the BlackBerry Z10 my very own and use it as my everyday device

<div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> <img alt="Back to BlackBerry closing time" data-src-height="531" data-src-width="800" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/02/dsc04286-1361316647.jpg" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;">I've had the opportunity to use it in every likely scenario, including a nine-day trip to Spain for Mobile World Congress. Now comes the moment of truth: have I become a BlackBerry convert? Is the Z10 my new daily driver?<br /> <br /> Unfortunately, it's not. But before the BlackBerry fan base breaks out the torches and forms mobs, this isn't a denunciation of the phone or its OS. Quite the opposite, in fact. I decided to pursue this experiment for a few reasons: it's the best way to learn a brand-new operating system, I genuinely am interested in how well it handles regular day-to-day use and a month gives me plenty of time to form a solid idea of the platform's potential and future. Is it possible to have a great deal of admiration for a phone while simultaneously rejecting it as my daily driver? Yes. After the break I sum up the highlights of BB10: what works, what doesn't and what simply needs a little nudge or two. </div><h3 dir="ltr" id="title0" style="text-align: left;"> What works for me</h3><div class="image-container" dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="Back to BlackBerry closing time" data-src-height="411" data-src-width="619" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/03/dsc04279.jpg" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> <em>Gestures</em>. BB10's gestures are natural and intuitive. In the first week of my trial, I had become so accustomed to BB10's gesture-based UI that I started trying to wake Android devices by swiping up on the screen. Most gestures on BlackBerry 10 are easy and they give the platform a fair amount of uniqueness that you can't find on iOS or Android.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> <em>Active Frames</em>. BlackBerry's multitasking performance is among the best (if not the best) I've used on any phone, as opening any running application is almost always an instantaneous transition -- even with graphics-heavy games. I also have a love / hate relationship with the Active Frames UI; quick access to my recent apps is nice, but having it take the form of a "home page" without any ability to customize it can be frustrating.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> <em>BlackBerry Peek</em>. To be frank, my favorite notification method implemented on any mobile OS is the status bar on Android, mainly because it's easily accessible and navigable the vast majority of the time (it gets hidden in certain apps). That said, BlackBerry Peek is also a refreshing departure from standard notification systems; swipe up to "peek" at how many notifications you have, and swipe to the right if you want to view them. They're also easy to ignore if you so desire.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> <em>BlackBerry Hub</em>. Although it's not perfect, Hub is the best implementation of a universal inbox I've used so far. Since it's built directly into the OS and has integrated nearly all of my preferred methods of communication, I can catch up on emails, texts and tweet mentions without exiting to different apps.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> <em>Emails</em>. I enjoy the email experience on BB10... for the most part. I love having the option to lump my messages all together in a universal inbox or tackle them one account at a time. It handles attachments incredibly easily, HTML5 looks great and mail gets pushed to the inbox right away (I often receive emails on the Z10 before they arrive on my Mac).</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> I also appreciate that a conversation view is offered. But there's one critical flaw that I hope can be tweaked: even though I can go into a specific thread, each response in that thread is presented as an individual email, and there's no way to navigate through the entire conversation without first backing out to the thread list and then going back into the next response. iOS is structured in a similar way, but it offers navigation arrows on the top-right corner to let you quickly move through the entire thread.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> <em>The keyboard</em>. This is BlackBerry's bread and butter, and the OS doesn't disappoint here -- at least, when it comes to performance. It's the best stock keyboard I've ever used. However, the inline word prediction feature, while really cool in theory, failed to increase my typing speed. I switched to the in-column view, in which you can choose from three words on the top of the keyboard, and was much happier.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> <em>Flash Player</em>. In full disclosure, I'm not an avid user of Flash, but I do prefer at least having the option to use it when I need it. I'm happy that it can be manually turned on or off at any time, thus giving users actual choice. This is a solid competitive advantage for BlackBerry, even though I can't envision many people switching to a different OS just for Flash support.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> <em>Sideloading Android apps</em>. Runtime for BlackBerry came through for me on a daily basis because it allowed me to use several Android apps to fill gaping holes in BB World (case in point: Flipboard). Don't worry; native apps will eventually come in to take care of that problem. The problem is, relying on Android ports as a workaround to support your ecosystem is not an ideal long-term solution. Sure, it may encourage a few more devs to think about writing apps for the platform, but it's not going to magically change the industry. Most users won't know or care to sideload apps, so BlackBerry has to work hard to make sure those users don't <em>have</em> to in order to get the best possible experience.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> <em>Updates. </em>Before the first month was over, BlackBerry issued a significant update promising to improve power management for better battery life, low-light camera performance and third-party app performance. Given the horrible battery life I've experienced, I'm excited to give it a try; unfortunately, the update didn't arrive in enough time for me to give it a thorough test, so I'll have to report back later. However, a quick look at various BB forums indicates that it does a much better job at retaining a charge.