Blackberry 10 To Launch In Q1 2013

Last month, RIM informed that carriers would begin testing new BB10 devices sometime in October, with plans for an early 2013 launch. Since then,there have been rumors that BlackBerry 10 launch might be delayed. Now CEO Thorsten Heins is speaking back up, confirming that a Q1 release is still on track, and talking some more about the carrier testing currently underway.

While it’s good to hear that a Q1 launch is still in RIM’s plans, that means that there may be a delay from what was planned and the first hardware may be landing closer to March; for the moment, timing more precise than “Q1″ just isn’t available.

What’s good to hear is that the carrier testing has begun as planned, and Heins claims that over 50 carriers worldwide have already begun evaluating BB10 launch hardware. That’s going to mean both full-touch as well as hardware keyboard devices, and recent leaks have been making it look that there could be quite an assortment of BB10 hardware on the horizon, including some with very competitive specs.

Related articles

• Blackberry 10 Boot Up Screen Leaked
• BlackBerry 10 now in carrier lab testing, still on track to "flawlessly" launch in Q1 2013

Blackberry 10 Boot Up Screen Leaked

                                 We are already seeing different aspects of the Blackberry 10,though it will not be released before 2013. Those are proofs that Blackberry 10 is going to be quite different.However, BlackBerry 10 faces stiff competition now,and needs to have a few features that make you say, "Wow!" . Merely matching Android will not be enough for RIM.

This is allegedly the boot up screen for BlackBerry 10

Above,you can see a pivture  that shows the first "L" series model of BlackBerry 10 getting booted up. As you can tell by the percentage indicator on the screen, this is going to be a much different look than what you see booting up your BlackBerry 7 device.

Blackberry 10

                          RIM is still on track to launch BlackBerry 10 in the first quarter of 2013. And everything needs to go smoothly without a repeat of the BlackBerry Storm 9530 launch debacle that saw huge number of Verizon customers buy the device thinking that it would approach the Apple iPhone in quality and functionality. But that was under the old regime. Thorsten Heins and crew knows that this is RIM's ultimate shot at proving that Blackberry is still not gone from the mobile world.

Can Blackberry Defeat Windows phone 8?

                                   RIM’s CEO Thorsten Heins believes that Blackberry 10 has “a clear shot at being the number three platform on the market.”  He also said, “We’re not just another open platform on the market, we are BlackBerry.” This means ,according to him,Blackberry can easily defeat WP 8.  Unfortunately Blackberry 10 devices probably won’t be released until early 2013 which is well after we will see Windows Phone 8 on the market.

                  Furthermore, there hasn’t been a whole lot of consistent buzz building up behind Blackberry 10. There was the new beta 3 reveal a couple weeks ago, but it has not been keeping itself in the tech news very well. Windows Phone 8 on the other hand has been having some big reveals of new devices, and Microsoft is still keeping us on the edge of our seats to see if they’ll surprise us with new features within the operating system like they surprised us with their Surface tablet reveal earlier this year.

If Blackberry wants to get to number 3 in the smartphone wars, they probably need a strong ecosystem that connects to all of the other electronic peripherals in our lives. Apple has a hugely successful ecosystem driven by iTunes and their iOS appstore that makes keeping all of your devices tied to that ecosystem very compelling. Android’s ecosystem is backed by the hugely successful Google search engine and all of the great online services that Google brings to the table. Microsoft’s ecosystem is backed by their hugely successful Windows operating system, Office productivity suite, and Xbox 360. What exactly does Blackberry tie into that’s so compelling? Perhaps the old Blackberry Enterprise servers? Most of the advantages of those have been made obsolete by all of the Exchange ActiveSync compatible servers and services out there these days.That Blackberry Hub which unites emails, messaging, and social networking notifications seems nice.
                    Does Blackberry really have enough surprises in its sleeve to surpass Windows Phone next year?

1080 p Screens,What Next?

Almost a year has passed since we first started seeing smartphones with 720p displays. Since then, they’ve rapidly become the norm for smartphone screens, such that it’s hard to accept even a qHD display on an upper-tier handset. Now, 1080p displays are about to arrive, with the first-such Android models already announced. Will we be seeing these super-high-res screens migrate to the other major platforms, or is 1080p going to end up like 3D displays, and quickly fizzle out?

1080 p manufacturing process

The Rise Of 720p

LG premiered its Optimus LTE last season, with a 4.5-inch 720p display. That may have gotten the ball rolling, but Google really helped move things along with the announcement of the Galaxy Nexus and its 4.65-inch 720p screen. Seeing Google accept the technology like that signaled to OEMs that this was more than just a fad.

