Difference Between BlackBerry 7 OS and BlackBerry 6 OS

BlackBerry 7 OS vs BlackBerry 6 OS | BlackBerry OS 6 vs BlackBerry OS 7 Features and Performance

BlackBerry 7 and BlackBerry 6 are two versions of the proprietary mobile operating system by Research In Motion. BlackBerry 7 is the latest mobile operating system, and was officially released in May 2011. BlackBerry 6 was introduced along with BlackBerry Torch on August 2010. Following is a review on the two versions of the popular mobile operating system.

BlackBerry 7 OS

BlackBerry 7 OS is the latest mobile operating system by Research In Motion, officially released in May 2011. BlackBerry was the market leader in Smartphone arena for quite some time and won the hearts and minds of the enterprise user the most. With the new developments of Android and iOS, BlackBerry started to lose their market share. One can safely assume that RIM is trying to regain its position as the legendary Smartphone provider with the latest updates to its operating systems, and the keyboard less smart phones. However, much speculation was made on the availability of QNX (The operating system available with BlackBerry PlayBook) with BlackBerry 7 OS. To the disappointment of many, BlackBerry OS is only an update to the previous BlackBerry OS 6 and does not include QNX operating system.

BlackBerry 7 OS is mainly targeted for the new BlackBerry Bold platform, and the OS is introduced with BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 Smartphone’s. Legacy support for BlackBerry 7 OS will not be available, meaning that older devices will not get updates of the new OS. According to RIM, this is because the OS and the underlying hardware are tightly coupled.

The Home screen is not very different from the BlackBerry 6 OS. All available applications can be viewed by scrolling vertically. The responsiveness of the screen is quite impressive. The Icons appear larger and clearer t han before.

Universal search is also enhanced in BlackBerry OS 7. Contacts email, audio, and video can now be searched by voice commands. This enhancement will be advantageous for the BlackBerry who is on the move mostly. Users can type in the relevant search terms, as well. The speed of search is also quite impressive. The search functionality can be used both for local search as well as web search.

The browser performance has also been improved on BlackBerry OS 7. Heavy web pages can be easily loaded, and pinch to zoom is also impressively precise. According to the press release by RIM, the BlackBerry 7 browser includes a Just in Time java-script compiler to enable the resulted speed in browsing. The new enhancements to browser include enhancements to HTML 5 support such as HTML 5 video.

The NFC capability with BlackBerry 7 OS is probably the most exciting feature on the new version of BlackBerry OS. The NFC capability will allow users to make electronic payments via their BlackBerry phone with a simple swipe. Since competitors to BlackBerry such as Android and iOS are enthusiastic about NFC support, this is a smart move by the BlackBerry Company.

The hardware accelerated graphics available on BlackBerry 7 OS is also another appealing factor. This hardware accelerated graphics are not new to BlackBerry OS. However, they are worth mentioning to any potential buyer and the quality of the graphics on BlackBerry OS 7 has a superior quality.

BlackBerry 7 OS introduces “BlackBerry Balance Technology”. It allows users to separate official work and personal work on a single device. This will be a much appreciated feature for BlackBerry addicts who would have used another phone for personal work. Users are given the freedom to use personal email, social networking applications such as Twitter, Facebook etc and games. Additional applications for BlackBerry OS 7 can be downloaded from BlackBerry App World. Blackberry has improved the App world, as well. The new version of the Blackberry App world 3.0.

Messenger 6 is already loaded with BlackBerry OS 7. It integrates well with 3rd party applications and allows users to chat and find friends efficiently.

Overall, BlackBerry OS 7 is a positive enhancement to the existing BlackBerry OS family. While keeping the corporate friendly approach, RIM has understood the need to make the operating system a consumer friendly, as well.

BlackBerry 6 OS

BlackBerry 6 is one of the versions in the popular BlackBerry mobile operating system lineage. Research In Motion introduced BlackBerry 6 along with BlackBerry Torch. Until the release of BlackBerry 6, all other BlackBerry operating systems were introduces as BlackBerry OS. The OS moniker had been dropped from the name with BlackBerry 6. Few models were available to upgrade to the new platform. Namely, BlackBerry Bold 9700, BlackBerry Bold 9650 and BlackBerry Pearl 3G.

