If drinking coffee were an Olympic relay event, the Mobile Nations EiC team would win Gold!

In last week's From the Editor's Desk post I gave the heads up that I would be busy this week hosting the EiCs of our other Mobile Nations sites. Making the trip into Winnipeg for our EiC Summit were Phil Nickinson of Android Central, Rene Ritchie of iMore and Daniel Rubino of Windows Phone Central, who just this month further upped his committment and is now running that community around the clock.

To say the time was well spent would be a massive understatement. Fueled by passion (and shot after shot of my signature Espresso with an occasional Starbucks and food run in between), we got a LOT accomplished. We communicate face to face frequently as it is -- Skype and Google Hangouts make it so easy these days -- but there's an energy and magic that happens when you bring people together in a room that no virtual environment can duplicate. Plans have made and we're all ready to execute. We'll be pulling the trigger on a ton initatives over the weeks and months ahead and into 2013. Get ready for it. Awesome stuff is coming your way. It's funny. I've been at this game since 2006, yet it feels like we're in start up mode yet again. We have a vision and we're on a mission. So let the games begin!

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Following up on our video posted of the BlackBerry 10 photo editor running on the BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha, a new set of slides also showing it off have now popped up. In them, you can see the issue RIM is facing with the form factor choices between the N-Series devices and the L-Series devices but aside from that, you get a good look at the app and how interactions will work with it.

Again, it's important to point out none of this should be considered finalized at this point in fact, the slides slightly differ from what we saw in the video but after all this time, it's nice to see the pieces of the BlackBerry 10 puzzle coming together as they should.

Source: N4BB

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We all know RIM has been working on numerous different things for BlackBerry 10. Now, we're getting a hands on look at some of their plans for photo editing on the BlackBerry PlayBook and eventually, BlackBerry 10. BlackBerry devices have never really been known for their photo editing skills. Sure, there are a lot of apps out that are great but RIM truly needs a great built-in solution and as shown in the above video -- they seem all too aware of that.

As such, they're building a great solution for it, though keep in mind it could change from what it is currently. Filters, frames, transformations and photo enhancement features will all be built-in making the experience truly awesome, as it always should have been. Looking through the file personally, I can tell it has deep integration with Scalado and that's why it currently doesn't function as it should on the Dev Alpha. It needs the updated camera that RIM is running on higher versions of the Dev Alpha OS. However, there's no doubt in my mind that RIM has it up and running as it should internally.

Jump below to see some of the filtering options and let us know what you all think. Personally, the idea of having Instagram available for BlackBerry 10 is great but having Instagram like functions built-in is just as important to me -- you know, just in case Instagram doesn't have any desire to build a BlackBerry 10 app for whatever reason. Also, video editing is getting a makeover as well but that will have to wait for another day.

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We've seen plenty of leaked slides and images showing off BlackBerry 10 in the last few weeks and today we have another round -- this time with BBM. While we've seen bits and pieces of the UI and some apps on BlackBerry 10, we've yet to see a live and in color demo of BBM. N4BB has posted up some photos of what could very well be the layout we'll see in the new OS. The look is an improved version of what we know and love as BBM that has been updated for BlackBerry 10. Included in the app looks to be plenty of touch gestures as well. 

So what do you think. Is that what BBM will look like on BlackBerry 10? Sound off in the comments. 

Source: N4BB

Sexy, right? As we endure the wait for BlackBerry 10 phones to hit the market in 2013, our friend Jon Anastasiadis is helping us pass the time by torturing us with hot looking BlackBerry 10 creations of his own. We've already had a look at his full touch and full qwerty concepts. The next logical step of course is a slider.

As we learned from our recent interview with RIM's CEO and CMO, when BlackBerry 10 is announced in 2013 the company will announce both a full touchscreen and full keyboard version. Will they follow up with a BlackBerry 10 slider? There have been a lot of previous rumors about a BB10 slider, that went by the codename BlackBerry milan, including the most recent rumor that the milan hardware design was ultimately scrapped.

I know a lot of CrackBerry readers out there are hoping the slider form factor remains in the mix with BB10. Back in March a render appeared of another concept device dubbed the BlackBerry Blade that got a lot of attention from the community. The problem with the Blade was that it was more of a BlackBerry 7 design than BlackBerry 10 design, as it featured the traditional menu and back buttons that wil not be there on BB10.

