back to article Wad of BlackBerry OS 10 pics 'leaks' from RIM's inner circle

A "leak" of more than a hundred screenshots purporting to be from the release version of BlackBerry OS 10 has washed up on a blog. For those readers fascinated by setup screens, user licence agreements and configuration dialogue boxes, a treat awaits you here. For those of you who are not, we can summarise: it's very much as …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Who is going to want to buy a Blackberry handset when seems they are most likely to release Blackberry email software to run on iOS / Android?

    1. Jess

      Blackberry email software

      Blackberry email software is pretty poor. (OK it is much better that the dreadful stuff bundled with Symbian).

      Logicmail is pretty decent.

      1. Don Jefe

        Re: Blackberry email software

        Huh? BB email is one of if not the best for corporate use or users with lots of addresses that need to be managed. Their hardware is also pretty great. Their biggest problem is they didn't keep up with the times and make lots of useless apps available.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Maybe because their engineers like to optimise reception and battery life? they actually care about how the device performs as a communication device instead of how many useless gimmicks they can cram into it like Samsung.

    3. LarsG
      Meh

      A desperate move to drum up some interest in the new OS and phone.

    4. bazza Silver badge

      "Who is going to want to buy a Blackberry handset when seems they are most likely to release Blackberry email software to run on iOS / Android?"

      That's not likely to happen. The FIPs security rating on their email system depends entirely on the security design of the hardware, OS, network stack and email application software. Putting just the application software on top of an OS / hardware combo that doesn't have a security rating makes it pointless. As things stand, if you care about the privacy of company and client data then BB is still the only way to go.

      WIth BB10 RIM have been significantly cleverer than MS, Apple & (thus far) Google. By having a FIPs approved private / employer divide (Blackberry Balance) in the phone you get the best of BOYD whilst your IT admin stays happy too. WinPhone and iPhone don't do this; the whole thing belongs to your IT admin. I think Google are working in the same direction as RIM, but are miles off getting it FIPs approved.

  2. Silverburn
    Joke

    "Allow access using a Wi-Fi network to personal files store don your device or media card"

    Cue internal memo from IT Sec department:

    "Storing personal files on your device or media card is not allowed. Accessing wifi networks from mobile phones is not allowed. Printing data to mobile phones is not allowed. etc etc..."

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      No memo needed, it would be done by corporate policy rolled out through BES. (A relative who has one and works in a bank comments that everybody hates Blackberries because nothing seems to work, and they don't realise it is Bank IT enforcing it.)

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Terrible choice of font for the OS -- quite difficult to read quickly.

  4. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

    Genuine leak

    I'm sure it's a genuine unauthorised leak, Blackberry go to extreme lengths to keep the appearance, use and even existence of its phones a closely guarded secret.

    We aren't sure why this is the case - but it must be part of some brilliant business plan to become the number 4 smartphone platform - starting from being number 1

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Genuine leak

      "Blackberry go to extreme lengths to keep the appearance, use and even existence of its phones a closely guarded secret"

      Even after launch. And it seems to be working to judge by the progressive loss of market share.

  5. Andrew 73

    The £10m open source intranet?

    Someone should have a good look at the £10m+ the Technology Strategy Board spent with some of their Swindon chums IPL on adapting a open source intranet platform into the turkey that is _CONNECT. Expensive. Useless. Questionable.

  6. Zaphod.Beeblebrox
    Thumb Up

    A "leak" by any other name would smell as sweet (or be as effective..)

    "Not that we are implying this happened here, of course."

    No, of course not! Why I never thought it, not for a second!

  7. jai

    print to go?

    does it let you view all these different documents then?

    because, i suspect for most people, my printer is nearer to my computer than it is to my phone. even at work the effort required to print a document directly from my computer is far less than emailing it to my phone and then printing it from there.

    but i can see where it would be useful if the blackberry would appear on the network as a printer device. and then you could print anything to it, and it'd store the "printed" item so that you can view it later while at the airport, or hotel check-in desk or something. kinda like the Passbook idea on iOS except they haven't made it too easy to set up your own passbook items in iOS. If PrintToGo works like that, it'd be very useful.

