Will there ever be Instagram for BlackBerry 10?

As a follow up to my previous post, I had quite a bit of fun with updating Endomondo with a bit of BB10 goodness (photoshopped). So I thought why not do the same for Instagram. Personally, I really don’t see much point in doing so other than just for the fun of it. If it ever made it to BB10, I am sure they will like to keep the same UI to maintain uniformity. Nonetheless, here goes nothing…

Of course we would start with the Log in page, which frankly was just adding BB10’s keyboard.

Home & Navigation:

One thing that I love about BB10’s UI, is its tabbed menu on the right, which gives access to different segments of the app. It also doesn’t take up much space, allowing more icons to be placed at the action bar.

The refresh button that is usually on the top right hand corner can be allocated within the action menu on the bottom right. With just 1 option like refresh, it isn’t easy to see the advantage it provides. But if you have more than one options, it can save a lot of screen real estate.

Then there’s the context menu, which activates when an item has been tap and hold for a while. It can allow for more actions related to the item that you are selecting. Perhaps sharing options, edit, select more, etc. In this case, it allows user to like, comment, or report the post as inappropriate. Again, this can save some space for more information to be displayed by hiding some UI elements into this context menu. Obviously if you’ve used BB10, context menu doesn’t exactly looks like that, but for convenience sake, this view is easier to show all the options within that menu.

Finally, settings menu can be accessed by swiping from the top bezel down. Instead of needing to navigate to Profile before being able to change settings, same goes for the logging out option.

Explore:

Again, rather than having 2 UI button on the top right hand corner which can be hard to reach. The Search and Refresh option is placed in the action menu on the bottom right.

News:

You should have an idea of how BB10’s UI work by now.

Profile:

Posting Photos:

Similar to the UI of the native camera on BB10, drag the focus ring to focus on the area you want, then simply tap anywhere within viewfinder to capture image. The flash and switch camera functions have been moved to the bottom for easier access since there is so much room. Finally to post from gallery simply tap on the gallery icon in the middle on the action bar at the bottom.

Active Frame:

What good is a BB10 app without a good Active Frame. The active frame similar to BBM, will show the last post.

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This is all just in good fun though. Most established apps and services probably want to keep their own UI instead of using conforming to platform guidelines. However, a lot of people really appreciates the depth and function BB10’s UI provides. And if you are a developer, why not try to make use of it. Once you understand how it works, you will find that its a really powerful UI that allows you to create stunning looking interfaces as well.

Will there ever be Endomondo for BlackBerry 10?

In a press release on the 1st of May 2012, Endomondo Co-Founder Mette Lykke was quoted as saying:

“BlackBerry’s influence remains a worldwide phenomenon, which matches Endomondo’s reach. With 8 million users around the globe, including many BlackBerry devotees, Endomondo recognizes the value of supplying BlackBerry 10 users with access to the capabilities of the mobile Endomondo Sports Tracker and social fitness network.”


Fast forward to today, and still no app in sight. In a support site for Endomondo, on the topic of an Endomondo app for BB10, the response from employee was this:

"Hi all, we don’t have any immediate plans about developing a native BlackBerry 10 app. BB10 does have an emulator that allows Android app, unfortunately this doesn’t support Map functionalities which mean our app will not work. But if/when BB10 allows Map functionalities we will look into if we can make our Android app work on BB10. Thanks, Eva.”

WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED?

No official response was ever issued regarding the reason of cancelation. Nonetheless, I do hope that they are keeping their eyes on the BlackBerry’s Year-End and Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2013 results. Perhaps a good sales number would encourage Endomondo to change their mind.

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Nonetheless, I had some free time for some therapeutic photoshopping, and decided to do some quick mock up to what a BB10 app could look like in general.

Workout:

Action Menu on the right hand side to access “audio settings” and “Music”. Tap in the middle of the Action Bar to toggle between “Map View” and “Normal” view.

Navigation:

Navigating the app should be familiar to all BB10 users. With the bottom left hand corner to access “Tabs”, no matter Workouts, History, Newsfeed, Challenges, etc.

The same shortcut by swiping back on the “Back” button works as well to access the “Tabs” easily. Users of CB10 app should be more than familiar with these.

