BlackBerry Q10 SQN100-3 16GB Factory Unlocked GSM Smartphone w/English + Arabic Keypad - White

First off, I'm a lifelong Apple fan as far as computers go, but I'm certainly a convert from iPhone-- used the iPhone 4, 5, and the iPad Mini and replaced my iPhone with this when Sprint wanted to charge me $500 to buy a new iPhone 5S. As far as this product versus other Q10's, perhaps you're wondering about buying this versus the much more expensive black Q10 without the Arabic keyboard. They're identical-- except that this also comes with European/African power plugs, plus a flimsy but functional North American one (plus, who doesn't have a few extras lying around-- I sure do). So, that's convenient, and hopefully you won't be fazed by the documentation in UK English and Arabic ("learn about how to set up your favourite smartphone"). Next up, maybe you're wondering about buying this versus the BlackBerry Classic-- they're also basically the same phone. Same amount of RAM, same processor speed, same internal memory. The BlackBerry Classic has the old school buttons, which is fine, but not worth the extra $300 for me.It's important to note that when you buy the Q10, you're not buying an iPhone 6-- you're buying a BlackBerry. All of the badmouthing of the BlackBerry brand ignores the fact that this is not a device that is designed for watching Netflix or playing glorious games (although . Most people I know who own iPhones don't watch Netflix on their iPhones, and most of them write e-mails on their laptops. Case in point.Pros:-Most apps work great, whether Kindle/Android or native BB. I've downloaded Groupon, Instagram, various photo apps, AirBnb, a banking app, Shazam, NY Times, Wikipedia, Amazon store, a couple of Twitter clients, and it comes with Evernote and a decent note-taking app that can do voice memos as well. I'm having some frustrations with Facebook (native), but it works ok.-Size is convenient to hold in your hand, and the classic BB keyboard is great.-Ability to take notes during calls, for when a customer service representative gives you that super important phone number.-Durable. Feels more durable than any iPhone I've owned and comes with a free rubber+hardshell case.-Great battery life. My iPhone will often die before 11am, and this powers through the day even with heavy use. Charging doesn't go so fast, but I guess you can't win 'em all.-Call clarity is amazing and the speakerphone is super loud.-Swipe-up equivalent of the home button becomes extremely comfortable fairly quickly. I was skeptical at first, having gotten used to the old school BlackBerry buttonry and even the iPhone home button, but it works great and hasn't failed me yet.-Fast and not fazed by a multitude of apps and data.-Expandable, cheap memory. Comes with 16GB built in and you can get 32GB on top of that for $15 on Amazon.-Easy to customize notification settings and it's set up intuitively.-Screen is great.-When you close out of an app, you automatically see all of the open apps and therefore don't tie up valuable RAM running stuff you're not using (this was a peril on the iPhone).-The Hub works alright. I was prepared to hate it, but it's pretty convenient, and it's easy to navigate around to adjust settings, add new accounts, delete accounts, etc. It's sort of like a glorified home screen.-Transferring contacts was a breeze, and the OS actually automatically added a TON of stuff that I was glad I had-- notified me, for example, of a meeting I had coming up before I had even transferred anything over (I guess from an e-mail account).-NFC stuff is easy to use.-The Facebook app is imperfect but lets you conveniently use FB messenger inside the application instead of having to use a different application.-Included HDMI port.Cons:-Special multi-touch gestures aren't quite as advanced as the iPhone, which I find myself lamenting probably a few times a week on random stuff.-Included earbuds in headset are absoutely horrendous.-Haven't figured out how to set up a good Podcast app.-I haven't been able to get absolutely every app to work on this phone, but there are only two that I am going to have to "sideload," those being Uber and Yelp ("sideload" = meandering in command prompt slash developer nonsense slash upload download file conversion nonsense). I think that's a product of BlackBerry having relied on the Amazon Kindle/Fire appstore instead of Google Play. As the fates would have it, the Google Play website doesn't really work very well on the phone's browser, so you're sort of sunk until you figure out how to sideload Android apps-- which isn't quite a piece of cake but also isn't the worst. It's much easier to download apps on the BlackBerry than it was on my old iPhone because I don't have to type in my password every time I download something, so it's easy to try out new apps-- and there are plenty. But really, how many calendar apps do you need?-Notification LED, while fully customizable, is pretty weak and only illuminates on the front side as opposed to the linear LED on the Tour/Curve, which sort of sliced through the top of the device so you could see it in a holster or when it was lying flat. I really liked the Tour's function of the lock button an the mute button at the top-- they were hard plastic and easy to access. This has no such thing, just a lock button at the top. Which is fine, because you can easily swipe up to unlock and customize your lock settings (not to mention add hotkeys, which the iPhone lacks in any comparable way).-Special function button is inconveniently placed between the volume rocker buttons, making it clumsy and easy to press accidentally or hard to press intentionally. On my Tour it was on the opposite side of the phone, making it great for pushing with your thumb while your index and middle fingers could access the volume buttons.-Voice control kind of stinks, but then again, Siri ain't perfect neither. I find that it works okay for voice dictation, but it's very hard to ask your device, for example, where you can get a good meal in Grand Rapids. It's technically good, but not very smart.Overall, I'm pretty satisfied. Not entirely perfect as far as the not-mainstream app situation is concerned, but that'll get better, and it's great to have a community of die-hard BB fans who are always willing to help on forums like CrackBerry.

