BlackBerry has officially announced its first successor device to its initial relaunch lineup in the BlackBerry Z30. The Z30 is an updated version of the Z10 smarphone featuring the following improvements, mostly related to software:
• BlackBerry® Priority Hub – BlackBerry® Hub is the one place to manage all your conversations and notifications. The new BlackBerry Priority Hub can now learn what conversations and what people are important to you making it fast and easy to find the messages and information you need. It collects priority messages across your email, social networking and other accounts and gives you instant access to the conversations most important to you to help you stay organized and focused on the most important tasks.
• BBM™ Now in Any App and Message Previews Everywhere – You can now get a preview of any message as it arrives in whatever app you’re using, and immediately dismiss it or tap it to read the full content and respond. If a BBM message arrives, you can instantly reply to the message without even leaving the app you’re in. In addition, if your phone is locked, you can tap the various icons on the Lock Screen to see an instant preview of your most recent messages and notifications.
• 5″ Super AMOLED Display – The BlackBerry Z30 smartphone features a 5″ Super AMOLED display. The smartphone also houses many top of the line components, including a 1.7 GHz processor with quadcore graphics that makes browsing web pages faster and games more detailed.
• Stereo Audio and BlackBerry® Natural Sound– The BlackBerry Z30 smartphone comes with stereo speakers that immerse you in your music, videos, apps and games, and makes conversations sound like you’re face-to-face. BlackBerry Natural Sound is new technology exclusive to BlackBerry and part of BlackBerry 10 OS version 10.2 that makes BBM Voice and BBM Video chats sound more natural and realistic. BlackBerry Natural Sound lets you hear nuances and variations in tone, making conversations sound like you’re in the same room.
• New Antenna Technology – The BlackBerry Z30 smartphone features BlackBerry’s new generation antenna technology that dynamically tunes reception to give you better connectivity in low signal areas. BlackBerry® Paratek Antenna can give you faster data transfers and fewer dropped calls in low signal areas, keeping you connected in more places.
• Longer Battery Life – The BlackBerry Z30 smartphone includes a 2880mAh battery. Unlike the Z10’s removable battery, the Z30’s battery is a sealed unit.
The rest of the specifications include a dual-core 1.7GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro with 2GB of RAM, Adreno 320 GPU, 16GB internal storage with microSD slot, 4G LTE support, dual-band WiFi a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC. The Z30’s camera is similar to the Z10, with a 2-megapixel front facing camera capable of 720p video and an 8-megapixel rear module with an f2.2 lens that captures video in 1080p. The phone will launch first in Europe and the Middle East, while a North American launch is set for the holiday season.
Update: Verizon has announced via Twitter that it will release the Z30, but has not announced pricing or availability details.
