It’s a big play from the once giant mobile phone maker and this time it’s for all the marbles. Blackberry 10 is here, and while there’s still a lot of familiarity for those die-hard BB fans, there’s also a new device that has the mighty Apple iPhone and sturdy Galaxy III in it’s sights.

Blackberry 10 is a quite robust and reliable OS for the new gen BBs, it’s smooth, responsive and modern and most of all, it’s pretty damn good on the full touchscreen Z10 device.

While on first look it does scream a bit of Apple OS, the icons looking similar and all, there are a lot of things that set it apart. Home for example comes when you swipe from the bevel at the bottom, up on the Z10. Similar to the Windows 8 live edges.

Blackberry Hub is there, a single place to manage all notifications and messages. Nothing new on Smartphones these days.

Blackberry Flow means apps and features flow seamlessly into each other. Seeing tweets from people in your Inbox for example. This should already be setting off alarm signals that the onboard 1.5 Ghz dual core processor with 2GB of RAM is not to be messed with.

While I’ve only had a brief play with the device, the keyboard is said to be quite smart and adaptive to your style. Always a recipe for success. A longer review is needed, but typing in multiple languages…that sounds good.

On to the devices, and the flagship Z10 is…well, there’s no other words for it: “Not crap”. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from a company that knows about as much about touch as a 12-year-old high-schooler, but this device isn’t bad. 4.2-inch and a generous in all ways. It feels sturdy, smooth and capable.

Tech to look out for, high density pixel and screen technology, NFC and 4G connectivity. Blackberry have even made some media enhancements including Time Shift and Story Maker which let you play around with pictures and vids taken on the 8MP camera. For me it still doesn’t stack up even nearly to the new Nokia’s camera abilities, but it’s nice that BB users won’t be left out in the artistic cold. They’re always taking pictures the wrong way, aren’t they?

The Q10 is a Blackberry that you’ll find more familiar, standard QWERTY keyboard and BB layout. Same specs as the Z10, the question is why? Are Blackberry lacking confidence in their new touchscreen Z10, or are they just being accommodating and recognizing that the ease of typing on the awesome BB keyboard we’ve come to know and love isn’t something most users are ready to part with? Time will tell.

Whatever happens with BB in the next 6 months, I think, is going to depend heavily on their app store. They say they’ve got 70000 apps on BB 10 and movies coming out the same day they’re released, but will it be enough?

Either way, it’s great to have another big player back in the market. Feels a bit like your last friend has finally arrived at your birthday party and now the Karaoke can begin.

Here’s the camera in action