Back in Black !. Review on Blackberry Q5

Triumph of the form factor ! Thats how I'd describe the latest attempt by Blackberry. Just like the micro four thirds in cameras, the Q5 seeks to balance things like size, weight, typing convenience, browsing, price...and most importantly security. Its one of those phones that tick most of the relevant boxes for me.

For a Company that has been in the news for all the wrong reasons, the latest BB 10 devices, Z10, Q10 and Q5, promise a fresh start. And a fresh start is what it is, sacrificing quite a bit of the trademark BB "feel" just to get even with the Androids/iOSes out there. And for those of you who are skeptical about BB's fortune, let me submit that nothing could be farther from truth. While BB may have lost much of its market share, enterprises the world over are just too heavily invested in BB hardware to let the company die, at least in the next few years.

THE SPECS -  IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, 720 x 720 pixels, 3.1 inches @ ~328 ppi pixel density (A phenomenal 3 PPIs ahead of the Retina display sporting iPhone :-P Are you guys listening ?), Qualcomm Snapdragon 4 CPU Dual-core 1.2 GHz processor, 8 GB internal storage (plus 32 GB card support), 2 GB RAM, 5 MP, autofocus camera with LED flash, stabilisation and video capture upto 1080p@30fps, Bluetooth 4.0, Wifi b/g/n, NFC, 2G/3G/4G support (Most operators wont support NFC/LTE in India but then who cares you can brag all the same), Li-Ion 2180 mAh battery, etc...all packed into 120 grams of solid "hot forged plastic". Modest did you say ? Thats just it I'm afraid ! If you are into top bracket bragging rights, I'd suggest the Nexus 4 at marginally higher prices.

If you are wondering how on earth BB has been able to offer "so much" to its users in what they refer to as a "budget" device, the answer is an obvious "they have cut corners". By now you'd know jolly well that the material used isnt the "cold forged steel" used in Q10 but the more familiar plastic. In addition they have saved quite a few dollars (:-P) by removing the legendary "carriage return" and the "Blackberry" buttons (the whole row of buttons for that matter) and not offering Gorilla glass. Also they have excluded the classic BB ringtones and notifier tones (to say nothing of wallpapers) so that the diehard are now left with no option but to spend a few minutes downloading and installing them. This is just BB's sadistic way of checking if you still are a diehard.

OK onto the most important part.

The OS 10 - The new OS is... how shall I put it ?.... MULTI (TI pronounced as TIE) directional in its approach. If Androids and iOS have those draw-down notifications and quick-access menus and multiple frames to house those 'games and app' icons, BB10 leaves them far behind since it has these things in all directions. You can swipe down for the drawdown menu, swipe up for exiting an application (also for unlocking), swipe right for your BB Hub and message notifications and swipe swipe left for accessing the 'app menu'. "Take that all ye android/iOS swipers", BB seems to be saying. I'm glad they stopped short of incorporating diagonal swipes :-P Jokes apart none would buy into BB for their swiping prowess no matter how good it is. To be honest, the interface on mobiles is still what it was, 4 years ago when smartphones took over from feature phones - "too much shouting and too little done". BB is no exception to this and does not offer any radical departures. Just the "if good's on the left then I'm sticking to the right" approach (pardon the 'Back in Black' fetish. 'Hells Bells' seems just the song for BB10). Out of the box the OS occupies a whopping 3.5 GB out of the 8GB internal space which I feel is very very high for a smartphone OS !! The days when you could actually treat a mobile phone like a computer still seem aeons ahead of us.

That said plenty of new features are there, some really useful while others serving mostly as 'bells & whistles'. To start with the interface is very snappy. No lag experienced whatsoever. The browser which supports Flash & HTML 5 is easily the outstanding 'talkabout' as it makes browsing a very pleasant experience compared to most androids/iOS devices I have used. This is a major plus since one of the most widely used features of smartphones is browsing. The other major improvement is in the area of installing applications, which is no longer followed by lengthy rebooting as it used to. The Blackberry Hub is also an interesting concept but it gets a bit confusing if you sync too many accounts at the same time. Then there are features like Instant action which allow users to start searches simply by typing a few letters when at homescreen. This is specially useful if you tend to forget your pigeonholing basics. Plenty of shortcuts have also been built in which as one gets familiar with can be very helpful. One of the major nags I have experienced is in form of the upward swipe required to exit an application/unlock phone. On account of shape of the human thumb upward swipes can be anything from difficult to plain uncomfortable. In summary I'd say like all things New, the OS needs a bit of time to get used to and if you rely as heavily on your BB as I do, the Learning curve better be steep.

