Companies and gamers in the Ottawa and surrounding regions should really check out an amazing event coming up called Ottawa’s Got Game. The event is a full day of game tournaments and casual play with prizes. Proceeds of the event are going to the charity Child’s Play which is a really great charity that puts video games in hospitals and children’s wards to provide some fun in an otherwise depressing environment.
So check out Ottawa’s Got Game and register your company or go as an individual. There’s also a huge Star Wars exhibit going on at the same time so there are plenty of reasons to attend.
There’s a lot of BlackBerry and Android developers out there that still possibly have money owed to them by Mobihand. The company went bankrupt back in September of 2012 and recent court documents obtained by BlackBerryCool show that the company has sold to OpenMobile Worldwide for $15,000. It doesn’t look like developers will be getting their money any time soon as many are owed in excess of $15,000 and the period to recoup your loses has likely expired. It’s not really clear what OpenMobile does, but its about page suggests it works with app stores to improve their core technologies.
There’s also an overbid procedure so if you’d like to buy Mobihand/Mobireach, you can do so for at least $17,500. For that price, you get a native app store client for Android, as well as a host of other technologies such as APIs and update management systems. It actually seems like a really good deal.
At BlackBerry Live 2013, BlackBerry has just made a pretty major announcement. As of Summer 2013, BBM will be cross platform. This has been discussed for some time and many have debated whether or not it will happen. On the one hand, many thought that it wouldn’t happen because it’s a crucial customer retention tool for BlackBerry. On the other hand, users want to be able to communicate with their friends, regardless of what smartphone they use.
When BBM launches for other platforms this summer, it will have Messaging and Groups features for iOS 6 users and Android users running Ice Cream Sandwich. For the following updates, other platforms will get BBM Voice, Screensharing and BBM Channels.
At BlackBerry Live 2013, BlackBerry has announced BlackBerry Channels. Channels is a natural evolution for BBM as it adds a more public and social element to what has always been a fairly private network of users. BBM has gone from what was a very intimate adding process to what seems more open, with brands and individuals being able to set up a space within BBM where people can interact. It should be interesting to see how well this is received because social networks are generally more open than being smartphone-specific.
Channels launches in beta today with a few channels already set up including Mercedes, Alicia Keys, Goo Goo Dolls and more.
A lot of people are asking about Alicia Keys’ role at BlackBerry and at BlackBerry Live 2013, she announced a few projects that she’s working on at the company under Frank Boulben’s leadership. Keys began her keynote talking about how women are central to BlackBerry and she wants to help foster that relationship. She mentioned that women, while they graduate at higher rates then men, have a problem getting into the technology industry at the same rate as men.
The BlackBerry Scholars program is a program to help encourage women to get into the tech industry by providing four year scholarships for women in science and technology programs. She also announced that BlackBerry will be funding creative projects around the world and helping artists to create.
At BlackBerry Live 2013, BlackBerry and Skype have announced that the famous calling app will be available on all BlackBerry 10.1 devices. BlackBerry has said that by the end of the week, all Z10 devices should have a 10.1 update pushed out from the carrier making the device ready for Skype.
The BlackBerry Q5 has just been announced at BlackBerry Live 2013 and it’s billed as a device for emerging markets. Essentially, the Q5 is to the Q10 in the same way that the Curve is to the Bold. It comes in a variety of colors including BlackBerry, White, Pink and Red. Stay tuned for more updates from BlackBerry Live.
We’ve also heard that BlackBerry Q10 will be available in early June in the US and BlackBerry 10.1 available for Z10 users by the end of the week.
The PowerSkin for the Z10 has been a life saver over the past few weeks. Since the Z10 now lasts an entire day, I have never worried about the battery life and the device always lasts until night time when it gets charged and ready to go by morning.
The only downside to the PowerSkin case is the sheer size. It’s expected that if you’re going to pack a battery into a case, you’re going to get a pretty large accessory. Check out this comparison of an iPod and the Z10 in a PowerSkin:
The upside to this beast of a case is that it’s actually very durable. I’ve dropped my Z10 several times with the PowerSkin on and it just bounces around due to the soft rubber shell. The PowerSkin is really the best of both worlds in that sense.