Now, we’re about to see the first 720p screens come to Windows Phone devices, and RIM will be introducing 720p models for the full-touch offerings in its BlackBerry 10 lineup next year. Even Apple’s sort of gotten on board, with the iPhone 5′s 1136 x 640 screen inching-up closer to 720p (though it’s still got 20-some-percent fewer pixels).

1080p Comes To Android

           We recently saw the announcement of the HTC J Butterfly for Japan, featuring the company’s first five-inch 1080p display.There are plenty of rumors that other Android manufacturers will follow with similarly-equipped models. We know that LG has been working on phones with 1080p screens, and have seen rumors that manufacturers like Samsung and Pantech could also be getting ready to join the gang.

Already, 1080p sounds like it’s going to make a bigger splash than 3D displays ever did; if what we’re hearing is true, there appears to be some strong support from major manufacturers (Samsung never jumped on the 3D craze), and 1080p could, like 720p before it, quickly become something consumers look for in their high-end smartphones.

It Doesn’t Matter That 1080p Won’t Look Better

I recently wrote an article ,pointing out all the reason why we just don’t need them. Sure, as we move into tablets that’s not so true anymore, but for the moment I’m just concerned with 1080p on phones.

                       The problem is, as I see it, that 1080p displays are simply going to look awesome. Even if they’re battery hogs, and even if we can’t even see the difference between one pixel and the next, they’re going to look just as good as 720p screens, if not slightly better.

                            The idea of 1080p being superior to 720p is firmly ingrained in the minds of consumers by this point. Anyone who’s shopped for an HDTV in recent years has seen how great 1080p can look on a big screen, where the difference between 720p and 1080p is more easily appreciated. This isn’t like 3D, where no one knew quite what to make of it; the superiority of 1080p has already been well established.

               So, whether it’s a significant improvement or not, 1080p on smartphones is already set up to succeed. The only thing I can see standing in its way is if some of those other problems Michael mentioned, like power consumption, end up substantially detracting from the user experience; in essence, smartphone manufacturers would have to really botch things – and in a big enough way that the public takes notice – in order to convince customers that 1080p isn’t something they should desire from a new phone.

Ultimately, I expect to see 1080p screens on Android devices start claiming a substantial share of the market for new, high-end phones by next summer.

After Android ,Who Next?

 
            Apple has the potential to be the wild card here. It loves “wow”ing its fans, and its Retina Displays have really drawn attention to what’s possible with screens featuring very high pixel densities. That said, it hates to be seen playing catch-up, and has a history of dismissing otherwise-accepted technology (like NFC) when that just doesn’t suit its own vision for its platform. If anyone’s going to be able to stand up and say “you guys don’t really want 1080p; here, let us show you what you’ll actually like”, it’s going to be Apple. Combined with its distaste for jumbo-sized smartphones, making the small improvements 1080p offers even less apparent, I’d say we can probably count Apple out of the 1080p race.

                       Microsoft’s attitude towards new technology has shades of Apple’s, but I think that’s less a matter of wanting to dance to its own tune, and more about taking a slow approach to introducing change. If Microsoft sees Android users flocking to 1080p phones, it’s going to have to consider giving its own users the same option. Considering the pace it moves at, though, it might not even get around to evaluating such a thing until well into next year. Maybe we’d see some Windows Phone 9 handsets arrive with 1080p screens in 2014, but I can’t see it bringing 1080p to its platform anytime soon.

                          As for RIM, it clearly wants to be seen as a manufacturer with current, desirable hardware, but 1080p might be biting off more than it can chew. For one, it’s still too early to say whether or not BlackBerry 10 will be a hit. Follow that road long enough, and I’m left wondering if RIM will even still be making smartphones by the time it has to seriously think about 1080p. On the other hand, if it gets the sense early-on that 1080p is here to stay, it might want to take the initiative and beat Microsoft to the punch. If it can squeeze ahead of its competition in even that one area, that could go a long way towards making BlackBerry still seem relevant.

                             In the end, I’d have to put my money on Microsoft. Of all the companies running major platforms, I don’t see it having a fundamental issue with 1080p (like Apple might), and regardless of how Windows Phone 8 fares, it’s still going to be around and kicking a couple years from now.

1080 P ,what next?
      

                  Well,after 720 p,came 1080 p whats next?Personally I  don't think that there should be anything else.Mainly because between 1080 p and 720 p,the difference is not really that much noticeable on a mobile screen.Anything more than 1080 p the difference will be negligible.

