[Unbiased Tech]

In this post I am going to list some of the most reasonable features that I think would be doable and useful for the next installment of the BB10 OS. I'm going to leave out any concept-like ideas and or major overhauls and focus on things that I feel could become a reality.

1) Ability to hide shadow boxes around app icons on home screen
Michael Clewley already hinted that this ability would be in 10.2.1, but during some of the leaked builds and announcements, it doesn't really seem like it will be coming in this release. If it doesn't come in official builds of 10.2.1, then it should be very likely to appear in 10.3. In the meantime, an easy way to get rid of the shadowboxes is by using a dark or black wallpaper

2) Ability to adjust App grid sizes on home screen
Following up on the first point, so far there are 3 app grid configurations for BB10 devices: 3x4 on Q devices, 4x4 on the Z10 and 5x4 on the Z30. Having the option to pick between those layout and potentially adding more (3x3 or 5x5) seems like something doable. Now for Q devices it might seem like something a bit unnecessary considering the already cramped screen size, well you would be right in thinking that except for this...
How to Change your BlackBerry Homescreen Tile Layout - N4BB


Granted, that's a bit impractical, but it was pretty nice having the option to basically have 4 or 6 columns. Since they've done it before and the BB10 phones have bigger screens, why not?

3) Ability to hide icons
Another feature from legacy devices was the ability to hide redundant or just rarely used icons from sight. It would certainly be a good way for me and other people to not have a folder like this...


4) Limitless Folders
BlackBerry, why are we limited to only 16 apps per folder? Something like this is pretty simple since you could literally put EVERY SINGLE app you had in one folder in PlayBook OS and BB7. (I've done it before)

5) Customizable Fonts
Something I that I think was a bit underrated in legacy devices was the ability to customize fonts. I loved having a crisp and professional Times New Roman font or Sans Serif when I wanted to play around and experiment. I don't have a problem with the standard BB10 "Slate" font, but options are always nice.

6) Customizable LED
I know this is something a lot of people have been wanting for a very long time, so 10.3 might finally be the time for it. There are plenty of very good apps that do this, but when I realized that LG's Android JellyBean skin on the G2 had the ability right out of the box, I figured now would be as good a time as any for BB (who's most notable for the LED notification light) to have it built in.

7) Battery Saver Mode
Z10 owners, I know you would really appreciate this. Introduced in BB OS 7.1 was a battery saver mode to help increase the longevity of your device when it gets to a certain percentage. And with me having a Curve 9350 with a measly 1000 mAh battery at the time, this was a life saver.


I would be able to squeeze out a couple more hours of extra use with the mode enabled at 40-50%. For Z10 owners especially, this feature could potentially wipe out one of the biggest or only real major flaw: the battery life. This could also be great for the Z30 and Q10 owners already getting stellar battery life.

8) Universal Dark/Light Theme and Dark Hub option
This one would be huge in terms of aesthetics and potentially power saving. (Form and function at its finest) For all users having the ability to customize all of the native apps or specific ones to be light or dark adds a nice amount of customization to the devices. Having a Dark hub seems like a great way to increase battery life even more especially if the device is used mainly for communication. If you spend most of your time in the hub anyway, you might as well preserve battery life while enjoying the sleekness it brings.

9) Landscape Home screen, Peek, and Flow
I'm not going to mention the fact that the PlayBook and Torches could do this because that would be beating a dead horse. I, however, will mention two great benefits it would bring:

1) Playing games, watching videos, or typing using the landscape keyboard layout - Its a minor annoyance to have to turn the device back to portrait orientation or have to leave the app completely to view where and who my notification is from. BB Flow is arguably a way to differentiate from the normal way of doing things, the "in and out paradigm" if you will, so having this essentially nullified when the device is in landscape just seems counter-intuitive. Keeping the flow consistent enhances the user experience and it just seems more cohesive overall. Also its a bit weird returning to the home screen while your device is in landscape and its set to portrait. Granted the actionable notifications help, but the full solution is best.

