No new devices, but RIM talks up its virtual BlackBerry keypad

RIM shows off its virtual keyboard at BlackBerry World.

(Credit: Brian Bennett/CNET)

ORLANDO, Fla. -- BlackBerry maker Research In Motion officially took the wraps off its new BlackBerry 10 software here at the company's annual meeting with customers, developers, and press. And it showed off some key new features, including an improved virtual keypad with added smarts for easier and more accurate typing.

BlackBerry 10 reference device

(Credit: RIM)

Today, at its BlackBerry World confab, CEO Thorsten Heins took the stage to officially introduce its BlackBerry 10 software to developers. The software, which has been in closed tests with a select group of developers for months, will now be available to all developers. To help spur developer interest and adoption of the new platform, RIM is also giving away prototype smartphones that run the new software to developers registered for the show.

As expected, RIM didn't showcase any new hardware here at the conference. The company says it will introduced new devices running the BlackBerry 10 OS in the latter part of 2012. But some rumors suggest the company may have new devices on the market as early as August. Company executives have been tight-lipped about the specifics of these new devices, but here at the show they've hinted that the first devices will likely come with virtual keyboards instead of the physical QWERTY keypads that many loyal BlackBerry fans have come to know and love.

RIM has been careful to point out that these reference devices will never be sold commercially. They are only for developers to test new applications using the new software. But executives believe that seeding the market now with devices loaded with the BlackBerry 10 software will ensure that there is a robust market of apps for its new BlackBerry smartphones when these devices are released later this year.

While some BlackBerry fans may be disappointed to learn that RIM may ditch the physical keyboard in some new models, Alec Saunders, vice president of developer relations for RIM, insisted in a meeting before the launch of the software that BlackBerry users have nothing to fear. The new virtual keyboard is much improved in BlackBerry 10, he boasted, saying it's unlike any other such virtual keyboard offered by its competitors.

"We don't even call it a virtual keyboard," he said. "It's simply the next substantiation of our keyboard technology. It draws on what's core to our DNA as a company. And that's about making the BlackBerry a communication and productivity device."

Saunders claims that consumers are frustrated by the experience that's offered on the iPhone and Google Android devices when it comes to tapping out messages, whether they be text messages, emails or updates to Facebook or Twitter. The new BlackBerry 10 software, which was highlighted at the morning keynote event offers smartphones subscribers an alternative

Like other virtual keyboards, the one offered by BlackBerry 10 is intelligent, and it can learn a user's patterns so that it knows which words to suggest. But the BlackBerry 10 virtual keyboard goes beyond simply learning which words people use more often. It actually learns how users tap the screen. And it adjusts how it renders certain letters based on someone's typing patterns.

For example, if someone mistakenly taps the "R" everytime he means to type an "E," the software shifts its rendering slightly to the right toward the "R" so that "E" is registered instead of the mistaken "R."

Another helpful trick that's built into the new BlackBerry 10 software keyboard is that when it's predicting possible words a user might be typing it displays those words over certain letters. And the user can simply flick the word with his finger in an upward motion to send it into the display.

RIM has also aimed to ensure that heavy-duty BlackBerry users can tap out messages on this virtual keypad as quickly and effortlessly as they can with the physical keyboard. As part of that challenge, the company reduced the latency in displaying the letters to nearly zero. This allows people to quickly tap one letter right after another as they bang out messages.

RIM execs say there are plenty of other enhancements to the new BlackBerry 10 software. So stay tuned for updates to this story with more information about the highlighted features and functionality from the BlackBerry World opening session.



(courtesy:cnet.com)