think Instagram is a godsend, you are going to love Time Shift to bits! This astonishing camera feature captures seconds before and after a shot. You get to adjust the facial expressions of all your friends in the group photo to achieve a shot where they are all smiling with their eyes wide open. Another blow to professional photographers….
The Usual Stuff You Love About BB
How can we not mention the well-loved BlackBerry® Messenger which allows you to share things with the people that matter to you in an instant. BBM in BlackBerry 10 also includes voice calling, video chat and the ability to share your screen with another BlackBerry 10 contact.
Corporate friendly, BlackBerry® Safeguard technology protect what is important to you, and the business you work for. Built-in support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync® so your BlackBerry smartphone can be simply connected and managed as other ActiveSync devices in a company, or enabled with BlackBerry® Enterprise Service 10 to gain secure access to work email, “behind the firewall” applications and data, and benefit from other security and enterprise mobility management features.
What’s Not So Fantastic
The BlackBerry® World™ storefront includes over 70,000 BlackBerry 10 apps and offers one of the most robust music catalogs in mobile today.
To ensure local content has also been considered, BlackBerry has been working with local partners and developers to bring various applications to the new platform including PicStory, Popcorn: SG Movie Showtimes, SISTIC, Autumn Dynasty and ComfortDelGro Taxi Booking.
But Instagram have yet to find their way into BlackBerry® World™. That to me is a significant drawback for BB10. Thankfully, the popular app will be introduced into BlackBerry® World™ shortly so do look for it!
For more information on BlackBerry® BB10 smartphone, click here.
