[charlielefaux]

Everything I hear suggests BB10 is revolutionary and a huge step forward. That is great and I hope it is! But I do love the current BB7 incarnations. My creeping concern is that BB10 might be too different, almost a whole new device. At that point, the field might as well be open again to which hardware/OS combination I adopt.
Am I crazy? (I don't discount the possibility.)

[Andrew4life]

Alec Saunders actually addressed this yesterday in his interview at CES.

He said "It's different by design" and it changes the way of how people are always going forwards and then backwards. But BB10 is always about going forwards.

To me this makes sense. People don't like different when "different" doesn't add much, kind of like how people hate when facebook keeps changing the layout and in general it doesn't really add much. But if BB10 it is different in a good way, people will buy it. In this case, I think it's different in a good way. What they really need though, is someone to show them how to use it and to ensure people don't get frustrated. I think the UI is overall very iOS like in terms of simplicity. No widgets to mess around with, like on Android. At the same time, their new "home" action is just swipe up. Not that hard. My mom uses her Playbook and the first couple of tries were frustrating, but now she uses the Playbook everyday and went from using the computer 5 times a week, to <1 a week(usually just to print stuff which the Playbook can't really do). She knows all the basic gestures to navigate and use the Playbook, perhaps not the thing like finding and fidgetting with settings, but if my mom who is 55 y.o. can do it. Most people should find it a breeze.

So no, I don't think it is "too different". But only time will tell. We will find out in a month or two what the reception is like with BB10.

[madman0141]

Its going to be somewhat different but not different enough to harm the sales so I would not worry. Plus if you dont like it stay with 9930 series on 7.

[howarmat]

i think alot of people might not like it at first since its certainly not the old BBOS but they will eventually get used to and figure out all the new ways of doing things. its just human nature type of thing.

[Blacklatino]

Well, stepping out of the box(and burning it) will not be a bad thing for RIM. In this case different(change) will sell. That's what a lot of CrackBerry-Addicts wanted and it's just around the corner. I'm waffling on which one to get for me and for the wife. Then, preparing myself for the oops and uh-ohs that comes with "all" her new BlackBerries.......everytime. Thanks God for insurance.

[Marauder2]

What I love is that in essence the gestures and the UI are quite simple and basic, but it's only after you really use them and experience them in your daily life that you come to appreciate how intuitive and amazing they really are. I tend to swipe around on different devices because the PlayBook conditioned me, the gestures are just more fluid and immerse you more in to the experience.

I don't think it's too different, I think it's where mobile is headed. For now, because you never know what people will think of next haha

[bluetroll]

it's worse to sell something that isn't different.

look at every other android manufacturer other than Samsung. It's a bloodbath.

The smart ones swim away from the bloodbath and go towards the blue ocean.

[walt63]

There's no such thing as "too different" but there is a thing called adaptation.

[CanuckBB]

First people complain that the BB OS is stale, that is has not changed in years.

Now people complain BB10 may be too different.

[ghostface147]

Everything I hear suggests BB10 is revolutionary and a huge step forward. That is great and I hope it is! But I do love the current BB7 incarnations. My creeping concern is that BB10 might be too different, almost a whole new device. At that point, the field might as well be open again to which hardware/OS combination I adopt.
Am I crazy? (I don't discount the possibility.)

Yes you are crazy. Being too stagnant is their problem currently.

[FlashFlare11]

I think BB10 is going to be very different. Different from what us current BB users have and also different from anything else on the market. This difference is intentional.

However, RIM hasn't forgotten what made their devices popular in the past; it was because they were made for those who want to get stuff done. The design and look may be different in BB10, but the core principles and goals of the legacy BBOS is being kept intact, enhanced even. That's why I don't think we'll feel alienated when we use the new OS. It will be an amplification of everything we already have in BBOS with the capabilities and software that the competition has been enjoying these past few years.

Trust me, there's way too much to look forward to!

[BergerKing]

A device is what people make of it. I've had people who wonder why I didn't care for iPhone, 'Oh, it's so easy a trained monkey can use it' came from one iPhone person. Tried it, didn't care for the feel of the device and the tiny screen. That, and I don't need the reassurance that comes with owning anything with a bite out of it logo. '

Oh, BlackBerry is just too complicated' from another. Horse hockey. I went from near zero computer experience, not even knowing what copy and paste meant, to operating the 'overly complex' BlackBerry in about a week. The only thing I had to recognize was where to go to seek knowledge. I then went from nothing to teaching as I learned. And this was well after 40, for me.

Then people try to say how difficult or complicated Android is. Again, horse hockey. I began using it fluidly within a day. Will BB 10 be too complicated? I doubt that, seriously. It just takes learning the feel of a device, play with it, see what stuff does, and not approach the experience like you're having to chew cod liver oil softgels on Rice Krispies.

[blkitr]

There's no such thing as "too different" but there is a thing called adaptation.

I would agree with you to a point... (I.e. windows 8 and the masses wanting the start menu.. )

[Andrew4life]

I would agree with you to a point... (I.e. windows 8 and the masses wanting the start menu.. )

I'm one of those that would not switch to windows 8 because of the lack of the "normal desktop" and start menu. Sure you can run it with a skin to make it look like WIndows 7, but then I already have windows 7.

Windows 8 was built for tablets and touchscreens, so it is pointless to try to use it on a non-touch device.

IMO, the blocks on Windows 8 and WP8 are ugly.......feels too retro to me.

[ubizmo]

It's a given that some things won't work the same in BB10 as they do in BBOS7; some BBOS7 features won't even be there. And it's a given that there will be some people who will be bitterly disappointed about this. There's no way to build a new OS without disappointing some people. But I think the design goal of BB10 has been, from the start, to offer people most of the functionality they have come to expect in a BB, in the form of an entirely new user experience.

Example: Notification profiles. This has been a strength of BBOS for a long time. It's one of the things that keep people using BBs. If BB10 doesn't have similar functionality, that's going to be a problem. But if the way notification profiles are accessed and operated is different, without being awkward and difficult, that shouldn't be an obstacle for many people. Obviously, on the Z10 I won't be able to long press 'Q' to toggle between vibrate and my last profile. But as long as there's some other way to do it that doesn't involve drilling into multiple menus, all should be well.

[scrannel]

We run Win 8 on a non-touchable computer, works great. "The only thing to fear is fear itself." This is a non-issue for the 10, IMHO.

[blackhawksfan75]

I am always up for a challenge.