BlackBerry has finally officially breathed life into its Z10 and Q10 BlackBerry 10 smartphones, the pair of devices tasked with introducing the all-new platform to the public for the first time.
They've already been widely leaked (particularly the all-touch Z10), which partly explained why the BlackBerry 10 launch event today focused mainly on the platform itself, rather than the debut pair of phones.
But the other reason is that with existing BlackBerry devices having been stuck on BlackBerry OS 7 for so long, so many of the key features of the Z10 and Q10 are tied into intrinsic elements of BB10 itself.
The Z10 – clearly the premier of the two new faces – has zero physical buttons on the front surface (the trio of multimedia buttons is down the side while the standby/hold button is on top). That speaks to the heavily swipe and gesture-based BB10 interface.
Other core features include a 4.2in WXGA screen (giving you a 356ppi pixel density), a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm MSM8960 processor with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage, plus a microSD card slot for adding more.
The BlackBerry Z10 is 4G-capable (including 4G hotspot capability) and also supports NFC, Bluetooth 4.0 and the usual Wi-Fi standards. Wired connectivity is covered by microUSB, microHDMI and a standard 3.5mm audio port.
Camera-wise, you're given an 8MP unit round the back with LED flash, which can also shoot 1080p video, plus a 2MP camera on the front capable of 720p video.
Battery life is a moderate 1,800mAh, but early indications from some of the reviews we've seen suggest heavy users will be charging their BlackBerry Z10 pretty frequently. The official figures claim 10 hours of 3G talktime and 305 hours on standby.
The good news for BlackBerry fans who've been waiting all this time for the Z10 to finally appear is that you'll be able to get your hands on one across the UK from tomorrow. All the leading networks will be carrying the Z10 on contract, with the handset likely to come free on deals starting around the £30 mark (for two years, naturally). The deals were still being made available at the time of writing, so best to double-check yourself, though we'll give you a more complete guide to getting your hands on a BlackBerry Z10 tomorrow.
That was the good news from the BlackBerry announcement today, but the bad news is that the Q10 (the QWERTY-packing BB10 handset we previously thought would be called the X10) will only be available in April, bringing with it a 3.1in screen with a 720 x 720-pixel resolution (working out at an impressive 339ppi).
It seems all you hardcore BlackBerry Bold users will either have to persist for another few months (and deal with the prospect of switching to a straight-row keyboard layout), or cave to the lure of the full-touch Z10 for more immediate satisfaction.
