There’s a lot of big news coming from Research in Motion today. At an event held this morning, the company officially rebranded itself as simply “BlackBerry,” launched their new BlackBerry 10 platform, and announced two new devices to bring themselves back into the smartphone game full-swing: The BlackBerry Z10 (pictured below, via TechCrunch) and Q10.
From the press release:
BlackBerry® today launched BlackBerry® 10, the re-designed, re-engineered, and re-invented BlackBerry platform that creates a new and unique mobile computing experience. Available on two new LTE-enabled smartphones, the BlackBerry® Z10 (all-touch) and BlackBerry® Q10 (touch with physical keyboard) smartphones powered by BlackBerry 10 offer you a faster, smarter and smoother experience than any other BlackBerry you have used before.
“Today sees a re-invented BlackBerry launching an entirely new mobile experience,” said Thorsten Heins, President and CEO of BlackBerry. “We are thrilled to be introducing BlackBerry 10 on the new BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10 smartphones, to deliver a faster, smarter experience that continuously adapts to your needs. Every feature, every gesture, and every detail in BlackBerry 10 is designed to keep you moving.”
The BlackBerry Z10 is the most direct competitor to the iPhone 5, Windows Phone 8, and Android devices, with a 4.2-inch screen with 1280 x 768 display resolution at 356ppi – that’s a sharper resolution than the iPhone 5! The device also features 2GB of RAM, a dual-core 1.5GHz processor and 16GB of storage, with a MicroSD slot to expand storage. It also features a 2MP front camera, and 8MP rear camera, 4G LTE support, and NFC for sharing content and making payments.
Here’s BlackBerry’s official video introduction of the Z10:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BDtxZr5TS7E
The Q10, on the other had, is a more traditional BlackBerry device, with a full QWERTY keyboard, the same dual-core processor and 2GB of RAM, and a 3.1-inch touchscreen at 330ppi. Here’s BlackBerry’s intro video for the Q10:
The BlackBerry Z10 has gotten a pretty warm reception in the first round of reviews (Engadget, Verge,CrackBerry, TechCrunch, and others<, and is set to launch in the U.K. as early as tomorrow. The z10 will also launch in the U.S. in March for $199 with a 2-year contract, and the Q10 will be released in the U.S. in April. we’re hearing $199 on contract for the Z10, to be released in the U.S. some time in March, while the Q10 will be released in April.
The Z10 in particular looks like a very impressive device – we hope to get our hands on one soon so we can experience it for ourselves!
