I love accessories. Period! It doesn’t really matter if we’re talking shoes, watches, curtains, throw pillows, or garden gnomes, I love them all and my technology is no exception. I’ve recently started using a BlackBerry Q10 and I have really enjoyed choosing my accessories. I get the feeling everyone else does too. The accessory booth is hopping here at BlackBerry Live with people itching to get their hands on this incredible line up of accessories that have been designed specifically for the BlackBerry Q10 smartphone.

Don’t worry if you weren’t able to join us this year. Head over to www.BlackBerry.com/Q10accessories or your local retailer to pick up these awesome accessories.

What’s the first accessory you’d buy for your BlackBerry Q10?

The BlackBerry Keyboard

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

Outstanding Design, Specs and Features

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

BBM Video and Screen Share

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

BlackBerry Remember for Photos, Videos, Web Links and More!

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

There you have it for your viewing pleasure, the BlackBerry Q10 in fine fashion. Let us know which of the above are your favorite features? Or, if you’ve got a fav’ that we missed, tip us below.

Happy Friday #TeamBlackBerry!

On deck this week, five tips for the BlackBerry 10 camera, such as how to geotag photos and how to access your photos and more from a DLNA compatible device.

1 – Use different Shooting and Scene Modes

The BlackBerry Z10 has lots of options to help you capture the perfect picture depending on your situation, so after opening the camera make sure you review the various options available to you.

For example, in addition to the Normal shooting mode, you also have the option of using a Stabilization or Burst shooting mode. Stabilization is great if you’re like me and can’t keep still when taking pictures. Burst on the other hand is a great way to capture the perfect action shot, such as your dog catching a tennis ball or jumping into the family pool (ed – make sure you are out of the splash zone!). On top of Shooting Mode options, you also have several Scene Modes available to you such as Action, Whiteboard, Night and Beach or Snow.

To access these options tap the icon with three dots that appears in the bottom right corner and customize the settings to your desired preferences.

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry Help Blog »

Today is THE day that the first customers will start to get their hands on the new BlackBerry Q10 in the UK and next week, in Canada, on May 1. Throughout the week we’ve let you know where and when it will be available first, what went into the design and what our favorite features are. Now it’s time to hear from the tech media.

Like me, they’ve had their hands on the beautiful BlackBerry Q10 with full QWERTY keyboard. Turns out I’m not the only one who was impressed by the device and how well it performs as a daily driver. Physical keyboard lovers, meet your new match! Here’s what the press had to say:

BlackBerry Q10 Reviews:

• “The Q10′s superb keyboard and message-handling capabilities make it a perfect match. Its long battery life and comfortable keyboard may be what you’ve been holding out for, and the inclusion of BlackBerry 10.1 is extra icing on the cake.” –

  CNET

• “The BlackBerry Q10 is clearly the top smartphone for people who want QWERTY physical keyboards. It is no question the most refined device in the class. This is the BlackBerry 10 device physical keyboard lovers have been waiting for.” –

  BerryReview.com

• “BlackBerry has done well by QWERTY fans by bringing a handset to market with a killer keyboard and modern operating system.” –

  LAPTOP Magazine

• “I’ll come right out and say it: no phone on the market offers a better combination of speed and accuracy for entering text.” –

  New York Times

• “an email, messaging, and productivity beast.”… “It’s a delight to type on. I haven’t used a physical keyboard in ages, but the keys are designed so well that I was flying.” –

  Business Insider

• “BlackBerry has a lot of experience making keyboard phones, and it shows in the Q10.” –

  Mashable

• “In terms of smartphones with a physical keyboard, the Q10 is in a class of its own.” –

  ITBusiness

• “Perhaps the most interesting surprise about the Q10 is how insanely fast it is.” –

  The Globe And Mail

• “This is a modern day smartphone with a keyboard that people will be PROUD to carry, use and show off.” –

  CrackBerry.com

The press have had their say — now it’s time to have yours, #TeamBlackBerry. Be sure to leave your comments about the new BlackBerry Q10 below.

