The BlackBerry OS 6.0 is still being tweaked and tinkered with inside RIM’s labs, but the first screenshots have begun to leak out, showing multi-touch abilities, a super-powered browser, and an all-new media player.
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Snagged by the mobile mavens at Boy Genius Report, these screenshots show BlackBerry’s all-new interface and what’s more, they’ve seen it in action too.
The new BlackBerry OS 6.0 browser supports tabbed browsing, so you can open multiple webpages at the same time. Tabs are shoved at the top of the screen, and revealed with a single tap. Its new media player looked decidedly iPhone-esque, with a Cover Flow-style interface you can see above.
There’s new system-wide touch abilities, with kinetic scrolling and “rubberbanding” where lists and pages bounce as you reach the end, as well as pop-up menus giving contextual options when you tap and hold on a touchscreen device.
There are also tweaks to the BlackBerry inbox, with a “cleaner, and a bit more modern” design reported. Messages also feature new icons to make it clear whether they’re from Facebook, Twitter or e-mail. RSS is also built into the BlackBerry OS 6.0 inbox.
There’s a new customisable homescreen too, with pages to help you separate apps, a little like the iPhone, as well as a new photo viewer which sounds suspiciously similar to Cupertino’s offering. Small thumbnails, thin borders, and instant loading of your entire photo library, avoiding the wait for each thumbnail to pop up individually.
Boy Genius quotes sources stating the new BlackBerry OS 6.0 will start rolling out in June / July, although it’s not clear which devices will be running it. Stay tuned for more as we hear it, and head over to BGR to see BlackBerry OS 6.0 in full, they’ve got some smashing pictures of it in action!
Out June / July | £TBC | BlackBerry (via BGR)
