The Competition: BlackBerry 6 ups RIM's game 100
Our friends at CrackBerry.com are all over the big announcement at WES 2010, having just finished up a Liveblog of the keynote and posting details on the upcoming operating system out of Waterloo: BlackBerry 6. RIM is really upping their game with this release: they're making their OS more touchscreen-friendly, revamping the entire UI to be a lot prettier and more user friendly, making notifications easy to get to, adding a webkit-based browser, and even changing their app launcher up by adding clearer categories.
Of course, we'd be remiss if we didn't mention the latest buyout rumor du jour - RIM. This time it's from the Toronto Globe and Mail, who cite analyst speculation but rightly smack it all down. Now that we've seen that RIM is aggressively working on improving their own OS instead of looking for a from-scratch jumpstart, we think it's safe to say that the chances of RIM being interested in Palm are rapidly approaching zero.
Combine that with the rumored BlackBerry vertical slider and Palm definitely is going to have some strong competition on their hands. What do you think - How does webOS fare against this upcoming BlackBerry OS?
100 Comments
I don't think you should have to move your body that much in order to navigate through a smartphone UI. The regular webOS gestures seem simpler.
EPIC COMMENT.
But sadly... still better then our borg queen!!!
"I don't think you should have to move your body that much in order to navigate through a smartphone UI. The regular webOS gestures seem simpler."
That is fuckin' hilarious!
LOL ... The jokes on us. Blackberry 6 is actually RIM's new weight loss program.
Oh ya! This must be their wii-fit app. Lol
They are copying WebOS commercial. BB and swiping moving ? How about showing the trackpad ? Guess they don't want to show that. RIM wants to tell folks their phones are cool too.
Thats more annoying than a GAP commercial.
Agreed! I wanted to see more of what the new OS had, but couldn't stand the acrobats any longer...
Well, at least it will be easier to port webOS apps to Blackberry now.
Why? Just because they're implementing a Web Kit based browser?
I think I know where Palm's marketing company went to work.
HAHA! +1
Tragic
Honestly, that UI does not look very impressive at all, compared to what we have with webOS. webOS can easily eat this nonsense for breakfast. It will be sad when not only they start selling more units but when people start talking about how "groundbreaking" it is.
I think the dancing is to distract from the OS
I agree. However, RIM should have done this a long time ago! That pre version 6 UI, looks like something a caveman would use (no offense to cavemen). At least it looks a bit sexier, but it just doesn't compare to the smoking hot webOS UI.
WebOS is nicer, but lets feel good for the guys over at RIM, this is a MAJOR step in the right direction for them. But what's more BB isn't afraid of Palm or WebOS, but this OS just makes it easier to keep their customers.
Having said that, WebOS is still the best mobile OS out there, IMHO.
RIM still uses a JAVA core, and until they get rid of that. Their devices will continue to lag when you do anything other than email.
iPhone has really passed them with the release of OS 4. But I agree its a great step in the direction out of 1999.
WebOS uses JavaScript which is even slower than Java. At least with Java you can pre-compile the code.
False, JS can be faster than Java. Google Chrome's JS interpreter says hello, for instance. Also, a lot of the announcements from the Palm Developer Day came from them moving more of the phone's services over to Javascript from Java and thereby improving their speed (read the p|c article from a couple days back). They are also doing more to improve the execution time of Javascript on the device as well.
How can it be faster than pre-compiled code? Pre-compiled code is assembly (machine code). Android is adding this feature in upcoming versions and it will make Android apps faster. Is Palm making JavaScript pre-compiled in the future? If so that will be great.
Yeah, I know the difference between compiled versus interpreted code, but I'm saying that while in theory one is better than the other, in practice, a particular implementation of an interpreter can yield better performance of interpreted code than a particular compiled code language version on the same platform.
No idea how Palm is doing it, but they definitely were of the opinion that moving more of the phone's services to JavaScript from Java was going to net better performance on the device.
I had to comment on this because everything mentioned about Java and JavaScript, interpretation and compilation is pretty much completely false.
I mean, statements like, "Javascript doesnt have any overly complex namespaces/functions that are required to use it" demonstrate a complete lack of not only what Java is but how compilers work in general. Namespaces, which Java doesn't even have, don't introduce overhead.