We first tipped our hat that Skype was coming to BlackBerry 10 back at the global launch event on January 30th. Now I’m happy to announce that Skype is available for the newly launched BlackBerry Q10. BlackBerry Q10 and Skype are the perfect pair allowing you to chat with other Skype users from the palm of your hand.

While you’re on the go with your BlackBerry Q10 and the Skype app, you’ll enjoy the ability to have:

• Free face to face video and voice calls
• Instant messages
• low cost voice calls and text messages to landlines and mobiles over WiFi® or wireless network connections.

Skype System Requirements:

Skype runs on the 10.1 Operating System on the BlackBerry Q10. As this new version of the BlackBerry 10 operating system launches on the BlackBerry Z10 in the coming weeks, BlackBerry Z10 owners will have the ability to download Skype for BlackBerry from BlackBerry World. We will be talking more about BlackBerry 10.1 on BlackBerry Z10 at BlackBerry Live, so stay tuned and keep it locked to Inside BlackBerry for more information.

Did you just pick up your brand new BlackBerry Q10 and want to give Skype a try? Download it from BlackBerry World and Let us know what you think about the app in the comments below.

You’ve been following along on the blog and you definitely know that this week has been all about the new BlackBerry Q10. As we approach the launch of the next iconic BlackBerry, we’re excited to share with you apps that will be available from launch.

Check out the following BlackBerry Q10 apps you’ll be sure to love:

Social:

• BlackBerry Messenger
• Facebook
• Foursquare (Foursquare)
• LinkedIn (LinkedIn Corporation)
• Twitter (Twitter, Inc.)

Entertainment:

• Maxim (Maxim)
• Nobex Radio (Nobex Technologies Inc.)
• Soundtracker (South Ventures USA)

Business Tools:

• Box (Box, Inc.)
• Canvas Business Forms Mobile Productivity (Canvas)
• Dropbox
• SalesNOW (Interchange Solutions Inc)

News & Photography:

• New York Times (The New York Times)
• Paper Camera (JFDP Labs Ltd)
• Press Reader (NewspaperDirect, Inc.)
• USA Today (USA TODAY)
• Wall Street Journal (The Wall Street Journal)

Gaming:

Keep an eye out for: ATP Tour, Cut the Rope and Viber apps which will be available on the BlackBerry Z10 and the Q10 in the upcoming weeks.

You can also submit your nominations for the Best Built for BlackBerry App from now until April 28th. The top 4 nominations will be voted on between May 1st and May 10^th, and the winners will be announced at the BlackBerry Live Developer Tweetup on May 15, 2013 in Orlando, Florida.

For a look at all BlackBerry 10 apps, head to BlackBerry World

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BlackBerry Q10 availability is just around the corner and soon you’ll be able to get your hands on this much-anticipated smartphone. There’s a lot to be said about the attention to detail that has been put in to crafting this premium smartphone. With a rich heritage of building what some have called the best physical keyboard experience in the industry – the task of taking that experience to the next level for BlackBerry 10 was a welcomed challenge. Over the past few months, I’ve been working with the design team at BlackBerry to understand what goes into building the next iconic BlackBerry smartphone. Here’s what they have to say about designing the gorgeous new BlackBerry Q10.

Feature post from the design team at BlackBerry:
Designing the first physical keyboard smartphone powered by BlackBerry 10 presented us with an interesting design challenge. How do you evolve such an iconic design; one loved by millions upon millions of users around the world?

The gesture based user experience that is core to BlackBerry 10 meant there was no longer a need for dedicated menu keys and the track pad. This allowed us to increase both the size of both the display (30 per cent larger) and the keypad while keeping the overall product approximately the same dimensions.

The frets you see between the keys on the BlackBerry Q10 are thicker than those found on the Bold 9900. These thicker frets separate the keys and allow more room for precise key strikes and helping to build muscle memory, making the right keys easy to find.

