 a. the Navigation Bar moves you between Views |
Ever hear that saying Less is More? With BlackBerry 6, RIM packed a lot more features and functions into the maturing BlackBerry operating system (check out our BlackBerry 6 Review for an exhaustive breakdown of everything new). While I'd argue most of the changes and new features are for the greater good, such as Universal Search which I absolutely LOVE, one of the more prominent changes I still have mixed feelings about is the new Navigation Bar on the homescreen which allows you to toggle between views (or panes) to see different groups applications and shortcuts. The default views in BlackBerry 6 are All, Favorites, Media, Frequently Used and Downloads. With the pre-BlackBerry 6 operating system, you essentially just had All.
For me personally, I've always been a fan of simple themes. So even on OS 5, where I could download a number of third party themes that offered more functionality and "swoopiness" (to quote Adam) than the standard Precision Zen theme, I'd tend to stick to the default theme as it was simple. I never wasted time looking for things and once I re-arranged my icons on the homescreen to my liking, I always knew where everything was. In comparison, I find navigating the homescreen icons in BB6 to be a bit of an unwieldy experience. I typically stay on the All or Favorites view, but often times find myself unintentionally moving into another view, which then makes it tricky to find what i want to open and takes time to do - the end result being I use Universal Search to find less frequently used apps instead of launching them directly by navigating to them.
I do like the concept of having views, but I guess I wish they were customizable. If I could remove a few views and re-label them to improve the efficiency of the homescreen experience, I think I would be in love with it. But maybe that's just me... hence this poll! Take your vote above and let us know where you weigh in on the new homescreen view experience in BlackBerry 6, and sound off in the comments with your likes, dislikes and suggestions.