Review and testing of the BlackBerry Z30 smartphone. Test and review: BlackBerry Z30 - the last hope? Blackberry z30 specifications

The review of the BlackBerry Z30 smartphone, which made a lot of noise even before its release, we will start with the design. Whoever says what, and design is one of the most important characteristics that we pay attention to first of all when choosing a gadget for a long enough time. You could even say that our mobile phone is an extension of us, our second person, so to speak.

At all times, people have tried to somehow stand out from the crowd, to emphasize their uniqueness. In mobile gadgets, this is manifested in various form factors, and in bright colors of the case, and in different prices ... But there is something that never changes. Among the heap of any annoying tinsel, elegance, style, lack of excess and a full set of functions have always been appreciated.

These features are embodied in the BlackBerry Z30, elegant as a grand piano, stylish as a Bond tuxedo, streamlined like a sports car, multifunctional like a computer.

The appearance of the BlackBerry Z30

Today, the so-called phablets (phablet from phone + tablet) or tablet phones are becoming more and more fashionable. But as they say, size matters. The size of the BlackBerry Z30 is 140.7x72x9.4 mm, weight - 170 g. Almost the entire front panel is occupied by a large 5-inch SuperAMOLED display. The golden mean - this is how you can characterize the dimensions of the Z30. It is designed for convenience. Convenience in every way. And the highest build quality and materials nicely complement this picture.

Under the durable glass display, protected by an oleophobic coating, the BlackBerry corporate logo flaunts, and above it is one of four speakers, light and proximity sensors, and a 2-megapixel HD FaceTime camera.

At the top there is a familiar on / off button and a 3.5 mm jack for a stereo headset. At the bottom is the main microphone and a recess for opening the back cover. On the right are the volume control keys, voice control and two of the four speakers. On the left are MicroUSB and MicroHDMA connectors, and if you remove the cover, you will find slots for MicroSIM and MicroSD cards.

On the back panel there is an 8 Megapixel camera, LED flash and BlackBerry corporate logo.

For size comparison, here's a photo of the Z30 with the Z10 and Q10:

Included with the gadget you will receive a charger, a USB to micro USB cable, excellent headphones with spare earbuds and instructions.

Z30 hardware

The heart of the Z30 is the Qualcomm MSM8960T Pro Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor clocked at 1.7 GHz. BlackBerry, like Apple, is not going down the path of increasing the number of processor cores, which not only speed up, but greatly reduce battery life. It is much more efficient to follow the path of optimization, which is fully embodied in the Z30. With a 2880 mAh battery, this smartphone can last up to 25 hours in normal use. In this he has no competitors among devices with similar functionality. With two gigabytes of RAM, forget about freezes or delays. The device has 16 Gb of internal memory and is expandable with a 64 Gb microSD card up to 80 Gb. In addition, the Z30 has an active USB host that allows you to connect, for example, flash drives to it, and manage data using a built-in file manager.

Display and graphics Z30

As for the graphics of the BlackBerry Z30, this is taken care of by a quad-core GPU Quad Adreno 320 and a 5-inch multi-touch display. The display resolution is 720x by 1280 pixels, the density is 295 dpi, the colors are 16 million, the aspect ratio is 16: 9, and the color depth is 24 bits. The display of graphics and texts is incredibly clear thanks to SuperAMOLED display technology, which, while using moderate power consumption, significantly increases viewing angles and makes colors rich and deep. You can watch videos on the Z30 in HD 720p.

Photos and videos in the Z30

The BlackBerry Z30 is equipped with an 8 Megapixel main camera that captures images with a resolution of 3264 by 2448 pixels. The camera sensor is backlit for low-light shooting, the lens is a 5-element F2.2. The camera has autofocus, 5x digital zoom, auto exposure, image stabilization and LED flash, and the Time Shift function, in tandem with face detection, will allow you to correct certain elements of the photo. You can correct up to five faces, each one separately. To do this, before taking a picture, select the Time Shift function in the Camera application and take a picture. The camera detects faces and takes a series of pictures, after which, using the slider, you can choose the best option for each face.

The front camera of the Z30 has 2 Megapixels and 5x digital zoom. With it, you can chat in HD video format (720p, 30 frames per second), and the video stabilization function will help make your communication unforgettable.

The main camera allows you to record video in Full HD format (1080p, 30 frames per second) with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels. We have recorded a short video so that you can evaluate the quality of shooting BlackBerry Z30.

Below you can see examples of photos with the Z30 camera (click on the picture to view full size).

Sound and communication in the Z30

For the sound in the Z30 is the proprietary technology - BlackBerry Natural Sound, which makes the sound of a smartphone beyond competition. With three microphones and two stereo speakers, you will communicate with the other person as if they were next to you. And watching videos, listening to music and playing games on the BlackBerry Z30 is a pleasure. The smartphone supports many audio and video formats: 3GP, 3GP2, M4A, M4V, MOV, MP4, MKV, MPEG-4, AVI, ASF, WMV, WMA, MP3, MKA, AAC, AMR, F4V, WAV.

The signal reception technology in the BlackBerry Z30 is also unique and has no analogues. The smartphone uses technology from Paratec, which BlackBerry bought in early 2013 while still being RIM. This technology provides fast data transfer rates and connectivity in poorly networked locations thanks to the 3x5mm ParaScan that tunes antennas in record time.

In addition to the standard GSM / GPRS / EDGE module, suitable for Ukrainian mobile networks, the BlackBerry Z30 has dual-band, high-speed Wi-Fi that supports Wi-Fi Direct and Miracast for direct data transfer between devices.