2) HDMI out/ Miracast "Mobile Computing" - One of the things that former CEO Thorsten Heins really talked about was the ability to simply plug into a monitor and have your phone truly be your home/ office/ mobile computer. That's great, but it doesn't really work when my output on a widescreen monitor only takes up maybe a third of the screen real estate (not that big a problem for Q devices). Having a landscape home screen just makes sense if you use or potentially want to use your device for something like that.

10) Android 4.4 Kit Kat Application Support
BlackBerry is pushing this Android runtime really hard as far as getting more apps and making sure they run as smooth as possible, so it just seems like a no-brainer for them to stay as up to date as possible. Considering the BB10 upgrade cycle 10.2 in September/October and 10.2.1 in January/February it should be expected that a 10.3 release would be in Spring or an early summer. By then Android Kit Kat should have a decent amount of marketshare among android users, so most apps should be updated to support it by then.

That's my list so feel free to tell me what you think or if I missed anything REASONABLE. Some honorable mentions would be customizing the bottom dock, further pull down enhancements and integration with Skydrive and Google Drive in the native file manager.

[Umaima_B_Dia]

Agreed!

Posted via my beautiful, red Q5 (10.2.1.1925)

[Blacklatino]

Interesting list.....especially the Battery Saving Mode. I do miss that from my 9810. LOL. I turned off my Diagnostic feature (under Security/Privacy) to help save the battery.

[BerryRipe]

Awesome list! I agree 100%!

Keep The Faith ? BlackBerry Q10 ?

[alopix]

Some of these features sound reasonable.

I wouldn't need Customizable Fonts as I like the default one and changing fonts could easily break great app designs that rely on the default font.
Also, I don't need Android 4.4 as I hate Android apps on BlackBerry – the runtime is amazing and really fast (my colleague showed me his app today and lists scroll way smoother than on Android devices ) but I prefer the BB10 UI to the weird Android UI which kind of feels out of place.

Otherwise great points!

[BanffMoose]

I'd add 9.2.A:
Real desktop video drivers for the HDMI connection. For mobile computing to work, we should get desktop monitor (and hopefully independent dual monitor) support. Don't these exist for QNX? If not can't they be ported from linux?

Posted via CB10

[FOR RIM]

yeah customizable font

[eldricho]

Reasonable

Now how about a build-in equalizer? Neutron does the job, but still would be nice having it build-in

Posted via CB10

[Grumblegrumble]

Id like to be able to:

-Have a threshold adjustment for the rotation between portrait and landscape. Sensitivity varies per user, but mine tilts with next to no effort. (they should patent this one to license later)
-Ability to disable front camera button on lock screen.
-Ability to customize theme, and 3 home row buttons and function.
-Native Stock ticker (headless across top would be ideal so will not interfere with active tiles)
-Tweaked camera SW (just not happy with it)
- Power/batt save mode (you had mentioned)
- Ability to customize Hub -theme/borders
- Flashlight integrated to OS's swipe down menu
- Ability to turn on and off feature - Someone had mentioned while in the hub and you have "text" to only be selected, having the hub go back to a default "show all" once you swipe out of the hub to main screen.
- Different clock faces/themes

[SubCamp]

Great list OP

Posted via CB10

[Unbiased Tech]

Reasonable

Now how about a build-in equalizer? Neutron does the job, but still would be nice having it build-in

Posted via CB10

Totally forgot about that. Thats definitely something pretty significant missing from the media apps

[Unbiased Tech]

Some of these features sound reasonable.

I wouldn't need Customizable Fonts as I like the default one and changing fonts could easily break great app designs that rely on the default font.
Also, I don't need Android 4.4 as I hate Android apps on BlackBerry – the runtime is amazing and really fast (my colleague showed me his app today and lists scroll way smoother than on Android devices ) but I prefer the BB10 UI to the weird Android UI which kind of feels out of place.

Otherwise great points!

Yea I don't like android apps either, but if they want to make that an integral part of the os moving forward they need it to be up to date. I don't have any android apps on my phone though lol.

