Blackberry 10 OS – BB Returns to the market?

blackberry z10 by Blackberry 10 OS

Research in Motion’s (RIM) Blackberry was the only smartphone before iPhone, Android or Windows phones came. Since 1999, they had the smartphone market under their own control and then came iPhone in 2007. RIM started losing its market, Google and Apple reined the market these years and all BB did is sitting and observing them. But with their new smartphone launched today, it might be said that Blackberry is going to get back its lost crown. Yes, RIM is back in market with their new smartphone Blackberry 10.

Specifications:

The Blackberry 10 runs on a Qualcomm APQ8064 quad core Krait processor, with a clock speed of 1.5 GHz, and a RAM of 2 GB. It’s 8.85 mm thick, the thinnest device in Blackberry lineup but not one in the market. The 4.65 display is an AMOLED.

The front camera is 2 MP which is able to shoot 720p video. The rear camera can capture photos up to 8 megapixels and videos at 1080p 30 fps. There is an LED flash to light up your photos.

Unlike the newest smartphones, this phone has a memory expansion slot along with 16GB internal memory. The battery is non-removable, 2800 mAh.

And the device is equipped with NFC, Bluetooth 4.0, microHDMI, DLNA, Wi-Fi direct, and micro USB.

Features:

Lockscreen and User Interface:

The BlackBerry 10, Z10 accurately, is a turnaround in Blackberry lineup. To compete with the iOS 6 or Android Jelly Bean, or Windows Phone 8; Blackberry really needed a new operating system and a new interface. The operating software in this new BB is different from the previous BB7 operating system, which actually doesn’t share a single code with the previous one. Blackberry started over – this operating system was rebuilt from the scratch. The new user interface looks like one of smartphones – it has match with the existing iOS or Android UIs, but no copy from them. The new BB10 user interface is unique.

The lock screen might seem like Android at first but after looking carefully at it, you’ll see that it’s not. It’s all filled up with new Blackberry features. There’s a camera button in the top bottom which allows you to launch the camera right from the lock screen. Just tap and hold down the button for a while. There’s no dedicated slider or lock icon to unlock the screen, all you need to is to just slide your finger upwards on the screen. Then the home screen will reveal from underneath, that’s a new concept in the smartphones’ unlocking system.

The home screen is different too. You are acquainted with the widgets in Android. But in Blackberry, you get to see ‘active screens’, which technically are mini applications unlike Android widgets. Four active screens fit in your homescreen at once, you can scroll down to see the rest. You can swipe the screen sideways and open an app from the apps list.

Don’t worry; the active screens will not drain your battery as you may worry. The new blackberry power efficiency technology will keep your device running with those entire eye catching active screens for the whole day.

The qwerty keyboard is another new addition to the new BlackBerry10. It has no physical keyboard so there was the necessity of adding a touchscreen one, and so did BlackBerry. Honestly saying, the new BB keyboard is better than the old ones but not the perfect one.

Apps are in the homescreen but you have to slide to the right. In the extreme right, you’ll see the apps and 16 app icons are fitted in one app screen. If more apps are added, there will be new added pages in the right with new app icons. iOS and Android users are familiar with these drills. There’s no physical button to close an app, neither a back button, all you need to do is slide your finger up from the down and your app is closed.

But actually, you’ll miss a back button.

Blackberry Hub and BBM:

Blackberry hub is the universal Blackberry inbox. Blackberry users are well acquainted with it, only the interface changes a bit. Of course the touchscreen interface will not be the same as the previous ones. It gathers texts, emails, social updates and so on.

Same goes with the BlackBerry Messenger (BBM). With the new interface launched of BB10, this get a new looks too. BBM Video and BBM Voice are joined together to provide both video and voice service at the same time, since BB OS7.

Camera:

The new ‘time shift’ application implementation in the BB camera is the newest thing that came with BB10. With this option turned on, you can find the perfect moment of a person when he/she was smiling with eyes open. Useful, but not in low lighting conditions.

BlackBerry World, Blackberry Browser:

Blackberry’s app store containing 70,000 applications. Not a big number comparing to the others, but you may wait for the enrichment for this app store.

And the internet browser is fluid, and surprisingly it has flash support.

And that’s all….

For now. The BB10 is about to see a lot of new changes in the upcoming days, and the consumers as well. People who were used to think that iOS and Android are the only smart devices of today, will now have a second thought before buying, because the market ruler BlackBerry is back with another revolutionary smartphone.

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