To access the Internet, you no longer need to activate the BIS service. The latest version of Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy will provide you with reliable support for various headsets and BlackBerry Tag - data exchange with devices that support NFC technology. And, of course, BlackBerry Z30 has satellite navigation: GPS and GLONASS. Residents of countries with 4G (LTE) networks will be able to experience all the benefits of high-speed data transfer (up to 50Mbs) on mobile networks with the Z30.

The BlackBerry 10 operating system is the jewel in the crown of the Z30. It is specially designed for BlackBerry smartphones and is fully optimized with its hardware. Thanks to this combination, the Z30 boasts a long battery life (18 hours of talk time) and trouble-free operation of all functions and programs.

This is the highlight of the Z30. Perfected message center. All notifications from all your communication channels are collected here. These are calls and SMS, social networks and instant messengers, e-mail accounts and MMS. New message notifications are also displayed on the lock screen. Without unlocking your smartphone, you can find out the degree of importance of the message and decide whether to read it now or postpone it for later. Also, BB Hub has a calendar integrated so you don't miss any appointments. The Smart Reply function makes it possible to send a message to the interlocutor right during the call, without leaving the call. There is a set of templates and the ability to create your own. The Priority Hub function is an intelligent self-learning module that will show you first notifications from the most important and frequently used communication channels, constantly adjusting to the host's preferences. You can also customize it yourself.

The way the BlackBerry Hub notification system works by BlackBerry is fundamentally different from all others. The phone does not check or download messages at a certain interval - a notification about a new message comes from the BlackBerry server at the moment it is received. You can download it both immediately and later. This method, firstly, saves battery power, and secondly, eliminates any delays in obtaining the necessary information. And thirdly, and most interestingly, all data on the server is stored in encrypted form, which makes it almost impossible for third parties to gain access to your confidential information. That is why terminals on the BlackBerry operating system are in such demand among government agencies, police, NATO and even the CIA. When using the service, neither competitors nor even government agencies will get to the internal corporate information.

BlackBerry Messenger

This messenger allows you to communicate both in text mode and in voice and video through encrypted channels. Moreover, in text mode, messages can not even be typed, but simply dictated. And all this is available in Russian! And in video mode, you can transfer an image from both the front camera and the main one.

BBM is also available for other OS - Android and iOS. Paired with the unparalleled BlackBerry Natural Sound technology, your conversations will be pleasant and natural, and it is a pleasure to watch videos and play games with such sound. Separately, it should be said that data, both text and sound from video, is transmitted between devices in encrypted form, through the BlackBerry servers, so it is unrealistic to get access to confidential information. And this is even without connecting additional services.

BlackBerry Z30 keyboard

Separately, it should be said about the touch keyboard Z30. Without a doubt - this is a masterpiece, and there is no competition among such programs. All touch keyboards in BlackBerry 10 OS have 2 unique properties. The first is intelligent typing hints. When you type a word - Z30 will offer options and you just have to swipe up the desired option without having to type the word to the end. You can even type without spaces at all - the Z30 will sort everything out by itself.

And the longer you use typing, the more suitable words will be suggested by the smart keyboard. The second unique property is that if, when typing, you most often find yourself on a letter not in the middle but closer to the edge, after a while the Z30 will take into account such a feature of your pressing if you pressed in the center. Forget about boring uncomfortable keyboards - even an experienced secretary will envy your typing with the BlackBerry Z30.

Popular Apps

The Z30 comes pre-installed with social media clients such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Foursquare. There are also VKontakte and Google+, you can download them from BlackBerry World - an application store for BlackBerry. In it you will find a huge variety of paid and free programs.

New apps and games are constantly being added to the store. In Docs To Go you can view, edit, and create .doc, .xls, and .ppt files, in Adobe Reader you can view .pdf files. The Evernote app is a great task book that you can sync with your computer or any other device. An excellent weather client will always keep you informed about the temperature and bad weather outside the window.

Calendar notifications are displayed in the BB Hub - you won't miss anything important. Connect to Dropbox dramatically expands your file storage and sharing capabilities, and the recently launched one has brought this capability to a completely secure enterprise level. For communication, in addition to BBM in BBWorld, there are Skype and WhatsApp.

The client for Instagram is almost ready - iGrann. Maps for GPS navigation - Wisepilot, Navitel or free Google maps. With the help of BlackBerry Protect, you can track the location of your smartphone when you lose it and protect personal data on it, up to a complete remote erasure. The IntouchApp Contacts service will automatically save all your contacts and help you restore or transfer them to another device. BlackBerry Balance can help you keep your business and personal information separate. This feature is configured by the BES Enterprise Service Administrator. The browser on the Z30 is the best among mobile browsers - this is shown by the html5 test.

In BlackBerry 10 OS, you have the ability to share your desktop when calling via BBM, and via Bluetooth 4.0, you can make friends with the Z30 and your car. The Wi-Fi Direct and Wi-Fi Miracast functions are also very convenient. The first will allow you to share files over Wi-Fi directly with other devices, without the need for an access point, and the second allows you to sync HD video playback with your TV and vice versa.

Instead of a total

As a result, let's say that the BlackBerry Z30 smartphone is a device that contains all the functions necessary for a modern phone, many of which have no analogues on the market. He will cope with any tasks and will become your faithful assistant at work and rest. The operating time from a single charge from 18 hours of talk time to 25 with a mixed one, will not put you in an awkward situation when the phone turned off at the most inopportune moment. And the best data protection system will give you confidence in the security of confidential information.

