Blackberry 10 Making a Comeback!!

It was exciting yesterday when blackberry released the blackberry Z10 that runs on a new Blackberry 10 platform. A comeback for blackberry that aims at transforming mobile communications as a whole as well as its business brand. IOS and Android have dominated the market for the past five years and one wonders if the launch of this new OS is a bit too late.

Unlike its predecessors that ran on RIM, BB10 platform was specifically designed to run completely on touchscreen with new user experience. So, what makes it different?

• A software keyboard that swipes words to the keyboards and enables prediction and mimics the physical version experience.
• The BB Hub is a universal inbox that offers you a chance to get all your messages from emails, twitter, Facebook, linked In which can be navigated through swiping because it does not have a physical home or back button.
• BBM now allows video calling because of the BBM video and voice features. 
• BBM balance that allows users to separate their personal and work life.
• BB world store that has over 70,000 applications for its users. Not only does it have apps, but video and music as well with popular apps such as twitter, angry birds, Facebook and Skype available.

Specifications overview:

Design	Size	Height 130 mm / 5.12 in Width 65.6 mm / 2.58 in Depth 9 mm / 0.35 in
	Weight	137.5g / 4.85 oz
	Navigation	All-touch screen, with intuitive gesture based navigation
	Keyboard	On screen BlackBerry Keyboard (portrait/landscape), featuring contextual auto-correction, next-word prediction, and a personalized learning engine that gets to know the way you type
	Dedicated keys	Volume Up/Down, Mute, Lock (for Power On/Off)
Display	Resolution	1280 x 768 resolution, at 356 PPI 24-bit color depth
	Screen size	4.2" diagonal 15:9 aspect ratio
OS & desktop software	Operating system	BlackBerry 10 OS
	Desktop software	BlackBerry® Link software for your computer to enable synchronization of data and media
Performance	Processor	Dual Core 1.5 GHz
	Memory	2GB RAM 16GB Flash
	Expandable memory	Removable microSD memory card – slot under battery door (Up to 64 GB)
	USB Ports	USB 2.0 high speed port – allows charging and data synchronization of the device with a USB cable
	HDMI Port	Micro HDMI for connection to your HDTV or projector
Power	Battery	1800mAH removable battery
	Battery Life	Up to 10 hours talk time (3G) Up to 13 days standby time *Note: Battery life claims are for Model STL100-3
Camera & video	Rear camera	8 megapixel auto-focus camera Back Side Illumination for better low-light performance 5-element F2.2 lens Dedicated ISP (image signal processor) with 64MB frame buffer Flash, continuous and touch to focus, image stabilization Enhanced Super Resolution Digital Zoom (5x) 1080p HD video recording 4 DOF (Degrees of freedom) video stabilization Time Shift mode for pinpointing and adjusting individual elements of your picture
	Front camera	2 megapixel fixed-focus camera Image and video stabilization 3x digital zoom 720p HD video recording
Multimedia	Image formats	BMP, WBMP, JPG, GIF, PNG, TIFF, SGI, TGA
	Audio & video formats	3GP, 3GP2, M4A, M4V, MOV, MP4, MKV, MPEG-4, AVI, ASF, WMV, WMA, MP3, MKA, AAC, AMR, F4V, WAV, MP2PS, MP2TS, AWB, OGG, FLAC
	Audio & video encoding/decoding	H.264, MPEG-4, H.263, AAC-LC, AAC+, eAAC, MP3, PCM, Xvid, AMR-NB, WMA 9/10, WMA10 professional, WMA-LL, VC-1, VP6, SPARK, PCM, MPEG-2, MJPEG (mov), AC-3, AMR-WB, QCELP, FLAC, VORBIS
Apps	Pre-loaded apps	BlackBerry® Hub, Contacts, BlackBerry® Browser, BlackBerry® Calendar, BBM, Text Messages, BlackBerry® World, BlackBerry® Remember, Docs To Go™, Pictures, Music, Videos, Story Maker, Facebook®1, Twitter®1, LinkedIn®1, Foursquare®, BlackBerry® Maps, Games, YouTube®, Voice Control, Weather, Clock, Calculator, Compass, File Manager, Box, BlackBerry® Connect for Dropbox, Print To Go, Smart Tags, Settings, Adobe® Reader, Phone, Camera/Video Camera/Time Shift, Setup, Help, SIM Toolkit, Search
Security		Password protection, screen lock, and sleep mode BlackBerry® Balance™ offering dedicated profiles to keep work and personal data separate and secure
Alerts & notifications		Tone Vibrate On-screen or LED indicator
Voice input/output		Integrated hands-free speakerphone Hands-free headset capable Bluetooth headset capable
Network & connectivity	Network bands	Z10 Up to 4G LTE Quad band LTE 2, 5, 4, 17 (700/850/1700/1900 MHz) Tri band HSPA+ 1, 2, 5/6 (850/1900/2100 MHz) Quad band HSPA+ 1, 2, 4, 5/6, (850/1700/1900/2100 MHz) Quad band EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) Z10 (4G - Verizon) Up to 4G LTE LTE Band-13 (700 MHz) CDMA Cell-band and PCS-band (800/1900 MHz) WCDMA Band-1 and Band-8 (2100/900 MHz) GSM/EDGE Quad Bands (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
	Wi-Fi®	802.11 a/b/g/n 2.4 GHz / 5 GHz 4G Mobile Hotspot
	Bluetooth®	Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy (LE)
	GPS	Assisted, Autonomous and Simultaneous GPS Preloaded with BlackBerry Maps application
	NFC	BlackBerry® Tag with NFC technology enables communication between BlackBerry smartphones and other NFC-enabled devices with a tap
Sensors	Advanced Sensors	Accelerometer Magnetometer Proximity sensor Gyroscope Ambient light sensor
Accessibility		BlackBerry® Magnify, for customers with partial vision - Learn more Adjustable screen brightness, scalable fonts Teletypewriter (TTY) Support

