Update :- 19th November 2014
My blackberry Z3 died on me after using it for 3.5 months. Currently trying to resolve warranty issues with them. You can check ou the post here :- http://alexjong.com/blog/2014/11/19/blackberry-z3-jakarta-dead-after-using-for-3-5-months/
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| The all new budgeted Blackberry Z3 |
OK. It's been close to 3 weeks that I'm on the blackberry Z3 and have gotten used to it so much so that when I tried switching back to my Note 3, I began swiping up, down, left, right just to get around the apps. So I guess I'll start going into details now.
First Impression
When I open up the box, the first thing I noticed was the only button that this phone had was the Power Button, and the Volume Buttons. That's it. After being advised by a good friend of mine Richard who apparently is a BB fanatic, I was told that this phone is a gesture phone.
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| Peek to see if there's any new messages |
If I wanted to go to the home screen when running an app, I would need to swipe up to do so. Once in the Home screen I can either swipe to the right and access first the message hub. Here is where all the messages you can check from Whatsapp, BBM, Emails, Text message and whatever messaging apps you intend to get your hands on. Again, you can slide half way to have a peek to see if there's any new messages for you. This is something which totally bought me over, that I will go into details after this.
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| Accessing the phone quick settings by swiping top to bottom |
Swipe from top to bottom inside an app is pretty much similar for android users to press the menu button, where the settings will show for each app. But if you are in your main page or the home screen, swiping down will bring you the list of settings that you can quickly set on your blackberry phone.
Initially the phone was laggy or sometimes not responsive in a sense when trying to swipe left or right after you start up the phone. I was told by Richard, that I need to wait for it to finish up loading everything before I can start to mess around with it. Never the less, what he say was true and after waiting a while probably around 10 seconds everything seems to be normal.
Messaging on the Z3
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| BB OS 10 Predictive Swiftkey Keyboard |
Considering the fact that this is indeed a 5" phone, and you can still pretty much handle it with one hand especially while writing messages as well. I have never really been a fan of predictive text, as on android, ios and windows phone the predictive text is above the keyboard. Where as on the Blackberry 10 keyboard should you start typing out a word, predictive text shows up on the keyboard itself. Should I want the word example blackberry, all I need to do is to swipe up and it will automatically be added to the textbox. Check out the following video on what I mean.
5MP Camera
Ok. I guess one of the most important factor lately for most people if not all is the camera quality on this phone. 5MP with flash can still take quite decent photos especially in areas that are bright with lights. But for low light shots, don't expect too much from this.
Apps
Many will complain that there are not that many apps on the Blackberry 10. And I cannot deny, but that is a fact. Unfortunately for those who uses Google Apps a lot, you will be in for a disappointment. There are not that many native apps for OS 10. Pretty much similar to Windows Phone devices. Where both are lacking in terms of availability of apps. But unlike Windows Phone, on the Z3 it comes loaded with OS 10.2.1, which means you can install Android Apps on to it like how you would install an apk. You could sideload Snap which pretty much acts like Google Play, where it will still ask you for your Google Credentials.
Having said that, not all apps can be installed successfully onto this phone. Especially those that requires Google Play Services, a good example is Strava. Never the less, what I was told that on 10.3, they could by pass this issue. But guess we shall wait and see. And of course, because it's not native you could see some performance issue never the less Instagram still works fine though.
Battery Life
Initially when I first got this phone I was hammering away and exploring what I could do with this. And of course that didn't last me for a day. Never the less after a couple of days, on standby it could last for close to 2 days with some messaging as well as email. So I think it's ok, heavy users may last for a day.
Call Quality
Call quality is quite good, as I recalled it was clear as my previous blackberry 9320. No drop so far, when using hotlink. Didn't try other lines at the moment, so I guess it should be the same.
Internet Connection
Unfortunately for this phone, it does not support LTE. At most you're going to get a HSPA+ connection which I think is ok. Because I'm on Hotlink free data plan, messaging is just right for this phone. Where there is not so much lag in terms of receiving messages and etc. Replying emails with attachment was ok, and browsing was some how faster compared to the internet browser on my Android. Mind you the connection speed is at only 64kbps. So I'm quite happy actually with this, and I only managed to subscribe just for a day with 3G, it was good as well.
In Conclusion
In my humble opinion, the retail price going on for the Blackberry Z3 is at RM699. Whereby you may be considering getting either Asus Zenfone 5, or Huawei 3C which are at 5" display. For me, after using this for close to 3 weeks as my daily driver. I find that I could use this phone as my permanent driver for work and my Note 3 as my personal device. Because this is what I believe that Blackberry phones has been good at which are for work. You can play games on it, but at least now I don't have to worry about my phone running out of battery especially when my little girl decided to play her games on my Note 3.