Java compiles to Java bytecode. Historically, it used to be interpreted. With modern Java (in the past 8-10 years?) it uses a JIT compiler. At runtime, it's compiled to native code with a JIT (just in time) compiler. Java's JIT compiler is quite good these days, and for most things Java is around 90-95% as fast as equivalent native code compiled from a language like C or C++. Why? Because the code that runs at runtime IS native code.
JavaScript was, until very recently, interpreted. Modern browsers like Firefox, Chrome and Safari use JIT compilers to compile the JavaScript into native code. Modern JavaScript runs as native code. To my knowledge, webOS does something similar, which is why you can get Sunspider and V8 benchmark scores higher than IE even on your little ARM processor.
It shouldn't really matter anymore. Java and JavaScript are fast enough for most things on mobile devices. Use native code for things that aren't, as long as the tools exist for it.
Excellent comment!
A further point about JIT (just in time) compilers is that because the compilation is dynamic, it can produce code that is actually faster than static compilation (C, C++) since it has run-time information available to guide it's compilation & optimization choices. Whether the JIT's on webOS or BB etc do... yet... this is a different story.
Right. Also, Java and .NET are often much faster than C in C++ in some simple, contrived benchmarks, like loops that have useless operations in them. The JIT recognizes that the loop doesn't accomplish anything and just removes it.
Java is compiled, but then interpreted at runtime. Thats why one piece of Java should work on Windows and MacOSX and Linux/Unix. Because of this large Java applications require abbundant amounts of memory and processor time. Javascript doesnt have any overly complex namespaces/functions that are required to use it, and javascript interpreted is substancially faster than java.
Let alone WebOS is not based on Javascript, its core is linux which is C. Blackberry OS is developed in Java.
For the record, Java in compiled into bytecode into a virtual processor of sorts. So you're compiling to something, but it's not as native as you think.
yup, sticking with webOS.
Ditto
i'm a newly converted palm pre user, been a blackberry user for several years up until this past weekend.. while this new interface looks promising. it doesn't make me second guess my jumping to webos. blackberries are solid. but are way behind on the user experience. competition can't hurt :)
Considering that Blackberry will continue to be slow and lagging due to their Java core, I don't see anything revolutionary about the device. It's essentially the same looking as OS 5 with a few new bells and whistles. And while they look nice here, most likely they will lag just like the real devices do with OS 5 now. Let's not forget their inadequate multitasking ability. They are about to be surpassed by iPhone OS 4.
Note I do think they are good for email, and phone but thats about it. Once you move away from that, they become laggy and unresponsive, let alone the battery life decreases exponentially.
BB was cool and that was years ago...webOS is ahead in my book.
RIM is still rocking like its 1999...
Gayest ad ever.
OMFG make it stop...please. UI is still ugly.. honestly be happy if blackberry just dropped out of the race. I remember when I first tried the storm...talk about epic fail.
Ah, yes. I was extremely excited for the Storm as a WinMo user who was looking to switch.
Monumental disappointment...
I'm not gay and don't plan to go gay but I think I just went a little gay after watching that.
Is that gay?
LOL, that made me laugh out loud.
FUCKING A RIM. Why did you make this monstrosity of a video??
Do I have to dance and feel myself up like that to get it to change screens like that
Unlike Blackberry OS; WebOS doesn't need people dancing to distract you from the terrible os that Blackberry's have :P Also the floating screen things look familiar from Palm's new commercial, hmmm...
I agree with the previous comment that the dancing was way too distracting. I couldn't really tell where all the glitz was in relation to the operating system. WebOS still seems much more intuitive and simple to use. Our company uses Blackberries, and I'm willing to wager its a vast improvement over that version, but still not on par with what we already have.
Speaking of my company, I was talking to our facilities manager about my Palm Pre, and mentioned it was going to AT&T. He said we should get them for our heavy-duty travellers, cause they don't like the Blackberries they have. Win.
Just this morning I was messing with a Storm 2 on Verizon. Opened up the browser went to one site then handed it back to my friend. Came back 1 min later still loading. On 3g mind you! Wow I'm glad I don't use BB's anymore! BORING. But they do have the most market share and this new 6 will certainly help them hang on.
I'm not much of a commenter, but I felt I needed to comment after watching that video of BB6. What was that? I feel like that's all I need to say about that.
this is all fine and good if they put it on a vertical slider or the Storm *cough*piece of crap*cough*. But I can't imagine this would work on the small screens of something like Bold, pearl, tour, etc. Unless they have a Pre like device... meh
It's a good thing RIM has all of those wonderful touch-screen devices to use those gestures on!