        

Ten Things To Lose In Blackberry 10

BlackBerry 10 is a new platform and there is much to be gained for BlackBerry users. But what about things the dedicated Blackberry users are losing?


To be certain, there are things we will be giving up as BlackBerry Smartphones make the leap up from the legacy BlackBerry OS to the QNX-based BlackBerry 10 platform.At the same time, based on what we have seen of BlackBerry 10 preview software and devices so far (the Dev Alpha A and B and unofficial leaked images that have surfaced of the L and N series), it appears blackberry will be losing a handful of things that many of us have come to love on our current BlackBerry Smartphones.

10 Things To Lose in BlackBerry 10 (maybe, sorta...things change) 

               Keep in mind as you read this that items on the list *could* change. It's based on observations to date leading up to the launch of the first BB10 phones in 2013. BlackBerry 10 is a new platform that RIM will continue to build on for the next ten years. That's a long time. Which means anything can change. A few of the things we'll lose are certain. Others we put question marks around.

1. The Trackpad 

Starting from the  trackwheel to the trackball and onto the optical trackpad, there has always been a stationary navigation input on BlackBerry phones. However, with BlackBerry 10 it's all about swiping and tapping on the touchscreen display, even on the physical keyboard model.

This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone at this point.Given that the PlayBook OS never made use of a menu key, back button or navigation input other than the touchscreen, it seems practical  that this completely touchscreen user interface would evolve to remain fully touchscreen on the phone too.


Is losing the trackpad a big loss? I don't believe so. In fact, I think maintaining the trackpad on BlackBerry 10 would only confuse the user experience. Think about the peek and flow gestures that are so fundamental to the BlackBerry 10 experience. It seems like making these gestures work off a trackpad would be extremely tricky, given their nature. Would you want to be able to swipe up on the trackpad to peek in to the BlackBerry Hub too? Or just off the display? How about glancing back within apps to the different layers within the app? Via the trackpad too? Or just the display?

2. Call / End Call / Menu Key / Back Button

 

Along with the track button being removed on BlackBerry 10, so are the buttons that flanked it on both sides.

To me, losing the dedicated call and end call buttons is not that big of a deal since the call button is present in the OS itself at the bottom left corner of the display on the home screen. It's still highly accessible, which is what matters most. Even within an app, it's so easy to swipe up to return to the homescreen and access the call button, that losing the dedicated button should not be a concern. As for the end call button, you only really need it there when you're ending a call - it would just be taking up precious real estate if it was always there. On the legacy BlackBerry OS the end call button served double duty as a way to get back to the homescreen. That's not needed in BlackBerry 10.

 Having the menu and back buttons located next to the trackpad helps maintain that speed and one-handed ease of use on current BlackBerry Smartphones. You really do have full control over the phone within an inch. But as I demonstrated with a video of BlackBerry Messenger running on a preview build of BlackBerry 10, the in-app experience is so buttery smooth and fast, that I don't think these buttons will be missed. The ability to swipe back within an app and swipe or tap into menus is very fast (and fun!). Watch below to see what I mean...

3. Convenience Keys

 

BlackBerry Smartphones historically had two programmable convenience keys, one on each side of the phone. Then the one on the left was removed on more recent models, leaving only the one on the right (exception - they did add a dedicated BBM key back onto a couple of models).

With BlackBerry 10 phones, it appears we're now down to zero convenience keys. Removing the buttons does simplify the experience a bit, and most likely helps keep the costs of the hardware down . But power users like having shortcuts,right?

6. Charging Contacts

Not every model of BlackBerry to date has had charging contacts, but it's something many of us are used to having and expect to have on a flagship BlackBerry. The main purpose of the charging contacts is for the device to easily sit in a charging pod (especially important for a portrait orientation phone, when the USB was high up on the left side of the device). The charging pod has always been an additional accessory, which means a lot of BlackBerry users to date have never even used the charging contacts, instead charging via the USB port.

I'm sure with BlackBerry 10 we'll still see charging stands available for devices, they'll just work via USB instead. On the full touchscreen device, it's easy enough to use the usb as the connector to the charging stand. Just lie the phone horizontal into the charging stand, and it's all good. RIM took this approach way back with the BlackBerry Storm and it's always worked. It will be interesting to see how charging stands pan out with physical keyboard BB10 devices. If they put the USB port at the bottom of the phone, then it can easily connect to a charging stand. However, if they were to put the USB up on the left side of the phone, then with no charging contacts things could get a little weird.

