BlackBerry 10 is a brand new QNX-powered operating system built following on the PlayBook OS. (Note that the BlackBerry PlayBook will be receiving an update to BlackBerry 10 eventually.) The BlackBerry Z10 is the first device that launched with BlackBerry 10 loaded, and the BlackBerry Q10 will be the second. Though the primary focus on communication hasn’t changed in the experience, the user interface moved from one that relies on physical buttons to gestures. The most important one is the quarter-turn swipe from the bottom frame to the right frame to access the Hub. This is where notifications from all sources are unified in one place where users can interact with them. Swiping up from the bottom returns users to the Active Frame screen, where a minimized version of all running applications are visible, while menus can be opened by swiping from the top pane or long-pressing on individual items for context-sensitive actions.

The virtual keyboard for BlackBerry 10 has a prediction engine powered by SwiftKey which makes suggestions based on personalized usage on a per-app basis. Suggested words appear above the next letter on the keyboard, and are picked by swiping up from that key. The camera software includes a new TimeShift function which shot a fast burst of photos, and allows users to selectively edit individual faces to different shots taken in that burst to effectively create a moment that never really existed.