The Blackberry Q10 is easily the best smart phone on the market.  This is my third Blackberry. I started with the Curve, then The Bold, and now this phone. Each has been better than the last! 

Why the Q10 instead of the Z10?  I wanted the physical keyboard.  The Bold had the best keyboard out there (basically the perfect smart phone keyboard) and amazingly the one on my new phone is even better. Responsive, big keys, fast, and perfectly spaced, everything one could want on a smart phone.

It also has a touch screen, which is also amazing.  There was a slight learning curve with the new gestures, but overall it has been a pleasure.  The screen is responsive, very easy to organize, and extremely intuitive (as is the whole phone).  The screen it should be mentioned, has greater clarity, and color, than the vaunted retna screen on the Apple Phones. 

It comes with 16gb of on board memory and can handle an additional 64 gb using a micro sd card ($49 at Fry’s electronics). I had no problem replacing my applications. In fact may are a great improvement over the Bold versions that I have had for about 3 years. Soundhound is steps above my old Shazam music recognition program.  The new BBMaps gps application is fantastic. I don’t miss Life in Pocket at all.  My business applications were all available and improved. Blackberry World has no shortage of applications and is easy to navigate. 

Setup was a breeze. Blackberry Link did it all for me. All my numbers, messages, appointments, e-mails, contacts, and everything else were moved over with a minimum of effort.  It is a fantastic package and made getting started a breeze.

Messaging, what can I say? Blackberry slams it out of the ballpark! The Blackberry Hub is the best new tool to come along for cell phones in years.  Your messages, alerts, texts, and so forth are all in one place, easily accessed and sorted. If you are an enterprise user, you can even have separate business and personal sections.  No other smart phone offers that ability. And i can’t even begin to say how fantastic predictive text is on the Blackberry. I’d heard something about it, but had to experience it myself to fully understand it.  I have been able to type whole text messages with almost no use of the keyboard.  This isn’t auto correct, this is a whole new tool and a hell of a good one.

The browser is another victory for Blackberry. It is by far the fastest browser available on any smartphone.  It has the added bonus of a “reading mode”.  Press the R key on about any page and you transition into an e-reader just as you would for an e-book. it makes reading articles a breeze and easy on the eyes too!  This browser also supports flash, a real plus! 

The camera.  Again Blackberry nails it.  They have incorporated several new features including one where you can take 3 pictures and combine them to create the best image. This isn’t picking the best of 3 photos that other lesser phones have been doing for some tme, this is a whole new way of using your camera (8mp by the way).  There is also a front camera so that you can Skype or Blackberry message from your phone.

The battery life easily gets me through a busy day and them some.  I haven’t had to try it, but going two days without a charge is probable. And being a Blackberry, you can carry a second battery and slip it in if the first one dies.  Sorry Apple users, again you come up short.

The Blackberry Q10 rates a full five stars (*****) and my very highest recommendation. It has no real short comings.  Dump your old phone and change to the BB Q10 as soon as you can or as soon as your contract allows. You are going to love this phone.