BlackBerry 10 to equip BBM service with video calling capabilities

Research in Motion is looking to wow the world when the BlackBerry 10 devices officially become available and though there may be just a handful of development alpha units available in the market, from the design itself we can see that the brand is looking to revamp their image in a major way. In the past, Research in Motion had shown off their BlackBerry 10 OS on the development alpha units and one of the highlighted features was the improved keyboard. This time around, the Canadian-based smartphone manufacturer has announced that a feature that would come on this OS is that the popular BBM service would come with a new feature – video calling.

Video calling coming to BBM

As per a report by BlackBerry OS, “Today during RIM’s Annual General Meeting of Shareholder’s Thorsten’s Heins confirmed that BBM on BlackBerry 10 will include a video chat feature. While we were hardly surprised at announcement seeing as the currently BlackBerry PlayBook has a Video Chat featured installed and the Dev Alphas being handed out also had front facing cameras, this was the first time RIM confirmed that there would be Video Chat available via BBM.” They go on to add that though there is not much information regarding the upcoming BlackBerry 10 handsets, one thing is for sure that they will come equipped with front facing cameras that will help in utilizing this new feature.

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At the BlackBerry World event, Research in Motion announced the prototype of the QNX-based BlackBerry 10 OS. This handset will not be the final unit once this platform goes official, but looking at this prototype, we think the final unit will not be much different. Research in Motion has certainly stepped up their game to face the increasing competition from the likes of Apple and Android. As far as specifications go, the developer alpha unit of the BlackBerry 10 OS features a 4.2-inch display boasting a resolution of 1280 x 768, 16GB of onboard storage, 1GB of RAM, a microSD card slot for storage expansion, a micro SIM slot and a mini HDMI port.

Research in Motion had put up a promotional video showing what one can expect once the final version of the handset is available. The BlackBerry 10 OS appears to be highly gesture based and by looking at the video, we can see that the Canadian brand has done a lot with the virtual keyboard allowing one to type quickly. This has been a major concern for BlackBerry loyalists, as the physical keyboard had been an integral part of their loyalty towards the brand. Thorsten Heins, CEO of Research in Motion stated, “Typing really matters to our BlackBerry users. So how do we make the best keypad on the market even better on BlackBerry 10? This new keypad saves you time even on full touch BlackBerry. It’s still about typing and getting things done. I love it."

Let us know your thoughts on Research in Motion announcing video calling capabilities though BBM in the comments below.