Avail 1GB Data For Rs 83​ as Blackberry partners with Idea cellular

According to reports by Business Insider India, Blackberry India has tied up with Idea cellular to provide affordable data services. You can avail 1GB data at Rs 83/- in coming months.

According to the report, Blackberry users with Operating system 7 can avail BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) 1GB 2G data for only Rs 83 per month. These Idea users can also avail of an annual rental plan of Rs 999 as well.

After suffering a major crash with respect to business prospects, Blackberry has been trying to orchestrate a major turnaround in its fortunes. Earlier, BlackBerry CEO John Chen had even said that India was critical to the revival of the company. As the quarter ended May 31, Blackberry's global shipments have crashed 61% to 2.6 million phones. And due to security concerns, Blackberry hasn't been able to get a solid footing in China, which makes India, a viable option for the company.

Blackberry plans to target potential customers using touch and QWERTY OS 7 devices, with this initiative.

"BlackBerry currently has some of the strongest and most robust enterprise services and solutions in the market having transitioned from the 'push mail' image. This offer is designed to deliver these benefits not only to consumer but also enterprise users," said BlackBerry India director of carrier sales, Ashish Gupta to Business Insider India.

BlackBerry Unveils Four New Smartphones, Including new BlackBerry Q20

BlackBerry is going on the offensive to reclaim some of its lost market share with four new smartphones being released later this year. A news website devoted to the brand of smart-devices has obtained the company’s product roadmap for 2014. Despite fighting an uphill battle against Apple and Android devices which remain far more popular, BlackBerry is not giving up the fight yet. The released document shows four new smartphones slated for launch this autumn, each one targeting a different market demographic.



The roadmap classifies the four new devices as “Affordable,” “Classic,” “Innovative,” and “Prestige.” The Classic Q20, innovative “Windermere” Passport, and prestige “Khan” P’9983 all sport the classic BlackBerry QWERTY keyboards, whereas the affordable “Manitoba” Z3 LTE is a more standard smartphone with a larger touchscreen and no keypad. The Passport and P’9983 are scheduled for a release in Q3 2014, whereas the Q20 and Z3 LTE have no stated 2014 launch date as of yet. However, given that new tech is usually launched in the fall, it is highly likely that they will be made available by Q4 of this year.

The Classic Q20 is aptly named, representing the most standard and recognizable of the BlackBerry designs. The Q20 will be the more affordable option for users who desire a physical keyboard, as the more powerful Z3 LTE and P’9983 are targeted at more up-scale markets. The Classic Q20 will sport a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 1.5 GHz processor, 2GB of RAM, and a trackpad for easy one-handed use. It will ship with the latest 10.3 BlackBerry OS. (Picture: BlackBerry Q10)

BlackBerry has lost most of its market share to its Apple iOS and Google Android competitors, but is not ceding the fight just yet.

The company is marketing its products towards professionals as well as average users who still desire a physical QWERTY keyboard on their smartphones, such as with the Classic Q20. BlackBerry may yet have the potential to recapture some lost ground and create a niche for itself, and the new devices being released this year will be a test for the company to rediscover its appeal to consumers.

BlackBerry to turn back to QWERTY, set to launch Passport, Classic in India

Faced with the onslaught of cheap Android phones, BlackBerry is turning back to its core, the popular QWERTY keyboards. In the coming months, BlackBerry will launch in India the Passport and Classic, two devices that will have the QWERTY keyboard at its USP.

"QWERTY has been one of our strong suits, keeping with the consumer trend and demand, we will continue to launch devices based on QWERTY. There remains a large portion of the user base that are loyal to the QWERTY experience," said Sameer Bhatia, Director, Distribution at BlackBerry India.

The unique BlackBerry Passport will offer a 4.5-inch square full HD screen with with a touch-enabled keyboard. "You will be able to navigate web pages, apps and e-mails by lightly brushing your fingers over the keys, which helps with things like scrolling and cursor placement," he said, adding that the keyboard will also support custom commands.

The BlackBerry Classic, meanwhile, will bring back the trackpad and function keys to BlackBerry 10 devices. It will be second device to come out of the Foxconn partnership and could have an affordable price tag.