Swipe down to access Application Menu items, such as “Upgrade to Pro”, “Log Out”, and “Settings”.

Context Menu can be used when long pressing an item, like in history for example to bring up sharing settings, delete items, edit items, etc.

Newsfeed:

Using context menu to comment and like activities.

History:

Adding new entries.

Lap times, heart rate, comment, and summary.

Action menu to access sharing options, or delete.

Routes:

Challenges:

Again, action menu for more options, such as refresh and search.

Friends:

Active Frame:

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Its a rough photoshop, but It kinda sort out pretty much the whole app. If Endomondo decides to just follow their Android App layout, its fine too. Just that I think all apps on BB10 should take advantage of Cascades UI, it will give a much needed uniformity to the platform. Of course, BlackBerry fans would appreciate this greatly as well.

I love Endomondo’s services (I use it more than WhatsApp), and this is the app that I recommend my friends. But I can’t wait forever, and just keep using my Nexus 4 just for Endomondo. There’s a limit to my patience. If they decide to drag their decision and hold Endomondo users on BB10 in limbo, I will just give other services a shot instead. And apparently, many users feel the same way too. If Endomondo aren’t willing to take a risk with dedicating resources on BB10, I see no reason for me to keep supporting their services, or even recommend their services to others. What if one day platforms like Windows Phone proves “not viable” to be supported, will they drop it in a heart beat like they did with BlackBerry? The uncertainty will cause people to lose trust in the company. In fact, most already have, as Endomondo was previously quoted as showing support for BB10, yet eventually dropping support.

Most would just switch to other services such as “Sports Tracker” (already in BB World as beta), “Runtastic” (confirmed to be in their pipeline), etc. Services that are truly cross platform.

Why BlackBerry 10?

"Why BlackBerry 10?" is one of the question that is being asked constantly by many. Having used all 4 major platform extensively, I thought I would give my own take on it, and why I choose BlackBerry 10 instead of other seemingly more viable options.

The answer is a relatively simple one, much like why many people love older BlackBerry OS 7 devices. Communication.

If you are an F1 fanatic like I am, you won’t struggle to catch a couple of Bold 9900 during the recent Australian GP Qualifying broadcast. Red Bull’s Team Principle, Christian Horner is one of the few I have seen using one still. There is nothing like a good physical keyboard for heavy communicators. (Which is why I think that the upcoming BlackBerry Q10 will sell pretty well, but that is for another time.)

Despite lacking a physical Keyboard, the Z10 is still a seriously good device for communication. Largely due to 2 aspects of the OS, the peek gesture, and BlackBerry Hub. 

BlackBerry Hub:

BlackBerry Hub is a unified inbox, not to be confused with a notification centre on iOS and Android. A notification centre only shows you new notifications, once read, it will no longer be there. Where as BlackBerry Hub is a unified inbox, where all my messages will always be there. 

A notification centre can only direct you to the source of the notification, like Facebook messages for example will take you to the Facebook app, whatsapp notification will take you to the whatsapp app. In BlackBerry Hub, when I get a Facebook message, I can engage in the conversation directly in the Hub, without ever opening the app. When I get a whatsapp message, I can directly engage in that chat without ever opening whatsapp. That is the advantage of the Hub.

Peek:

With what BlackBerry Hub is in mind, this is where this becomes a truly unbeatable combination. The ability to access the Hub no matter where you are simply by swiping up from the bottom bezel, and then to the right. This gives you a peek of the Hub, and if you so wish, you can access it immediately.

This allows for a painless, and efficient way to always be on top of your communications. Which is a big deal for me personally, as the Hub is where I spend the most time on my phone throughout the day, and having an easy way to access it, is a huge time-saver.

The peek gesture doesn’t end here. There is another “peek” gestures for heavy communicators. For example, my phone is almost always set in plain sight, and I always leave the phone in Hub view when I lock it. So when a new notification comes in, I can simply swipe up to activate the screen, and in one swift movement to look at new notifications, and where they are from. If they are not important, I can simply reverse the gesture and continue back to what I was doing. No need to press a button to activate the screen, then swipe to see notifications, like on an Android device.

