BlackBerry 10 Apps Aren't Completely Compatible with the Q10 Smartphone

At the end of January, I attended the BlackBerry 10 launch, where I was introduced to both the Z10 and Q10 smartphones. The entirely brand new phones were very impressive. Unfortunately, while the Z10 went on sale in the U.K. and Canada that week, the Z10 was not available in the U.S. until the end of March.

On April 26, the Q10 went on sale in the U.K. The Q10 is the new re-vamped BlackBerry 10 phone with the familiar QWERTY keypad. It will not be available in the U.S. until the end of May. As described by BlackBerry, the Q10 combines the power of BlackBerry 10 with a classic BlackBerry keyboard.

In order for the QWERTY keyboard to interface properly the Q10 will be running OS version 10.1. This is the third update to the OS since it came out in January. The main difference between the Z10 and Q10 is the physical keyboard. However, this forces a second and, I feel, more important difference. While the Z10 boasts a 4.2-inch screen size to accommodate the keyboard, the Q10’s screen size is 3.1 inches.

This may have led to a rather serious problem. While all of the functionality such as the HUB and BALANCE features is the same on both phones, all of the apps that work on the Z10 do not appear to work on the Q10.

CIO is a website that provides analysis, how-to blogs and video for IT professionals. Recently Al Sacco had a discussion with BlackBerry and developers to get some insight on creating apps for the two new smartphones.

Sacco was able to get a Q10 review unit. Naturally, the first thing that I would do, if I had a review unit, would be to download the same apps that are running on my Z10 and see how they compare. This of course is exactly what Sacco did. Unfortunately, the results were not what were expected.

It seems that more than half of the apps that work on the Z10 are not compatible with the Q10 model. According to BlackBerry, it is something that they are aware of. The majority of these apps are expected to be compatible with the Q10 very soon.

This may not be a problem for anyone wanting to purchase the Q10 in the U.S. The compatibility time seems to coincide with the Q10’s availability in the U.S. BlackBerry expects that most of the apps will be compatible between the end of May and early June.

One of the factors that may be the major issue is the screen size. There are two types of apps that are currently available. You have the native BlackBerry 10 app, the one that was written specifically for BlackBerry. These will work on both models. Then you have the apps that have been ported over from Android.

These ported apps seem to be the ones that are not currently supported on the Q10. When certain apps were ported over, they were designed with the 4.2-inch screen size in mind. There appear to be some problems when trying to run these same apps on a 3.1-inch square screen.

Since most of these apps are earmarked to be working correctly and compatible with the Q10 for the end of May, it should not cause any problems with anyone in the U.S. who wants BlackBerry 10 but cannot let go of the QWERTY keyboard.