Using BlackBerry Z10 and your game controller to play games

When I started hearing about QNX and BB10, I have always had the impression that the goal of the BB10 phones is that everything is an accessory to the phone.  Since… forever, there has been talk of wearable computers.  There have been many attempts at doing this, but most are clunky and not very practical.  As cell phones morphed from brinks to smart phones, the capabilities have increased to the point where today’s phones are more powerful than the computers I used in the 90s.  This advancement in technology pushes us closer to the wearable computer.  The main downfall to most wearable computer designs, is that the computer was supposed to control everything that is being worn.  My belief is the central computer is the brains and that any accessory added would expand the capability by telling the central computer what it does, but letting the central computer handle the input data to output as needed and so forth.  So, for example, if you put on a smart watch, it would tell the phone (central computer) what it can do, then the central computer would send the appropriate data to the watch, which would handle that data as it sees fit.

Beyond what you could wear, an accessory could even be your car.  QNX has been doing dashboards for cars as well as OnStar and uConnect.  The video below is a simple example of connecting the phone to the car and interacting between the two items.  The center console screen is actually a PlayBook which was the first BlackBerry device to run QNX.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAWSVDxyUWE

So, this brings us to the Z10 and game pads.  The Z10 comes with game pad support.  Which means, if you develop a video game and want a real game controller, like the Wii Remote, to be used for playing, then Z10 will let you pair the BlueTooth enabled controller to do just that.  And, because the Z10, like the PlayBook, comes with an HMDI output connection, you can just plugin your phone to the television and sit back and play your games on the couch.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4NGAp2O2sM

The real take away, is that the phone is now your computer/game console/central controller.  It can display the image onto a larger screen for you or receive information items attached to the phone.  Or, if you need more power, just connect multiple tablets or phones together to collaborate on an item.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gnu7rQHifYw