Other than that, the BlackBerry 10 OS offers pretty much what other platforms offers as well. A nice touch screen display that nice and fluid to use, good for apps, games, videos, web browsing, etc. Futhermore, the brilliant predictive keyboard works very well too, which helps too. The web browser is really superb, perhaps one of the best browsers I have used on a mobile device. But its ability to perform superbly as a communication device is why I chose BlackBerry 10.

It used to be that, if you want a great communication device, you have to sacrifice a bigger screen, apps, games, browser, camera, etc, and simply get a BlackBerry device of old (which I did). But now you can have all those in a package that provides a great communication experience too.

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The reason I decided not to go with other popular platforms is mainly this advantage BB10 offers in terms of communication. This might not be as big of a deal for others, but it is for me. I am even willing to give up the rich ecosystem that iOS and Android offers.

Andriod:

Android albeit powerful, with lots of customizability, and functionality is still lacking the focus on communication that the BlackBerry has. Especially with the Galaxy S4’s announcement, I kind of get the feeling that Samsung is trying too hard to add features to the phone (which is nice). But it seems to lack a focus in the user experience it provides, seemingly just wanting to be able to do just about everything. Which is something BlackBerry 10 has, with its focus on communication and trying to create a UI that allow things to get done faster, and more efficiently. However Android is still my 2nd choice after BB10.

Windows Phone:

 

Then it comes to Windows Phone. I have only had experience with WP 7.5 and 7.8, but I did keep up with all the latest features that WP 8 offers. Despite liking “Live Tiles” a lot, and its design language, I still have the feeling that it lacks focus. There are still some idiosyncrasies about the navigation of the OS. Still some crucial features missing, like notification centre, and universal search for example. Like if you have notifications from multiple sources, like Facebook, twitter, linked in, whatsapp, sms, email, etc. You have to go into their respective app to see them. It is cumbersome and time-consuming, and certainly not an excuse at this point in the smartphone market. It is my personal opinion that BB10 offers more features and settings despite being a new OS. 

Windows Phone 8 might be relatively new, but Windows Phone isn’t. Windows Phone IS NOT NEW. It has been around for a couple of years since the advent of Windows Phone 7, and still it is lacking. This is really no excuse if you ask me. Some might see the UI as being worth the trade-off, but not me. Plus with WP you need to sacrifice ecosystem as well, which is another downside. That said, for a new smartphone user, the simple UI and features should be enough for them. But for me, its just doesn’t work. I really hope Microsoft is listening and working fast to bring these much needed features to WP8. I might sound like I hate the platform, but I don’t. I like its design language very much (I like it so much that I had Lumia 800 is black, blue and white), which is why I have much to say about what they can do better. I want it to be a viable option for consumer, and prosumers alike. It has potential, but Microsoft need to push hard.

iOS:

iOS albeit simple and provides a great user experience. But it is rather restrictive unless you jail break it. There are some things that absolutely drive me mad, like the need to dive through settings just to turn off WiFi. I have an old iPhone 3G which I tried to use again recently only to have it frustrate the hell out of me. After using it for a few years, I am looking for something more than a simple OS. Which is why it is my last choice despite it being more feature-rich and more matured compared to WP.

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Yes BlackBerry 10 still has minor bugs and issues with it (some issues with contacts, and BlackBerry Hub settings, etc), a few features that I would like to see appear on the platform (api that allow 3rd party apps deeper integration with Hub, more customizability for notifications like colored LED, etc), and a better ecosystem with more apps. But overall as it is, it is a great device. Something that is at least comparable to other platforms at this point in time. Especially for someone who values communication. It might not have all the bells and whistles that a Galaxy S4 has, but it does what its meant to do well. For a new OS, it is surprisingly solid, and this will surely improve as more OS updates arrives with bug fixes and added features. I do see a lot of potential in this platform.

All in all, this is why I chose BB10. It fit my needs better than any other platform at the moment.

Apps recommendation for new BB10 users

Just got a spanking new Z10? Not sure where to start? Here are some useful apps and games for BB10 that I use myself.


