BlackBerry OS 6.0 screenshots and details leak out
By Nilay Patel 
posted April 20th 2010 12:25PM
posted April 20th 2010 12:25PM
Now, here's the interesting parts. First, it's obvious that this system is made for and being demoed on a touchscreen device, yet BGR says it was being shown off by an "AT&T connect." That suggests Ol' Blue is about to get a touchscreen BlackBerry of its own to counter Verizon's Storm sometime soon -- perhaps that leaked slider? We can't say for sure. What we can say for sure is that this is the third set of 6.0 leaks we've seen that have content about San Francisco and the earthquake in Haiti displayed on the screen -- and while RIM has said the previous two leaks were just mockups, it's more than a little odd that SF / Haiti has become a theme here. What does it all mean? We may never know, but whatever -- just hit us with that new browser and we'll stop asking questions.
stuff like this just another reminder why I left Blackberry in the first place
I cannot imagine trying to convince myself to be excited about a new BB OS..you'll still be pulling the battery every few hours anyway
My Storm 2's LED is blinking with excitement right now
Going Webkit is a step in the good direction. Let's hope they'll keep up with the Webkit(2) version updates.
They'll need to implement a few more things before they can at least interest me. Android, WebOS and iPhone OS still look way more interesting to me.
@Pyronick
Your Avatar looks interesting.
@OCEAN CLAK: Thank you... I guess.
Meh at least the web experience will be acceptable.. 6.0 will prolly launch on the blackberry slider..
Pretty interesting, let us see how they compete before we critisize them.
This is just turd-polishing now.
FFS sake RIM start something from scratch.
"40% of Blackberry users want to ditch blackberry for iPhone"
well, with this, that 40% easily jumped to 60% once 20% of BB users realized the platform's future is doomed.
OS 6.0 looks awful.
Since blackberry doesn't care about touch screen phones I don't care about their possible new OS.. It won't keep me as a customer.
Hmmm, maybe Blackberry won't crash and burn, at least not so quickly.
@killplay
And made you think they were in trouble???
Nice, better than what they previously had, a win for consumers.
Good for BB. Anyone who thinks their hardware is lackluster obviously never owned one. My old Curve was dropped and wedged between Coral before taking a lashing from a wave...still worked. They are ergonomic, and really the design hasnt been bested for business function...which is why they are here. I think their niche is fine...owning an Android now I realize how good their messaging is. If they speed up the OS and up internal mem, they could focus on business related apps and hold onto a huge share of the market for awhile. You NEED querty for ballbusting emails, and noone does it better.
@YoMamaOS I dont judge hardware by how it survives a swim in the ocean. I judge but how fast it performs day to day tasks, what screen resolution it has and the apps that it can run. RIM has clearly attemtped to go after the consumer market so we know they see it as important. If they are going to compete with todays smartphones, they are going to need to step up the hardware. Right now, thier hero phone has a 555mhz prcoessor, a 480x360 screen and 256mb or RAM. All specs from two years ago. You may be happy with thier products and thats great, but if they dont show the developers that working on the RIM platform is where its at, then you can start counting the months until RIM is relegated to small niche status.
@NYC_ROCK
I hear you Rock, but 555 is two years ago? Wasnt N1 the first Snapdragon 1 Gig? I OC the Droid to 1.25 from its "lackluster" 550 downclocked from 600. Screen RES? Let me guess ....your a spec junkie. Try running AMOLED during the day. Besides Im pretty sure the Droid runs more colors than the Incredible. Im pretty sure I wouldnt send an email with account numbers and clients personal info over piggybacked wifi on my iPhone or Droid, ya know, cuz when my boss fires me my lightsaber app wont protect me fromthe empire. RIM doesnt have a chance at the Consumer Market, which is why they should perfect their roll and keep the lions share. Oh, and the phone didnt swim, it is inanimate, it laid there wedged. Had it reasoned to swim in order to save its life...that would be ...."magical."
@YoMamaOS
Actually, RIM made significant inroads in the consumer market.
Suggested read:
http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2010/01/a-bloodbath-for-2010-the-smartphone-market-preview.html
(And this auther knows the mobile market. Current reference customers include: Nokia, Motorola, RIM, SonyEricsson, LG, the world's largest mobile operator, China Mobile; the world's largest mobile operator group, Vodafone; the world's largest mobile networks supplier Ericsson; the world's largest mobile application developer Buongiorno; the world's largest mobile internet company NTT DoCoMo; the world's largest computer maker HP and the world's largest IT services company IBM.)
I thought that joker Lazaridis said touch screens weren't that good? Anyway, this is very uninspiring. With the iPhone HD and EVO 4G round the corner, who's really going to go for this?
I like how they are maintaining a certain amount of familiarity with BB OS to avoid alienating their user base.
@TareG Yes, I don't think they can vary too much (like M$) as companies and long-time BB users/addicts won't like the drastic change. Although (again, like M$), that might be just what they need...
That's the way, RIM: keep what works, ditch what doesn't, and ignore the fanboi haters who wouldn't buy your product no matter what you did. Very encouraging.
