THE VERGE: Buying The New BlackBerry 'Wouldn't Be A Mistake'

He scores the phone a 7 out of 10, which suggests it to be a perfectly usable phone with a strong OS. But it's still not all peaches and cream for the new device.

Here's how Topolsky drilled down on some of the details:

• The physical appearance: "The Z10 will not look radical to any consumer, and I get the feeling BlackBerry wants it that way...This is a safe, refined look; classy but understated, not unlike BlackBerry's previous efforts in smartphone design. If anything, the Z10 looks like a beefier, wider version of the iPhone 5."

• The screen is beautiful: "The display on the Z10 is a handsome 1280 x 768, 356 PPI LCD screen, and I found its color reproduction, clarity, and touch response to be among the best I've used. That said, the screen's backlight seemed noticeably darker than many devices I compared it to (particularly the iPhone) even at full brightness, and color tone and saturation seemed to lean towards a yellowish / greenish hue."

• Battery life leaves something to be desired: "I regret to report that I've been deeply disappointed by the battery in the Z10."

• In summary: "The Z10 is a fine device, well made, reasonably priced, backed by a company with a long track record...buying a Z10 wouldn't be a mistake. But I think there are better phones on the market, and I don't yet see a compelling reason for most customers to choose this phone over those better ones.

Click here to see hands-on photos of the two new BlackBerry phones >