News & Reviews:   BlackBerry Z10

Quite a lot of people opted for the BlackBerry Q10 as opposed to the touch-screen BlackBerry Z10 mainly because it stayed true to the BlackBerry design, and it had a physical QWERTY keyboard. However, many of those people were quite shocked by the BlackBerry Q10's rather high price. With that in mind the company has released the BlackBerry Q10's little brother, the BlackBerry Q5. Recently announced at the BlackBerry Live 2013 in Florida, the BlackBerry Q5 as it is officially known, seems to have been the previously leaked BlackBerry device formerly known as the R10. As such, it looks exactly like the R10 images, right down to the 3.1-inch touchscreen to the almost separate feeling QWERTY keyboard.

As the BlackBerry Q10 looms on the horizon (due in Malaysia this Wednesday), Celcom are now offering pre-registration of interest for the Q10. While the device retails at RM2388 minus any other plans or subsidies, it does offer 4G LTE support and an actual physical QWERTY keyboard as opposed to the previous touch-screen based BlackBerry Z10.

Just like all the other previous smartphones, Maxis is currently offering the chance to register your interest early to get the BlackBerry Q10. While the BlackBerry Q10 offers a bit more familiarity with an actual physical QWERTY keyboard it also provides support for 4G LTE, something which the BlackBerry Z10 didn't.

For those of you who thought the BlackBerry Z10 was a betrayal of everything that BlackBerry stood for, then rejoice, BlackBerry Malaysia may be launching the BlackBerry Q10 very soon. In an email image, BlackBerry Malaysia asked to set 30 April 2013 as a date that may be important for BlackBerry and made it even more obvious by adding the image of a BlackBerry Q10 next to the date (see the image above for yourself).

While you can get the BlackBerry Z10 on contract with practically every telco in Malaysia, TuneTalk is one of the few to offer it at a subsidized price under a prepaid plan. To get the BlackBerry Z10 under TuneTalk you can do the following:

• Pay RM2118
• Redeem it with 27500 TT Points
• Pay RM999 and 17000 TT Points

With the 8th of April the BlackBerry Z10 is now officially available for our major telcos in Malaysia. This includes Celcom from RM1188, DiGi from RM899, Maxis from RM1088 and U-Mobile from RM1268.

Celcom's BlackBerry Z10 offerings go for their First Prime, Premier and Elite plans along with their mPro plans. Check out the table below for all the details:

As part of the Pakej Komunikasi Belia Hotlink is offering a number of smartphones either for free or with rebates, in line with the RM200 rebate from the package. One deal that caught our eye was for the BlackBerry Z10 which is being offered at a promotional price of RM1688 with an additional 1.5GB of Free data. This RM1688 price is valid for existing Hotlink BlackBerry BIS customers who are eligible for the Pakej Komunikasi Belia. However, existing customers who do not qualify for the Pakej Komunikasi Belia may instead get the BlackBerry Z10 for a discounted price of RM1988. New customers who qualify for the package can get the smartphone at RM1888 while new customers who don't qualify for the package can get the deal at RM2188. The free 1.5GB worth of data is only valid for 7 days after the device has been bought while the actual promo is valid from 9 March 2013 to 30 April 2013.

BlackBerry's latest flagship Z10 has finally got some coverage from the local telcos with a new pre-registration package from Celcom Malaysia. This package is more like a pledge in that you are interested in the Celcom BlackBerry Z10 deal and will only require you to fill up your personal information (name, contacts, etc) here. As an added bonus you will also get an additional RM200 rebate when you register online at the aforementioned link.