Mit der Ankündigung der BlackBerry Bold 9900er Serie, welche BlackBerry 7 als Betriebssystem verwenden, kommen auch neue Funktionen hinzu.
Nun, für den Endanwender vielleicht uninteressant,aber für Entwickler doch wichtig. Denn diese wollen ja Ihre Anwendungen auf die neue Plattform anpassen , oder aber auch neue Anwendungen entwickeln.
Das BlackBerry Java SDK arbeitet wie das Android SDK als Plugin für Eclipse.
Wer das Plugin schon installiert hat, dürfte sich also demnächst über ein Update freuen.
Die neue API enthält folgende neue Features (nur englisch jetzt):
- OpenGL ES 2.0, taking advantage of the new graphics chip, allows you to create games rich in compelling graphics.
- Window Manager API, also taking advantage of the new graphics chip and increased device horsepower, allows you to overlay OpenGL or any other UI component on top of anything you want, including camera and video.
- Compass APIs, taking advantage of the new magnetometer sensor, allows you to determine the device’s orientation and direction. When combined with Window Manager API, enables the creation of augmented reality applications.
- Near Field Communication (NFC) APIs, taking advantage of the new NFC radio, allows you to read and emulate virtual tags and create rich solutions for payment and m-commerce.
- Video capture APIs updated with support for HD video recording, taking advantage of the improved camera, allows your application to provide the user with the same high end media experience they get from the core apps.
Das ist aber nicht alles. Es werden jetzt sogenannte „Super-Apps“ unterstützt, die Hardware-Features steuern können:
- Send Menu API, allowing apps to share content with contacts the same way that core apps do, by adding a “Send…” menu to their apps.
- Unified Search API has been updated, making integration with this device feature easier than ever before and allowing more control of indexed keywords.
- BlackBerry® Maps API has also been updated, simplifying how data is overlaid on top of BlackBerry Maps. Couple that with support for geofencing and the ability to overlay complex shapes and polygons, and you’ve got the richest integration with BlackBerry Maps to date.
- Options API has evolved to match the new look and feel of the BlackBerry 6 options screens, allowing third party apps to add their own entries into the options screen including an icon and descriptive text.
- Multimedia API has added support for buffer control for playback and bitrate definition for video recording.
- Barcode API has been updated to support ZXing 1.6 and allow for the definition of custom decorders.
Die BETA der Entwicklungsumgebung soll ca Ende Mai erscheinen, damit die Entwickler schon anfangen können, Ihre Anwendungen anzupassen.