1. BrizzadMan's Avatar
    I previously built a similar thread prior to PlayBook OS 2.0 release - as there was a ton of speculation & I thought it important to categorically record facts vs. rumor/conjecture.

    In this post & thread, I want to define expectations for BlackBerry 10 (Features, Known Device Specs, Apps, etc) as more details are finally coming to light. As there are a lot - should I miss anything from the start, post a reply & I'll update the main post to include the details for all to see.

    For now - I'll focus more so on features/apps. Device specs & speculation will follow.

    OS Features/Apps:

    Wakeup/Sleep: Swiping up from the button of the Lock Screen reveals the OS in the last state you left it - whether the home screen, or in an application). Swiping down from the top of the device in the Lock Screen is akin to pulling down the shades/curtains to go to sleep. The Clock App is accessible when putting the device to sleep - to set the alarm.

    Clock App: Features a neat alarm, where you can set the alarm easily as if winding the Hour/Minute hands on a clock.

    BlackBerry Balance: Creates seperate Personal/Work perimeters on the device. Applications & data created/consumed from either source are segregated.This alows an IT Department to erase corporate data on the device, whilst retaining your personal data. This largely is to address the Corporate trend of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). Described further in this video by Jeff Gadway:

    BlackBery HUB:

    The BlackBerry Hub is a central location for e-mail, text messages, social notifications, bbm's, etc. Applications can also post notifications/messages here as defined by the user (e.g: LinkedIn, FaceBook Messages, Twitter). The HUB is always one gesture away - always active/running. Accessible with the "PEEK" gesture (swipe up from bottom of the device, and to the right reveals the HUB). The HUB also has upcoming events accessible using a swipe gesture from the top down while in the HUB.

    Virtual/Touchscreen Keyboard:

    - Word Prediction: Featuring predictive text on the famous BlackBrery frets above the next letter you may type - once can swipe up the words.
    - Erasing Text: Erasing text is also easy, rather than wasting time backspacing each character - once can simply gesture across the keyboard to erase word by word.
    - Accuracy Compensation: The keyboard apparently "Learns" the positions you tend to strike certain characters when typing with your digit(s), to compensate for any inaccuracy on the your part. This feature has mostly been spoken about & not specifically demonstrated however.
    - Multi-lingual phraseology - the keyboard can seamlessly accept & predict words for up to 3 pre-defined languages at once.
    - Character Capitalization - As with previous BB Keyboards, one can touch & HOLD a character for the option to capitalize the letter (unlike the current PlayBook keyboard). Have not seen this mentioned, though have seen it in action on this developer video:

    Active Frames:

    Active Frames represent running applications. They display a minimized 'second state' to an application (as shown here:

    Browser: An all new browser built on web technologies - though functions like a native/cascades app. Currently holds the best HTML5 (Capabilities) score for any browser. You can PEEK in the app to pull over Tabs, Bookmarks, & Sharing functions. The main screen opens up to cached thumbnail versions of your Bookmarks. It has Reader view, like the PlayBook - to display only the text from a webpage.

    PIM Apps (Calendar, Contacts, Messaging/HUB): These have evolved from the PlayBook 2.0 versions, and appear to be optimized greatly, or at least run much faster on the Dev Alpha devices. The Calendar shares the "Growing Numbers" concept, where busier days are represented by a larger # on the Calendar. The Contacts/HUB(Messages)/Calendar are tightly integrated and you are able to flow between all apps easily. The Contacts app, like the PlayBook version, aggregates contact info (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter updates), amongst previous times you've met with them. The Calendar has a "People" view to display who you will be meeting with that day. Despite UI changes to work well with the Dev Alpha device sizes, there aren't too many surprises here yet from the PlayBook version.

    Camera
    - Time-Shift/Warp: This application by Scalado will be native to BB10 & begins image capturing when the application is started. This allows captured images to be 'rewound' to the best choice, where subjects may no longer have their eyes closed, etc. Demonstrated by Adam & Kevin:

    - Thumbnail Preview: Images captured are easily accessible from within the app as discovered by Kevin, which allows one to stay in the app without jumping directly to the Images app to see the image full size. Simply gesturing to stretch the thumbnail from within the Camera app accomplishes this.

