14 DAY TRIAL // BlackBerry has just kicked off the rollout of the first major software update for the Z10 smartphone. According to the Canadian company, the update will be deployed with all carrier partners around the world over the coming weeks.
This means that customers who own unlocked BlackBerry Z10 devices in countries where the smartphone has yet to be released won’t be receiving the update yet.
For example, those who received their BlackBerry Z10 at the launch event and live in the United States will get the update a bit later.
It’s unclear for the moment how accurate this information is, but you might want to manually check to see if software update 10.0.10.85 has been made available by going to Settings / Software updates / Check for updates.
All in all, the update is about 150MB in size and is pushed OTA (over the air). For the time being, most Canadian carriers offering the BlackBerry Z10 have been confirmed to roll out the update.
The good news is BlackBerry also provided the full changelog of the update and at first glance it includes major improvements and enhancements.
In this regard, BlackBerry confirmed third-party app performance had been improved, “so developers can build apps that run fast and smooth for you. With this update, you might want to keep an eye out for some fresh new app launches in March, like WhatsApp.”
Furthermore, the Phone, Calendar and Contacts received some tweaks and enhancements. There are some fixes for Gmail calendars on BlackBerry 10 and improvements on the BlackBerry Hub for logging calls log and how conversations are handled. General improvements to importing contacts from online sources have been added as well.
The phone’s camera has been optimized for better photos in low-light situations and a number of improvements to the media and browser software have been made, so the browser can now handle video playback much better.
Last but not least, battery life has been optimized with more than 60 battery saving improvements. It appears that these enhancements should provide heavy users with significant improvements in battery life.