Design
Along with the introduction of the new BlackBerry OS 10 the Z10 also meant a completely new direction for design over at the then RIM offices and now BlackBerry offices. First let me point out that the Z10 looks nothing at all like my old Storm and it is easy to see that the iPhone was considered when designing the Z10. The tall and semi skinny look is something you mostly find on iPhones anymore with the Android market going bigger and bigger every generation. I was very impressed with the Z10 in hand; the build quality is top notch and made mostly of glass and metal other than the back of the phone.
The design is box boxy and curvy with the top and bottom edges having a large curve on them while the edges on the front and back are much sharper. This gives the Z10 a very industrial look a feel. The all blacked out look goes with it very well and BlackBerry worked hard to keep it that way with everything but the BlackBerry logo on the front being darkened including the Verizon logo and even the black chrome on the ear speaker up top. You can see the Z10’s front facing camera and sensors just under the ear piece if you look closely as well but as a whole everything is blacked out.
The buttons on the top and side stand out by being in bright chrome against the black phone. On the side you have volume up and down buttons and the button in the middle takes you to a text to speech page similar to Siri or Google Now when you hold it or mutes when you press it quickly, ironically I didn’t even catch that this was a button for a long time because of its location (I assumed it was the toggle part of the volume buttons). The single button up top is the power and lock button. On the left side of the phone you won’t find buttons, but this is where the USB data and charging connection is as well as a Micro HDMI port for hooking directly up to a television or projector.
On the flip side of the Z10 we have an interesting plastic back cover that also has a rubber coating that keeps the phone grippy in hand. When you pop the back panel off it is extremely flexible just like most of Samsung’s designs, I doubt you will ever break this back cover, even if you are trying. Up in the top left corner the 8 megapixel camera and its LEF flash have two squares of glass tucked in behind the back panel. I love how they put the flash in a box just like the camera here; it looks less like an afterthought. Lastly the BlackBerry logo recessed into the back panel is eye catching and a reminder of the blackberry style that everyone used to love.