"We believe that our devices need to stay in step with the times while ensuring to provide die-hard BlackBerry users with the comfort of a keypad as well," said Bhatia.

However, BlackBerry is unlikely to shift to an online only approach like some of the new entrants in the market. "We believe that both traditional retail formats outlets and online platforms are complementary strategies that brands need to harness to ensure complete consumer access and reach," he said. Bhatia said it is imperative to look at OMNI channel presence and leverage both traditional as well as new age formats to reach out to consumers across segments. "Recently with the launch of the new BlackBerry Z3 we partnered with both The Mobile Store and Flipkart to offer consumers an exciting pre-launch offer. The offer was very well received by the consumers, proving that both brick & mortar and online formats have become an integral part of a brand’s retail strategy."

Forget Spotify: Here are five alternative music streaming apps that work in India

If you’re out to discover some new music without pinching your pocket, online music streaming services are great places to start. You get to choose from a huge collection of songs along with lots of other benefits. For starters, you get to listen to music without having to first download or purchase songs, while also saving some storage space on your device.

Unfortunately, some of the most popular music streaming services such as Spotify, Slacker Radio, Deezer, Google Play Music and iTunes Radio aren’t available in India. But believe it or not, there are plenty of options out there that make great alternatives to these popular music streaming services and allow you to stream music for no cost at all. Some apps let you download music and listen to them offline, too.

After sifting through apps with limited features, sloppy interfaces and sparse music choices, here are some of the best music streaming apps that made the cut.

Best features: Gaana

Gaana is a great place for listening to Hindi and English music with a simple interface. You can download songs to play them later, though you’ll need to upgrade to the paid version Gaana+ for unlimited downloads. One of the best things of the app is that it offers the same features across Android and iOS. Some songs will let you watch the video or read their lyrics. You can easily add songs to the playlists you create, though creating new playlists is not very straightforward. By default, songs are streamed at 128kbps. You can set the app to stream at higher quality of 320kbps, but that would consume more mobile data and is suitable for faster internet connections.

Gaana’s built-in radio is just as comprehensive as the streaming features. You can choose a radio station based on a song or artist you like, or make use of its ‘One touch radio’ feature that plays music based on your listening habits. There are few pre-created radio stations as well, though these cater mostly to Hindi music.

Download Gaana for iOS

Download Gaana for Android

Download Gaana for Windows Phone

Download Gaana for Blackberry

Best for Indian music: Saavn

Saavn includes plenty of features, though its iOS app is more polished than the Android one. Other than Hindi and English, you can listen to songs in Tamil, Punjabi, Marathi, Gujarati and other Indian regional languages. Similar to Gaana, Saavn lets you download songs and play them offline. But the service is free only for the first 14 days, after which you’ll need to upgrade to the paid Saavn Pro app for unlimited downloads. If you install the app on more than one device, the app will automatically sync downloads across each of them – something that the Gaana app lacks. There’s a ‘Surprise’ feature that creates a playlist of 50 songs based on your music preferences.

Like Gaana, Saavn lets you browse through radio stations based on the artist or song you search for. However, the radio service is not consistent across Android and iOS. The Android version has a more comprehensive list of artists and songs than the iOS app.

Download Saavn for iOS

Download Saavn for Android

Best features: Tunebash

Tunebash is a relatively new music streaming app that has lots of unique features to boast of. You can listen to all kinds of music whether Indian or international, anywhere in the world. It lets you choose songs based on the song name, artist, album or hashtag. For example, searching for the hashtag ‘cool’ pulls out songs that are trending as ‘cool’. The sporty interface is incredibly easy to use. Besides playing music, Tunebash is also a music social network. You can share songs, make friends and see what others are listening to. It makes use of your location information to find what are the popular songs in your location and who are the popular listeners around you. You earn karma points as you use the app, which adds to your popularity.

Radio isn’t one of Tunebash’s strongest features. It has a limited collection of ‘stations’, which are basically individual songs from the same artist. The songs are mostly from unknown artists.

