Lock eyes on the BlackBerry Z10 and you'll notice it's an unassuming slab of black glass and plastic that mimics the general aesthetical design of many a smartphone these days.
The Z10 is a little bezel-heavy with a sizable gap above and below the screen, and that's before we even get to the additional plastic chunks stuck on both ends of the handset.
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It all seems a little unnecessary but luckily it doesn't make the BlackBerry Z10 overly cumbersome, with the handset measuring a comfortable 130 x 65.6 x 9mm (5.1 x 2.6 x 0.4 inches).
Weight wise the BlackBerry Z10 finds a happy medium – weighing 137.5g (4.85 oz), it's nowhere near as heavy as the Lumia 920 and
Lumia 820, yet it's not as feather light as the iPhone 5.
The weight gives it a reassuring presence in the palm and while the chassis is distinctly plastic, the handset's heft at least restores some form of premium feel.
Around the back you're greeted with a textured plastic rear that is slightly rubberised, providing a decent level of grip.
There are only a couple of things to note on the back of the BlackBerry Z10: the 8MP camera with a single LED flash, sat in the top-left corner, and the shiny metallic BlackBerry logo in middle.
We were pleased to find that the rear can be removed easily by placing a finger in the indented speaker grill at the base of the Z10, enabling us to simply peel off the plastic.
Underneath you'll find microSIM and microSD slots, with the latter capable of supporting cards up to 32GB in capacity, although we've been told that a future update may see this support boosted to the 64GB variants.
This means you can build nicely on the already decent 16GB of internal storage, which will appeal to many who have been put out by the likes of the iPhone range and
HTC One X+, which don't offer storage expansion.
