Research in Motion Ltd. will launch its make-or-break BlackBerry 10 phones on Jan. 30, with commercial availability soon after. The phones are crucial to RIM’s attempt to stem the huge loss of market share in developed economies and keep its momentum in the world’s emerging markets. RIM’s senior manager for product marketing, Jeff Gadway, stopped by The Globe and Mail’s Toronto office to show off some of the new software on a prototype device.
The first BB10 phone will be all touchscreen with no physical keyboard, followed shortly after by a device with a physical keyboard and a touchscreen (like the current Bold 9900). But with BB10, the digital keyboard suggests words based on the sentence, allowing you to flick words into the message box with your thumbs.
(Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail)
Home tiles
Like RIM’s PlayBook tablet, BB10 phones will have live tiles sitting in the background – not just apps that can be closed and reopened, but programs that are actually running and processing information in the background, which users can “flow” between.
(Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail)
Peek at the inbox
Whatever program the phone is running, BB10 allows users to drag a finger up and to the right from the bottom of the screen to reveal a small bit of the inbox. That way, users can slide the inbox completely onscreen in order to reply to an urgent message, or let the app slide back into place.
(Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail)
BlackBerry Hub
This feature is a sort of home screen for all of the main smartphone functions, and allows users to switch quickly between a variety of inboxes like BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), text messages or e-mails.
(Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail)
Camera
The new camera on BB10 phones allows users to highlight a person’s face and wind back a clock to capture a better expression just before or after the picture was taken – winding back, say, to open a person’s closed eyes.
to get it and come back to see the ad in front of this gallery.
