Blackberry 6.0 multi-media features are out

CORPORATE SMARTPHONE MAKER Research in Motion (RIM) has decided to release the low-down on multi-media features that will be supported in the upcoming Blackberry 6.0 OS.

A RIM blogger known only as Vikram put up a blog post yesterday to talk about the multi-media features.

"Our team has been working hard to enhance the overall multimedia experience in BlackBerry 6, and we've packed a lot of changes into the upcoming release. I'm very excited to be able to provide some more details about this aspect of BlackBerry 6 today."

The Crackberry now has a media-sync utility so RIM has added music album art with a better carousel navigation tool in the user interface. Video search gets a thumbnail view and punters can choose movie playback options, picking from original, fit to screen and full screen. Videos can also be synced to and from a PC to Blackberry and back.

There's an integrated Youtube video uploader for pumping out HTML5 content but it doesn't support Flash yet. RIM reckons it is working on integrating Flash for a firmware upgrade in the future.

Camera navigation tools have been tweaked and can now be accessed directly from the camera screen. This will save faffing around with sub-menus to find that macro shot mode. There's also a new video capture option.

RIM has gone Podcast app crazy on version 6.0, adding the ability to search and play video or audio podcasts. The player now has an updated media explore facility. This searches for relevant content from the main menu screen on the media player. Once the content is found, it gives users a direct link.

There's still no release date for 6.0 but RIM said it is due out later this year. Speculation that RIM is also developing another consumer smartphone and an Ipad-killer tablet is heating up, so expect Blackberry 6.0 on them if they do come to market. µ