BlackBerry Q10 eyes-on

BlackBerry announced two devices at the recent launch of its new BlackBerry 10 platform: the BlackBerry Z10 and Q10.

As the Z10 is BlackBerry’s launch device, much has been written about it, including a spate of reviews.

The smartphone maker has been far more guarded with the BlackBerry Q10, preventing photographing of the device showing the BB10 interface and limiting hands-on time.

We were afforded a quick look at the device in a supervised demonstration, however, and BlackBerry has released a set of specifications for the the BlackBerry Q10.

The table below summarises some of the key specs revealed:

The feature that really sets this device apart is the well-known physical BlackBerry keyboard it has below the screen.

According to BlackBerry it will be a backlit 35-key QWERTY keyboard, with language-specific layouts such as AZERTY and QWERTZ also available in relevant markets.

Another feature you don’t see often is a micro HDMI port, which both the Z10 and Q10 boast.

Although we weren’t allowed to grab imagery of the BlackBerry Q10 running BB10, we did get to see it in a supervised demonstration.

BlackBerry Q10

At a glance it seemed to be much like the BlackBerry 10 experience on the Z10, though there do seem to be a few tricks up BlackBerry’s sleeve for devices with physical keyboards.

One such trick is a type of command-line interface. We were shown how you will be able to enter “email” followed by the first few letters of a contact’s name directly from the home screen to begin composing an email to someone.

It looks like there will be much for hardware keyboard lovers to get excited over in the BlackBerry Q10 – provided, of course, that the data packages for the device in South Africa are right.

BlackBerry Q10 press shot

More BlackBerry 10 news

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BlackBerry 10 SA launch date revealed

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