After a serious lag behind the advent of smartphones, BlackBerry is hoping to regain their post as the pioneers of modern business phones.
As many could have analyzed, the sleek and smart features and functions of Android and Apple iOS phones have ousted the rather ‘bulky and inconvenient’ design of BlackBerry phones. People, particularly businessmen, preferred to use BlackBerry handsets running on BlackbBerry 7 OS before but later realized that smartphones are not just for play but for office use as well.
Therefore, Research in Motion, the development team of BlackBerry, realized that the best way to emerge is to compete rather than to be contented. They have developed an all-new operating system, the BlackBerry 10, to run in prototype handsets which can match up with the amazing features of the smartphones. Let’s take a peek at what Research in Motion has in store for us.
- Cascades. Perhaps the best feature of the new BlackBerry, Cascades is the new navigation system developed by Research in Motion specifically for BlackBerry 10, which makes simultaneous multitasking possible.
- The Flow Interface. This is the concept behind the BlackBerry 10’s interface – it’s not all tap and sweep because everything has to flow. Different tasks can be accomplished just by letting functions ‘flow’ from every corner of the screen.
- The New AppWorld. Research in Motion also promises that the new BlackBerry App World is going to be a blast – more applications and each one more functional than ever. Providing music and videos to be downloaded is just but one of the efforts of Research in Motion in launching the new store of programs.
- Keyboard. Although they are making a big risk in reinventing BlackBerry, Research in Motion made sure that they stick with their trademark – the ever-famous BlackBerry physical keyboards. The BlackBerry 10 will initially run on two different handsets. The first one, the Dev Alpha B, is a full touch screen phone; even if the keyboard on this handset is not tactile, it still has the look and feel of the accurate and well-spaced QWERTY board. The second one is the Dev Alpha C which will be a sure hit for the loyal users of physical QWERTY boards. Like what other smartphones have to offer, RIM also worked on features such as next word prediction, auto-correct and spell check. But the best among these is the keyboard’s capability to learn the user’s style of writing and to suggest words commonly typed down. Another BlackBerry 10 keyboard feature is that the keyboard can support a maximum of three languages at once.
- Balance Mode. Just like one would in a personal computer, BlackBerry 10 allows for a switching of different modes – personal and work. This way, your personal stuff won’t mingle with matters of your business, and vice versa. Smart.
- Camera. Aside from the standard photo capturing and video recording capacities, Research in Motion is introducing the revolutionary ‘Time Shift’ feature, which allows you to select the perfect smile of your subject after taking the photo.
- Browser. The BlackBerry browser claims to be faster than its counterpart in the Apple iOS and Windows Phone. Of course, there’s the typical browser features; what sets BB10’s browser from the rest is its built-in Reader mode which imports text and images from a web page and displays them as plain as they could be – minus the ads, menu bars, and other viewing distractions.
- Battery life. At the core of the BlackBerry 10 operating system is a maximized, 24-hour power supply developed by BlackBerry’s QNX team. This is quite an impressive claim for a lasting power of a phone supposed to consume in launching amazing displays on a rather wide screen.
All we can do with these promises is to be excited about them as they are due launch before the year’s first quarter ends. With BlackBerry 10’s multitasking capacities, power, and complexity behind convenience, we’re up to learn how to use it and get as much as we can get from it.
