The BlackBerry Z10

The first thing you notice with BlackBerry’s newest smart phone is that there are no hard navigation buttons, such as iPhone’s home button. The lack of this tool means that the learning curve is rather steep when it comes to maximising BBZ10’s interface. After a while though, you’ll understand how the slightly different operating system is meant to be used, but it’s not something one can master while standing fiddling with it on the shop floor, even for the tech savvy. This might be BB’s first mistake or first potential triumph, having a simplified easy-to-use interface might have welcomed smartphone users in both the experienced and inexperiences market – but the verdict is still out on whether the BBZ10’s interface will prove to be more efficient and user friendly than it’s smart phone rivals. BlackBerry have introduced 2 main components to their new operating system, Peek and Flow. Flow refers to the gliding experience through all the applications, widgets, home screens and inboxes. There are some new gestures that are different to any other handset around and they take time to learn – which prompts the want for at least one hard navigation button to make life a little easier. A few days will see you straight though, once the smartphone language is understood. Peek is a cool little gesture used to sneak a peek at other applications without having to exit the one you’re in. A swipe up the face of the phone activates it and notifications appear down the left hand side of the screen, so you can see texts, emails, calls, social updates, BBMs as and when you wish. The lag free interface does operate very smoothly once you get the hang of it, time will tell if it is a true rival to the giants like Apple and Samsung though, many thinking that it’s a classic case of too little too late. Depending on your network carrier contract, the 4G ready BBz10 handset will cost you around £40-£50.00 with a £30-40.00 monthly contract cost. From blackberry.com