    1. Mark .

      Re: print to go?

      Yes, I read it as the latter - that it's a virtual printer you "print" to.

      I agree it does sound useful - as it says, people often do this by emailing as a workaround, but that's fiddly (you've got to create the email rather than clicking print; it's also nice to have it on the phone rather than relying on network access). Another way I do this on Android is by printing to a PDF, then transferring over USB or bluetooth, again more fiddly.

    2. Fuzz

      Re: print to go?

      I think it works as per your second theory, i.e. the blackberry appears as a printer to the computer. On the computer you go to print your boarding pass, train times etc. etc. you choose the blackberry as the printer. On your blackberry you can view the "printed" document.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: print to go?

      You're missing the point.

      It's not about using your phone to print documents, it is about having a copy of documents available on your phone sources from any device that can print.

      It is about eliminating the use of paper.

    4. Bronek Kozicki

      Re: print to go?

      The blackberry appears indeed as a printer, if you install that special bit of software first. In it also networked in a way that all mobile phones are networked, by definition (and by whatever means you have enabled in the phone itself). And yes, the whole point of printing to that printer is to make your documents accessible to you while away from home.

      I know because PlayBook has the same feature already.

    5. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: print to go?

      It doesn't appear as a straight network printer, but basically you are right. It already exists on the PB, and it works rather well.

  8. ukgnome
    Thumb Down

    yawn

    is there anything less inspiring than blackberry devices?

    1. CmdrX3

      Re: yawn

      Yes.... Apple devices, I've only had an iPhone for 6 months and I'm already bored to death with it.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: yawn

        If you get bored of your phone, you need to get a life. It's a communication tool, not some dancing clown for your own personal entertainment. Anyway, I'm trying to add to the balance for the BB-naysayers in here who aren't necessary.

        1. CmdrX3
          Mushroom

          Re: yawn

          If I simply wanted a communication tool, I would have bought a cheap mobile for £10. If you think that's all a smartphone is, then you need to get an imagination.

  9. Select * From Handle
    Thumb Up

    Looks like a huge amount of updates.

    Since i had a Blackberry... well done Rim.

  10. IHateWearingATie
    Megaphone

    BB10 - GET ON WITH IT...

    ... or you won't have a business left by the time you release it!

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I know we need to see, touch and use the finished units...

    ...but all the screen shots I've seen show a pleasingly uncluttered aesthetic, leaning slightly more towards a Windows Mobile LAF. Here's hoping uncluttered != major functional omissions, as we've long moved past the Cut'n'Paste Not Needed school.

    As for the competition: To my eye, iOS has got graphically uglier and more inconsistent with each release - the entire iPad clock app is an foul joke, the address book is twee and olde world for no good reason, and why the crazy decision to have fake leather and book textures randomly added to apps? Unfortunately Android is just wildly inconsistent everywhere - perhaps that's the Java heritage showing through. That leaves Windows Mobile, which looks good, but needs more functionality and a whole lot less Microsoft to succeed.

    So good luck RIM.

    1. bazza Silver badge

      Re: I know we need to see, touch and use the finished units...

      Well, if it's anything like the Playbook (or better) I think you'll be quite happy with it. I like it a lot.

      It certainly makes Apple's "all you need is one button" UI philosophy look clunky, old and pretentious.

  12. Khaptain Silver badge

    UX - nothing very new here

    Flicking through the first 40 or so screens I would consider that the interface is

    Android - 85 % ( Most of the layouts are very similar - yes I know that there are not really 1000 of alternatives)

    Apple IOS -6%: All those slidy button things ( I hate those slidy buttons, i prefere checkboxes but that just personal).

    MS - 3 % : there appeared to be a hint of that nasty flat Windows 8 look smattered around......

