I had an opportunity to review the BlackBerry Q5, the third BlackBerry 10 smartphone and the newest – and most affordable – on the market right now.
The BlackBerry 10 is a re-designed, re-engineered and re-invented BlackBerry platform that creates a new and unique mobile computing experience. The BlackBerry 10 browser is the fastest and most feature-rich HTML5 browser ever developed for a BlackBerry device.
It’s a combination of touchscreen and what BlackBerry is loved for – its keypad. My first smartphone was a BlackBerry Bold and my favourite was the keyboard, hands down. The QWERTY keyboards that offer what the other touchscreen phones don’t have. The keyboard makes it easy to type because each key on left half of the keypad is slightly raised to the right for easy left-thumb typing, as it is for the right side.
Now having used a full touchscreen smartphone, I must admit it’s a little difficult to come back to the smaller BlackBerry Q5 screen with its 3.1-inch display. Can we not have it all?!? But then all of the other features outweigh the screen, making the BlackBerry still #1 for business use in my opinion.
What I also think is great is the price – The Q5 is affordable because it’s only $49.99 on select 2-year plans with Roger, Bell and Telus. The Q5 is a great option for staying connected with your teenager who will undoubtedly also love the keyboard thus making your texting-24-7 teen love you forever.
Younger users will enjoy Story Maker where you can create and share your photos and videos along with a music track of your choice, to create a fun movie. You know they’ll be sharing with their friends.
I can see business users benefiting from the BBM™ Video and Screen Share but the best feature for staying organized is the BlackBerry Hub – it allows the user to switch with one finger move to see emails, texts, BBM, social media in a single place. The BlackBerry Hub can be instantly viewed or accessed from virtually any app or task you’re in – you can swipe up, and then to the right to “peek” into the BlackBerry Hub and either act or just go back to what you were doing. Another great feature – NFC technology where you can add a BBM contact, swap information with another user, share photos and files with a simple touch.
BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) has been a key feature and one of the most compelling apps on the BlackBerry platform. In the new BlackBerry World, there are more than 120,000 apps, games, and now a giant catalog of TV shows, movies, videos, books, magazines and more.
As for photos, the Q5 has two cameras, each capable of capturing HD video. The rear facing camera features autofocus and can capture 8MP shots in an instant, with an LED flash that can be set to auto or off. The front facing camera is ideal for taking selfies (you know you do it) or for video chatting over BBM. With video, you can also do front or rear facing shooting in HD; the rear camera captures movies in a higher resolution and supports HD 1080p.
Features:
Size (L x W x D) 120mm x 66mm x 10.8mm (10.5mm for non-NFC model)
Weight 120g
Display 3.1”, IPS LCD display, 720 x 720 resolution at 329 PPI
Keyboard 35-key physical QWERTY keyboard with discrete keys and backlight (language specific keyboards such AZERTY and QWERTZ also available in local markets)
Memory 2 GB RAM, 16 GB Flash, Hot Swappable microSDslot (up to 32 GB)
Processor Dual Core 1.2 GHz
Camera 5 MP rear facing camera, Auto Focus, 5x digital zoom, 1080p HD video recording, LED flash
2MP front facing camera, 3x digital zoom, 720p HD video recording
GPS Assisted, Autonomous, and Simultaneous GPS
Bluetooth Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy
NFC1
NFC-enabled to support mobile payments and file exchange
Advanced Sensors Accelerometer, Magnetometer, Proximity, Gyroscope, Ambient light sensor
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Mobile Hotspot
Network Connectivity 4
G LTE or HSPA+, support for global roaming
Battery: Embedded 2180 mAh
Talk Time: up to 12.5 hrs. on 3G
Standby Time: up to 14 days on 3G
Audio Playback: up to 62 hours
Video Playback: up to 9 hours
