I recently suggested the new Blackberry Z10 to a friend as their new smart phone. Their response: “I’m not drinking that Blackberry Koolaid”. After just 2 weeks with the Blackberry Z10 it’s my opinion that it has the best out of box experience of any smart phone I’ve owned or tested. I’m not the only one who has “drank the Koolaid”. Customer satisfaction reviews don’t lie. Just look at all the people who actually have bought the Blackberry Z10. In fact compare the customer reviews for the Blackberry Z10 to the iPhone 5 or Samsung Galaxy S III, and you’ll see that users of the Blackberry Z10 have a higher satisfaction rating. See here and here

So what so great about this phone that’s made an avid Android user, fan, and advocate switch sides and promote the new Blackberry? If you missed my previous blog posts I’ll sum it up for you.

1. The Blackberry 10 OS has the best keyboard on any smart phone today. It’s like having someone at your side at all times that finishes sentences for you. I mean literally it finishes your sentences and it’s incredibly accurate because it learns from your typing habits.

2. It has the Hub which is like having your own secretary in your pocket. It keeps everything important in one place.

3. Since the phone has no buttons for navigation you use gestures to get around. I find not having to switch back and forth between physical buttons and a touch screen less confusing and faster then my Android experience and more intuitive than my iPhone experience.

There are also some new features I’ve discovered.

4. BBM (Blackberry Messenger) for instance has been upgraded for those who have used it in the past. It now has video chat and screen sharing. To elaborate if you wanted to you could have a video conference and share your screen to show documents, presentations, etc… all from your phone and while being just about anywhere.

5. For all you System Administrators out there BES 10 has some pretty awesome upgrades too. First, the user interface has been redesigned and offers a more intuitive and friendlier feel. Second you get multi-platform mobile device management. BES 10 has the ability to manage Blackberry, Android, and iOS devices (phones and tablets) all from one server, and if you have a Blackberry 10 phone you can manage it remotely. Then there are features specific to Blackberry 10 such as the ability to separate your personal and work applications. This allows you to remove sensitive data and apps without having to wipe the device. There’s a lot more to it, so give it a try. Blackberry offers a free 60 day trial, and until December 31, 2013, Blackberry is offering existing license holders a free one to one trade up for licenses.

So there you have it, after 2 weeks I’ve decided not to go back to my Android based phone. Yes, Android has lots of bells and whistles and for some people it’s perfect, but for someone that has to stay focused and organized this is the phone for you.