BlackBerry Z30 review: Against the odds
- W
- WhyNot
- RHN
- 08 Nov 2013
Everyone is talking about benchmarks here. Why not give it a try? This phone utilizes a new antenna technology that allows for better service and call quality. I've had both Android and IOS phones. I am ready for the Z30. Who often are you really playing a serious game on your phone? If you are a gamer, you are going to play it on a tablet, a console, or a PC. Why think of your phone is a gaming device?? It's made for games like angry birds (a native app on BB). Why bash? Why not just give it a try and see what it's like?? Although the DPI may be lower, will you really notice a difference? I am going to give it a try, and with VZW if I don't like it after 14 days I will return it. But after ready reviews of people that already have it. It sounds like a great phone for anyone!
- h
- hibiskus
- JFp
- 08 Nov 2013
I got Z10 4 months ago pretty cheap (250 euros than), and that was my first BB phone so i didnt know what to expect.
I got premium looking phone with fantastic OS and ability to run android apps! And Z30 is even better!
- B
- Black
- tRg
- 08 Nov 2013
How can you survive is your always behind from others? Dual core? 720p? Learning mistakes is just way too easy.... Just accept the truth.
- s
- singaporean
- XMZ
- 08 Nov 2013
Here the Z30 now is about Sing 700 plus so in USD it is ok price and should come down in a few weeks.
Don't know what all the fuss is as this a quite a good mobile and the operating system is great to use.
Battery life is amazing and the speakers are better than all but maybe HTC ONe.
When price come down I will get it. Some friends have it with no problems and like the swipe gestures.
Good mobile, strange review.
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- AnonD-204245
- PMk
- 07 Nov 2013
I feel and i follow this site regular and use it to read about mobiles, but ive got the impression that all this site dose is bag Blackberry, im new to blackberry and find there phones to be to notch, im currently have a Q10. Also have a Z10 and found it to be the best all touch phone ive used. Considering ive smashed two sony phones against walls because there were crap. #teamblackberry
- M
- Mus
- fqc
- 07 Nov 2013
AnonD-4340, 07 Nov 2013Sure, if they could offer a decent and up to date resolutio... moreNokia Maps r bad ????!!!! u r not living on Mars . r u ?.......based on mobile sites including gsmarena and personal experiences including mine, Nokia maps r pretty far from being bad. they r actually as good as google maps if not better. many POI's in my region r either absent or placed incorrectly on Google Maps while they r placed pretty accurate on Nokia maps. also another evidence that nokia maps r that good is that most automotive (VW with its sub companies like audi, bentley, porsche.... ,Mercedes, BMW , Hyundai and kia and lots of others) companies deal with nokia maps not google maps and also other companies like Pioneer and garmin deal with nokia maps. maybe the only flaw of Nokia maps is the not-so-updated Sat images of some unurban remote areas. u can criticize Nokia maps for some things but saying that its all bad everywhere, then u r certainly trolling or u r basing ur experience on a Nokia N95 with a 7 year old maps !!!
- M
- MrTruth
- mAm
- 07 Nov 2013
MdN8, 07 Nov 2013The same happened with Symbian, there was nothing wrong abo... moreThere was a lot wrong with Symbian, especially with it's outdated UI. The underlying OS was great but it had so many issues it just wasn't funny any more. Of course the reason for that were Nokia's inept development processes and not the OS itself but that doesn't change the fact that Symbian had required too much work to bring it up to standard.
- ?
- Anonymous
- q{S
- 07 Nov 2013
Anonymous, 07 Nov 2013non-removable battery? no, thank you. everyone knows that... moreclearly you havent given it a try. it doesnt need a removeable battery, it can last more than a day on a single charge with heavy usage. go try it before you judge
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- niceguy
- fsV
- 07 Nov 2013
AnonD-198936, 07 Nov 2013Nope, what they have to do is abandon the BB10 os and switc... moreThat's not a good suggestion by any standard. But, of course, you're entitle to your opinion.
- D
- Dpx
- nwH
- 07 Nov 2013
Well the thing about sound quality going down when connect to headphones doesn't surprise me a bit. I use a playbook and a Xperia Arc with 2012 walkman and sound enhancements app and using loudspeakers, they playbook is quite good but with headphones it is far inferior to Sony. And sometimes the jack simply doesn't connect properly.
In general I like this phone contrary to popular believe I think it has a faster learning curve than you could expect,simply let yourself go and be open. Bought my playbook because I loved the gestures and I have to admit when using I android I try to swipe to go back but when I use the playbook I never looked for back or home button.
