From iPhone4S to new BB Q10

Hey everyone, I know there seems to be a lot of people on the web asking about switching from the iPhone to the Q10, so I figured I would post my impressions a week after doing it. Just so you know my phone lineage, my first and only BB prior was a Pearl, then iPhone 3GS, then Droid X, then iPhone 4S, and now Q10.

So first, why switch? Well, in my normal day-to-day job I'm a lobbyist. Communication is everything. While the 4S did a decent job at it, I hated the onscreen keyboard and the autocorrect. I would spend half my time undoing what it thought I meant to say. In addition the email was somewhat frustrating and the battery life during legislative session couldn't get me through a day. I would have to recharge by 4pm and that was using wifi most of the time. I took a look back and figured out that communication was most important (phone, e-mail, text) followed by Facebook and Twitter. I hardly played any games and with my iPad I could still use the apps that I wanted to.

1. Hardware - it's a very well put together phone. Feels very sturdy in the hand, perfect weight, and can still use it one handed. You never notice it doesn't have a four core processor, etc. The only complaint is the spacebar is a little wobbly. I went back to Verizon and checked and they all did it to some degree. The rest of the phone is perfect, so i can live with it as long as it doesn't get worse. I did some snooping and found out what the issue is. If you look at the underneath photo of the keyboard, the spacebar has one peg right in the center just like the rest of the keys and that's it, even though it's three keys wide. Probably should have one peg at each end. It works perfectly and in all honesty I don't even notice it when I'm typing. The screen is plenty bright for me. I keep it around 35-40%.

2. Software: the good - I'll start with BB10. Coming from the iPhone, yes thing do work a bit differently. However, once you get the hang of it, its actually pretty simple to use. Its very stable, I haven't had anything crash or hang. I had one anomaly where overnight the battery went from 50% to under 5%. I reset the phone and its been fine since. I have to say it, I love the hub! It's such a simple idea, I don't know why it's taken so long for someone to come up with it. I could go on and on, but it's been beat to death already. In addition I love the shortcuts like typing "text wife" and it's ready to go. I've had no problems ending calls, or accidentally closing apps, etc. I just learned where the sensitivity starts for each swipe. Took around 2-3 times to get it right and haven't had an issue since.

3. Software: the bad - Nothing that's terrible. There are some design features that haven't been implemented yet that I would like to see. I would like to be able to turn off what is searched in the universal search. I don't want to pull up all of my Facebook and LinkedIn contacts. I think it should be tied to what you have turned on and off in contacts. The next thing I did like about the iPhone was how it was "smart" when it came to appointments in e-mails and texts. Let's say my wife sent me a text to be at XYZ at 12pm. BB10 doesn't recognize this as an appointment, so unlike the iPhone I can't just click it and have an appointment set. Another thing my wife hates is that she can't send me Emoji's from her iPhone 5. It is kind of annoying and hopefully some developer will address this.

4. Apps - easy one, go to BBworld and search for your apps before you switch. If you see enough that work, get the Q10. If there are some you can't live without that aren't there, don't get the Q10. There are some good substitute apps out there too, so look for those.

5. Conclusion - after one week, I still love it. I'm glad I made the switch. I wouldn't say the iPhone is a toy, it worked well for me when I had it, but the OS became stale and iOS7 didn't really impress me at all. For a workhorse phone, it works great and I highly recommend you give it a try.


**EDIT: forgot to talk about battery life. Right now is the off season for me and work, so I would say I'm a light to moderate user right now, depending on the day. So far I am charging every 2.5 days, which in coming from the iPhone, is remarkable.

 

About a month into it and it's all so natural and fluid, I don't even think about the gestures anymore. I have zero complaints about it.