[unity04]

I've been waiting for RIM/BlackBerry to unveil BlackBerry 10 since they've been handing out Dev models, but after seeing their unveiling yesterday, just how much different is BlackBerry 10 from iOS, and even Android? One of the main features BlackBerry is focusing on is the BlackBerry Hub where you can essentially view all of your notifications from multiple social network accounts, e-mails, your sms inbox, etc, in a few gesture swipes. After seeing video demos of the OS, it got me thinking as to why BlackBerry took the approach it did for their notification system. Also, is it that much better than what the competition offers, according to BlackBerry?

Imagine this- you're in the web browser and you just got a text message from a friend. In BlackBerry 10, it doesn't show a 'toast' at the top of the screen (iOS, Android, Windows Phone), but instead just triggers the notification LED without any indication in the current application as to who messaged you. Now, in iOS, you can receive two things while in an application: A pop up bubble displaying a preview of the message with the senders name and option to reply, and, if you set it up, a little bar at the top of the screen that says the sender and a brief preview of the message. Now, isn't this essentially what BlackBerry's peak gesture is? It seems to me that BlackBerry 10 offers a more, not necessarily too complex, but longer process of seeing who messaged you and what their message was about. Also, on iOS and Android you could just swipe down the notification bar and read 2-3 lines of the message without ever leaving the application. From this notification bar we can see all missed calls, e-mails, game alerts, text messages, weather, stock prices, post to our social networks, etc. (and there's multiple events for each account). But, BlackBerry insists that we swipe up and to the right just to see then name of a sender each time- it seems like the long way of doing something, as opposed to having the info available in the application you're in, don't you think?

The next thing is the way the lock screen handles notifications. Let's say you get a text message while your phones off and need to unlock it. On iOS, it'll display multiple text messages on your lock screen with sender information and the message, and it'll also display names of missed calls and e-mails you receive (with sender information and a preview). On BlackBerry 10, when you view the lock screen no information for your notification is really provided except that you have a notification. You need to approach it the long way, by doing un-necessary gestures just to see the information available on the iPhone's lockscreen.

It's obvious that BlackBerry wanted to approach notifications in a new way, but it just seems they took the long route instead of allowing users quick access to notification information in applications, and on the lockscreen, how iOS and Android do. So, this all got me thinking- could investors see this as a potential flaw in BlackBerry 10, forcing BlackBerry's stock price down? What do you guys think- is BB10's peak and Hub a more efficient way for handling notifications, or did BlackBerry just take the long route while other mobile OS' offer a more convient option?

[InvalidUser0510]

Those toast notifications are incredibly annoying in iOS (I have an ipod touch 5) as they actually take up a chunk of app space, and its usually where the back button is. If its a long message, you could be stuck 5-10 seconds waiting for it to scroll just so you can hit back. Android's implementation (Nexus 4) is better than iOS in that the scrolling notifications stays in a dedicated bar. However, blackberry's goal was to give every pixel to the app. Honestly, most of the time, you're using an app, not constantly checking notifications. When you are constantly checking notifications, you're usually talking to one person and know the sender, so a swipe up to reveal an icon is good enough to tell you who it is.

As for the lock screen, they did that for aaesthetics for sure, but I have no doubt that security was a big part of it too. On android, the lock screen doesn't show you anything more than icons for what notification you got, same with Windows phone and blackberry 10. Only iOS does, and in my opinion, its a really stupid feature security wise, just like the stupid lock screen widgets in android 4.2.

Lastly, the weather and being able to post from the notification tray are unique to iOS, and I agree that they're great features. I'm hoping that blackberry will, in the future, put the weather near the notification icons when you swipe up from an app. Being able to tweet and post a Facebook message instantly without taking an extra 5 seconds to just go to the hub and do it is not a big deal for me. It might be for others, I'm not sure.

[RobertM24]

I think it all depends on your mindset on the issue...

