We’ve seen pictures and video of RIM’s next OS 7 device, the BlackBerry 9860/50, for some time now, and as the rumoured June/July launch window closes, we’re seeing developer tools leak out. The OS 7 device simulator for the 9850 has leaked out, and though it’s more or less just a playground to see if apps and themes work, you’re slapped in the face with a pretty interesting warning message as soon as it opens:
“The device uses a touch sensitive screen for input. It is capable of differentiating between the touch of a finger and a “click” producing tactile feedback. … In this simulator use the left mouse button to click the screen and use the right mouse button to touch.”
For those of you that have used older BlackBerrys, that will sound an awful lot like the clicking touchscreen mechanism RIM used to make called SurePress. Now, this could simply be a relic of the Torch 2 simulator, seeing as the visualization of the device itself is little more than a 9520 with a trackpad slapped at the bottom, but the warning window itself was titled with “BlackBerry Touch”, indicating that whoever was working with it at least had the foresight to change the name. Still, it seems unlikely that RIM is going back to SurePress, seeing as the BlackBerry Torch 9800 and the BlackBerry Bold 9900 both opted for the more traditional, standard capacitive touchscreen. Besides, this simulator is pre-release, so there are bound to be some inconsistencies.
Code-named Monaco or Monza (depending on if you’re talking about the GSM or CDMA model), we’re expecting the 9850 to have a 3.7-inch 800 x 480 display, 5 megapixel camera with LED flash and 720p video recording, Wi-Fi b/g/n with mobile hotspot, GPS, NFC for contactless payments, a magnetic compass for augmented reality apps.
Besides the SurePress inconsistencies, it’s nice to have some time to poke around OS 7, besides the cursory look we had at the new Bold launch. Podcasts are now folded into the Social Feeds app, along with a new Favourites tab that seems to be able to handle all sorts of feeds. I’ll keep looking for something exciting, but if you want to give the leaked simulator a shot yourself, it’s available at a couple of locations for download.
[via N4BB]