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Back to BlackBerry: closing time
Time's up. I've now had a full month to call the BlackBerry Z10 my very own and use it as my everyday device. I've had the opportunity to use it in every likely scenario, including a nine-day trip to Spain for Mobile World Congress. Now comes the moment of truth: have I become a BlackBerry convert? Is the Z10 my new daily driver? Unfortunately, it's not. But before the BlackBerry fan base breaks out the torches and forms mobs, this isn't a denunciation of the phone or its OS. Quite the opposite, in fact. I decided to pursue this experiment for a few reasons: it's the best way to learn a brand-new operating system, I genuinely am interested in how well it handles regular day-to-day use and a month gives me plenty of time to form a solid idea of the platform's potential and future. Is it possible to have a great deal of admiration for a phone while simultaneously rejecting it as my daily driver? Yes. After the break I sum up the highlights of BB10: what works, what doesn't and what simply needs a little nudge or two.
Back to BlackBerry: international travels
Dropping a smartphone is an absolutely horrifying experience. And on my first day in Barcelona for Mobile World Congress, it happened to me with my BlackBerry Z10. As much as I hate to admit, it was a dumb move on my part. Unfortunately, tragedy can strike with as simple an act as brushing one's elbow across the table, and that's all it took for me to knock my smartphone right onto a hard surface -- facedown in a perfectly horizontal position. If you've ever been through such an accident, you know the few seconds it takes to pick up the phone and survey the damage can be incredibly nerve-wracking and one of the most suspenseful moments of your life. I'm happy to say that this particular story has a positive ending, as I turned the phone over to see if I would need to call BlackBerry HQ in a panic. To my shock, it was completely fine. There wasn't a single scratch or ding, and the touchscreen was just as responsive as ever. It would've been a different story had it fallen onto a concrete floor, but this still significantly increased my opinion of the Z10's durability. Had my Z10 come face to face with concrete, I would've been in a nasty predicament. Not only would I have had to pause or put the kibosh my 30-day trial run with the BlackBerry Z10, but I'm also on the other side of the world in a foreign country. While getting a new phone isn't impossible, it's expensive, time-consuming and frustrating. Yep, this was how my 10-day international adventure began, but how well has it gone for me since?
Back to BlackBerry: a power user's perspective
Thirty days is just a tiny fraction of the two-year commitment you sign when buying discounted phones in the US -- one-twenty-fourth of the actual time you're stuck with the device before switching phones. For a reviewer like me, however, it's actually about twice as long as I typically spend with any given device as my daily driver. I'm halfway through my monthlong BlackBerry 10 experiment, which means this is the point at which I'm usually ready to move on to something new. Strangely, I'm not feeling the same about the Z10 -- at least, not as much as I had expected. While I became accustomed to the user interface during the first week, my experiences during the second week were even more smooth and natural than before. That's great news as I prepare for my upcoming trip to Spain to cover Mobile World Congress (I leave tonight), since my habits as a power user will be amplified during my weeklong venture to the other side of the Atlantic. Phone-wise, what would normally be a minor frustration at home can become an emergency in other countries, so I spent this week putting the Z10 to the test. I wanted to make sure it's prepared for the rough and taxing journey the two of us will face in Barcelona. Venture across the break and I'll fill you in on some of the things I discovered.
Back to BlackBerry: a whole new UI world
Editor's note: This is not a review. If you haven't taken the opportunity to read through our review of the BlackBerry Z10 and the BB10 operating system, now is the perfect time to do so. As I progress through my 30-day BlackBerry trial, I'm writing most of my thoughts with the assumption that you have a basic understanding of BlackBerry's new devices and platform. If you were to ask me what the most significant changes are in BlackBerry 10, I'd likely go into detail about the user interface, gestures, the Hub and the ecosystem. It's an amazing improvement over previous BlackBerry devices in most cases. It's not too difficult to learn, either: just three days into my 30-day trial, I found myself unsuccessfully swiping up on a friend's Android phone to turn it on. But now that I've had the chance to set up all of my accounts, do some hardcore messaging and play around with the device, what are some of my thoughts about those major differences? Join me after the break and learn some of the best and worst things I discovered so far.
Back to BlackBerry: One editor's 30-day trial run
I confess, I'm intrigued by BlackBerry 10. Surprised? So am I. It's been easy to pre-emptively count BlackBerry out of the smartphone wars based on its performance over the last two or three years, but there's an element of mystique and personality that has made me quite curious to give the new OS a shot. While Wednesday's BB10 launch answered a lot of questions, it also raised a lot of new ones. Most of the mysteries revolve around its ecosystem, hardware quality, competitive advantages / disadvantages and if the platform can persuade Android and iOS users to switch. As a former Pearl and Curve owner, I want -- nay, need -- to determine for myself how well BlackBerry's latest effort holds up against its rivals. Thus, I have decided to use the BlackBerry Z10 as my sole device and daily driver for thirty days. From now until March 3rd, I'll experience nearly every aspect of BB10: the UI and its learning curve, its performance and battery life, BlackBerry World, the highly praised virtual keyboard and how well it can handle my work load. I'll even use the phone at MWC, a major international trade show in which I'll be even more dependent on my mobile than usual. Throughout this process I'll be documenting my thoughts, feelings and emotions and deliver them in a regular series of weekly posts. By the end, we'll see whether or not BB10 can win my heart; is it a suitable replacement for the average iOS or Android user, or does the company still have a difficult path ahead of it? Time will tell, and I'm eager to find out. Note: If you want to keep updated on my posts, be sure to use the "BradBerry" tag!
