DevAlphaB
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Editorial: Betting on BlackBerry (or hoping)
Carrying a BlackBerry Storm requires a certain capacity to face scorn with pride. You have to have a thick skin for pity, too. Also condescension. And incredulity. BlackBerry's reputation is in the gutter, but that's better than being down the sewer, which it was before RIM started showing prototypes of the BlackBerry 10. On the strength of an undeniably cool interface, the BlackBerry brand has clambered back up to ground level, where it sits in delayed-launch limbo. RIM is smartly spending the extra time exposing BB10 prototypes to the smartphone-using audience (and, crucially, app developers). It is not only to escape scorn, pity, condescension and incredulity that I place an emotional bet on BlackBerry 10. More objectively, there appears to be clear and careful thought to identifying how current models fall short in today's smartphone landscape (admittedly obvious), assessing weaknesses in Android/iOS experiences, and targeting an imaginative feature set to both loyal and disenfranchised users. It starts with a newly holistic approach to the mobile work-life balance. And there is that amazing camera thing.
BlackBerry 10 L-series tutorial videos surface online, give a literal peek at the future (video)
Those of us who've used a BlackBerry PlayBook will be familiar with the inevitable first-boot tutorials showing how to navigate the swipe-driven interface before we're let loose. Thanks to a series of demonstration videos leaked by BlackBerryItalia, it's apparent that we won't escape that educational process on BlackBerry 10 devices, either. The four clips show the basics of what we know the gesture experience will be like on full-touch L-series phones, including the signature BlackBerry Peek to check notifications and the unified inbox. Anyone looking for a direct clue as to what production BlackBerry 10 hardware will entail might be frustrated, mind you -- the rendered phone appears to be a placeholder rather than the L-series or a Dev Alpha B, and the device name is censored in an attempt to protect the source. That said, the clips provide a very straightforward explanation of the new interface concept and give us one more indication that RIM is closer to launch.
BlackBerry's new Dev Alpha B handset runs BB10, we go hands-on
BlackBerry's Dev Alpha handset proved to be quite the popular item when it was revealed earlier this year. It was so popular, in fact, that the company ran through the 5,000 it constructed in short order. So, it had to build a whole new batch of developer handsets to meet the demand, and thus was the Dev Alpha B born. We got our mitts on this new bit of kit and had a chance to see how it handled RIM's latest incarnation of BB10, so join us after the break for our impressions.
