Hey team BlackBerry, it’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to share an update with you but that’s because we have been busy working away at updating the BlackBerry Hub+ suite to give it a whole new look!
Let’s talk about what exciting changes you can expect to see in the applications!
Visual Refresh
We’ve updated the look and feel for all of these apps to create a more memorable and unified experience for customers. We started on this initiative with a number of design goals in mind. First, we considered the overall aesthetics of the BlackBerry Hub+ suite to ensure our experiences reflected some of the latest trends in interaction and visual design. While designing for each of these apps, we wanted to guarantee that they continued to provide the highest level of usability and flow while maintaining the key elements that these apps are known for. Ultimately, we wanted to ensure the suite was easily recognizable as one cohesive family of apps.
New look: A common theme is woven through each app to bring a familiar feel, so you’ll always know you are using a BlackBerry application!
Refreshed vibrant colour palette, with an elegant use of gradients and colour throughout the UI to highlight areas of importance or signature actions.
Re-designed app icons and in-app elements with a modern and cohesive visual language that connects the Hub+ family of applications.
In-app information organized and categorized using card-based design, to help you quickly consume, review and sort what is important to you.
Action bar: An action bar added to the bottom of each screen for all Hub+ apps. This modernized interaction improves ergonomics by giving you quick access to primary features like search, sort, and compose.
Help: A new in-app help section allows you to quickly explore new and existing features through overview information, tutorials and more.
Below we have included screenshots to see some of the updated UX interfaces released with the BlackBerry Hub+ update.
New Contacts view for BlackBerry Hub+
New Calendar Month view for BlackBerry Hub+
New Tasks view in BlackBerry Hub+
New Inbox view for BlackBerry Hub+
Updated App Names
With a new look comes new names! To better align our app names with the core value they provide, we’re kicking off a rebranding of the suite. We’ve been using ‘Hub+’ to talk about many of our apps for a long time and now we’re making it official. All productivity focused products in the Hub+ offering are now prefixed with ‘BlackBerry Hub+’ (see below for a complete list of our official application names). This new naming convention is intended to better reflect the unified productivity experience provided across these apps within the suite.
In addition to this change, the anchor of our Hub+ suite, our email and messaging app, is getting it’s very own renaming. The updated name more clearly communicates the app’s main benefit as a component of the larger Hub+ experience, especially to anyone who may be discovering it for the first time. Meet the new ‘BlackBerry Hub+ Inbox’!
Previous App Name
New App Name
BlackBerry Hub
BlackBerry Hub+ Inbox
BlackBerry Calendar
BlackBerry Hub+ Calendar
Notes by BlackBerry
BlackBerry Hub+ Notes
Tasks by BlackBerry
BlackBerry Hub+ Tasks
Contacts by BlackBerry
BlackBerry Hub+ Contacts
BlackBerry Hub+ Services
– No Change –
Google Play Policy Updates
Like with many other apps on the Google Play store, after exhausting all of the possibilities, we’ve had to make some changes to the way text messages and call logs are displayed across the Hub+ applications due to a Google Play policy update. You’ll still be able to see received text messages and call logs in BlackBerry Hub+ Inbox (depending on your device) by granting permission for BlackBerry Hub+ Services to access notifications.
The Hub+ suite of applications offers the BlackBerry productivity and security experience on any Android smartphone. Head to our website to learn more about BlackBerry Hub+.
*****
As with previous updates, you should receive a notification when the application updates are available in Google Play, at which point they should download automatically over Wi-Fi.
If you need to manually update:
Connect to a Wi-Fi network, then open the Google Play Store.
Tap the icon on the left side of the search bar, then select “My apps & games” from the menu that pops up.
Either tap “Update All” or select which apps to update on an individual basis.
Tap “Download” and the update will begin, even if you don’t see a progress bar or another indicator.
*****
About Michael Clewley
Michael joined Research In Motion® (RIM®) in 2001, and has worn a variety of hats from customer and developer support to product management. Always ready to get stuff done, Michael is truly a BlackBerry® power user, but always has time to listen to customers and co-workers on how to improve BlackBerry’s products. He currently works as BlackBerry's Director of Software Product Management.