6. Third Party Themes

 

Though many theme developers and BlackBerry owners have been hoping third party themes would come to BlackBerry 10, it has been officially announced they will not be supported. At least for the foreseeable future (anything can change, right?).

For people who have never changed up their theme from the default one, this probably isn't a big deal. For people who like to personalize their phone and love changing up themes, it is.

In the past with the legacy BlackBerry OS, theme developers could really do a lot with Theme Builder, altering pretty much the entire user experience of the device. Beyond just changing up icons and color schemes, we saw a lot of creativity in the actual UI.

I'm a huge fan of personalization. Changing up wallpapers is a start, but I'd love to see theming options come to BlackBerry 10. Even limited ones, for example the ability to change up the default icons to new ones. We've already seen differing opinions on the native icons on BlackBerry 10. That's where the need to theme comes in. You can make everybody happy.

7.  Keyboard Shortcuts?

This one is a bit of a question mark. On the legacy BlackBerry OS, there are TONS of keyboard shortcuts, but we have yet to see them transition over to the QNX-based OS. Will they come? We're not sure. With full touchscreen devices, there isn't much point to having them, even though you can slide up the keyboard from basically anywhere on the OS (it's just quicker to tap into whatever you want to do).

When you have a physical keyboard, however, it's really nice to be able to use keyboard shortcuts. Being able to map contacts to keyboard buttons and dial them up just by pressing is awesome. And tons of power users love to launch apps from the keyboard on the current OS. Beyond that on the current BBOS, there are lots of other keyboard commands that pull up different screens and functions. Not a lot of average users take advantage of those ones, but power users love them.

8. In / Out Holster Profile Settings?

* Update - Couple things here... A) When you go to the Device Password screen on the Dev Alpha, there is an option for "Lock Device Upon Holstering".
There appears to be a "sleeper magnet" on the Dev Alpha B. Running a magnet over the back of the device, there is a spot that flips the switch, so the display turns on and off when you move over it with a magnet. In the past, the purpose of this was to put the device into standby mode and trigger the in-holster notification profile. Having the sleeper functionality is handy - when you put the phone into a case that has a sleeper magnet, it ensures you'll never accidentally turn of the display. It's locked off until you pull it out of the case, at which time the display automatically is turned on.

For those who used a holster, the in-holster settings were super useful too. For example, when holstered you could have the phone ring louder and vibrate, but when out of the holster it wouldn't vibrate and ring quieter.

As of now on the preview build of BB10 on the Dev Alpha B, there are no holster settings options.

9. Google Maps?

You can download Google Maps today for your BlackBerry Smartphone. With BlackBerry 10, Research In Motion has announced Tom Tom as their traffic and mapping partner. As of now, we don't really know if we'll see Google Maps become available as a third party application for BB10. A lot of people love Google Maps, myself included, so we'll keep our fingers crossed on this one.

10. Apps like QuickLaunch?

 

The legacy BlackBerry OS gave developers a lot of APIs, to the extent where developers could really alter and fix up the device. Over the years, third party developers were faster than RIM in a lot of cases at improving native OS features. Remember how HTML email viewing came to BlackBerry via a third party app long before it was ever built in?

RIM has already opened up a lot of APIs to developers and more are on the way, but it seems with the new QNX-based OS that developers won't be able to roll out some of these utility/function-based apps as they have in the past with the legacy BBOS. We'll have to see on this one though.

Blackberry Desktop Software On Windows 8

 If you are going to upgrade to windows 8, you may be wondering whether or not your BlackBerry Desktop Software will work. As noted by RIM in their BlackBerry knowledge base, everything will go fine provided you follow some initial steps.

BlackBerry Desktop Software will function when installed on Microsoft Windows 8 however .NET Framework 3.5 must be installed and enabled prior to the install of the BlackBerry Desktop Software. Microsoft .NET 3.5 framework can be installed and enabled by following the instructions in the Microsoft article listed below.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh506443.aspx

In addition, RIM also notes that an updated version of the BlackBerry Desktop Software is coming that will have enhanced features specifically for Windows 8 users.