</div><h3 dir="ltr" id="title1" style="text-align: left;"> What needs some work</h3><div class="image-container" dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="Back to BlackBerry closing time" data-src-height="411" data-src-width="619" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/03/dsc04285.jpg" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> <em>BlackBerry World</em>. I'm not going to condemn a nascent ecosystem for its app selection. No market blossoms in the space of one month, and the reality is BlackBerry has actually done a fairly good job of making sure the right pieces were in place for BB10's launch -- at least, it's done better than any other first-edition platform. Most users (especially those on the enterprise / corporate side) will likely be satisfied with what's available in BB World, unless they absolutely need Netflix or Instagram.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> There are a few areas of World itself that could use some improvement. It should check for (and install) updates automatically -- or at least make it an option, if not mandated. More filters are needed without diving deep into subcategories and other seldom-used lists. Lastly, with Android ports comprising 40 percent of World's app selection, each one should be specifically listed as such -- especially when they're paid apps.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> <em>Data monitoring</em>. This needs the most work, since I still haven't found any way to monitor my data usage at all. I sorely missed this feature in Spain, because I had a pre-paid data cap and didn't want to run out in the middle of an important event. If BlackBerry doesn't come up with a solution, a third party needs to step up.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> <em>Maps</em>. The native maps solution on BB10 is my least favorite of the major platforms. It's way too basic altogether, shunning important features like <span>transit directions, walking options, offline maps, distance between two points, a bird's eye or Street View feature, more POIs and Zagat- / Yelp-style reviews.</span> I preferred the Nokia Here web app; this speaks volumes to Here's impressive capabilities, but I shouldn't have to use it as a replacement to a platform's native maps app.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> <em>Using web apps</em>. BlackBerry is using web apps as alternatives to a few native apps, and I hope this is only a short-term solution while the company cooks up other options. There are two examples of this practice that especially need attention: the Facebook app, which takes you into the browser for a large number of its services, and YouTube, which is just a shortcut to its home page. These options are better than nothing, but they fall far short when it comes to the user experience.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> <em>Tweakable settings</em>. I like choice. If something doesn't work for me, it's nice to have the ability to tweak it so it does my bidding. Sadly, BB10 lacks a lot of these customizable settings in many core apps, such as the camera, music and video players, maps and more. This could be a symptom of being a first-edition OS, where many minor features end up on the cutting-room floor as the dev team focuses on getting the major stuff right, so hopefully these smaller things will be addressed in the next update.</div><h3 dir="ltr" id="title2" style="text-align: left;"> Conclusion</h3><div class="image-container" dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="Back to BlackBerry closing time" data-src-height="411" data-src-width="619" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/03/dsc04723.jpg" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> While the Z10 won't be my daily driver, I can answer the questions I raised at the beginning of my experiment: does it fit my daily work flow? How does it hold up against its rivals? And does BlackBerry have a future? First, work flow: I was able to accomplish almost all of my daily work routine -- even when I was in Spain for nine days -- but a large chunk of it was only made possible by sideloading Android apps and finding other workarounds. Basically, I had to make a lot of compromises and do a lot of research in order to get it to function the way I needed, and many tasks became more time-intensive than they would have been on other platforms. I'm happy that these methods helped me get through the month unscathed, but ease of use, accessibility and speed are crucial to me.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> Second, how does it hold up against its rivals? There are plenty of good qualities in BB10, but BlackBerry needs a hook -- in other words, iOS and Android users won't hop out of an ecosystem they're comfortable with unless there's a very clear reason to do so. The new and improved BlackBerry is the best first-edition OS I've ever used, but the true competitive advantages are few and far between: solid enterprise / BYOD support (areas in which iOS and Android are quickly catching up) and the BlackBerry Hub. BB10's gesture-based UI and built-in Flash Player get honorable mentions, but I can't see very many people making the jump on those features alone.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> Again, this isn't a condemnation of the OS. After 30 days, I've discovered that I like the Z10 and the BlackBerry 10 OS a lot more than I had anticipated, and I believe it will be an ideal platform for a large number of power users, heavy communicators and corporate hotshots. It's just not the most ideal option for me right now. And as every major OS has done over time, it will evolve, add missing features and iron out the wrinkles (BlackBerry has already pushed out its first update, so it's off to a solid start). Which takes me to my final question: does BlackBerry have enough time to keep blossoming? The only way you can drive to your destination is to look forward, not at the car in the lane next to you; I believe BlackBerry is going in the right direction now, but it can't sit idly by and watch its competitors speed ahead again.</div></div>