- Whatsapp


- CB10 (The app for the biggest BB fansite, and the definition of a well designed BB10 app. Not kidding, its that AWESOME)

- Tunein Radio (listen to local FM radio, just make sure you have enough data)

- Popcorn (View local showtimes, must have for movie lovers)

- F1 live 24 (latest news and results for formula 1 fans)

- Angry birds star wars

- Asphalt 7 (not sure if still free, but no harm trying)

- N.O.V.A 3 (not sure if still free, but no harm trying)

- Pewpew (retro shooter game)

- Trapeez S$2.50 (Tumblr client)

- GYRO S$1.25 (a fun and simple game)

For side load:

- Instagram (needs no explanation, current version still can’t register account, so you’ll need someone to help with that, if you already have an account, no problem)

- GoogleMaps (If you don’t fancy the native maps app)

- FlipBoard (news reader app)

- Paypal

- eBay

And a shitload more that works quite well over at Good E Reader.

These are namely some that I use myself, as you can see I’m not a huge app user, so the list is pretty short. But you should be able to find what you need in BlackBerry World, or through side-load.

Though the one app that is still not available through any means is Endomondo. Though there is another app called Sports Tracker, its not as great as Endomondo is.

BlackBerry Z10 Goodness

It has been less than a week since I got my Z10. Despite some minor bugs in the OS, it works really well. Of course the other thing would be the ecosystem. Since whatsapp has been announced to be here, I only have one other app that I really would like to see on BlackBerry 10. Endomondo. It is the only reason that I still use my Nexus 4. Just for the purpose of using endomondo.


I am by no means a huge app user. Even on other platforms I don’t have that many apps on my phone. A lot of apps there, are actually more of a “Nice to Have”, instead of need to have. So I’m perfectly happy with my Z10 to be honest.

One thing I did notice just yesterday was the orientation lock. It’s a great feature for when you want to type or browse in portrait while still lying on your bed. I’m sure most of us have been there. Trying to type and the display keep changing orientation. But I discovered yesterday that you can’t actually lock videos. You can, but it will be in portrait mode. Which is kind of a bummer since I like to load a few tv series sometimes to watch just before bed. This is mainly due to the lack of a landscape mode for the home screen. If you lock the orientation, it has to be in portrait mode. It is perfectly understandable not to have a landscape home screen though, but it would be nice if there was a overflow menu button that you can use to lock videos in landscape. That would be perfect for me.

Other than that, there is the phantom toggle of accounts under “Hub” settings. If you scroll through the list of accounts in a certain manner it would toggle it off. A little annoying I must say. But not a deal breaker.

There are a few others bugs that I would like to see ironed out, and features added in future updates as well. But so far the experience with the Z10 has been a great one. The keyboard is phenomenal too. In fact his whole post was typed out on my Z10 in the trapeez tumblr client. :)

BlackBerry Z10 & LG Nexus 4

First of all, let me apologise for the potato I used to take these photos. I was unable to find a better camera at the time I decided to post this.

Also, I will not be talking about actual specs, those can be found easily on the interwebs. I will also be selective in choosing features that matters to me more to discuss. You may say its bias, and IT IS. This is not about which phone is better than the other, its about which phone suits ME better. So it does not matter if one phone does something better that does not matter to me. If you are looking for a platform dissing article, you should move along.


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If you have noticed, in my title I did not use the word “VS” in my title. It is simply because I like both devices. The Nexus 4 my favourite Android device, while the Z10 is my favourite BlackBerry 10 device. “VS” is such a strong word. No matter this is still sort of a comparison between the 2 devices based on my personal preference.

Nexus 4 is running JellyBean 4.2.2.

BlackBerry Z10 is running 10.0.10.90.

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Design and Built

Both devices are similar in size in most aspects, with the Z10 having a shorter width. It is obvious that care have been given to the design of both devices.

The Nexus 4 has a front and back glass contruction, with the back glass having some sort of glitter effect, which looks pretty classy. Similar to what you would find on an iPhone 4/4S. Since the front of the device is all glass, it looks really great even if the screen is not turned on. The chrome sides adds a touch of elegance as well in my opinion. The sides are plastic though, but nonetheless feels great to hold in the hand.

The Z10 has that understated BlackBerry design. Sort of utilitarian. The main frame of the body uses a polycarbonate construction, which feels similar to the polycarbonate used on Nokia Lumia 800/900/920. The battery cover feels really great to hold in the hand. I am not joking, it feels GREAT. It is slightly rubbery, but not the cheap kind of rubber. It manages to be smooth, yet grippy at the same time. It feels similar to the material used on the back of the PlayBook, which is definitely a good thing, as it is pretty durable.

