BlackBerry 10 Smartphones - What to Expect in 2013

BlackBerry 10 is being worked upon with vigorous zeal at RIM by the BB team. Recently, we had a glimpse of latest BB software version of near to finish models of the two handsets that are to be launched.

BB 10 devices include an all touch screen phone having 4.2″ sized screen resembling the BlackBerry Developer Alpha model being used by developers and the other one is a traditional square touch screen mobile with QWERTY keyboard. The earliest set will comprise of six new models that are to be launched in 2013 and all of these devices will be launched at one time. The QWERTY model will linger for a short while after this launch.

We have seen two handsets that are premium devices but even then touch and QWERTY models will continue to be in the market to cater to the budget and mid-range buyers. This means that the BlackBerry 10 device will be replacing all the existing BB models that are right now in the market (big screen QWERTY Torch is an exception).

Patchy Tidbits

As of today RIM is hesitating from sharing special attributes of their new model, but the design which was demonstrated was almost near to final. This means that the work on handsets is not halting the launch date but it depends more upon the development of software. This also indicates towards shifting of launching date before Mobile World Congress’s mass announcements.

One of the features that BlackBerry will continue to carry in upcoming devices is the take off back which is typically absent in new versions of smartphones. So, even with the new handset you will be able to carry fully powered battery and can replace a second one whenever you require.

As stated earlier, these devices will carry screen resolutions of 1280 by 720 for touch models and 720 by 720 for QWERTY devices. This is way different from the BlackBerry Developer Alpha handset with 1280 by 768 screen resolution, which was shown in spring and is being handed out to developers.

Developing Apps For BB 10

Since this new device is comparatively smaller, developers will have the liberty to come up with smaller version of apps than the screen of Developer Alpha. Developing apps for array of BB devices is going to be easier for developers because they will have to work with only two resolutions. The screen resolution and size of most of the BlackBerry handsets have been a bit different in the past. The work on the final look of BB 10 interface is still going on at RIM but demonstration has revealed navigation metaphors that displayed flowing of one application to the next. Hopefully, QNX kernel will make for the smooth running of such multitasking activities.

As expected, the company is taking a lead from the work it had done while developing novel applications for PlayBook 2.0 OS and also on the very popular unified box of BlackBerry OS. The new highlight is the BB 10 key tools that were not incorporated in PlayBook such as BBM.