We have heard time and time again from Thorsten Heins, CEO BlackBerry, about how BlackBerry 10 will provide a new user paradigm that will differ from the ‘in-out’ app paradigm that we have all been so familiar with. Suddenly (while over a cup of coffee this morning) it occurred to me that the pieces are finally starting to fit together, particularly in the aspect of communications.
First let me explain a little about the ‘in-out’ paradigm. Let’s say if you have a bunch of notifications; Facebook messages, Twitter replies, Emails from various accounts, WhatsApp messages, BBM messages, etc. Normally you would have to go into Notification Centre, tap Facebook messages, it launches the Facebook app and lets you reply. Then you open Notification Centre again, tap the Twitter notification, it launches twitter and let you reply to it. Then you open Notification Centre again, then tap on the WhatsApp notification, it launches WhatsApp and lets you reply. Then you open Notification Centre again… you get the idea.
Basically, you have to go in and out of various apps just to get things done. If you are on Windows Phone 8, there isn’t even a Notification Centre to speak of just yet.
So how will BlackBerry 10 change that?
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1. BlackBerry Hub
First piece of the puzzle, and something BlackBerry 10 users should be plenty familiar with is the Hub. An aggregator for all my communications content + Notifications. Call logs, BBM, Text Messages, Voicemail, Email accounts, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and WhatsApp. To learn more about the advantages of the Hub, please read my previous post here.
In a nutshell, since BlackBerry Hub combines all my communications into a central location, I have no need to jump in and out of different apps to get things done. I can reply to Facebook messages/comments, reply to Twitter mentions/direct messages, reply all my emails, WhatsApp messages, BBM messages, etc all within the Hub itself.
Hub by itself is great, but still there is a minor problem. Even though there is a simple gesture to get into the Hub no matter where you are, you still have to get in the Hub before you can get to any new messages that you receive. Which is where the next part of the puzzle comes in.
2. Actionable Notifications
Yesterday, Kris Simundson, an awesome member of the CrackBerry community, revealed that there will be Actionable Notifications in BlackBerry’s next major OS update, 10.2. Basically when a new message comes in, you’ll get a Toast Notification. You can then either choose to close that, or reply to that message immediately, even on the lock screen itself. Best of all, they are customisable, and you can choose whether or not you wish to see them.
Kris later revealed in a video preview, that you can go even deeper with the customisation, and only allow messages in your priority inbox to show up as a Toast (you can mark individual messages/contacts/groups as priority). This in my opinion is the best part about it. The ability to show only what you yourself deem as an important notification, rather than just showing you everything, even the ones that aren’t important.
Actionable notifications are not exactly new in the industry. On Android, select items have the ability to be ‘Actionable’, such as Text messages and Emails. Or in the case of WhatsApp, it’s more like a pop-up/toast notification that you can reply to as well if you enabled the settings within the app. However this is an option that is not on iOS and WP at all. (at least not without jailbreaking)
It is still unclear as to what type of notification will be able to make use of this feature. My hope is that whatever I can do within the Hub, it will be able to make use of Actionable Notifications as well (if it makes sense). Emails tend to command a much longer reply, since typically the messages are longer too, so that wouldn’t be feasible. But for things like WhatsApp, BBM, Facebook messages/comments, Twitter replies/direct messages, I don’t see why they can’t make use of Actionable Notifications. Anyway, only time will tell. Better not get our hopes up too high just yet.
Alright, so now I don’t even have to go into the Hub to reply to my messages. But, what about when I want to initiate a new message? I still have to go into the Hub with the quick gesture, tap on compose, select what I want to compose, who I want to send it to, before I can even start typing my message. But, I still need to go into the Hub first before I can compose a new message. Which brings me to the next piece of the puzzle.
3. Instant Actions
With Instant Actions, it allows me to make use of Universal Search to take ‘Actions’ such as posting a Tweet, posting a Facebook/LinkedIn update. Start a conversation with a contact via email, BBM, SMS or a good old fashion call. Create a note, or task. To learn more about the advantages of the Instant Actions, you can read my post on it here.
Since Universal Search can be activated on a Physical Keyboard BB10 device by just typing (or tapping the search icon on full touch devices), it reduces the amount of steps normally required to achieve the same task.
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So what does these 3 features adds up to? A trinity that leads to communication bliss. A faster, and more efficient way to go about communication. But the puzzle is far from complete just yet. There are still pieces of the puzzle that BlackBerry needs to bring out to make it truly unbeatable in my opinion.
- Give developers the APIs to integrate their services into BlackBerry Hub, and make use of Instant Actions. Or at least try to work with more developers to do so if they don’t want to over-crowd things. Prime example of apps that could really benefit from these APIs would be IM clients such as WhatsApp, Skype, Viber, Line, Kik, etc. While WhatsApp and Skype are both in the Hub already, they still don’t make use of Instant Actions. I would love to be able to just type “wa Ty” to create a WhatsApp message to Ty.
- Right now when you use Instant Actions to start a new BBM conversation, or SMS for example, it brings you into the Hub. Wouldn’t it be great if after you tap on the ‘Actions’, it allows you to key in your message directly within Universal Search much like Actionable Notification?
- Perhaps a way to get into Universal Search within any app. Perhaps swipe up and then to the left to get into Universal Search, the opposite of what the Hub gesture is. This gesture would mean that Universal Search could be accessed anywhere on the OS. It will benefit not just Instant Actions, but it will make it faster to launch another app, or search for a file on the OS.
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I have heard some people comment that BBOS 7 is still better at communication features. While that is still largely true, but I think BB10 has far more potential than BBOS 7 will have. Especially with the features mentioned above. If BlackBerry could implement all these new features while at the same time add back features within BBOS 7, BB10 will be a communication powerhouse. It will become the OS that will truly change how people use their devices.
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