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Blackberry Hardware

Blackberry Z30 Phablet Announced 112

Posted by Unknown Lamer from the last-year's-latest-craze dept.
iONiUM writes "Today the new Blackberry Z30 was announced today (release coming in the next 'few weeks'). It has a 4.97" 16:9 screen running at 720x1280. The CPU also got an upgrade, at 1.7Ghz. The news claims that the battery is a 2880maH with up to 25 hours of use. I'm not really convinced this is enough of a differentiation between the Z10 to save Blackberry, and as someone who owns a Z10 and Q10 (but uses an S3 instead), I don't see how this addresses any of the real issues Blackberry is facing, the biggest being a lack of apps."
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Blackberry Z30 Phablet Announced More

Blackberry Z30 Phablet Announced

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  • Amazing, for 2012 (Score:4, Funny)

    by h4rr4r ( 612664 ) on Wednesday September 18, 2013 @08:33AM (#44882947)

    What a wonderful device for people living in 2012. Here in 2013 it looks pretty outdated. 720p? seriously? on a 5" display? It is like they almost tried, but then decided they rather go under.

    Will this one be able to do email without a blackberry phone to tether to?

    • Why would you want email? That's what a desktop is for.

      • I'm sure you prefer to send a long message with SMS which does not guarantee the recipient will ever see. I suppose email would be irrelevant since your messages are filled with BRTF, TAFF, FDAAA, FWA, KGAS, etc that would take an old people like me ages to decode . It either takes me a long time to figure out that you're applying for the new position or I give up 0.5 seconds into reading your message.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Kinwolf ( 945345 )

      Will this one be able to do email without a blackberry phone to tether to?

      You know that the Z30 IS a blackberry phone, right?

    • Spec chasers go for whatever the latest and greatest Android/Apple device is and play playground top-trumps with that. Crackberry users just need "good enough" and have been kicking the habit in increasing numbers around the world for some time now for exactly that reason - why pay all that money for good enough when you can get kick-ass with better support prospects for the same price from someone else? From EE (UK 4G network) for same the monthly fee I can get an iPhone 5 for £10 or a Q10 for

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

        Spec chasers go for whatever the latest and greatest Android/Apple device is and play playground top-trumps with that. Crackberry users just need "good enough" and have been kicking the habit in increasing numbers around the world for some time now for exactly that reason - why pay all that money for good enough when you can get kick-ass with better support prospects for the same price from someone else? From EE (UK 4G network) for same the monthly fee I can get an iPhone 5 for £10 or a Q10 for

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by MrHanky ( 141717 )

          Bullshit. 1) The iPhone 4 started the race for better pixel density. Screen specs were so important to Apple that they had to redefine 'Retina' twice afterwards just to be able to milk the concept for tablets and laptops. 2) Samsung's 2Q2013 smartphone market share was about 30%, with LG, Lenovo and ZTE hovering around 5%, and 'others' (mostly not Nokia) taking 40%, according to IDC (sauce [phonearena.com]). I'm no mathmagician, but that makes Samsung holding a 90% of the Android market somewhat unlikely. 3) Go to Samsung's

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jovius ( 974690 )

      If it's effective viewport is 720x1280 pixels it's pretty modern. It's more than iPad Mini at least and all of the smartphones AFAIK. Witness the horrorshow [viewportsizes.com] for modern web design.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by h4rr4r ( 612664 )

        There are many smartphones with 1920x1080 displays. LG G2, HTC one, Samsung Galaxy S4.

        The iPad mini is not exactly a top of the line device.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      The BB10 OS which is many months old now has an increible unified inbox. For those that actually want ot get work done, it's about as good as it gets. For business, the BB10 based phones make iOS and Android look like toys. Hopefully busienss owners will realize this. That's the target audience.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AC-x ( 735297 )

      What are you, some kind of resolution hipster (720p is sooooo last year)?

      The Nexus 4 has a 1280x768 display on a 4.7" screen and it's more than enough, the only way I can see individual pixels is holding it uncomfortably close to my face. An extra 0.2" isn't going to turn a 720p display into some kind of unusable pixelated mess, and I challenge anyone to spot the difference between a 5" 720p and 1080p display at normal usage distance

  • Remember when.. (Score:3)

    by the computer guy nex ( 916959 ) on Wednesday September 18, 2013 @08:41AM (#44883047)
    we measured innovation by how BIG we could make computers?

    I don't either. 5" is outrageous for a phone.

    • Re:Remember when.. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by h4rr4r ( 612664 ) on Wednesday September 18, 2013 @08:45AM (#44883099)

      Not at all. The next Nexus will be smaller than the current one and have a nearly 5" display.
      Have you seen a Galaxy Note? That is a great device size for a lot of people.

      You have to remember that for a lot of people these devices are becoming their primary computing device. So a 5" device is easily pocketable and gives a lot of display to use.

      • Not at all. The next Nexus will be smaller than the current one and have a nearly 5" display. Have you seen a Galaxy Note? That is a great device size for a lot of people.

        You have to remember that for a lot of people these devices are becoming their primary computing device. So a 5" device is easily pocketable and gives a lot of display to use.

        What pants are people wearing that a Galaxy Note is easily pocketable? Fat Pants? The iPhone 5 is almost getting too large to fit in reasonable pockets.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by gl4ss ( 559668 )

          the kind of pants that if you wear them you have a purse.

