BlackBerry Z30 - All About Phones

Dominick Viëtor , Saturday, January 25, 2014 10:00 | Our final rating for this product: 3 / 5 | 0 comments

last year explained BlackBerry with BlackBerry 10 and BlackBerry Z10 a good foundation, but it was still a long way off. Meanwhile, the BlackBerry Z30 has taken over the baton and in this review we look at how the flagship BlackBerry stands now.

“The latest achievement is the BlackBerry Z30, which acts as a new flagship.”

Although BlackBerry 10 early last year was not poorly received, were many tech journalists would agree that the OS was not finished. This was also true for us and in our review of the Z10, we could only conclude that there is still a lot to be done. Two months later, the phone was already widely available and we looked back to the Z10, which was already a lot better was appreciated. Also about the Q5 and Q10 we were to speak reasonably well. However, none of the new BlackBerries managed to break pots and partly because the BlackBerry was just very difficult. Yet the manufacturers optimistic about the future and, of course, remain just new devices from the bands. The latest achievement is the BlackBerry Z30, which acts as a new flagship and also introduces BlackBerry OS 10.2.

“What is striking is that the specs of the BlackBerry Z30 are not real flagship-worthy anymore.”

What is striking is that the specs of the BlackBerry Z30 are not real flagship-worthy anymore. Facing the Z10, which a year ago had not been the most high-endspecs, are really only the GPU, the battery and the screen diagonal has improved. In addition, the screen is now a super amoledexemplaar. That means the Z30 dualcore Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset clocked at 1.7GHz, 2GB of RAM, a 5-inch large 720p display, an 8-megapixel camera and support for all modern network technologies except wifi ac has.

Fortunately for BlackBerry OS 10.2 is their a lot less heavy than Android and the device has yet by a high-end experience to offer a good chance. In this review we take stock.

Specifications and prices

Below you can find the full specifications and lowest prices of the BlackBerry Z30. This review is based on software version 10.2.0.424 and a price of € 470.

Unfortunately, there are no current available at the moment.

	BlackBerry Z30
General	compare Phone? Released on September 2013 Runs on BlackBerry OS 10.2 housing Fiberglass
class=”bold nowrap”>Processor	Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro dual-core processor at 1.7 GHz Graphics: Adreno 320
class=”bold nowrap”>Memory	2GB Internal Memory (RAM) 16GB Storage Memory memory expandable via microSD HC
class=”bold nowrap”>Dimensions	Weight: 170 grams Length: 140mm Width: 72mm Thickness: 9.4 mm
class=”bold nowrap”>Display / input	5 “Super Amoled screen touchscreen with multitouch screen is scratch resistant 720×1280 screen resolution
class=”bold nowrap”>Camera	8MP camera with LED flash autofocus 1080p (Full HD) video recording 2MP front camera
class=”bold nowrap”>Network	SIM slot: Micro SIM GSM network bands: 850, 900, 1800, 1900 EDGE and GPRS HSDPA and UMTS LTE
class=”bold nowrap”>Sensors	A-GPSG-SensorGyrosensorNabijheidssensorDigitaal Compass
class=”bold nowrap”>Connectivity	Wi-Fi ®: IEEE 802.11 b / g / n Internet Sharing via WiFi HotSpot Bluetooth 4.0 EDR with A2DP NFC 3.5 mm jack for audio TV-out (HDMI signal) Micro-USB connector
class=”bold nowrap”>Battery	Battery Capacity 2880mAh battery is not replaceable

Unboxing

The BlackBerry Z30 comes with a fairly standard sales package. The phone is flanked by some manuals, a pair of earphones, a USB cable, two socket adapters: one for the UK and the Netherlands

.

Design

“As we have come to expect from the more expensive Blackberies, the Z30 is well put together.”

As we have come to expect from the more expensive Blackberies, the Z30 is well put together. Front of the Z30 is largely a glass sheet with only at the bottom edge of a plastic similar to that of the Z10. The back of the device is removable as a whole and built a special type of fiber, which makes for a nice feeling in the hand and a luxurious appearance. Despite the detachable rear battery is not interchangeable: the cover provides access only to the memory card and SIM card from the phone

Although the BlackBerry Z30 solid and pleasant to the touch, we have two comments about the build quality.. First, the back rather difficult to pick which fortunately for most users is not really a problem will be loose. More annoying is the fact that the switch between the two volume keys, which acts at a single press of a button as play-pause button and voice control activates when you hold it down. Because you easily accidentally pressed the button, he is in the way then you are benefiting from it.

