In 2009-2011, the Canadian company Research In Motion (RIM) was one of the leaders in smartphone sales in the global market. Her device, called the BlackBerry, was very popular with consumers. But after Apple's first iPhone entered the market, demand for the Canadian company's smartphones began to decline. As customer needs grew, RIM was unable to offer them anything new. In 2013, the company changed its name from Research In Motion to BlackBerry, strengthening its brand. In the same year, new smartphones BlackBerry Q10, BlackBerry Q5 and BlackBerry Z10 were released, running on the new operating system BlackBerry 10. The latest novelty of the Canadian company was the BlackBerry Z30.
Equipment
BlackBerry Z30 comes in a black box, on the front of which you can read the smartphone model and see the company logo. There is no picture of the purchased device on the box.
The device is completed with an interface cable, a warranty, a user manual, a charger (2 amperes) with a plug for Europe (or a plug for the UK) and a proprietary wired BlackBerry Premium Stereo Handset with two sets of additional attachments.
Design
BlackBerry Z30 is available in only one body color. The back panel of the device is completely black, on the sides of the device there is a silver edging "like metal". A small insert in the lower part of the front panel also has a silver color. The developer plans to go on sale a smartphone model in white, but the timing has not yet been announced.
The front panel of the device is almost identical to the BlackBerry Z10. And the "back" of the smartphone is made of the same matte material as the rear panel of the BlackBerry Q10. This material looks and feels like Kevlar, which is used in the production of Motorola Razr smartphones (for example, the Motorola Razr HD).
The body of the smartphone is completely made of plastic. The front panel of the device is covered with a protective glass Corning Gorilla Glass 2. The device is well assembled.
The dimensions of the BlackBerry Z30 are 140.7x72x9.4 millimeters. The device weighs 170 grams. That's a lot for a 5-inch smartphone. In comparison, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 weighs 2 grams less, but it also has a larger screen and a larger battery. It's unclear why the BlackBerry Z30 is so heavy, since no heavy materials were used in its production.
Like other models from the Canadian company, the BlackBerry Z30 has a stylish and expensive look.
Location of controls
Above the screen on the front panel of the BlackBerry Z30 there is a speaker grill, on the sides of which are the front camera, a proximity sensor, a light sensor and an alert indicator. The manufacturer's logo can be seen under the display. There are no hardware or touch buttons on the front of the smartphone. The main control keys are part of the interface.
In the upper left part of the "back" of the smartphone there is a camera lens and an LED flash. In the middle of the rear panel there is a company logo, and on top and bottom, closer to the ends of the case, you can see the speaker holes.
The back cover of the device is removable; under it there is a battery compartment. The battery cannot be removed from the device. Slots for microSIM and microSD cards go out to the left side of the smartphone, but you can access them only after removing the back cover.
There are microHDMI and microUSB ports on the left side panel of the device.
The upper end of the device is occupied by the headphone jack and the power key.
On the right side of the device there are two volume down and volume up buttons, and between them there is a voice control activation key.
Display
The device has the largest screen among all BlackBerry smartphones. The diagonal screen of the BlackBerry Z30 is 5 inches with a resolution of 1280x720 pixels.Most flagships in 2013 have 5-inch displays, such as the HTC One or Samsung Galaxy S4. But the screen resolution of a Canadian smartphone lags behind today's standards. The pixel density of the BlackBerry Z30 display is 295 dpi, which is less than its predecessor Z10 (355 dpi).
The smartphone screen has an oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating that prevents fingerprints from getting dirty quickly. Stains are removed from the screen very easily.
The display of the device is equipped with an anti-reflective filter.
The brightness of the BlackBerry Z30 screen is adjusted only automatically, depending on the ambient light. Using a special slider, you can only adjust the operation of this function.
The screen of the device does not have a large margin of brightness, so the information on the display is hardly distinguishable in the sunlight outside. But during the day in the room, it is quite comfortable to work with the display of the device. It is convenient to use your smartphone even in complete darkness. In this case, the brightness is reduced to a minimum level.
The display of the device has wide viewing angles. When deviated to large angles, the white color acquires a bluish tint, other colors do not change. The color gamut of the smartphone screen is much wider than the sRGB standard.
Camera
The BlackBerry Z30 main camera module is built on the OmniVision OV8830 chip with BSI2 technology. The camera resolution is 8 megapixels. The same camera is found in the Z10.
You can take pictures with a touch of your finger anywhere on the screen. If burst shooting is activated, it will continue as long as the user keeps his finger pressed against the display. Using your fingers on the screen, you can change the focus point and zoom.
The user can customize the operation of the flash, activate the addition of geotags. HDR mode is available in the camera settings. High dynamic range shots are sharp enough.
We should also note the presence of the Time Shift function. This function allows you to take a series of shots, pick the best facial expressions and combine them into one photo. Something similar can be found in Nokia smartphones.
