RIM Announces BlackBerry 7 OS

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RIM Announces BlackBerry 7 OS

Posted by Soulskill on Monday May 2, 2011 @06:30AM from the damage-control dept.

adeelarshad82 writes "RIM announced two new BlackBerry phones with high-res touchscreens, 1.2GHz processors and a new OS that offers better graphics than BlackBerries had before. The new BlackBerry 7 OS brings the 'liquid graphics' ability and offers '60 frames per second performance with instant UI action/response.' What's unfortunate about the new OS is that rather than being entirely new, BlackBerry 7 is just an upgrade to the existing BlackBerry 6 OS."

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Stock shows no change by captaindomon · 2011-05-02 06:32 · Score: 3, Insightful

Investors obviously aren't impressed. After the huge crash last week in RIMM, with this announcement you would expect some recovery, but there just isn't anything there.

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Just because I can hook a shark from a boat, I do no offer to wrestle it in the water.
1. Re:Stock shows no change by grub · 2011-05-02 06:40 · Score: 2
  
  it's a polished version of their old OS, which is years behind iOS and Android.
  
  It's easier to polish a turd when it's old and dried up.
  
  --
  Trolling is a art,
2. Re:Stock shows no change by Anonymous Coward · 2011-05-02 06:46 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  Minor devil's advocate here:
  RIM has one thing that is top notch -- security. Android still isn't there when it comes to keeping data confidential. There are third party apps which *support* encryption, but only do so if the Exchange server mandates it.
  If BlackberryOS can do this, I wish Google can do the same with Android. It would be as simple as having a key which is stored in some NVRAM that isn't part of the filesystem which is XOR-ed with the user's PIN. Then the internal filesystem for the user data is LUKS protected. Too many wrong guesses on the PIN, the key is zapped and recreated and the phone reformats itself. For the SD card, it would be easy to do a system similar to Windows Mobile and sport EncFS, or encrypt the card wholesale with LUKS, with a keyfile that is stored on the device, and can be easily backed up. This way, a device can be remotely erased, but the SD card content can be recovered if need be.
3. Re:Stock shows no change by Chris+Mattern · 2011-05-02 07:00 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  RIM *is* getting left behind, but let's be honest here. Countries where RIM lets the government read the emails are countries where everybody who provides email lets the government read the emails. RIM got headlines for being the last holdout.
4. Re:Stock shows no change by wiedzmin · 2011-05-02 07:22 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Lets be honest here, RIM lets all governments read user emails, it's just that in some countries it gets more publicity than in others. You can't seriously believe that privacy-neutral states like US or UK do not have a backdoor into RIM infrastructure.
  
  --
  Bow before me, for I am root.
5. Re:Stock shows no change by ArhcAngel · 2011-05-02 07:23 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  If you are on a BES they still can't read your email. They can intercept a copy and try to decrypt it but with today's technology it would take them a few years to do so.
  
  --
  "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
6. Re:Stock shows no change by mr1911 · 2011-05-02 09:01 · Score: 2
  
  You can't seriously believe that privacy-neutral states like US or UK do not have a backdoor into RIM infrastructure.
  Yes, I seriously believe that the US government does not have a back door into RIM's infrastructure. They do not need a back door. With a simple "national security" letter, US government agents waltz right through the front door, take what they want, and prevent anyone from saying anything about it.
  
  Reality is so much more boring than a good conspiracy theory.
  
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Why did they buy QNX? by h4rr4r · 2011-05-02 06:35 · Score: 2

They bought a good OS and now they are sticking with the old garbage. Sounds like internal politics is killing RIMs only way forward.
1. Re:Why did they buy QNX? by UnknowingFool · 2011-05-02 06:50 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  They used it for Playbook. Considering how incomplete most reviewers regarded the PlayBook, if RIM has plans to replace their smartphone OS with it, it will take a few years.
  
  --
  Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
2. Re:Why did they buy QNX? by Stratoukos · 2011-05-02 07:17 · Score: 2
  
  Now you are just being unfair. They are also going to put it on smartphones that no one will care about.
  
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  It may be 7 digits, but at least it's a semiprime
3. Re:Why did they buy QNX? by RDW · 2011-05-02 08:20 · Score: 2
  
  Older readers may remember the excellent QNX Demo Disk, an OS on a bootable floppy complete with windowing system, file browser, editor, and a proper web browser:
  http://toastytech.com/guis/qnxdemo.html
  http://qnx.projektas.lt/qnxdemo/qnx_demo_disk.htm
  Who needs live CDs?
4. Re:Why did they buy QNX? by ekgringo · 2011-05-02 08:26 · Score: 2
  
  Our COO (who happens to be Canadian) bought a PlayBook. It's a really nice and solid piece of hardware, but the software on the device has serious issues including a GUI that doesn't recognize touches half the time you try to click a button. The BlackBery Desktop Manager, which is supposed to be used to sync data, doesn't work properly (works fine with the BlackBerry phones). It was quite an effort to get it to see the PlayBook and then it wouldn't allow him to add media once it finally did recognize it. He took it home to try on his home PC, which is a Mac, only to discover that the current Desktop Manager software for Mac doesn't support the PlayBook yet and will not be ready until sometime in the summer. Then there's the BlackBerry App Store, which is full of hundreds of $0.99 unit conversion utilities but almost nothing else. Looks like they released it too early trying to steal some of the iPad 2's thunder.
SOP by cpu6502 · 2011-05-02 06:36 · Score: 4, Insightful

>>>BlackBerry 7 is just an upgrade to the existing BlackBerry 6 OS
[Windows] 7 is just an upgrade to the existing [Windows] 6/vista OS
[Mac 10.]7 is just an upgrade to the existing [Mac 10.]6 OS
Reviewers should no longer be shocked. It's standard operating procedure.

