Historic Day; Blackberry's Final Kick

Remember today as one of the more definitive days in technology history. Even with Blackberry's (RIM?) face-plant over the last few years, they have the best shot at being a major player in the mobile space with the likes of Google and Apple. 

Today is the day the pull out all the stops, and throw ALL of their cards out on the table. There is nothing to hold back, there is no "well....maybe Blackberry 11 will be good." If their software isn't perfect, their hardware of "Apple like quality" and their app store packed with great content over the next few months, then Blackberry will be gone, forever.

Hardware:

Today they are "Officially" announcing 2 new devices, the z10 and the q10. The hardware looks pretty good, with industry standard high end specs.

The Hardware looks good overall. The q10 looks like the Blackberry's of old, while the z10 takes on a simple design. The z10 is basically an all black slate, with the word Blackberry at the bottom. It takes some design from the iPhone, with the flat squared off edges, flat level back, and rounded edges. Its like an iPhone 5 and Nexus 4 had a baby.

The z10 will compete directly with the iPhone 5, Optimus G, Nexus 4, Lumia 920, and Galaxy SIII. It is an all touch screen phone, running blackberries new BB10 OS.

The z10 specs include:

• 4.2-inch touchscreen (no physical keyboard here)
• 1280 x 768 resolution, and higher pixel density than apples latest "retina display" on the iPhone 5
• Dual core TI OMAP 4470 processor; 1.5GHz
• 2GB of RAM
• 8-megapixel rear camera.
• 2-megapixel front camera.
• MicroSD slot (has 16GB on board storage)
• NFC
• LTE on supported carriers
• Removable battery
• mHDMI Port

The q10 is going to be for the Qwerty loving BB die-hards. Its more or less a new and improved Bold Touch 9930. This device is all about what Blackberry does best.

The q10 specs include:

• 3.1" touchscreen
• 720 x 720 resolution (330ppi)
• 2GB RAM
• Expandable storage
• 1.5 GHz Processor
• Full Qwerty Hardware keypad

Software:

The software looks good from the reviews I have seen online (credit Android Central), though I'm not lucky enough to have played with one myself. The OS uses a blend between "Cards" (similar to what palm uses), that transform into "widgets" or "live tiles." It's like Blackberry took everything we like about all the current smartphone OS's, threw in some Blackberry flavor, and put it on a couple of good looking devices. 

There is also BBM (remember that?) that looks to squash anything iMessege can do, as seen here in a hands on from Gizmodo.

Seems like things are looking up for Blackberry. They have made some mistakes in the past, but they cant change that, they are truly bringing their best foot forward.

I like what they are bringing to the table. I like how all US carriers will have the device's at some point, Hardware looks good, and software looks easy to use and smooth. If they can get some apps (Android emulated apps don't count), I really think they have a chance. There are a lot of loyal BB users out there that have been waiting a long time for this. 

Do you agree, do you think Blackberry has a chance? Or is Windows Phone 8 destined to be number 3? Let me know in the comments below.

Image Source: Gizmodo