@psycros
Well said.
Yup. It's looking good for them.
Fanboi haters represent only a minuscule minority of an already relatively small "tech people" or "gadget freaks" community. In the real world, RIM is winning battles and its footprint is growing, nothing like the "stupid company with crappy products" picture that haters like to project.
Hey RIM welcome to 2007. Better late than never.
haha .. those who wants to jump to iphone or android probably never used them before. they only admire their pretty UI... some of you will regret ever dumping your BB. i had used iphone for a year. amazing phone , however, it had awful experience when it comes to messaging .. battery life, keyboard. and if you ever use google voice, forget about buying Iphone.
@nighthawks to each his own. No one has to like a phone just because you do. Yes the iPhone UI is as you say pretty but BB is far behind and in their attempt to make a good UI for their touch screen they failed. No one's going to regret anything. Google voice is overrated it's only good for forward and text forwarding. It's good but it gets old. But i'm sure some people feel that way about bb and iphone so like i said...to each their own.
@techi25 bro , no one is going to regret ? not even one person?
you kidding me , right ?
this one for you bro? no one has to think google voice is overrated because you do. haha
I dont really like blackberrys
they are funny looking. Nice browser though.
But wait!
Touch screen phones aren't popular!!!!!!!!
(Lol RIM CEO)
Too little, too late guys.
EVO, iPhone 4th gen, Incredible.
No one wants a ported Storm.
@Johnny Rockets lol so true. That guy is blatantly lying to himself. Deep down inside he is said that his company failed at making a profitable touch screen phone. Not once but twice! (storm/storm2).
@techi25 meant to say *he's sad*
Good, I'm hoping for some nice UI change on RIM's products. If Palm dies off, then I'll have to look else for hardware QWERTY devices with good software(sorry Nokia, S^1 is just too old)
@zap2 With this refresh, a new device or two with some snappy hardware and whoah - is that Flash 10.1 coming to the party the 2nd half of 2010? RIM is going to get a nice facelift this year.
I'm worried though that only new devices will only be eligible for OS 6.0 or that entry level devices like the 8520 wouldn't qualify either. And look how much real estate this thing takes up? Unless you have a Storm, how can a Curve or a Bold display this information?
Wow...it's so...innovative...YAWN
Why do people buy these things?
Symbian has a better UI than this!
any idea on which blackberries will get the update?
I'm definitely looking forward to this. Any improvement to the browser is a welcome improvement.
This looks like Android 1.0.
Maybe by 2015 they'll adpot the Sense UI...
@Hussain Rahim But that's after 2012! :(
That browser looks cluttered, why a mobile browser needs to list the site tittle and be so vast is beyond me. I guess KISS applies here.
This is the first Blackberry news worthy to be read, to me.
If they want to keep their form factor and get this touch enabled os in there they could pull a Pixi style job I think.
just let me know when it goes on sale and this 8900 will "accidentally" get dropped in a river...
i thought that "touchscreen phones arent popular"?
Looks nice. I bet its still not smooth though... ill definitely be keeping an eye out for this. /former storm owner
Palm will be out of business in a year.
This looks good, I will wait and see.
RIM/Blackberry?? They still make those things? BB's are fo old farts and those that think they're the only phones that do email well...
@nefan65 I'm an obnoxious teenager and love my BlackBerry, so do my hipster rebellious friends.
I'm loving it! I'm a HUGE Blackberry fanboy, why? Let me ask you these questions, What other phone is easier to tether to a computer than a Blackberry? Sure the appworld doesn't match that of Andriod, or Crapple by far, but all the apps are solid. The OS upgrades may be insignificant, but why fix what ain't broke? I have a Blackberry 8900, and I am completely satisfied with my purchase. When my contract ends in about a year and a half I will buy another Blackberry. By the way to all those who say that Blackberry owners ain't technical, tell that to my Network+, A+, and my other 3 certifications or so. On the same note I'm a sophomore pursuing my B.S. in Computer Science Degree. Not to mention I can program in C#, C++, Java, any form of HTML, and Visual Basic. So yea, techies like RIM. Not saying that any other company in particular sucks(except for Apple), but that RIM has always created reliable phones, that I haven't ever had an issue with. I've been a RIM customer since I was 9, back in 1999, when they made pagers. Gotta love consistency.
Can't wait for the new OS on BB9700!!
Looks like a step in the right direction. Lets hope they can roll this out better than past updates. A lot of people are still stuck on 4.5 and early 5.0 releases ... those that don't know how to get the OS updates via Crackberry and other sources. BB OS updates roll out is similarly delayed via operators etc. like Android where people are stuck on 1.6 and 2.0 even though 2.1 has been out forever and the next version is due out soon.
Both Google and RIM need to allow customers get OS updates directly, perhaps forgoing operator specific features in favor of being more up to date without having to resort to getting OS updates from other sources, rooting phones etc.
RIM, fix App World and get more/better software on the platform ... at least up to the level of Android Market. Yes, most of it is useless but I am getting more use out of my Desire than I ever did out of my Bold/Curve.