BlackBerry OS 7 is Official

A few days ago, we told you about the possibility of Research in Motion (RIM) skipping version number 6.1 for their next major Operating System update and going straight to 7.0. That has now happened, with the announcement being made at the BlackBerry World 2011 event being held in Florida.

No Legacy support is a bold move

Here’s what BlackBerry OS 7 brings to the table:

• Improved Browsing
  Performance improvements thanks to the new Liquid Graphics system
• New JavaScript Compiler
• Increased HTML5 support, including HTML5 video
• Voice-activated Search
• BlackBerry Balance to separate personal content from corporate
• Docs To Go for Word, Excel and PowerPoint file editing, along with a native PDF viewer

While the question of whether this update is major enough to warrant a whole new number remains unanswered, what’s done is done and we’ll have to live with it. What’s more important, however, is that RIM have announced that BlackBerry OS 7 will feature no legacy support, meaning older BlackBerry devices won’t be able to upgrade to OS 7. That’s certainly a huge bummer.