(This is the part where someone shows me Storm vs. Pre sales numbers and I drown in my tears)
I'm sure there will be a new device to carry the OS. But you make a valid point that despite it still not really being earth-shattering, they still own us in sales...
OMG, this is the funniest comment thread ever. I'm LMBAO and crying. Precentral you bring me so much joy.
That commercial was annoying. The best part was the hot chick at the beginning and I could not figure out what I was supposed to watch, the dancing dingalings or the UI.
Oh the irony... "I'm so 2008, You so 2000 late."
Is that stupid song really 2 years old now?
Actually the lyrics are "I'm so 3000 and EIGHT, you're so 2000 and late...."
Also, what is it with EVERYONE doing the "floating screen in front of me" thing?? It was cute when Palm did it, ok when WinPhone7 did it, but this is just nonsense. It's too derivative and smacks of a 70 year old white exec trying too hard to "get it." Also, in this video, it's just too difficult to see WHAT THE EFF is going on with the OS because the screen is bouncing all over the place. UGH.
After muting the audio and actually trying to see the OS, I'm definitely not impressed. Good (albeit small-ish -- MOAR GRADIENTS!) step forward for them from the anemic Blackberry OS 5, but in terms of execution of UI concepts, Palm can look at this offering from their friends in the North and chuckle condescendingly to themselves.
Also, watching the dancers with no sound is pretty hilarious. You can absolutely tell the direction they were given:
Girl: "I'm sexy and touching myself because I'm a girl. I'm a girl and I'm sexy. Look at me dance sexy."
First guy: "I'm a business man. A no-nonsense business man. See what I did there? I checked my watch because I'm a business man."
Second guy: "Look at me, I'm a kid. I make punching motions because I'm a kid and I could care less! BOOYAH! I'm a kid!"
Even if the settings and clothing make it self evident, it's just funny to see how exaggerated the dancing is to meet the imagery. It's like how a mime has to overact to get the point across.
I'd like to add
"First Guy" wow, look at me shake and be nervous, all the cocaine and just took on the dash of my BMW is making me jittery, I need to check my tie a 1000 times... WOW, life rules, is my tie straight?, who wants to go to the strip club? Glad I can't sync with exchange, i'd love to get calendar updates over the air, but HEY, more time for coke and strippers in my 1500 dollar silk suit!
HAHAH American Psycho - funny part is most those wall street guys to this day are still like that...
Horrible dancing... Horrible music... though behind that there seems to be some interesting new stuff coming for BB...
Seriously though... the music is terrible... I mean take out the singing (which... um.. yeah), and what have you got? A generic beat that can be made on music software without too much effort. Sigh...
Borderline worse than Pasty-Girl. I can't even tell what they're doing with the OS.
what a bunch of crap. It looks like they are trying blatenly copy webos with the ui and marketing. That commercial was putrid and irritating.
A step in the right direction for Blackberry, but still no webOS by a longshot. Agree that the dancing was rather distracting. Stop with the gimmicks and show me the damn phone already.
The song is I'm so 3008, your so 2000 and late since it was out in 2009. Maybe, not sure.
I felt the overpowering urge to stop the video after about 15 seconds into the add. My goodness, what an annoying commercial!
Very 2008....
I think RIM is trying way too hard.
They should try even harder.
i saw boobs!!! and it looks like the life moves fast ad from palm!!!
EAS? No?, then go to hell and come back when you get it.
I saw white men can't jump, I see from this commercial they can't dance either, lol.
*yawn*...
All I saw was the (terrible) dancing...
BlackBerry changed something? All could see was a HOT chick dancing, but something annoying kept popping up in front of her. I should prolly watch it again... but after 3 times, all I can see is a Hot chick that can really move! Wait.. what was that commercial about?
I have a practical point... doesn't BlackBerry 6 still require BES to integrate properly with Microsoft Exchange?
If you have a personal phone that you also use for business (calendar, e-mail, tasks) and your company is one of the numerous ones who doesn't see fit to spend thousands of dollars and lots of man-hours supporting RIM's proprietary BES on the corporate e-mail portal, the BlackBerry is the absolute WORST choice of the major smartphones.
RIM's insistence on not licensing or supporting ActiveSync means that every other major phone platform -- Palm, Apple, Microsoft, Android -- is a better choice for the Exchange environments most of us work in.
All the bad commercials on planet Earth isn't going to change that -- it's up to RIM to catch up with the competition and support the Exchange standard like everyone else already does.