Interesting trends on Apple, Blackberry and Android users.

So...what does your phone say about you? Recently, a study was conducted by a UK firm to compare the habits of Android, Apple and blackberry users concerning their relation to the holiday habits they exercised! Here are some of the interesting statistics that were found:

9% of visitors on traveling related websites were phone users of which:

• 69% are iPhone users
• 24% are Android Users
• 6% Blackberry users.

What does your destination say about you?

• Other than any other group, iPhone users love to shop and the most likely place they will visit is New York.
• Android and iPhone users love their tech more compared to Blackberry users and will definitely love to go to techno forward cities such as Tokyo.
• iPhone users are such cliche lovers and are ten times more likely to visit Paris ( The City of love) than Android and Blackberry users who ranked last.
• iPhone users are more likely to visit flirtatious cities such as Athens and risky gambling ones like Las Vegas because they are thrill lovers. Blackberry users however, love to play it very safe and will hardly visit destinations such as Afghanistan and Detroit.  
• Surprising enough, Blackberry users are more likely to be the big spenders: splashing out their money when it comes to very expensive holiday destinations.

Relationships on holiday?

• iPhone users are more likely to go away for a dirty weekend with their partner (51% chance), android users have a 47% likelihood while a blackberry user is the least likely to be enthusiastic about a getaway with their partner and are considered to be unlucky in love.
• It is more likely for a blackberry user to take their partner on a business trip with android users being last in this category.
• Also, a blackberry user is most likely to foot the bill on a date with an android user being least likely to do that. hmmm...

Work habits while on holiday?

• Blackberry users spend 38% more hours than other users searching for flights and holiday destinations during working hours.
• Blackberry and IPhone users are more likely to indulge in work related chores during their holidays than android users

The study also showed that while Android users are most likely to end up in the sack after a first date, blackberry users would rather sip on their beer.

How true is this survey?

Phone Cases that will drive you Crazy!!!!

A friend of mine sent me some beautiful iPhone case photos that i loved a bit too much. I therefore looked for more designs and inspiration. Some people may view them as being over the top but on the other hand, life is too short to have a boring phone case! ( I said that :-) ). The cases are actually functional since they act as protective barriers against scratches, falls, wear & tear and dust . You can get them to match with what your wearing, get them to go with your moods for the day or to match your boyfriend's outfit if your that kind of girl :-) . I stumbled upon some cool designs;  thought i would share them with you:

 and my personal favorite :-) ....

It is possible to customize your android phone case by yourself if you are feeling artsy. All you need is transparent or rubber cases that match the size of your phone. When using transparent cases, you can use paint (on the transparent case) to evoke a design you like or you can stick a picture/graphics/patterns/messages to it that you love/relate to. When using rubber cases, you can use spray adhesives to stick chunks of your old jewelry pieces, buttons and brooches in a design you find appealing. You can incorporate fabric as well by having to recycle old blanket pieces, tweed, leather and denim.
Otherwise, if you want them ready made, you can check at Mr. Price. They have iPhone and Blackberry cases that are absolutely beautiful.
Am on a project aiming to make one for myself. I will share it with you once i am through.