    BlackBerry Messenger (BBM):

    - Contacts are displayed in a grid-view of Avatars
    - BBM Groups updated for a "Active Frames" view of groups (includes Active Chats, Pictures, Lists, Events)
    - A Dedicated PING button also exists, rather than accessing this off of a seperate menu.

    Updated App World

    Now Movies, TV & Music are included in the "App" world storefront. While I agree with the inclusion of media - it does not go along with the name. All can be purchased with payment options defined in your BBID (as opposed to requiring a seperate account with a partner company). Includes better statistics & categorization (Trending apps for instance).
    Speculated though probable features
    (Not officially announced, etc)


    Phone functionality Shown in the BB10 Teaser video from BlackBerry World 2012 ( )

    DLNA Also shown in the BB10 Teaser video, the gentlemen seems to stream content from his BB10 device, to his television. There are no HDMI cables shown, so one assumes this infers the DLNA capabilities that are coming:

    Team View/Screen Sharing: The leaked Marketing Pitch video appears to show this screen sharing, also in conjunction with a parallel video chat

    Video Call/Conferencing/Chat: Has been hinted at in the BB10 Teaser (see Phone Functionality above). Also shown in the leaked Marketing Pitch ( ) is Picture-In-Picture

    Voice Controls: Included in a recent Dev Alpha update, there are some voice control capabilities which allow launching websites, or for a "Universal Search" type feature, and for driving directions, current weather, creating appointments, etc.
    Possible Problems, points of concern, & the unknown:


    Thorsen Heins mentioned when delaying BB10 by yet another quarter, that the reason was because of the integration. He said there were still 'visible seams' in the platform - that needed to be remediated prior to launch. At present, RIM has stated multiple times that not all will be revealed until the BB10 launch itself. Much 'secret sauce' has not yet been added to he BB10 mix. That said - since we have not yet seen certain apps/features yet, we can only conclude that they are secret right now for good reason (or as in the case of many PlayBook apps - these BB10 apps or features may not yet be done or risk being incomplete @ launch). Pure conjecture there, but we have to look @ RIM's past history of incomplete delivery...

    Bootup Time:

    Bootup optimization is of concern, as has been mentioned by the CrackBerry team in their editorials. Most recently the Dev Alpha B is videoed here by BlackBerryOS.com unboxing video & you can witness the still, lengthly bootup. CrackBerry Kevin did post an editorial on this, that things SHOULD improve - but currently they still appear to be the same as the PlayBook OS. UPDATE from CB User Efstathio: Dev Alpha boot time dramatically improved from PlayBook currently. Still 8 seconds slower than an iPhone 4s bootup, but at least that is bringing it close to the competition! CB User ThunderBuck states bootup is currently around 1 minute.

    Where's Landscape Orientation?

    As with the PlayBook that was geared towards landscape orientation, and native apps such as Messaging initially came ONLY in landscape - not portrait. The BB10 Dev Alpha's recent BB10 OS for most native applications demonstrated (BMM) do not appear to have a landscape view as of yet.

    Music App: Assuming this is evolving from the PlayBook app - there is a long way to go. Many features are missing in action, such as an Equalizer.

    Pictures App: Also missing many features & capabilities that are desired from a photo viewing app. We should expect to be blown away, when considering some of the demonstrated TAT applications (FrontRunner).

    Browser Launch Speed:
    The new Browser looks great - but unlike OS7 or prior, is not immediately accessible, the launch speed is similar to PlayBook. Not a deal breaker, but a slower experience than on current OS7 BlackBerries.

    Gesture troubles?
    Many recent videos, including many moments in the Key Note presentation showed some problems with swipe gestures, usually to "PEEK" to the hub or to minimize apps. Kevin & Crew addressed this on this post

    I am hoping this is indeed casing getting in the way on the 'B', and simply user error in the case of the 'A' device. I believe such gestures have always been in question, given the smaller bezel than that of the PlayBook for instance. Hopefully whatever is causing this - goes away on the production devices & software, as this will greatly annoy consumers.

    Dev Alpha B gesture troubles:
    CBKevin:
    Michael Clewley:
    Vivek:

    Missing RIM Apps: Beyond talking about 3rd party apps that are not yet announced for BB10, what about RIM's own applications that are not even currently on PlayBook?