Videos on the main camera of the smartphone can be recorded at a maximum resolution of 1080p.
The front camera of the device has a resolution of 2 megapixels. With its help, you can shoot videos with a maximum resolution of 720p.
Hardware platform
The BlackBerry Z30 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro (MSM8960T), which consists of two Krait 200 processor cores and an Adreno 320 graphics accelerator. The smartphone's processor can run at a maximum frequency of 1.7 GHz. The volume of the device's RAM is 2 gigabytes, of which about 1.3 gigabytes are available after loading the system. A smartphone can have up to 8 applications open at the same time.
The volume of the device's internal data storage is 16 gigabytes, of which about 10.8 gigabytes are available to the user for storing personal data and installing applications. You can expand the amount of internal memory using a microSD card up to 64 gigabytes.
The device uses a processor that is used in mid-range smartphones, so the BlackBerry Z30 cannot demonstrate a record level of performance over the flagships of other companies. In the synthetic test Geekbench 2, the device scores 2392 points, surpassing the results of other models of the Canadian company, but inferior to top Android smartphones, for example, the Samsung Galaxy S4 (3516 points).
All games available on the official BlackBerry World app store, such as Asphalt 7, Modern Combat 4 and N.O.V.A. 3, launch without any problems and run smoothly on the smartphone.
Autonomy
The BlackBerry Z30 is equipped with a non-removable lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 2880 milliampere-hours. According to the manufacturer, the device can work from one battery charge up to 18 hours of talk time and up to 370 hours of standby time. The device can provide up to 12 hours of video playback and up to 90 hours of music playback on a single charge.If you play modern 3D games continuously, the battery of the device will be completely discharged after about 5 hours.
In everyday use, the smartphone works on a single battery charge for about two days. The BlackBerry Z30 has more impressive battery life than the Z10, due to the increased battery capacity and a more optimized system.
The approximate time to fully charge the device battery is 2 hours and 20 minutes.
Communication capabilities
Synchronization of the BlackBerry Z30 with a personal computer is carried out through the microUSB port. When the smartphone is connected for the first time, the operating system of the computer (Windows or MacOS) is automatically detected, after which the user is prompted to install the Blackberry Link program. The application is downloaded from the official website. After installing the application, drivers are installed that allow you to display the contents of the internal memory of the mobile device on the computer. In order to display the contents of the memory card on the computer, you do not need to install any applications.
The smartphone is equipped with wireless modules Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a / b / g / n and hardware GPS.
The device works in GSM networks (GPRS / EDGE in the frequency ranges 850, 900, 1800, 1900 megahertz) and 3G (UMTS HSPA + in the frequency ranges 850, 1700, 1900, 2100 megahertz). There is support for fourth-generation networks (LTE in the frequency range 800, 900, 1800, 2100, 2600 megahertz).
The device has a microHDMI port on the case, with which you can connect the device to an external display (TV or monitor). An external screen can display an image from a smartphone. This feature allows you to comfortably watch videos and photos from your mobile device, play mobile games and browse the web on the big screen with friends or family. To display the image on a monitor, you need to purchase a special cable-adapter from the microHDMI connector to ordinary HDMI. The video is output in 1080p at 60 hertz.
When the BlackBerry Z30 is oriented horizontally, the image is displayed on the external display in a horizontal orientation as well. In this case, the picture fits into the boundaries of the screen. In the vertical orientation of the smartphone, the image display is similarly carried out in the vertical orientation. In this case, the image fits into the boundaries of the screen in height, and black stripes appear on the sides.
Operating system
The BlackBerry Z30 runs on the new BlackBerry 10.2 operating system.
The smartphone interface is almost identical to the BlackBerry Z10. Due to the increased diagonal on the screen, the Z30 fits one row more icons than its predecessor. It is worth noting a larger, and therefore more convenient, virtual keyboard.
The lock screen displays the time, date, day of the week, calendar events, missed calls, received SMS, emails and messages from social networks. If you click on the icons for missed events, you can see the details, for example, when you click on the icon for a received email, the sender's name and the subject of the email will be displayed. In the lower right corner of the display, you can see the camera quick launch icon. To start, you need to click on the icon and hold your finger on it for a couple of seconds.
To unlock your smartphone, you just need to swipe up from the bottom of the screen. You don't even need to press the power key to do this.
At the bottom of the smartphone screen, there are three virtual buttons - "Dialer", "Search" and "Camera".
The desktop at the top of the screen displays the remaining battery power and the signal strength of the mobile network. If you swipe down from the top of the screen, a panel with 6 icons will open, designed to quickly enable / disable some functions (notifications, Wi-Fi, alarm clock, Bluetooth, automatic screen rotation) and go to settings.
In version 10.2 of the operating system, there was a feature called Instant Preview. It is analogous to the notification panel on Android smartphones.With this function, you can preview all alerts.
