BlackBerry's New Platform Looks Interesting
Recently, RIM hosted a conference at Orlando, Florida dubbed as the Blackberry World. A major announcement was the unveiling of the new BlackBerry 10 platform. It is envisioned to be highly competitive with its smooth UI flow, revolutionary keyboard design and neat camera. While at present, it’s still alpha stage, it is already looking impressive.
The new UI was revealed to have a unique interface. With a tap or a swipe, you can bring up an app or close it again. When you do a glancing swipe, you can see your notifications on a nifty pictograph at the right-hand side, whatever app you’re using still running. With another swipe, you can bring up your messages. With yet another swipe, you can bring up an attached PDF or image. All this while your original application running in the background. Going back and forth between applications is a breeze with the new gestures introduced.
With another swipe, you can clear everything offscreen with a flourish, like spreading away a few sheets of paper. What makes this cool is that not only will you be able to check out a lot of things, but also that your applications will all be running in the background.
Not paused in whatever state it is in right now, but actually running.Think about that for a moment.
Of course, having five applications on a normal mobile running simultaneously will do enough to slow everything to a grinding halt. The fact that the applications are also actually running should slow this down, but amazingly the demonstration didn’t show any signs of slowing. Technical difficulties aside, the new BlackBerry must have a powerful processor to keep itself from crashing every five minutes. And no word yet about having a game running along the same way.
One of the more impressive features is the new, upgraded keyboard. An oddity in the new BlackBerry is the fact that it doesn’t have a physical keyboard. Instead, it has a smart, “evolving” keyboard. As you type, word suggestions appear above the letters you are most likely to type. To input them, you simply swipe upwards and you fling the words into existence into the screen. Repeat a word sequence long enough and the BlackBerry will suggest such a word more often. Soon, the keyboard’s AI will be intelligent enough to suggest words, and all you have to do is swipe them up. Erasing words is as simple as dragging a finger across the keyboard.
Finally, the camera. The magicians at BlackBerry have astounded us again, giving us a camera that can warp the very fabric of time to give you that perfect shot. Miss a golden smile? Simply tap a button, and slide the slider. You’ll be able to go within two seconds before and after the shot was taken, allowing you to get the right shot. Warping the nature of reality has never been this fun or user friendly.
Right now, the BlackBerry 10’s potential capabilities are mind-numbing. IF the processor was powerful enough, we could have multiple applications running at the same time you’re attempting to beat someone at draw something. You could swipe back to your emails just before your boss catches you on YouTube. You could even catch the exact moment the prized vase shatters, and the look of surprise your mother-in-law wore as it did. You could text with one hand as you’re giving the cashier your money.
The BlackBerry 10 will possibly reinforce the face of the mobile world, one of flowing dynamics and of powerful machines available right at the palm of your hand. But only time will tell if this new, novel idea will stay afloat.
By ADLAI ROSH A. SAMANIEGO
mb.com.ph
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