[zclash]

The ability to app switch like is in the PlayBook! Swipe right or left to change to the next open app omg productivity! Or up and left sort of like a 7 could drop you into the next app I would love that. And what is it with the PlayBook being able to minimize the camera and still being able to see through the camera lens that was just cool.


Posted via CB10

[dnocera]

I think a huge over site was not having categories in the contact list (not groups). This is a fundamental operation for a contact list. And it really should be put back!

[GSM-S]

Good list. I agree with all the features.

Posted via CB10 on my Z10.

[bintaro_gw]

Lets hope all this things will be in 10.3

[darkehawke]

Custom vibrate! I want that back!


Posted via CB10

[darkehawke]

Also BlackBerry Protect back!

Posted via CB10

[darkehawke]

Some of these features sound reasonable.

I wouldn't need Customizable Fonts as I like the default one and changing fonts could easily break great app designs that rely on the default font.
Also, I don't need Android 4.4 as I hate Android apps on BlackBerry � the runtime is amazing and really fast (my colleague showed me his app today and lists scroll way smoother than on Android devices ) but I prefer the BB10 UI to the weird Android UI which kind of feels out of place.

Otherwise great points!

Your colleague is not running android 4.4.
That is as smooth as BlackBerry 10 if not smoother and quick too. And it really puts the runtime on BlackBerry 10 to shame.
If BlackBerry can get 4.4 on board then that should improve the performance

Posted via CB10

[alopix]

Your colleague is not running android 4.4.

I'm comparing BlackBerry's Android 4.2.2 to Google/Stock Android 4.2.2 – doesn't make sense to compare different versions

[yessuz]

In this post I am going to list some of the most reasonable features that I think would be doable and useful for the next installment of the BB10 OS. I'm going to leave out any concept-like ideas and or major overhauls and focus on things that I feel could become a reality.

1) Ability to hide shadow boxes around app icons on home screen
Michael Clewley already hinted that this ability would be in 10.2.1, but during some of the leaked builds and announcements, it doesn't really seem like it will be coming in this release. If it doesn't come in official builds of 10.2.1, then it should be very likely to appear in 10.3. In the meantime, an easy way to get rid of the shadowboxes is by using a dark or black wallpaper

2) Ability to adjust App grid sizes on home screen
Following up on the first point, so far there are 3 app grid configurations for BB10 devices: 3x4 on Q devices, 4x4 on the Z10 and 5x4 on the Z30. Having the option to pick between those layout and potentially adding more (3x3 or 5x5) seems like something doable. Now for Q devices it might seem like something a bit unnecessary considering the already cramped screen size, well you would be right in thinking that except for this...
How to Change your BlackBerry Homescreen Tile Layout - N4BB


Granted, that's a bit impractical, but it was pretty nice having the option to basically have 4 or 6 columns. Since they've done it before and the BB10 phones have bigger screens, why not?

3) Ability to hide icons
Another feature from legacy devices was the ability to hide redundant or just rarely used icons from sight. It would certainly be a good way for me and other people to not have a folder like this...


4) Limitless Folders
BlackBerry, why are we limited to only 16 apps per folder? Something like this is pretty simple since you could literally put EVERY SINGLE app you had in one folder in PlayBook OS and BB7. (I've done it before)

5) Customizable Fonts
Something I that I think was a bit underrated in legacy devices was the ability to customize fonts. I loved having a crisp and professional Times New Roman font or Sans Serif when I wanted to play around and experiment. I don't have a problem with the standard BB10 "Slate" font, but options are always nice.

6) Customizable LED
I know this is something a lot of people have been wanting for a very long time, so 10.3 might finally be the time for it. There are plenty of very good apps that do this, but when I realized that LG's Android JellyBean skin on the G2 had the ability right out of the box, I figured now would be as good a time as any for BB (who's most notable for the LED notification light) to have it built in.

