RIM Launches Next-Generation BlackBerry Z10, Announces Corporate Rebranding

[MacRumors]

Research in Motion today announced its next-generation smartphone, the Z10. RIM also announced a corporate rebranding, officially changing the name of the company to BlackBerry.

All four U.S. carriers are expected to carry the Z10, shipping in March and starting at $199 with a two-year contract. Walt Mossberg, reviewing the Z10 for the Wall Street Journal, notes that a physical keyboard-equipped Q10 model is due in April as well. He notes that in "moderate to heavy use", the battery didn't last as long as a charge on an iPhone 5 in similar usage, but he did have some praise for the device.

BlackBerry has always leaned heavily on its physical keyboard, and, according to Mossberg, the virtual keyboard on the Z10 shines as well:

The Z10 keyboard is the best and fastest out-of-the-box virtual keyboard I've used. Master BlackBerry thumb typists might not find it as fast as the traditional physical keyboard, but, for a one-finger typist like me, it was faster and more accurate than either the native keyboards on the iPhone or Android. This is partly because it features predictive typing. It displays words that are likely to come next right above the rows of letters, and lets you flick these words upward into the text you're composing. It learns what mistakes you typically make in hitting letters, and adjusts. And it learns words and abbreviations you frequently use, even proper names.

The company promises 70,000 apps at launch, including staples like Facebook, Twitter, Angry Birds, MLB, and more. Many notable apps are missing however, including Pandora, Spotify and Netflix.

The Z10 comes with a 4.2" 1280x768 display, giving it a higher pixel density than the iPhone 5; an 8 megapixel rear camera; 16GB capacity only, but includes a card slot for storage upgrades; available in white or black; a removable battery; and LTE support, though Mossberg got extremely poor data speeds on AT&T and RIM couldn't explain why.

Article Link: RIM Launches Next-Generation BlackBerry Z10, Announces Corporate Rebranding

[niuniu]

Too little too late RIM

[Peterg2]

Early reviews not promising.

http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/30/39...rry-z10-review

BGR:

http://bgr.com/2013/01/30/blackberry...tm_medium=home

If people thought Windows Phone 8's eco system is weak, this looks far worse.

[Dwalls90]

Awesome. Glad they are making a comeback. The more competition, the BETTER our iOS devices.

[tonyy]

Not a bad looking device. It would look a lot cleaner without the big Blackberry logo on the front.

[polterbyte]

Exactly how does this qualify as a "mac rumor", or even as an "Apple rumor"?

[Diode]

So no more Rim Jobs???!! (SFW - goes to Boy Genius Reports)

[nepalisherpa]

Let's hope they can keep up. Competition is always good!

[iThinkIt]

Originally Posted by polterbyte

Exactly how does this qualify as a "mac rumor", or even as an "Apple rumor"?

Competition...

[PinoyAko]

That "double persona" feature is a nice one. I was imagining that on an iPhone for years now.

Overall, it will be us the consumer will benefit on this! Awesome!

[daneoni]

I actually want one to play with. always open to trying new/reinvented platforms. Glad its coming out tomorrow in the UK.

[impulse462]

This doesn't look that bad, but way too late. RIM, err I mean Blackberry, are pretty much out of the game at this point.

I hope they can keep it up.

[bwillwall]

I hope they succeed as unlikely as it is. I would much rather it be Apple vs Blackberry than Apple vs evil samsung holding supplier cards

[D-a-a-n]

Looks fantastic and has some real innovative features it seems.

[Moonjumper]

I hope it does well enough to keep Apple and Google on their toes. Competition improves the breed.

[polterbyte]

Originally Posted by ithinkit

competition...

lol!

[Jimrod]

Ahh, 4.2" screen - exactly what would have been better on the iPhone 5, the ideal size for modern use, especially with 3:2 ratio so you can actually read web pages vertically without zooming in. 16:9 is stupid for a phone - It's a video resolution, my phone isn't primarily used for video even nowadays, it is however used for surfing the web where horizontally the field of view is too small and vertically too narrow. Apple have started to become sheep rather than sticking to their guns.

Just wanted to put that rant out there. I didn't even mention the pissy yellow tinted screen again...

[pnoyblazed]

c'mon guys at least they are trying

[rmwebs]

Unless BB10 is a complete rewrite it'll still continue to be a failure. Blackberry OS feels archaic compared to iOS and Android.

[apple.net]

What a name changer!

[MMOTotal]

Not a fan of the black one, the white one looks quite nice but not for me.

[Chuck-Norris]

hope blackberry comes back. would be nice to have them back to compete agaianst iOS and android. more competition

plus would be nice to see a Canadian company on the top charts again

[gorskiegangsta]

IMO, rebranding was a smart move. Between Lazaridis' ridiculous behavior and product line stagnation, the name RIM has become somewhat of a laughing stock in the past years.

[vebs]

The camera feature looks great. I'd love something like that on the iPhone.

[apple.net]

Originally Posted by Jimrod

Ahh, 4.2" screen - exactly what would have been better on the iPhone 5, the ideal size for modern use, especially with 3:2 ratio so you can actually read web pages vertically without zooming in. 16:9 is stupid for a phone - It's a video resolution, my phone isn't primarily used for video even nowadays, it is however used for surfing the web where horizontally the field of view is too small and vertically too narrow. Apple have started to become sheep rather than sticking to their guns.

Just wanted to put that rant out there. I didn't even mention the pissy yellow tinted screen again...

It's not 3:2, close to 16:10