Ditto, see my post above, no EAS? go back to 1993, and come back when you work with exchange.
Looks like the same old crap to me. Still stale and centered around their 'business' appearance. Certainly doesnt look near as intuitive or user friendly as WebOS and the Iphone.
I have to say, i was convinced that RIM was doomed, and that they'd need a complete Palm-like redo of everything, but now I'm pretty sure they're gonna be alright. No way I'm giving up my Pre Plus for a BlackBerry though. But they're certainly gaining Android and iPhone OS. It's not for me, but it's not god awful as it once was- I'd now say it actually looks usable and has a useable UI- it's not pretty, that's clear, and it's not super slick, but you know what, it's a step up from what RIM was shipping. Not bad, RIM. Well played.
PS: Please, please, NO MORE OF THE BLACK EYED PEAS. My ears are bleeding...
I think Rim is obviously shooting for the cocaine-friendly users in the Wall Street sector with this ad.
I'll be with webOS for the foreseeable future, but I have to say it's a nice improvement on the BlackBerry OS. Really a great RIM job.
So the next Blackberry OS is controlled Natal-style?
ok, that video was hilarious/stupid! the WebOS video is much better!
Was that supposed to be a music video with bad dancing or a video about a phone? Hard to tell with all that dancing and music and flamboyant gestures!
Definately the most annoying add I have seen in a VERY long time....
If put in 1 word it'd be *terrible*.
I literary had to watch it again, mute the sound, and constantly hit the pause and rewind, so I can get at least the tiny idea of the UI (What's the name of it? BS as in Blackberry System?). Only then I could make out: pinch-to-zoom, something similar to WebOS' Universal Search, integration of Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, and some sort of multi-tasking (at least background music player).
I also noticed several wierd things:
- To bring up the search screen (to transition from music player to YouTube) the girl had to do some wrist twists.
- The business-dude had to check his watch, because the clock in the left upper corner of the home screen was blocked by the email view.
- Poor Freddie Hoffman (the contact of the business-dude) has only 1 phone number and it's an office number.
- Tapping on wallpapers brings up Social Feeds. (No, wait, actually tapping in the middle of the screen might get recognized as tapping in the right lower corner).
- The twitter characters-left-count started at 139, not at 144. Even if we count in "Post: " (with the space), it's 6 characters, not 5.
- Hitting the the Twitter post button (envelop-shaped) magically inserts the URL into the post.
I am not worried at all. This 'new' UI is no competition to WebOS (BlackBerry's market mind share is though), because I saw nothing it can do that WebOS couldn't do A YEAR AGO. This is so 2008.
You mean I gotta listen to that crappy music while I use the phone, and dance and stuff?
Seriously, though, there are SOME items in there that look really intuitive, they should thank Palm for some of the ideas there. Palm should look at some of what BB is doing (I really dig the "Person Name - show me EVERYTHING about the person, including contacts, when they're in the calendar, txt's etc").
But also doesn't look as good as WebOS does IMO.
Oh, and the last BB I've had my hands on was terrible as far as UI went (the touchscreen one .. The Storm??)
im no blackberry fan. but alot of you guys are just super hating. I guess you guys forget that webos was created because of the blackberry pearl.
Webos can stand up on its own. no need to bring the other down. and that browser ui is better than webos's. tabs at the top was a nice touch. too many buttons and clicks for me though in the menu
Webos needs some app grouping
Maybe its coming on a pink phone in May for Breast Cancer Awareness month... cuz the girl was either checking her breasts for lumps or she is quite fond of herself.
or maybe they shoulda used that Divinyls song "I touch myself" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SszHoW5ogNs) instead of Boom Boom Pow
looks like they took some cues from webos! but at the end of the day, just another fail 4 teamblackberry.
They clearly tried to take some of the elements of WebOS and make their own version. That OS is way too busy, and still clearly not anywhere near as simple and easy as WebOS to get things done. Certainly an improvement over the current OS. Of course, one has to wonder if they will be going to all touchscreen devices? Or will there still be trackball/pad devices? And if so, how will they function under this OS?
What about that UI was new other than fancy swiping? Also, has originality completely died in ad marketing? Are smartphone commercials turning into car commercials (the same ad repainted with a different brand)?
