14 DAY TRIAL // Today, Canadian mobile phone maker BlackBerry has officially announced the availability of the BlackBerry 10.3 SDK OS, complemented by the release of BlackBerry 10.3 SDK Beta.
With this move, the vendor is providing application developers with the tools needed to start building software for the upcoming operating system version.
Starting today, devs can download the new OS release and install it on their existing BlackBerry 10 devices, so as to be able to test their applications for compatibility issues.
According to BlackBerry, the new release comes with a series of changes to functionality, which can be used in mobile apps for the platform.
Moreover, the company notes that the BlackBerry SDK roadmaps have been upgraded to reflect some of the changes included in the new releases, as well as to highlight new features that will be available in the Gold version of the platform.
Developers downloading the new tools will see that there are some visual styling changes that have been applied to the core controls.
“We’ve updated our UI guidelines to provide you with the information you need to become familiar with these UI changes,” BlackBerry notes in a blog post.
“Some of these changes are represented as new functionality in the Native SDK, while others are simply core control styling changes that should automatically apply to your Cascades application. Details of those additions can be found in the Cascades Release Notes.”
At the same time, the mobile phone maker has confirmed that the upcoming BlackBerry 10.3 operating system will come with support for new hardware, which will be included in devices set to arrive on shelves later this year.
“This new hardware will follow our promise of keeping the square screen (1:1 aspect ratio) and 16:9 aspect ratio, including our common 720×720 and 1280×720 resolutions,” the company explains.
A new screen has been added to the 10.3 beta simulator, one that sports a resolution of 1440 x 1440 pixels, and a density of 453 DPI. This display is expected to be included in the recently rumored BlackBerry Q30 handset.
Additionally, the vendor has confirmed that a BlackBerry Classic device will be arriving later this year, and that it will be running under the BlackBerry 10.3.1 operating system. The platform will also be released to all current BlackBerry 10 smartphones before the end of 2014.
A new BlackBerry 10.3.1 SDK will become available for developers, so as to allow them to come up with applications specifically designed for the aforementioned BlackBerry Classic device.
In the meantime, however, you can download the BlackBerry 10.3 SDK OS from Softpedia today and see what the new platform release has to offer.