BlackBerry Z10 review

The BlackBerry Z10 comes sporting BlackBerry's new internet browser which it has developed specially for BlackBerry 10, and one that's touted to be fast, really fast.

To keep up with that speed promise the Z10 not only comes equipped with Wi-Fi b/g/n but also 4G connectivity for super fast mobile data on the move.

During our time with the handset we only had a 3G SIM to hand, but we still experienced some impressive browsing speeds on the BlackBerry Z10.

Full-fat TechRadar loaded in just five seconds on the Z10, fancy ad banners and all over 3G, while the mobile version turned up in a flash with two seconds on the clock.

Load speeds are pretty similar over Wi-Fi, but a strong connection can see a second or so knocked off the desktop sites.

The layout of the browser on the BlackBerry Z10 reminded us of the setup of IE on Windows Phone 8 which also has a black toolbar located at the bottom of the display – compared to Android and iOS which both stick with the more traditional location at the top.

Text and images appear crisp and clear on the 4-inch HD display of the BlackBerry Z10, making browsing websites – even those which are content rich – a pleasing experience.

Text doesn't automatically reflow when you zoom which can lead to a lot of sideways scrolling if you need to zoom in a fair bit to be able to read what's on screen.

You can make the reading experience easier by selecting Reader in the menu, which strips out all the images and ads from an article to display just the text on the screen, allowing for an easily digestible read.

There is a simple text size tool at the bottom of the screen making it easy to increase or decrease the font for an even better reading experience.

Sadly there's no offline mode, so you won't be able to save pages to read later when you may not be in signal – it's not a big issue in what is otherwise an excellent browsing experience.

Tabbed browsing is supported on the Z10 browser, just hit the panel icon in the bottom left corner and a menu will slide in, with an option to open a new tab.

Also in this menu are options to view your bookmarks and browsing history.

Bookmarks are easy to add, just navigate to the desired page, hit the settings key in the bottom right and then select Add to Bookmarks – it's as easy as pie.

Interestingly while Google is phasing out Adobe Flash support, and with Apple never supporting it, the browser on the BlackBerry Z10 does provide support for the dying web format – meaning you can view all the videos and websites which still rely on it.

While fewer and fewer sites are dependent on Adobe Flash there are still some notable exceptions, and it's great to see the support on the new BlackBerry 10 OS.

All in all the BlackBerry Z10 offers a fantastic browsing experience, with some of the fastest speeds we've witnessed on a smartphone.