the BlackBerry Z10 my very own and use it as my everyday device

  I've had the opportunity to use it in every likely scenario, including a nine-day trip to Spain for Mobile World Congress. Now comes t...

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Back to BlackBerry: international travels

<div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> Dropping a smartphone is an absolutely horrifying experience. And on my first day in Barcelona for Mobile World Congress, it happened to me with my BlackBerry Z10.<br /> <br /> As much as I hate to admit, it was a dumb move on my part. Unfortunately, tragedy can strike with as simple an act as brushing one's elbow across the table, and that's all it took for me to knock my smartphone right onto a hard surface -- facedown in a perfectly horizontal position. If you've ever been through such an accident, you know the few seconds it takes to pick up the phone and survey the damage can be incredibly nerve-wracking and one of the most suspenseful moments of your life.<br /> <br /> I'm happy to say that this particular story has a positive ending, as I turned the phone over to see if I would need to call BlackBerry HQ in a panic. To my shock, it was completely fine. There wasn't a single scratch or ding, and the touchscreen was just as responsive as ever. It would've been a different story had it fallen onto a concrete floor, but this still significantly increased my opinion of the Z10's durability.<br /> <br /> Had my Z10 come face to face with concrete, I would've been in a nasty predicament. Not only would I have had to pause or put the kibosh my 30-day trial run with the BlackBerry Z10, but I'm also on the other side of the world in a foreign country. While getting a new phone isn't impossible, it's expensive, time-consuming and frustrating. Yep, this was how my 10-day international adventure began, but how well has it gone for me since?</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> <i>Editor's note: This is not a review. If you haven't taken the opportunity to read through our review of the BlackBerry Z10 and the BB10 operating system, now is the perfect time to do so. As I progress through my 30-day BlackBerry trial, I'm writing most of my thoughts with the assumption that you have a basic understanding of BlackBerry's new devices and platform. If you're reading this series for the first time, you can look at my previous posts here. </i></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> I'm going to rewind the tale of my journey to where and when it all began: the flight here. In preparation for the eight-hour venture into the dark black skies, I loaded my phone up with podcasts (via a third-party native app) and plenty of games and music to keep me occupied. Everything worked up to expectations -- and frankly, that shouldn't surprise anyone. Any smartphone that can't pass the basic airplane in-flight entertainment test simply doesn't deserve to exist, and the Z10 does just fine on that end.<br /> <br /> One of the first matters of business after arriving was securing a pre-paid SIM for a few minutes, texts and all of my data needs, since I landed at the airport with no way of communicating with the world without paying outrageous international roaming charges (I'm giving you the evil eye, US carriers; you know who you are). Though some BB10 services offer reasonable offline support, I had a difficult time finding any that applied to me. In fear that I wouldn't be able to get the address of my hotel or pull up a map on my phone at the airport, I made sure to take a few screenshots just to be on the safe side. Accessing the address in an email was easy enough, but the screenshots came in handy when trying to describe my destination to the taxi driver.</div><div class="image-container" dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="DNP Back to BlackBerry week 3" data-src-height="411" data-src-width="619" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/02/dsc04717.jpg" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> I promptly got set up with a Vodafone pre-paid SIM. After booting, it became clear that my unlocked unit actually comes with a rather unique trait not seen in many other GSM devices (this is the first phone I've seen work this way): it's able to load up splash screens, ringtones, apps and accounts that are associated with the current SIM's carrier. On AT&T, my Z10 booted up with "Rethink Possible," contained AT&T-specific ringtones, offered AT&T Address Book as an account option and more. Once I inserted my Vodafone SIM, however, all of those disappeared and -- with the exception of the ringtones -- were replaced with Vodafone's versions (including a Vodafone app that magically appeared after my first boot up). This was a pretty cool discovery. It's a feature that I hope is implemented on all of BlackBerry's unlocked devices (all of our units have it), though I'm not expecting handsets that are originally locked to a carrier to have the same privilege. Sure, I'm definitely not a fan of any sort of carrier branding -- <i>especially</i> on unlocked handsets -- but admittedly it was worthy of a small geekout moment.