Engadget has something that could, if you squint, be regarded as a hands-on of BlackBerry 10. “We finally got a chance to cut through the smoke and mirrors of the company’s polished PowerPoint presentations to get some honest-to-goodness, up-close and personal time testing the software.” This is all they seem to be confident enough to show. Not a good sign for RIM. Not good at all.
I think RIM is playing it safe and only showing what they feel is ready to be shown. They are likely keeping details close and saving some surprises for closer to release.
I’m rather happy with my Bold 9900, but from what I have seen – pictures, videos, etc – the BB10 devices may tempt me to upgrade early!
Or they might not even have anything else to show.
Don’t get me wrong. I really, really want RiM to succeed with this. The market needs more than just JailOS or Malwaredroid, but I just can’t see it happening for them any longer.
I do hope I’m wrong and they release something mind-blowing which attracts developers in droves.
I am living in a BlackBerry country (the Dominican Republic), where everybody still uses bbm so it is very useful to stick to that platform…
That said I am still using a cheapo Curve 3G 9300… But the physical keyboard is nice !!!
What seems like a lifetime ago, my place of employment started providing technical staff with Nextel phones. At first I was reluctant to be tethered to work like that but I soon developed an almost irrational appreciation for that little phone. I don’t think I’ve owned a device before or since that could take such a beating and keep on working.
Then, in 2008 or so we were upgraded to Blackberry Curves (an 8330 I think). This was a bridge too far my friends. Now work could call me AND send me email at all hours? Preposterous! That is, until I discovered the “Mark Unopened” feature for Blackberry mail and made sure to keep my cell phone number a well guarded secret. I installed Opera Mini and viola! I had a free smart phone. And boy, could those phones take a beating.
Well, right around this time, my wife got the first Moto Droid and I got my first taste of device envy. “Your phone has wifi? And an honest to goodness web browser? And what’s all this ‘apps’ nonsense I keep hearing about? You know that that’s short for applications, right? Every system has those. Wait, what’s an angry bird?” Needless to say, that Droid made my Curve look and feel like that old Nextel.
Flash forward 4 years. My curve was still going strong (3 days or so on a charge, same reliable, underwhelming performance, etc) but my wife’s Droid was the bane of her existance. One day, my Curve took an unexpected trip through wash and rinse cycle in the washing machine (the Nextel wouldn’t have had a problem with that) and alas, was no more. Work was kind enough to replace it no questions asked with a Blackberry Bold 9930. Within days, my wife begged, bargained and pleaded for a new Moto Razr Max to replace her cursed Droid.
“So where do things stand now?” you might ask. Either that, or your TL;DR filter kicked in 200 words ago. Whatever. Well, my device envy is more or less a thing of the past. The Bold is a really nice phone. I still get exceptional battery life, still got my qwerty, and now I’ve got wifi, a decent browser and a passable selection of apps (it is still a work phone after all). My wife loves her Razr today. In 3 more years…we’ll see.
All of that is to say, don’t write off blackberry completely yet. Yeah, it’s not teh sexy but it is a damn good phone and a damn good communication device. To hear some people go on and on, you’d think their phone was the only and best computing device in the history of the world – until the next revision comes along, and OMG, N+1 is the best computing device now and forever after!
For me, my phone is a tool in itself and a compliment to other tools I use. The Bold is the best complimentary tool I’ve had the pleasure of using thus far. Maybe I’m the only guy in the world who feels that way, but I doubt it. For me, and people like me (FSM help them), BB10 is worth keping an eye on and dare I say, something to maybe even get excited about. We shall see.
RIM has all but been replaced in the general consumer market in most countries, but when it comes to commercial use, it still is doing pretty well and really is a very high quality device. It’s not my preference, I prefer my Samsung Galaxy, but I certainly can’t say RIM does not put out a quality product.
Who knows how long that might last. Samsung just unveiled SAFE (“Samsung Approved for Enterprise” – syncing, VPN, device managements, encryption, the usual) brand of devices, starting with SAFE Galaxy S III.
And the SAFE2SWITCH program – corporate customers can trade their current smartphones. Just when RIM is on a slightly shaky legs overall…
Looking into Android (sliding from top) and BB10 (sliding to right), if Amiga Inc. would patent such thing, they could be rich nowadays 🙂
The reviewers seem to have a list of comparisons to judge the new OS with. They won’t care about the UI as much as RIM does. Consumers won’t have a chance to find out if they would like any new features that the OS provides, especially if they are not in a cycle to change their phones out.
A non-physical keyboard on this is also killer… killer bad.
That RIM believes they needed a new OS in order to stay competitive is bad.
BB7 devices should be continued and the company should stick with bread-and-butter, and making those better, not a gamble.
Palm gambled even though it had a solid OS base. A big change in OS and design will alienate those who are currently keeping the company afloat.
To be clear, RIM are not abandoning the keyboard, despite media reports saying that is the case. RIM have stated that they want to focus all their attention on a single model for the initial BB10 release, which will be the fullscreen touch model. They have also said that a keyboard version will follow.
Very cool. I really really enjoy the “cards” type of design in my Remember the Milk app, and to see it being used in BB10 is very neat. I really like this concept being extended to the OS itself.
This is just a peek, but we might have some real UX innovation going on here.
Edited 2012-06-21 05:18 UTC
While I can’t comment on rumors or speculations. I do expect fair reporting and you’re not giving that.
And yes I work at RIM
Typo in name
Still, the least people can do is think. This market is so hyper competitive.