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| RIM announces resolutions for BlackBerry 10 |
| By Thom Holwerda on 2012-08-16 18:12:04 |
| For me, the two most interesting products in the operating system space to look forward to are Windows 8 (due to just how different it is), and BlackBerry OS 10. BlackBerry? Yes, and it's simple to see why. The BlackBerry Playbook, while not the most successful tablet, seems to be loved almost universally by its users, which bodes well for BB OS 10. On top of that, it's based on QNX, which is some major brownie points right there. The company has released information on which resolutions the operating system will support. |
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| Looking forward to what RIM has to offer |
| By porcel on 2012-08-16 18:21:48 |
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I own a Blackberry Playbook by happenstance and it is a great, great device. From using it, I have decided that I prefer a 7" tablet to 10", that the hdmi out is great and that the UI is much simpler and easier to use than other OSs. Slide up to close or move away an app, slide down to see its configuration. Really simple and effective. I say this as an Android and Meego lover. What is interesting is that there is a choice of educational content and apps not available on other app stores and it seems that what "little" there is, it is of a high quality. So, I don´t see the need to distribute 20pixels between two corners as a deal breaker and I am hoping that Blackberry has enough success to keep them afloat, just to keep things interesting. I definitely hope that they will allow existing playbook users to upgrade to bb10 when it is out. |
 - Score: 8 |
| RE: Looking forward to what RIM has to offer |
| By Adam S on 2012-08-16 20:02:19 |
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100% agree. Love my Playbook, more than my iPad. And while it's janky in movement, and typing is kinda tough, as a media device, it's awesome. Drag pretty much anything - AVI, mpg, mkv, mp3, flac, whatever on it, it works. $299, 64GB. Plenty of great looking apps available. I hope we get BB10 too, because I love my Playbook, even if it's the joke of the tablet world. |
| - Score: 2 |
| RE: Looking forward to what RIM has to offer |
| By dragos.pop on 2012-08-16 20:39:11 |
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Offtopic: I own a galaxy tab 2 7.0 and totally agree on the 7 inch tablet size. Perfect for me. On topic: i don't understand what is the fuzz about some pixels. Modern frameworks like qt(used by bb10) or android have a layout system that is perfectly able to handle this automatically. I came to the that mobile developers need more imagination not standard resolution. Fragmentation on this level for me is a theoretical problem affecting only bad developers. |
| - Score: 4 |
| RE: Looking forward to what RIM has to offer |
| By grantpalin on 2012-08-16 20:44:38 |
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Agree. I've only briefly experimented with other tablets, but owning a Playbook I find the UI and gestures very intuitive. Apps, well, I don't need the huge numbers that others are clamoring for. I'd happily pay for just a dozen high quality and useful apps. As for BB10, RIM have stated that it will be available for the Playbook as well, around the time the first BB10 devices are released. It only makes sense since the OS on the Playbook is the base for BB10. The Playbook is the initial testing ground for BB10. |
| - Score: 2 |
| Hmmm |
| By orfanum on 2012-08-16 20:46:13 |
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I had the chance to have a play with one in an airport electronics store; a good opportunity because I was able to compare directly with an iPad 3 and several Galaxy Tabs. I so much wanted to love it, with the QNX pedigree, and my sometimes nostalgic desire for the return of my Blackberrry and all but it was, for me, rather more "meh" than "gimme". Judged against the above major competition, I found the UI confusing (starting an action from beyond the screen? What's that about? Non-intuitive, much) and the device itself physically clunky and heavy. The Galaxy Tabs won hands down (just on the initial experience). Sorry to rain on the RIM parade but as much as I have wanted to root for them in the past, and thus see more competition in this space, you really cannot keep resting on one's laurels as a business, and relying on the general sentiment out there that there should be alternatives to the other tablet players. That line of credit/credibility won't last very long. |
| - Score: 3 |
| RE: Hmmm |
| By anda_skoa on 2012-08-16 21:07:40 |
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> Judged against the above major competition, I found the UI confusing (starting an action from beyond the screen? What's that about? Non-intuitive, much) Gestures from outside the view area are actually one of the best things about the user interface. While one might not discover that when handling someone else's device, as a device owner this is the very first thing that is demonstrated to you (short but very nice tutorial). Once you understand that the part around the screen is not just wasteland but actually an interactive part of the device, you almost immediately appreciate the consequences. One such consequence is that gestures inside the applications content area will never trigger those system gestures, i.e. operating system and applications are not trying to make sense of the same input. It is either the app's job (movement originating within the screen boundaries) or the job of the control interface (movement starting outside the screen boundaries) This also means that those system gestures can not be broken by a faulty app. A swipe from the bottom bevel upwards will always minimize the currently running app, a swipe from the bottom left corner inwards will always bring up the virtual keyboard, a swipe from the top left corner inwards will always bring up the status bar (e.g. for quickly switching wireless off/on). |
| - Score: 7 |
| RE[2]: Hmmm |
| By orfanum on 2012-08-16 21:26:15 |
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Thanks for the explanation; if I come across another PB I will give it a further and more extensive go. Now it's been unpacked, it makes sense that system and app gestures be kept separate. Showing my ignorance again I suppose but has RIM trumpeted this enough as a distinctive and efficient UI difference? Why don't I kind of know this as part of the PB 'package' as a potential consumer? I am no hacker but I hardly have my head buried in the sand, either. Perhaps this is the bigger problem that RIM has? Thanks again, Orf |
| - Score: 2 |
| RE[2]: Hmmm |
| By libray on 2012-08-16 21:33:33 |
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Chiming in in agreement. When using these gestures, you do not have to look at a particular part of the screen to click something. Your mind is at ease knowing that if you want to close an app, and my thumb is already near the bottom bezel, I can "just swipe" up to minimize and close. Or if I want to switch between applications, I can "just swipe" up and scroll apps, or do full scrolls. |
| - Score: 2 |
| Looking forward to BB10 |
| By gilljr on 2012-08-16 22:00:58 |
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I am also looking forward to the next generation of black berry devices. I have had many issues with my android based phone, including application continuity and battery. I do not like my wife's iPhone 4s (She liked her old 3G with the old OS better than her current 4s) because I don't find applications stable (they do tend to crash gracefully though), it is very limited with the single button, Apple restrictions of device storage access, and the battery does not last. I don't know if any device now a day is going to have good battery life; but I can dream of a life with good battery life, consistent interface, stable applications, and more than the single button I love to hate on the iPhone and iPad. I was defiantly a more satisfied consumer in my BB days. |
| - Score: 3 |
| RE[2]: Hmmm |
| By gan17 on 2012-08-16 22:22:55 |
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I wish I knew what you were talking about. :( Was thinking of getting a PB when it first hit stores here, but I just couldn't justify buying a tablet (any tablet) back then. I've not even seen one in action since they're not really common over here (Singapore), but I was watching a demo reel over at Teknision's website while searching for the Chameleon Launcher (for Android tablets), and happenened to see a demo of the PB as well. http://www.teknision.com/ Scroll down and click on "2012 Demo Reel" and fast forward to the ~26sec mark. Is that really what the PB looks like in use? If so, that's pretty nice, I have to say. |
| - Score: 2 |
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