BlackBerry is rolling out the latest update to its BlackBerry 10 platform, and it includes unfettered access to the Amazon Appstore and a couple of other features only previously available in the BlackBerry Passport and BlackBerry Classic smartphones.
BlackBerry 10 update 10.3.1 gives users of older BlackBerry devices, including the BlackBerry Z10, Z30, Z3, Q10, and Q5 as well as the luxury Porsche Design P'9983 and P'9982 access to a multitude of Android apps downloadable via the Amazon Appstore. This does not give users access to the more than 1 million apps available on the Google Play Store, but the 250,000 apps available on the Amazon Appstore are sure to include many of the most popular apps, such as Evernote, Netflix, Facebook, YouTube, Sleep as Android and Spotify.
Last year, BlackBerry announced that it will be providing access to the Amazon Appstore to BlackBerry 10 users updating to BlackBerry 10.3. BlackBerry's own BlackBerry World features more than 200,000 apps, but not a lot of high-quality apps and apps from established developers, signifying BlackBerry's struggle with convincing developers to provide apps for BlackBerry's small niche of government and business customers.
"Making the Amazon Appstore available on BlackBerry 10 devices will help BlackBerry continue to meet two essential needs: greater app availability for our smartphone users and enhanced productivity solutions for enterprises," BlackBerry CEO John Chen said at the time.
Update 10.3.1 will also include some of BlackBerry's latest features, such as the much-praised BlackBerry Blend, which allows users to access their messages, email, files, calendar, contacts, and other apps on whatever platform, whether it is BlackBerry, Android, Mac OS X or Windows, as long as they are connected to BlackBerry's cloud.
In addition, BlackBerry will also bring BlackBerry Assistant to its smartphones running on the iteration of its latest platform. BlackBerry Assistant is a Siri-like digital personal assistant that BlackBerry says is more intelligent than Siri or Google Now because it responds according to the user's input.
For instance, if the user types a question, BlackBerry Assistant will respond in text. If the user issues a voice command, the personal assistant will respond via voice. If the user makes a voice command while wearing a Bluetooth headset, BlackBerry Assistant will assume that the user cannot see the screen at the moment and respond via voice, while adding more details.
Other additions include keyboard shortcuts for smartphones with QWERTY keyboards, a feature that many will find useful when using BlackBerry Hub updated with Instant Actions, as well as new camera functionalities, such as auto detection, panorama mode and camera mode recommendations.
The update will roll out to users in Europe, followed by the Middle East, Africa and the Asia-Pacific. Availability of the rollout will be subject to carrier approval.
