BlackBerry 10's Hub is a one stop space for all notifications

In terms of notification features, the latest to be added to the list from the smartphone segment is BlackBerry’s Hub. Found on the first of the new generation smartphones from the Canadian manufacturer, the fresh new user interface called Flow, breathes new life into what could have been called a dying system.

BlackBerry’s new Z10 smartphone that was recently launched, hit the Indian stores loaded up with the all new operating system, BlackBerry 10, that promises to give users a whole new experience as far as smartphones go. We did get the opportunity to test the Z10 handset for a while and along the plethora of exciting features that the company announced we were quite taken up with the notification engine dubbed the Blackberry Hub.

Here's how you access the Hub and its features -

Out of the many features launched as part of the BB10 release, the Hub is easily our favourite. A lot has been written about it, but nothing can prepare you for the ‘wow’ moment when you first encounter it. It takes just a few gestures to get used to, making it one of the most intuitive UI improvements in recent times. The Hub is quite revolutionary yet so simple in its concept. A permanent “start-menu” that’s just one simple gesture away is just the feature we need in the “mass-communication” times we live in. Every single piece of communication is accessible and actionable through the Hub. This is a big UI win for Blackberry, and makes for super-fast navigation through the flood of messages we all experience in our daily lives. The quick learning keyboard is quite an upgrade too, it intelligently predicts words based on your style of writing, and predictive text has been very neatly integrated into the keyboard as well.

A quick sneak peek into the hub

The simplistic functionality of the Hub to simply collate all of your notifications into one single space makes access to messages, missed calls, IMs, BBM messages and any and all notifications a very easy task. Naturally you have the option to select just what messages you wish the Hub to collect and display. The Hub also lets you search for items in the list of messages to speed up the processes if you receive plenty of emails etc. regularly.

The Peek option gives you a quick look into the Hub without you needing to exit the app you’re currently in. Initially with an up and slide to the right gesture you’ll be able to see just the notification icons, a little further to the right and you’ll able to get a little more information on the actual messages coming in. All of this while your watching a movie or surfing the web without missing a beat.

Take a look at our demo of the Hub and Peek in action -