BlackBerry 10 slider with Angular Keyboard: For this BlackBerry 10 slider concept, John implemented an angular keyboard. RIM was recently granted a patent for this angular keyboard design, so John put it to work on the slider. Slick looking. I wish I could try typing it on it right now! John also incorporated a micro trackpad between the T and Y keys on the keyboard. Remember, if you hook up a PlayBook to a mouse you can get a cursor on the screen. This is there for those finite movements. Or, maybe we will see RIM more fully adapt the BB10 OS to be trackpad friendly to help promote one-handed ease of use when on a physical keyboard. Time will tell! 

Be sure to click on the photo above to get a larger and bigger look at it. And when the drooling is done, drop a comment with your reactions!

The latest update for the BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha been delivered to developers and now that folks have gone through it quite a bit, a few things are coming to light. Sure, RIM added a bunch of stuff for developers directly such as new API access; BlackBerry App World functionality but they also quietly added some Siri like functionality.

We asked not long ago if folks thought RIM should add a function like Siri or S-Voice to the mix and most people said it wasn't important at all but if the BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha update is any indication then RIM might very well be working on it.

Of course, RIM has always had voice control services built into BlackBerry smartphones but realistically, they never put much effort into it. Check out the video above to see it all in action and let us know in the comments if you think RIM should even bother with trying to pull this off as an addition to BlackBerry 10. Thanks, Innovatology!

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If you've been following the news regarding BlackBerry 10, then you likely already know that the first BB10 device will be a full touchscreen, with the QWERTY version following close behind. This decision has shocked some people, making many wonder why RIM would go such a route when one of the most popular features of BlackBerry, and arguably one that RIM has perfected, is the QWERTY keyboard. When Kevin asked him about this decision, RIM CEO Thorsten Heins had this to say:

 "There's two reasons for this. The first reason, without being arrogant, I think we own the full qwerty market. The Bold 9900 is doing a good job of this in the market with our corporate customers. In the US we're most under pressure with the BYOD movement in enterprises, so we need to get in the battle. That's why we need the entry card, which is the full touch device, so we can go to enterprises and say, hey look at this, this is the full touch from BlackBerry and it does things way better than what you have today. And I think it's going to be way better. And then the qwerty comes immediately thereafter."

"The second reason is technology. Building the full touch device on this platform is more complicated than the qwerty one. So it's natural that you make the more complex product first that actually clears the pipeline for the platform."

The reasoning behind the decision makes a lot of sense, and hopefully will prove to be a wise one. Plus, that new virtual keyboard we've seen peeks of looks hot! Maybe it's enough to turn even the most devout physical keyboard users' heads?

CrackBerry nation, we want to know which BB10 device you're lusting after. Does the smooth, all touchscreen device have your curiosity piqued? Are you planning to stick with the tried-and-true QWERTY model, even if you have to wait a little longer to get it? Let us know in the poll above, then leave a comment below letting us know why you chose what you did!

Calling all devs! If you've been patiently waiting for your BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha to get a software update - today is the day! The Dev Alpha device software has been updated to version 10.0.6.361 and is available now for download. You'll have to install via PC, meaning you'll need to have the latest beta version of BlackBerry Desktop Manager installed as well. Once you have that covered, head over to the link below to get the update.

Updating the BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha

RIM has once again update their BlackBerry 10 tools for developers. The update brings some new features and fixes including the new application invocation framework and Push APIs. Also included is an App World update that will allow developers to deploy and test their BlackBerry 10 apps on the BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha. Keep reading for the full press release.

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It is concept time once again and what a beauty this one is. Created by DigitalHomeBoy, the TK 3.0 Discovery is clearly what he would like to see from a BlackBerry 10 all touch screen device. We have seen a couple of concepts in the past few months, one with a hardware QWERTY keyboard and another just touch, and they all look great. With BlackBerry 10 arriving shortly after the New Year (hopefully) we all now know for sure that both styles of phone will be available without too much of a gap between them, unlike RIM's original plan where BB10 was expected this year, not next.

If what we end up with looks remotely like this concept I will be more than happy. I'm not sure be will see hardware with the screen all the way to the edge of the device without a bezel (on the right and left) but I'm digging what DigitalHomeBoy has done with the back of the design.

The only downside to seeing concepts like this is that it makes the wait so much harder. Roll on Q1 next year. It's going to be awesome I suspect.

Nice job DigitalHomeBoy. Keem them coming.

