RIM shows off BlackBerry OS 6 media features
updated 04:40 pm EDT, Wed July 21, 2010
RIM talks about BlackBerry OS 6 media features
The engineers at RIM have shared the improved multimedia capability of the upcoming BlackBerry OS 6 on Tuesday. Being described as an intuitive multimedia experience, users get album art from iTunes and elsewhere if they sync with BlackBerry Media Sync. Navigation of tracks also now uses a Cover Flow-like carousel in landscape mode.
Selecting the album or artist name, rather than the song, will also return other tracks from the respective category.
The organization of photos is likewise changed, with grouping made possible by event or date. Slideshows can be started, full photos viewed and different types of transitions selected between them. On touchscreen BlackBerries, multi-touch pinch-to-zoom will be available. Photos can also be shared, copied, pasted or deleted, alone or in groups.
Capturing photos themselves is said to be enhanced with newfound onscreen controls. A video camera application will be built in as well, complete with its own applicable on-screen controls.
A new BlackBerry podcasts service will let users search, subscribe and play audio and video podcasts from the handset, with no computer syncing required. Finding new music, video or picture apps is made easier thanks to respective shortcuts in the media player that link directly to popular media apps from each category in BlackBerry App World.
OS 6 will now let users sync videos to and from their smartphones, in addition to photos, as in the past. Added music sync options include sending over individual artists or genres.
Despite this sneak peak, a launch date for the new software remains unrevealed. Most expect it to come in August with the probable launch of the BlackBerry 9800.
