New BlackBerry 6.0 OS is revealed

Boy Genius Report has got hold of pictures of the OS thanks to a source from AT&T, and showed off some interesting additions, including multitouch capabilities.

This could allow new BlackBerry devices to hold their own against the new wave of touchscreen devices offered with the Android OS, as well as the looming shadow of the iPhone 4G when it should be out in June.

System-wide it will have kinetic scrolling, which means that like on the iPhone users will be able to choose how fast or slow they want to scroll by how hard they press. There is also ‘rubberbanding’ which is where it sort of ‘bounces back’ when you scroll to the end of a list.

As the BlackBerry is enterprise as well as consumer, RIM has held back at implementing wholesale changes. The message inbox looks to be very similar, but with a cleaner and more modern feel.

There is also a homescreen that is customisable, so you can choose how you view and access applications. Another addition is modal popups with gestures, which means that when you tap and hold you can access a context menu and access what you want from there.

RIM hasn’t confirmed a release date, but it is likely that it will be June to July when we see the new OS in the market.