Blackberry 10 - #BB10

            Blackberry 10 is an upcoming proprietary mobile operating system, developed by Research In Motion for its BlackBerry line of smartphone and tablethandheld devices. It is based on QNX which was acquired by RIM in April 2010. The platform was originally called BBX but this was changed when RIM was blocked from using the BBX trademark after legal action from BASIS International, who already use it for their software.

            

         
           The new 'BlackBerry 10' platform includes BBX-OS and supports apps written in C/C++ as well as HTML5 based applications. Apps, created using BlackBerry WebWorks and HTML5 for BlackBerry OS, as well as apps created with the Native SDK for BlackBerry PlayBook OS, are compatible with the BlackBerry 10 platform.


           On 1 May 2012, Thorsten Heins, CEO of Research In Motion officially unveiled the BlackBerry 10 platform. The features shown off at the BlackBerryWorld conference included a platform-wide flow interface, a new intelligent keyboard, as well as a camera app which allows the user adjust a portrait by moving through time, so that the picture is perfect.

        
            A developer prototype was given out to BlackBerry Developers as part of the BlackBerry 10 Jam Conference (#BB10)  in Orlando, Florida. This prototype is intended to help boost the ecosystem when BlackBerry 10 launches later in 2012 by giving developers a physical device to test on. RIM has clearly indicated that this is in no way the finished product.

       

            When Thorsten Heins introduced the BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha on stage at BlackBerry World, many folks got a quick look at the BlackBerry 10 homescreen. Prior to that, there were leaked images of what RIM was working toward which ultimately turned out to be accurate in terms of visual styling and now, we're getting a better understanding of what was happening in those images. Rather then the homescreen being "widget" based, you can think of it as more of frequently used app task manager.

The main screen will house your four (maybe more?) most recently used applications, though you should also have the ability to stick them there should you wish. To the right, you have all your current open application notifications. Where the messaging system itself never shuts down, all those items are only a quick swipe away which allows for easy access and quick glancing. On the left, is essentially your apps screen where you can access all of your installed apps. If it's not running, you can swipe over to it, tap and then run from there.

           Though it's not entirely possible to be shown here in the images, it has already been confirmed that access to all these items will be gesture based. To get to them, you'll be swiping back and forth across the screen in specific ways, where each way will cause a different reaction. We'll have to see how intuitive that all turns out to be but until then we'll just enjoy the view of these concept images from RIM themselves.