14 DAY TRIAL // Starting today, owners of BlackBerry Z10 devices can start downloading the official BlackBerry 10.1 OS for their handsets, Thorsten Heins, president and CEO, BlackBerry, announced at the BlackBerry Live conference in Orlando.
The update will arrive on all devices for free, and will start emerging on Z10 handsets in the United States today, while expected to be pushed out to all carriers worldwide before the end of this week.
Users will receive a notification on the availability of the update on their devices, and will be able to download it over-the-air.
The download will take place in the background, which means that they can continue using the device as usual. Furthermore, BlackBerry notes that no backup will be required when applying the update.
However, it is recommended to have a backup of all personal files on the Z10 smartphone available at hand, so as to make sure that no important data is lost.
Users can also head over to the software updates section in the setting menu to manually check on the availability of the update, it seems.
The new flavor of the operating system will bring along a nice range of enhancements to users, including an HDR shooting mode for the BlackBerry 10 camera, improvements to notifications, BlackBerry Hub enhancements, and various other changes.
The new OS release features landscape support for the calendar, easier international dialing, enhancements to the red eye reduction in the picture editor, and other improvements as well.
According to a post on Inside Blackberry, the main features of the BlackBerry 10.1 OS include:
- BlackBerry Hub: The BlackBerry Hub lets you access all your messages and notifications in one place. With BlackBerry 10.1 support for PIN to PIN messages for direct communication between BlackBerry smartphones has been added to the BlackBerry Hub. Plus, improved attachment support in the BlackBerry Hub makes it easier to view emails which have been sent as attachments to other messages.
- Notifications: With BlackBerry 10.1 you can personalize the notifications for your accounts and contacts so you always know what is happening around you. Customize ringtones, vibration and the LED light by contact or by account for more personalized notifications.
- Fine Cursor Control: BlackBerry 10.1 makes it easier and more accurate to pinpoint exactly where you want to type. Tap once to bring up the cursor. Grab the blue circle and drag it around to place it exactly where you need it. Tap either side of the circle to move left or right by just one character. It’s easy to move around with speed and precision.
- Camera: BlackBerry 10 lets you create the perfect shot by moving parts of your picture backwards and forwards in time with Time Shift mode. BlackBerry 10.1 adds an HDR shooting mode for beautiful images in tricky lighting conditions. A standard image takes a picture at one exposure level. Where you have high contrast between light and dark areas of the photo, fine details can be lost. High Dynamic Range (HDR) mode takes multiple pictures at different exposure levels and layers them automatically to produce a single photo that combines the best of the dark and light areas.
Users interested in learning more details on how to update their BlackBerry Z10 devices to the new platform release should head over to this page on the company’s website.