In a recent article featured on KnowYourMobile.com, Paul Briden outlined reasons ‘Why BlackBerry10 should succeed.’ Notice his choice of words only implies that they should succeed, not that they necessarily will. His points are quite valid and I found one section particularly interesting where he discusses BlackBerry 10’s multitasking prowess over the mighty Android.
Briden points out that BlackBerry 10 will emulate the best parts of Microsoft’s Window’s Phone OS and Google’s Android platform. This will not be pure mimicry though. The implementation in BlackBerry 10 is quite different. For example, in Android’s latest builds of Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0 and Jelly Bean 4.1, there is a control that brings up a carousel that allows you to scroll through active apps, tap to open or swipe to close. BlackBerry 10 takes it one step further by making the ‘entire interface the multitasking control’ rather than adding a ‘multitasking control to the interface.’
He explains the peek and flow functions as having a window hidden off screen at all times, in all applications where all of your messages are aggregated into a customizable list which we know as BlackBerry Hub. You can use gesture control to swipe up and see a preview of an incoming message, then continue to swipe to the side if you decide its important enough for your full attention. When you’re done with the message, you can swipe again to return to the app you were in.
RIM has also implemented Active Frames which allows users to minimize active applications while they continue to display live updates. This combined ‘control suite’ featuring peek, flow, hub, and active frames puts the information that is most important to you conveniently and intuitively at your fingertips.
I am looking forward to the BlackBerry 10 launch because I think RIM is really onto something with the tightening up of the user experience. Will a slick OS be enough though?
Do you think BlackBerry 10’s multitasking awesomeness will change the way we interact with our smartphones? Or will it be another underrated OS in an overcrowded market? What does RIM have to do to show the world the power of BlackBerry 10?
Check out Paul Briden’s full article here: KnowYourMobile
bbquincar ( View Profile) - Posts: