Special Coverage

BlackBerry WebKit Browser Video Demo First Look!

by Kevin Michaluk

on 16 Feb 2010 08:21 AM

144

[ youtube video link for mobile viewing ]

The announced but not yet released WebKit-based BlackBerry web browser was shown off via video demo twice today at Mobile World Congress. Mike Lazaridis, RIM's Co-Founder and Co-CEO, gave it a minute of glory during the morning's general session, while an hour later it was Mike Kirkup, RIM's Director of Developer Relations, who gave a quick walk through of what's in store for the browser at the BlackBerry Developer Day at App Planet to those in attendance (video above).

Things are definitely looking promising here for us BlackBerry users, even when taking note of the fact the demo provided today was a recorded video vs. a live demo and you can see the browser was connected to WiFi vs. 3G. Getting data down to the BlackBerry fast has never been an issue for the BlackBerry web browser, rather it's the rendering of the page once that data is on the device. It seems the Torch Mobile folks that joined RIM were able to hit the ground running and the BlackBerry is rendering Javascript and pages A LOT faster than any other previous BlackBerry web browser. I'm not sure if RIM has any devices on hand at MWC with the WebKit browser installed but I'll do my best to get a minute of hands-on time with one if they do.

Original Video Demo File:

[ youtube video link for mobile viewing ]

No word on roll out yet, but the sooner the better, that's for sure. Wouldn't it be nice if the rollout came along with an OS update that featured some significant UI updates? BlackBerry Heaven, that's what I'd call that. Stay tuned for more!

Filed Under: Special Coverage; Tags: browser, cbvideo, CrackBerry TV, MWC10, video, webkit

144 Comments

Posted by mtv.fan Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

WOW

Posted by diegonei Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

Is that Ironman on his laptop?

Posted by jwilcox09 Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

Yeah it is. I got it on mine too, you can get them on Etsy. Also can't wait for this browser...Html5 support is huge

Posted by blackmarket Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

acid 3 results that are impressive

Blackberry webkit browser (mobile) -100
google chrome(pc) -100
firefox (pc) - barely 93
internet explorer(pc) - 20

Posted by beckerfj Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 716 days ago

I got the same with my Firefox and IE8. Surprisingly, my BB browser resulted in 26 beating out IE8! Seems a little odd.

Posted by narta Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

Me wants it bad.

Posted by Piff Berry Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

i need this in my life

Posted by bronco_fan Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 716 days ago

The sooner, the better!

Posted by Terrahawk Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

Looks pretty quick. Hopefully this will roll out soon...

Posted by theinitialisk Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

over here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIbHsrCiez8

blackberry heaven. lol. that'll be too good to be true :(

Posted by Kevin Michaluk Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

embedded that video too.

Posted by jwhelan Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

YAAAAA!!!! Can't wait, and it looks like the demo was on a 9700!!!!!

Posted by The_New_Dude Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

This is good news!! Can't wait for the browser to roll out. It's the ONE thing that us BB users get killed on by others.

Posted by Mister_RnB Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

With Webkit and an updated os rim will have the best hardware with a mean outlook on software.... Lets GO!!

Posted by Seegar Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

looks sweet. depending on the reviews when it gets out this might be the reason for me to get a berry

Posted by SLVR6 Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

RIM, please follow this up with an ETA!!!!

Posted by ptanniger Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

I can't wait for the browser to get released. IMO, that's the most important feature of BBs that needs improvement.

Posted by eazid Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

agreed

Posted by skyboxer Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

You know, I was interested in the 9700 launch but not excited because I'm a on CDMA. As I'm sure GSM people arent excited about the 9650. This is one thing about 90% of blackberry users will get excited about, more so than OS5, which doesn't feel that different than what was before. It's huge.
And, it runs pretty well on something that at least looks like a 9700, which hopefully means it will run on most of the OS5 devices.

Posted by Bold_until_Hybrid_Comes Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

iNEED this.

Posted by Crackberrier09 Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

Oooh My sweet loving BB!!! wow..
drooling all over myself.BB Webkit Browser + OS Update?!
I need not breakfast anymore. My soul just got well fed. lol
Is that Flash running?! or i'm day dreaming?

Posted by jwhelan Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

I just went through the entire video and could not see any flash running.

Posted by elvin1983 Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

I read all the angry comments about the BESX, and now look, lo and behold, here's the webkit browser everyone cried about!

Just blowing off some steam, this browser looks sick, even tho browsing isn't a huge thing for me, I do browse quite a bit on my BB, this will be awesome.