7) Battery Saver Mode
Z10 owners, I know you would really appreciate this. Introduced in BB OS 7.1 was a battery saver mode to help increase the longevity of your device when it gets to a certain percentage. And with me having a Curve 9350 with a measly 1000 mAh battery at the time, this was a life saver.


I would be able to squeeze out a couple more hours of extra use with the mode enabled at 40-50%. For Z10 owners especially, this feature could potentially wipe out one of the biggest or only real major flaw: the battery life. This could also be great for the Z30 and Q10 owners already getting stellar battery life.

8) Universal Dark/Light Theme and Dark Hub option
This one would be huge in terms of aesthetics and potentially power saving. (Form and function at its finest) For all users having the ability to customize all of the native apps or specific ones to be light or dark adds a nice amount of customization to the devices. Having a Dark hub seems like a great way to increase battery life even more especially if the device is used mainly for communication. If you spend most of your time in the hub anyway, you might as well preserve battery life while enjoying the sleekness it brings.

9) Landscape Home screen, Peek, and Flow
I'm not going to mention the fact that the PlayBook and Torches could do this because that would be beating a dead horse. I, however, will mention two great benefits it would bring:

1) Playing games, watching videos, or typing using the landscape keyboard layout - Its a minor annoyance to have to turn the device back to portrait orientation or have to leave the app completely to view where and who my notification is from. BB Flow is arguably a way to differentiate from the normal way of doing things, the "in and out paradigm" if you will, so having this essentially nullified when the device is in landscape just seems counter-intuitive. Keeping the flow consistent enhances the user experience and it just seems more cohesive overall. Also its a bit weird returning to the home screen while your device is in landscape and its set to portrait. Granted the actionable notifications help, but the full solution is best.

2) HDMI out/ Miracast "Mobile Computing" - One of the things that former CEO Thorsten Heins really talked about was the ability to simply plug into a monitor and have your phone truly be your home/ office/ mobile computer. That's great, but it doesn't really work when my output on a widescreen monitor only takes up maybe a third of the screen real estate (not that big a problem for Q devices). Having a landscape home screen just makes sense if you use or potentially want to use your device for something like that.

10) Android 4.4 Kit Kat Application Support
BlackBerry is pushing this Android runtime really hard as far as getting more apps and making sure they run as smooth as possible, so it just seems like a no-brainer for them to stay as up to date as possible. Considering the BB10 upgrade cycle 10.2 in September/October and 10.2.1 in January/February it should be expected that a 10.3 release would be in Spring or an early summer. By then Android Kit Kat should have a decent amount of marketshare among android users, so most apps should be updated to support it by then.

That's my list so feel free to tell me what you think or if I missed anything REASONABLE. Some honorable mentions would be customizing the bottom dock, further pull down enhancements and integration with Skydrive and Google Drive in the native file manager.

Where's lithuanian language/letters???

Posted from Z10 with 10.2.1.1925 leak. Pwnage apparatus!

[Meok]

Good list. All seem reasonable and doable. The shadow box doesn't bother though. I guess as a graphic designer I understand the frustration of trying to balance a great background with readable text. I personally resort to shadow boxes in a lot of my projects. It just makes sense as it allows you to keep whatever background you want and still read the text perfectly.

Response crafted in seconds on a Z30

[LWKING]

Your colleague is not running android 4.4.
That is as smooth as BlackBerry 10 if not smoother and quick too. And it really puts the runtime on BlackBerry 10 to shame.
If BlackBerry can get 4.4 on board then that should improve the performance

Posted via CB10

I can't help but debate this. Kit Kat runtime will improve performance there's no doubt. Its not a straight comparison, but my Q10 is much smoother and quicker than my Nexus 7 (2013) is on Kit Kat. That's vanilla Android btw on 2 GB of RAM, a better GPU, and a quad core processor.

I agree with the OP's list. I believe they should also add a shutdown timer as they had in the legacy devices.

Posted with my Q10!

[Uzi]

You should email this idea to BlackBerry OP

Posted via CB10

[Darkflyer1983]

The 11th feature:
Customizable voice control button to launch any app we want... personally it would be camera!