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Blackberry 10 gets its first software update

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Despite only having been released a month ago, Blackberry announced on its blog that it already updated its software to version 10.0.10.85. While it’s really quite soon for a new version, it’s a good sign on the company’s part, which cites user feedback as its jumping off point for implementing the changes, five of which it pointed out on its blog as being the most significant.

One of the biggest features that really helped push Blackberry down the totem pole was its poor app store. With the introduction of Blackberry 10, there was a vast improvement. Now, the company says that it has improved the performance, which should make app development by third parties much easier to create.

It also made fixes to the Gmail calendar, though the blog didn’t specify what fixes were made. Another moderately vague improvement is to the Blackberry Hub: The company assures there are improvements for logging calls, the way conversations are handled, and importing contacts from online sources.

Low light photography has been a consistent problem with just about every single phone. With the new release, Blackberry says that photo quality in these situations will improve, particularly when a flash isn’t being used, as in the Time Shift Camera feature the phones have.

The company realized that video quality within the devices’ browser was lacking, so it patched things up to “provide a fantastic experience.” We’re not sure exactly what that means, but we assume it means videos will play a lot more smoothly, without the need to rebuffer.

Finally, battery life should improve once this new version is rolled out. The Blackberry software team has been working to improve it in as many ways as possible, and some 60 fixes will be implemented, each intended to increase the time in between charges.

Though you may not have seen an update notice on your device, it’s in the works. The company said it’s in close contact with mobile carriers to help roll them out as quickly as is possible. If you want to manually check to see if it’s available, just pull up the Software Updates option in your phone’s settings. Blackberry suggests connecting to a Wi-Fi network before downloading, since the update is 150MB.

Have you received the update to your Blackberry? Let us know if you notice the intended improvements in the comments below.

Joshua Pramis
Former Digital Trends Contributor
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