On a usability POV, I prefer the Z10 over the Nexus 4 though. The volume rocker and power button can be a little hard to press. Whereas on the Z10, the buttons are a pleasure to press. Yes, pleasure. The feedback of the button is good, requiring just a comfortable amount of strength to depress. Not so easy that you activate it by accident, and not so hard that you have to strain your finger muscles. Yes, its a minor thing, but over the course of the day, you need to press the button a lot of times. And being comfortable to press, is important to me.


Durability

To put it simply, if you drop your Nexus 4, be prepared for the worst. It can’t be helped since both front and back are glass. I have seen more cracked Nexus 4 than I would have liked.

The Z10 feels really solid, and so far it seems to be holding up pretty well. The back cover is plastic as well, so it should help absorb some shock. You have less chance of cracking your Z10 simply because there is one less piece of glass, and that glass is smaller in size compared to the front of the Nexus 4.

Bottom line, if you drop your device, be prepared for the worst no matter what device you have. Unless you are using a Nokia 3310.

Just be careful, is what I am trying to say. Or get a case.

Display

The display of the Z10 seems to have a warmer tone. You can see in the picture above. It has a yellowish tint to it, whereas the Nexus 4’s display is cooler.

Nonetheless, both are great displays with very good pixel density. Pictures will look sharp and text will look crisp on either device. I tend to prefer a whiter display though (like on the Nexus 4), but you are not always using you phone directly in front of a white piece of paper, so the warmer display of the Z10 is really no big deal for me.

Now onto the interesting bits…

Operating System

This will probably go on forever if I go in depth, so forgive me if I do not.

Android is a matured operating system. The misconceptions about its performance, sluggishness, lags, that you hear from people are long gone. With “Project Butter”, It is smooth, and it is fast. As you would expect from an operating system that has gone through many major revision, the feature-set is really solid. The stock UI looks pretty slick too. Then there are the customisability of Android, which gives freedom to advance users to customise their phones to their needs. Most should already know what Android devices can offer. If you haven’t noticed, I prefer stock Android over the other “skins (or whatever you call it)” that manufacturers use.

BlackBerry 10 is a baby. By that I meant that it is a brand new OS of course. Version 1.0 OS as I would call it. And for a version 1.0 OS, it certainly does not feel like one. This is where I feel the years of experience making mobile communication devices have helped BlackBerry tremendously. You can see a lot of good DNA in this device. Its like when Reed Richards and Susan Storm produces an offspring, you kinda expect the child to be pretty fantastic too. The OS offers lots of features, and settings brought over from previous generation devices, with some omission still of course, but for a V1.0 OS, it is pretty good. In fact I might even go as far as saying its better than Windows Phone 8 in terms of feature-set (I still love the tiles on WP though).

Frankly, if you put aside app ecosystem, and just compare OS, I might even go as far as to saying that it offers similar functions to the latest Apple and Google can offer. Sure, there are still minor quirks in the OS, minor bugs, and some ways that the navigation can be improved upon, but those are really the minor refinements to me. Not much of a deal breaker. I barely have any settings, functions, that I miss from iOS or Android. Frankly the settings I missed are from my old BlackBerry.

Things like profile customisation is one. The ability to set a particular type of notification to a certain sound (SMS, email, whatsapp, twitter, facebook, etc), vibrate pattern (for ie, setting sms to vibrate once, emails twice, whatsapp thrice, etc), and colour LED (for ie, green for whatsapp, blue for facebook and twitter, red for BBM and emails, etc).

It is a new OS. There are bound to be minor issues here and there that will be fixed soon (since BB was pretty prompt to released an update just recently fixing a good number of issues, I would expect the same momentum going forward).

Gestures

I think this really deserves its own sub-header, because the gestures are simply fantastic. So fantastic that after just 2 days with the Z10, and I picked up the Nexus 4, i keep trying to swipe up to return to the home screen. I keep swiping from left to right to go back to a previous page in my gmail, only to delete an email. Using a home and back button used to be a 2nd nature when using any other platforms, even BBOS. But now it has become a chore.