Just in case you were wondering whether or not RIM had any patents in the works for their BlackBerry 10 keyboard, that question has been answered by the weekly approval of patents by the USPTO. RIM was issued a rather broad patent for logic-based text prediction or simply put, text entry that will think ahead for you in an attempt to guess what you're really trying to say. The official verbiage isn't really all that fun to go through but here is the basic abstract explanation of it all:

A handheld electronic device includes a reduced QWERTY keyboard and is enabled with disambiguation software. The device provides output in the form of a default output and a number of variants. The output is based largely upon the frequency, i.e., the likelihood that a user intended a particular output, but various features of the device provide additional variants that are not based solely on frequency and rather are provided by various logic structures resident on the device.

The device enables editing during text entry and also provides a learning function that allows the disambiguation function to adapt to provide a customized experience for the user. The disambiguation function can be selectively disabled and an alternate keystroke interpretation system provided. Additionally, the device can facilitate the selection of variants by displaying a graphic of a special <NEXT> key of the keypad that enables a user to progressively select variants generally without changing the position of the user's hands on the device.

That's a nice patent for RIM to have in their holding although; RIM hasn't really been one to assert their patents very much over the years. Either way, should they find themselves in a position where they need or want to they'll be ready to prove it in court.

Source: USPTO, via: Engadget

A week ago today I delivered my From the Editor's Desk post from in front of the often-photographed RIM sign in Waterloo. Between attending the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders and dropping by BlackBerry HQ, it was an insanely busy couple of days. If you haven't checked out my interviews with RIM CEO Thorsten Heins and CMO Frank Boulben yet, you'll want to do that asap. I still have more content to come too, so be sure to keep it locked to CrackBerry.

In the meantime, I felt I should say goodbye the same way I said hello. On Video. So grab a drink, sit back and check out this week's From the Editor's Desk above. Enjoy the show! 

Looks as though RIM is planning some updates for BlackBerry developers out there. As noted in an email sent out earlier, all the BlackBerry 10 developer SDKs will receive a major update in July in addition to RIM hosting two new webcasts for the BlackBerry WebWorks SDK and the BlackBerry Native SDK including Cascades. The two webcasts will be held on July 19th, details below:

• HTML 5 - Learn about all the new enhancements in the updated BlackBerry WebWorks SDK during our upcoming interactive webcast. Date: Thursday July 19, 2012 Time: 11:00 am EST 
• BLACKBERRY NATIVE - Learn more about all the enhancements in the updated BlackBerry Native SDK including Cascades in this interactive webcast. Date: Thursday July 19, 2012 Time: 2:00 pm EST

If you're a developer looking to take part in the webcasts, you can register for them using the links below.

Register for the HTML5 Webcast
Register for the BlackBerry Native SDK Webcast

Including why he took on the role, marketing BlackBerry 10 and more!

Research In Motion's new Chief Marketing Officer has only been on the job for four weeks, but he has hit the ground running. As we learned from RIM's CEO Thorsten Heins, Frank Boulben has already presented his marketing plan for BlackBerry 10 to management and the board and everybody is excited for it. 

RIM has been without a CMO for a long time now, and even when the position was filled BlackBerry's marketing has been one of those areas that the CrackBerry community has been highly critical of over the years. A new CMO with energy and smart ideas is something BlackBerry has been desperately in need of. Sitting down with Frank, it's clear that he gets it. I walked away from this interview feeling much more confident that RIM will really be able to not only bring a compelling product to market in BlackBerry 10, but also market it in such a way that people will want it. 

I probably should have stopped at 10 questions in honor of BlackBerry 10, but my list of questions was long and I managed to work in 12 before Heins dropped by to join the discussion (if you missed that editorial, read it here). Big thanks to Frank for sitting down with CrackBerry for this!

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CrackBerry Kevin talks BlackBerry 10 with RIM's CEO, Thorsten Heins, and CMO, Frank Boulben

At BlackBerry HQ in Waterloo yesterday, I sat down with Research In Motion CEO Thorsten Heins, and the company's newly appointed CMO, Frank Boulben. We covered a lot of topics, including the ramifications of BlackBerry 10 launching in the first quarter of 2013 vs. the previous target of Q4 2012.

The CrackBerry community, myself included, has not been very forgiving to RIM on this delay since word of it came out via the company's recent earnings announcement. After speaking to both Thorsten and Frank, I have a much clearer understanding of why the decision was made to wait. Not only do I understand it now, but I get it. From a product quality, marketing and carrier support standpoint, it actually makes a lot of sense. Of course, that won't make waiting for BlackBerry 10 any easier.

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