    - BlackBerry Traffic?
    - BlackBerry Travel?
    - BlackBerry Maps?
    - BlackBerry Bridge?
    - BBM Music?
    - etc?
    Last edited by BrizzadMan; 10-01-12 at 07:09 PM. Reason: Updates
    09-30-12 09:28 PM
  2. Bla1ze's Avatar
    Gesture troubles?
    Many recent videos, including many moments in the Key Note presentation showed some problems with swipe gestures, usually to "PEEK" to the hub or to minimize apps. Kevin & Crew addressed this on this post

    I am hoping this is indeed casing getting in the way on the 'B', and simply user error in the case of the 'A' device. I believe such gestures have always been in question, given the smaller bezel than that of the PlayBook for instance. Hopefully whatever is causing this - goes away on the production devices & software, as this will greatly annoy consumers.

    Dev Alpha B gesture troubles:
    CBKevin:
    Michael Clewley:
    Vivek:
    It really is the casing, it's annoyingly difficult to pull of with it on there. As for the Dev Alpha A, the screens on those are kinda offish to begin with so a combination of user error and a somewhat wonky screen = the mess you see sometimes.
    Masahiro and julianrt like this.
    09-30-12 09:36 PM
  3. tinysalmon's Avatar
    Good compilation of pretty much everything known about BB 10 so far. Good job mate
    09-30-12 10:09 PM
  4. Luckyman6886's Avatar
    A lot of information
    09-30-12 10:11 PM
  5. Gucci33's Avatar
    Amazing work!
    09-30-12 10:23 PM
  6. Thunderbuck's Avatar
    So, a couple of things I'd add:

    1) App World gets a serious makeover in BB10, allowing purchase of apps, movies, and music from the same storefront. Organization and browsing are much improved over the Playbook's. EDIT: OOPS, I missed that in your list; you did get it, but I'd say that "App World" doesn't make any less sense than Apple calling their storefront "iTunes" despite the fact that they moved past music long, long ago.

    2) Boot time is already considerably improved, clocking in at about a minute even on the Dev Alpha A. It is safe to say that it will be even better on release because a) further work will have been done by then and b) it will run on better hardware.
    Last edited by Thunderbuck; 09-30-12 at 10:31 PM. Reason: Correction
    BrizzadMan likes this.
    09-30-12 10:29 PM
  7. nyplaya610's Avatar
    Amazing summary. Thanks.
    09-30-12 11:30 PM
  8. DJM626's Avatar
    This has answered a lot of my questions! Looking forward to the release even more so now then before. Thank you
    09-30-12 11:38 PM
  9. ealvnv's Avatar
    You can safely add native panorama to the camera features.

    Sent from my BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha
    09-30-12 11:48 PM
  10. BrizzadMan's Avatar
    You can safely add native panorama to the camera features.

    Sent from my BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha
    I do recall seeing Panoramic (PlayBook App) demo'd @ BB World for BB10, though it was purely 3rd party.

    Will it (or something else?) be native to the camera features?
    10-01-12 12:15 AM
  11. Mister-E's Avatar
    So, a couple of things I'd add:

    1) App World gets a serious makeover in BB10, allowing purchase of apps, movies, and music from the same storefront. Organization and browsing are much improved over the Playbook's. EDIT: OOPS, I missed that in your list; you did get it, but I'd say that "App World" doesn't make any less sense than Apple calling their storefront "iTunes" despite the fact that they moved past music long, long ago.

    2) Boot time is already considerably improved, clocking in at about a minute even on the Dev Alpha A. It is safe to say that it will be even better on release because a) further work will have been done by then and b) it will run on better hardware.
    I did a quick comparison between the boot up time between the iPhone 4S and the Dev Alpha A, and the Dev Alpha was about 8 seconds slower. That's amazing compared to how slow it was under the Playbook and Blackberry 10 is comparable to others OS's.
    sleepngbear likes this.
    10-01-12 12:32 AM
  12. BrizzadMan's Avatar
    I did a quick comparison between the boot up time between the iPhone 4S and the Dev Alpha A, and the Dev Alpha was about 8 seconds slower. That's amazing compared to how slow it was under the Playbook and Blackberry 10 is comparable to others OS's.