The device is controlled using gestures. When you start the device for the first time, prompts will appear on the screen with which you can familiarize yourself with the basics of device management. In order to view the options of a running application, you need to swipe down from the top of the screen.
Smartphone settings are very extensive and include the following items: "Information" (device name, operating system, etc.), "Network connections" (Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, mobile network), "Notifications", "System volume", " Accounts, Screen Settings, Language & Input, Voice Control, BlackBerry ID (password, username), BlackBerry Protect (Location & Security), Security & Privacy (Password Management) , "Sharing media files" (connection to a personal computer, TV), "Date and time", "Software updates", "Search", "Storage and access", "Locating", "Payment type" and "Accessibility".
If you swipe up from the bottom edge of the display, the open program (game) will be minimized and the manager of running applications will open. In the manager, open applications are displayed in thumbnails. 4 miniatures fit on the screen. The user can switch between running programs and games. To close the application, you must click on the cross in the corner of the corresponding thumbnail.
A gesture from right to left opens the main menu, which is a 4x4 matrix of icons. A long press on the icon opens the editing mode, in which the application icons can be sorted. The icons displayed with the trash can icon are not system icons and therefore can be easily removed. To create a folder in the menu, you just need to drag one icon onto another.
In some programs, a virtual button with three white dots appears at the bottom of the screen. This button brings up the context menu.
The smartphone has beautifully implemented animation of the transition between desktops and when unlocking the screen.
Custom designed hardware QWERTY keyboard has always been the main feature of the company's devices. For its touchscreen smartphones, the company has developed a special virtual keyboard, which, like the hardware one, differs from competitors. The main feature of the BlackBerry Z30 virtual keyboard is the appearance in the process of typing pop-up words that begin with the letters entered by the user. Words pop up so that the most likely word is closer to the bottom of the screen, and the least likely word is a little further away. To select a word, you need to send it up with a gesture and then it will appear in the input field.
When working with the device, the keyboard will adapt to the user, thereby speeding up the typing process.
The only drawback of the virtual keyboard of the smartphone is that you cannot change the typing language with one click. To change the language, you need to touch the globe icon, and then slide your finger (without lifting it from the screen) to the required language in the menu that opens.
Swiping from the bottom of the screen to the right will open the BlackBerry Hub, an application that receives all notifications, emails and messages, including those from social networks.
The Contacts application is a phone book that displays not only information about subscribers entered in advance, but also all his interactions with the owner of the BlackBerry Z30.
There are three tabs on the card of each subscriber in the phone book - "Information", "Updates" and "Activities". On the "Details" tab, you can view all information about the subscriber, both entered by the owner of the device and downloaded from the social network account. On the "Updates" tab, you can see the subscriber's news from various social networks, his posts. The "Activities" tab displays the last interactions of the subscriber with the owner of the device (messages, calls, etc.).
The device is preinstalled with a full-fledged application for working with office documents Docs To Go. The program allows you to view and edit PowerPoint files, as well as create, view and edit Excel and Word files.
It is worth noting that the Dropbox cloud storage is integrated into the BlackBerry 10.2 operating system. That is, access to the repository can be obtained both using the built-in client and from the file manager and gallery.
The smartphone is preinstalled with a fast and functional browser. It is HTML5 compliant and has Flash support. The interface of the web browser is intuitive and concise. The device supports work with tabs, bookmarks, saves passwords. It is possible to transfer bookmarks to sites in the main menu. It is worth noting the function "Read" (Reader). After activating it, the web browser removes the design of the web page, leaving only the text.
The device has a built-in image editor that allows you to crop a picture, apply a style, filter, correction to it.
The standard music player supports AAC, WAV, AMR, MP3, AWB, M4A, FLAC, MKA, OGG, WMA formats. The video player plays videos in the following formats: 3GP, MPEG4, 3GP2, MOV, ASF, F4V, AVI, M4V, MKV, MP4, WMV.
Output
BlackBerry Z30 is a stylish and high-quality device from a famous Canadian manufacturer. In all its characteristics, it outperforms its predecessor, the BlackBerry Z10. The device has a large 5-inch screen, dual-core processor, 2 gigabytes of RAM, a capacious battery and two cameras. The device has wide communication capabilities, including a microHDMI port and supports work in fourth-generation networks.
The performance of the hardware platform is sufficient for comfortable work with the device. Web surfing, games, music, video - the device copes with all this without any problems. However, the device cannot offer anything outstanding. According to its characteristics, the smartphone loses to top-end devices from Samsung and HTC.
The only serious drawback is the new operating system, for which not so many applications have been developed as for Android, iOS and Windows Phone.
The BlackBerry Z30 should be recommended primarily to fans of this brand, as well as to people who want a reliable, solid and stylish device from a well-known company.
