By Alan Ng on October 29, 2012 3Comments
Are you still clinging on to the hope that RIM are going to make their glorious return into the smartphone market, and release a phone with BlackBerry 10 on board that will reverse the company�s recent fortunes?
If the answer is yes, then it looks like you are going to be very impressed with what BlackBerry has to offer, based on early previews. RIM may be taking forever to publicly release their highly anticipated new software, but on all accounts it finally looks like RIM has an OS in the making that can actually rival Android and iOS.
A few years ago, BlackBerry smartphones were the cream of the crop, with everyone using them as their main messaging tool and generally owning a BlackBerry handset because it was �cool� to do so. Now, with the emergence of apps like Whatsapp, suddenly the need for a BlackBerry device has died down considerably and the bland OS that currently greets handsets on the market does little to change to mindset of consumers who have now started to embrace Android and iOS, after initially being a loyal BlackBerry lover.
An interesting video has emerged courtesy of the BBC, in which RIM CEO Thorsten Heins explains why he believes that BlackBerry 10 will once again give fans a reason to celebrate. The video contains an exclusive preview of BB10 in action and our first impressions is that it actually looks pretty good.
For starters, we are loving the design touches that RIM has implemented into the brand new BlackBerry 10 lockscreen. The device running the new software may not bring up notifications as the handset is locked, but you will be able to get a preview of what is on your homescreen simply by swiping upwards on the screen, but not fully if you don�t want to completely unlock the device.
As with most new mobile operating systems these days, RIM has placed the importance of social media as a top priority of BB10, and there will be a new service called the Hub, which will allow you to get your daily social media fix inside one integrated service � RIM even promises that you can updated your various �spaces�, without the need to actually open a respective app.
The days are early yet, but BlackBerry 10 is looking really nice. The biggest problem that we can see is convincing consumers to hold on tight till it releases sometime in 2013. Android Key Lime Pie 4.2 is obviously coming soon, while Apple may even have iOS 7 out by the time BlackBerry 10 is fully rolled out across all BlackBerry models.
Take a look at the video for yourself and let us know your thoughts on the popularity decline of the once-loved BlackBerry. Are you still an avid fan, or have you moved on?