The Z30 has a thickness of 9.4 mm and is quite average by its rounded back comfortably in the hand. Only the unit is on the hefty side for a smartphone with a 5-inch screen, especially through the space below the screen. The unit is a few millimeters larger than a Galaxy S4 or LG G2. Nothing shocking, but a bit sad.

This Z30 is a micro HDMI port, something that has become rare in smartphones. In many devices is now an MHL port that the USB port is used as a TV-out, but that goes on this BlackBerry so via an HDMI cable. These are slightly more readily available and need no power but also makes little difference. The phone has its power button on the top down, which is not the most convenient placement. Putting the micro USB port on the side and the 3.5mm jack on top.

Screen

“The 720p screen does not have the highest resolution, but for everyone except the real pixel freaks enough.”

The BlackBerry Z30 uses a 5-inch large amoledscherm with a resolution of 720×1280 pixels. Not the highest resolution available, but for everyone except the real pixel freaks sufficient. Everything looks sharp and pixels are only recognizable if you are really going to search. An additional advantage is that the Z30 has an RGB matrix instead of a PenTile matrix, which ensures that there are no crazy colored edges are created and the resolution seems to be higher than in many amoledschermen.

The colors are as we know from other amoledschermen very vivid and saturated, but BlackBerry herein is in our opinion a bit too far gone. The saturation is so high that some things are not very realistic look anymore, because you have to keep. The brightness of the screen is nice, the viewing angle and contrast very well. It’s certainly not ugly screen, but the colors are something to us. The lower resolution have little trouble, but it is a pity that such a expensive device does not use the best available resolution.

Performance

“In itself there is nothing wrong with the performance so.”

The BlackBerry Z30 no longer runs on the latest processor you can get. It is the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro MSM8960AB, two clocked at 1.7 GHz Krait cores under the hood. The GPU is an Adreno 320, which is certainly reasonable rap is combined with the 720p screen. This applies to the whole unit though, because both questions BlackBerry 10 as the number of pixels on the screen is not so much of the CPU and GPU. This makes everyday tasks more than fast enough on the Z30 and you notice there is actually little of what the hardware is outdated.

That you’ll go brands with heavier applications. They all run flawlessly, the Z30 is indeed the most powerful BlackBerry on the market. But surely if for example you have an Android Application runs notice that the boot is sometimes less than that would be. Androidtelefon on this segment

In itself there is nothing wrong with the performance so. Nevertheless, we find a processor of a year old on an extension of nearly five hundred euros a bit sparse, and we wonder how the device it is about two years. With Android Applications that time he will probably be difficult to get.

“The battery capacity of 2880mAh for this hardware really neat and the Z30 then keep it too long.”

Obviously the BlackBerry Z30 LTE and further is it all mustache in terms of communication. Nfc, wifi and bluetooth are all naturally present and the range is nothing wrong.

The battery of the Z30 is incredibly good. The capacity of 2880mAh for this hardware really neat and the Z30 then keep it too long. It is in our case occurred several times that the device two days it was in normal use. Use your device intensive then you will have to explain it, especially in the evening to the charger but at least you do not have to be that the device is already stopped mid-day fear. And that was with the Z10 different.

Software

“The interface is rather used to if you’re used to something else, it works nice if you’ve got it.”

The BlackBerry Z30 runs on the latest version of BlackBerry OS: 10.2. In the base operating system remained the same as when it was introduced on the BlackBerry Z10, a year ago, but there are certainly a number of improvements. Thus, the Android runtime that is used today is based on Android Jelly Bean instead of Gingerbread and you can click on the lock screen, click on an icon to display. Already the information contained in them again All in all, the operating system has become more mature, although the level of Android or iOS far from a reality.

