Research in Motion has already confirmed that BlackBerry 10 smartphones won’t be shipping until late this year. Thanks to new images published by CrackBerry, however, we now have a preview of what’s to come. The images have come from one of RIM’s external ad agencies and highlight the much-awaited introduction of home screen widgets. The pictures reveal a number of changes, such as an updated Windows Phone-like icon tray that features dedicated call, search and camera buttons, quarter-screen widgets, iOS-styled folders and integrated video calling. Read on for more.
The new BlackBerry 10 widgets were clearly designed in a post-Android world, drawing heavy inspiration from Google’s operating system and Windows Phone’s Live Tiles. The new folder icon looks to be inspired by iOS, showing a preview of the applications inside, and the Pictures icon shows previews of photos from the albums within. The calling screen displays the normal speaker, keypad, mute, add call and notes icons, and there is also a dedicated video chat button.
There is no doubt that RIM has drawn inspiration from iOS, Android and Windows Phone operating systems, which isn’t a bad thing at all. The BlackBerry 10 OS looks far more polished and fresh than RIM’s current OS, but the real question will be whether it or not it’s too little too late. The BlackBerry London will be the first BlackBerry 10 smartphone to market, and as BGR exclusively reported, it is currently scheduled for a late September release that may even be pushed back to October.