This time it was decided to stake on the big screen and new design. The novelty was named BlackBerry Z30.

BlackBerry, however, did not create a tablet phone, which many expected to see, and decided to choose a moderate option: the screen of the BlackBerry Z30 has a diagonal of 5 inches, so it would be more logical to attribute it to the niche of top-end smartphones, and not to devices such as the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. Let's see on the characteristics of the BlackBerry Z30.

• Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro (MSM8960T) @ 1.7 GHz (2 Krait 200 cores)
• Adreno 320
• Operating system BlackBerry 10.2
• Super AMOLED touchscreen display, 5 ″, 1280 × 720
• Random access memory (RAM) 2 GB, internal memory 16 GB
• MicroSD card slot up to 64GB
• Communication GSM GPRS / EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
• Communication 3G UMTS HSPA + 850/1700/1900/2100 MHz
• LTE 800/900/1800/2100/2600 (2600/800 FDD are used in the Russian Federation)
• HSPA + 21 Mbps
• Bluetooth 4.0, NFC
• Support for video output via Micro-HDMI
• Wi-Fi 802.11a / b / g / n (support for 5 GHz band)
• GPS, A-GPS, Glonass
• Accelerometer, gyroscope, compass
• 8 megapixel camera with Full HD video support
• 2 megapixel camera (front) with support for 720p video transmission
• Li-ion battery 2880 mAh
• Dimensions 140.7 x 72 x 9.4 mm
• Weight 170 g

The weak points of the smartphone include, first of all, the amount of internal memory, as well as a somewhat outdated SoC, which looks rather strange in a top device. Otherwise, everything is fine, but, again, nothing outstanding. Let's compare the specs of the BlackBerry Z30 to the Samsung Galaxy S4, which has a similarly sized Super AMOLED screen, and the BlackBerry Z10, which is now available at a deep discount.

The undoubted advantage of the Samsung Galaxy S4 is the high-resolution screen (Full HD), while the BlackBerry Z30 has a resolution of only 720p with the same diagonal and matrix. In terms of performance, the Galaxy S4 also looks more communicative. Camera resolution, maximum internal memory, thickness, weight - all the advantages of the Samsung Galaxy S4.

If we compare the two BlackBerry models with each other, then one cannot fail to notice that with a larger screen diagonal, the resolution even slightly decreased, so that the density of points in the BlackBerry Z30 was lower than that of the BlackBerry Z10. But the SoC in the new product is more modern (although far from top-end) and the battery is much more capacious (as we remember, the battery life was the weak point of the BlackBerry Z10).

Well, now it's time to take a closer look at the smartphone.

Packaging and equipment

The smartphone comes in a tall black box. Inside there are mini-booklets with user manuals, USB cable, charger and BlackBerry Premium Stereo Handset with two sets of additional attachments.

The sound quality of the headset is not bad (although the bass is still rather dry and not deep enough), but the headphones themselves are of a very unusual shape. Perhaps, if you adapt and understand how exactly they should be put into your ears, it will be convenient, but I still did not understand.

Design

BlackBerry smartphones have always had their own special style: strict and "expensive". And the new line of smartphones was able to maintain this quality (with the exception of the mid-budget BlackBerry Q5).

The design of the BlackBerry Z30 combines elements of the BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10. From the first - the general appearance (especially the front view, almost indistinguishable from the BlackBerry Z10, if you do not take into account the size). From the second - the material of the back surface.

The back cover of the BlackBerry Z30, like the BlackBerry Q10, has a coating that is very similar in tactile feel and appearance to the Kevlar used in Motorola Razr smartphones (for example, the Motorola Razr HD). In general, the design of the BlackBerry Z30 has a lot in common with the Motorola Razr HD, but this does not prevent the BlackBerry from having its own rather individual look. The important components of this individuality are the silvery edging "like metal" and the illusion of the screen convexity: at the edges the screen surface is slightly rounded.

The back cover is removable, but the battery is not removable (unlike the BlackBerry Z10 and Q10), which is a clear disadvantage for a business device. Removing the cover, we get access to the Micro-SIM and microSD slots, they go to the left side, but are inaccessible with the cover closed.

On the left side, but regardless of the position of the cover, there are Micro-HDMI and Micro-USB connectors.

On the right side, we see the volume down and volume up buttons, and between them - the voice control start button. Everything here is similar to the BlackBerry Z10.

The bottom edge is empty, but there are two speaker holes near it on the back cover. Another speaker hole is located near the top edge, so the smartphone provides good (as far as possible, in principle, for built-in smartphone speakers) stereo sound.

Also on the top edge we see a minijack (3.5 mm) for a headset and a Power button. All buttons are not pressed very tightly, but it cannot be said that they are loose. The sound when pressed is distinct.

The smartphone is not bad in the hand, although it is clear that this is rather a solution for a man's hand of medium or large sizes, rather than for a woman's. The build quality is decent and the overall design makes a good impression. Perhaps it is difficult to fall in love with it, it is difficult to make an unambiguous choice in its favor only on the basis of the design, but the fact that the design will not be a disadvantage when choosing (as, for example, in the BlackBerry Q5) is undoubtedly. It's a pity that the battery was made non-removable.