Again, you may be considering why do I want a Blackberry Z3 as to compare to the android phones I mentioned previously? Well, for starters Blackberry OS 10.2.1 is awesome. Again I'm hooked with message hub, because all my messages are in there and I don't have to open every app if I want to reply someone. And that is very efficient for me in terms of work, especially trying to check and reply emails which I've been replying with ease so far. Never the less, it is a fun phone no doubt.
Plus you need to ask yourself what are the apps you want to use when getting the Z3. Almost all of the apps you can run on Android can be run on the Z3. But again of course the google play service issue may have problems. But if you have never tried BBM before, it's a great app for messaging people especially the group features. I know we have Whatsapp and Wechat for that, but BBM group messaging is seriously feature rich and don't get me started on BBM Channels.
Anyway, if you want me to test any app you want me to run on the Z3 do let me know. I'll test it for you if it helps you decide on getting this phone. Plus, while everyone else is on a phone that they already have. Sometimes it's good to be different :) Well, that's just me I guess.
5MP Camera
Ok. I guess one of the most important factor lately for most people if not all is the camera quality on this phone. 5MP with flash can still take quite decent photos especially in areas that are bright with lights. But for low light shots, don't expect too much from this.
Apps
Many will complain that there are not that many apps on the Blackberry 10. And I cannot deny, but that is a fact. Unfortunately for those who uses Google Apps a lot, you will be in for a disappointment. There are not that many native apps for OS 10. Pretty much similar to Windows Phone devices. Where both are lacking in terms of availability of apps. But unlike Windows Phone, on the Z3 it comes loaded with OS 10.2.1, which means you can install Android Apps on to it like how you would install an apk. You could sideload Snap which pretty much acts like Google Play, where it will still ask you for your Google Credentials.
Having said that, not all apps can be installed successfully onto this phone. Especially those that requires Google Play Services, a good example is Strava. Never the less, what I was told that on 10.3, they could by pass this issue. But guess we shall wait and see. And of course, because it's not native you could see some performance issue never the less Instagram still works fine though.
Battery Life
Initially when I first got this phone I was hammering away and exploring what I could do with this. And of course that didn't last me for a day. Never the less after a couple of days, on standby it could last for close to 2 days with some messaging as well as email. So I think it's ok, heavy users may last for a day.
Call Quality
Call quality is quite good, as I recalled it was clear as my previous blackberry 9320. No drop so far, when using hotlink. Didn't try other lines at the moment, so I guess it should be the same.
Internet Connection
Unfortunately for this phone, it does not support LTE. At most you're going to get a HSPA+ connection which I think is ok. Because I'm on Hotlink free data plan, messaging is just right for this phone. Where there is not so much lag in terms of receiving messages and etc. Replying emails with attachment was ok, and browsing was some how faster compared to the internet browser on my Android. Mind you the connection speed is at only 64kbps. So I'm quite happy actually with this, and I only managed to subscribe just for a day with 3G, it was good as well.
In Conclusion
In my humble opinion, the retail price going on for the Blackberry Z3 is at RM699. Whereby you may be considering getting either Asus Zenfone 5, or Huawei 3C which are at 5" display. For me, after using this for close to 3 weeks as my daily driver. I find that I could use this phone as my permanent driver for work and my Note 3 as my personal device. Because this is what I believe that Blackberry phones has been good at which are for work. You can play games on it, but at least now I don't have to worry about my phone running out of battery especially when my little girl decided to play her games on my Note 3.
Again, you may be considering why do I want a Blackberry Z3 as to compare to the android phones I mentioned previously? Well, for starters Blackberry OS 10.2.1 is awesome. Again I'm hooked with message hub, because all my messages are in there and I don't have to open every app if I want to reply someone. And that is very efficient for me in terms of work, especially trying to check and reply emails which I've been replying with ease so far. Never the less, it is a fun phone no doubt.
Plus you need to ask yourself what are the apps you want to use when getting the Z3. Almost all of the apps you can run on Android can be run on the Z3. But again of course the google play service issue may have problems. But if you have never tried BBM before, it's a great app for messaging people especially the group features. I know we have Whatsapp and Wechat for that, but BBM group messaging is seriously feature rich and don't get me started on BBM Channels.
Anyway, if you want me to test any app you want me to run on the Z3 do let me know. I'll test it for you if it helps you decide on getting this phone. Plus, while everyone else is on a phone that they already have. Sometimes it's good to be different :) Well, that's just me I guess.
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