ORLANDO—BlackBerry World is in full swing, and RIM has just revealed the pièce de résistance. While the company isn't showing any BB10-based devices for consumer to buy, it is distributing developer units with some elements of the new QNX-based OS, which gives us a good taste of what we can expect to see running on the next crop of BlackBerry phones and tablets.
But before we get to the software, let's focus on that demo unit. Look familiar? Though BB10 and iOS are plenty different, the BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha device is a dead ringer for Apple's popular iPhone. Whether RIM will adopt this design aesthetic for the final product remains to be seen, but it's an interesting departure from the standard BlackBerry look, which makes up the ubiquitous keyboarded models you've seen countless times before.
This design is indicative of a shift in the BlackBerry OS itself. Whereas RIM's past operating systems have placed the keyboard front and center, BB10 has been developed primarily for use on touch screen-based devices. RIM confirmed that it will still be making BB10 phones with keyboards, but those aren't the real focus here. And given the look and feel of the new OS, it seems like a keyboard on a device running BB10 will function much the same way it does on keyboarded Android or Windows smartphones—helpful for typing long messages, but not at all integral to the use of the device.
This developer unit I saw provides some other clues as to what future BlackBerry hardware may look like as well. The test unit, for example, features a 4.2-inch screen with a sharp 1280-by-768-pixel resolution. According to RIM vice president of handheld application platform and tools, Chris Smith, those display specs can reasonably be assumed to appear on final hardware, as developers will be creating apps to those specifications. It looks good, and is comparable to what we're seeing on many newer Android phones.
And while this is certainly not finished hardware, the developer device is powered by a TI OMAP processor similar to the one found in the BlackBerry PlayBook, and felt adequately responsive, both to the touch and in running apps.
So with all of that hardware and speculation out of the way, what about the OS itself? Well, this phone isn't actually running BB10. Instead, it's running a modified version of the PlayBook 2.0 software. The bones of the new system are there, but the device on display is all about helping developers to create apps. So the OS feels similar to what we've seen on the PlayBook, with useful bezel gestures and a touch-based interface.
Since this is not a real build of BB10, I wasn't able to get any firsthand experience any of new features introduced earlier this morning. The new keyboard, glancing gestures, and camera features, for instance, aren't available to test yet.
The real focus of this device is development, and to that end, RIM has loaded it with a bunch of interesting software, which you can in the slideshow above. Take Cookbook, for example. You won't find recipes like these from Julia Child; the app presents a list of actions available natively in BB10, along with the necessary coding. RIM wants developers to see everything the OS is capable of, and to apply functions easily to developing apps. Many of the functions are simple, like drop-down menus and progress indicators, but they do a nice job to showcase the elegant look and feel that will make up BB10.
Another app I got to see is bbUI Samples, which is designed to help developers integrate the look and feel of BB10 into HTML5 applications using Cascades. Cascades provides a set of pre-designed and pre-packaged core UI components to help make development easier, while creating a uniform feel between the OS and HTML5-based apps.
I got to see a full Accuweather.com app up and running, which showed some of the universal menu elements that will be available throughout BB10. Additionally, the app itself looks beautiful and intuitive; if RIM can just get a few hundred thousand more like this, BB10 should do just fine.
Applications created with any of the BlackBerry 10 tools will run on BlackBerry 10 smartphones as well as BlackBerry PlayBook tablets when the OS becomes available for it.
Provided the developers come through, this little slice of BB10 I saw is intriguing. Timing is also important. RIM's official word on its BB10 devices is that they will be released at some point "this year." Hopefully that time is soon, and hopefully plenty of developers will be on board.
For more, see see Ears On With the New BlackBerry Music Gateway and What to Expect at BlackBerry World.
