BlackBerry 10 at a glance: First screenshots
Research in Motion's new BlackBerry 10 operating system features unveiled at BlackBerry World Congress
RIM claims this sturdy and squarish handset is just the demo model for developers. Called the Dev Alpha, it reportedly features a 4.2-inch, 1280 x 768 resolution screen, which would put it at the upper end of current generation smartphone displays. How different the final BB10 will be from the Alpha Dev remains a mystery.DAVID MANNING
The new adaptive touchscreen keyboard learns how you types and also suggests words that you can add via an upward swipe, not to mention a sideways swipe to delete words or whole sentences. But the demo had no physical keyboard, which is interesting because as Kris Thompson, an analyst at National Bank Financial, says: "The company's core subscriber base is keypad sensitive.”
RIM has imported onto BB10 the more fluid, integrated multitasking that features in the PlayBook's updated software. Simple swiping allows you to peak behind messages back to the integrated mailbox to check for updates, without closing anything.
The demo went three layers deep: Inbox, message and attachment, all of which can be manipulated by a simple swipe. The interface was snappy fast and looks like one of the smoothest messaging tools we've seen on a handset.