RIM promised BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 in February, and yesterday they delivered. You probably don’t need anyone to tell you that, though, since the tablets have already received updates. Hooray. Still, RIM did make something of a splash yesterday. Along with PlayBook OS 2.0 came BlackBerry Bridge 2.0. That’s the software that allows you to connect your BlackBerry smartphone to the PlayBook (and was previously the only way to get email, calendars, and contacts on the PlayBook). It contains a pretty killer feature: your BlackBerry turns into a remote control.
Read the rest of For PlayBook owners, OS 2.0; for BlackBerry smartphone owners, BlackBerry Remote…
In the past few years, one proverb (or cliche) has struck me hard: An ounce of preparation is worth a pound of cure. That is, it’s better that we get out in front of things, so that when something goes wrong it doesn’t hurt as much. Your BlackBerry proves how this proverb comes in handy. Anyone can lose their BlackBerry or have it stolen. Yet only the most prepared among us will walk away from the situation with ease. Thankfully, it’s super duper easy to stay ahead of this issue.
Read the rest of Tips for Tuesday: What to do if your BlackBerry is lost or stolen…
Your car’s manufacturer might advertise that it gets 30 miles per gallon on the highway, but can you really be sure of that? Fuel economy is far from a constant, so it does pay to know how much fuel you’re consuming. In addition, chances in fuel economy can be a sign that something in your car needs fixing or replacing. It pays, then, to have an app on your BlackBerry that helps keep track of all that. A featured app in App World does just that. It even has the perfect name for the occasion: Fuel Economy Calculator.
Read the rest of Fuel Economy Calculator lets you stay on top of car expenses…
Forget the rumors of a RIM sale. As with all public companies, the possibility exists. But it appears that RIM is intent on digging itself out of the hole it dog for itself in the last few years. From what we’ve seen in just the last few weeks, they might be onto something. First it was the image of the first BlackBerry 10 smartphone, and then it was the images of BlackBerry 10 running. Both look pretty sharp indeed, and should convey at least a sense of confidence in RIM’s future. Yet they might not be able to go it alone. RIM could need the help of other big mobile players if they’re going to truly thrive in the new mobile environment.
Read the rest of Why RIM should definitely license BlackBerry 10…
“As soon as you have a stylus, you’re dead.” Steve Jobs uttered those words in the mid-00s, referring to the tablet computer ideas that circulated at the time. He spoke from experience, of course, having himself discontinued a stylus-based device, the Apple Newton PDA. He reiterated this at Macworld 2007, when he introduced the world to the iPhone. “Nobody wants a stylus,” he said. Since Jobs prided himself on telling consumers what they wanted, rather than asking them, everyone seemed to follow in stride. Yet times have changed. A stylus can be a perfectly useful tool these days. You might even consider one for your BlackBerry PlayBook or touchscreen BlackBerry smartphone.
Read the rest of Using a stylus on your tablet or touchscreen BlackBerry…
Ever notice how some people have these elaborate email signatures that reveal every possible way to contact them — including the very email address they’re using to correspond with you? There’s a reason for that: they want to make it easy for you to add them to your address book. Having all that information, neatly organized, basically screams, “ADD ME!” Additionally, there are a number of programs that automatically scrape emails and add the information to your address book. If you want to make it easy for people to add you to their address books, but don’t want that elaborate signature, a service called ContactMonkey might work for you.
Read the rest of Get in more people’s address books with ContactMonkey…
By default, your BlackBerry uses the most basic of basic fonts. This makes sense. Plain, boring fonts don’t offend people, and so they’re used as the defaults for most products and services. Still, some people like to spice up their displays a bit. One easy way to do this is by changing the system font. Your BlackBerry comes with a number of fonts by default, so you can browse through them and find one that fits you. If not, there are applications that can help you out.
Read the rest of Tips for Tuesday: Change and add fonts on your BlackBerry…
It’s a date most of us have etched in our minds. Two years — or in some cases 22 months — after buying a cell phone, we become eligible for an upgrade. Considering the sheer volume of handsets released every year, it’s understandable that people are antsy to upgrade. There’s a newer and better one on the market just a few months after you get yours, yet you have to wait those two long years to get a new one. (Bless you if you’re stuck with a three-year contract.) Yet at the end of those two years, you get the privilege of paying hundreds of dollars to upgrade. It could be worse, of course, but that’s still a lot of money. Thankfully, there are ways to save.
Read the rest of Saving money when buying a new BlackBerry…
It’s Friday, which means it’s time to dig into some of the bigger BlackBerry stories of the past week. Normally I’ll pick one, maybe two, and focus on them. But this week I bounced among three stories. None is really big in itself, but each caught my eye. so without introducing the topics too much — they’re in the headline — let’s just get started.
Yesterday I saw the darndest headline on BGR: RIM’s recent marketing blitz deemed a bust; BlackBerry 7 sales weakened in January. Really, now? While I think there’s room for legitimate criticism of RIM and its marketing practices, I had a feeling, before reading the article, that this would be oversimplified number — not even number crunching. Number reciting, really. I was not disappointed.
Read the rest of Indecisive Joe: BlackBerry 7 sales, App World sales, and BBM Music…
