Blackberry Z30 mobile review

Up until now, they have not experimented with the screen size of their device and the company has taken its time to embed the touch technology to its products. From 2013, Blackberry tried itself in an unfamiliar territory with Blackberry 10 operating system (BB10 OS) that was meant to support full-fledged touch operations which were offered on blackberry Z10, Q10 (touch and QWERTY) and the more recent Z30, which is the company's first ever 5 inch device.

Features

The blackberry Z30 smartphone sports a 1280x720 pixels resolution. It packs a 1.7 GHz dual-core CPU clubbed with 2 GB RAM for seamless device performance. With 16 GB internal space, expandable up to 64 GB, storing data shouldn't pose problems. It comes with an 8 MP rear camera and a 2 MP front facing snapper for video calling and recording. Running on the latest BB 10.2 platform one gets blackberry Hub feature and a tweaked user interface. Facilitated by a 2880 mAh battery the phone should not die on you at crucial times in the day.

Good in everyday tasks

Like most of the blackberry devices, the Z30 is well built, solid to hold and comes with a rugged looking rear cover which does not feel cheap. On the left you have micro-USb port as well as mini-HDMI port (sadly blackberry has not bundled the HDMI cable with the unit). The Lock/Power button and 3.5 mm audio jack are at the top of Z30. On the right you have a volume rocker button and another that enables you to stop music placed between the two.

The phone offers good quality audio out with in-built speakers but one expects more than a HD (1280x720 pixels) display for this price.

Powered by the latest Blackberry 10.2 operating system you get blackberry Hub, which can be used to access mails, messages, status, calls etc. Unlike Android smartphones, the bb10 OS powered devices do not have a back button and one needs to swipe the screen to the top to access other applications.

This feature is different and takes time getting used to but we did not find it appealing enough and this could pose some sluggishness for users to carry it in their hands and swipe. Not much to talk about the cameras, the rear camera is strictly average with decent outdoor images but mediocre low-light shooting capability. The front camera is decent for video calls with the person clearly visible.

During our battery test (wherein we ran HD movies on Wi-Fi at full brightness till battery drains out), the Z30 lasted for close to 7 hours, which is really handy and on normal usage should offer more than a day's life.