Works like a charm.I'm a big Android guy, and also a fan of physical keyboards on my phone. So when I did my search and found that you can sideload some android apps on a BlackBerry, it was a no brainer for me.The phone arrived on time, nicely put together. In the box came a shiny new phone, data cable, a couple of "international" socket converters, and even handsfree set. But to be honest the ear pieces are weird so I haven't used them yet.I simply took out the sim card from my android t-mobile phone, plugged that in, as well as my micro SD card, put in the batter, plugged it, and turned it on. It booted just fine.Since I came in from Android, I gave it about 45 minutes or so to complete downloading my contacts, emails, and calendar.I didn't have to download ANYTHING, the native email and calendar apps are very good, and they sync up really well with the google account.I honestly think this phone is the best of both worlds, you can navigate via the touch screen, and use the awesome keyboard to type what it is you need to type. And believe it or not, have a physical keyboard actually allows me to make MUCH less typos on my messages.And you can easily switch back and forth between the two languages using the "alt+enter" keystrokes on the keyboard.ALSO: the word recommendation feature is turned OFF by default, you just have to navigate your way through the settings to turn it on, and while your there, you can create some keyboard short-cuts to commonly used sentences.i.e. I have set up that if I type "cul" the option "See You Later" would pop up! Very handy.Great device, loving it so far.

the phone is perfect, but the hard shell received was black not white as the phone

Decided to write a short review after using it for more than a week. A very great little device, feels solid and pocketable. Updating to the latest OS available to my network/telco without any problem, except it is a very slow process. However this has nothing to do with the hardware itself, BB should improve on this.After my brief experience with BB9000 many years back, this BB10 feels totally different. Very user friendly and intuitive. And the Hub itself is just great. The IQ from the camera surprised me. The HDR is as good as my iPhone6 Plus, view from the mobile itself. Photos not overexposed, and color temperate is accurate. The image capturing takes a bit longer compared to iP6+, considering the difference in the processor, is acceptable.Running android apps, especially games will suck the juice out faster than you could say "oh s***, my phone needs charging again".Overall, a very value for money little device. More for hardcore productivity and messaging, not for gaming and multimedia/entertainment.Also as mentioned by all reviewers, NO HARDCASE INCLUDED even though it explicitly mentioned FREE HARDCASE!!!

Phone seems like it was made cheap.. Once I received the phone, the center buttons would not work and I had to return it.

Overall I like this blackberry it hasn't had any problems yet. I like the way it is set up and just the style of the phone. The problems I have is the very few apps that are available. The facebook app is terrible. I heard you can put the amazon appstore on the phone but I do not know how to do that. Amazon is not an app in the blackberry appstore. Another thing I will mention is that the product is listed as coming with a case which it does not come with a case. I would like to have a case for the phone but I was supposed to receive one from the seller and it never came. Overall though good phone.

this phone is not a q10 please stop advertising it as such. It is Blackberry Q5. I was fooled by this advertisement and purchase this phone. Three weeks later it stopped working. I am DISAPPOINTED to say the least!!!

great blackberry productkeyboard a little less clear with the arabic additionsdoesn't upgrade to 10.2 or 10.3 automatically - you can use an autoloader to get to 10.3very nice

Really like it, 10.3 runs Android apps. Shipping was fast. The keyboard is great. Also looked at the classic, but it is basically the same hardware for twice the price.

Glad to be back to the key board & love the feature tap suggested word to text

Great