On January 30, I attended the BlackBerry (News - Alert) 10 launch, whose operating system saw an upgrade that addresses several issues.
The BlackBerry 10 update is available now, as version 10.0.10.85. The download is about 150MB in size and is designed to be downloaded via mobile. According to BlackBerry, the most prominent feature of the update is that users should see better overall performance from third-party apps. This is important, yet an uphill climb to develop enough apps to make the Z10 a useful and viable device.
To this end, it is very important that the third-party apps function properly and seamlessly on the BlackBerry 10 platform.
Another of the new features that has been addressed is the performance of the camera in low light situations. At the launch, it was difficult to notice this. I used one of the demonstration phones to take a few pictures and videos.
Even though it was raining and cloudy outside, there were enough flood lights to make the interior look like a day at the beach. So naturally, all of the pictures I took looked great.
The update is meant to produce superior low light photos.
Apparently, over 60 optimizations were formulated to improve the Z10’s battery life. The improvements are designed to help lengthen the time between charges. A “tweak” has also been made to in-browser video playback.
Other improvements have been made to importing online contacts so that it should be easier and more efficient. Call logging in the BlackBerry Hub should also work better. I believe the last item that version 10.0.10.85 should fix is some issues that were reported with the Gmail calendars.
It is understandable that this is going to be an ongoing process for a little while. The BlackBerry 10 is a brand new operating system – not just a revamped version of the old OS – so a few issues are normal.
The two questions will be: how long will it take for BlackBerry to isolate the issues? And how long will it take to come up with a working solution to any issues found?
Currently, the Z10 and full keyboard Q10 are only available in the U.K., Canada and India. If all goes according to BlackBerry’s plans, we should expect to see the Z10 available through our major carriers later this month.
BlackBerry will reportedly make the update available to all of its carrier partners over the coming weeks.