BlackBerry 10 in action
Here's another sneak peek at RIM's upcoming smartphone software.
With all the news about Microsoft Surface and Apple's iOS 6, you may have completely forgotten about RIM. Once it was the reigning mobile-device king, now its BlackBerry 10 software is the ailing company's last hope for survival.
I sat down with RIM Principle Architect Gary Klassen, a fancy title for Grand Poo-Bah of software design, at the BlackBerry Jam developer conference in New York. Mr. Klassen treated me to yet another sneak peek of BlackBerry 10 running on the Dev Alpha developer handset. This time, however, RIM allowed me to shoot a quick video of what I saw.
To be honest, this newest test drive was identical to what I viewed at BlackBerry World in May. Klassen pointed out the same key features in the early version of BlackBerry 10. These are the new Flow interface, which lets users slide windows aside to peer under them to see notifications, and a snazzy tiled homescreen layout reminiscent of Windows Phone 7.
Klassen also demonstrated that magical software keyboard that highlights suggested words over letter keys you're likely to tap next. I must say it's pretty slick, but will these tidbits be enough to lure developers to what many see as a dying platform? RIM thinks so, or at least says that's what its BlackBerry Jam events around the globe are designed to do. In fact it claims developers are feeling the love for the new OS. Check out the video to see if BlackBerry 10 looks sweet enough for developer bees to code a little application honey.