The potential resurgence of RIM starts on the 30th of January. That’s when the Waterloo-based company launches its new BlackBerry 10 software and reveals new hardware.

A sneak peek this week showed the new version of the company’s flagship software has been rebuilt from the ground-up.

The interface is surprisingly “elegant” — a word that does not jibe at all with their past software efforts, best described as utilitarian.

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Hardcore Berry fans can be reassured that even as the company moves to a more touchscreen-friendly experience, they’ve maintained the red light indicator for new notifications. And email is always at a slide of the thumb on the left side of the screen, proof RIM realizes access to instant communication is one of their hereditary advantages.

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Of course, this first look was done in a very controlled environment, and no new hardware was shown — how these two factors interact in the real world will be the true measure of success. The company’s new year launch plans include the first BlackBerry 10 touch device, with a resolution of 1280 x 720, and a 720 x 720 resolution for a device with a dedicated keyboard.

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Here are five highlights from the BB10 sneak preview:

1. Predictive touchscreen keyboard. The key tiles are a little wider, with a border line running between the letter tiles. The typing has that familiar “tock” sound when pressed, but as you type, the device tries to predict what word you plan to use, displaying that word above the letter. If the predictive text is correct, you can flick up to select. While it could take a little practice, it looks like this could be a very fast way to type.

You can set the system to work in three languages, and it learns the names and slang terms that you use regularly. The keyboard also neatly solves the clumsy finger problem. If you regularly accidentally hit the “Q” when you really mean “W,” the software begins to recognize the error and starts automatically compensating for your fat fingers.

2. Active Flow. Multi-tasking with several apps open on your mobile is generally not a great experience. BB10 tackles this issue with Active Flow, which allows users to run up to eight applications at a time on a grid view, making for easy switching back and forth. There’s another function called Peek that allows you to momentarily shrink the app you’re currently working in to show who sent the email and let you decide whether it requires an immediate response. If you choose to ignore it, Peek lets you resume your activity in the app.

3. Time Shift photography. With this very cool feature, the camera actually records a series of images before and after you hit the button to take a photo. It then allows you to move forward or backward in time to select the best image. It works really well for shots of people, as the software recognizes faces and lets you select the best (i.e. non-blinking) frame for everyone in the picture.

4. BlackBerry World. Formerly known as BlackBerry AppWorld, this will be the new hub to buy apps, but it will also offer movies, TV shows and films, creating a rival and similar experience to the iTunes store.

BlackBerry’s PR staff says the company has more than 7,000 development kits around the world and the conversion process for apps developed for Android is a short, 10-minute process. They would not say how many apps would be available at launch.

5. Messenger. BlackBerry’s killer app was always Messenger, and the company promises improvements in BB10. The new look has been upgraded, with contacts listing the social media profiles of people on your friends list. It will also offer the recently unveiled BlackBerry 7 upgrade that allows for voice calls over Wi-Fi. When asked if a video chat option would be available, the company said it had no announcements at this time — though we have a sneaking suspicion we’ll hear more about this come Jan. 30.