BlackBerry 10 in action

With all the news about Microsoft Surface and Apple's iOS 6, you may have completely forgotten about Research In Motion (RIM). Once, it was the reigning mobile-device king; now, its BlackBerry 10 software is the ailing company's last hope for survival.

CNET sat down with RIM principle architect Gary Klassen — a fancy title for a Grand Poobah of software design — at the BlackBerry Jam developer conference in New York. Klassen treated us to yet another sneak peek of BlackBerry 10, running on the Dev Alpha developer handset. This time, however, RIM allowed us to shoot a quick video of what we saw.

To be honest, this newest test drive was identical to what we viewed at BlackBerry World in May. Klassen had pointed out the same key features in the early version of BlackBerry 10. These are the new Flow interface, which lets users slide windows aside, to be able to peer under them to see notifications, and a snazzy tiled home screen layout, reminiscent of Windows Phone 7.

Klassen also demonstrated the magical software keyboard, which highlights suggested words over letter keys you're likely to tap next. We must say that it's pretty slick, but will these titbits be enough to lure developers to what many see as a dying platform? RIM thinks so; or, at least, that's what its BlackBerry Jam events around the globe are designed to do. In fact, RIM claims that developers are feeling the love for the new OS.

From:www.cnet.com.au