Why I will not buy the Z30?
Simply because I value camera too much and this one is good but not really worth improving from my Arc....
Then there are the apps, not sure if it already has skype but my playbook almost went to the garbage bin when I found out it had no skype and no BBM....
And of course I am a bit mad at BlackBerry for not giving me bb10 on playbook because i bought it to experience bb10 and evaluate if I would move away from Android as I wasn't particularly happy with android back then (now I am).
Finally there is the price. Too expensive for me.
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- erin
- txj
- 07 Nov 2013
AnonD-174570, 07 Nov 2013What Blackberry need is low cost game changer to promote th... moreI agree bb need to release sub $100-200 phone with bb10.2 OS to succeed.
Though I know it's impossible, cause bb will always want to be looked as premium phone company. Their pride is in the way.
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- Anonymous
- tA$
- 07 Nov 2013
non-removable battery? no, thank you.
everyone knows that blackberry phones are battery hog. so it's a disadvantage.
- D
- AnonD-174570
- MHx
- 07 Nov 2013
AnonD-198936, 07 Nov 2013Nope, what they have to do is abandon the BB10 os and switc... moreIf you read the review, you will see it can already run Android apps upto jelly bean. Also android space is already too crowded as it is and fiercely competitive. Barring Samsung and Sony, even known android manufactures like HTC, Moto, LG, etc aren't able to meet their sales targets due to this competition.
Furthermore, Blackberry OS has image of being secure (if its really secure over android or not is debatable) but still they have this thing going for them. They might as well capitalize on it instead of just giving it away. Having their own OS over using someone else(s) also give them App Store and ads $$$.
- D
- AnonD-198936
- tha
- 07 Nov 2013
AnonD-174570, 07 Nov 2013What Blackberry need is low cost game changer to promote th... moreNope, what they have to do is abandon the BB10 os and switch to android.
- H
- Helios
- ubf
- 07 Nov 2013
[deleted post]It is true that BB is a business phone all because of their Blackberry Enterprise Service (BES). This is equivalent of ActiveSync for both iPhone and Android but ActiveSync is way below the performance as compared to BES. I know because I'm a helpdesk analyst and I am trained for both BES and ActiveSync setup and how tos. I supported a lot of US corporate business setting up their corporate emails to their iPhone, Android phones and BBs. And I can say that in terms of push email, BB is the best. I use both BB and Android phone but BB is real time when it comes to push email. This is just both my personal and professional experience.
- D
- AnonD-174570
- MHx
- 07 Nov 2013
What Blackberry need is low cost game changer to promote their own ecosystem, not a flagship like this one or Z10. They will only continue to burn money this way.
Since its obvious BB OS 10.2 doesn't require ground breaking hardware to run smoothly, they could have created a phones in sub $100 and $250 category (off contract) with good specs similar to lumia 520/720. Agreed it might not be very profitable this way, but this is the only way to reach the masses and establish their market/ecosystem. Only once they do it they can hope to sell flagships in numbers. As of now, very few people are going to spend north of $500-600 on something whose future is not certain even though if the product is good.
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- Anonymous
- PDG
- 07 Nov 2013
Nice review GSMarena. Whoever did bulk of the commentary and final edit, great job.
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- AnonD-197022
- UD%
- 07 Nov 2013
Alex, 07 Nov 2013I've been using iPhone 4 yrs now, had the 3G then 3GS 4 4S ... moreANDROID IS TOO UNSTABLE? ARE YOU LIVING IN 2011? Ive been doing transactions on both my iphone 5 and GS4 and both are equally smooth with no hurr durr identity theft/hax.
Clearly, youre the type of person who likes to ride on old reputations, ie; blackberry being a "business" phone and android being "unstable".
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- Alex
- SvB
- 07 Nov 2013
[deleted post]I've been using iPhone 4 yrs now, had the 3G then 3GS 4 4S and for about a year the 5 I'm just bored with the same OS
As you can see I had couple of iPhones and I pretty much know everything about them ;)
I have my MacBook Pro and very happy with it.
But the OS 10 from Berry looks very good and the Hub is perfect for me.
Android is too unstable.
Is like having a Ferrari and drive only in city limits :)))
- A
- Alex
- SvB
- 07 Nov 2013
Blackberry needs a marketing guru and more ads.
Both Z10 and Z30 are very good phones for what they are made for,business,messaging,email and some fun.
In that order :)
I will buy one!
I like being against odds and we should do this!!!