A new video has hit the internet showing all the glory that is Blackberry 10. It’s not iPhone 5 type of hype but it looks like RIM is heading in the right direction but lets hope people still care about Blackberry.
HomeScreen / Flow UI Tweaks
Lock Screen – Turning the device on, you can now see the useful and fun lock screen experience we spoke of in our earlier hands-on preview. Dragging your finger from the bottom up unlocks the display, and as you move your finger you can literally see through to the OS. The OS will open back to wherever you left off. Quick access to the camera is available through the lock screen, and there’s also a preview of message notifications and upcoming appointments. One cool feature that we discovered that’s not shown in this video is that you can also swipe down from the top on the lock screen. This will bring you to Bedside mode – it’s literally like closing the curtains “good night!” on your phone.
Horizontal Scrolling in App Drawer – On previous looks at the BlackBerry 10 home screen, the main app drawer of application shortcuts scrolled vertically. This has been changed to horizontal panes, which we think is smart. You can also jump panes and rapid scroll through panes. So if you have 5 panes of apps, you can literally go straight from the first one to the fifth one in a tap.
Active Frames – When apps are open but minimized, they appear on a dedicated pane on the home screen, where up to the most recent eight running apps are displayed. These are now referred to as Active Frames. Not widgets. Not live tiles. Active frames! Active frames show useful information as decided by the developer. Essentially when an app is a built, the developer can choose what information they want displayed to show in the active frame. And it can be dynamic. For example, with BBM, the Active Frame will update to show you your most recent incoming message.
BlackBerry Hub – BlackBerry Hub is the new name for the unified inbox on BlackBerry 10, which is a fitting name given that it’s so much more than an email inbox. The gesture to jump into the BlackBerry Hub has changed too since what was previewed in May at BlackBerry World. Previously, the gesture was to move from the bottom right corner of the phone and push your way into the inbox. Now you swipe up from the bottom of the phone and then move your thumb to the right. It’s a little tricky to explain in words, so be sure to watch the videos. We think it’s a brilliant change though. It’s more a natural movement for the thumb, and there’s this subconscious feeling that the the BlackBerry Hub is ALWAYS there underneath whatever it is you’re doing. You can always just pull back the app you’re in and it’s there.
As for the BlackBerry Hub, it really is much more than unified inbox. BBM, SMS, Facebook, Twitter, Linked in all integrate into it. From the main messages area you an even swipe down to reveal upcoming calendar appointments (awesome feature!). At the launch of the BlackBerry 10 developers will be able to tie into the Hub for delivering notifications, and soon after will be able to tie right into the native Hub.
Quick Settings / Menus – Swiping down from the top of the phone of the screen reveals a quick settings menu. As for menus, with no physical “menu button” on BlackBerry 10 phones, the menu button is represented throughout the operating system via a graphic with three little dots. Core app functionality will mainly be displayed at eye level, but additional features and options are accessible via this menu overflow button. When tapped, the menu slides in and can we swiped away. It’s a really clean implementation.
One-Handed UI touches – A great example of the one-handed friendliness of BlackBerry 10 can be found in the web browser. Instead of putting the url bar at the top of the display, where it’s out of easy reach of your thumb, it’s been moved to the bottom of the browser. Simple. Brilliant. As you use the operating system, you really get that sense that for being a big touchscreen phone, they’re doing everything they can to make it feel small, in the sense that everything of importance is accessible from your thumb.
