10 Weeks of BlackBerry 10: Peek and Flow

Just one day until January, then we're well on our way to the big BlackBerry 10 unveiling at the end of the month. We have only a few more of our favorite features to highlight here, then you'll be able to say for sure what your favorites are when you get your hands on a BlackBerry 10 device. This week we're checking out the great multitasking on BlackBerry 10 - the Peek and Flow. With BlackBerry 10, gone is the "in and out" multitasking experience you've seen in the past. Here now is the awesome "always open, always on" flow experience of BlackBerry 10.

Peek and Flow on BlackBerry 10

Multitasking on a smartphone has always been an in-and-out experience. Open one app, close it, open the next app ... even on BlackBerry 7, you have to exit an app (or use the app switcher) to get to another app. If you're in Twitter for example and receive an email, you have to exit Twitter, find the Messages app, open it, then read your email. On BlackBerry 10, we shift to an "always open, always on" mentality -- the Peek and Flow experience.

After you learn the few simple navigation gestures of BlackBerry 10 you'll be flying between apps in no time at all. In this same scenario, if you get an email, you can simply use the BlackBerry Hub gesture by swiping up and over from the bottom bezel and instantly see not only your notifications but your inbox as well (the Hub). So rather than having to go through multiple steps to get to that email, you can first see if it's important by "Peeking" at it, then "Flow" right into it from any app you may be in.

Split the Hub gesture into two parts - the up and over. Swiping up, you see your notifications. Continue the gesture and pull to the right and you peek at your inbox. Peek refers to the quick glance you give to your inbox notifications. The gesture is always the same no matter where you are in the OS - browser, Facebook, Twitter or any third party app. Simply pull up from the bottom and your app will scale showing you all of your notifications and system status. Swipe right to go to the Hub or just back down and you're back in the app. 

Flow is present in all apps - not just the home screen. You'll be able to use gestures to flow through panes in an app as well for options, sharing and the like. Something like referencing a PDF when composing an email - just swipe as you need to look at the document, then drop right back to the compose screen and keep typing. Always in. 

The Peek and Flow of BlackBerry 10 will be there for you every minute of every day but you may not even realize it. Soon after getting to know your BlackBerry 10 device you'll dive into moving around and wonder how you ever lived without such amazing multitasking. Just as the BlackBerry Hub, keyboard and BBM will be there waiting for you, so will Peek and Flow. 

The true test for Peek and Flow will not come by trying, rather you'll just experience it on a daily basis as you use the device. Just as you had to first learn how to use your current BlackBerry, BlackBerry 10 will offer new gestures and controls that once mastered will leave you with an amazing multitasking experience that will save you both tiem and effort. That's why Peek and Flow are one of the 10 features we're most looking forward to in BlackBerry 10.

Check out our entire list of features in our 10 Weeks of BlackBerry 10 series