BlackBerry Z10

When I first moved from a flip phone to a smartphone, my transition was with a BlackBerry Curve. I was absolutely obsessed with it. Unfortunately, somewhere between then and now Blackberry seem to have lost its footing and disappeared. During that period of time Apple, Samsung and other notable Android smartphones rode in and started leading the way towards touch screen addiction. Last week AT&T was kind enough to allow me the pleasure of trying the new Blackberry Z10, which will be BlackBerry’s first phone to run on AT&T’s 4G LTE. After spending a few days trying out the Blackberry it appears that they have decided to make a real effort to get back into the Smartphone game with it’s introduction of the Blackberry Z10. So for all the BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) devotees you can exhale because BlackBerry is back in a good way. As far as it’s appearance it looks like the perfect cross between the iPhone5 and a Samsung Galaxy. But I don’t want to give the impression that all that they did was mimic other phones because that’s not the case. For instance that much loved home button that is featured on smartphones is not anywhere to be found on the Z10. If you want to get to Facebook, access text messages and other conversations all you need do is swipe up and right and you are taken to Blackberry’s Hub. Then with another quick swipe you can transport yourself to apps or to whatever else that might strike your fancy. Another similarity that you will find is that to use the phone (like Android and iPhones) you will have to establish an account. In this case a BlackBerry account. But that’s nothing to quibble about because pretty soon this fancy gadget will adapt to writing style and you will be typing with accuracy and speed, while enjoying the 4.2 inch screen, with its 1280x768 resolution. Although for some it could take a moment to adapt to the BlackBerry Z10, it is a fun yet serious phone plus a great improvement to the BlackBerry line. The only question that plagues my mind and others as well is whether BlackBerry’s absence from the smartphone market was too long to regain loss ground or can this swank smartphone be a strong enough candidate to win back some of their customers. Only time will tell. It will be available from AT&T for $199 with a two-year contract as of March 22 and March 28th with Verizon.