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New York Mag's BlackBerry 10 demo unit dies after only four days

The now-dead BlackBerry Z10. | Source: New York Magazine

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In a tongue-in-cheek review published on Friday, New York Magazine tells the story of a demo BlackBerry Z10 which, after multiple software issues including numerous crashes, died after only four days of testing.


The piece, dubbed a "eulogy" by New York Magazine's Kevin Roose, said the BlackBerry Z10 test unit was offered up by the company's public relations team shortly after the device was announced on Jan. 30, and subsequently became unusable on Feb. 3.

While Roose commented on a few of the so-called "revolutionary" features of the Z10, like 70,000 available launch apps and a unique system that toggles the BB10 OS between work and home use, the article is peppered with a host of negatives. For example, besides the lack of apps like Netflix, Skype and Instagram that are common to rival smartphones, the BlackBerry unit suffered from multiple crashes.

Overall, it appears as though Roose was underwhelmed by the product:

BlackBerry Z10, you were a piece of crap, but you were my piece of crap. And I'll miss you. Whenever I pick up my iPhone from now on, I'll be looking at a solid, functional, well-designed piece of hardware with working apps and the ability to outlive a green banana. But I'll be thinking of you.

The BlackBerry Z10 and the physical keyboard-carrying Q10 are seen by many as being BlackBerry's last attempt at regaining a foothold in the smartphone market it once dominated.



92 Comments

dreyfus2 17 Years · 1069 comments

"Tongue in cheek"? That's an accomplished summary execution... I'll take the banana.

suddenly newton 14 Years · 13819 comments

Blackberry will probably get away with it. If there ever any hint of iPhones failing after 10 days, it would be immediately dubbed "10-day-gate," and blown out of proportion by blogs and competitors.

nagromme 22 Years · 2831 comments

"But I'll be thinking of you." Heck, I'd be thinking of my iPhone every time I looked at the design of that BlackBerry. For some odd reason... Samsung should sue them over the shape. There are a million ways to shape a black, rectangular, touch-based phone. They don't ALL look like Apple's. That's Samsung's thing, and they should defend it.

tallest skil 14 Years · 43086 comments

Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton 
Blackberry will probably get away with it. If there ever any hint of iPhones failing after 10 days, it would be immediately dubbed "10-day-gate," and blown out of proportion by blogs and competitors.

 

4 days. 

 

That's interesting; I read it that way at first, too. We must both have insanely-mild, subconscious dyslexia or something. 


Originally Posted by MacRulez 
Time for a little editorial adjustment with the layout of the front page - currently the headline for this article is directly above:

 

"Apple's iOS 6.1 reportedly causing 3G and battery issues for some iPhone users"

 

If AppleInsider is going to devote space to hit pieces on products that have nothing to do with Apple, it would be less cringingly ironic if they weren't directly juxtaposed against headlines that paint a similarly dim view of Apple products.

 

Or maybe you could go to a site you don't hate with every fiber of your being?