Presentation
The famous BlackBerry keyboard is back. After the Z10 touchscreen, here comes the Q10, the second BlackBerry device powered by the brand new BlackBerry10 (BB10) mobile platform to be marketed in your country. The particularity of this model? It has, in addition to a smaller touch screen, a physical keyboard; element dear to many fans of the blackberry brand, who see this Q10 as "THE real new BlackBerry". Like the expected reincarnation of Bold under BB10, in short.
Positioned by its manufacturer on the high end, the Q10 offers a 3,1-inch Super AMOLED screen (720 x 720p), a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus dual-core processor clocked at 1,5 GHz, with 2 GB of RAM. , an expandable storage space of 16 GB, an 8 megapixel camera, and a removable 2100 mAh battery. Yes, it's a Z10 in another format.
What is this successor to the Bold range worth? Will it be better on multimedia functions (photo, web, videos)? Does its keyboard have enough to sustain messaging junkies? Does the BB10 interface work as well on a device with a small screen? Answer in this test.
Ergonomics and design
But where is he ?! Where is the inseparable element of BlackBerry devices that have contributed to the brand's success, namely the trackpad, this little ball of navigation aid? Well, this one is no longer in the game. To correct a word or go to a specific location in an email or a web page, you have to go through the touch screen. A practical solution, the screen being precise, but less efficient.
Fortunately, the overall performance of the keyboard "à la BlackBerry" is well and truly preserved: followers of messaging (emails, SMS, Tweeter ...) will appreciate. We are in front of a large advance compared to the last Bold 9970, which already had an extraordinary keyboard. The entire keyboard is comfortable and the keys, perfectly separated, offer undeniable typing comfort, thanks in particular to curved edges that prevent typing errors, even for a novice.
And precisely, for the latter and the followers of the Curve, the adaptation to the physical keyboard will perhaps be a bit faster than for a fan of Bold. The Q10 has a much larger screen than its mechanical input predecessors, which places the keyboard much lower compared to the famous Bold and Curve, where the panel could occupy half of the mobile.
A blow to take, automatic finger placements to be redone and above all a grip to be reworked, because the smartphone has a less secure two-handed grip, to our liking at least.
On the physical side, if the Z10 had already seduced us with its finishes and exemplary construction, the Q10 is driving the point home. Materials pleasant to the touch, permanent feeling of holding a high-end, professional object, the Q10 brilliantly perpetuates the tradition of BlackBerry pro keyboard devices.
Here too, the ON / OFF button finds refuge on the upper edge of the smartphone, which, thanks to the smaller format of the Q10, allows it to be used more ergonomically. However, on this Q10 too, waking up by sliding your finger up from the base of the screen is possible and quickly becomes essential.
Screen
Pleasant to the eye, the Q10's screen is quite effective in use. Its wide viewing angles allow you to maintain good readability even when you are not facing the screen. AMOLED technology requires, the contrast ratio here is excellent, bordering on "infinity" with an average rate of over 12000: 1, while the maximum brightness is a bit weak (121 cd / m²). The colorimetry does well with a delta E of 4,8. As a reminder, the lower the dE, the closer to 0, the more the screen delivers faithful colors. To date, the best smartphones on this point have fallen below the 5 mark, some even reaching 3,5, like the GS4. Over time, therefore, AMOLED techno improves and moves away from the neon-flashy-unnatural colors of not so long ago. And above all, here there is no need for additional processing or other Video mode to improve the display: the Q10 is balanced and very satisfactory right out of the box.
On the afterglow time test bench, the Q10 gives birth to an excellent ... 0, AMOLED obliges (bis). It's perfect. This has the particular effect of offering excellent fluidity when viewing videos. The swipe is done from top to bottom, when it is done from left to right on a Galaxy S4, for example.
The screen could approach perfection if it was not the depository of a bastard and "square" definition of 720 x 720 pixels. In the OS, the readability is good, but it is spoiled for e-mails and the web ... while being much better, obviously, than the old BlackBerrys of the same type.
Interface and navigation
To know everything about the intricacies of the OS, visit our article dedicated to the BlackBerry 10 operating system all new all beautiful from BlackBerry.
In essence, you should know that BlackBerry is completely reviewing its copy, borrowing from iOS, Android and especially Windows Phone 8 for the permanently over-connected side, adding an unprecedented touch gesture. The nerve center of this BB10 is the HUB, a page which can be accessed from anywhere and which centralizes all notifications (e-mails, SMS, Facebook, Twitter, calls, BBM ...).