Screen

BlackBerry Z30 is equipped with a 5-inch AMOLED-screen with a resolution of 1280 × 720 pixels. It is currently the largest screen among all BlackBerry smartphones. A detailed screen test was conducted by Aleksey Kudryavtsev, editor of the Projectors and TV section. Below is his conclusion.

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface, resistant to scratches. Judging by the reflection of objects, there is a very effective antiglare filter, surpassing the Google Nexus 7 in reducing the brightness of reflection. There is no doubling of reflected objects, which indicates that there is no air gap between the layers of the screen. On the outer surface of the screen there is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating (very effective, no worse than that of Google Nexus 7), so fingerprints are removed much easier, and appear at a slower rate than in the case of ordinary glass.

There is a non-disconnectable automatic brightness control by the light sensor (it is located on the front panel to the left of the loudspeaker slit). This function depends on the position of the brightness adjustment slider. If it is set to 100%, then in complete darkness, the automatic brightness adjustment function decreases the brightness to 30 cd / m2 (acceptable), in an office illuminated with artificial light, the brightness rises to 150 cd / m2 (normal), in a very bright environment (corresponds to the lighting outdoors on a clear day, but without direct sunlight) is set to 255 cd / m². If the brightness slider is at 50%, the values \u200b\u200bare 15, 80 and 255 cd / m². If at 0% - 12, 30 and 200 cd / m².

In terms of numbers, the maximum brightness is not very high, but given that the smaller the white area on this screen, the brighter the white color (the above values \u200b\u200bare obtained when displaying the white field in full screen), and the high efficiency of the antiglare filter, on a sunny day outside screen readability will remain at an acceptable level. In complete darkness, the brightness decreases to a comfortable value. However, at very low brightness, modulation appears at 240 Hz. The figure below shows the dependence of the brightness of the white field (vertical axis) on time (horizontal axis) for three brightness values:

It can be seen that at high and medium brightness, there is virtually no modulation, but at minimum brightness, the relative modulation amplitude is high, so image flickering can be seen in the test for the presence of a stroboscopic effect or simply with fast eye movement. Depending on individual sensitivity, such flickering can cause increased fatigue.

This smartphone uses an OLED matrix - an active matrix on organic light-emitting diodes. A full-color image is created using subpixels of three colors - red (R), green (G) and blue (B) in equal numbers, which is confirmed by a fragment of the micrograph:

We observed a similar "structure" of the screen, for example, in the case of the Samsung Galaxy S4 mini.

The screen has good viewing angles. It is true that when deviated at relatively large angles, the white color acquires a noticeable bluish tint, but the black color remains black at all angles (although the reflection from black areas at some angles has a blue "metallic" tint). At the same time, black is so black that the contrast parameter is simply not applicable in this case. The uniformity of the white field is excellent when viewed from a perpendicular view. The switching of the state of the matrix elements is actually performed instantly, but at the turn-on front there may be a step (or two) with a width of 16.7 ms (corresponding to a screen refresh rate of 60 Hz). Below is a graph of the dependence of brightness (vertical axis) versus time (horizontal axis), obtained in the transition from dark gray to light gray (25-75) and from black to dark gray (0-25) and back (vertical scale differs):

In some conditions, the presence of such a step can lead to trails trailing behind moving objects, but in normal use these artifacts are almost impossible to see. Quite the opposite - dynamic scenes in films on OLED screens are distinguished by high definition and even some "jerky" movements.

The gamma curve plotted at 32 points did not reveal any blockage in highlights or shadows, and the exponent of the approximating power function is 1.92, which is slightly lower than the standard value of 2.2, while the real gamma curve slightly deviates from the power dependence:

Note that due to the dynamic adjustment of the brightness of the backlight in accordance with the nature of the displayed image (on bright images in the middle, the brightness decreases), the obtained dependence of brightness on the hue (gamma curve) does not correspond to the gamma curve of a static image, since the measurements were carried out with sequential output grayscale to full screen.

The color gamut is much wider than sRGB:

The spectra show that the primary colors are well separated:

As a result, the colors on this screen are oversaturated and somewhat unnatural. The color temperature balance is good - shades of gray have a color temperature close to 6500 K, which changes little over the entire part of the gray scale that matters (the range close to black can be ignored, since the color rendition is not so important in it, and the error in measuring color characteristics is high ):

The deviation from the spectrum of an absolutely black body (delta E) is less than 10, which is considered a good indicator for a non-professional device, and also varies slightly from shade to shade:

As we showed in comparative testing, OLED screens, despite not very high brightness, retain excellent readability in all conditions, and even when viewed from large angles. They are also very economical. All of this, of course, applies to the BlackBerry Z30's OLED screen. Another advantage of the screen is an effective anti-glare filter, a very good oleophobic coating, adequate automatic brightness adjustment and excellent color balance. Unfortunately, the manufacturer did not take care of adjusting the OLED color saturation downward, as a result, recognizable colors (for example, skin tones) in photos and videos look a little unnatural, oversaturated.

Platform and performance

The BlackBerry Z30 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro SoC. By modern standards, this is a mid-range solution that includes only two Krait 200 CPU cores (with a frequency of 1.7 GHz each) and an Adreno 320 graphics accelerator. But the BlackBerry Z30 has 2 GB of RAM. Considering the multitasking of the BlackBerry 10 OS, this really matters. However, we see the same 2 GB in all other smartphones based on this OS, even in the BlackBerry Q5. But let's see what kind of performance the new product will demonstrate.

