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BlackBerry Q10 Tips and Tricks

The BlackBerry Q10 is the second device from the Canadian company to run their new BlackBerry 10 operating system. What’s more it’s also the first of the new breed to feature BlackBerry’s signature hardware QWERTY keyboard. Here are a few tips and tricks to make the most of your Q10.

Tip 1: Swipe to wake

Whilst most touchscreen phones still need the tap of a hardware key to wake up and start working, whilst your BlackBerry Q10 is sleeping, you can simply swipe up from the bottom of the display and to unlock the screen and get straight to your apps.

Tip 2: HDMI out

The BlackBerry Q10 features two ports on the right side, a microUSB and a microHDMI out. With a compatible cable you can output the screen of the BlackBerry Q10 in its native 1:1 aspect ratio or if you’re playing back video, open the menu, choose ‘play on’ and select the HDMI output. You’ll then be able to watch your movies on the big screen in their native 16:9 format.

Tip 3: Organising your homescreen

It’s easy to rearrange the apps installed on your BlackBerry Q10, simply long press on any application icon until all the icons start to pulse. From here you can rearrange apps, where applicable tap the dustbin icon to uninstall an app or drag one app over another to create folder.

When creating a folder you’ll be prompted to name it and from then on you can simply drag more apps over the folder to add them to it. From within a folder you can swipe up from the bottom as you would when minimizing an application to close it.

Tip 4: Camera tricks

You can open the camera from the lockscreen by long pressing the icon in the bottom right. Once running, photos can be taken by tapping the screen or by hitting the spacebar on the BlackBerry Q10’s QWERTY keyboard.

With the Q10’s square display, you may want to change the aspect ratio to a more conventional size before proceeding. To do so, tap the menu icon and choose from 1:1, 4:3 or 16:9 photos.

BlackBerry Q10 with Time Shift

The party piece of the BlackBerry Q10’s camera is Time Shift. Choosing the camera app in the bottom right will bring up options for both video and Time Shift. When taking shots with this mode on, any detected faces can be rewound or fast-forwarded to get the best expression for the shot. It’s also great for taking out any unwanted blinking.

Tip 5: Voice commands

Between the volume rocker on the right side of the phone is the voice command key, long press it to launch the BlackBerry Q10’s voice assistant. From here you can place calls, send texts and so on. To see the full list of available commands, tap the information button in the top right.

Other options include setting an alarm, sending an email, composing a BBM, scheduling an appointment, creating a note, search your device or the internet and posting a Facebook or Twitter update.

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