Download Tunebash for iOS

Download Tunebash for Android

Best for discovering new music: SoundCloud

SoundCloud might not have the largest collection of music, but it’s the go-to place for finding the latest songs by many artists. You can follow your favourite artists to find out what’s launched or search for new aspiring artists. Many of the songs are uploaded by individuals, so you might not always get the original song or the best audio quality. You can repost tracks you like and like/favourite any good tracks you discover. The SoundCloud app for iOS lets you download songs with AudioCopy  for offline use. SoundCloud does not have any radio feature.

Download  SoundCloud for iOS

Download SoundCloud for Android

Best for live radio: TuneIn Radio

Online radio services such as TuneIn Radio are a great option if your phone lacks a built-in radio or you need more than what your local radio can provide. TuneIn Radio brings radio stations across the globe to one place, so you can listen to music as well as news and live radio broadcasts around the world. For music, you’ll have to pick a radio station from a genre. There are over fifty genres to choose from including soundtracks, jazz, hip-hop, folk and country, and TuneIn Radio brings together all the radio stations playing songs of that genre. This opens you to a vast collection of music without limiting you to a particular country or language.

Download TuneInRadio for iOS

Download TuneIn Radio for Android

Download TuneIn Radio for Windows Phone

Download TuneIn Radio for Blackberry

BlackBerry hints at redesign for BBM iOS, Android apps

BlackBerry's BBM applications for Apple's iOS and Google's Android operating systems appear headed for a makeover at some point down the road.



During a Q&A at Tuesday's BlackBerry Security Summit, blog site N4BB asked BlackBerry President John Sims about the future look of the iOS and Android versions of BlackBerry Messenger, the company's free chatting and voice calling app. Released last October, both versions added more than 40 million registered users to the total BBM population by the time 2013 was over.

In responding to N4BB, Sims said he disagreed with previous management who felt that the BBM app should have the same look across all the platforms. The BBM apps for iOS and Android don't exactly look and feel like iOS and Android apps. Instead, they take their design cues more from the native BBM client that runs on BlackBerry 10. That may be vexing and even confusing to users who are accustomed to the way apps are specifically designed for and function on iOS and Android.

So does that mean a visual overhaul is in order for both versions? Apparently so.

Sims cited the new BBM app for Windows Phone, pointing out that it's designed for the Windows Phone environment so that it's familiar and comfortable to users of Microsoft's mobile OS. He said the same should hold true for the iOS and Android versions.

The BBM experience on iPhone and Android "needs to be more of a native app experience," Sims said, according to N4BB. "You can expect to see that manifest itself in our Android and iPhone BBM apps."

Sims didn't spill any details on when BBM for iOS and Android may undergo a redesign. BlackBerry has continued to add more features to both versions, but the apps themselves have gone almost ten months without any interface changes. A makeover is something that should be high on BlackBerry's priority list at this point.

BlackBerry 9320, 9720 and Q5 prices cut in India

The BlackBerry 9320, 9720 and Q5 smartphones have received price cuts in India officially with the QWERTY range starting from under Rs 10000. The new promo is part of the company’s efforts to show its commitment in the QWERTY market and also offer fans an alluring deal on its classic devices, not to mention sell off remaining stock.



The BlackBerry Q5 is the only smartphone on the roster part of the BB10 lineup. The 9720 and 9320 phones, on the other handset, fall in the outdated OS 7 portfolio. While special offers usually have a time limited, there’s no mention of an expiry, so we’re assuming that these price cuts are permanent.

The BlackBerry Q5 is now available for Rs 13990, while the 9320 and 9720 are tagged at Rs 9900 and Rs 11990, respectively. The second phone is also the first 3G handset from the company to fall under the Rs 10000 price range.

The Z10 and Z30 all-touch devices have also been treated to reductions with the former performing exceptionally well in the country, even going out of stock multiple times. In other news, the BlackBerry Z3 smartphone was launched in India around a month back and sales appear to be promising.

