Blackberry 10 says goodbye to 'Home' Icon

Story first appeared on BlackBerryRocks.com -

As Research in Motion is geared up to bring its all new Blackberry 10 out of the closet with the next-generation Operating System, the question crops up whether users will relish the avant-garde experience that the smart phone company has been claiming. The sleek, trendy phone which is about to get launched on the 30th of March has let go of one of the most significant aspects which reigned the cellular cosmos till now- the Home Icon.

The first look at the Blackberry 10 software gives a peek into its transformed countenance in a plethora of ways, while delving deeper into the technology unveils a distinguished element which had remained an enigma to its users.

Donny Halliwell of RIM at a recent discussion on the Blackberry blog quipped about its cutting-edge User Interface which, contrary to the Android and iOS does not embrace any Home button. According to Halliwell, why go back when you are always encouraged to move forward in life? This forms the very quintessence of the new technology of purging out the Home Button’s essential function of taking you back to the central Home screen which entails all functions brought under one roof from any other location of the Operating System.

So what substitutes the Home function? It is the “Flow” interface, a maverick creation which enables users to get to all important applications directly with all the icons readily available in a minimized state. Hence, just like the Web Operating System, you will enjoy the convenience of having all the opened tabs that you visit frequently in a minimized windows manner, thereby doing away with the need of going back to the Home Screen to go to some other destination. As Halliwell puts it, the Flow interface is similar to the flow of life which moves systematically forward and does not allow you to return to the days or bygone times. Therefore, with the “Flow”, you can get a peek into other opened applications seamlessly without returning to the Home Page or leaving the application you are browsing.

A number of features embrace the new “Flow User Interface” which has been designed in a way to encourage multi-tasking. The unique features include a combined Inbox for general as well as social media messaging, a tab “Peek” which gives you a peek into your personal information and “Cascades” which denotes a premier User Interface aspect. The last feature comes quite close to its web Operating System counterpart.

So the world waits with bated breath for the launch of the two next-generation smartphones designed by RIM’s creative clout in the form of Blackberry X10 and Blackberry Z10, along with their all new counterpart Blackberry OS 10, this January 30th. It is true that all the above features appears quite promising and enticing as well, but it remains to be seen whether mobile buffs will actually find the Flow user-friendly and convenient to make the much coveted Blackberry 10 a matter of pride for RIM and encourage developers and designers to don their creative hat and write new applications for the new mobile platform.

Nokia, Intel Launch New Mobile Operating System

PC World

Nokia and Intel will merge two of their mobile operating systems into Meego, a Linux-based, open operating system for everything from advanced smartphones to netbooks, connected TVs and tablet computers, the companies said at a joint press conference on Monday.

The new operating system will combine the best features from each operating system, including the Moblin core and the UI (user interface) toolkit from Maemo. Intel developed Moblin, and Nokia developed Maemo. The first version of MeeGo will ship during the second quarter.

The first devices based on the operating system are expected to arrive during the second half of 2010, according to Renée James, senior vice president and general manager at Intel's Software and Services Group.

The operating system will support both Intel's Atom and ARM architectures. The MeeGo source code, along with the build system and developer tools will be released in the coming weeks, according to a FAQ on the MeeGo website.

The MeeGo code will be hosted by the Linux Foundation, and anyone who wants to develop an application for MeeGo will use the Qt framework. The use of Qt will let users develop an application once and then run it on multiple platforms, according to Kai Öistämö, executive vice president for devices at Nokia.

So far, Nokia is the only company that has said it will ship phones with MeeGo. However, more hardware partners and operators will announce support and product plans for MeeGo in the coming weeks, James said.

The arrival of MeeGo will not change Nokia's plans for Symbian. That operating system will still be used on cheaper smartphones, according to Öistämö.