The local BlackBerry 10 family is about to get bigger, as the smartphone company is positioning the all-touch five-inch Z30 as the "biggest, most advanced BlackBerry ever". The new device is about to hit South African stores any day now.
BlackBerry took the wraps off the phablet-like Z30 - as well as its new 10.2 operating system (OS) that will be available for all four BlackBerry 10 devices across all local networks soon - at a series of seeding sessions with media this week.
The Canadian company, under a cloud of doubt, with industry observers saying it has failed to keep up in the smartphone race - and various companies eyeing it for buyout opportunities -says it will continue to innovate and release new products.
Big brother
The Z30 picks up where its predecessor - little brother, the 4.2-inch Z10 - left off.
With a display size of five inches, the new device could technically be described as a phablet, although it is not being marketed as such by BlackBerry.
Sporting a dual-core 1.7GHz processor, the Z30 will compete against the likes of Apple's new iPhone 5S and Samsung's Galaxy S4, along with a range of other devices powered by Google's Android platform.
Martin Fick, senior product manager of Africa at BlackBerry SA, outlined the improvements that have been made to the Z10 upgrade and the 10.2 OS it will run on. He says 10.2 OS will be a welcome change for many BlackBerry users as it adds and changes a number of "little things" requested by users - as well as introduces significant new capabilities.
Device details
One of the Z30's main features, says Fick, is the size of its screen. At five inches, it is 0.01 inches bigger than Samsung's Galaxy S4 and an inch bigger than the latest iPhone.
Like the Z10, it has an 8MP rear camera and 16GB of internal storage, with the option of a removable memory card. Weighing 179g, Fick says the battery - a 2880 mAH unit - is longer lasting than its predecessor by a long shot.
Rui Brites, director of Africa product management at BlackBerry SA, says while it is very much user-dependent, the Z30's battery is capable of 25 hours of mixed use, up to 18 hours of talk time, 90 hours of music and 12 hours of video. OS 10.2, he notes, also lengthens the battery life and will bring extended life to the Z10, Q10 and Q5 when downloaded.
Fick notes the hardware used for the new 10 model is superior to that used for the Z10. "It has a premium finish, with a glass-weaved back cover."
He says BlackBerry focused heavily on sound quality in the design of the device, which sports four microphones, stereo speakers and BlackBerry Natural Sound technology.
The technology behind the Z30 antenna, says Fick, has also greatly improved transmitter and reception quality. "It is the best antenna on a BlackBerry to date."
New OS
The new 10.2 OS brings with it locked screen notifications that, unlike the previous system, allow users to preview messages from the icons. Previously, the locked screen featured notification icons that served no tangible purpose.
A BlackBerry Hub icon has been added to the home-screen, and a new Priority Hub allows users to flag priority contacts for a more truncated hub. Priority contacts can be customised by last name, mails marked high priority, or by where the conversation originated from.
An attachment takes received attachments and filters them inside the hub, where they can be viewed by date or searched for by name. "That way you don't need to copy someone else's body when you forward attachments - you send the attachment alone," says Fick.
Instant preview and instant reply are also new features of 10.2. This brings up a banner at the top of the screen with a preview - from which users can choose to reply straight from the current app on the screen. While anything from the hub will yield instant preview, only text messages/instant messages apply to instant reply.
The updated software also includes adaptive sharing, which - based on a user's share behaviour - customises and suggests media and corresponding channels and contacts.
Other small changes to 10.2 OS are the ability to set multiple alarms and the addition of Evernote as a native app.
Fick says Afrikaans has now been added to BlackBerry 10's input languages - of which a user can set up three. The addition of other South African languages is being looked into as well, he says.
BlackBerry map
Brites says BlackBerry is committed to the business and has a road map for the path going forward. While sales figures for the three new BlackBerry 10 devices released since the new revamped OS was unveiled at the end of January have been uninspiring, Brites points out the company's enterprise side has seen success.
"We are still number one on the enterprise side. Installations of BlackBerry Enterprise Servers has gone from 19 000 to 25 000 in the last quarter."
On the consumer side, now that BlackBerry Messenger has opened up to iPhone and Android users, BBM Channels - a Facebook/Twitter-like social media platform for companies to interact with consumers - will be the company's next move.
Brites says Channels - which will be launched soon - is an evolution of BBM Groups, which he says is popular, but limited in reach.
Last, but not least, says Brites, BlackBerry's QNX software platform - which BlackBerry 10 is built on - is making waves in the automotive industry. He notes Panasonic Automotive Systems Company of America recently chose QNX to provide the software platform for car infotainment systems worldwide.
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