Key specs of the BlackBerry Q5:

- 3.1-inch 720 x 720p display
- BB10.2 OS
- 1.2GHz dual core Snapdragon S4 processor
- 2GB RAM, 8GB storage, 32GB expandable
- 2MP front camera, 5MP rear shooter
- 2180mAh battery

The company has announced that the price cuts on the BlackBerry 9320, 9720 and Q5 are already in effect across all of its retail networks.

BlackBerry says its square phone is already stealing back iOS and Android users

A lot of people who now use iPhones and Android phones once used BlackBerry devices many years ago, and now BlackBerry says that its new square BlackBerry Passport is bringing some of them back into the fold. In a new post highlighting consumer response to its newest smartphone, BlackBerry picks up on several comments left on different websites of people who say that they can’t wait to dump their current smartphones for the BlackBerry Passport.

“I  like it,” wrote one man named Hassam Mirzai. “The phone is small enough to carry in my pocket and large enough to read text comfortably. I currently have a Samsung Note II. When I bought my Note II, it looked weird too. After 2 or 3 days I got used to it. I will replace my Note II with the Blackberry Passport.”

An Engadget commenter who goes by the name of Ryboto, meanwhile, said that BlackBerry 10 is the only OS he ever wanted to use and that if he needs apps that aren’t available on BlackBerry World, he can just sideload ones that were built for Android.

Another former BlackBerry diehard who calls himself patbjackson18, meanwhile, explained that he didn’t need a phone that had a big app ecosystem since his sole desire is to just fire off emails and do real work.

“I want it,” he explained. “Just because it’s different, and I like the screen and keyboard. I miss Blackberry [and] I’m a huge emailer, and android and iOS just don’t do it for me. I’m all about communication and neither platform is doing the job right.”

You can read about all the iOS and Android users that BlackBerry is stealing back with the Passport by clicking the source link below.

BlackBerry Is Working On A Siri-Like Feature Called 'BlackBerry Assistant'

All of the major smartphone platforms have virtual assistant features, but now BlackBerry wants to get in on the action.

Apple  iOS has Siri, Google  Android has Google Now andMicrosoft Windows Phone has Cortana. BlackBerry’s virtual assistant feature is called BlackBerry Assistant. BlackBerry Assistant will be available in the BlackBerry 10.3 operating system when it launches this fall and the Passport smartphone will be the first device to have it.

BlackBerry Assistant performs the functions that you would expect out of a virtual assistant with your voice commands. It can be used to manage e-mails, set up calendar events, post updates to social media and create reminders. BlackBerry Assistant is also compatible with BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) so you can send messages to contacts with your voice.

You will notice in the image above that BlackBerry Assistant is also compatible with the keyboard so you can type commands. The commands can be typed directly from the home screen without having to open other apps.

There are several commands that are supported by BlackBerry Assistant that other virtual assistants cannot perform. You can ask BlackBerry Assistant to read your latest e-mail and then tell it to “mark as unread.” You can tell BlackBerry Assistant to “turn on the flashlight” or “turn off the flashlight.” I asked Siri to turn on my iPhone’s flashlight and it said “Sorry, but I’m not able to do that.” You can say “phone calls only, please” to BlackBerry Assistant and it will turn off all of the sounds, except the phone ringer. This could be useful when you are expecting an important phone call, but do not want to interrupt a meeting otherwise.

BlackBerry said that Assistant will improve the more it is used. “The more I use it, the more it learns and adapts to me. The more I speak with it, the more tuned-in to my queries it gets. If you’ve had experience with other smartphone-based personal assistants, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how accurate BlackBerry Assistant is at recognizing your requests,” said Donny Halliwell, the social media marketing lead and editor for the Inside BlackBerry blogs.

BlackBerry Passport

Last month, BlackBerry announced a new smartphone called the Passport. The Passport has a 4.5-inch square display with a resolution of 1440 x 1440 pixels. Below the square display is a stretched QWERTY keyboard. The Passport is expected to arrive in September with BlackBerry OS 10.3 and BlackBerry Assistant.

