Fans of the new BlackBerry 10 are in for some good news, as the first major update to 10.1 should arrive by the end of April.
The update will be available for BlackBerry Z10 owners, as for now the Z10 is the only smartphone running the new BlackBerry 10 (BB10) operating system. BlackBerry Q10, the second smartphone to rock the BB10 OS, is due to launch later this month.
The software update to version 10.1 is reportedly relevant to the Q10 handset in particular, BBIN reports, as many of the features are allegedly designed for the Q10's QWERTY keyboard.
The BlackBerry Z10 is the first BB10 smartphone to become available and the handset saw promising success, although it doesn't pack the familiar physical QWERTY keyboard typically associated with BlackBerry.
The BlackBerry Q10, meanwhile, will be the first new BB10 smartphone with a QWERTY keyboard and the OS upgrade to BlackBerry 10.1 will add a new feature called "Type N Go," which enables quick access to a number of commands directly from the search bar.
If a user types "email" and a contact name, for instance, the phone will immediately launch the email client and add the name. The same type of process will work for BBM, SMS, phone calls and others.
The BB10 update will also bring shortcut keys using the keyboard hardware buttons. Pressing "i" will zoom in, pressing "o" will zoom out, while pressing "r" will reply to an email and hitting "f" will forward it.
The BlackBerry OS word prediction feature is also tweaked, sporting new adjustments specifically for the BlackBerry Q10. Other modifications include tweaks to BlackBerry Balance for an easier transition between work and personal use, as well as security enhancements while using the phone for work. BlackBerry also adds a new, darker interface color, but this feature will reportedly be exclusive to the BlackBerry Q10.
Other features with the new upgrade include Smartcard Support, Mnemonic Phone Dialing, Out-of-Box Experience and others. According to BlackBerry, some of the changes the new update brings may be different between the Z10 and Q10 handsets.
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