Hot on the heels of its announcement of the BlackBerry 10.3 SDK beta, BlackBerry today gave us a preview of the goodies that will be included with the update to BlackBerry 10.3.
Over on the official Inside BlackBerry blog, BlackBerry Product Manager Michael Clewley has described 18 new features that are expected to be included in BlackBerry 10.3. There’s a variety of goodies on the list, such as endless folders, an extra row of app icons on some devices, Calendar and Remember improvements and more. Here’s the full list of features named by Clewley:
New UI
- “Signature Action”: Updated action bar displays the most commonly-used feature and highlights it with a blue color. Secondary actions flank the primary action on both sides.
- Updated Icons: Remove boxes around app icons for a cleaner look.
Home Screen
- Endless Folders: Folders can now hold an endless number of apps.
- Empty Home Screen: BB10’s “running apps grid” will remain even if the last running app is closed, giving users a clear look at their wallpaper.
- Fast Quick Settings Access: Two-finger swipe from top of display will pull down quick settings menu. Works from anywhere within the OS.
- More Apps on Screen: Additional row of apps on Z3, Z10 and Z30. Additional column of apps on Q5 and Q10.
BlackBerry Hub
- Download All Attachments: New button to download all attachments in an email.
- Delete Original Text: Delete all of original text in email reply.
- Remote IMAP Search: Find and view email items, even if they’re not on your BlackBerry device.
- File Sent Messages: File sent messages into specific folders.
- BlackBerry Hub Reset: BlackBerry Hub will close/auto-save open content and revert to its list after 30 minutes of inactivity.
Calendar and Remember
- Weekly Agenda: Weekly agenda view in Calendar app.
- Tasks in Calendar: Lets users create a task while in Calendar app. Tasks created in Calendar will appear in Remember app and vice versa.
- Notifications Meeting Mode: Notification profile will automatically adjust based on calendar.
- Remember Updates: Tasks and notes separated by tab. Users can set default view.
Miscellaneous
- Camera: Updated UI to make it easier to take a photo, switch cameras and toggle features.
- Filer Picker Album View: Album view available when sending a picture from file manager.
- Settings List Re-arrange: Re-arrange order of Settings menu.
BlackBerry notes that the 10.3 SDK is still in beta and not yet ready for use by regular users. There’s no word yet on when BlackBerry 10.3 will roll out to existing BlackBerry 10 folk, but BlackBerry has previously said that the BlackBerry Classic will launch with BB10.3.1 in tow later this year.
Overall this sounds like a nice list of changes that are aimed at simplifying BlackBerry 10 and also making it prettier to look at. Of course, I’m sure BlackBerry has quite a few more tweaks planned for BB10.3, and so it’ll be interesting to see what else BlackBerry does to improve its mobile OS.
What do you think of this list of BlackBerry 10.3 changes? Is there anything else that you’d like to see added or changed?
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