    Ah - good to know! I will certainly correct my statement in the main post then. That is a marked improvement since PlayBook then & inline with the competition as well. Reaching the "Good Enough" category in that case...woohoo!

    Sent from my BlackBerry 9900 using Tapatalk
    10-01-12 12:39 AM
  13. anjali_jain's Avatar
    Awesome post.......... Thanks !
    10-01-12 02:29 AM
  14. cgk's Avatar
    I am on my phone so can't find the article but I am sure Heins told a CNET journalist that it was a software rather than hardware problem and they planned to have it fixed by launch.

    It really is the casing, it's annoyingly difficult to pull of with it on there. As for the Dev Alpha A, the screens on those are kinda offish to begin with so a combination of user error and a somewhat wonky screen = the mess you see sometimes.

    Sent from my Lumia 800 using Board Express
    10-01-12 03:03 AM
  15. Rello's Avatar
    Great post OP. Many people out there feel for some reason that RIM showed their whole hand at BB Jam Americas but that couldn't be further from the truth. Sooo much is still not known and your post further proves this.

    I for one am curious about all their native apps. I want to know what will come of the Newbay acquisition...I'd love to see more of their native video editor. I anticipate BB Maps and hope they have offline maps (mainly for my wifi PlayBook). I also hope they continue on their first party apps like BB Travel and BBM Music. Sooo many unanswered questions...
    10-01-12 08:33 AM
  16. kbz1960's Avatar
    Great job. In for the info.
    10-01-12 08:42 AM
  17. shingi_70's Avatar
    Man I love the Clock/Alarm homscreen. I loved it when Nokia did it on N8.

    Also does someone have a better explantion of active frames. I get that its a version of the app that displays info like a live tile or widget.

    I understood it in the context of say a weather app but it seemed kind of pointless for the browser or bbm. Do they update dynamicly?



    Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk 2
    10-01-12 11:12 AM
  18. BrizzadMan's Avatar
    Man I love the Clock/Alarm homscreen. I loved it when Nokia did it on N8.

    Also does someone have a better explantion of active frames. I get that its a version of the app that displays info like a live tile or widget.

    I understood it in the context of say a weather app but it seemed kind of pointless for the browser or bbm. Do they update dynamicly?

    I think for all applications, they may wish to consider programming their Active Frame with a different look - even if it provides no further info.. Otherwise the default will be a minimized version of the app itself, so aesthetically it may be nicer to do something else with it.

    As for uses:

    - Weather is easy to understand as you mention, it can include current temperature & the daily high/low etc. So at a glance, you need not open the app into full screen to get specifics details - where a minimized version of the full screen would be hard to read.

    - For games, perhaps it would be nice to show the game state when minimized "Game Paused - status: Unsaved!" so you do not risk accidental closure, in knowing you did not save the game before minimizing temporarily.

    - BBM they are already demonstrating the use in most BBJam videos - that recent activity will show up in the Active Frame. New picture posted to a group? Invitation to BBM? Did a contact update their status? Whenever a red splat might show up - the content will be different.

    As for them being dynamic, I'm going to say yes - although in their current OS on the Dev Alpha's - an owner of those devices would need to give us the real answer. The intention for them is of course to be dynamic - otherwise who cares about current temperature in the weather app WHEN you minimized it?

    Sent from my BlackBerry 9900 using Tapatalk
    10-01-12 11:38 AM
  19. shingi_70's Avatar
    For the games I think they should do it like the new W8/WP8 game live tiles. I was watching a windows 8 walkthrough video and the live tile for fruit ninja would scroll through the title and then your High scores as well as people on your xbl friends list as well.

    I know its under NDA but I wish we could get a good blog post or video going over everything on the dev units. One of the things that orginally got me hyped about windows Phone was microsoft have dev units out when the OS was first announced and a week later let guys like engadget write crazy long and indepth writes ups about the basics of the OS.

    Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk 2
    10-01-12 03:56 PM
  20. dd3's Avatar
    please add UMA or wifi calling....fingers crossed for former implemented in hardware not latter implemented in software.
    10-01-12 06:24 PM
  21. esk369's Avatar
    +21 great post op looks like you put some effort into this thanks for the info
    10-02-12 02:10 PM
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