Finally, a major selling point to the PowerSkin for the BlackBerry Z10 is the fact that it comes with NFC. This means that if you want to “tap to pay” or share your BBM contacts, you don’t have to worry about the signal being interrupted by the case.
For those of you who currently own a BlackBerry Z10, there’s an interesting engineering decision that you should know about. Every touchscreen device has something called a digitizer, which is the part of a touchscreen that senses your touch and “digitizes” your gestures into impulses that the phone can understand as commands. With the BlackBerry Z10, this digitizer is fused right to the glass, meaning if you break the screen, you break the digitizer and the device instantly becomes a paperweight.
On most smartphones, the digitizer and screen are separate. This allows you to repair a cracked screen without having to replace the digitizer, which lowers the cost of repair.
So if you’re a Z10 owner, or planning on buying one, do yourself a favor and get a case. By saving the device from a cracked screen, you’re also saving yourself from having to replace the digitizer as well. You’ll also save yourself from not having a working phone until the screen is replaced, since the fused digitizer will brick the phone when the screen is cracked.
AlphaWave is a really cool, classic arcade shooter from Hardline Studios. The game has some very intuitive controls, but the best part is the game progression coupled with the weapons at your disposal. As you play the game, it takes about a minute and you’re unleashing awesome lazers and dodging a screen full of enemies. Check it out in BlackBerry World.
I’ve almost completely stopped using Twitter since the BlackBerry 10 official app is so bad. That’s why when Blaq, a very popular Twitter app for PlayBook, announced it was available for the Z10/Q10 devices, it was such a breath of fresh air. The app has all the features you expect of a solid Twitter client, including multiple account support, Active Frame support, and a muting system.
Features of Blaq include:
Beautiful, intuitive NATIVE user interface
Fast scrolling – no need to wait
Interactive gesture engine for quick actions to keep you moving
REAL-TIME Twitter streaming support
Power-conscious – When minimized, Blaq goes into low-power mode to save batter
The most advanced muting system – mute based on multiple criteria
Sharing – Share from just about any app to Blaq and vice versa!
Active Frame – Know when you get new tweets, mentions or direct messages
BBM integration – share tweets updates with your BBM™ contacts
Native or editable retweet support (hold down on RT icon in detail screen)
There’s a new product for BlackBerry Server Admins called IT Manager and it gives admins the ability to remove/wipe devices, view IT policies, setting passwords and much more. It reminds us of the very popular Mobile Admin by RoveIT, a company which was acquired somewhat recently to become Solarwinds. Check out the full post for a full feature list and free trial.
IT Manager allows admins to manage their BES from their BlackBerry devices. It can be downloaded now from BlackBerry World and supports the BlackBerry Z10, Q10, Bold, Curve and Torch devices.
This is a very handy app for making changes to your BES without having to go into the office. The app is easy to use and requires no server changes to setup.
Features include:
Creating & Deleting Users
Setting User Activation Passwords
Remove and Wipe Devices
Set Password and Lock Devices
Add and Remove Users from Groups
Set User and Group IT Policies
View IT Policies Rules
View Server and BES Instances Status
Support for managing BES 5.x and BES 10
Manage multiple BES Servers Simultaneously
The app is also available for iOS devices with more admin features such as SSH, Telnet, VNC, RDP, Windows, BES, AWS and Google Apps. These features will also be coming soon to BlackBerry 10 devices. The IT Manager app will also be on display in the exhibits hall at the BlackBerry Live conference next month.
The Ottawa International Game Conference is coming and it’s a great opportunity to meet some of the world’s most innovative tech and gaming companies including BlackBerry, Microsoft and Google. The conference features 2 days worth of speakers, a full day for developers, a game design day and a Gamification Summit. Not to mention there are some amazing parties with lots of great people to meet.
