BlackBerry Q10 Review

"... For those who place communication, multitasking and efficiency above all else. For those who want to get stuff done as fast and possible ... This is the phone the BlackBerry faithful have been waiting for ..."

The folks at IT Pro were so taken with the BlackBerry Q10 that they said it's possibly the best handset the company has ever created. The keyboard is a pleasure to use as always, the touchscreen is a nice bonus, and although the BB 10 OS still needs polish, it's an excellent effort. Apps are still thin on the ground, but since you can sideload Android apps, it's not much of a problem.

As far as the hardware goes, the BlackBerry Q10 is a pretty impressive offering thanks to its solid build, class-leading keyboard, excellent screen and nippy performance, leading CNET to say that it's the best QWERTY phone on the market. Unfortunately, it's expensive, its app store is terribly understocked and the new OS need polishing, making it one for the faithful only.

The BlackBerry Q10 is difficult to compare with rival offerings from other manufacturers, since it belongs in its own niche. In that niche, however, it's a great handset that excels at communication, which is the company's traditional strength. Trusted Reviews thought it was a much better option than the Bold thanks to the new OS, but if you're in it for the wow factor, look elsewhere.

Although QWERTY phones might feel a bit anachronic in this era of full-fascia touchscreens, there is still a huge market sector that swears by its BlackBerry, and the Q10 is here to give it what it wants. The display is touch sensitive, however, so it's quite a versatile handset, and as to build quality and handling, TechRadar had no complaints. A niche offering, but an excellent one.

While the Z10 is BlackBerry's bet for the future, the Q10 is a more conservative offering, sporting the classic keyboard that fans know and love. The 3-inch screen is bright and sharp and is also touch-sensitive, giving you the best of both worlds. T3 liked the build of the handset too, saying it felt light and comfortable in the hand. Now, if it only had more apps...

While the Q10 is a very good smartphone in PC Advisor's eyes, they didn't think that a QWERTY phone has too many chances of making a splash these days. BlackBerry fans will naturally love its excellent keyboard, but there's more to like here, such as its bright display, responsive touchscreen and great operating system. It's a shame it probably won't be able to compete in this market.

In S21's opinion, the Q10 is a fantastic phone that does justice to BlackBerry's reputation and will please the company's fans immensely. It's not supposed to be a mainstream offering, but as a business handset it really has no rival thanks to its peerless keyboard, huge battery, excellent performance and the new BlackBerry 10 operating system. Simply superb.

It might look pretty much like every other previous BlackBerry handset, but the Q10 is full of subtle tweaks and improvements that make it a far superior offering to anything the company's done before, especially as far as the new operating system is concerned. Performance is excellent, and although The Inquirer thought the touchscreen feels too small sometimes, it's very responsive.

On the outside, there's nothing really exciting about the Q10. The keyboard is as great as always, and the touchscreen is excellent but a BlackBerry with a keyboard and a touch display is not new either. The real attraction here according to Trusted Reviews is the new BB OS 10, which is mainly focused on multitasking and gestures but also looks a bit fiddly. A full review will say more.