BlackBerry juices Z10 handset with OTA software update

BlackBerry spent months touting the virtues of its new Z10 smartphone before its launch, and now it says the Z10 is even better than ever, thanks to the device's first over-the-air (OTA) software update.

In a blog post announcing the update on Thursday, Michael Clewey, BlackBerry's director of handheld software product management, said the company crafted this first update with early Z10 adopters in mind.

"You've been using it for weeks, and we've been listening to your feedback, and have been working on an update just for you," Clewey wrote.

Although Clewey describes most of what BlackBerry Z10 owners will get with the update as "improvements," he does mention a few "fixes," too. Specifically, he says Gmail calendars have been fixed in BlackBerry 10, though he doesn't explain what the problem was.

Other improvements include better call-logging and conversation-handling in the BlackBerry hub, better support for importing contacts from online sources, optimizations to allow the built-in camera to take better pictures in low light, improved video playback in the web browser, and better battery life.

In all, Clewey says BlackBerry has made more than 60 different software optimizations to improve power consumption on the Z10 since it launched, which he claims should allow heavy users to get more life out of the devices between charges – but he doesn't say how much more.

The update was pushed OTA beginning on Thursday, but Clewey suggests you might want to wait until you're on a Wi-Fi network before you actually download it. All told, it weighs in at a hefty 150MB.

Once installed, the update brings the BlackBerry Z10 software up to version 10.0.10.85. ®