    The remaining 1% is for originality, of which I didn't see much.

    I worked for a short perdiod with QNX many years ago and I seem to remember that it had a very distinct interface, although I dont see any of that in the screenshots... Shame cause the QNX I remember was quite original .

    These are probably alpha->beta screenshots but I presume that they won't be too far from the real thing...

    1. the-it-slayer
      Facepalm

      Re: UX - nothing very new here

      Such bull here. Get online and read past your bloody nose. There are plenty of things this OS does that others don't. Anyway, QNX has no mobile interface until RIM picked it up in 2010, so no idea what you're going on about.

      Anyway, even it contains elements of other OSes, you've listed the best parts (slidey buttons - why click an ugly tickbox when it's difficult to target on touchscreen when it's generally too small like on Android?). The important thing is that this is damn reliable. If the battery pull for RIM devices is a thing of the past and holds its own to act as an effective "communication" device, then it'll sell. Stuff the Android gimmicks. Open-source is it's only selling point and makes it dirty cheap. More importantly, makes the operation of it cheap.

      I'm praying the launch is successful and they can show off that starting from scratch will give them back 3rd place in the market and wipe WP8 off the map.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      Re: UX - nothing very new here

      Hmm, 85 + 6 + 3 + 1 = 95...

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: UX - nothing very new here

      I guess you missed the gesture screens that show you how to navigate menus, home screen and switch between apps with out the need for any physical or virtual buttons. If you've spent any time using a playbook you'd know how this UI is far superior to the others out there.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: UX - nothing very new here

      There's more to a device that how it looks, it is how well it works in practice.

      A GUI isn't the OS. Android uses the Linux kernel and GNU software as its core OS, but it looks nothing like Gnome, KDE etc.

    5. Mark .

      Re: UX - nothing very new here

      And if we were looking at the iphone UI in 2007, it would look 100% of my 2005 feature phone (or perhaps a 1985 Amiga*) with the grid of coloured icons.

      Does original mean better? And how much % comes from earlier BB versions (such as the also-QNX-based Playbook) - does it really have nothing in common with that?

      Were the earlier QNX uses with mobile phones? The desktop UIs aren't necessarily appropriate.

      * - I remember that QNX was also chosen by Gateway in the late 1990s, to base their next generation AmigaOS on, except they then went bust - hopefully this will have better luck!

      1. Bronek Kozicki

        Re: UX - nothing very new here

        How much comes from PlayBook ? Quite a lot really. Can't wait to install the update on mine because it does look very polished!

    6. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: UX - nothing very new here

      It's actually WebOS/maemo about 50%, as is everything else.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    Terrible Standard of reporting...

    ... missed the opportunity to include the phrase 'Rim Shot' in any way!

  14. Ian Johnston Silver badge
    Holmes

    Modus operfanboi

    Will they do the traditional thing and just happen to leave a new iPhone Blackberry in a bar where a journalist with an Apple Blackberry mag will just happen to find it and then have time to try it and write a review before Apple RIM draw attention to the review by publicising their legal demands for the return of the "lost" device?

  15. Simulacra75

    Anti RIM sentiment

    Just curious as to why there appears to be an anti-RIM sentiment on this? They're only a company that produces devices, just like Apple or Samsung (or whomever). Personally I think BBM10 looks good and at least it's a change from what's already out there. Why not wait to see what its actually like in "real life" before flushing it down the toilet? Think BES10 looks promising personally.

    Do not work for RIM. Just happen to have a Berry Bold. Solid unit IMHO.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Up

      Re: Anti RIM sentiment

      I agree; ever since BB10 was announced there has been a huge amount of negativity on these boards towards a company that's potentially going to give consumers more choice in the marketplace. Maybe these people are seeing it as a genuine contender and just can't stand the fact that it might do things that their prized and beloved OSs can't.

      Kinda sad really!

