BlackBerry today confirmed one of the most interesting rumours about the upcoming BlackBerry Passport. In a post announcing the gold release of the BlackBerry 10.3 Developer Preview OS, simulator, and SDKs, BlackBerry touched upon the new “touch-enabled keyboard” that will be found on the Passport. It promises an “even more productive and precise BlackBerry 10 experience, which opens up new possibilities for your app and your app’s users.”
BlackBerry provides few other details about this new touch-enabled keyboard but we expect it to allow you to use gestures across the keyboard. For example, a swipe to the let could be used as a backspace. With a predictive keyboard, a swipe up would no longer require a gesture on the display but a much more intuitive where your fingers already are, namely the keyboard.
To test it out, simply open up the BlackBerry 10.3 simulator controller and select the Touch Area control. We can’t wait to see the different ways you’ll integrate this unique, powerful functionality into your BlackBerry 10 app.
The BlackBerry 10.3 simulator will also let you see how your apps run on the BlackBerry Passport’s display which supports a 1440 by 1440 “jaw-dropping” resolution.
BlackBerry 10.3 also promises additional features including a number of new APIs and an updated user interface.
Could touch-enabled keyboards mark a resurgence in the popularity of physical keyboards on our mobile devices? Let us know below what you think.
Source : BlackBerry Developer Blog