John Chen’s Turnaround Plan

BlackBerry has a 0.8% smartphone marketshare and it will drop to 0.3% in 2018, according to estimates by IDC. BlackBerry CEO John Chen insists that the company is turning around despite falling behind its rivals. Chen is cutting costs, selling assets and executing a plan to hit break-even cash flow by the end of this fiscal year.

Chen is expecting BlackBerry to return to profitability by March 2016. “Right now, everything that I’m doing is judiciously starting to lay the groundwork for revenue growth for next year,” said Chen in an interview with Bloomberglast month.

In your opinion, what do you think of BlackBerry developing a virtual assistant? Do you think it will add substantial value to future BlackBerry devices? Let us know in the comments.

Apple-IBM deal dents BlackBerry's prospects, slams stock

 

BlackBerry Ltd's (BBRY.O) shares took a beating on Wednesday after IBM Corp (IBM.N) outlined plans to partner with Apple Inc APPL.O to sell iPhones and iPads loaded with applications for business users.

The Apple-IBM tie up, beginning this fall, is set to target the customer base that BlackBerry needs to woo as part of a turnaround under new Chief Executive Officer John Chen.

"It is not a crushing blow at this early stage, but ‎it is a negative for BlackBerry," said IDC analyst John Jackson. "There can be little question that it is unwelcome, if not entirely unexpected news."

BlackBerry's stock has been on a tear this year. As of Tuesday, it was up more than 50 percent as some investors became more optimistic about the company's future.

News of the Apple-IBM venture took some of the steam out of the stock on Wednesday.

BlackBerry shares fell 9.4 percent to $10.24 on Nasdaq and 9.3 percent to C$11.03 on the Toronto Stock Exchange after analysts said the alliance could hurt the turnaround plans.

IBM said late Tuesday the tie-up will offer services geared toward security and mobile device management, an area viewed as BlackBerry's strong suit and a key selling point in its battle to win back market share from the iPhone and devices powered by Google Inc's (GOOG.O) Android software.

"The partnership's software around data security and device

management pose immediate threats to mobile device management (MDM) software solutions deployed by firms such as BlackBerry and MobileIron (MOBL.O)," said Morningstar analyst Brian Colello in a note to clients.

"Even if Apple-IBM's security 'mousetrap' isn't as good as ones offered by BlackBerry and others, these MDM vendors will

have to overcome the extremely high hurdle of displacing IBM's mobile device software preloaded on iPhones and iPads."

BlackBerry downplayed the threat posed by the alliance.

"The news that Apple is partnering with IBM to expand into the enterprise mobility market only underscores the ongoing need for secure end-to-end enterprise mobility solutions like those BlackBerry has delivered for years," said the company in a brief statement.

BlackBerry said it remained the leader in this market, with the necessary software and network to secure data for enterprise clients.

UBS analyst Amitabh Passi warned, however, that competition for Blackberry in the enterprise mobile management market is set to intensify after recent deals such as IBM's acquisition of Fiberlink, VMware's takeover of AirWatch and the Citrix-Zenprise deal.

"Blackberry now finds itself competing against much larger and established enterprise vendors, as well as smaller, but better capitalized vendors like Mobileiron," said Passi in a note to clients.

The shares of Mobileiron Inc (MOBL.O), a small recently listed player in the sector, also fell sharply - down nearly 6 percent at $8.16 in afternoon trading on Wednesday.

BlackBerry to Shut Down Scoreloop

 BlackBerry Ltd. on Thursday said it would shut down Scoreloop AG, a German division which helps mobile game-developers manage billing and other functions, providing more evidence the smartphone maker will focus on corporate and government customers as it seeks to return to profitability.



BlackBerry acquired Munich-based Scoreloop in 2011 to encourage developers to create more mobile-gaming apps in a bid to boost device sales. But BlackBerry's effort to compete in the consumer market has struggled against Apple Inc., AAPL +0.19% Samsung Electronics Co. 005930.SE -1.68%  and other smartphone rivals, pushing the Waterloo, Ontario, company to return to its traditional enterprise customer base to seek market share gains.