      1. Spearchucker Jones
        Boffin

        Re: Anti RIM sentiment

        You can replace "BB10" with Bada, iOS, Windows Phone, Meego/Maemo, Symbian... anything you like. On El Reg, if it's not Android it gets flamed.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The world has moved on - Blackberry hardware and OS is antiquated - people want and expect more (iOS and Android) - if you value security you pick iOS - if you want cheaper handsets you pick Android.

    See little or no reason to buy a Blackberry branded handset - odds on RIM still making hardware in 2 years?

    1. Simulacra75

      @ AC 20.24

      Yes, troll. I would take odds (if you offered them) that they certainly will be making hardware in 2 years from now. Antiquated OS on BB10? You're an ill-informed gobshite.

    2. Dan 55 Silver badge
      Trollface

      "if you value security you pick iOS"

      I see what you did there.

    3. bazza Silver badge

      "The world has moved on - Blackberry hardware and OS is antiquated"

      So what do you think their upcoming BB10 release is all about then?

      "if you value security you pick iOS"

      Smirk. "If you don't mind Apple reading all your emails and scouring all your content, pick iOS". That hardly sounds 'secure' to me... With BB / BES you're getting an email service that no one other than yourself and your employer can read. Not even RIM can read it.

      "Odds on RIM still making hardware in 2 years?"

      Pretty high I should think.

    4. Keyboard warrior
      Pint

      Have BB 10 and it's a winner

      Surprises me that people are willing to slag something off without actually having seen or used it. However this does seem to be part of the modern British psyche.

      Anyway I digress....

      I have been using a BB10 (dev) for 2 weeks. It's a very enjoyable experience. Very sleek, very fast and a pleasure to use. After using it for a while I put away my Android device as it's appears clunky and frankly, like a glitchy POS.

      Couple of standout features...the Hub, the peek function (who would have guessed that seeing and ignoring pointless emails while watching Homeland could be so easy), the browser is also extremely good, easily the best touch keyboard I have used and lastly the BlackBerry Balance function (which gives the device work and personal containers).

      From my own dealings with enterprise is that they really like the device and coupled with BES10 (which gives IT the capability of managing existing BBOS devices together with BB10 devices and also IOS and Android) I think it's a solution that many enterprises have been wanting for ages.

      So it would appear that the fat lady hasn't sung and I certainly see this device doing better than WP8.

      Check on out yourself when they are released before making judgement.

    5. Bronek Kozicki
      Facepalm

      Enough fair comments about RIM software (c'mon, there is a reason the bought and extended QNX!) but I want to comment on the hardware. Yes the CPUs are not the fastest, the memory's not beating the records but if you have Dalvik i.e. JVM running on your Android phone there is plenty of overhead for simplest of application. RIM do not have to run all applications on JVM (although they can), thus they can deliver very smooth experience with fewer CPU cycles and thus not the fastest CPU.

      Also, entirely different point: I picked BB Bold as my first smartphone because of the keyboard. For me, a phone is primarily communication device, for texts, emails and BBMs, and for this I wanted a good keyboard. And I got one, best in class. If you think that keyboard is "antiquated" you've clearly never used one so, kindly please, stop spilling bollocks and shut the f* up.

  17. JeffyPooh
    Pint

    PlayBook - updating to OS10 - how many legacy apps will work out of the box?

    My PlayBook has about a hundred apps. Anyone (aimed at developers with advanced copies) know how's the support for all the legacy apps? Assume 'abandoned' apps that would not be updated for OS10.

    Also, the Android apps will still be supported I assume?

    TIA.

    1. Bronek Kozicki

      Re: PlayBook - updating to OS10 - how many legacy apps will work out of the box?

      I would assume all of them will. OS10 is simply a new version of the OS you already have. There wasn't much problem with the upgrade from 1.0 to 2.0 so why this time would be different?

      1. JeffyPooh
        Pint

        Re: PlayBook - updating to OS10 - how many legacy apps will work out of the box?

        Thank you.

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