<br /> <br /> Another service I've always geeked out about, despite how long it's been around, is Skype. I'm not the most frequent user of the service, but it's a godsend when I'm overseas because it makes it so easy to video chat with my wife and kids. While there are plenty of similar services available, it's the one that nearly every member of my family uses. I was hoping that Skype's anticipated app would be ready for BB10 by the time I left for Spain, but unfortunately it's still MIA. The only alternate option, FaceFlow, isn't cross-platform (though it offers a web interface), so I've been using the service on my computer instead. Of course, Skype is coming to the platform soon, so most BB10 buyers won't have the same concern for long, but it was one less way for me to take advantage of the OS.</div><div class="image-container" dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="DNP Back to BlackBerry week 3" data-src-height="411" data-src-width="619" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/02/dsc04716.jpg" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> A solid few days using the Z10 in Spain haven't changed my mind about BlackBerry 10 -- it's still a perfectly capable platform that just needs improvement in a few key areas -- but I must admit that my experience abroad has been better than I originally expected. To be on the safe side, I brought along an unlocked Android device as a backup, ready to accept my SIM at a moment's notice if I decided the Z10 wasn't successful at keeping up with my excessive work. Fortunately, I never felt it necessary to resort to the backup. Does that mean I had a flawless experience at MWC? Not at all. I had a few struggles, primarily in the area of mapping and app availability, and my desire for pure threaded-email conversations in the Hub dramatically increased when I was faced with twice the email volume and team email correspondence as a normal week.<br /> <br /> Furthermore, my initial concerns with battery life were also magnified as I more heavily relied on the BlackBerry to handle a much larger workload than I usually require; indeed, I made good use of external battery packs as backups, just in case I ran out of juice halfway through the day. I typically got away with only needing one recharge per day. With that said, I want to make it clear that a firmware update is on the way which promises more efficient battery life, but I haven't had the opportunity to receive it yet while I've been on the road. I hope to get my hands on it as soon as possible to properly test it out.<br /> <br /> One other thing I learned during my first few days at Mobile World Congress: four weeks after its initial launch, I was surprised to see a lot of interest in the Z10 when I pulled it out of my pocket. (The gestures seem to be a hit with most people, for what it's worth.) I know that part of this is due to the limited availability of the device so far, but people are still at least talking about it. This is good news for the company in a few ways: it hasn't been entirely dismissed by the mobile community, BlackBerry hasn't been declared dead and it is at least seen with much more curiosity and intrigue than other phones introduced at the show. (Firefox OS, anyone?)</div><h3 dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> Wrap-up</h3><div class="image-container" dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="DNP Back to BlackBerry week 3" data-src-height="411" data-src-width="619" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/02/dsc04718.jpg" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> During the first half of my international adventure, I've learned that my Z10 is much more durable than I originally expected. The BB10 platform is also at least capable of handling the workload I throw at it, even in high-stress conditions. I can't say that it's been the most efficient method of tackling my trade-show routine, but I've survived so far. As I noted earlier, there have been a few frustrations along the way, but I got through nearly all of my typical chores just fine. (I think it's also important to mention that at this very moment in the platform's infancy, I couldn't pull this experiment off without sideloading Android apps.) A few days in Catalonia have not magically turned me into a BlackBerry convert, but the phones are good enough that I have at least become a lot more confident in the company's future.</div></div>