You should know, however, that the Q10 does not allow you to experience 100% of BB10, since the smart keyboard, designed for the Z10, with unprecedented prediction and gestures, is logically absent. However, the physical keyboard also has intelligent assistance, with non-proactive but relevant predictions and especially shortcuts to manipulate the OS. Examples: in the HUB, you can go directly to the top of a list or to the bottom by pressing T or B respectively. Pressing R in an SMS or e-mail activates the response and type an expression or the name of an app launches them. Type "Call Work" and the Q10 searches its database for related actions; type "Spiderman" and the smartphone offers to launch the game and / or one of the films if these are in the Q10.
The whole turns wonderfully well, as on the Z10, identical in all respects in its guts. We juggle between the touch screen and the keyboard in all flexibility and fluidity and we did not notice a single slowdown or hitch. Those crazy for apps, in multiple versions and publishers, Instagram and star mobile games will inevitably be frustrated in front of the AppWorld application store, which lacks very general public application bestsellers.
Multimedia
What about the Internet experience offered by this smartphone equipped with a small screen? Well, if the behavior of the browser in itself does not have to be called into question, the smallness of the space reserved for the display clearly does not make this terminal the best ally for surfing on the go with comfort. And then, as underlined above, the absence of the trackpad is particularly felt here, for example to enter a piece of text, a link, because if the touch screen wants to be precise, the selection part still lacks flexibility.
Video playback, if a square screen makes you crave serial / cine moments, is as efficient as a Samsung mobile in terms of file compatibility. MKV, AVI, DivX HD, MPEG4, H.264, 720p or 1080p containers, the Q10 can play just about anything ... except separate subtitles.
On the sound side, the Q10 is on par with the Z10. The headphone output offers an interesting maximum power. It will have no trouble supplying most audio accessories (headphones, portable speakers, etc.) without emitting the slightest saturation, all with the added bonus of high dynamics.
From an audio standpoint, the speaker does what is expected of it. However, here we notice a fairly high saturation when the volume is pushed almost to the bottom.
On the video game side, you have to know how to stay measured, because the Q10 lends itself little to the latest generation of mobile games, first of all by its physique, and by the relative poverty of AppWorld in this area.
Photo
The Q10 in the photo face-to-face
Like the BB Z10, the Q10 has an 8MP sensor. In terms of rendering, the Q10 is quite close to its predecessor, with a satisfactory level of detail overall and even better noise handling. It is also a little more faithful in terms of color management, more neutral here. In short, the general rendering is satisfactory for a smartphone sensor. It should also be noted that the digital stabilization, associated with a better grip of the camera compared to the Z10, make blurring accidents much more rare on the pictures.
Video mode allows recording in 1080p, with decent result. The stabilization is not exceptional here, the rendering will not offer an Oscar to the user, but the Q10 does the job honorably.
Autonomy
As we saw in this test, for certain multimedia uses, the Q10's screen is not really sized to offer an optimized display. But does this disadvantage perhaps turn into an advantage when it comes to evaluating the autonomy of this mobile, the screen counting for quite a bit in the energy consumption of a mobile terminal ... Unfortunately, even without reaching the catastrophic autonomy of the Z10 when it was released, the Q10 does not have a strong enough battery to support this new OS decidedly very energy intensive.
The prime suspect is called the HUB which, if combined with all of the notification services on offer, shamelessly drains the battery. Strange fact, still shared with the Z10, the battery can lose 20% of charge ... after a night in airplane mode.
Note all the same, the Q10 holds a little more the charge than the Z10 and one can reach three quarters of a day without rushing to a charger, if one adopts a reasonable use. Fortunately, the charge is quite fast. In less than two hours, you're done.
Highlights
Exemplary finishes.
Efficient keyboard / Shortcuts
General screen quality.
Global responsiveness of the OS.
The BlackBerry World store is filling up more and more.
Weak points
Less comfortable Internet browsing / video playback on a screen of this size.
Low autonomy and standby mode (low efficiency).
Conclusion
Note globaleThe Q10 is in line with the Z10, with the same qualities and faults, but also with a full physical keyboard of exceptional quality, in its construction, ergonomics and use. Physical success, the Q10 sins above all by its autonomy, unworthy of the Bold heritage. However, with its many hardware and software assets, it will delight BlackBerry lovers, who were eagerly awaiting a return of the prodigal model.
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