A Week With BB10: What I Missed in my Lumia; and What I Didn’t

So as you may know by now I’ve been using the new Blackberry Z10 for the better part of a week now; and it really is an interesting device, rocking BB’s all new BB 10 based on QNX. So here’s a quick run down of what I thought of the whole experience; heavily influenced by the obvious fact that I’ve been a long time Nokia user and more recently a Windows Phone fan.

-I missed the great camera on my 920 (or any Lumia device in fact); the 820 has a borderline acceptable camera- but it does take some great close up shots (due to the drag to focus- similar to iOS’s tap to focus then capture when you like).

-I didn’t miss the lack of profiles in Windows Phone, being more specific BB10 (and all previous BB’s I think) have this great feature where you can put the phone in night mode; which turns off all notifications (and displays a cool clock on the lock screen)- I know that’s like putting the phone on silent but it’s just a lot cooler. What I do mean is the ability to set custom ringtones for every single notification, app or alert; muting what I like and keeping what I like.

-I missed the wireless charging in my 920 (I only got my fatboy pillow two weeks ago); sure it’s a “gimmick” but it’s one that literally changes the way you interact with your phone and how you sleep every night. So if that’s classified as a gimmick give me as many gimmicks as you got.

-I didn’t miss the built in Twitter and Facebook notifications in the Me hub (more on that HERE); however one thing I forgot to mention before is that the BBhub doesn’t support retweeting, so that’s a point against it.

-I missed the built in rooms and MSN (now Skype I guess) chat; sure rooms can be annoying seeing how there is no way to mute only rooms notifications without muting other chat notifications; but I genuinely missed it . Sure BB has BBM but honestly people have moved on (or at least the ones I know), nobody I know still uses BBM (or at least the ones I want to talk to). So for me this one comes down to a matter of pure preference.

-I didn’t miss the lack of notifications at a glance, yes I know live tiles = notifications center blah blah; but let’s face it if that were true Microsoft wouldn’t be working on a notification center would they?

-I missed the updating wallpapers (currently I use Amazing Weather HD notifications plastered over the Bing image of the day; but when I’m bored I switch over to photostream).

-I didn’t miss the lack of a notification light, it is honestly very useful although sometimes annoying; especially on the Z10. Someone out there thought it would be a great idea to alert you of your low battery status by flashing a blinking light every 2 seconds (not exaggerating)-Made with cinemagraph BTW

-I missed the apps, yes as dismal as the Windows Phone app selection may be it’s better than the road BlackBerry went down, quick recap for those who don’t know BB10 has a built in Android app emulator (which runs app in an Android 2.2 skin); to help boost their numbers the weekend before the launch BB offered developers a ridiculous amount of money to port their Android apps into the BB App world; the result was rather than having quality apps the store is filled with a bunch of horribly ported Android skinned apps that crash before running and every-time you try getting something done. I think it’s safe to say Quality>Quantity (or you can go the iOS way and have both).

-I didn’t miss the horrible Windows Phone connector tool for Windows 8; you know the one that makes Zune look amazing in comparison. BB10 uses something called BB Link which is pretty cool; although it does keep popping up an annoying prompt asking me to insert my device’s password.

*At this point I’ve run out of things that I didn’t miss on my 920 so I’ll just stick to things I missed.

-On the related point of apps I also missed the Xbox live service and games (mainly Wordament and Alphajax); BB10 does have it’s own game center for competing with friends (like the one on iOS) but nothing beats Xbox Live.

-I’ve definitely missed Nokia Maps and Nokia Drive (BB Maps whatever they’re provided by) don’t even cover most of the Middle East; so that’s a big fail there.

-I missed the automatic upload to Skydrive service; which had my PC, my Lumia 900 and 920 as well as my iPad (through the Skydrive app) all synced together with latest photos from my devices.

-I’ve missed the much superior mail client on my 920 than the one on the Z10; which can’t even sync folders properly amongst other major issues (a shocker for someone who thought BB was all about email).

-As conceited as this sounds I missed the flashiness and attractiveness of my 920; even though i’ve had it for over 2 months I still get stopped by classmates and asked what phone that is; and I still enjoy taking pictures of it (or with it); while the Z10 does have an attractive design, it’s far from original (and apparently an upcoming HTC look exactly like it).

-Multitasking was not an issue seeing how the Z10 quits any app that hasn’t been used within the most recent 8 (WP8 also supports quick resume for 8 apps) the difference being on BB10 an app like Whatsapp (Android port) won’t give you a notification if it’s closed (not within the most recent 8); something that WP8 (and 7) both do.

-I can’t say I missed Microsoft’s One Note; seeing how BB10 has Evernote integrated into it; as well as the fact that one note is really a headache to use (given the different default folders from each device etc.)

-The weight issue was honestly a non-factor to me; that said the Z10 is VERY light (135 gms) but I honestly can’t see how it would influence the purchase of a phone, sure you can instantly tell the difference in weight but it’s not a “flaw” (in fact the Z10 actually slipped out of my pocket several times without me noticing- except for the clatter on the floor part).

-I’m not sure how to word this one, but I have N9 syndrome all over again; I’m swiping to close apps or to wake the phone, very difficult to overcome this habit.

*I’m sure there are a couple things I forgot to mention but apparently I’m getting old

Category: BB10, Lumia, Nokia, Windows Phone