Back to BlackBerry: international travels

Dropping a smartphone is an absolutely horrifying experience. And on my first day in Barcelona for Mobile World Congress, it happened to m...

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Back to BlackBerry: a whole new UI world

<div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;" trbidi="on"><hr dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" /> <div class="image-container" dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="DNP Back to BlackBerry week one" data-src-height="411" data-src-width="619" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/02/dsc04214-1360340806.jpg" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> <i>Editor's note: This is not a review. If you haven't taken the opportunity to read through our review of the BlackBerry Z10 and the BB10 operating system, now is the perfect time to do so. As I progress through my 30-day BlackBerry trial, I'm writing most of my thoughts with the assumption that you have a basic understanding of BlackBerry's new devices and platform. </i></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> If you were to ask me what the most significant changes are in BlackBerry 10, I'd likely go into detail about the user interface, gestures, the Hub and the ecosystem. It's an amazing improvement over previous BlackBerry devices in most cases. It's not too difficult to learn, either: just three days into my 30-day trial, I found myself unsuccessfully swiping up on a friend's Android phone to turn it on. But now that I've had the chance to set up all of my accounts, do some hardcore messaging and play around with the device, what are some of my thoughts about those major differences? Join me after the break and learn some of the best and worst things I discovered so far.</div><div class="image-container" dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="DNP Back to BlackBerry week one" data-src-height="450" data-src-width="570" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/02/bbsetup1.jpg" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> The setup began with my BlackBerry ID, which was so old that I was surprised when the phone accepted my password. I added all of my email and social networking accounts in just a few minutes, but adding my inboxes to the Hub took several additional minutes. No special BlackBerry data plan was required; all I had to do was simply slide my AT&T micro-SIM card into the phone, boot up and it gave me full access to everything I need.<br /> <br /> Even in the setup process, BB10 offered a few smart touches seldom seen on other platforms. For instance, my Facebook account is attached to one of my old Yahoo Mail accounts that hadn't been set up on my Z10 yet. When I added my Facebook logins to the BlackBerry Hub, it instantly recognized that I was using a different email address and asked me if I wanted to set that account up as well. All I had to do was throw in my password and I was ready to go. It's something that seems like common sense, but it's still a rarity in the mobile world.</div><div class="image-container" dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="DNP Back to BlackBerry week one" data-src-height="411" data-src-width="619" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/02/dsc04210.jpg" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> Once my Z10 was set up and ready to go, I had a chance to get introduced to the user interface. It's modern and beautiful, and the swipe gestures are a great touch. Despite its learning curve, I was used to the BlackBerry Flow gestures after just a couple days -- and it got even easier over time.<br /> <br /> Flow is much more intuitive than I originally expected. Going back and forth between the Hub and recent (or running) apps is just a matter of a couple finger swipes, which made multitasking much faster and easier once I became acclimatized to the UI. However, the phone would occasionally ignore my gestures; I've also experienced the complete opposite scenario, like during attempts to swipe up on the keyboard's space bar, which the phone interprets as the "home screen" gesture. Also, it seems odd that an OS dedicated to simple swipe gestures doesn't let me swipe up to get rid of running applications on the main screen (à la webOS).</div><div class="image-container" dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="DNP Back to BlackBerry week one" data-src-height="450" data-src-width="270" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/02/img00000056.jpg" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> Speaking of which, the recent apps screen (seen above) doubles as the UI's home panel, which was a little jarring at first; being accustomed to diving straight into the standard apps, this new style has involved a solid amount of adjustment time. I started using the recent apps much more frequently than I ever had before, since it was so easily accessible. This quick access, as well as the ability to get into apps almost immediately, has provided me with one of the best multitasking experiences I've ever had on a smartphone.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> Once I began exploring the app pages, found on the right side of home, I was reminded of iOS, which features a static grid with apps and folders. To the left of home is the Hub. Here, all of my accounts are together in one place (and filterable to specific inboxes for better organization), but it's a half-baked effort. It lacks the numerous customization and communication options from previous BlackBerry devices, and app notifications can be erratic. It's also supposed to fully integrate with native apps, but two-way communication between the two elements is quite lackluster. As an example, after looking through my mentions on the native Twitter app, they remain as unread notifications in the Hub that need to be cleared out (a time-intensive process). Because of this, I have less interest in using the Hub, and only visit it to check my emails. (<strong>Update:</strong> a commenter pointed out that it's possible to long-press dates in the Hub, which reveals a "Mark prior read" option.)