It's the first BlackBerry 10 device with a physical keyboard, and for that reason alone it's one of the most significant phone releases of the year in South Africa.
Despite a high price likely to limit sales - purchase price is R8000 and up - the Q10 will resonate with die-hard BlackBerry Bold users who don't want to give up on their keyboards.
At 139g, it's almost the same weight and with a similar design as its predecssor, yet is startlingly different, with a 720×720 Super AMOLED 3.1" touch screen (the 9900 was 2.8"). A 1.5GHz processor makes it quick and responsive, and an 8MP rear camera and 2MP front puts it on a par with most other leading smartphones.
It ships standard with LTE, and not just for show: with a good connection, downloads are blazingly fast.
That said, it's a battery hog, so keep the optional charger with spare battery handy.
Some may struggle with the absence of the familiar Blackberry function/home button, but bigger keys make it the best typing experience yet on a phone.
It won't come with the unlimited Blackberry Internet Service (BIS), but then its customers wont struggle to afford a date bundle.
BIS aside, when a Curve equivalent of the Q10 - in terms of low-end pricing - is released later this year, we will for the first time see just how strong BlackBerry remains in this market.
Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package. 
