Blackberry OS 10 launch event

Blackberry OS 10 was launched in an event in New York this Wednesday. As expected, the launch of the OS was accompanied by the announcement of two devices who would be the first in line of a series of smartphones running on the new OS-Z10 and Q10. So what all happened in the event? How good are the two devices? Pricing and availability info? Well everything's here.So read on

 GOODBYE FOREVER RIM, ITS JUST "BLACKBERRY" NOW:  CEO Thorsten Heins started the event with the announcement that the old RIM would be ditched forever and Blackberry would be the company's only Identity from now on. "We are Blackberry everywhere in the world" were the exact words of Thorstein clearly indicating his emphasis. Also, he made it clear that they would be changing their logo and from now on they would be known as "BBRY" on Nasdaq Stock Exchange.
Though it might seem a bit surprising, it surely is a good move after all, since the canadian giant is globally renown more as Blackberry rather than RIM and this announcement now leaves no room for any confusion. Appreciably decision indeed.

HERE COMES Z10: As expected, Blackberry (Maybe I have to get a hang of writing Blackberry every time I want to indicate the company quickly) showcased the first full touchscreen device running the brand new OS 10 christened as the Z10. The device sports a 1280X768 display with a brilliant pixel density of 356 dp. The device is powered by 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 Plus processor and 2GB of RAM making it quite a powerful device. The device sports a 8 MP camera capable of recording 1080p videos at the back and 2MP camera at the front capable of recording 720p videos. A removable 1,800mAh battery, slots for microSD (up to 32GB supported) and micro SIM, as well as radios for Bluetooth 4.0, NFC (integrated into the backplate) and WiFi a/b/g/n complete the list of specifications.

The design of the device is minimalistic-simple yet striking. The aspect of the design that comes out the most is the black Bezel (even present in the white model of z10) which is touch sensitive. This is because the entire OS 10 is gesture based and these bezels have a great role to play here (More on this is in an upcoming in-depth review of the OS 10. The phone would hit carriers in Canada on 5th February and US carriers would get the device sometimes in March. Verizon is the first to confirm that it'll charge $199.99 for the handset on a two-year deal when the hardware arrives in March, and has also called shotgun on the white version as an exclusive.

 Q10 FOR QWERTY LOVERS: Blackberry is still loyal to its Qwerty Keypad loving consumers. That is why it also revealed a touch and type Full Qwerty smartphone running the new OS-Q10.This model has 3.1-inch AMOLED touchscreen and a QWERTY keyboard. It also has a 1.5GHz dual-core processor and 2GB of RAM and 16GB mass memory. The device will support LTE. The release date and price for this has not been revealed although it could be out by April.

Stay tuned for an in-depth review of both the devices which I would do once these devices hit the stores.

The new OS was briefly explained in the event. Here are a few highlights of OS 10-

The revamped BBM: The new BBM messenger also supports Video calling. There's also a feature called Screen Share which allows users to share their screens with one another while in the middle of a video call. Users can share pics, documents, books, spreadsheets, etc all in real-time. The real-time sharing of screens would appeal to the corporate users who need to share their files, presentations etc. BBM lovers can celebrate really.

BLACKBERRY WORLD: This is what the new app store is called. BlackBerry states that the store already has over 70,000 apps for this and all of the 1000 top apps from Android and iOS are on the new BlackBerry World. Also, Blackberry says that the store would allow users to download movies, music and TV shows from the Blackberry World.

BLACKBERRY BALANCE: This feature allows users to separate work and personal information on their devices giving them a greater control on their phones. This would make it possible for them to protect corporate workers to protect their business info and data and also allow users to have fun with their devices without worrying about IT admins accessing their content. That's really a breather for Blackberry lovers.

THE CAMERA: BlackBerry Z10′s camera comes with a Time Shift option to edit a photo in case someone blinked while you took it. It also has a built in photo editor for tweaking images. Editing is again gesture based.

BLACKBERRY STORY MAKER: This would allow users to built slide shows using music, video, images, transitions and captions on their devices itself. More info on this in in-depth review.

Overall, Blackberry really showed that it is here to fight. With a brilliant new OS sporting a pretty UI, two fabulous devices and whole lot of Apps to begin with, Blackberry has really impressed. Lets see if it really turns the tables in its favor, Fingers crossed.

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