RIM unveils BlackBerry 10, last hope for Survival

A

BlackBerry Maker Unveils Its New Line
*www.nytimes.com/2013/01/31/technology/blackberry-maker-unveils-its-new-line.html?_r=0
Sorry Apple, the BlackBerry Z10 Is Hotter Than the iPhone
*s7.postimage.org/77di92dqz/original.jpg

BlackBerry’s maker unveiled a new operating system and a new line of phones on Wednesday, along with a new corporate name, with the hope of restoring its products’ status as a symbol of executive cool.

Analysts, technology reviewers and app developers with advance access to the BlackBerry Z10 and the BlackBerry 10 operating system have said it is the company’s first competitive touch-screen phone. But BlackBerry 10 arrives long after Apple’s iPhone and phones using Google’s Android operating system have come to dominate the smartphone market that the BlackBerry effectively created. According to IDC, BlackBerry now holds just 4.6 percent of that market, about one-tenth of its historic peak.

To emphasize the changes brought by the new operating system, Thorsten Heins, who took over as chief executive a year ago, said the company, known until now as Research In Motion, had adopted BlackBerry as its corporate name. Its Nasdaq trading symbol will become BBRY, and it will trade as BB in Toronto.

In addition to the BlackBerry Z10 phone, there will be a second model, the Q10, that includes one of the line’s signature physical keyboards. Verizon Wireless announced that it would price the Z10 at $200 with a two-year contract.

BlackBerry said the Z10 would be available in the United States in March and in Canada on Feb. 5.

“Today represents a new day in the history of BlackBerry,” Mr. Heins said. “These BlackBerry 10 devices are absolutely the best typing experiences in the industry.”

There were few surprises in the initial portion of Mr. Heins’s presentation. The company began demonstrating the touch-screen phone and operating system in May and also made prototypes available to app developers at the time In recent weeks, photographs of the final version of the phones have made their way to various American and European technology Web sites.

Physically, the Z10 resembles an iPhone 5 with its corners snipped off.

But unlike its competitors, the Z10 lacks a button to take users back to a home page and relies entirely on users’ swiping their fingers across the 4.2-inch screen from different directions to summon features or menus.

While the Z10 lacks a physical keyboard, the main attraction of BlackBerrys for many current users, the company said it had developed software which should alleviate some of the inadequacies of on-screen typing. According to BlackBerry, its software studies users’ common typing mistakes over time and then starts automatically correcting them. It will also build up a list of commonly used words and offer them as suggestions that can be selected with a flick of a finger.

While developing the new operating system, the company took great pains to improve its strained relationship with app developers. The operating system was also designed in a way that allows them to adapt Android apps for BlackBerry 10 by making some relatively minor modifications.

For corporate and government users, BlackBerry 10 server software will allow them to divide employees’ BlackBerry 10 phones into separate work and personal spheres and give I.T. managers complete control over the former.

the once iconic company dominating the smartphone industry, now struggling to survive, has finally entered the segment of full touch screen operating system.

BlackBerry Z10 and Q10 unveiled, first BB10 smartphones - GSMArena.com news
Sorry Apple, the BlackBerry Z10 Is Hotter Than the iPhone
BlackBerry Z10 Features And Specifications Round Up | Ubergizmo
Specs
Blackberry Z10
*s9.postimage.org/5ncyaz14v/gsmarena_001.jpg
*s8.postimage.org/a23z9jvr9/blackberry_z10.jpg

4.2” WXGA screen (1,280 x 768, 356ppi pixel density)
Dual-core Krait CPU 1.5GHz
2 GB RAM
8MP main camera, 1080p video
HDMI port
16 GB Internal
microSD card
Bluetooth 4.0
NFC

Any idea about India launch date?

If that device has a price over 30k, blackberry is dead in water.

Plus we need a sub 20k variant for the masses.

lol...blakberry can eat their own berries.

Faun said:
lol...blakberry can eat their own berries.

*dc544.4shared.com/img/BNqKbMOh/s3/if_you_know_what_i_mean_mr_bea.jpg

details are less, but this looks like fail of the epic type

is there an alternative to apple passbook built into the system?

this was supposed to be a next generation device, it does not look like atm

I'm buying this one especially cause its RIM.

Physically, the Z10 resembles an iPhone 5 with its corners snipped off.