</div><div class="image-container" dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="DNP Back to BlackBerry week one" data-src-height="450" data-src-width="537" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/02/bbm1.jpg" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> What about the ultimate BlackBerry staple, BBM? After setting the messaging service up -- easy to do, since it already had my ID -- and chatting with a few of my colleagues, the interface and feel seemed immediately familiar. The two-way video chat and screen-share features are handy, and BBM is just as pleasant to use as I remember. Unfortunately, the feature lacks cross-platform capability, limiting the number of potential friends and family members that I can talk to on the service. (Not to mention video chat is definitely no stranger to the smartphone world.) Unless millions of people flock to BB10 over the next year or so, I simply won't have a lot of opportunities to take advantage of BBM -- and I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> I couldn't even make it through a day before I was setting out to find worthy replacements to the "native" Facebook and Twitter clients. Since Facebook hasn't committed to pushing out its own BB10 app, BlackBerry built one; at best, the application is a horribly implemented Android version wrapped up in BB10 code, and some sections of the app take you to the site on the mobile browser. As for Twitter, I've never been able to refresh my feed without fully exiting and re-entering the program. (Not everyone has experienced this bug, but numerous attempts to reinstall the app haven't made a difference on my device.)</div><div class="image-container" dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="DNP Back to BlackBerry week one" data-src-height="450" data-src-width="537" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/02/bbhub1.jpg" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> As a hardcore emailer, the Z10 has proved to be somewhat cumbersome in real-life use. My inbox is organized into a "conversation view," but when I click on the email thread it takes me into an individual-message view and I can't hop from one email to the next without jumping out of the email first. I haven't found a way to preview the first line or two of text before jumping in to the message, and the only way to multi-select my messages is to jump into the menu and press "select more" before proceeding. These complications make for a more time-intensive experience.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> While I got push emails through IMAP, syncing my account with Google's server wasn't instantaneous. There are a few settings that let me change how often the phone will communicate with Gmail, but whenever I read my email from my desktop, it would take ages before the phone knew about it. As soon as I switched to Exchange, though, everything began syncing much more quickly. On a more positive note: push email works great; BlackBerry Peek helps me see how many email notifications are waiting; viewing / saving attachments is easy; and my experience reading HTML emails is pleasant. Typing messages on the new virtual keyboard is also fast and smooth, though my experience using the word-prediction feature is right on par with our review.</div><div class="image-container" dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="DNP Back to BlackBerry week one" data-src-height="450" data-src-width="537" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/02/bbworld1.jpg" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> Once all of my essential accounts and social networks were set up, it was time to play around in BlackBerry World. The store, which flaunted 70,000 apps at the time of its launch, still looks amazingly bare. Additionally, BB World isn't easy to navigate, so app discovery was rather difficult. Several times I've exited the store in disgust because I couldn't find anything close to what I was looking for. Only a handful of "featured apps" are shown on the first page, and "trending apps" typically displays just 10-15 of the apps BlackBerry wants to show off. To get to the meat, I have to dive into the categories, which are then broken up into subcategories. The silver lining is that once I get there, at least there are filters that narrow down my choices and let me change the sorting order.</div><div class="image-container" dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="DNP Back to BlackBerry week one" data-src-height="450" data-src-width="537" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/02/bbflipboard1.jpg" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> What if the app you really want isn't available on BlackBerry World? Welcome to the immediate future, folks. The ability to port Android apps over to BlackBerry has been a lifesaver. Once I learned how to sideload Android apps to my Z10, I installed Flipboard and used it to keep up on the usual feeds (I can access Google+ and Instagram this way). Additionally, I found apps for Remember the Milk, Google Voice, speed tests and podcasts, to name a few.<br /> <br /> This doesn't mean the use of repackaged Android apps is a flawless experience. Some are clunky, unresponsive and don't give me an experience as smooth as programs written natively for BlackBerry. Since Runtime for Android only supports Gingerbread or older versions (this will be bumped to Jelly Bean eventually), I've dealt with an archaic UI and apps that don't work. Many of the sideloaded files didn't launch. On multiple occasions, some of the apps that actually did work would freeze, forcing me to exit the app completely or reboot the phone. However, since it only takes a couple minutes to sideload an app, the additional functionality you receive is worth the gamble.</div><h3 dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> Wrap-up</h3><div class="image-container" dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="DNP Back to BlackBerry week one" data-src-height="411" data-src-width="619" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/02/dsc04209.jpg" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> While I'm fully committed to spending 30 days with BlackBerry 10, the first week onboard the new OS hasn't converted me into a dedicated user. I'm not saying my decision to do a month-long challenge was a mistake or that I loathe every waking moment with the Z10, but BB10 simply doesn't offer many competitive advantages that would take me away from the other platforms. The UI and gestures are refreshing and fun to use, but the Hub feels a little too basic for my email needs. I'm also willing to give the ecosystem some more time to grow, but it's not a good sign that I have no other choice but to sideload Android apps to fill massive holes in BlackBerry World. Granted, I believe BB10 is the best first-gen version of any mobile OS on the market, and it has a lot more potential than I originally thought. How well -- and how soon -- it lives up to that potential is a completely different story.</div></div>