The white font feature on black keys is Slate Pro, and is part of the humanist genre which is simply the most legible sans serif style for processing information quickly. The open shapes, varying proportions, subtle stroke differences aid the reader and lend an organic, approachable feel to our User Interface (UI) design.

Slate Pro is the work of Rod McDonald, a Canadian award-winning typeface designer and lettering artist. McDonald designed Slate Pro with the intent to have the typeface function well in print as on-screen.

We’ve heard incredibly positive feedback from our users in testing telling us they prefer this new keypad because it allows them to type faster with added comfort.

In keeping with our premium products, meticulous attention has been paid to every detail of the design, the selection of each materials and processes used to build each unit. Here are some examples:

• The stainless steel fret found across the back of the BlackBerry Q10 helps preserve the finish of the back cover by holding the phone off the surface it is resting on.
• The glass-weave and soft touch coating used on the back cover is exclusive to the BlackBerry Q10 and have been years in development. By forming the glass weave in to a 3D shape, we have made it incredibly strong. The soft touch finish makes the BlackBerry Q10 easy to hold and feels beautiful in your hand while minimizing fingerprints.



• The keyboard frets have been designed with a chamfered edge so that they connect with the frame with incredible precision and accuracy



• The frame is carved out of solid block of forged, 304 stainless steel to make the BlackBerry Q10 strong and durable. Each frame takes 20 minutes to produce through a multi-step computer controlled machining process. The black PVD finish has been chosen to keep the frame from scratching as you keep moving with the BlackBerry Q10.

There you have it an Inside BlackBerry look at designing the new BlackBerry Q10 smartphone. Is this the BlackBerry 10 smartphone you’ve been waiting for? Show your love for the design team by giving them a shout out in the comments below. Also if you have any questions about the design, we’ll try to get them answered.

Even though I’ve been fortunate enough to have my hands on a BlackBerry Q10 for quite some time, it wasn’t until just last week that I made the switch and started using it as my “daily driver”. In order to describe my experience in one word … I needed to invent a new word. So, I’m coining the phrase “Awesotypetastic” to describe this iconic new device from BlackBerry.

There are a ton of features that make this one of my favorite BlackBerry smartphones of all time, and as the first BlackBerry 10 device to feature a physical keyboard, it has some big shoes to fill.

Since launch I’ve been covering just what an interesting and powerful new mobile experience BlackBerry 10 is. With features like peek, the BlackBerry Hub and BlackBerry Flow built-in, the BlackBerry Q10 combines a classic BlackBerry keyboard and the power of BlackBerry 10. This experience translates well onto the BlackBerry Q10 and it brings some new innovations to market that improve productivity and are enabled by the physical keyboard.

After one week with the device here are three of my favorite new features:

Instant Action

From the home screen on the BlackBerry Q10, just start typing a command on the physical keyboard to initiate the action. For example, if you want to BBM one of your contacts type “BBM + ” to enter BBM and start your conversation. You can also do this for a number of other actions. I particularly found this useful when using the phone one handed.

Keyboard Shortcuts

BlackBerry fans will no doubt appreciate the return of keyboard shortcuts to the device. Simple things like hitting “T” to jump to the top while in the BlackBerry Hub, or hitting “C” to compose a new message add up and help you keep moving quickly and fluidly through the device.

Timeless Design

The BlackBerry Q10 is a serious machine. It is built solid with premium materials and components. As soon as I held the BlackBerry Q10 in my hand it was clear to me everything had been specifically chosen for the Q10 to make every inch purpose-built. It is slim, yet solid and the beautiful glass weave back cover on the black color variant is thinner, lighter and stronger than plastic. Combined with the optimized new darker background in apps like Contacts, Remember, BBM, Search, Text Messaging, Adobe Reader, the experience is stunning inside the software and out.

There you have it, my first impressions and favourite features of the BlackBerry Q10 device. For more information on BlackBerry 10 be sure to check out my Top 5 things to Know about BlackBerry Q10 post, and definitely check out our introduction to the new BlackBerry Q10 post from launch. Do you plan on picking up a new BlackBerry Q10 when it becomes available in your region? Let us know in the comments below.