Scoreloop will "discontinue its services as of Dec. 1," a BlackBerry spokeswoman said in an email. "This decision aligns with BlackBerry's strategy to focus developer efforts on delivering the best enterprise solutions for customers." A Scoreloop representative couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

The decision to shutter Scoreloop comes after BlackBerry last month laid off 65 employees who were mainly focused on developing mobile apps for consumers, but retained about 100 people focused on developing apps for enterprise customers. It also follows BlackBerry's deal with Amazon.com Inc.to gain access to the e-commerce company's Appstore to make its smartphones more appealing to consumers while freeing up resources to service the corporate and government markets.

BlackBerry has said it remains committed to selling smartphones and generating a profit from this business, but the company is largely betting its comeback attempt on selling higher-margin mobile-management software and security services used by companies and governments.

Increasingly, investors are betting BlackBerry is on the right track. At midday Thursday, the company's stock was up about 39% since it surprised the market last month by reporting a small quarterly profit and signaled plans to introduce updated mobile-management software. However, the company has yet to prove it can increase revenue and has acknowledged the turnaround effort is challenging.

BlackBerry Z3 Review: Sticking to What It Does Best

When the BlackBerry Z10 was launched in early 2013, interest was red hot, but the exorbitant price tag killed interest. BlackBerry was hardly a brand with the appeal of Apple so pricing the Z10 close to Apple’s top-of-the-line iPhone was suicidal. Thanks to a well-publicised write down, the Z10 today has a price tag of Rs 17,999 in India, but retails for as low as Rs 15,000 and is reportedly selling reasonably well.

 

The point of bringing that up isn’t to rehash the Z10’s woes. Rather, because of the Z10’s price today, the point is to question where BlackBerry India will place the Z3, BlackBerry’s new kid on the block and supposedly BlackBerry’s smartphone for the masses. Because the Z3 now squarely competes with what should have been its far more premium predecessor – the Z10 – thanks to fairly close price tags.

Built by Foxconn and jointly designed by BlackBerry and Foxconn, with the Taiwanese ODM taking up supply chain risks, the BlackBerry Z3 may fall in the mid-range for Indian smartphone buyers but for BlackBerry, it’s at the low end of its BlackBerry 10 line of smartphones.

Design and Build

The Z3 is not your typical budget smartphone. For starters, it doesn’t feel cheap in any sense of the word. On the contrary, it wouldn’t be wrong in saying that it looks a shade better than the Z30. It even feels quite premium despite being made of plastic.

The 5-inch smartphone weighs 164g and measures about 9.3mm in depth. It’s not the slimmest or the lightest in the family but it is sturdy and durable. The screen resolution of 960×540 pixels is not a fan favourite but it’s pretty good. Colours are vibrant and punchy and pixellation around text is only really noticeable if you go really close.

All the buttons are placed along the left side since the right houses the ports for the micro-SIM and microSD card. The buttons are a bit of a stretch to use but thankfully you have gestures to wake the screen. The Z3 ditches the micro HDMI port seen on the Z10 in order to cut costs.

The battery is non-removable as well but thanks to the larger dimensions, BlackBerry has managed to squeeze in a 2500mAh battery. We have a nice textured pattern around the back along with the 5MP camera with flash. The mono speaker grill is placed at the bottom. The familiar BlackBerry LED indicator is on the front display and is quite useful to customise colours for different notifications using apps.

Overall, we’re impressed with the build an design of the Z3. It’s not the most comfortable for single-handed use (then again, which 5-inch phone is?) but for a budget phone, it feels anything but that. If we have to nitpick further we would say that the display could have used some oleophobic coating as it gets too messy very easily.

Features

The Z3 comes with 10.2.1 out of the box and with it, you get all its features like direct APK installations, themes for icons and UI elements, the Priority Hub, actionable lock screen notifications and lots more. This update was available for all BlackBerry devices from this Jan onwards and the Z3 is also in line for the upcoming 10.3 update.

But that’s not to say everything is roses and champagne. In fact, compared to Android and iOS, BlackBerry 10 is a lot buggier. It may be because it’s a newer, but bugs in features like contact management are really frustrating and have taken too long to be fixed. Often pictures on the speed dial contacts will randomly disappear and rarely, but yes, contacts too. Sync with Google is also quite terrible. While a change on an iPhone or an Android smartphone will reflect in Gmail contacts in a few minutes, on BlackBerry 10 it can take far longer, even if the sync duration is set for 5 minutes.

