Leaked BlackBerry Handset Appears to Emulate iPhone’s Design

Photos of RIM's first handset that will run BlackBerry 10 -- the company's next operating system, which is scheduled for release in early 2013 -- landed on a Vietnamese forum this week. If the 18 photos of the device on tinhte.vn are to be believed, the L-Series, codenamed BlackBerry London, looks quite similar to Apple's iPhone 5.

The BlackBerry-branded device in the photos has a rectangular touchscreen with a black bezel along the top and bottom of it, a la the iPhone 5. Watch the video above to learn more. In the photos, the device is powered off, so we don't get a peek at the OS, but you can see BlackBerry 10 running on a different touchscreen device, in the slideshow below.

RIM is scheduled to launch BlackBerry 10 and two new smartphones Jan. 30.

1. BlackBerry 10 Lock Screen

   You unlock a BlackBerry 10 device by swiping up from the bottom of the screen.

   

2. Swipe Up to Unlock

   When you swipe up, the lock screen dissolves into the home screen on the device.

   

3. Swipe to Change Screens

   Swiping to the side brings up additional pages of apps.

   

4. Tap to Change Pages

   You can also navigate through pages of apps by tapping on the scroll bar on the bottom of the screen.

   

5. Active Frames

   Taking a page from Windows Phone, RIM is adding "Active Frames" to BB10. Much like the "Live Tiles" found in Windows Phone, the frames update with information you can see at a glance. For instance, the weather app will show the current temperature as well as a 7-day forecast, the calendar app shows your next event for the day.

   

6. Swipe for BlackBerry Hub

   BlackBerry Hub can be accessed by swiping across the screen.

   

7. Contacts

   Contact cards include phone numbers, email addresses and social-networking details.

   

8. New Groups

   RIM is taking the look and feel of its home screen and bringing it into groups. Active frames make an appearance in groups, allowing you to see chats pertaining to a particular group, people who are a part of the group, and photos that have been uploaded. Pictures change as they are uploaded to the group, so if someone uploads a new one then that image will change on the group's page.

   

9. Contacts Are Accessible From Groups

   Tapping on a person in a group will bring up his or her contact card.

   

10. Pick a Focus Point

    Taking photos in BlackBerry 10 starts out much like taking photos with any other OS, with the ability to tap on any portion of the photo to focus on a specific portion of the frame.

    

11. Adjust Your Photo

    If a photo you take is blurry, or someone in the picture has his or her eyes closed, you can use the scroll bar on the bottom of the screen to move forward and backward in time to capture the perfect shot.

    

12. Adjust Individual Faces

    Much like you can adjust a whole picture, you can also pic out individual faces in a photo to adjust. So, if one friend has her eyes closed in a picture, you can just adjust herface in the photo.

    

Photo via tinhte.vn