For obvious reasons, we could not test the performance of the BlackBerry Z30 using our standard method: there are practically no benchmarks for the BlackBerry 10 OS yet. We found only the Geekbench 2 multiplatform benchmark in the BlackBerry World store. In addition, of course, we ran browser tests: SunSpider 1.0, Kraken Benchmark and Octane Benchmark. The results are summarized in the table.

Here, of course, it is worth making a reservation that the results in browser tests are strongly influenced by the browser itself, which in BlackBerry 10 is different than in Android. But these results give a general idea of \u200b\u200bperformance: it is obvious that the BlackBerry flagship is very far from the Samsung Galaxy S4.

Tests have shown that BlackBerry Z30 is the most productive smartphone on the BlackBerry 10 operating system at the moment. However, it cannot compete with top-end Android devices. This result, however, is rather arbitrary, since the performance of the Z30 is quite sufficient for its tasks, as well as for games available in BlackBerry World: Asphalt 7, N.O.V.A. 3, Modern Combat 4. As for the prospects for future game projects, this process will be hampered not so much by a lack of performance as by the dubious prospects of the platform itself. Let's be honest: no matter how cute and interesting BlackBerry 10 is as such, games for it will be developed and optimized last (after iOS, Android and Windows Phone).

So if the ability to play modern games on your smartphone is really important to you, you should choose something other than the BlackBerry Z30. But if you perceive the opportunity to play as an additional option, and the poor choice of games in BlackBerry World will be enough for you, then you may well stop at the BlackBerry Z30.

HDMI interface test

Additionally, Alexey Kudryavtsev tested the HDMI interface. To do this, we used an LG IPS237L monitor and a simple Micro-HDMI to HDMI adapter cable. The operating mode is 1080p @ 60 Hz. When the smartphone is in landscape orientation, the image is displayed on the monitor screen in landscape orientation, while the image on the monitor is inscribed within the boundaries of the screen and is an exact copy of the smartphone screen with an actual resolution equal to the smartphone screen resolution - 1280 by 720 pixels. When the smartphone is in portrait orientation, the image is displayed on the monitor screen in portrait orientation, with the image inscribed in height, black fields are displayed on the right and left, and the actual resolution is already lower than 720 by 1280 pixels.

The video output by means of a standard player deserves a special description. To begin with, using a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see the material Testing methods for video playback and display devices. Version 1), we checked how the video is displayed on the screen of the smartphone itself. Screenshots with an exposure of 1 s helped to determine the nature of the frame output of video files with various parameters: the resolution varied (1280 by 720 (720p) and 1920 by 1080 (1080p) pixels) and the frame rate (24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 frames / from). The results of this (block titled " Screen") And the following test are summarized in the table:

Note: If both the "Uniformity" and "Gaps" columns have "green" ratings, this means that, most likely, when watching movies, artifacts caused by uneven alternation and skipping of frames will not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect the viewing experience. “Red” marks indicate possible problems with the playback of the respective files.

According to the criterion for outputting frames, the quality of video playback on the screen of the smartphone itself is high, since frames (or groups of frames) are displayed with a more or less uniform alternation of intervals and there are no frame drops. However, uniform frame interleaving is a relatively unstable state, since some external and internal background processes lead to periodic failure of the correct interleaving of intervals between frames and even to the skipping of single frames in the case of 720p files with 60 fps. When playing video files with a resolution of 1280 by 720 (720p) on a smartphone screen, the image of the video file itself is displayed along the edges of the screen, one to one pixel by pixel in the vertical direction, but horizontally, the picture is stretched by a couple of pixels, so the real clarity is slightly lower than the original resolution. The brightness range displayed on the screen does not correspond to the standard range of 16-235, as the shadows display several shades “blacker than black”, and the highlights display all shades “whiter than white”. As a result, in the case of a typical video file, the image contrast will be underestimated.

When playing video files with a resolution of 720p (1280 by 720 pixels) on the screen of a monitor connected via HDMI, the image of the video file itself is displayed exactly along the edge of the screen while maintaining the true proportions, and the resolution corresponds to the original resolution (when the smartphone screen is in landscape orientation). The brightness range displayed on the monitor is almost equal to the standard range of 16-235 - in the shadows and highlights, all gradations of shades are displayed, but in the highlights, several shades "whiter than white" are also displayed. The results of the tests on the monitor are shown in the table above in the block “ HDMI (monitor)". The output quality is high.

It turns out that the connection to external monitors, TVs and projectors can be used for games, watching movies, displaying web pages, and other activities that benefit from the manifold increase in screen size.

Communication functions

Judging by the available information, all BlackBerry Z30 smartphones have LTE support, although when buying a device abroad, you should pay attention to the supported ranges (they are different for different countries). We tested the STA100-2 model that supports Russian LTE frequency bands.

LTE (4G) operation was tested on the Megafon network. LTE works, connection speed is normal and depends on the specific location. When you are online, you will see a 4G icon in the upper right corner. However, for this you need to turn off Wi-Fi.

We did not have any complaints about the quality of telephone communication, but there were complaints about Wi-Fi. The smartphone does not catch a medium-strength signal in the best way and takes a long time to connect to such networks.

Operating system and applications

The smartphone runs on the new BlackBerry 10.2 operating system. We have dedicated BlackBerry 10, examining its features using the example of the BlackBerry Z10. Almost all of the above is true for the BlackBerry Z30 as well. Therefore, we will not repeat the story about the OS and confine ourselves to screenshots of the desktop.

