BlackBerry maker Research In Motion offered previews of its RIM BlackBerry 10 platform and its newest BlackBerry smartphone, the Alpha Dev, at its BlackBerry World event in Orlando, FL May 1. Final versions of both will be available later this year.
In a brief Alpha Dev demonstration, Vivek Bhardwaj, head of software at RIM, showed off improvements to the BlackBerry keyboard: As a user types, word options float over the user’s fingers; a quick upward swipe sends the word sailing up into the email or instant message.
"We’re increasing responsiveness, reducing latency, making sure you can type fast and accurately," said Bhardwaj. Further, the keyboard becomes more tailored to the user with time, "like a glove."
The BlackBerry 10 OS smartphone platform layout nods more to the Microsoft Windows Phone style of tiles than it does to Android or Apple iOS icons. More impressive, all the apps run at once, layering over each other. Returning to an app is as simple as swiping aside the current app to reveal the one behind it. They move gently. It’s possible to see three at once, or pull email aside slightly, say, to take a peek at Twitter.
"Everything flows," said RIM CEO Thorsten Heins. "No app stops: they layer and you can slide back and forth. That is the power of BlackBerry 10 — no one else can do this. We stream all apps to one place We are making you really agile and nimble with BlackBerry. That is the design paradigm."
RIM paraded out a number of partners — including Salesforce.com, Cisco Systems, Appcelerator and Citrix Systems. The company also announced that its Mobile Fusion solution — which enables enterprises to securely support not just BlackBerry smartphones but iPhones and Android devices — will by this time next year (an eternity in tech time) come in three options: on-premise; hosted and managed; and in the cloud.
To read the original eWeek article, click here: BlackBerry 10, Alpha Dev Sneak Peeks Kick Off BlackBerry World
