If you follow the news on all of our Mobile Nations websites, you'll know there has been a lot of exciting stuff going on the last couple of weeks. First, the WPCentral team got their hands on a pre-release copy of the Windows Phone 8 SDK. Since then, they have been going through it like crazy, getting a good look at what's under the hood, and maybe more importantly, what's not there. They asked their community what features are still missing from Windows Phone 8, and got a HUGE response.
And over at iMore, they've also been busy. Last week they broke the news to the world that Apple will announce and release the iPhone 5 in September. I know, it's painful to think the new iPhone will be out on the market for months before BlackBerry 10 is available. What makes things a bit easier to take is the fact it seems the features iPhone owners are most wanting to come to the iPhone will be features that BlackBerry 10 have at launch. iMore followed WPCentral's lead and asked their community which missing features they want Apple to add most to iOS, and it seems the most frequently wanted features are ones to be found on BlackBerry:
- Proper Bedside mode - not just some basic Do Not Disturb setting
- A proper notification light - the iOS flashing pixel thing does not compete with the BB's LED
- More intuitive / real multitasking - everybody agrees Apple's implementation of the iOS app switcher thing is lame
- Better support for 3rd party apps to update data in the background - iOS keeps apps "open" in background, but not running after 10 minutes - you have to wait for them to "refresh" that data when you go back to them, vs. it just being there (lots of annoyance on this over at iMore as being one of the iPhone's biggest shortcomings)
- An updated UI w/ gestures and no home button - iOS is getting stale in terms of overall appearance. And people are getting tired of having to press that home button.
- Snooze on calendar events - not just dismiss and view
Reading through the comments, it's clear there are a lot of former BlackBerry users over on iMore who have gone iPhone, as many of the requested features are things that BlackBerry has been doing in the standard BlackBerry OS for years. And some of them -- like the updated gesture-based UI -- is coming in BlackBerry 10 (it's already there on the PlayBook tablet).
Lately BlackBerry has been taking its beating for the areas where it lags the competition (the reason a next generation platform is being developed for BlackBerry), but an iOS user wishlist like this reminds us of all the things BlackBerry has been doing right for a long time now. It makes me even more excited for BlackBerry 10.
Read more
BlackBerry partners with Sharecare
BlackBerry and Sharecare, a leading digital health and wellness engagement platform, have announced a new strategic technology collaboration at CES 2016.
BlackBerry offers Android and iOS users a look at BlackBerry 10 with Blippar 'takeover' app
With the BlackBerry Z10 out there and becoming increasingly available, getting the word out about the device and the new BlackBerry 10 OS is pretty crucial for BlackBerry. We've seen an onslaught of TV ads including BlackBerrys first ever Super Bowl commercial, print ads, radio ads and now BlackBerry has employed the help of Blippar, an augmented reality mobile ad company, to help...
BlackBerry introduces work spaces for iOS and Android
It’s widely known that BlackBerry has offered the best in class handheld corporate security on their handheld devices, but today that is changing. At the BlackBerry Enterprise Forum for BlackBerry 10, BlackBerry introduced the workspace feature found on the Blackberry 10 platform for iOS and Android. The new feature of the BlackBerry enterprise service will allow IT admins to push a...
Android 4.2. iOS 6. Windows Phone 8. I want BlackBerry 10!
Anyone who knows me or cares to find out, knows I'm not strictly a BlackBerry user. I use numerous OS' throughout the run of my day. A lot of the time, I take some heat for that. People get mad and unfollow me on Twitter and say things like 'Dude, you're Android..I thought you were BlackBerry'. I always chuckle a little and wonder why I have to be anything other than what I am. I'm...