        • I fit my nexus 7 with leather case in my fat pants thank you very much. Great for sneaking it into the restroom at work.
          • I think you are being funny, but I remember reading a lot of people saying the Nexus is pocketable. Personally, I find my 4 inch phone to be a little large in my pockets. Sure it fits, but it's really not comfortable. If I have any other place to carry it than my pants pocket (backpack, jacket/coat, pannier, cycling jersey) I'll put it there before in my pants pocket. I can't imagine carrying around a 5 inch (or larger) device without having some kind of backpack or bag to carry it in.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by h4rr4r ( 612664 )

          Levi's 550s.
          Stop wearing your girlfriend's jeans.

        • Um, regular dress pants and jeans, since you asked. My Note easily and comfortably fits in the front right pocket of every pair of pants I own, and I didn't buy the pants looking for extra-large pockets or anything. Men's pants pockets are normally sized to accommodate things like fat wallets or a collection of keys/change/pocket knife/whatever; women might find that their pockets are often too small to comfortably and safely accommodate a Note, but then they can use their purse I suppose.
          Try slipping a dem

          • Re: (Score:1)

            by Anonymous Coward

            Try slipping a demo phone into your pocket next time you are at the phone store

            That sounds like a good idea.

        • In the 1970s we used to get high and talk about bellbottoms. "Man, when I get some money, I'm going to get the biggest bellbottoms in history, man! Homeless people are going to be living under my pants."

          /Denis Leary

    • I assume that your home computer is a laptop with a 10" screen, then?

    • If, like me, you use your phone for telephone conversations, 5 inches for the display is outrageous.

      If, on the other hand, you're like most smart phone users and you probably spend more time checking email, posting to Twitter, reading Facebook posts, and shopping on your smart phone then you spend using a laptop or desktop computer, then 5 inches is good and having an iPad-size "phone" would be better.

      At the rate we're going, when kids today grow up they'll be known as "Generation Gollum" for all o

  • Really.. the lack of apps? (Score:3)

    by Adult film producer ( 866485 ) <van@i2pmail.org> on Wednesday September 18, 2013 @08:45AM (#44883095)
    What exactly is the author of this story missing on his blackberry phone? Besides that, most android apps run just as well on a Z10 as they do on an android phone.
    • Right, most reviews still refrain the same old thing over and over about BB lacking apps. It's not like the Apple Store isn't full of useless lame unmaintained applications neither. The size of your appstore doesn't matter. ;-)
    • Most likely the author doesn't pretend to represent everyone's needs when it comes to apps. I personally have no need for Candy Crush Saga but for some people it's a must on their next smartphone. With a larger app count, yes, there will be more crap but also there are more useful apps as well for everyone's needs.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by xombo ( 628858 )

      Who really wants to sideload an Android app, though?

      I'm a developer and have a Z10 that I also no longer use, like the OP. Not once was I able to successfully side-load an application from Android, but did successfully build an app of my own (which was actually quite easy to build because of their tools for Chrome).

      They've gone out of their way to improve the development tools. Unfortunately, there's no significant market uptake. Additionally, the tools make the barrier of entry so low that almost anyone ca

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by iONiUM ( 530420 )

      As the author of the post, I can't predict what everyone will need (as someone mentioned below). If you want specifics, I need the timeplay app (Canada cineplex), and there is no .bar file for sideloading (and I'm too lazy to re-build it myself). In addition, I need Kakaotalk to talk to some Korean friends. And while the latest version (4.0.1) seems to sort of work sideloaded, there are a *lot* of disadvantages to sideloading. Here they are:

      • - You have to know how to sideload. As a developer, it's "easy" fo

  • With a lame OS, a terrible selection of apps and a mediocre hardware specs, I would say Windows Phone is going to have fierce competition for who has the worse smartphone. :)

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Have you actually used the OS for a while, or just sounding off?

      Half the new gestures in the new and "groundbreaking" iOS redesign are ripped straight from bb10. The OS is fast, smooth and its gestures are intuitive and useful. I switched from iOS 6.1 to use it as my daily driver, and whenever I switch between iOS, Android and BB10 i find myself instinctively trying the bb10 gestures.

      I've not found any apps I need that I don't have on the platform, and if i want, i can side-load Android apps as well (I don'

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        The overall user interface experience, including ambiguous overlaying gestures is what put me off.

        I'm not the only one. I've watched a number of people try to 'get' the swipes and actions after using it for days. I appreciate that some people may like the design, but if there is overall rejection to it, something is wrong. Perhaps it was an issue with the actual devices, or software not responding well too, but there were plenty of times just trying to answer a phone call was nearly impossible.

        Put a physica

  • I want the N!!! Why are they announcing this weird phablet, when the N10 is gonna be awesome! RIM should focus on that..

  • Usage of the word Phablet shall (Score:5, Insightful)

    by dywolf ( 2673597 ) on Wednesday September 18, 2013 @09:21AM (#44883477)

    Usage of the word Phablet shall be grounds for immediate incineration.

  • Phablet? (Score:3)

    by Esion Modnar ( 632431 ) on Wednesday September 18, 2013 @09:21AM (#44883481)
    I prefer Tablone.
  • If it's about bigger battery and faster processor, then, "good luck" (same comment to other manufacturers). Seriously, smartphone has matured.

  • That is not a phablet. Nice try tho. Even 5" really isn't. and you need to get past 5.5

    With a sub-5" phone, they are just playing catch-up with the rest of the world. ( other than Apple..)

  • Amateur hour is over! [mashable.com] Blackberry's gonna come in and show you how it's done!

    * I almost kept a straight face while typing this post.

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