BlackBerry boosts its desktop experience with Blend 1.2

BlackBerry is bringing several new features, including spell check and instant message replies, to version 1.2 of its BlackBerry Blend solution.

BlackBerry Blend is the smartphone vendor’s application that lets you bring the messaging features of your BlackBerry handset to your Windows or Apple desktop, or your iOS or Android tablet. By connecting the Blend app to your BlackBerry, you can reply to texts, emails and BBMs from your desktop or tablet without going to your phone, and you can also see what’s causing that blinking red light without picking up your device. Your calendar, contacts, documents and media can also be accessed through Blend.

With version 1.2 of BlackBerry Blend, which launched Thursday, BlackBerry has added a number of new features.

bb blend 2

The first thing users will notice is a redesigned interface, based on customer feedback, that allows apps, settings, and apps to now also be accessed from the left navigation pane. As well, it’s easier to move between apps from anywhere within Blend without having to return to the main menu page first.

Messages can be responded to more quickly than before through the ability to reply directly from the notification window that pops up on your desktop or tablet when you have a new message with a click or a touch, without having to go to the dashboard.

Also new is a centralized File Transfer Manager for file uploads and downloads, spell check for your messages within Blend, and a Portrait Mode that offers a better user experience for tablets.

BB Blend

BlackBerry users can download the update now.

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Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada

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Jeff Jedras
Jeff Jedras
Jeff Jedras is a technology journalist with IT World Canada and a member of the IT Business team. He began his career in technology journalism in the late 1990s, covering the Ottawa technology sector for Silicon Valley North and the Ottawa Business Journal. He later covered the technology scene in Vancouver before joining IT World Canada in Toronto in 2005, covering enterprise IT for ComputerWorld Canada and the channel for Computer Dealer News. His writing has also appeared in the Vancouver Sun & the Ottawa Citizen.

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