There's a lot at stake for RIM. It has ceded market share to fierce
competitors Apple and Google, each of which has brought significant
changes to the mobile landscape. More than losing just consumers,
RIM is losing enterprise customers to Android handsets and the
iPhone, too. Can BlackBerry 6 stem the tide?
Possibly.
If you want a one sentence summation, here it is: BlackBerry 6
offers enough to help RIM retain existing BlackBerry users, but it
lacks the sex appeal to convince Android or iPhone users to defect
to BlackBerry.
RIM has done the most work on its home screen, and it borrows
heavily from competitors Apple, Google, Microsoft and Palm. The
home screen now holds more applications and content, and requires
less digging around through menus and folders. There are a number
of home screens that can be accessed via swiping from side to side,
and they are all user customizable.
The apps can be hidden in a drawer that slides down to the bottom
of the screen, leaving the home screen open so you can view your
wallpaper.
One of the better additions is the notification bar. Similar to the
way the notification shade works in Android, this bar holds all
your alerts -- new emails, BBMs, text messages, missed calls, etc.
Tap it, and it drops down to show you the details about those
alerts. If you want to ignore them, just tap again and it slides
back up out of sight. If you want to interact with any of the
alerts, select the message that interests you and it will open.
The benefit here is that you can quickly see if any of the messages
demand attention or can be ignored. You can do this without opening
the full messaging, or voicemail, or email application -- it can
all be done from the home screen.
Other neat UI tricks include the ability to tap and hold on the
homescreen apps. Do this and you're presented with a pop-up menu of
nine choices. This is a lot more interactive and fun to use than
the old BlackBerry key (though it steals directly from
Android).
RIM dedicated a large portion of its press conference Tuesday to
discuss the Universal Search tool. Universal Search automatically
scans the device whenever users start typing text from the home
screen. Want to send a message to John? Start typing his name and
his contact card will pop up along with other results with the word
"John" in it. Press his contact card and BB6 asks you want you want
to do (send him a text message, send him an email, etc.). Want to
find a song in your library? Start typing "Breathe" and the device
will show you Pink Floyd's track from "Dark Side of the Moon" along
with any other content with that word. If Universal Search can't
find it, it will offer links to other search services, such as
Slacker, or YouTube, or Google.
Search is one of the biggest reasons I like the Android platform.
Search is built into the home screen and is always available.
That's often key when you need results fast. I am glad to see RIM
taking it seriously with BB6.
RIM has made other changes throughout the OS. It is much more
finger friendly and usable on a touch device. The icons are bigger,
the software buttons are bigger, and there is more space between UI
elements. These subtle touches (pun intended) really go a long way
to making BB6 much better than BB5.x on the Storm or Storm2. The
media player and camera have been overhauled, as has the menu
system.
There's no doubt that BlackBerry 6 is the best operating system
offered by RIM. The company stressed that they wanted something
"fresh" yet "familiar" with its new OS. Despite the freshness,
there is too much familiarity. I was hoping RIM would go further
and push onto new ground. It didn't. BlackBerry 6 rehashes features
we've seen before, and seen done better.