First firmware update for BlackBerry 10 includes battery life improvement and low-light camera fix

We have to give credit to the guys up north in Canada, specifically in Waterloo. BlackBerry is obviously listening to the feedback from users of the BlackBerry Z10 and we have to give credit to the management team led by CEO Thorsten Heins. You see, the first firmware update to BlackBerry 10 has been pushed out and it actually includes fixes for the problems that Z10 owners were complaining about. The update is being sent out OTA and weighs in at 150MB. For starters, it improves what many have called a poor battery life on the phone.

While the BlackBerry Z10 did not make it through the entire day on one charge, BlackBerry says that "Heavy users especially should see a longer average usage per charge cycle." No specific numbers were cited, and a test recently done on the handset's battery showed it had a talk time of 8 hours and 20 minutes, just twenty minutes short of the Apple iPhone 5's talk time. On the other hand, it trailed the Apple Phone 5's top web browsing battery life time of 9 hours and 56 minutes by almost 3 and a half hours. With video playback, the BlackBerry Z10's 8 hours and 44 minutes of battery life was roughly 90 minutes short of the Apple iPhone 5 and half the time of the top ranked Motorola RAZR MAXX. In all fairness, the latter has a 3300mAh capacity cell versus the 1800mAh one powering the BlackBerry Z10. BlackBerry says that it has made 60 improvements to the battery since launch.

The other publicized issue fixed by the update was the poor performance of the BlackBerry Z10 camera under low-light conditions. The all-touch BlackBerry 10 model had its camera go up against some of the smartphones with the best shooters in the business. The Nokia Lumia 920, the Samsung Galaxy S III and the Apple iPhone 5 were the other phones in the test and while the Nokia Lumia 920 came out on top, the BlackBerry Z10 came out on bottom with a picture that looked like it was snapped with a lens cap on. The update should fix this which is a big deal considering that the Time Shift Camerafeature does not work with a flash.

The update also "refines" video playback in the browser and third party apps now run "fast and smooth." BlackBerry also says more titles are coming to BlackBerry World such as WhatsApp which is expected sometime this month. The Gmail calendar will now work better on BlackBerry 10 and improvements have been made to BlackBerry Hub in the way calls are logged and conversations handled. In addition, the way contacts are imported from online sources has been changed.

With the hefty size of the update, BlackBerry suggests that you be on Wi-Fi while downloading it. If you don't have Wi-Fi at home, you can always head over to Mickey D's for a bite and an update. And we have to say that if this is just the beginning of how BlackBerry is going to treat its customers, it is a welcome change from the prior management and a good sign that the company and BlackBerry 10 are both in quite capable hands.

source: BlackBerry via Slashgear