SECURITY - I wouldnt be wrong if I said SECURITY is one of the most vital aspects which keep me hooked on to Blackberries. If ever you have initialised a new android phone and have been pleasantly surprised to see lots of contact details suddenly being available to you, think again. Ever wondered why all apps should need access to your phonebooks, SMSes, call logs, emails, SD card, etc etc at the same time ?? One of the worst things that games/apps (and Android is the biggest culptrit by far) tend to do is to share your data (phone number, email, etc) by syncing and connecting your accounts to "nail" you as it were. Your data can go into public domain very easily. As of now it isnt possible to modify the permissions granted to Android apps at the time of installation in most devices without 'rooting', something the man out on the street isnt comfortable with. This is where BB takes a different approach. It allows you to have better control (including ability to change permissions) over the data that is accessible to apps/games thereby majorly checking the risks associated. Also, the OS10 is a completely revamped OS based on QNX which, if you have done your homework, would know is supposed to be a very robust OS from the security point of view.

THE KEYPAD - Deserves special mention, regardless of the fact that its so typical of Blackberries. Having experienced a slew of touch devices in the last few years, I can only say they dont work for me. At least not as well as a regular keyboard does. For someone who has used the BOLD series before, I always doubted BB's claims when they announced having spent a fortune for re-engineering the Keyboard. The Keyboard is BETTER ! Far far better than than any BB keyboard I have used before. Which is saying something ! The keys are larger and very optimally spaced out so that the risk of pushing two of them simultaneously is minimised. The new Keypad has to be experienced to be believed. The only complaint I have is that the control keys just below the screen have been sacrificed. To me that is a major disappointment as it compromises the Q5's position as a fully keypad controlled phone :-(

CAMERA - The 5 Mpx rear camera is good enough for casual snapping, Rajeev_Vermacially for FB purposes. The camera location is a bit of worry though. Its just behind the top right corner (rather than top left) which makes it susceptible to smudges & scratches from the index finger. However, its the front camera that carries the good news. Its a 2 Mpx specced at 720p which means video chatting is a very pleasant experience. The common grouse by the other party that the clip is very pixellated is now a thing of the past. What it also means though is that video chatting will consume more of your internet Bandwidth.

APPS & GAMES - BB app world isnt quite as big as android/iOS but you'll get enough to get by. Games like Beach Buggy Blitz, Ice Age Village, Enigmatis (supported only on Z10 at the moment), LookeBox, etc are good plays and will keep you hooked. With OS10.2 round the corner almost full support for Android Apps/games will soon be a reality. If you are a bit ambitious, you could try sideloading in the meantime.

BATTERY - The Q5 has the biggest battery of all the new BBs. Which means it has enough juice to keep it running for long; in my case 2 days of normal use. You cant remove the battery though. So my plans of getting one of those oversized aftermarket batteries have all disappeared into thin air.

A few points to note. Being only 120gms in weight, the phone does NOT feel as solid as I'd prefer given its dimensions. Also the phone uses Micro-SIM which means you'll have to do a bit of engineering to get your regular SIM to fit or get it done from your shop if you are not comfortable resizing your SIM. Also with file sizes of games/apps rising to almost PC levels, a faster MicroSD card (class 10 or at least class 6) is recommended. But a couple of big conveniences are - (1) The speakers are really fantastic and greatly add to the comfort. (2) Hotswapping ability ensures that you dont need to remove backcover and battery every time you want to remove you memory card.

THE PRICE - At 24-25K the device is far from being cheap. This probably is the biggest gripe against it. But when you consider iPhones with similar specs selling for 50K you'll concede that the price is hardly the deciding factor here. And if someone offered me the 'Best of BB' for 24K (which I believe is what the Q5 does), I'll take it anyday !!

The Q5 may not be the perfect phone but the way things stand today, its pretty darned close for me.