BlackBerry OS 6.0 will be multi-touchy

IT HAS BEEN a long time coming, but with other mobile operating systems such as Android shooting ahead the BlackBerry is fighting back with a new OS of its own.

A source at AT&T showed off the OS to the boys at Boy Genius Report, and revealed that Research In Motion (RIM) has put multi-touch into the system as well as kinetic scrolling, where the faster or harder you swipe a list the faster it scrolls.

It will also have 'rubberbanding' - the feature of the IPhone where it seems to bounce back when you get to the end of a list. And last but not least, there is the capability to pinch to zoom.

It's not the first time that RIM played with a form of multi-touch with cut-and-paste functionality on the Blackberry Storm, but that was a bit rubbish.

Apart from the touchscreen advances, or rather just RIM actually keeping up with the competition, the homescreen has been made completely customisable so you can change how you want to access and view applications.

The BlackBerry OS is similar in look to previous versions, which RIM has obviously done not to confuse or alienate any of its enterprise customers that make up the major bulk of its clients.

For example its email system looks very similar to before, but with a more modern feel. But it will have modal popups with gestures if you have a touchscreen device, where you can tap and hold on an email, see a popup and send it from there.

RIM has so far not confirmed to The INQUIRER a definite release date for the new OS, but it was guessed that it will be in the market around June or July, and possibly announced at the WES trade show. µ