Come on, that statement is rubbish. Anything "with its corners snipped off" does not look like iPhone. Its absurd statement!

Actually, for once I feel that somebody big has really copied the external design of the Iphone. Except for the edge-to-edge glass there is nothing really that differentiates this phone from the Iphone. And the hideously large Blackberry logo. I see apple's lawyers grinning

N

audiophilic said:
I'm buying this one especially cause its RIM.

Come on, that statement is rubbish. Anything "with its corners snipped off" does not look like iPhone. Its absurd statement!

THIS....but iSheeps wont understand

Anorion said:
is there an alternative to apple passbook built into the system?

A lot of developers make this much more complicated than necessary. You don't need an app to give somebody a Passbook pass.
This is how it should function: It's just a file - you can email to them or make it available via a web site; when the user reads the email, or clicks the link, the pass will be installed.

I "just" hope this takes away atleast little sales from Apple,S4 Will for sure

Lol look at this Nokia takes on Blackberry which was just released

Nokia takes a swing at BlackBerry on Twitter, says it's not really suitable for business users - GSMArena Blog

Price will be a deciding factor.

bubusam13 said:
Price will be a deciding factor.

And as its blackberry, expect them to be excessively high.

noob said:
THIS....but iSheeps wont understand

A lot of developers make this much more complicated than necessary. You don't need an app to give somebody a Passbook pass.
This is how it should function: It's just a file - you can email to them or make it available via a web site; when the user reads the email, or clicks the link, the pass will be installed.

that sounds complicated. expected it to compete with

Passbook is helping push stores into the 21st century — perhaps more smoothly than the transition of Android’s mobile technology of choice, NFC. Many retailers are adopting bar-code readers and other technology to facilitate walletless transactions so customers can redeem Discover eCertificates or gift cards from a number of retailers through Gyft, among other Passbook-ready apps.

Apple's Passbook Is a Surprise Success for Developers | Gadget Lab | Wired.com

God if I had spare cash atm I'd just buy one of this, I just love the looks of it!!
*img716.imageshack.us/img716/6269/blackberryq10white.jpg

Hmmm.. Tastes differ. I find it decently good looking, but nothing striking IMO...

I smelling a sue from Apple to BB.

Nah, won't do that, American blood!

HOw the hell , do you think a phone would look like if you strip it off from the screen corners ?? Are you expecting circular or triangular screens ?? Oh, Come on , IFans.!!
WHy is it , that you guys try to dig-up every possible resemblence to an Iphone in every other phone , and say that its a copy!!!
Majority of the replies above are more concerned about "How is looks like I-Phone" , rather than anything else new in it

For sake of BB survival , spare this phone|

I am not an Ifan, but please tell me they dont look similar:

pranav0091 said:
I am not an Ifan, but please tell me they dont look similar:View attachment 8769

Yes . So , what ???

Nothing, just that the BB flagship looks like the Iphone. Thats all.

BlackBerry Messenger is improved , with an option for Real-Time Screen Sharing while in middle of a Call.

, Cool Stuff.
BB Store also has top 1000 Android and IOs apps meant for BB OS , plus around 70,000 total Apps. Comparatively much lesser than that of Android and IOs ,but it hardly matters when major apps are available to the BB Ecosystem.

Although other flagship Android phones , from same price range carry Quad-Core proccies./ But the difference b/w a better Optimized OS will mean a lot of difference. / 2GM Ram settles the multi-tasking battle.
The 4.2" Screen with HD rez , is better on paper than other Sub 4" flagship devices at same price range.
The design is also acceptable , and easy to use.
Since , its a BB flagship phone , it has to be Expensive. What's the point in owning a BB phone after all , when its not expensive

*.

And the users who aim at buying a BlackBerry , will probably buy it. They are brained enough to know the hardware gimmicks , the smartphone world is filled with. , plus they get the BB experience at its best.

Just my two cents on this.

pranav0091 said:
Nothing, just that the BB flagship looks like the Iphone. Thats all.

Btw , ANy other phone , in your opinion that it resembles other than the lovely....beautiful...awwww....and most unique looking "Apple IPhone 5" .

???

The operating system was also designed in a way that allows them to adapt Android apps for BlackBerry 10 by making some relatively minor modifications.
.

