BlackBerry 10 beta release gets Siri-like voice command feature

Research In Motion (RIM) recently released an update to their developer alpha devices for BlackBerry 10 OS. One of the biggest features in the new build of BlackBerry 10 was the voice command feature with an operator whose voice sounds very similar to Apple’s Siri.

The new voice command feature is accessed by pressing the voice command button set between the two volume buttons in the developer alpha devices. It is still an early beta build so the voice command has limited functionality, but N4BB demonstrates that it has a universal search function, apart from calling and sending text messages. It may not yet be ready for prime time use, but it sounds very similar to Siri from Apple’s iPhone.

The voice command technology is speculated to be powered by Nuance, the same company that Apple acquired Siri from.

According to earlier reports, RIM had confirmed that BlackBerry 10 will include a video chat feature through RIM's popular BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) service. This didn’t come as a surprise, considering that the BlackBerry PlayBook also has a Video Chat feature and the Dev Alpha devices being handed out to developers had front facing cameras. This was the first time RIM confirmed that there would be Video Chat available on BBM.

BlackBerry Messenger for iOS and Android denied

BlackBerry maker Research in Motion has denied a rumoured shift to rival smartphone platforms for its flagship BlackBerry Messenger service.

Following slowing sales of its handsets - originally designed for business users, but typically now the reserve of chat-hungry teenagers - in the face of the success of Google's Android and Apple's iOS platforms, rumours pointed to work to port the BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) instant-messaging service to the rival platforms.

                      

With BBM proving the jewel in Research in Motion's increasingly tarnished crown, it was a risky strategy: moving what is increasingly proving the single unique feature of BlackBerry handsets onto rival devices could severely cut into already slow handset sales, but would have the potential of giving RIM a significantly larger target market for a subscription-based messaging service.