[Techtaffy Newsdesk]
And finally, it is here! Research in Motion, or rather Blackberry, officially unveiled BlackBerry 10 on Wednesday at events held simultaneously in New York, Toronto, London, Paris, Dubai, and Johannesburg.
Thorsten Heins (President and CEO, BlackBerry): Today sees a re-invented BlackBerry launching an entirely new mobile experience.
BlackBerry also unveiled two new LTE-enabled smartphones, the BlackBerry Z10 (all-touch) and BlackBerry Q10 (touch with physical keyboard).
If you are looking to get your hands on one, you may have to wait a bit. The BlackBerry Z10 will hit US markets in March. Elsewhere in the world, the new Blackberry devices will be available immediately in UK, Canada, and UAE.
BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10 Smartphones
The new BlackBerry 10 smartphones will come in both white as well as black models. The phones feature 1.5 Ghz dual core processors with 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, and an expandable memory card slot.
Both the phones also feature a micro HDMI out port for presentations, and advanced sensors such NFC (near field communications) to support mobile payments and the exchange of information with a tap of the smartphone. They also have a removable battery.
Models of the BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10 will be available from carriers to support their respective 4G LTE or HSPA+ networks, and all the available models include connectivity support for global roaming.
Features of BlackBerry 10
BlackBerry Hub – The BlackBerry Hub is a single place to manage all your conversations, including work email, BBM messages, social media updates or notifications. You have the ability to ‘peek’ into the BlackBerry Hub from other applications.
BlackBerry Flow – BlackBerry Flow enables features and apps to flow seamlessly together. For example, you can tap on an attendee listed for a meeting to see their latest tweet or LinkedIn profile.
Keyboard – The BlackBerry 10 keyboard understands and adapts to you; learning what words you use and how you use them, and then suggesting words to you as you type.
BBM – The new BlackBerry Messenger includes voice calling and video chat, and introduces the ability to share your screen with another BlackBerry 10 contact.
BlackBerry Balance – This technology separates and secures work applications and data from personal content on BlackBerry devices.
Time Shift – This is a photo app from BlackBerry that lets you capture a group shot where everyone is smiling with their eyes wide open.
Story Maker – This lets you bring a collection of photos and videos together, along with music and effects, to produce an HD movie that you can instantly share.
BlackBerry 10 browser – The new HTML5 browser supports multiple tabs, private browsing, and includes a reader mode, among other things.
BlackBerry Remember – This combines memos, tasks and so on. It helps you organize and manage information you have on your smartphone around projects or ideas, letting you collect content such as websites, emails, photos, documents, and other files, and then like a To-Do list, lets you create tasks, assign due dates, and track your progress.
BlackBerry Safeguard – This is BlackBerry’s security technology.
The BlackBerry World storefront, now includes 70,000 BlackBerry 10 apps, as well as music and video catalogs (with most movies coming to the store the same day they are released on DVD).
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Foursquare apps for BlackBerry 10 are preinstalled. App providers include Disney, Cisco (WebEx), Foursquare, Skype and Rovio (Angry Birds).