You’ll also be happy to know that BlackBerry Maps now works in India. While you can always install Google Maps, it’s nice to have the native app finally functional. The Z3 is pretty quick in pin-pointing your current location, however the maps themselves take a while to load. You have the option to toggle between traffic information but there isn’t any at the moment for India. Turn-by-turn navigation is also available. The experience is nowhere near as seamless as Google Maps but it’s a start.

The app store has all you covered with basic apps such as Foursquare, Twitter, Facebook and even Whatsapp, all of which are native to the OS. There isn’t much in terms of games but there are some addictive titles such as Minion Rush, to pass time. In any case you can install APKs meant for Android and they should run just fine on the Z3.

The Z3 is powered by a dual-core Snapdragon 400 SoC which includes two Krait-200 cores running at 1.2GHz and an Adreno 305 GPU. We also have 1.5GB of RAM onboard. At any given time, you have about 500MB of free RAM available for apps. This is a decent amount as we didn’t face any issues when firing up multiple apps in quick succession. It’s also good to see BlackBerry include more RAM as compared to most smartphones in this price range.

Media

Getting media to and from your Z3 is a lot simpler now. BlackBerry Link is optional as the phone shows up a portable media device in Windows. As long as you add your media in the respective folders, they are instantly recognised by the respective apps. The music player doesn’t have any equalizer settings but the audio quality is pretty good out-of-the-box.

The loud speaker lacks the depth of the Z30 or the Q10, but is good enough for alerts. Out of the 8GB of onboard storage, you get about 5.9GB that’s usable. You can however expand this to 32GB. We can also confirm that 64GB cards work just fine as well as we had no trouble with our SanDisk SDXC card. FM radio is part of the music player now.

Connectivity

The BlackBerry Z3 supports tri-band 3G and quad-band 2G. You also get Wi-Fi ‘n’, Bluetooth v4.0, NFC and GPS. GLONASS and USB OTG features seem to be absent however.  Having a large display is great for browsing the web. The stock browser does a good job at rendering heavy web pages and zooming in and out of content is pretty seamless.

Camera

The 5MP camera might not seem like much but under good lighting, it’s actually not too bad. Focus speed is not the best as it takes a while to get a sharp focus and keep it locked. The user interface is still pretty basic and you only have options to change the aspect and couple of shooting modes. Here are some samples from the Z3. TimeShift camera more is also present like we seen in the Z10 and other BB 10 devices in the past.

Battery life

Battery life is one of the highlights of the phone. The 2500 mAh battery gives the Z3 a huge boost in terms of operational time. On 3G, we easily managed to get about a day and a half of usage consistently, and with two different usage patterns. Despite not being able to do our standard 8-hour test, we are quite confident that the Z3 has great battery life.

Verdict and Price in India

At a price tag of Rs 15,990 the price of the Z3 has far exceeded price expectations. Granted, most media brands didn’t exactly do in-depth research by simply converting the price in Indonesia into Indian rupees, without accounting for duties and taxes, but yet, we think a price tag of under Rs 14,000 would have been best, while around the Rs 13,000 mark would have been fantastic. However, there’s a twist in the tale and BlackBerry is offering a pre-order price of Rs 14,990, which is slightly more palatable.

Now for the elephant in the room, do you choose a Z10 or a Z3 considering they are priced so close? The Z3 would make a good buy in the Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000 range but anything beyond that and you might as well pick the Z10. It’s more powerful, has double the onboard storage, slightly better camera, better display, GLONASS and a more compact form factor.

The two reasons we would recommend the Z3 over the Z10 is if you want a larger display and longer battery life. As an overall package, the Z3 is a very tempting proposition if it drops in price. Once that happens, the Z3 makes a very good alternative to say, the Nokia XL. The slightly better specifications will ensure Android apps run a lot smoother as compared to Microsoft’s offering.