First impression: BlackBerry Z30

The BlackBerry Z30 is big, much bigger than anything BlackBerry users have ever seen. But despite it being a phablet, it's easy to hold.

The five-inch screen dominates the front face of the Z30, with a brushed metal frame at the bottom. The front camera and notification light is on top and a metal strip runs around the device. The power button and headphone jack are on the top while the microUSB and MicroHDMI jacks are on the left. The volume rocker is on the right. The glass weave pattern on the back, also seen in the Q10, is replicated in the Z30. Open-ing it reveals a 2880 mAh Li-Ion battery, which, sadly, is non-removable. Road warriors needn't fret, as the phone lasted us through a day with heavy usage and still had some charge left. The microSIM and mic-roSD card slots are housed over the battery, while the main camera and speaker grilles are on the back.

The Z30, running BlackBerry OS 10.2, boots noticeably faster than its predecessors. Its screen is bright and vivid, certainly the brightest we've ever seen in a BlackBerry device. Calls were clear, with no call drops when we used the de-vice. The primary camera, while doing a satisfactory job outdoors, did an okay job indoors.

At Rs 39,990, the phablet is a decent offering, cheaper than many flagship Android phablets. While it might make BlackBerry users do things with their device (read consume media) they didn't think of earlier, it remains to be seen if new ones will go in for this workhorse.