Unnamed BlackBerry Partner Buys 1 Million BlackBerry 10 Smartphones

An "established" partner of Canada's BlackBerry has placed an order for one million BlackBerry 10 smartphones, the company has announced.

This is the "largest ever single purchase order" in the company's history, BlackBerry (formerly RIM) claims.

BlackBerry has announced the first BlackBerry 10 smartphones â€" Z10 and Q10 â€" on January 30, 2013. With the new version of the platform and these devices, the company hopes to regain some of the market share it's been steadily losing since 2009.

This large order, as well as the recent report of German government adopting the BlackBerry Z10, is certainly a good sign for BlackBerry, who just hasn't been able to keep up with the iPhones and the Androids in the last couple of years.

BlackBerry will be reporting its Q4 and year-end results on March 28, 2013.

1. BlackBerry Z10

   The Z10 is the first BlackBerry 10 smartphone. It doesn't work like most other smartphones (notice there's no home button), so it has a fairly steep learning curve for anyone used to iOS or Android. However, it's also a powerful organizer and has much friendlier feel than previous BlackBerry phones. RIM expects the Z10 to be available on all four of the major U.S. carriers for $199 (with contract).

   

2. Backside

   The back of the Z10 is what rim calls "soft touch," a slightly rubberized material that bestows a firm grip. It's also removable, letting the user swap out a new SIM, a microSD card or a spare battery.

   

3. Right Side: Volume/Mute Buttons

   The volume buttons have slight indentations so you can find them by touch alone, and the middle button controls play/pause or mute (depending on the app).

   

4. Left Side

   The left side has ports for microUSB and microHDMI for connecting to an external display.

   

5. Top

   Here's the power/sleep button and the headphone jack, as well as a small microphone port.

   

6. Bottom

   The bottom has a slot to ease taking off the back.

   

7. Lock Screen

   In lieu of a home button, you can activate the lock screen just by sliding your finger up from the bottom of the screen. The execution is slick.

   

8. App Array

   Like most smartphones today, the Z10 shows apps as an array of icons. When you swipe between screens, the animation has them fade out and overlap each other slightly.

   

9. Minimized Apps

   You swipe app to minimize any apps running, and they appear here. They're still running (or paused when appropriate -- say, a game) you can resume where you left off anytime. Up to eight apps can run in minimized state at any given time.

   

10. The Hub

    BlackBerry 10's Hub is where all your email, text messages, BBM messages and social-network notifications reside. You can change the view to display just one account, or a mix. Swiping down from the top shows your coming calendar appointments.

    

11. Hub Accounts

    Swiping in from the left of the Hub shows your account list. Tap one to show just notifications from that account.

    

12. Peek

    On virtually any screen on the Z10, you can swipe up and hold to see your notifications on the left.

    

13. Peeking Further

    Sweep right to "peek" at the Hub. The screen tracks your finger movements precisely.

    

14. Type Predictor

    The BlackBerry onscreen keyboard will predict what the next word you want to type might be, giving you several options over various keys. To select one, swipe up from the key. It takes getting used to.

    

15. Time Shifting Camera

    The Z10's camera has a Time Shift mode, which lets you turn back the clock on any particular person's facial expression by a second or two, letting you perfect that shot where someone blinked.

    

16. BlackBerry Messenger

    RIM's popular BlackBerry Messenger has gotten an upgrade for BB10.

    

17. BBM Video Chat

    You can now do video chats with BBM, similar to Apple's FaceTime or Skype. It works best on Wi-Fi or LTE.

    

18. Screen Share

    A useful tool that goes with BBM video chats is Screen Share. Just tap the icon and you'll share what you're looking at with your chat partner. The screen will appear a little fuzzy, though.

    

19. BlackBerry Balance

    BlackBerry Balance lets will partition your Z10 for both work and personal use. It's something your company would do if you decided to use the Z10 as a work phone, and RIM says' it's physically impossible for the two sides to share data (such as photos). However, the device still has one phone number, and your notifications are united.

    

20. Browser

    The BB10 webkit browser is pretty bare-bones, but it makes the nice choice of putting the URL bar at the bottom of the screen -- handy for thumbs.

    

Image by Mashable