If you’re interested in going to the conference and you’d like a discount, we have discount codes available for 25% off the ticket price. Simply write to kyle at blackberrycool dot com for a discount.
Here at BlackBerryCool, we’re not very fast with device reviews. Personally, I like to take my time with the device, use it for a while, and wait to see if there’s any immediate software updates to give the manufacturer the benefit of the doubt. After 60 days of using the BlackBerry Z10, I think it’s time to release the full review. Read on to learn everything you need to know about the BlackBerry Z10.
NOTE ON PICTURES: One of great things about the pictures in this review is that I’m not a photographer and so the pics aren’t doctored or made to look especially beautiful. It’s like going to a restaurant and seeing realistic pictures of the food on the menu. Also, all pictures are taken with a Z10 to give you an idea of camera quality.
HARDWARE
Overall, the BlackBerry Z10 feels like a nicely balanced device. The weight feels great, as it’s not too light and not too heavy. The iPhone 5 by comparison is about 23 grams lighter than the BlackBerry Z10 and it feels a little too light. The Z10 hardware is also really sturdy. I have dropped the Z10 a handful of times, without a case, and it has never received more than a little scratch on the back cover.
The buttons on the Z10 are helpful and easy to press. The volume keys allow you to change volume levels even when the device is locked, which helps for listening to music. Locking and unlocking the device is a breeze and there’s even a fun swipe feature for waking the device up. More on that feature in the software section. The best part of the hardware is probably the HDMI and Micro-USB connections. It’s so nice to be able to share connectors with people who don’t even use a BlackBerry 10 device. Sharing a charger with someone makes you realize how lame it must be to be an iPhone 5 user.
Specifications are something that everybody loves to chat about but it’s really inconsequential. The primary purpose of specs should be to meet the consumer’s needs and compromise between a quick, snappy experience and prolonged battery life.
The specs that the BlackBerry Z10 apart from the other devices are the following:
1280 x 768 resolution, at 356 PPI, 4.2 inch screen
Every review has a section on call quality and there is never really a point in writing about it because call quality doesn’t vary much between smartphones. The BlackBerry Z10 has a decent phone app with reliable service on both Telus and Rogers (I switched carriers on the device). There was a few times when the call quality seemed like a device bug and the phone app seemed to glitch out a little. More on that in the software section.
DISPLAY
The BlackBerry Z10 has a beautiful screen. With a 1280 x 768 resolution, at 356 PPI and a 4.2 inch screen, the Z10′s resolution is powerful enough to look great on the device and also great when connected to a TV with the HDMI connection. Just take a look at the above screenshot from the game N.O.V.A. 3. It speaks for itself.
CAMERA
The BlackBerry Z10 has a nicely spec’d camera as described above. The photo option also comes with a nice feature called Time Shift which allows you to shift the time of the picture, specifically a face in the photo so you can get the perfect shot.
Here is a video I took with the Z10 which I also edited using the native editing software. I wasn’t able to actually upload the video to YouTube either Over The Air or on WiFi, either from the native app or from YouTube’s site. More on these kind of small bugs in the BlackBerry 10 review.
The quality of the video camera is great but what really sets it apart is the ability to edit videos and create your own montages. Below is an example of a tour of the Quirky offices that I took while in New York and used the BlackBerry Z10 video editing software to make a video montage on the fly (uploading to YouTube worked in this instance).
Here are a few pictures I took to give you an idea of what it’s like taking pics in varying degrees of light (click to enlarge any of them).
BLACKBERRY 10 BY QNX
BlackBerry 10 is a huge improvement over the legacy BlackBerry OS. It’s everything that BlackBerry needs to be in order to be competitive in the smartphone industry. The way it handles apps, multi-tasks and “flows” is such a breath of fresh air compared to the old BlackBerry experience. The User Experience is fast and responsive and overall I’m really pleased with the experience, especially when compared to the legacy devices. The Android player on the device also opens up the app market quite a bit and some of my favorite apps are Android ports.
