The Canadian manufacturer is reportedly internally testing BlackBerry OS 10.2.1, and rumors about the various features it is supposed to bring have already started making the rounds. Just yesterday we picked up on a rumor that BB OS 10.2.1 might finally bring direct Google Play Store access, and while screenshots did accompany that rumor, its too soon to say for sure if the update will add Google Play Store to BB10 devices. Several new purported features have been detailed as well, these include BlackBerry Blend Dashboard, Pic Password and Fuse Mode.
BlackBerry Blend Dashboard and Fuse Mode are reportedly related to the use of BB10 devices with external displays. It has already been rumored that BlackBerry might bring BBM to the desktop is some way, perhaps through Blend Dashboard BlackBerry Hub, browser, contacts, calendar, SMS as well as BBM might be linked to a desktop through a UI that’s similar to BlackBerry Bridge. There’s actually no indication of what Fuse Mode does, it is just said to be a mode that the user can put their device in.
Pic Password, as per the leaked screenshot, seems to be an interesting take on the conventional lock screen. Basically the user will pick a picture from the ones offered or from his or her own library, once picked, numbers will be overlayed on to the picture. Users can then move a number to any area on the picture and select it as their Pic Password. When they try to unlock the device, it will ask if they want to use Pic Password or device password. Choosing the former will bring up the image once again and the user will have to place the number in the exact same spot for the device to unlock. All of these features seem to be in early stages of development seeing as how they’ve only recently started to appear in leaked builds of BB10 OS. For all we know, BlackBerry might be testing out a few and it might not have plans to add them to the public OS 10.2.1 release. Its too soon to say for sure right now. [Images via Crackberry]
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