We know the folks at Research in Motion are working on the next version of their BlackBerry Operating system. What we don’t know is what it will look like… although the folks at BlackBerry Leaks might have an idea. A tipster that they seem to trust has sent in a few screenshots of what looks like a radically redesigned home screen.

If these are the real deal, it looks like BlackBerry OS 6.0 will take a cue from Google Android and allow users to place widgets on the home screen. The widgets seem to come in different sizes and shapes, maing it easy to cram news, weather, sports, and other features into a space that takes up less than half the screen — while still leaving room for notifications and a large clock.

The second image seems to show how you can interact with those widgets. Tap one, and it expands to provide more information, still without taking over the whole screen.

I can’t quite decide if the widget layout crowds the screen with too much information or if it provides just the right balance of looks and functionality. Then again other smartphone operating systems present you with 20 application icons on a single screen. By that standard, the new BlackBerry Home Screen looks positively sparse.

via Engadget

Brad Linder

Brad Linder is editor of Liliputing and Mobiputing. He's been tinkering with mobile tech for decades and writing about it since...