Currently, my favorite features of BlackBerry 10 are:
Downloading OS updates over the air.
The time to reset and boot the device is short.
Multi-tasking apps is a lot of fun due to the gestures.
Universal Search
BlackBerry Hub
One of the downsides of the way BlackBerry 10 handles multiple apps is that everything feels segregated. On legacy BlackBerry devices, everything would connect in this beautiful way that made you feel productive. That’s not the case with BlackBerry 10. A great example of this is dialing contacts in the phone app. The Address Book and the Phone App are two distinctive apps, making for a very aggravating contact management and calling system.
The biggest problem I have with the BlackBerry 10 OS is that it’s 93% complete. It doesn’t feel fully polished and there are bugs that I can, after a month of using the device, duplicate. For example, if you have multiple emails associated with the device, and you try and add a calendar event without specifying the email associated with that event, you crash the calendar app. That’s one of those bugs that makes you realize that maybe US carriers were right to delay the release. It’s also surprising because the QNX OS has been around for so long, not only in the market before the BlackBerry acquisition, but on the PlayBook running a calendar app. To be fair, the bug has been fixed in an update that BlackBerry released on March 1st, 2013, but that’s a full month after launch.
“The biggest problem I have with the BlackBerry 10 OS is that it’s 93% complete.”
To this day, there are still some bugs on BlackBerry 10 that are annoying. For example, the browser crashes once a week on me and if I hit my mobile banking site from the Z10, the browser flashes like it’s trying to give me epileptic seizures. Also, the Hub doesn’t do a good job of managing notifications. Sometimes emails will not show up in the Hub, but will show in that email’s respective section and often times notifications will not go away even after they’ve been marked read.
There are a few other issues that the OS has such as changing the font size can cause letters to overlap and the orientation can be finicky. It’s hard to list all the issues but generally it leaves you with a feeling that the OS needs to “mature” a little.
All of this is not unusual for a new smartphone. It’s really difficult to put every facet of the device through QA considering the millions upon millions of different actions a user can take. Hopefully all these crashes are being logged at BlackBerry somehow and they’re all being tracked. Even though there are issues with the OS and several little bugs, the OS in general is awesome and any smartphone user would appreciate the way the OS has been designed and implemented. It’s just going to take a little longer, probably only until the Q10 is released, for all the kinks to be fully worked out.
KEYBOARD AND MESSAGING
The reason I have been using a BlackBerry for so long is that it does one thing and it does it really well: messaging. The vast majority of my smartphone use is spent messaging, whether it’s email, SMS, twitter or BBM. The problem with the Z10 is that the virtual keyboard doesn’t appeal to me in the slightest. About once per day I make an embarrassing mistake and send an email or a message with a typo that makes me curse the virtual keyboard. The main issue is that it’s really difficult to train your brain to “flick”. Unless you’re flicking, the spell checker will replace your intended word with what it thinks you want to type. Without the flick, you’re constantly working against a virtual keyboard that thinks it’s smarter than you. Check out the video below to see flick in action if you don’t know what I’m talking about.
Just to be clear, this is nothing against BlackBerry’s virtual keyboard per se. I don’t like any virtual keyboard. I’m a loyal BlackBerry user because of the physical keyboard. Just look at Eric Shmidt of Google, he still uses a keyboard and probably for the same reason. The typing experience is unparalelled. BlackBerry did a great job improving on the virtual keyboard experience with the “flick” experience, but as someone who loves a keyboard, this isn’t going to convince me to use this device. Personally, I can’t wait until the Q10 comes out because it will be the best of both worlds.
In terms of messaging, BlackBerry Hub is the main selling point with BlackBerry 10 and it’s a great feature. Currently, I have 5 emails, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, BBM, SMS, Calls and Notifications all being pushed to the Hub. The BlackBerry Hub generally does an excellent job of managing all those accounts, calendars and contacts and is a constant reminder of why I’m a loyal BlackBerry user.
