BlackBerry OS smartphones are officially dead as of today as the company pulls the plug. Here’s everything you need to know about this.

BlackBerry has spent the past year preparing and reinventing itself for another serious assault on the smartphone market, and although the company did try sticking with the old formula and essentially flogged a dead horse for far to long, the company looks ready to be taken seriously again. BlackBerry 10 looks like an intuitive, innovative operating system much more in line with the likes of iOS and Android, and with the BlackBerry Z10 certainly strong enough to hold its own against many of the market’s considered elite, the Waterloo, Ontario-based company is looking for customers once more.

Research In Motion, a company known for its once market-leading BlackBerry range, has rebranded itself by the name of its main outlet, and its first move under its new BlackBerry moniker has been to announce the Z10 smartphone. Research In Motion, often referred to under the acronym RIM, has been working hard over the past couple of years to rebuild its BlackBerry brand, which has been left behind by the likes of Apple’s iPhone and the plethora of Android handsets which now dominate the market. The Z10 certainly looks a promising device, having fared favorably against the iPhone 5 in a brief test, and it will be interesting to see whether a new company name, and a new device, will trigger a comeback for BlackBerry.

The once-mighty BlackBerry brand of smartphone from Research In Motion may have lost its way somewhat over the past couple of years, but a couple of browser tests carried out by The Gadget Masters suggests there’s still plenty of life left in the old dog yet. Testing the BlackBerry 10’s browser against Internet Explorer and Safari on Windows Phone 8 and iOS respectively, the BlackBerry come out on top. More details, and a demonstration video, after the break.

Research In Motion’s BlackBerry OS is clearly struggling to maintain relevance in the current consumer market, but with all three of the major mobile operating systems having taken steps to implement some description of voice-recognition functionality, it appears BlackBerry will also be joining the party, too.

So, BlackBerry World has happened, during which RIM unveiled the new BlackBerry 10 OS. It has been in the works for some time, and yet it still feels unfinished. Before I proceed with this any further, let me quickly go over the highlights of the new OS: The keyboard is pretty neat; they did something innovative where it learns how you type, and offers suggestions that you can swipe upwards to take advantage of. You can also swipe across the keyboard to delete words that you’ve already typed. The second main “innovation” is with the camera; you can take a photo and it will help you select the right moment by scrolling a bit forward or backward in a small period of time, so you can ensure that everyone has their eyes open in the photo.