Blackberry Z30 Unveiled: New 5-inch Smartphone Is Company’s First Phablet

Blackberry has revealed their new flagship device, the Blackberry Z30, and with the fate of the company up in the air, all eyes are on the newly launch device. In the midst of Apple releasing its most recent operating system, iOS 7, Blackberry quietly launched the Z30 on Wednesday. The new smartphone, was previously known as the Blackberry A10 while it was in development, runs on the latest version of the Blackberry 10 operating system. CEO Thorsten Heins stated that the Z30 will now occupy the tier above their other smartphones, mainly the Z10and Q10. The new device is right on the cusp on the phablet territory with a 5-inch Super AMOLED display, the all-touch screen is a significant step up from its predecessor the Z10 with its 4.2-inch display.

BlackBerry is describing the Z30 as the "fastest and most advanced" phone ever produced by the company. With a 1.7 GHz processor plus quad-core graphics, the Z30 seriously outperforms its predecessor the Z10 which sported a dual-core 1.5 GHz chip. In addition, the Z30 received a 2880 mAh battery, which according to Tech Crunch, is the largest cell it's ever put in a phone. The upgrade continue, the new flagship device is fitted with an improved antenna designed to boost reception in low-signal areas.

BlackBerry is attempting to market their new device by going back to their roots by attempting to aim the Z30 at enterprise users. "The [Z30] is designed for people looking for a smartphone that excels at communications, messaging and productivity. Having apps like the full Documents To Go suite that comes preinstalled, together with its 5″ touch display, the BlackBerry Z30 smartphone gives you a best in class productivity experience on the go," said Carlo Chiarello, Executive Vice President for Products at BlackBerry, in a statement.

The new phablet is the company's first device running on BlackBerry OS 10.2, the latest version of the OS which won't be released to the Z10, Q10 and Q5 till mid-October at the earliest. The updates to the new operating system include, a new Priority Hub feature, which categorizes which conversations and people are important to you and allows them to be more easily accessible. In addition, a new feature allows users to view a message preview in any application and reply without leaving the application. The preview feature also extends to the lock screen where users can tap to view recent messages and notifications.

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