The interface is largely based on the concept of sweeping to perform actions. From the edge of the screen, swipe up to minimize an application, wipe you off the edge downwards then called the menu. If you have a movement from bottom to top and then to the right makes you get into the hub end, where all your communication is collected. It’s all rather used to if you’re used to something else, it works nice if you’ve got it.

The “home screen” only exists if you have open applications, these are displayed as thumbnails. If the app supports will be a special piece of information on this screen, a kind of widget. Thus, up to four thumbnails displayed on one screen, and after scrolling fit another four at. The apps are on the order in which they opened for the last time, and that means you can not leave. Such a ‘widget’ always in focus That’s a shame. The menu to the right of the home screen consists of a list of all your apps, in its discretion, shared and whether or not placed in folders.

“The BlackBerry Hub is one of the most important parts of the operating system.”

On the left side of the interface can be found, one of the most important parts of the operating system. BlackBerry Hub This hub is assisted by the ‘peak’ functionality. This means that if you swipe upwards from an app but do not let go of all your notifications icons to see the screen gets, so you can see if you can find the message important enough immediately. If that is the case, then you swipe to the right to open the hub and if not then you sweep back down and you can continue with what you were doing.

The default page of the hub consists simply from a long list of all your communications, if you swipe to the right, you get to see all the categories and can therefore filter. Things like system messages, text messages, BBM, WhatsApp, emails, missed calls, Facebook and Twitter are all available in the hub. In addition, there is the priority hub where messages that are designated for one reason or another, appear to be important by the system yet. All messages can be viewed directly from the hub and handled. If you swipe down from the hub you emerge upcoming calendar appointments.

For most items in the hub is that they also have their own app, such as Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp. That can sometimes be a bit confusing, but does not really problems. For e-mails is that they can be found only in the hub and no special email-have app. That in itself is working fine, although the functionality is generally not as extensive as in the standalone email apps for other operating systems, and we regret the fact that emails are not grouped by conversation.

“also an FM radio is missing.”

on the phone are three apps available for multimedia consumption: a music player, video player and gallery. The music has quite a disadvantage. The player is not able to scroll through your music list letter. That means you can search for a song, but not then play your entire list or a playlist. That can only search by him manually and if you have a big muziekbibilotheek is obviously quite a lot of work. Furthermore, it is unfortunate that the settings are somewhat limited, and for example, an equalizer is not available. Also an FM radio is missing.

Well tidy the video player that supports many formats and can easily sort videos by date or folder. Also in the gallery of the Z30 is little to criticize. Photo editing is also possible and is easy. You can, for example a filter from a list or display images, you can automatically optimize the color and brightness, self-adjust the white balance or brightness and retouch red eyes.

Another positive point is the sound quality. Through a headset that is not very special but good and through the speaker unit sounds fine. The phone uses stereo speakers, which can be quite hard, and a phone are fairly clear and have some depth. It’s not as good as for example the Tree Sound speakers of some HTC devices, but for a phone certainly very neat.

The BlackBerry Z30 are quite a few apps as standard allowing the device is reasonably complete. There are obviously a number of simpler apps, like a weather application, a calculator, a compass and a clock. In addition there is an excellent office suite with which you can view and edit files, and the unit comes with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Foursquare.

Fun is the program ‘Remember’, an app which notes and a to-do list together. Nice is that the app is linked to your email so items that you do mark as a major come back in your to-do list. Something else is nice Story Maker. It lets you create videos from a number of photos, complete with music underneath, a title before and after and a filter and effects on your photos. The file manager has standard integration with Dropbox and Box, which is also very convenient.

The browser of the BlackBerry Z30 is smooth and has the great advantage of being one of the few mobile browsers nowadays supports flash. Even though this is becoming less important, there are still plenty of sites still work with the platform.

To get to the way the Z30 BlackBerry Maps. Who had some teething problems when BlackBerry 10 just came out, but now works well. The GPS unit has a quick fix, and the possibilities are quite extensive. You can navigate, there is a button to “my places” where you can navigate. Easy access to certain places or contacts This navigation is fine with a simple interface and also looking up additional sites going well. As extensive as Google Maps is certainly not and it probably never will be, but the app is more than enough for everyday use.

