BlackBerry won't release its new Z10 and X10 handsets until March in the U.S., but operating system for the company's new devices, BlackBerry 10, is already receiving promising reviews.
"We are Blackberry all over the world," announced Research In Motion at its public unveiling for the X10, Z10 and its new OS Wednesday in New York. The words were more than declarative; the company has changed its name. RIM is very literally now BlackBerry.
Among the many announcements at BlackBerry's product launch Wednesday, the company also at last finalized the price and release date information for its highly anticipated Z10 handset - it's first touch-screen model smartphone. The Z10 will be available on all four major U.S. carriers and will launch in March for $199 - on Verizon at the very least - with a new two-year contract, or $599 off contract, according to BGR.
"In building BlackBerry 10, we set out to create a truly unique mobile computing experience that constantly adapts to your needs," said said Thorsten Heins, President and CEO BlackBerry.
"Our team has been working tirelessly to bring our customers innovative features combined with a best in class browser, a rich application ecosystem, and cutting-edge multimedia capabilities. All of this will be integrated into a user experience - the BlackBerry Flow - that is unlike any smartphone on the market today."
CNET:
The BlackBerry 10 OS is such a leap forward for the company that it seems poised to once again take the enterprise device market by storm, CNET said.
"Research in Motion has won key government security certification for its BlackBerry 10 operating system months ahead of its launch, allowing the smartphone to be used in secure government workplaces," reported Zack Whittaker of CNET.
CNET continued: "Although it builds off previous BlackBerry operating systems, BlackBerry 10 is a brand-new thing. On the whole, it's more sophisticated right out of the gate than Microsoft's first iteration of the Windows Phone OS, though some of what RIM left out -- like a way to turn off the camera shutter sound and click-to-call from any app -- leaves me scratching my head."
"There are some fresh, inspiring features for sure, like Bedtime Mode and BlackBerry Balance, but I would have loved to see RIM get even more creative, let's say with a multicolored LED light that shone a different color depending on the type of awaiting message."
CNET thought the OS was surprisingly slick, but there were certain aspects that left the site totally confounded.
"Then there are the OS behaviors that are downright confusing, inconvenient, or inefficient, like dumping screenshots and camera photos in the same bucket, and opening every app from the multitasking page. I'm not even sure how to classify the frequent network connection errors I saw, though I suspect some of those are related to testing on a review unit before the absolutely final software release."
CNET was impressed overall with BlackBerry's new OS, but they're still on the fence as to whether or not it can seriously compete with already well-established operating systems such as iOS and Andorid.
"The conclusion I return to time and again is that there are people who will love BlackBerry 10 for its bigger-picture interface, keyboard, and business and security features. These people will already be fans. But until RIM can smooth out the kinks and offer a few more compelling reasons to switch, iOS and Android users can feel justified staying put."
Engadget:
Considering the BlackBerry 10 OS is the company's first to try to utilize the potential of touch-screen software, many speculated just how well the company - famous for its QWERTY-style physical keyboards - would handle the transition. The answer: "Really good."
"The virtual keyboard in BlackBerry 10 is good. Really good. It's the best stock keyboard of any mobile OS at the moment -- a good thing, because there's no way to replace it," said Engadget in its review.
"As a company, BlackBerry has been doing a ton of legwork to ensure that app partners are lined up and ready to deploy their wares here, and indeed there's a lot of potential for BlackBerry, but at this point it's hard to imagine that potential outshining the established goods offered by the competition."
Similar to CNET, Engadget thought the new OS would likely make the biggest impression on previous BlackBerry users, but weren't entirely convinced it could steal users already entrenched in the Android and iOS ecosystems.
"As a replacement for older versions of BlackBerry OS, BB 10 is a huge step out of the dark ages of mobile OS design. It's something that finally feels intended for a modern, full-touch device, yet still offers the core productivity focus we think BBID-holders will like. Does it have mainstream appeal? Yes, it does, but we're not sure a great stock keyboard and some trick gestures are enough to unseat the current kings of mobile devices."