Their explanation regarding the peek, I believe, was that you are immersed in the content you are viewing, so therefore popups are inconvenient if you are trying to focus on something else, but they still offer easy access to information through the peek feature. I think it's a good idea, but clearly, doesn't suit everyone

As for the lock screen thing, my personal preference is that when I have my phone locked nothing specific (such as recieved msgs) should be view-able until unlocked. But that is just me personally, so I guess you have a valid point for other individuals.

[raremage]

Well, if it annoys you, you can configure it not to give the toast notice.

I was wondering about this as well, Hub's handling of notifications and watching Kevin's BB10 UI demo video. I grabbed an iPhone and started playing with notifications and the notification center. As it turns out, I could pretty easily mimic the ease of use demo with regard to exiting or not what I was doing. By having an email notification sound or vibration without a visual cue, and enabling email notifications present in the iOS notification center, you get pretty close to how the Hub works, possibly even more efficient. When an email comes in, just pulling down from top of the screen gives a two line preview of the message that was just received, without exiting the current app. It was pretty easy to simply decide whether to open the message or not, and just return right back to what I was doing.

The 'exit the app to check on the message' paradigm that Kevin speaks about actually wasn't there, which surprised me. The biggest limitation is no notification light. Other than that, it makes checking on a new message pretty easy. I can't tell yet if Hub is better or worse, from the demos I've seen. At BBWorld it looked incredibly innovative, but now, I'm honestly not so sure.

[Admorris]

I've been waiting for RIM/BlackBerry to unveil BlackBerry 10 since they've been handing out Dev models, but after seeing their unveiling yesterday, just how much different is BlackBerry 10 from iOS, and even Android? One of the main features BlackBerry is focusing on is the BlackBerry Hub where you can essentially view all of your notifications from multiple social network accounts, e-mails, your sms inbox, etc, in a few gesture swipes. After seeing video demos of the OS, it got me thinking as to why BlackBerry took the approach it did for their notification system. Also, is it that much better than what the competition offers, according to BlackBerry?

Imagine this- you're in the web browser and you just got a text message from a friend. In BlackBerry 10, it doesn't show a 'toast' at the top of the screen (iOS, Android, Windows Phone), but instead just triggers the notification LED without any indication in the current application as to who messaged you. Now, in iOS, you can receive two things while in an application: A pop up bubble displaying a preview of the message with the senders name and option to reply, and, if you set it up, a little bar at the top of the screen that says the sender and a brief preview of the message. Now, isn't this essentially what BlackBerry's peak gesture is? It seems to me that BlackBerry 10 offers a more, not necessarily too complex, but longer process of seeing who messaged you and what their message was about. Also, on iOS and Android you could just swipe down the notification bar and read 2-3 lines of the message without ever leaving the application. From this notification bar we can see all missed calls, e-mails, game alerts, text messages, weather, stock prices, post to our social networks, etc. (and there's multiple events for each account). But, BlackBerry insists that we swipe up and to the right just to see then name of a sender each time- it seems like the long way of doing something, as opposed to having the info available in the application you're in, don't you think?

The next thing is the way the lock screen handles notifications. Let's say you get a text message while your phones off and need to unlock it. On iOS, it'll display multiple text messages on your lock screen with sender information and the message, and it'll also display names of missed calls and e-mails you receive (with sender information and a preview). On BlackBerry 10, when you view the lock screen no information for your notification is really provided except that you have a notification. You need to approach it the long way, by doing un-necessary gestures just to see the information available on the iPhone's lockscreen.

It's obvious that BlackBerry wanted to approach notifications in a new way, but it just seems they took the long route instead of allowing users quick access to notification information in applications, and on the lockscreen, how iOS and Android do. So, this all got me thinking- could investors see this as a potential flaw in BlackBerry 10, forcing BlackBerry's stock price down? What do you guys think- is BB10's peak and Hub a more efficient way for handling notifications, or did BlackBerry just take the long route while other mobile OS' offer a more convient option?

