We've always had an appreciation for the way Research in Motion (RIM) sneaks new features into the BlackBerry OS under the radar. There's rarely any big announcement or hoopla for the numerous bug fixes and enhancements that are added to the point releases. Yet if you look hard enough, you'll see evidence of RIM's motivation to quietly improve on its award winning mobile experience.

Here's a feature you may not have noticed if you've recently upgraded to BlackBerry OS 4.1 or higher or gotten a newer device with the more recent platform revisions already loaded: The compose screen is noticeably more convenient.

The first image shows the compose screen on a BlackBerry 7290 with pre-4.1 hardware.

While the image below shows the compose screen of BlackBerry 7130e, which has the 4.1 system software loaded.

The BlackBerry 7290 with pre-4.1 system software gives you little or no context for your messages. If you get distracted and then return to your BlackBerry in the middle of composing, it's difficult to tell exactly what you were in the middle of doing. Were you composing an e-mail? Sending an SMS message? A PIN to PIN message? You can't be sure.

BlackBerry OS 4.1 software found in the 7130e leaves the message in the background as you write. If you were replying to a message, you'd see the quoted text of the message you're replying to at the bottom of the screen. This enables you to easily see the context in which you were composing your message.

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About the Author
Dave Mabe, the author of the O'Reilly book BlackBerry Hacks, is a largely self-taught engineer and writer who strives to create a simple, elegant solution to a complex problem.