Things I want to see in BlackBerry OS after the acquisition of TAT

By Ray Nicolini

Via Pocketberry.com

So earlier yesterday morning, it was officially announced that RIM acquired TAT (The Astonishing Tribe), which is a user interface company that specifically deals with mobiles.  After spending a full day of analyzing different videos and demos that TAT has put out, I’ve become really excited to see what’s to come of BlackBerry OS in the future.

In the announcement this morning, we were briefly informed that TAT will be putting in their efforts for the BlackBerry PlayBook and mobiles.  The PlayBook is expected to launch in first quarter of 2011 (we’re expecting it at the very end if that) and no word on any new mobiles rocking out any new OS on it besides 6.0.

So back to what I was saying before about the demos and visuals I saw today – we should have a better BlackBerry OS.  That’s really broad to say but in specific the following is to be done from my point of view:

Better overall touchscreen support including: easier keyboard to use, better pinch to zoom, multi-tasking and app switching using the touchscreen only, “swipey-er” movement without lag.

Email enhancements: I like BlackBerry’s emailing as is, but after seeing what TAT has done with an email client, it was really impressive.  I was really fond of the whole “click and drag” and image right into an email as an attachment, making it very user friendly for everyone.

Awesome 3D maps & applications: The other demos I saw included 3D effects to the menu where it looked like certain layers were coming out of the screen using shading in the background along with the motion sensor in the device.  Maps was cool to see.  While tilting the screen, the view of maps would turn 3D, allowing you to view city building and streets all around.

There’s a lot more I’d like to see but these are just some instant thoughts for the time being.  I’m definitely looking forward to what BlackBerry has to offer for tomorrow.  Because I know in the end of the day there are many of you BlackBerry users out there who do get a bit envious of iPhone and Androidusers – maybe not entirely but even just a bit.