Thanks to the larger display area, one row of icons more fits on the screen. In addition, the virtual keyboard has become larger, which is very convenient.

Cameras

As befits all modern smartphones, the BlackBerry Z30 is equipped with two cameras: front and rear. The front camera has a 2MP resolution and can support 720p video transmission. We tested the video calling using the Skype app available in BlackBerry World. There were no problems, video and sound were transmitted normally.

The main (rear) camera takes photos with a resolution of 8 megapixels. The pictures taken on it are commented on by Anton Soloviev.

	The sharpness of the tile is not bad, but the grass begins to merge rather quickly with removal.
	The foliage is heavily blurred. Only the foregrounds are worked out relatively well.
	The numbers of the nearest cars would be distinguishable if they were not moving, as were the inscriptions on the poles.	1/2. As the lighting deteriorates, the sharpness drops, but the overall result, oddly enough, gets better.
	1/4. With further deterioration, the camera gives a very acceptable result.
	1/4 flash. The flash can hardly improve the situation.
	0. In the absence of lighting, the camera cannot cope.
	0 flash. The flash works as before.

As you can see from the graph, the camera does a good job at first. The flash works correctly, but weakly, and therefore does not allow the original resolution of the pictures.

The rear camera can shoot 1080p 30 fps video, but the default is 720p. Here is a video with the default settings. The video quality is decent, typical of most smartphones.

The rear camera of the BlackBerry Z30 looks damp. At first glance, it seems that she has good abilities, and in laboratory tests she gives good results. But upon closer examination of the most ordinary field shots, significant shortcomings become noticeable: blurred areas in the image, areas of blur, which probably arise due to long exposures due to low photosensitivity, out-of-focus corners. Noises do not show up much, so it is not clear why the camera would be afraid of average values \u200b\u200bof sensitivity.

Overall, the camera is not that bad. Perhaps some software tweak will help it get better. So far, it does not stand out for anything special, except, perhaps, a good exposure.

Autonomous work

As we recall, one of our main complaints about the BlackBerry Z10 was the short battery life. In a typical scenario of using BlackBerry devices (a lot of mail, SMS messages, phone conversations, no games or videos), the smartphone did not even live to the end of the day.

The BlackBerry Q10 had a slightly better situation, the BlackBerry Q5 was worse than the Q10, but better than the Z10. And now we were able to get acquainted with the BlackBerry Z30, which has the most capacious battery of all BlackBerry 10 devices.

Coupled with an economical AMOLED screen, this gives a really decent battery life. Under standard usage scenarios, a smartphone will live for more than one day. If we take specific modes, then playing a 3D game will be possible for 5 hours (with the brightness set to 100 cd / m²).

Here, however, there is a nuance that prevented us from making accurate measurements. The fact is that the BlackBerry Z30 has a non-switchable automatic screen brightness adjustment. Therefore, it is impossible to accurately set the brightness. But the big picture is clear.

conclusions

The BlackBerry Z30 smartphone is the swan song of the once great company. It's a decent quality product, but it doesn't have a single killer feature that would make people indifferent to BlackBerry buy this device. Today you won't surprise anyone with a five-inch screen, the design is pleasant, but not amazing, the technical characteristics are sufficient for comfortable work, but again nothing outstanding or even just top-end.

At the same time, the prices for the new device are more than the top ones. At least in Russia, where BlackBerry Z30 is still being imported according to the "gray" scheme. Western prices are difficult to judge, because BlackBerry mainly distributes the novelty through the operators offering the contract. Nevertheless, the opportunity to purchase a smartphone not tied to the operator exists - in Europe it will cost about 20 thousand rubles (plus shipping), in Germany - about 22 thousand (plus shipping). In Russia, if there is any reasonable guarantee, it will not be possible to buy such a device cheaper than 25 thousand rubles. And for this price you can buy a top-end modern Android smartphone; the same Samsung Galaxy S4 is now on average even cheaper.

In general, we come to a paradoxical conclusion: the smartphone is good, and it has almost no serious flaws (except for the specific features of the BlackBerry 10 operating system, which, however, can just as well be attributed to the advantages). But there is also nothing that would allow it to be preferred by competitors. The BlackBerry Z30 should definitely appeal only to BlackBerry fans - if, of course, they have not yet had a BlackBerry Z10 or BlackBerry Q10. In the latter case, they are unlikely to want to change their devices, although, say, the BlackBerry Z10 loses to the new product in almost all respects - and yet this is not enough to change the smartphone so quickly.

Therefore, the main audience for the BlackBerry Z30 will most likely be technologists and IT collectors, because this is the best touchphone based on BlackBerry 10 so far, and besides, there is every chance that it will be the last flagship novelty in the history of the glorious BlackBerry company.

Is a great smartphone that looks more sophisticated on closer inspection than it does on screen. This smartphone has become the most voluminous and most productive BlackBerry solution. The main feature of the smartphone is a 5-inch AMOLED screen and the latest version of the BlackBerry 10.2 operating system, which has a lot of innovations.

We took a closer look at this undoubtedly outstanding apparatus here -

Appearance

When creating the Z30, BlackBerry took into account its mistakes made with the Z10 and Q10 smartphones, which cannot boast impressive sales. The developers of the company decided to turn the eyes of buyers to the smartphone due to the volumetric 5-inch display. It can hardly be considered gigantic in comparison with its closest competitors in the face of Android smartphones, but for BlackBerry such a product was a breakthrough.

