BlackBerry Unveils Bigger, Better Z30

Will this be the last BlackBerry? BlackBerry just officially announced the widely leaked Z30, a Galaxy S 4-sized maxi-Berry with a 5-inch screen, a bigger battery, and stereo speakers that runs the new BlackBerry OS 10.2.

But the new jumbo fruit comes on the heels of the reported failure of the QWERTY-keyboarded Q10 and the Wall Street Journal's report that BlackBerry's board wants to sell the company off by November, making us wonder if the Z30 will reach the U.S. in its current form. BlackBerry says the Z30 is coming to the U.S., and partner and carrier announcements will come shortly.

Doubling Down on RF and Battery
The most interesting thing about the Z30 announcement, in my mind, is how it echoes the concerns of BlackBerry founder Mike Lazaridis: messaging, battery life, and RF reception are three of the key features.
The Z30 has a larger 2880mAh battery that promises 25 hours of "mixed use" as well as a new "Paratek Antenna," which strengthens reception in low-signal areas. These were historic BlackBerry strengths, of course, but they were pursued at the cost of consumer obsessions like big, colorful screens and games.


The Z30 has those as well. The 5-inch Super AMOLED screen is the biggest ever on a BlackBerry, and the stereo speakers are enhanced with "BlackBerry Natural Sound," which seems like some sort of surround-sound scheme from the announcement.

BlackBerry OS 10.2, meanwhile, bubbles priority messages to the top and lets you pull up previews of new messages in any other application you're using. It'll come to the Z10 and Q10 as well in mid-October.
Two Tracks for BlackBerry

Could the Z30 save BlackBerry? I don't think it matters. Assuming that the Wall Street Journal is right and the company is in fact up for sale, it has to remain a going concern while it's on the market, and that means putting out new phones and trying to swing for the fences.

But it's hard to see how the Z30 will change the company's fortunes in a major way, if the Z10 and Q10 haven't done it. The BlackBerry 10 platform can't match Android or iOS on prominent apps, and was recently hit by the report that one-third of the apps available - a full 48,000 - come from one developer alone.

Most people want better battery life and a better antenna on their smartphones. But it hasn't looked like smartphone owners are willing to give up the more mature Apple, Android and even Windows Phone ecosystems for BlackBerry 10 just yet. The Z30 will need to come with a strong story of why it's better than the competition for the applications consumers want.