No matter what app I am in, I can just swipe up, and right in the same movement, and I can either “peek” at BlackBerry Hub (unified inbox/notifications), or go into it. On the Nexus 4 and iPhone 5, I have to strain and reposition my hand slightly in order to be able to pull down my notifications. I do this A LOT. Communication is my main use of my phone, so to allocate this task to a gesture that is uncomfortable for me to reach is just frustrating. Whereas on the Z10, my normal holding position of the phone allows me to access my Hub really easily, and painlessly. Just try it. Compare swiping from the bottom of the phone then to the right, with swiping down from the top of the screen. See which is more comfortable.

I love how you can turn on the display by just swiping up. No longer have to reach for the power button. If i have a notification come in, i can simply do a swipe up, to see where its from (email, sms, twitter, etc). If not important I can simply reverse the gesture, my finger never leaving the screen, back down again and it turns off. Quick and painless.

Though I would love it even more if there is a way to turn off the display without using the power/sleep button when you are on the homescreen. Like on my playbook, I don’t really remember ever having to use the power button. I can turn the display on and off without ever touching the power button.

Camera

Just a brief mention here. Photos taken by the Nexus 4 seems to be a bit warmer. Both frankly both are pretty capable. Not as great as iPhone 5, and Lumia 920 of course, but decent nonetheless. But I do prefer the UI of the camera on the Z10 over the one on the Nexus 4.

Browser

This is something that I use a lot on my phones. I browse and read news, articles, etc. With the state the ecosystem is in (which I shall elaborate below), a good browser is important. I tested a bunch of websites, cnn, cnet, cracked, espn, gdgt, and theverge. Both on the same WiFi network. Chrome broswer loaded a few of the mobile pages a split second before the Z10, but when it comes to the full webpage, the Z10 was faster in all of the site except gdgt for some reason (though it was just a split second behind). It has the highest html5test.com score of any mobile browser, it performs better in facebook’s Ringmark test, a test for compatibility of webapps. But does all these mean anything? probably not. You just need to know that the browser is FAST. On par or slightly better than its competitor considering that it support Adobe flash if you want it to. Yes, flash is dying, but its still nice to have the option to use it or not since its not completely dead yet.

Ecosystem

Inevitably, we come to this. App ecosystem. I wont beat around the bush. As it stands now, BlackBerry 10’s app ecosystem is massively behind its competitors. Perhaps even bordering on pathetic. Whatsapp, coming next week probably. Instagram, soon. Skype, soon. But there are others that still not here and no sight of coming anytime soon. Paypal, Ebay, Endomondo (which i use A LOT), the list goes on and on and on and on.

It will take time obviously but it should come eventually, since Z10 sales seems to be going well throughout the world, and it hasn’t even begin sales in US yet.

There are options to side load converted Android apps too, and goodereader.com offers a lot of them. If you really need to have an app, why not check first. Most of them work relatively well, like ebay, paypal, googlemaps, etc.

Conclusion

I would like to quote Brad Molen in his recent article about 30 days with the Z10.

"There are plenty of good qualities in BB10, but BlackBerry needs a hook — in other words, iOS and Android users won’t hop out of an ecosystem they’re comfortable with unless there’s a very clear reason to do so. The new and improved BlackBerry is the best first-edition OS I’ve ever used, but the true competitive advantages are few and far between: solid enterprise / BYOD support (areas in which iOS and Android are quickly catching up) and the BlackBerry Hub. BB10’s gesture-based UI and built-in Flash Player get honorable mentions, but I can’t see very many people making the jump on those features alone."

Which is pretty similar to my conclusion as well. Just that for me, the gesture base navigation, the UI, BlackBerry Hub, are the hooks for me. It is sufficient to make me want to give up the thriving ecosystem on the Nexus 4, live without whatsapp for a few weeks, live without Endomondo for a period of time. Its really that good. Especially for someone like me, who really value the time I can save and efficiency of having a unified inbox. Using gestures to navigate the OS just seems more efficient.

However I cannot say the same for others. This is something that you have to weigh yourself. Only you yourself know your needs best. I cannot make that decision for you. This is not a post about “this phone is better than the other phone”, its about “this phone suit my needs better than the other phone”, and “why i prefer this phone over the other”.

Peace.