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One of the features of RIM's latest smarpthone, the touchscreen Storm, is a new version of the operating system and user interface, with the latter going well beyond any previous BlackBerry software - partly at Vodafone's instigation, as it pushed its partner further down the consumer webphone track than RIM design teams had originally envisaged. RIM has now released new developer tools to allow programmers to take advantage of the new functionality of BlackBerry OS 4.7.

The tools include two new versions of the BlackBerry Java Development Environment (JDE), as well as desktop simulators for the Storm, Flip and Bold handsets. RIM's senior VP of BlackBerry platforms, Alan Brenner, said in a statement: "Each new BlackBerry smartphone presents an opportunity for mobile developers to create new applications or extend their innovations with the latest advances in mobile technology and application development."

Version 4.6 of the BlackBerry JDE, which is now available in public beta, supports creation of apps that will work across both touchscreen and physical keyboard handsets. Developers writing for the Storm can also take advantage of the handset's accelerometers, which allow the screen to flip from portrait to landscape when the phone is turned around - and motion-based games. The JDE also addresses updated functionality such as GPS usage, multimedia service integration and messaging; and improves web page rendering with Ajax, Javascript 1.5, CSS 2.1, DOM L2 and HTML 4.01, and support for downloading files using the browser.

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