BlackBerry (earlier, RIM) announced its mint new BlackBerry 10 OS based smartphones BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10. Of these smartphones, all eyes are set on the Z10, a full touchscreen smartphone that packs most current features. Filled with several expectations, the new BlackBerry 10 OS is set to compete with the strong Apple iOS and Google Android.
About five years ago, BlackBerry smartphones were looked upon purely as enterprise gadgets but the perception and products have changed since then. The new BlackBerry Z10 aims to address a larger audience and wishes to grab a larger smartphone market share. However, it is inevitable to compare and compete with the current and close rival iPhone 5.
Design and dimensions
Apple stepped into the 4 inch display bearing smartphone segment with the iPhone 5 and changed the packaging materials used in the iPhone 5. The Apple iPhone 5 has an anodized aluminium back plate with an Apple logo on it and there are strips of glass above and below this plate. The front side remains the same-with Retina Display. Meanwhile, the BlackBerry Z10 comes with similar styling but uses an IPS panel based LCD display in the front and has a textured back panel. 
The Apple iPhone 5 is 7.6 mm thick compared to the 9 mm thick BlackBerry Z10. Not only that, the iPhone 5 is about 58.6 mm wide whereas the BlackBerry Z10 is 66 mm wide. When it comes to weight, the iPhone 5 bags the price with 112 gram; compared to that the BlackBerry Z10 weighs 137.5 grams. In terms of design and dimensions, the BlackBerry Z10 looks a bit wider and is slightly heavier than the iPhone 5.
Core hardware
The BlackBerry Z10 features a 4.2 inch LCD touchscreen display-the largest display ever used by the company for a smartphone. This LCD display supports multi-touch sensitivity of up to four points and supports 1280 x 768 pixel Resolution natively. The Apple iPhone 5 features a 4 inch Retina Display based on IPS panel with 1136 x 640 pixel native resolution. For sheer comparison of pixel density, the BlackBerry Z10 packs 355 pixels per inch whereas the iPhone 5 packs 326 pixels per inch. Certainly, text and images will look crisper on the BlackBerry Z10 display, but the colour profile and viewing angles might differ from the Retina Display of the iPhone 5. Though the iPhone 5 screen may have a lower pixel density, Retina Display enables brilliant colour reproduction.
BlackBerry has used a dual core 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus MSM8960 mobile processor coupled with 2 GB RAM. This mobile processor has been used in several devices such as HTC Windows Phone 8X, Nokia Lumia 920, Nokia Lumia 820, Motorola Razr HD, Samsung Ativ S and so on. This processor is coupled with Adreno 225, which supports full 1080p HD video playback and richer 3D graphics games. On the other hand the Apple iPhone 5 features the new dual core Apple A6 mobile processor clocked at 1.3 GHz and coupled with a PowerVR SGX 543MP3 powerful graphics chip to support the Retina display.
BlackBerry will offer the Z10 with 16 GB on board storage and a Memory card slot capable of holding up to a 32 GB memory card. Compared to that Apple offers iPhone 5 in 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB storage options – all at different prices and with no memory card slot.
Both smartphones support LTE networks and 3G networks to deliver faster data connectivity. Both smartphones offer dual Band WiFi (802.11 a/b/g/n) at 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz. Both offer Bluetooth 4.0 but only BlackBerry Z10 will allow transferring files over this protocol. BlackBerry Z10 has a Near Field Communication chip, which is absent in the iPhone 5, but looking at the lukewarm momentum of NFC, we doubt if it will make any difference.
Camera
Apple has used the best possible optics with the iPhone 5. It has a five element lens. The 8 Megapixel image sensor has f/2.4 Aperture and has been tweaked to make the best of it through the compatible software that takes images with near-zero shutter lag. The images are crisper and better than on the iPhone 4S. The iPhone 5 is capable of recording full 1080p HD video and can also edit them on the phone. There is a 2 megapixel camera in the front that is good for a 720p HD FaceTime video chat and high quality portrait photos.
BlackBerry has an 8 megapixel image sensor with LED flash, auto focus and 5X digital zoom. Apparently, the sensor and optics are different in the BlackBerry Z10 but either way, results are not up to iPhone 5’s level. The BlackBerry Z10 is capable capturing high quality photos quickly and flaunts a fancy feature – Time Shift. This new feature basically lets the user select the face of the subject and then clicks the selected image in a burst mode. After that, the user can simply choose the best expression on the subject’s face using a ring like rotational setting.
The BlackBerry Z10’s camera is also capable of recording full 1080p HD video and can be edited on the phone itself. BlackBery has added a 2 megapixel camera in the front for self portrait shots and video chats.
Only comprehensive tests would prove whether the BlackBerry Z10’s camera would manage to grab a space between the top three imaging handsets crowded by Nokia 808 PureView, iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy S III.
Operating system
Apple did step on troubled waters by warding off Google Maps and introducing its own version of Maps with iOS 6. While the company continues to take the heat and improve Maps, the iOS 6 delivers a simple, intuitive and addictive user experience. With the hardware bump, the iOS 6 is faster and more responsive on iPhone 5 than on its predecessor’s models. Apple App Store has a large number of applications with similar features. Yet, iOS remains the most favourite platform for developers. Its strength lies in the ecosystem of applications and services enabled as well as nurtured by Apple all these years.
BlackBerry has introduced its mint-new BlackBerry 10 operating system, which is a marriage of BlackBerry OS code and QNX real-time operating system based on a Linux kernel. BlackBerry 10 OS brings several new features in terms of multi-tasking with active frames, flow and peek user interface features and BlackBerry Hub, which is an improved version of Unified Inbox.
The real test lies in the availability of all major applications including document processors, instant messengers and more on the platform. There are a number of similarities in terms of functions, which are bound to occur, but BlackBerry smartly manages to differentiate them from the rest. The operating system will be truly tested only when BlackBerry Z10 is available to several users and all of them are consuming services along with the apps.
Battery
Apple has packed a non-removable 1440 mAh battery, which is obviously less for the hardware muscle it packs. Also, the user’s enthusiasm makes the phone run out of battery juice just before standard time. Compared to that, BlackBerry has packed the BlackBerry Z10 with an 1800 mAh battery. Of course, the BlackBerry Z10 is expected to offer more run time but the real test would be possible only when ample apps are available for it.
Few thoughts
BlackBerry had taken a hiatus for a couple of months and is now back with the new BlackBerry 10 OS and BlackBerry Z10. However, technology savvy consumers were not that excited as they could have been if the same product was launched instead of BlackBerry 7 OS. The public exposure of the BlackBerry 10 OS and BlackBerry Z10 may have toned down the excitement a bit. While Apple continues to struggle on the email front, it has the strong back-bone of App Store.
BlackBerry brings a new operating system and user interface to the table with powerful hardware. One must not forget that the BlackBerry 10 OS is still teething and is expected to grow faster while the Apple iOS platform has grown into a shark. The availability of apps as early as possible might give a little push to the BlackBerry 10 OS platform. In terms of hardware, BlackBerry better catch up with the Android counterparts and focus on specific features such as display, camera, sound and so on. The Apple iOS and Google Android devices continue to chew moolah off the consumers. We are interested to see if BlackBerry has a biting chance to regain a larger piece of the pie.