That is just a plain stupid ad. First, they copied the Palm Pre ad, which is like a zillion times better. Second, having a stupid suit bimbo moving like a teen will definitely not let Blackberry gain in popularity among that age group. WTF is happening with the marketing teams, who is hiring these people to spend millions of dollars on ads like that? If I would see that the Blackberry ad is a copy of some other company idea, I would fire that advertising producer right away.
The only thing I like about Blackberries are the actual handsets, which are solid and look very sexy with the leather back. But the last time I used one, the OS was so primitive I thought I was in the wrong century. I think this looks a lot more intuitive but it's still a far cry from the beauty that is webOS. On the other hand, I don't really like the Pre's hardware, which is clunky and boring, so I guess it goes both ways.
I can only dream what a Blackberry with the webOS could be like.
For those of you that can't get the above linked vid to load on your Pre, try this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQM_q5DYuAY&feature=youtube_gdata
Oh and btw, that commercial was pants. Some of the "gestures" they were doing in between the atrocious dancing was a blatant imitation of webOS, and I'm not saying that because I love the webOS. But it does make me feel me even more proud that we have something so good. Now if only I could put webOS inside a Blackberry and enjoy the best of both..
sad thing is, is that this will sell more than any webOS device. sad but true.
I am no fan of Rim (especially after what was POS Storm). Have to say though that this is def a much better direction for RIM. If this had been on the first storm it may have been a better hit. This will for sure keep RIM relevant and be a third choice between Apple and Android. I so wanted to be able to say Apple and Palm but that's not happening anytime soon.
P.S. GET THAT NEW HANDSET OUT PALM!!!!
I skipped everyone's comments at the moment to post my response.....in case what I had to say was already out there. Is it just me or does the new blackberry OS look like WebOS? WTF is going on here? I'm guessing they jumped on the linux bandwagon (which is great since I've been a strong linux user since I was 13,) but it kind of looks like blackberry stole WebOS and just changed it a little.
Just my thought....now off to read the rest.
BriMatt
I don't get it. Am I missing something? Hmmm! I must really be tired... or have 'code-head'. It doesn't seem much different than a normal BBerry. I am very good at looking through hype and "Ooo-Ahhh" BS. C'mon guys - there is nothing there but more of the same in a different wrapper. OR, I really am tired. I didn't see anything said about multitasking, or anything else that would suggest that it is going to finally get past puberty, and rely on it's functionality and capabilities - not just good marketing. Don't get me wrong here, BBerries are great, but are NOT in the Palm/Droid class of product. What? What about the iPhone you say? The iPhone has no class ;)
and let the ripping off commence. It was produced so lazy too, the video. What's up with the "you got served" pose at the end with that guy on the left? Lol
Why is everyone reacting in such a typical fanboy fashion? Why is it that webOS MUST be the BEST AND ONLY WAY to do EVERYTHING? Can no one see any merits to Blackberry's work? You people sound like Apply fanboys!
Fanboy? I just want a device that does my email with out a spending 10K on a crappy software server. Palm, Apple, windows, symbian, they all have EAS, does RIM, no, they are too busy being d-bags about BES to wake up and implement a solution that is free to the 90% of end users for full wireless functionality. Instead you can use their crappy internet service for sorta wireless, when it works, or if you leave your desktop on, your desktop software... otherwise, it's great you have a great messaging phone, that doesn't work unless you have it tethered to your outlook machine.
Fair enough. It just seems that every time there is something new, people have to respond with "that sucks!" because they feel "threatened" by it. I don't see how competition is anything but a good thing for all of us.
Got alittle nauseated watching it, too much going on, but not with the OS. It is quite similar to the Palm commercial but worse.
I think Blackberry has more popularity but Palm has a better OS and better potential, we just need the popularity. We fare ok, just base off the fact that Blackberry has popularity over us. Many people don't research the phone they buy they just go with what they know and have used in the past. Thus why I have own a palm phone for years. But now with precentral I know why I want to keep it.
Finally had to comment...
First their new handset bites the Pre form factor (hard), and then they "kinda-sorta" bite WebOS style of UI except...
You realize that the stripper-girl and the coke-nessman weren't "Swiping" jack. Those sliding screens were merely TRANSITIONS to button taps. No swiping occurred until the "wanna-bboy" "Swiped" up the favorites screen, swiped it to the right, and then swiped around in the browser to scoll. It's still a "click" UI and no gesture based like WebOS.
Watch it again in silence and you will see.
I think it may be time for HP to bring out the IP-cannons on RIM to pick those Palm bits out of their teeth. ;)