I share your sentiments almost to a tee. It appears as though BB made changes to systems that already work well just so they could say they have something different. Change for the sake of change is not always a good thing. The ONLY thing I see that the hub does that Android does not, is have the ability to see old "previously opened" emails. The fact that if you're working on a BB and someone texts/email you and you have no idea who it is at first glance is ridiculous to me. They consider this a business phone? Notifications on Android are much easier to access and less intrusive. When I'm using my Android and a text/email come through, a quick little status note pops up on the status bar telling me who it is and what they said. Slide it down, reply and done...boom...quick and easy. Just because BB says their system is "flow" based doesn't make it so. Several big name reviews I have seen so far all say basically the same thing...the BB Hub is clunky, too layered and not very intuitive.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 2

[iN8ter]

Those toast notifications are incredibly annoying in iOS (I have an ipod touch 5) as they actually take up a chunk of app space, and its usually where the back button is. If its a long message, you could be stuck 5-10 seconds waiting for it to scroll just so you can hit back. Android's implementation (Nexus 4) is better than iOS in that the scrolling notifications stays in a dedicated bar. However, blackberry's goal was to give every pixel to the app. Honestly, most of the time, you're using an app, not constantly checking notifications. When you are constantly checking notifications, you're usually talking to one person and know the sender, so a swipe up to reveal an icon is good enough to tell you who it is.

In iOS you can toggle those off, so whether you like them really is a useless bit of information. They're there if you do, and not if you don't. It's simple. They hardly take up a chunk of App Space. I had an iTouch as well. They were maybe double the thickness of the top status bar, maybe a little more. And of course it covered the status bar so it doesn't really take much space from the app at all. Don't exaggerate... They don't stay there long, either. They're shorter duration than Windows Phone's toasts.

In Windows Phone you can swipe them away easily, so that's not an issue there either. In Android, they scroll up through the Notification bar, so it's a non-factor, however, they aren't as readable as Windows Phone and iOS Toast Notifications. It's a trade-off.

iOS has Notification Center, and it's actually better than Android in that you can set how the notifications appear in the center (i.e. Calendar, then Mail, then whatever, etc.) and clear them on an App-by-App basis. Lock Screen Notifications are also better implemented. Graphically, the notifications make it obvious which app is sending them on iOS. On Android, that isn't always the case. Android lets you pull down the notification bar on the Lock Screen, but only if your phone isn't locked with a Password/PIN/etc. Apple did a bit better there, and of course it's togglable so you don't have to use it (anything that is private, you can simply turn off the lock screen notifications). Android is superior with its expandable notifications, though.

If Blackberry's goal was to give every pixel to the app, then they need to question the design of those navigational elements at the bottom of the screen for many apps, which are huge and look like Android 2.2 Tab Controls.

As for the lock screen, they did that for aaesthetics for sure, but I have no doubt that security was a big part of it too. On android, the lock screen doesn't show you anything more than icons for what notification you got, same with Windows phone and blackberry 10. Only iOS does, and in my opinion, its a really stupid feature security wise, just like the stupid lock screen widgets in android 4.2.

Android it depends on which device you use. If your phone doesn't lock the entire Android Notification pane can be bought down. On iOS, you can turn off Lock Screen Notifications. It isn't shoved upon you. Options > Exclusions, again.

Anything you don't want anyone to see, you can turn the lock screen notifications off. You're not making much sense.

EDIT: On Sony Android devices, you get Email, Calendar, and SMS Lock Screen Notifications on the home screen as a togglable feature. You don't have to have them show up, but you get the choice, of course!

Lastly, the weather and being able to post from the notification tray are unique to iOS, and I agree that they're great features. I'm hoping that blackberry will, in the future, put the weather near the notification icons when you swipe up from an app. Being able to tweet and post a Facebook message instantly without taking an extra 5 seconds to just go to the hub and do it is not a big deal for me. It might be for others, I'm not sure.

Weather has been in the Android Notification Pane since at least FroYo, when 1st party apps like WeatherBug started putting it there. I think TWC also did it. Not sure about Accuweather. Weather in the Notification Pane on Android and Windows Phone is useless since you have a Live Tile on Windows Phone and almost all Android devices ship with a decent Home Screen widget with weather. Plus, both of those OSes let you put it on the Lock Screen as well. Don't need that in the Notification Pane.