Posted by dax_gordon Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

I wanted this for the longest time! I need this now, please please please, leak it send it twit it fax it read updated!~

Posted by Mister_RnB Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

I Can't wait at all. i need this now. can't wait to see it on the 9550

Posted by HusniMD Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

Goodbye bolt..goodbye opera..and oh hello BB browser! ^^

Posted by dalus87 Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

ALLLLLLLL thats left is some UI updates
I feel like ive betrayed RIM by drooling over Windows Mobile 7 series .
Some UI updates PLEASE RIM lolol

Posted by eltawil Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

Looks amazing! I hope this would work on OS 5.0 in general and not only on their newest handsets. Would love to get this on my BlackBerry Bold 9000.

Posted by makya53 Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

Nice I can't wait now, I have the suspense of the 5.0 now. Damn you RIM keep up the good work.

Posted by jetman1287 Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

RIM failed us on OS 5.0 and have struggled for years now to make a decent browser. How long will this take to be released? Will they release it only on "new" BB's, forcing us into another round of buying with what we should have had in the first place? I'm skeptical.

Posted by Ebscer Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

No reason to believe that there is anything here that is not software. As such no reason to believe it won't work on current devices. That said Verizon's top of the line BlackBerry the 9630 still hasn't been upgraded to 5.0

Posted by serpico Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

RIM better get their act together fast. This is a nice 'demo' but let's get this soon. After the Windows phone 7 series demo yesterday, I'm thinking RIM needs a huge jump in the OS to not fall too far behind. Competition is heating up and RIM needs to show us they are still in the game. If Microsoft is changing their business phone view, maybe RIM needs to as well. They can keep one or two phones for business environments for secure reasons, and open up the platform for consumer phones.

Posted by Ebscer Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

Don't worry about Windows Phone 7. That platform is not doing well, and forcing manufactures to use their interface is a giant step backwards, and may scare off HTC who is their lifeblood at this point...

Posted by serpico Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

I agree currently it is not as popular without the help of HTC ui. After watching the new Zune like interface, I don't think they need HTC ui to help. I believe seeing the iphone, android and now windows7 systems, the future keeps moving towards a large screen touch enabled OS. I hope OS6 from RIM brings us some big reasons to stay with the brand.

Posted by ScottsdaleHokie Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

Better than what they currently have, but still an inferior browser.

Looks quite a bit slower than other options out there.

Another RIM failure.

Posted by R1cE Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

Im sorry I completely disagree with your opinion. To call this a "failure" is unwarranted. It looks just as fast as the android browser and Mobile Safari. Im really not sure what other options you are looking at because this browser really is on par with the other mobile browsers on the market right now. Here is a video of the Nexus one and the iphone's Acid3 test: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Lc_Y6JjH2s

The Blackberry Webkit browser actually beats nexus one, and is on par with the iphone browser.

Posted by Ebscer Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

Current BlackBerry Browser scores a 91 on the Acid3 test
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2336232/blackberry_browser_impr...

Score of 100 would actually be higher than Firefox.

The big issue though, is the speed of the pan/zoom and javascript (any word on what javascript engine this is using?)

(Or how many years it will take Verizon to roll out whatever OS this is a part of?)

Posted by Gawain Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

What is the Acid3 test about? What and how does it measure?

Posted by mikeo007 Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

It measures compliance with web standards. It's more of a theoretical test than something important, but it's still a good sign that the browser can score 100%

Posted by smiddereens Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

It's actually a pretty good indication of the fidelity with which a browser can render pages and interpret JavaScript, especially when comparing these scores with desktop browsers. Although the current BlackBerry Browser has a 91/100, the render is incorrect and the numbers don't increment smoothly, which are also criteria that Acid3 performance is judged by. I just want a WebKit browser because that engine underlies many desktop and mobile browsers and is an easy development target.

Posted by Ebscer Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

Acid3 is not as important as supporting HTML5. More important than the 100/100 is the speed at which it gets there, which based on this video is rather impressive...

Posted by stoneworrior Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 716 days ago

I have five bars right now Capital EV and three times in a row I got a 38 on BB browser. Took the same test on Opera mini Beta 2 and got a 98.

Posted by The Gift Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

have rim taken it down? probably..

Posted by bessemercityburgess Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

Works for me?

Posted by cgalloni Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

Keep in mind that this is a test on WIFI only, just tested the same pages on wifi on my regular 9700 browser and was not that much slower than the new browser. Question is how fast is it on 3g and EDGE?

Posted by Ebscer Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

WIFI will always be faster.

Still BlackBerry is usually (slightly) faster than other smart phones when it comes to pure downloading speeds. The problem was the rendering speed, and that appears to be fixed.

Posted by mlm5em Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

I don't know about you, but when I request a link, it requests for a good 10 seconds before loading any data. Yes the data loads fast, but the requesting really slows me down.

Posted by Griffspen Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

I got a 100/100 on Bolt 1.7 and 79/100 on Opera Mini 5 Beta 2.

Posted by amiquilena Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

Looks so sick. We need this, NOW.

Posted by e150gt Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 717 days ago

My browser failed the test...