The interface of BlackBerry 6 remains fresh but familiar. While appearing the familiar BlackBerry interface the behavior has been changed to match the needs of the smart phone market at the time. The BlackBerry icons remain the same while arranging them in a new layout. The notification bar is placed at the top of the home screen. Users will be able to see messages, missed call alerts and events by tapping the notifications bar. The bar at the bottom of the screen will include frequently used application categories. The ability to change the number of icon rows on the home screen without changing the profile was introduced with BlackBerry 6.

The Universal Search is quite a useful feature available with BlackBerry 6 considering the majority of corporate BlackBerry users. It allows searching in contacts, messages, calendar, pictures and audio. The search can be extended to Third party applications and BlackBerry AppWorld, as well. Availability of Universal search on App World enables users to find useful applications without difficulty.

In previous versions of the BlackBerry operating systems, the browser was an area which needed a lot of improvement. The browser in BlackBerry 6 has been much improved from its previous state. The browser includes a better designed start page and bookmarking has also been improved. Tabbed browsing was introduced on BlackBerry operating systems with the BlackBerry 6 browser. Better HTML and Java script rendering is also available with BlackBerry 6 browser. However, HTML5 and CSS support is only partial. Among these attractive improvements stands, the lack of flash support, which is a considerable limitation on this BlackBerry browser. With pinch-to Zoom and text re flow, the browser will align text according to the screen size when zoomed.

In messaging, users can view threaded view for both text and multimedia messages. The popular BlackBerry messenger comes pre installed with BlackBerry 6 and allows group chat, as well. The new social Feeds application allows updates from multiple social networking platforms brought to a single feed. Similar applications are found on other Smartphone platforms, as well.

Applications for BlackBerry 6 can be downloaded from APP World. With BlackBerry 6 App world comes pre installed.

The music player on BlackBerry 6 has also got a new look with more emphasis on the album art, which makes the whole ‘listening to music on BB’ a more attractive experience.

Wit BlackBerry 6, RIM is trying to compete with flashier mobile operating systems such as Android and iOS while maintaining the serious tone of the ‘corporate’ mobile operating system.

What is the difference between BlackBerry 7 and BlackBerry 6?

BlackBerry 7 and BlackBerry 6 are two versions of the proprietary mobile operating system by Research In Motion. BlackBerry 7 is the latest mobile operating system; it was officially released in May 2011. Research In Motion introduced BlackBerry 6 along with BlackBerry Torch on August 2010. BlackBerry 7 is only an update to the previous BlackBerry 6 and does not include QNX operating system (As anticipated by many). BlackBerry 7 is mainly targeted for the new BlackBerry Bold platform, and the Operating system is introduced with BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 Smartphone’s. With the introduction of BlackBerry 6, only few models were available to upgrade to the new platform. Namely, BlackBerry Bold 9700, BlackBerry Bold 9650 and BlackBerry Pearl 3G.

The home screen is quite similar in both BlackBerry 7 and BlackBerry 6. The notification bar is placed at the top of the home screen. Users will be able to see messages, missed call alerts and events by tapping the notifications bar. The bar at the bottom of the screen will include frequently used application categories. The ability to change the number of icon rows on the home screen without changing the profile was introduced with BlackBerry 6, and it’s available in BlackBerry 7, as well.

Universal search is available in both BlackBerry 7 and BlackBerry 6. Universal search allows to search in contacts, email, audio and video files locally (in the device) and the search is extendible to Google, YouTube and BlackBerry AppWorld, as well. However, voice enabled universal search is only available with BlackBerry 7.

The browser available with BlackBerry 6 and 7 are much improved than their previous versions. Tabbed browsing was introduced with BlackBerry 6. HTML 5 video support is only available with BlackBerry 7.Flash support is not available in either BlackBerry 6 or 7.

NFC capability is introduced with BlackBerry 7, and the feature was not available with BlackBerry 6. This feature enables phones with BlackBerry 7 to make electronic payments with the phone using credit card details.

Hardware accelerated graphics, which is marketed as ‘Liquid Graphics’, is available in both BlackBerry 6 and 7. The display quality of the graphics has made a significant improvement during the latest updates to the BlackBerry mobile operating system.

With BlackBerry 6, the operating system started to include social networking applications and games which was absent from this serious corporate mobile platform. Today, both BlackBerry 6 and 7 include social networking applications such as Facebook, Twitter and etc. With BlackBerry 7 “BlackBerry Balance Technology” is introduced. It allows users to separate official work and personal work on a single device.