BlackBerry 10 (BB10) has surfaced from the depths of whatever hole RIM keeps its secret software, and there’s a lot there to love if these new screenshots are any indication.
It seem as though Research in Motion has certainly borrowed more than a bit in the UI department from Android, as well as a little from Windows Phone 7.
RIM seemingly borrowed UI elements from Android and Windows Phone 7 and mashed them into BlackBerry 10
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not knocking them for it. In fact, I have to praise them for wanting to do something competitive, because RIM has needed a serious refresh to their image among consumers for a while now, especially in the United States. If you think about it, being inspired by what people have been using and praising makes perfect sense.
The image above comes from the good people at CrackBerry, and there are more to see as well.
Just as with Android, the icon tray is made up of 16 icons per page, each well-spaced and high-res. You also have access to the buttons that RIM deems important across the bottom.
Speaking of which, notice the widgets on the home screen. We can’t decide just who should be flattered the most here, because they look like a healthy mash-up of an Android phone with Windows Phone 7’s Metro interface thrown in. It’s very sparkly and pretty, not too mention functional.
That being said, we fully expect to see BlackBerry fragmentation rants across the interwebs at any time in the near future.
I have always been a big fan of BlackBerry and competition is always good for consumers
All jokes aside, I have always been a big fan of BlackBerry. I want RIM to succeed in a big way in their quest to not only keep things afloat, but reclaim their past status as a major player in the mobile OS market. The more competition we have, the better, as innovation abounds more with a larger number of competitors trying to kill each other. We all want things that are better. I’m happy to see RIM pulling what works from other mobile operating systems, and changing it to fit better with theirs.
Just think, if BlackBerry 10 turns out to be the next best thing to a cold, frozen, vanilla-filled sandwich, Google will have to rethink how to prepare that sandwich and give us more with the next version. It’s a win for all of us.