BlackBerry Q10 vs Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini

Samsung’s Galaxy S3 Mini offers a compact and slightly cheaper version of the company flagship, the Galaxy S3. It’s not quite as powerful as its namesake but still packs a newer Android 4.1 Jelly Bean build.The BlackBerry Q10 is a compact smartphone with a touchscreen and fixed Qwerty keyboard in the style of older models but with a few modern twists. The spec is up-to-date and it runs the latest BlackBerry 10 software build for a completely renewed user experience.

BlackBerry Q10: Key specs and what’s hot

The BlackBerry Q10 might be the slightly thicker and heavier handset here but it makes up for that with more pleasing materials than its rival.

In terms of the robustness of its build quality we’d say it’s probably on a par, but the feel and finish, with its glass weave back panel, is bound to be much nicer than Samsung’s durable-yet-tacky plastics.

Another advantage, if you’re either with EE or just someone who likes to be prepared for the offerings yet to come on other networks, is the built-in 4G capability, something the Galaxy S3 Mini lacks.

The BlackBerry 10 software is going to be either a major pulling point or a turn-off depending on where your sensibilities lie.

In some ways it’s quite different from what exists already – we haven’t seen a notifications, messaging and multitasking system like this anywhere else and it does work remarkably well in practice.

It has also managed to land with a broad selection of 70,000 apps, that’s more than Windows Phone 8 carried out the gate and of these a decent chunk are established, desirable titles.

Lastly, you’ve got some interesting built-in features such as a new build of BlackBerry Messenger, the main change here is the inclusion of integrated video chat.

The phone’s display is on the small side by current standards at only 3.1-inches, this is of course to make room for the keyboard. Long-time BlackBerry users will likely not bat an eyelid at the diminutive Super AMOLED touchscreen, but for others it may take some getting used to.

It does, however, have excellent clarity thanks to the 720x720 pixel resolution at 330 pixels-per-inch (ppi), while AMOLED ensures the contrast is suitably punchy.

Processing power is, in this comparison at least, another strong area for the BlackBerry Q10. It sports a dual-core 1.5GHz chip with 2GB of RAM and has this reasonably well optimised with the BlackBerry 10 software.

As such, it should be able to run plenty of high-end content without fuss and that focus on mu