As a reminder, the Z10 comes with a 4.2 "LCD, so the Z30's 5" AMOLED display is a great alternative. The high quality of the picture is provided by a resolution of 720p, and the wide viewing angles of the smartphone screen are also pleasing. In general, the display characteristics of the device allow it to act as a tablet PC. The general form factor of the smartphone is quite compact, although it cannot be called refined either, given the volumetric screen.

BlackBerry Z30 - great sound

Another notable feature is the stereo speakers, the sound quality of which can be compared to those found in HTC One. BlackBerry has incorporated NaturalSound technology into its flagship smartphone. According to corporate officials, the sound quality of a smartphone is suitable not only for watching videos and music, but also for high-quality communication in video conferencing, hinting at the corporate bias of the gadget.

Hardware filling

The smartphone is equipped with a powerful dual-core processor that runs at 1.7 GHz, and a quad-core graphics chip is responsible for the graphics. The company's developers did not disclose detailed characteristics of the smartphone components, but, most likely, we are talking about the Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, which works at the heart of the X8 chipset. Hence, the graphics are handled by the Adreno GPU. Thus, the Z30 significantly outperforms its predecessors in terms of performance.

Communication BlackBerry Z30

In addition to the volumetric display, this smartphone boasts an innovative antenna, which was developed by the efforts of Paratek. This antenna allows you to catch the signal even in those regions where its level is poor, and a higher data transfer rate is noted. The new antenna uses Paratek's proprietary technology, which was bought by BlackBerry this year. The innovation lies in a new method for the production of thin-film ceramic containers. The developers managed to improve the efficiency of the smartphone antenna by using the new ParaScan device within its framework. The mentioned device allows you to configure all the functions of the gadget's antenna many times faster.

Posts

The updated operating system BB 10.2 is distinguished by the possibility of faster message processing. The BlackBerry Hub is now even smarter. The technology allows you to collect and process messages and notifications from all smartphone services, including SMS, email, various social services, and more. After analyzing all the information, the BlackBerry Hub will send the most important messages for the user to the smartphone display.

Previewing notifications is also possible on the smartphone lock screen. It is noteworthy that if a user receives a message in BBM, then you can view it without leaving the application that is currently displayed on the device screen. Fans of the Q10's physical keyboard will be pleased to know that the touch input method of the Z30 is as comfortable as the iconic keyboard.

Autonomy

BlackBerry smartphones have always been distinguished by high survivability, overtaking Android smartphones in this regard. The BlackBerry Z30 smartphone has a 2880 mAh battery, which bypasses the installed counterparts in the Q10 (2100 mAh) and Z10 (1800 mAh). The developers claim that the novelty will last up to 25 hours on a single battery charge in active use.

Moscow, the end of August, the academic and active business season is approaching. We decided to start a series of video reviews dedicated to BlackBerry models, popular programs, tips on settings, etc. Since the cameras of the new BlackBerry models (,) support video recording in HD quality (720p, 1080p), we decided to shoot our videos with BlackBerry cameras. Let's see what happens.

In this video review, we will consider the BlackBerry Z30 model. Let's talk about dimensions, design, features, and Android compatibility. The smartphone measures 140.7 x 72 mm and weighs 170 g. The model is equipped with a powerful processor, and has high performance, a capacious built-in battery with a volume of 2880 mAh, as well as two high-resolution cameras, four speakers with the ability to transmit HD sound, three microphones, two connectors for micro USB and HDMI.

The body of the smartphone is made of practical and sturdy plastic. Due to the high build quality and weight, you get the impression that you are holding an expensive device in your hand. The BlackBerry Z30 has a brand new OS BlackBerry 10,. In this case, you no longer need to connect to the BIS service. The device can be used with any SIM cards, both with Russian operators and with foreign ones.

Z30 has a large number of functions, various settings. The latest update has compatibility with Android applications. We will tell you more about some of the features in our video review.

This video was captured on camera in 720p HD resolution. The maximum HD video resolution on the BlackBerry Z30 is 1080p.

Output

Overall, the Z30 can be described as a modern, multifunctional business-class smartphone. Made of high quality materials and equipped with modern equipment that meets the requirements of even the most fastidious customer.

Today Z30 is one of the most popular and best-selling BlackBerry models in Russia.

), and yet the company still has a lot to tell its audience. For example, about the new flagship device called the BlackBerry Z30. The most important feature of the Z30 is its 5-inch screen, which puts it on a par with such market monsters as Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One, LG G2 and Nokia Lumia 925. In general, a whole cohort will fight against the Z30, but the price is $ 529 (i.e. about $ 850 or 27 thousand rubles) for the SIM-free version makes it more expensive than all its closest competitors. However, when buying a phone under a contract, everything is not so bad - rates start at £ 32 (about 1600 rubles) monthly.

However, BlackBerry realizes the appeal of this smartphone to a narrow niche of business users and prosumers, so the features and attractive design have faded into the background in favor of the communication functions, and indeed the fact that the phone works as it should. Let's go back to the screen. Some may be disappointed that it supports a resolution of no more than 1280 x 720 - we are already used to Full HD on our high-end smartphones, however, the Z30, as you can see, does not follow the ubiquitous fashion and follows its own path. And yet, BlackBerry is the first to equip its new Super AMOLED smartphone with a display that combines both more efficient energy saving and a rich picture.