We know you’ve been waiting for it – just a short while ago, some carriers around the globe announced that the BlackBerry Q10 was available for pre-order. Now we’re starting to see availability dates role out, starting with Canada.

If you’ve been reading along on the Inside BlackBerry blog, you’ll know that the BlackBerry Q10 combines the power of the BlackBerry 10 platform with a physical keyboard and stunning touchscreen display. I’ve been using it for a few weeks now and I can say that it is awesome. I’ve taken my typing to the next level on this keyboard.  I don’t want to toot my own horn, but I’m a bit of a phenom when it comes to typing on the BlackBerry Q10. Don’t get me wrong, my typing skills on the BlackBerry Z10 are out of this world too. I’m just saying that you folks who love your physical keyboards are probably going to love your life.

Availability Information for U.S. announced at BlackBerry Live

UPDATE: Today onstage at BlackBerry Live 2013, Thorsten Heins confirmed that

“In early June
carriers here in the US will start selling the BlackBerry Q10 QWERTY device.”

Pricing and Availability Information for Canada:

The BlackBerry Q10 smartphone will be available in Canada starting May 1 on Rogers, Bell Mobility and TELUS starting at $199 with a 3 year contract. It will also be available on Virgin Mobile Canada, Fido, Koodo Mobile, and Sasktel, and available in select retail locations, including Best Buy, Future Shop, TBooth Wireless, The Source, Walmart Canada and WIRELESSWAVE with more details to come.

Pricing and Availability Information for the U.K.

This just in! The BlackBerry Q10 will be available in the United Kingdom from retailer Selfridges. It’s available to pre-order now and you can get your hands on it starting from April 26 in stores. Full details here.

Heard the news? The #BlackBerryQ10 will be available to buy at @selfridges in-store and online THIS FRI/SAT/SUN! bbry.lv/11NGeWh

— BlackBerry UK (@UK_BlackBerry) April 24, 2013

We know there are so many of you on Team BlackBerry that live outside of Canada, so don’t fret and be sure to stay tuned! Similar to the availability tracker for the BlackBerry Z10, we’ll have more details and we’ll update this post with availability information in other markets as we roll out the new BlackBerry Q10 globally.

So… you’ve been hearing all of this talk about the new BlackBerry Z10, and even though it’s designed to deliver the best touchscreen typing experience, you’re a physical keyboard enthusiast at heart. You’ve been holding out, waiting to get your hands on a shiny new BlackBerry 10 smartphone – and you know the BlackBerry Q10 is just right for you.

You’re not alone! The anticipation is mounting around the world for this highly-anticipated smartphone, and we’re getting one step closer to getting it in your hands.

Today, the BlackBerry Q10 is available to pre-order from both Carphone Warehouse and Phones4u across a range of networks, including O2, Orange, T-Mobile, Three, EE, Vodafone and TalkMobile. Plus the handset will be available for purchase from both retailers at the end of April. For those of you in other markets, we’ll have details on availability to follow soon. In the mean time head by our global availability tracker for BlackBerry 10 to see where you can pick up a BlackBerry Z10 today!

UPDATE: The BlackBerry Q10 is now available from select carriers in Canada, as well. Details:

Live in Canada? U may be able to pre-order your #BlackBerryQ10 today! Details from your mobile carrier, right here: blck.by/ZLfKTK

— BlackBerry (@BlackBerry) April 9, 2013

We showed it off originally on January 30th when we officially launched the BlackBerry 10 platform. There, we showed you some of the amazing capabilities built in to BlackBerry 10, like messaging in the BlackBerry Hub, BlackBerry Balance and BlackBerry Remember. In case you need a refresher – watch this video and prepare to start drooling.

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

Are you a BlackBerry physical keyboard fanatic? Is this the BlackBerry 10 device you’ve been waiting for – let us know in the comments below.