The big update for BlackBerry 10 smartphones started rolling out on February 19th , 2015. It brings a lot of new features such as endless folders, Quick Settings from anywhere, more icons on the homescreen, BlackBerry Blend and much, much more. We've know about a lot of the new features for a long time now and as always there's lots to discover.

One such discovery is the ability to change the color of the virtual keyboard. Yes, that's right. You can now get a light themed virtual keyboard. Not a whole variety of color options but it's a welcome option. You can stick with the black (dark) keyboard, go light (white) theme or have it set to automatic. With the latter option the virtual keyboard changes depending on the colour theme of the app you're using. For example, I have it set to automatic. I like to use the dark theme for BBM, so when using BBM the virtual keyboard comes up black, as is now. However, when I'm in the Hub composing an email, the keyboard pops up white, so as to blend in with the rest of the screen.

The option is there for both full touchscreen devices as well as on physical keyboard devices. On a BlackBerry Passport, the row of symbols that appears above the physical keyboard will change. For the likes of the Q10, Q5 and the Classic, unless you have spelling predictions turned on there won't be much in it for you. There are some instances where it will remain as the default color (black), such as in the browser.

To change the color of your virtual keyboard, follow the instructions below

Go to Settings

Select Display

Scroll down until you find the Virtual Keyboard Appearance dropdown menu

dropdown menu Choose your preference from there

For more tips, tricks and how-to articles, head on over to our BlackBerry 10 Help section.