“It is also true that you can run. many Android apps also on the Z30″

Then there is still the issue of the application store, which as with any new operating system is not as extensive as that of Android or iOS. The question is whether it is enough and that is in our opinion the case. If you want to have any new apps instantly and every supermarket and every event to an app then you should not be with BlackBerry 10. But if you’ve a number of useful applications, such as 9292, Schiphol, WhatsApp and Buienradar you’ll get there. In addition, there are a lot of amusing games available for a little entertainment.

It is also true that you can run. Many Android apps also on the Z30 That’s a little bit cumbersome, but if there are missing apps that you necessarily want them so you can generally still use the phone. The apps run as it were, under Android Jelly Bean, and thus there are many apps compatible, although not every app works.

Camera

The camera of the BlackBerry Z30 is one with a resolution of 8 megapixels and a single LED flash. On the front is a 2 megapixel camera. The front camera is pretty average, which is at the back actually. The primary camera does not compare with example Samsung’s Galaxy Note 3 but is better than that of the BlackBerry Z10. Photos are reasonably sharp and the lines in order. The colors are a bit on the bland side, but can not stop there. The Z30 has a fairly good HDR mode. All in all, the picture quality is not against us.

As with other BlackBerry 10 devices are the options in the camera Z30 fairly limited. Notable is the mode to create a burst of images and then each person to find out.’s Best face So you can make relatively easy group shots. Since this mode is also supported by the front camera is also groepsselfies even easier thanks to the mode.

The movies that the Z30 shoot in Full HD resolution and are qualitatively quite good. The audio from videos is not wrong and the unit focuses fairly quickly while he films. Also zoom and the light on and off while filming is possible.

Conclusion

The BlackBerry Z30 is a nice step forward compared to the Z10, but we can not shake the thought that competition is tougher progressed. during the past year Although the Z30, the price of a flagship, he is in some areas still not quite at the time.

“Although the Z30 is therefore a great device, it is there one that difficult really advisable for many.”

The somewhat slower processor we want the Z30 still forgiven. Which is in fact well captured by the relatively light software. However, the screen we are less forgiving. You could argue that this is more than enough for everyday use, you should look to see the difference. With a full HD screen even good That’s true, but the fact remains that many smart phones which are about half the cost of the Z30 have a similar screen. You do not pay the prize to get more than enough for everyday use. Components The same story goes for the camera.

On the other hand, there is independent of that price is very little wrong with the Z30. The design is fine, the software is straight out of the box and the interface is nice and completely enjoyable. The app offering lags behind that of Android and iOS, but you may be wondering who actually is a problem. A big advantage is security, which is a lot stronger than Android. That is reflected in the fact that you can withdraw any authorization by the Company may be convenient app Balance function and also the whole idea behind BlackBerry. Where Android is designed to market Google services and Google in turn prefer to gather all your data to dish, you better ads BlackBerry has no advantage at.

However

point is that the Z30 mainly alternative to the large mass of Android devices instead of the other. For the group that is committed to privacy and security is a very attractive alternative, but for many just ‘something else’. And if that is so different hundred to two hundred dollars more expensive than the Android alternative, it is difficult to guess. Although the Z30 is therefore a great device, it is there one that difficult really advisable for many.

Due to its relatively high price, the BlackBerry Z30 a very considerable number of competitors. For the average consumer, we mainly talk about high-end Android phones like the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 LG G2, Sony Xperia Z1 and Google Nexus 5. With Windows Phone Lumia Nokia 1020 is still lurking and iOS area Z30 will mainly going to take. Against the iPhone 5c

More importantly perhaps competition from BlackBerry itself. Many consumers who go for a Z30 will have security high on their list of priorities and then BlackBerry is the best choice. Since the BlackBerry Z10 is also fine for just over half the price of the Z30 over the counter, is also an interesting alternative. Also about as expensive Q10 is interesting but falls through his keyboard obvious in another niche.

Pros

• Good construction
• Good battery life
• Pleasant interface
• Excellent security
• Good multimedia capabilities

Negatives

• screen quite oversaturated
• Can not count in terms of specs competition
• BlackBerry 10 ecosystem relatively limited
• Duration