“The BlackBerry Hub generally does an excellent job of managing all those accounts, calendars and contacts and is a constant reminder of why I’m a loyal BlackBerry user.”
The biggest problem with emails on a BlackBerry Z10? The blue font. Who at BlackBerry thought it would be a good idea to turn my emails blue? It really sucks to broadcast to everyone that you’re sending an email from a mobile device. It could potentially offend your customers. BlackBerry of all companies should know that. Overall, it’s really frustrating and there is no way to turn it off.
PERFORMANCE AND BATTERY LIFE
Performance on the Z10 is magnificent. Apps load quickly and the device boots up in a short period of time. Overall, the device has never frozen, crashed, restarted or had any major performance issues other than the small bugs mentioned above. The BlackBerry 10 OS by QNX definitely seems to be worth its purchase price as it brings BlackBerry into a new era of mobile computing that is versatile and able to exist beyond just smartphones and tablets.
The battery life on the Z10 was particularly bad for the first month of launch but the most recent OS update seems to have really helped. Actually, maybe this point deserves to be in software because it’s quite a big battery that should be able to power the device, but with using the device as a Power User, you’re getting about 4 hours on it before the update and about 6 at this point in time.
To help battery life, I’ve purchased what is arguably the best BlackBerry Z10 accessory on the market: the Z10 Battery Charger Bundle. Not only can you plug the battery bundle straight into the device to save your phone from dying while on a call, but you can swap out the batteries and start fresh. This accessory has been a life saver and it’s a must-have for any Z10 user.
CONCLUSIONS
The first question you need to ask yourself when looking at the Z10 is: am I a touchscreen or QWERTY user? The question can also be answered by asking yourself what you’re going to use your device for most often. Will you be doing a lot of messaging and business? Or will you be playing games and browsing the Internet. If the answer is messaging, I say wait for the Q10. I’ve personally tried the Q10 and the combination of BlackBerry 10 and a QWERTY keyboard is the best of both worlds. If you’re going to be playing games and using your BlackBerry 10 device as a media device, get the Z10. You’ll appreciate the large screen and gesture interface.
In terms of the BlackBerry Z10 as an entry device into the new era of BlackBerry: it’s everything that we wanted from the new BlackBerry. It has a unique value proposition, great gestures, core OS features that differentiate it from the competition, a solid platform for attracting developers, and a slick piece of hardware to hold it all.
Will this device get BlackBerry to the number 3 position? I hope so. It’s so hard to tell these days. It seems insane that only 2 operating systems can dominate the entire mobile OS market, especially because 10 years from now smartphones could easily number in the billions. The BlackBerry Z10 does have everything BlackBerry needs to be a major player, but who knows how the markets will respond. Perhaps a company can make the best product in the world but there are so many other factors that contribute to its success or failure. Intangible elements such as “consumer brand perception” are so difficult to predict. But if I were a gambling man, I would definitely say that this is a device the consumer is going to enjoy, and that would lead me to put some money down on this company. Not only is the BlackBerry Z10 a great smartphone purchase, but the BlackBerry 10 platform is really inspiring.
Yesterday, dbrand, makers of vinyl accessories for mobile devices, launched their dbrand skins for the BlackBerry Z10. The skins are made from textured 3M vinyl and are very affordable at $20 each. Interestingly enough, the BlackBerry Z10, which comes in both White and Black, actually has a size variance between the two models. According to the CEO of dbrand, “the most challenging aspect to skinning the Z10 was when we completed the template using a black device, then realized that the white and black devices had micro-millimeter differences in size.” Rather than compromise quality, the company chose to create two completely separate skins to make sure the fit was just right. Check out the pics and link below.
Magmic’s Texas Hold’em King has been an immensely popular game for BlackBerry since the early days when it got a special preload on legacy BlackBerry devices. The latest version, Texas Hold’em King for BlackBerry 10, is now available for free in BlackBerry World. The game features real-time multiplayer over Magmic’s fast game servers, and in-app purchase of chips if you want to be a high roller.
