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BlackBerry-maker RIM has revealed its new year’s resolution — which specifically involves the pixel-count of BlackBerry 10 smart phones that will be emerging at the start of next year.
In a blog post, the ailing firm has divulged the screen resolution of its first touch-only smart phone, as well as standardised screen resolutions for all BlackBerry 10 gadgets beyond that point.
The very first phone running the twice–delayed BlackBerry 10 software, rumoured to be the BlackBerry London, will have an impressively high 1,280×768 resolution — the same number of pixels as the company’s Dev Alpha device that was used to showcase the upcoming operating system earlier this year.
Phones sporting the businessman’s choice BlackBerry Qwerty keyboard will have 720×720 displays, while touchscreen-only devices released after the first BlackBerry 10 phone will have 1,280×720 screens.
That means that the first touchscreen-only BlackBerry 10 phone will have a slightly higher resolution than any following gadgets. That might seem like an odd decision, but RIM is trying to make it easier for developers to build BlackBerry 10 apps, by not releasing a slew of phones with different resolutions, something that currently makes Android app development a bit tricky.
RIM even apologises for the higher resolution of the first device, saying that the introductory gadget “has been in the works for quite some time now with lots of supply chain management and manufacturing tooling to bring it to launch.”
I’m happy to see that RIM at least has its priorities straight — getting developers to make decent apps and games is absolutely necessary if BlackBerry 10 is going to compete with Android, iOS and Windows Phone 8 gadgets.
It’ll also take great design and hardware of course, and even then the challenge of booting Apple and Google off the top spot may prove simply too massive.
Do you think BlackBerry 10 can possibly succeed? Or will RIM be forced to divide up the business, like a sad clown sharing out cake at a children’s party? Let me know in the comments or on our Facebook wall.
