Research In Motion today announced the latest version of its BlackBerry mobile operating system. BlackBerry 7 promises an improved user experience, including an updated browser with a new JIT JavaScript compiler and improved HTML5 support and an enhanced Universal Search with voice-activated search. It will also include BlackBerry Balance to separate personal content from corporate content on the smartphone (BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0.3 needed) and a full version of Docs To Go.
Unfortunately, RIM will not upgrade current and older devices to the new OS. It cites the higher hardware requirements needed to run the latest OS efficiently. Only the new BlackBerry Bold 9900 (and future devices that meet the necessary hardware requirements) will run the new OS.
It remains to be seen if RIM will soon announce an updated version of BlackBerry 6 for current devices to deliver whatever BlackBerry 7 features are possible without degrading performance too much.