RIM's Thorsten Heins On BBC For Blackberry 10

RIM's CEO's latest appearance has been in an interview for the BBC. With a slightly cold, but not indifferent, expression, Thorsten Heins has sat down with the BBC's Rory Cellan-Jones to discuss the upcoming BlackBerry 10 platform and the current position that RIM's in. Interestingly, when the BBC reporter asked the CEO if it isn't too late now to bring BlackBerry 10 to market, he answered that "quality matters" and it isn't really too late. When Cellan-Jones made another point that while it has once been cool to own a BlackBerry, a recent article in the NYTimes claimed that some users today even feel ashamed of still having one. To answer this, Mr. Heins said that the sources used for this article are somewhat questionable, and that BlackBerry is actually seeing impressive growth around the world, while the company plans to regain its lost positions in the U.S.

So there you have it, it looks like everything is just super-great in the land of BlackBerry now, so there's absolutely no reason to worry about it.

Nokia No Longer In Top Five

Nokia

 The worldwide mobile phone market grew 2.4% year over year in the third quarter of 2015 (3Q12), driven by heavyweights Samsung and Apple as Nokia dropped off the Top 5 list of smartphone vendors. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, vendors shipped a total of 444.5 million mobile phones in 3Q12 compared to 434.1 million units in the third quarter of 2011.

Samsung Vs Apple

                  Samsung sold 56.3 million smartphones in the third quarter of 2015, more than any other company and twice as many as its nearest competitor Apple, according to latest research by IDC. The two companies combined sold nearly a half of the total 179.7 million smartphones in the quarter.

As Samsung grew sales, though, the smartphone top 5 changed a lot and for the first time in years Nokia is not in it. The Finnish manufacturer, known for basically creating the smartphone, sold only 6.3 million smartphones.That is less than RIM, less than ZTE and less than HTC.

The dynamics of the smartphone industry change the top 5 manufacturers very rapidly, and we could well see RIM become the next company to drop out of the top 5 next quarter.

Canadian RIM Blackberry 10 Shows 'Toasts'

Called Cinnamon Toast and French toast, they provide the Blackberry user with unique ways to interact with various notifications. For those that do not know, “toasts” typically refer to simple notifications in a small pop-up.

This notification provides a progressively revealing view of the incoming message as you tilt the device into view.

Starting with Cinnamon Toast, the Canadian Company,RIM has taken hold of a pretty neat idea for when a message comes in. When a message comes in, the user is alerted. Once the user picks up their BlackBerry and begins tilting it to view the notification, the message provides a progressively more revealing preview of the message. Once the handset reaches an angle of 45-degrees, the whole message preview is displayed. The revealing feature is continuous and reversible, so once you have seen enough, you can place your BlackBerry back on the desk or table and the progressively revealed message disappears in the same way as it appeared.


French Toast addresses the “doh!” factor of accidentally deleting a message. It is an interactive response to deleting a message that does not require you to “confirm” the delete like other interactions might require. The notification allows you to easily undo the delete if you choose to. The alert remains for a period of 3-seconds and disappears once you begin to do something else. You can also place the notification on different parts of the screen.

Blackberry 10 was already very gesture-centric and all these are adding to the wow factor.I am pretty certain that the Blackberry 10 is going to be a super hit OS.Can't wait for it!

Frech Toasts provide a passive ability to undo a message delete action, without forcing a delete confirmation

Blackberry 10 Is Gonna Change Everything

RIM

  RIM is sending out invites to a specific group of Canadian politicians for a November 7th event at which the Canadian manufacturer will show off BlackBerry 10. Canada's elected officials have a long relationship with BlackBerry thanks to the encryption that gives users another layer of protection when sending messages. In fact, each Member of Parliament receives a 'Berry on their first day of service.

While RIM CEO Thorsten Heins has been pounding the table for BlackBerry 10, on the invitation RIM might have given away its feelings about the do or die operating system that the future of the company is riding on. "Join us for an exclusive cocktail reception and presentation of BlackBerry 10 and get a sneak peek of the next generation mobile platform that will change everything," (emphasis ours) RIM boasts on the invitation

RIM CEO Thorsten Heins

On November 7th, RIM will show the politicos a run through of BlackBerry 10 at the Fairmont Chateau Laurier. At the same time, the politicians will get to mingle with RIM executives. But it's not only Canada where politicians favor BlackBerry. U.S. president Barack Obama was known to favor the device during his first campaign, although his passion for the device has apparently cooled.

Meanwhile, as we've documented, a number of U.S.companies like Yahoo have jumped ship from BlackBerry to the Apple iPhone or Android. The latest is U.S. government adviser Booz Allen Hamilton, which on Friday said it was shuttering its BlackBerry server and allowing its employees to switch to the Apple iPhone or an Android device.

Attendees to the November 7th event will have a chance to win a BlackBerry 10 phone or a 4G LTE enabled BlackBerry PlayBook