Living with the BlackBerry Z30

The Z30 is the fourth BlackBerry smartphone based on the BlackBerry 10 operating system - and probably the best. But what's it like in every day use?

When the BlackBerry Z30 arrived at Computing's offices for review, there was a rare frisson of excitement and interest as the box was opened and the new device revealed itself.

It looked good, it felt substantial to hold and oozed genuine quality. The rubberised back cover was tactile, while the front with its Gorilla glass all the way to the edge was both elegant and made the screen seem bigger, even though the bezel of the Z30 is no different from the Z10's.

Yet the Z30 is not too heavy either for a device sporting a five-inch screen. And when put side-by-side it made the Z10 (which is only slightly smaller) seem almost like a toy in comparison.

However, at a retail price of around £450-£500, it ruddy well ought to ooze quality.

What you get for your money is a smartphone with a Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen and a resolution of 720 by 1280 pixels. It supports 1080p video on its rear camera and 720p video on its front-side camera, and both are capable of 30 frames per second. A mini-HDMI port enables users to connect it to a monitor or television.

The device is powered by a dual-core Qualcomm Pro Snapdragon running at 1.7 GHz, alongside a quad-core Adreno 320 graphics processing unit. And all flavours of Wi-Fi are supported, as well as 4G mobile communications (LTE 800/900/1800/2100/2600). Gratifyingly, it also has stereo speakers situated on the top and bottom of the device.

Finally, it has two gigabytes (GB) of RAM memory and 16GB of flash storage, expandable to 64GB via microSD. Oh, and a massive lithium ion battery - 2880 mAh, some 60 per cent larger than the Z10's battery.

As a result, it can eke out just under two days of light data usage and a full day of more intensive use - unlike the Z10, which will melt down in five hours of conference Twittering unless the user upgrades to a device "fattening" 4500 mAh battery. This is just as well as the Z30 battery can't be replaced. It also stays cool under intensive use compared to the Z10.

Display delight

The display is an absolute delight. Bright and colourful, it may not quite have the PPI of an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy, but there's no practical difference in use and, in any case, there's more to a screen than the raw pixel count.

BlackBerry claims that the material to produce the Z30 display is different from the Z10, improving image clarity, as well as colour density and contrast. The difference is certainly clear. Even text in relatively small fonts can be read clearly (your own eyesight permitting).

For example, on the front-page of the Daily Mail website you can not only read the headlines in portrait orientation, but all the text in the standfirsts and the "sidebar of shame", too. Whether you would want to or not is another matter...

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Living with the BlackBerry Z30

The Z30 is the fourth BlackBerry smartphone based on the BlackBerry 10 operating system - and probably the best. But what's it like in every day use?

In terms of touch, it's superbly accurate and sensitive too. Just the lightest of strokes are required.

Video, such as BBC iPlayer, runs smoothly and clearly, and the well-placed stereo speakers add to the pleasure. BlackBerry claims that its four microphone ports, combined with what it dubs "natural sound" software, help improve sound quality for video conferencing.

Wi-Fi, however, is something of a disappointment. It's not that it's bad. In fact, it's as good as any other smartphone we've used. However, we had hoped that the dual Wi-Fi antenna would supercharge the range of the device as it did with the Gigabyte laptop we tested in September.

BlackBerry claims that the device uses the company's new Paratek Antenna technology, which ought to keep calls connected when lesser devices might struggle. This, though, was hard to test, but we found it crisp and clear making and receiving all calls. None were dropped either.

Picture this

The camera on the Z30 seems to be an improvement on the Z10's, but still nothing too special. Pictures are good in normal light conditions outside, but a little grainy indoors under artificial light. It also lacks modes and other special features found on bog-standard Android devices. HDR shooting mode does register big improvements - but you need to keep the device still for a second or more as it takes multiple images and melds them together to improve definition.

Removing the back cover, too, can be a pain. Like the Z10, the cover should simply peel off. However, it doesn't yield quite as easily as the Z10 rear cover does and can require a fair bit of persuading to come off. The Z30's extra size, though, makes its virtual keyboard much easier to use than the Z10's, where even my dainty hands seem to be all fingers and thumbs.

The device comes with BlackBerry 10.2 installed as standard, so users won't have to go through any of the pain associated with upgrading to the latest version of BlackBerry's smartphone operating system that Z10 owners had to go through. It does, though, still take a minute or more too boot like the Z10, which seems anomalous when even Windows 8 running on a desktop doesn't take that long.

For those unfamiliar with BlackBerry OS, it's Unix-based, and hence closely related to Linux-based Android. As such, it can run Android apps up to Android 4.2.2 thanks to the built-in Android runtime layer in BlackBerry 10.2

Indeed, BlackBerry offers repackaging tools to make it easy for Android developers to repurpose their apps for BlackBerry 10. While BlackBerry World doesn't exactly run over with apps, it does have most of the serious applications people will want, even if Candy Crush, Temple Run 2 and other popular games are absent (it does, though, have ports of Angry Birds and Jetpack Joyride).

As an operating system, its fast and fluid, with the "Messaging Hub" the piece de resistance as far as BlackBerry is concerned. This is the app that pulls together all your email accounts, Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and other communication services, making it quick and easy to check out your latest emails and other interactions. Every smartphone operating system should have one.

It also has a home screen, where you can quickly switch between apps you have running and terminate them easily if necessary. Although somewhat "buttoned up" in appearance, I feel it's a better user interface for everyday use and zipping between apps than both Android and iOS. I also suspect I'm in a minority on that score...

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Living with the BlackBerry Z30

The Z30 is the fourth BlackBerry smartphone based on the BlackBerry 10 operating system - and probably the best. But what's it like in every day use?

Conclusion

So, overall, is it any good? The answer is "yes". The BlackBerry Z30 looks and feels like the device that the Z10 ought to have been. Its main weaknesses are the inability to easily replace the battery and the relative shortage of apps in BlackBerry World compared to rivals.

The device, though, is easily the equal of other high-end smartphones. Indeed, BlackBerry has made a series of good design choices with the Z30, not just visually, but with a good quality, responsive screen, well-located stereo twin speakers and a big, big battery. There are no glaring design shortcomings.

Yes, BlackBerry 10 does have relatively fewer apps compared to Android and iOS, but most bases are covered and the Android runtime compatibility means that there's no reason why it should be short of apps in the future - provided new CEO John Chen can pull the company through.

Rating 4/5

Pros

Cons

Alternatives

The Apple iPhone 5S and 5C are the obvious alternatives, as market leaders at this price point, while the Nokia Lumia 925 and 1020 arguably offer better cameras.