So rich that there are clear improvements over the Z10's screen. But, again, along with the Full HD brigade, these improvements are nowhere near so obvious. This does not at all mean that the display is bad - we see a clear and clear picture, and there are no problems with reading the text at all. In general, it is difficult to call him amazing, but he does his job. In addition, the display is quite sensitive, and all the time that we used this device, we did not experience a single problem with pressing, which allowed us to explore the BlackBerry 10.2 operating system up and down.

It seemed to us that the Z30 was rather heavy (the scales showed 170g), but it looks like it cannot be called as premium as the HTC One or iPhone 5s - due to the mix of the plastic case and the glass pattern on the back cover. Some might prefer to end up with the plastic Galaxy S4 or LG G2, but the Z30, in turn, seems more solid than the Z10. The BlackBerry Z30 is relatively thin at 140.4 x 72 x 9.4mm. In addition, we did not need to open our palms wide in order to more or less conveniently grip the device, however, due to the fact that the screen has become larger, those elegant numbers cannot be reached without unnecessary fuss.

You will quickly get used to the three buttons on the right side of the BlackBerry Z30 (the outer two for audio control and one in the middle for voice commands). In addition, on the top there is another button for turning the device on / off and a headphone jack. If you hold the Z30 in one palm, then these buttons are, so to speak, within walking distance, but in order to make a swipe up (in order to exit any application), you will need to move the smartphone a little to a more comfortable position. On the left side there are connectors for microUSB and microHDMI, which allows you to easily connect the Z30 to a computer or even a TV, although only a USB cable is included.

The glass-patterned back cover (as on the BlackBerry Q10 QWERTY device) can be removed, but to me personally, this process seemed a little tricky. In truth, we went to great lengths to remove this cover while worrying about damaging the thin plastic cover along the way. The mount was so rigid that once it seemed to us that the cover could not be removed at all. We were even more confused when we discovered a hole in the plastic case, mistaking it for a valve for microSIM and mcroSD connectors.

But, as it turned out, this piece of plastic was connected to the patterned lid, and we, mustering our strength, finally removed it. In addition, the device is equipped with a non-removable 2880 MA battery - which makes it similar to the BlackBerry Q5 - but on the other hand, you can change the microSD card (up to 64 GB) on the fly and without having to turn off your smartphone. BlackBerry says the battery lasts for 25 hours of mixed use, though it's not clear what they mean by that. In addition, the smartphone will work 16 days in standby mode and 18 hours of talk time.

It is unlikely that we will find the same numbers when we take it seriously, but we will keep you posted. What about your Z30 experience? For starters, let's say that the smartphone runs on the latest version of the new BlackBerry operating system - BlackBerry 10.2. This version brought with it a whole slew of new options, and considering the fact that the smartphone is equipped with a 1.7 GHz dual-core processor and 2 GB of RAM, the operating system runs smoothly enough.

Perhaps the most significant changes have undergone notifications: new icons have appeared on the lock screen, with which you can view a preview of messages without having to remove the lock from your smartphone. When checking for new messages, you will less and less use the peek gesture (swipe up from the bottom of the screen) - a notification panel will appear over the application in which you are, showing a preview of what you just received. This is very similar to the notification bar in Windows Phone 8, but with added functionality specifically for BBM messages.

Once you receive a BBM message, you can reply to it simply by tapping on the notification icon, which means you don't have to leave the app you're currently in and then log into BBM or BlackBerry Hub. BlackBerry calls this option BBM Now, and we would like to see it on all electronic communications applications, including email and SMS. However, we saw a demonstration of these options on other Z30s, and we thought it worked fine. In the following articles, we will definitely tell you more about it.

The BlackBerry Hub has got a new option, a single mailbox for all communication flows. It is called the Priority Hub, and its job is to learn which communication methods and people are most important to you. She takes what she considers to be the most important and interesting messages (be it SMS, emails, or social media updates) and puts them most prominently. The idea is that you can quickly review all the notifications that are worth worrying about first, thus saving you time. But in the event that you do not want to rely on preferences that will arise automatically, you can configure the Priority Hub yourself.

The 8 megapixel camera is nothing special, but coupled with one LED flash, autofocus, image stabilization and 5x digital zoom, in addition to all sorts of shooting modes including Burst, HRD and Time Shift, it is at least suitable for use. The camera has no problems with shutter speed (quite the opposite), but I have always disliked the native BlackBerry 10 camera application for its shutter, which covers the entire screen at the moment of taking a picture, which is why some photos do not turn out as needed. Image quality is more than acceptable, but unfortunately falls short of the Lumia 925 and iPhone 5s standards.

Plus, you can record Full HD 1080p video, while the front 2MP camera has 3x digital zoom and 720p video recording capability. The BlackBerry Z30 offers tons of options for connecting to anything. We have already mentioned ports for USB, HDMI and microSD, but in addition to this, the smartphone can communicate with other devices via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, NFC and DLNA. A new option that neither the Z10, nor the Q10, nor the Q5 has is Miracast - it organizes two-way communication between the Z30 and another device such as a tablet or smart TV.

Verdict

We believe that the BlackBerry Z30 is a perfectly usable, but slightly unattractive smartphone that, in truth, does not try to win the hearts of a mass audience. BlackBerry is aiming more at the business niche. Ordinary people will probably pass by the Z30 and opt for the cheaper HTC One and Galaxy S4 or the brand new iPhone 5s. All in all, we're not sure if the Z30 will hit the market hard, although we were hoping for this when BlackBerry first created the Z10 sequel. And while the Z30 is noticeably better than its predecessor, it could be one of the last devices from BlackBerry in its current guise.