--
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
1. Re:SOP by h4rr4r · 2011-05-02 06:38 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  It is when the company just bought a new OS.
  RIM bought QNX, everyone expected them to move their platform to that. BlackBerry OS is terrible, loads all apps at boot, etc.
2. Re:SOP by strick1226 · 2011-05-02 07:05 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  The notable difference here is that, unlike the personal computers running ever-changing versions of OS X and Windows, the BlackBerry hardware platform has changed very little over the years. Thanks to a combination of weak, battery-sipping CPU's and a bloated java-based OS It's long been a clunky, rather unresponsive UI if you pressed the devices to do much of anything beyond the basic calendar and messaging apps.
  I'd like to think RIM have a chance now that they're finally making some noteworthy changes to the hardware, but it's also entirely possible they're simply too late to the latest-generation smartphone party. If they managed to switch to the QNX platform on their phone devices I bet the investors would be much happier.
  I really wonder, though, if they won't just cease making phones and tablets altogether and roll full Android support into BES for corporate environments. Better do it before Google makes a corporate management platform, though! :)
In related news... by grub · 2011-05-02 06:38 · Score: 5, Funny

In related ancient technology news:

Gak the Caveman has updated his stone axe. The bindings are now made from hemp rather than mammoth tendon.

Grogg from the Urrg tribe has discovered a new method of tanning hides. This will help in those dark, dank caves!

Bleaaaa, leader of the Mmagb community, has found a method of creating fire by rubbing two stick together.

--
Trolling is a art,
"Just an upgrade" by wall0645 · 2011-05-02 06:47 · Score: 3, Insightful

Was there something wrong with BB OS 6 that should necessitate a complete re-write for OS 7? (Serious question, I own a BB but it's still on OS 5.) I am constantly hearing people complaining about how Vista was so different from XP and Office 2007 from 2003, etc., that I figured people liked upgrades rather than completely new things?
Re:Circling the drain by RyuuzakiTetsuya · 2011-05-02 06:54 · Score: 2

are android and ios Office and Outlook integration implementations tight enough to render BB's edge in those fields irrelevant? I know I can view docx, xlsx, and a few other formats on my iOS devices, but I imagined BB would have some sort of edge there. I also thought that BES would have an edge over vanilla Exchange connections over SSL. Huh.

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Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
Unfortunate (?) by Wrath0fb0b · 2011-05-02 07:03 · Score: 4, Insightful

What's unfortunate about the new OS is that rather than being entirely new, BlackBerry 7 is just an upgrade to the existing BlackBerry 6 OS.
Yeah, I was looking forward to replacing all my apps and app developers must have been really looking forward to supporting two different sets of APIs. Given the hate for "forward" Android fragmentation (i.e. apps that require Android >= X.Y) I can't imagine how much fury would befall RIM if they "backwards" fragmented by making an entirely-new OS.
I'm not saying that total-rewrites are always wrong but they have to be damn well justified (WinMo6.5 comes to mind) because they incur a huge cost on both the rewriters and the entire ecosystem. Those asking for an 'entirely new' OS need to be careful what they wish for.
take off your android/apple colored glasses by 1800maxim · 2011-05-02 07:10 · Score: 4, Insightful

Plenty of people get excited about BlackBerries, many are in the business world, and many are in the consumer world.

Neither iOS nor Android have rendered RIM product(s) irrelevant, and won't for a while. Stop spreading untruth.

There's one area in which iOS/Android cannot even touch the BlackBerry - security.

Of course, you know all that. And choose to ignore it and spread your FUD.
Take another look with your glasses on... by Kamiza+Ikioi · 2011-05-02 07:44 · Score: 3, Insightful

There's one area in which iOS/Android cannot even touch the BlackBerry - security.
You're right. Google nor Apple, to my knowledge, has yet to sell me on "unbreakable" encryption and then turned around and made a deal with a foreign government to provide the tools to break said unbreakable encryption. Yep, my DroidX can't touch that. Well, I can call using RedPhone, and completely encrypt my voice calls, use Orbot (Tor) to anonymize and onion route my phone's communications, and I can use any number of private crypto messengers.
Oh wait, did I mention that the folks at Whispersys.com (makers of RedPhone) also make WhisperCore 0.2? From the link: "Device and data security for Android. WhisperCore integrates with the underlying Android OS to protect everything you keep on your phone. This initial beta tech-demo features full disk encryption and basic platform management tools for Nexus S phones. WhisperCore presents a simple and unobstrusive interface to users, while providing powerful security and management APIs for developers."
So... what were you saying about BlackBerry faux-security again?

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I8-D
Correction by neiras · 2011-05-02 09:35 · Score: 2

RIM doesn't have the private keys to decrypt the data you send through their infrastructure.
Not always true.
If your handset is using BES (Blackberry Enterprise Server), then RIM can't easily read your email. Each BES installation has its own private keys.
If your handset is using BIS (Blackberry Internet Service), then your mail can be decrypted by the service provider just fine. Most consumer Blackberry plans are BIS.
Access to BIS messaging is what Saudi Arabia et al. were after. I'm guessing they got it.
Re:Circling the drain by Shin-LaC · 2011-05-02 11:47 · Score: 2

And that's where you're wrong.