About a month ago, BlackBerry acquired a new twitter account: @blackberrynews. There’s already about 18 Twitter accounts that BlackBerry has, and while most of those are regional, it’s a crazy amount of tweeting coming from one company. Keep reading to see all of the twitter accounts we could find that are owned by BlackBerry.
Flash developers will find this interesting: BlackBerry is currently sponsoring the Haxe NME (Neko Media Engine) project on Github. NME allows developers to build cross-platform 2D games or apps. The platform allows developers to deploy to Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android and BlackBerry, while also supporting Flash Player and HTML5. According to the About section:
“NME mirrors the traditional Flash API, so developers can leverage their existing experience to target new platforms, with better results. Developers with experience in ActionScript 3, Java or C++ can quickly learn to use NME without a long on-ramp.”
I recently chatted with DuJour Magazine to talk about BlackBerry 10 and what makes this new BlackBerry so different from the legacy devices, as well as from the competition. Check out the article and see if you agree that “Return of the BlackBerry” is a nice editorial around the new company that is BlackBerry.
I’ve been using the BlackBerry Z10 for a couple weeks now when people ask about what I don’t like about the device, I immediately talk about the “App Gap”. The fact that the platform doesn’t have Instagram, Skype, Netflix, Snapchat and other apps that people have come to love on the other platforms, is the most obvious downside to the device. The App Gap has got me thinking though, is this really a problem? After giving it some consideration, I’ve thought of 5 clear reasons why the App Gap is not as big of a deal as people will have you believe.
1. Apps come and go like any trend – Snapchat was really cool but interest in it is already dying. By the time BlackBerry 10 is in the hands of millions of people worldwide, there’s going to be 10 apps that have duplicated, altered and relaunched the Snapchat app in a variety of ways with varying uptake. It seems ridiculous, in a world where apps can gain 100 million users in a few years, to think that any app will be around for long. Apps are like any trend, they’re popular one day, but it’s only a matter of time until the next big thing hits.
Snapchat Interest on Google Trends
2. Porting is easy – I recently talked to a game publishing company that had made a Flash game for facebook and managed to port the entire game over to BlackBerry 10 in under 3 weeks. That’s an incredible turnaround time for a large publishing company. We also talked to Michael Schade of Fishlabs who said they ported their game Galaxy on Fire 2 from iPad to PlayBook in “one fucking day”. Many developers are ready to port their apps, but they’re waiting to see if the user uptake will justify the porting cost. The important thing to note though, is that the porting cost is low. So while a company might be waiting for 50 million Windows Mobile users to justify porting, it might take only 10 million BlackBerry 10 users to be able to justify a port.
4. Where one developer won’t port, another will cash in – Remember Angry Farm? The guys at Smarter Apps knew that Rovio didn’t have any plans to bring Angry Birds to the legacy BlackBerry platform, so they cashed in and created a clone for those devices. It was probably the most successful game on BlackBerry, revenue wise, and all they did was fill the demand gap. There’s no reason why developers won’t be doing something similar for BlackBerry 10. Most big services out there have APIs just for that very purpose.
5. Games are bigger than apps – The App Gap is exactly that. It’s not a “Game Gap”. BlackBerry has done a great job of bringing top tier games to the platform and they’ve attracted developers from the big publishers and code bases. In the end, apps are but a fraction of mobile usage compared to apps. Instagram isn’t even in the list of the Top 20 Free titles and most of that list is comprised of games. So before you start talking about how crucial it is to have apps, realize that you’re not the norm.
So while it’s important to have all the apps, it’s more about focusing on a platform that makes it easy for developers to come on board and to build a solid base of loyal users. I think early reviews of the device are not taking a step back to look at how the app industry is playing out. Tech reviewers that are quick to say “it doesn’t have Instagram, therefore it sucks”, are placing far too much emphasis on Instagram being a killer app even 1 year from now. I’d like to think that the next billion dollar app will be developed on BlackBerry first. There’s absolutely no reason why not.