Back to BlackBerry: a whole new UI world

Editor's note: This is not a review. If you haven't taken the opportunity to read through our...

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Back to BlackBerry: one editor's 30-day trial run

<div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;" trbidi="on"><hr dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" /> <div class="image-container" dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="BlackBerry 10 for 30 days" data-src-height="532" data-src-width="800" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/01/rim-2013-01-24-600-12.jpg" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> I confess, I'm intrigued by BlackBerry 10. Surprised? So am I. It's been easy to pre-emptively count BlackBerry out of the smartphone wars based on its performance over the last two or three years, but there's an element of mystique and personality that have made me quite curious to give the new OS a shot. While Wednesday's BB10 launch answered a lot of questions, it also raised a lot of new ones. Most of the mysteries revolve around its ecosystem, hardware quality, competitive advantages / disadvantages and if the platform can persuade Android and iOS users to switch. As a former Pearl and Curve owner, I want -- nay, <i>need</i> -- to determine for myself how well BlackBerry's latest effort holds up against its rivals. Thus, I have decided to use the BlackBerry Z10 as my sole device and daily driver for thirty days.<br /> <br /> From now until March 3rd, I'll experience nearly every aspect of BB10: the UI and its learning curve, its performance and battery life, BlackBerry World, the highly praised virtual keyboard and how well it can handle my work load. I'll even use the phone at MWC, a major international trade show in which I'll be even more dependent on my mobile than usual. Throughout this process I'll be documenting my thoughts, feelings and emotions and deliver them in a regular series of weekly posts. By the end, we'll see whether or not BB10 can win my heart; is it a suitable replacement for the average iOS or Android user, or does the company still have a difficult path ahead of it? Time will tell, and I'm eager to find out.</div></div>

Back to BlackBerry: one editor's 30-day trial run

I confess, I'm intrigued by BlackBerry 10. Surprised? So am I. It's been easy to pre-emptive...

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