So I've finally got my grubby little mits on the Z10!
WeyyyTicTacs was absolutely right - the lack of apps (at present) isn't a great issue, the phone and the new BB10 OS seem to be a very solid foundations for the BlackBerry renaissance.
While my overall initial impressions are positive, they are reined in a little by software that appears to be rather rushed and incomplete. The biggest frustration I had was transferring my contacts from my 9800 Torch (running BB6) to the Z10.
The 'Switch Devices' option didn't work in Blackberry Desktop Manager, as the program failed to recognise the Z10. I therefore had to download its replacement, Blackberry Link, but unfortunately this seems primarily a tool to syncronise media rather than contact and calendar data. All my contact data was either on the Torch or in Outlook 2007, and the Z10 would talk to neither!
Eventually I solved the problem by exporting my contacts from Outlook into a CSV file, and importing the CSV file into my Gmail webmail account. The Z10 was then able to import the contacts when it next polled my Gmail account, and all is now hunky dory. I guess you should be able to use any webmail account (yahoo, live mail etc) to do the same.
While I feel this is a major BlackBerry oversight which I trust will be rectified, it is not a showstopper. Indeed, the ability to combine contact entries into one record on the Z10 means that my contact list is now tidier than it has been for years.
Now I have solved this particular problem, the phone really is a delight to use, and I really hope BlackBerry are able to iron out these few wrinkles to deliver a robust and integrated platform for the future. While they are only minor niggles, they are enough to put off someone who is expecting an out of the box solution. But to me, minor niggles are acceptable in the face of major improvement!
Great stuff from O2 - easy, quick upgrade.
