[Yoox_II]

When cascades is being utilized in full force by developers, I also hope that RIM will use cascades to make new or tweak the existing apps that come on the playbook like messages, browser etc.
Some nice animations when sending a message would add to the already smooth UI. Something simple would do, like the message "lifting off" the page and zooming upward. Or when you delete a message it would crumple up.
Would it be possible for the developers at RIM to keep the impressive messages app but modify it and implement some cascades animations to make it more smooth when performing different tasks? Or would a whole new application have to be created with cascades?
I also really hope that a cascades browser is coming, cause that is what I, and alot of others use the most on our PlayBook's.

[renownedanonymous]

In addition to the UI overhaul that I hope they bring, I hope that we get performance boosts in all of these native apps as well.

It shouldn't be hard for RIM to transition everything over using Cascades as haven't they been touting how "easy" it is to build an app? Ultimately, I don't think this is a big priority right now but maybe after they get BB10 out the door.

Anyone know if the Playbook UI team is different than that of the BB10 UI team? It should be interesting to see how much of BB10 carries over to/replaces the Tablet OS as it is now.

EDIT:
To this direct question:

Would it be possible for the developers at RIM to keep the impressive messages app but modify it and implement some cascades animations to make it more smooth when performing different tasks? Or would a whole new application have to be created with cascades?

If you look at the messages demo from BlackBerry World you'll see how much influence the current Playbook version of the messages application had on the BB10 version. Really just a simple progression, but how much of that UI makes sense on the larger screen?

[peter9477]

When cascades is being utilized in full force by developers, I also hope that RIM will use cascades to make new or tweak the existing apps that come on the playbook like messages, browser etc.

Based on what I've heard, and seen at BB10 Jam, I believe basically all the system apps and the home screen itself (and settings) will be rewritten to use Cascades and native code. Right now, many of them are AIR apps (including the system settings). I also expect we'll see significant improvements in those which were already written with Cascades (an early version of it, not based on Qt) so that they are on par with the rest of the newly rewritten apps.

Would it be possible for the developers at RIM to keep the impressive messages app but modify it and implement some cascades animations to make it more smooth when performing different tasks? Or would a whole new application have to be created with cascades?
I also really hope that a cascades browser is coming, cause that is what I, and alot of others use the most on our PlayBook's.

It wouldn't be possible for them to just modify the Messages app, as far as I know, to make any use of Cascades, because it's written in AIR. Expect to see the entire set of PIM apps rewritten as well. Note that the design of those apps is special, as they are "hybrid" AIR and Python apps right now. The backend stuff, which handles all the networking, database, and such, is in Python, while only the UI is in AIR. Rewriting that UI stuff in Cascades is relatively easy, and they are probably not ditching the backend stuff right away.

As for the browser, I'm pretty sure we've also heard that will be completely redone as a Cascades apps, and maybe that work will be partly visible in 2.1. Note also that the current one is an AIR app, but that covers only the "chrome" such as the settings, bookmarks, etc. The underlying HTML renderer is and will still be RIM's WebKit control, which is already native, so I don't think anyone should expect that part to change. We should, however, finally get true "multitasking" between the tabs (maybe... it's possible anyway).

[chaddeus]

I dont think it will change much... Its like OS 6 to OS 7 and OS 7.1 on blackberry phones where you dont see major changes in the user interface.

So no Overhaul... They should be adding functionality rather than overhauling the interface.

- Charles