This... can save Blackberry from Doom.Major apps will be available to BB OS too (quickly), if porting the codes is really that simple.
This is a big thing , IMO.

Rishi. said:
Btw , ANy other phone , in your opinion that it resembles other than the lovely....beautiful...awwww....and most unique looking "Apple IPhone 5" . ???

None I can think of. And I find the Iphone 5 to be hideously tall, not beautiful. So dont jump into conclusions. This berry looks a lot like the Iphone, no two words about it. But its a slightly better looking than the Iphone as that glass top hides the tall-boy looks more effectively than the Iphone 5. Truly beautiful phones that I can think of are the N9, The one X, the Lumia 800 and the 8x. Neither the current Iphone or this Blackberry are quite the lookers, though the berry is definitely better looking than the Iphone 5 despite that HUGE logo at the bottom.

Rishi. said:
Since , its a BB flagship phone , it has to be Expensive. What's the point in owning a BB phone after all , when its not expensive *.

And the users who aim at buying a BlackBerry , will probably buy it. They are brained enough to know the hardware gimmicks , the smartphone world is filled with. , plus they get the BB experience at its best.

You know, those words that I have put in bold, they dont really go well together.

In fact Price will be a deciding factor.

pranav0091 said:
I am not an Ifan, but please tell me they dont look similar:View attachment 8769

No they dont. Having similar outline does not matter. Look screens, keys etc
Every human being have ears, eyes, nose etc. Do all look similar ?

z10 looks cool,i am going to watch some reviews...

I don't know how some people are finding the Z10 having a similar design as IP5 !!! :-?

randomuser111 said:
I don't know how some people are finding the Z10 having a similar design as IP5 !!!

The profile is similar, slim edges, similar overall shape, of course Z10 lacks the iphone button and has an overall glass panel covering the logo, which I think will be a touch button. This looks vaguely similar, a tleast more than what Galaxy had in common with iphone, and rememeber apple owns the patent to this specific shape, i.e rounder corner rectangle:
*i.imgur.com/Yt9IPmT.jpg

Update, old pic was compare with ip4 for the sake of similarity, found a better ip5 pic.

^that's not ip5, it had to look similar. think I remember some octagonal shaped prototype of bb10 from somewhere.

edit: found it
*i.imgur.com/GhWQWGi.jpg

no physical homescreen button, it's all gestures

the os still seems to be hideously complicated

Rishi. said:
And the users who aim at buying a BlackBerry , will probably buy it. They are brained enough to know the hardware gimmicks , the smartphone world is filled with. , plus they get the BB experience at its best.

met some finance guy in shared rickshaw today who had a playbook, and he choose it after using an ipad just because the content in the indian store is not the same as the content in the american store, and droid was not an option
so... guess there is a market

Anorion said:
^that's not ip5, it had to look similar. think I remember some octagonal shaped prototype of bb10 from somewhere.

edit: found it
*i.imgur.com/GhWQWGi.jpg

no physical homescreen button, it's all gestures

the os still seems to be hideously complicated

met some finance guy in shared rickshaw today who had a playbook, and he choose it after using an ipad just because the content in the indian store is not the same as the content in the american store, and droid was not an option
so... guess there is a market

Yeah I know, I was looking for a similar pic so the compare would be easy, iphone 5 is a bit longer and has slimmer edges, so its even more similar.

Updated the pic.

N

Here you go.

This might be my first BlackBerry phone.

Review is out, my thoughts about battery are correct
BlackBerry Z10 review: a new life, or life support? | The Verge

was going through app world
BlackBerry World > Games > Action
BlackBerry World > Apps > Lifestyle
totally pathetic, does not seem like a quality store at all. would work if they just keep the quality apps instead of going for quantity.

Anorion said:
was going through app world
BlackBerry World > Games > Action
BlackBerry World > Apps > Lifestyle
totally pathetic, does not seem like a quality store at all. would work if they just keep the quality apps instead of going for quantity.

How is it compared to Nokia store?

^there are some basic apps, hanuman chalisa, and fun multiplayer games as well (magic 8 ball)... so the bb store essentially checks out for apps. just wish it didnt have all the lame "action" stuff, ie useless, junk apps... which is just barely disguised porn actually. wp store and ovi are better, plus, angry birds pre-installed on many of the new models