The Flagship Smartphones: A Year Later

It has been a great year for the mobile industry. Pretty much all the flagship devices in the market has been refreshed for the year, and most of them are great devices that you cannot go wrong with no matter which one you pick. But that does not mean that the previous generation of flagship devices are now obsolete.

The Case for BlackBerry Z3

 Back when I reviewed the BlackBerry Q5, my parting thoughts of the device was that it was still too expensive for what should be the cheapest BlackBerry 10 device. The argument was simple, BlackBerry needs a device that is cheap enough, and good enough. So is the BlackBerry Z3 that device?

BB10 Brainstorming: Fingerprints

I’ll go right out and say it, I think Apple’s Touch ID is a great idea if it works the same as in the demos. I am in that group where I never have password lock on my device. Not even pattern lock. It might be something that takes perhaps seconds to input, but it adds up.

The BlackBerry Hub Advantage

Over the past few days, I stopped using a BlackBerry completely as an experiment. In the past when I tried other platforms, I still always have a BlackBerry with me at all times. People often say that you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone. So here I am, Day 3, telling you what I miss most from BlackBerry 10.

BB10 Brainstorming: Active Frames

I’m sure most of us love how we could swipe up to close an app on the PlayBook. But on BB10, due to how the Active Frames has 2 vertical pages to scroll up and down, the same gesture can’t be implemented. And swiping to the left brings in the Hub, and the right apps. So pretty much up, down, left, and right are all taken.

BlackBerry 10 Brainstorming: Content is King

This is a screenshot taken from a Q10 showing the CB10 app (thanks, Snazy!), and how it truly maximise the available screen size. But why not do the same for all devices? Why just limit it to the Q10?

Old School Console Games on BB10

Inspired by the post on CrackBerry, I gave RetroArch a go to try and experience some childhood nostalgia. I went for RetroArch as it is not only the most flexible, but also it is available on other platforms as well. Running these emulators is something that has been around for quite a well, but this time there is finally one on BB10 that I think works well enough.

Let's Get Physical... again

More than a year ago, I wrote an article titled “Let’s Get Physical”, talking about how there is still a place for Physical Keyboards on a smartphone. More than a year has passed, and virtual keyboard technology has improved by leaps and bounds. BlackBerry 10 is now in the hands of consumers, and the first BlackBerry 10 device with a physical QWERTY keyboard will soon be release in Singapore. So, I thought this would a good time to revisit that topic. Is having a physical keyboard still worth sacrificing the screen size?

BlackBerry 10.1 : Skype

Here’s the skype preview app on the BlackBerry Z10. It does work pretty smoothly for an Android Port, plus there is notifications in the Hub too, meaning the app doesn’t have to be running for you to receive calls.

BlackBerry 10.1 : Instant Actions

Amongst a bunch of new features in BlackBerry 10.1, I have to say my favourite has to be Instant Actions. In a nutshell, this allows for a list of built-in “Actions” within the Universal Search of BlackBerry 10.

Re-Imagining the Q10

Well, the picture speaks for itself. I am imagining a Q10 that is more Z10 than Bold 9900, meaning a more boxy look. Well, before I explain why, let me just show you the back, and first explain what I changed exactly.

Testing HDMI on the BlackBerry Z10

Testing the HDMI out on the BlackBerry Z10.

BlackBerry 10 Slider?

Apparently, BlackBerry has been awarded a patent filed in the December of 2011 for a portrait slider. As with most patent companies file for, this may or may not come to fruition at all.

Browser Showdown: BlackBerry Z10 & LG Nexus 4

A competent browser is an important aspect of a smartphone, and BlackBerry has not been known for having a brilliant browser. If anything, BlackBerry of old, running the legacy BBOS has been known to induce a Hulk-like rage whenever users wait for pages to load. Well, this might be a tad exaggerated, but you get my point.

So with the new BlackBerry 10 operating system, has that changed? Today I will do a comparison with a Nexus 4, which has the latest Android OS in the market.

BlackBerry 10 Quick Settings Idea

Let’s not beat around the bush here. The screenshot on the left is my proposed idea, the one on the right is current implementation.

Will there ever be Instagram for BlackBerry 10?

As a follow up to my previous post, I had quite a bit of fun with updating Endomondo with a bit of BB10 goodness (photoshopped). So I thought why not do the same for Instagram. Personally, I really don’t see much point in doing so other than just for the fun of it. If it ever made it to BB10, I am sure they will like to keep the same UI to maintain uniformity. Nonetheless, here goes nothing…

Will there ever be Endomondo for BlackBerry 10?

In a press release on the 1st of May 2012, Endomondo Co-Founder Mette Lykke was quoted as saying:

“BlackBerry’s influence remains a worldwide phenomenon, which matches Endomondo’s reach. With 8 million users around the globe, including many BlackBerry devotees, Endomondo recognizes the value of supplying BlackBerry 10 users with access to the capabilities of the mobile Endomondo Sports Tracker and social fitness network.”

Why BlackBerry 10?

"Why BlackBerry 10?" is one of the question that is being asked constantly by many. Having used all 4 major platform extensively, I thought I would give my own take on it, and why I choose BlackBerry 10 instead of other seemingly more viable options.

Apps recommendation for new BB10 users

Just got a spanking new Z10? Not sure where to start? Here are some useful apps and games for BB10 that I use myself.

BlackBerry Z10 & LG Nexus 4

First of all, let me apologise for the potato I used to take these photos. I was unable to find a better camera at the time I decided to post this.

Also, I will not be talking about actual specs, those can be found easily on the interwebs. I will also be selective in choosing features that matters to me more to discuss. You may say its bias, and IT IS. This is not about which phone is better than the other, its about which phone suits ME better. So it does not matter if one phone does something better that does not matter to me. If you are looking for a platform dissing article, you should move along.