Windows Phone has Twitter and FB Integration (and LinkedIn). Some Android Phones do as well (i.e. the GS2 had all three, and HTC Sense Phones tend to have all three). Having Tweet and Status Update in the Notification Pane is useful for some, but I wouldn't say that is a huge deal - personally. In any other case, it's simply too easy to get there (Me Tile on Windows Phone, a Home Screen Widget on Android). The benefit of the non-iOS implementations is that they allow you to post to all networks concurrently, if that's your thing.

The Hub isn't all it's jazzed up to be, but I didn't expect much anyways as this stuff is all old news and has existed since HTC Sense on Windows Mobile and to a lesser extent earlier BBOS devices. It seems a bit messy, and I'm not really a fan of BBRY's design language. Especially the Tabs that look like they were ripped out of FroYo or GB in a lot of their apps.

Android OEMs like Samsung seem to be moving away from that. Social Hub is gone in TouchWiz Nature UX, for example. I think FriendStream on HTC devices are being taken out as well, but I haven't spend much time with those (couldn't find it on my mom's One X, though). I think OEMs are just deferring to first party applications because when Twitter or FB makes changes it sucks having to issue FW updates to update those stock applications.

What if Twitter introduced i.e. Video Upload (just a hypothesis)? Their App will be updated as soon as they can get it out, but the in-built OS integrations will require a FW update from BBRY, and if you have a carrier branded phone, that can be a factorable wait - before you can actually upload a video there through the built-in integration. API changes can also break that stuff. HTC got rid of Peep because Twitter kept changing their Authentication scheme., breaking the damn thing continuously. Also, Galaxy S2 devices upload pictures to Twitter via TwitPic because the Integration was originally developed before Twitter had their own Photo Upload out.

This has been a particular problem on devices with these social integrations, especially those that lack a native Facebook App developed by Facebook. Windows Phone, for example. The Messaging functions pale in comparison to what's on iOS and Android, and I wouldn't expect it to be any different on BB10 since it seems BBRY is developing their own app. This has a lot to do with the fact that Facebook themselves aren't developing their own app for the platform.

[unity04]

Another thing I noticed: Say you're in an app, a game for example, and you want to close any background running apps. Do you have to swipe up to minimize the app/return to the home screen, close running background processes, and then resume the game? Or can you close background apps in apps like on iOS and Android? Another thing BB10 seems to take the long route on.

[Admorris]

Another thing I noticed: Say you're in an app, a game for example, and you want to close any background running apps. Do you have to swipe up to minimize the app/return to the home screen, close running background processes, and then resume the game? Or can you close background apps in apps like on iOS and Android? Another thing BB10 seems to take the long route on.

I think you have to go all the way back to the homescreen from what I've seen and then resume your game.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 2

[greatwiseone]

Have any of you guys actually played with a dev alpha version or Z10 version of the Hub? I've been using it since the new dev alpha OS build dropped yesterday, and I think it's something that you can't really get a feel for just watching YouTube videos. I absolutely love the Hub experience, and as I was mentioning to folks yesterday at the dev event, most people are actually going to live within the Hub and have their apps being invoked through the Hub. The Hub is for people who has a lot of messaging needs, be it bbm, email, etc. When you have multiple conversations going on at the same time, the Hub lets you manage that very easily.

There are definitely some improvements that have to be made to it (like some of the tweaks that Kevin mentioned in the review), but it's REALLY more than just a notification center.

The rationale behind the peek gesture is the notion of "Content is King". It's a design guideline that RIM/BB mandated in BB10. There's no top bar for notifications like on Android. The other design concept the Hub implements is the ease of one-handed use. What I find is that most reviewers are using the device as if it was an iPhone or Android and not realizing (or talking about) the fact that everything is accessible with one hand and really one finger. What annoys me about Android notifications is that I usually need to use the other hand to pull the notification drawer down from the top. On BB10, it's a gesture of my thumb of ONE hand holding the phone and swiping to see if it's there.

[playbookster]

I do not want pop ups in my apps.