It’s been just about a year since I received a beta version of the BlackBerry Z10 smartphone.  This is the first touch screen phone produced by BlackBerry.  The device I received is the same hardware specifications that has been generally for sale since.

Like most smartphones there are things that are great and others that are less than.

The Hardware has been fantastic.  This phone has been raw without a case or screen protector the entire time.  It has slipped out of my hands many times.  Even took a spill down a flight of stairs.  As you can see from the photos it has held up very well.  Some very minor denting on the rubber coated back.  Some insignificant scratches around the corners on the front.  Very impressive for a glass front of this size paired with a relatively clumsy human.  Definitely standing true to the BlackBerry brand.

The Battery has been the longest lasting battery in an all touch smartphone I have used.  On a typical day I’m a pretty heavy user.  I take meeting notes on the phone, send a few handfuls of messages, and answer emails between meetings and while on the go (basically every hour).  The phone gets unplugged from the charger at around 7am and doesn’t typically need to get plugged in again until 11pm on a lighter day and more like 10pm on a heavier day.  On really heavy days when I know I’m going to also be out late it definitely will get a quick charge mid day to make sure I have that distraction late at night.  The charger also fills up the battery in around an hour which helps.  One of the reasons for the battery lasting this long is also a bit of a downside.  On my other devices there are usually a lot of apps that are running in the background constantly synchronizing something.  You will naturally turn the screen on more when there are more things to do on the device.  So the lack of apps, while disappointing, contributes to the battery lasting all day.

The Gestures are still the most intuitive of all the major operating systems that I use.  Swiping up from the bottom to unlock the screen.  Swiping up and to the right to get into the Hub.  Both of these gestures are so intuitive that I constantly find myself trying them on other tablets that I use every day.

The Predictive Type in BlackBerry 10 is definitely amazing.  It definitely is intuitive if you type in full sentences and most of the words it does find as advertised.  The swipe gestures to complete words is also very intuitive and convenient.  It has definitely been one of the fastest touch screen phones for me to type on.  Something that has started to drive me nuts (wild exaggeration) is the auto complete on certain words.  It is supposed to learn your speech patterns and predict what you are going to say.  A few things that were only typed a couple of times that it has hung on to for the entire year;

Trying to type anything singular case it goes with plural and any time I want to type something in plural it goes singular.  Since the 10.2 update it’s actually got a bit better but still is the number one thing I manually correct most often.

Trying to type LOL and it replaces it with LPL.  Maybe I should stop typing about bodily functions.

Day changes to say when I want day and say to day.  Arg.

The BlackBerry Hub app that consolidates your messaging accounts can keep things very productive, or not.  In Hub I’ve configured my gmail accounts, Outlook.com, Twitter, and LinkedIn.  All personal accounts.  My work email is not configured in the Hub.  When it’s time to unplug for the day I can easily look at my phone to see what’s going on without having to get sucked into wading through work emails.  I still dip into my work emails a lot after hours but it’s nice for everything personal to be in one place and keep work outside of it when you need a break.  You can put everything in the Hub if you are so inclined.

The Lack of Apps is still somewhat disappointing.  On one hand it helps to keep the device usable for what it is most often used for, email, calendar, and contacts.  This has been the primary function of the device for me and it has been great at all of them.  On my other devices I definitely have dozens more apps installed.  The thing that I have realized though is that I just like to install apps and know that they work.  Many of those apps do not actually get used.  One app that is greatly missed is Google Music.  Having to tether the phone and synchronize music seems like an antiquated task, doesn’t get done, and the library gets stale.  Again the lack of apps running in the background synchronizing data contributes to the phone’s resources being conserved and increasing the battery life, which is an upside.

With the (constant) recent launch of new devices with new operating systems I’m currently torn on what to use.  This device is still in great shape.  It does exactly what I need and want it to do most of the time, and has the power with 2GB of RAM and battery life to do it.  Quite frankly the speed to market from the competition causes me endless anxiety.  Always wanting the new device or the latest operating system when they come out annually is a lot for someone who loves technology but not consumerism.

*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from Insecurity authored by asdfasdfasdfasdf. Read the original post at: http://stephenperciballi.blogspot.com/2013/11/a-year-with-blackberry-z10.html