This is a little bit like Steely Dan winning a Grammy for Album of the Year in 2001, but Time Magazine has named the BlackBerry Z10 as the world’s best “fun-sized” smartphone that wasn’t made by Apple. What is a “fun-sized” smartphone and why is Time listing them? Well with the trend toward bigger devices, many people with small hands might be feeling left out of the fun because they still want a device that measures in at 4.3 inches or fewer. And since many people assume that the only smartphone that measures in at 4.3 inches or less these days is the iPhone 5s, Time has decided to exclude it in its list of the top smaller smartphones.
So what has the Z10 done to best the competition in this category? Let’s let Time tell the story.
“The best of the tiny bunch, the BlackBerry Z10 is the perfect undersized mobile device, with a focus on productivity over chart-bursting specs or millions of apps,” the publication writes. “Yes, your friend might tease you with a few BlackBerry-based barbs, but let him laugh as he taps away at his Galaxy Mega 6.3. Chances are that giant phablet is compensating for a secret of his own.”
Of course, the non-iPhone competition in the area of smaller smartphones isn’t nearly as fierce as it used to be: The Nokia Lumia 1020, the HTC One (M8), the Galaxy S5 and the LG G2, among other first-rate flagship phones, all have displays of 4.5 inches or bigger. To win the title of “Best Small Smartphone That Isn’t An iPhone,” the Z10 had to beat out lighter weights such as the Galaxy S4 mini, the Motorola Droid mini and the Casio G’zOne Commando 4G LTE.
So if you want a smaller smartphone, you think phablets for for guys who are insecure about their manhood, you hate Apple, and you don’t care about having “chart-busting specs or millions of apps” then the Z10 sounds like the perfect device for you.
