We all get the urge to check our inbox while driving. Mostly we fight it or just leave our ‘berry out of reach while we drive. New laws hitting the books everywhere will make it a costly mistake to make calls on any mobile-phone while driving.

But some of you may decide to commit the heinous act of tapping keys on your Blackberry as you coast through a traffic signal anyway. Suddenly the light turns red and that message from your girlfriend that started with Dear John explains she’s running off with the personal trainer. The message ends asking if you’ll you please feed Fluffy while she flies away to Bermuda.

You react naturally by wrapping your sensibly leased Nissan around the rear bumper of an Escalade. But before you can start fumbling for insurance papers you still have to set a reminder in your calendar to pick up a box of 9-Lives on the way home.

IMS is a company out of Waterloo, Ontario that has a way to avoid that scenario. It’s called iLane, a device that lets you talk to your Blackberry while you drive. You can perform basic functions that normally require the keypad like checking messages or your calendar. iLane’s voice-only interface will read your emails to you and even lets you reply.

You’re done with keypads while driving. Now you can reply to your ex-girlfriend’s message hands free. Go ahead and bid her have fun in Bermuda and assure her that her best friend Susan will be over regularly to help take care of Fluffy.

Blackberry developer RIM, the other Waterloo-based three letter acronym has been working with IMS on iLane’s development. When the product launches on Monday it’ll be a Blackberry OS exclusive. But IMS plans to bring iLane over to other mobile operating systems soon including Symbian and Windows Mobile.

One of the coolest features is streaming content from the web a feature IMS plans to expand tremendously in coming months. Content is currently streamed from Associated Press and Weather Network and allows you to navigate only the news you want, when you want it. All the while you can keep your eyes on the road and your hands upon the wheel – just as Jim Morrison recommends.

Who knows – maybe someday soon you’ll get BBGeeks tech tips over iLane.

For more info on iLane visit www.iLane.com

This post originated at BBGeeks.com - home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about AT&T BlackBerry.

Your Blackberry Now Has Voice

This post originated at BBGeeks.com - home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about AT&T BlackBerry.

Your Blackberry Now Has Voice

They keys are nice and spaced out. That seemed to be one of the bigger issues last week.

And there’s your GPS…

Gotta love the warning on the back of test models. And, of course, there’s the camera.

I’ll see what information I can dig up in the next few weeks, but the general consensus I’ve been hearing is that we’re definitely not seeing this drop this month on any CDMA provider. We can start the watch in March, though there may be an announcement before then.

This post originated at BBGeeks.com - home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about AT&T BlackBerry.

Pictures of the CDMA BlackBerry Curve

This post originated at BBGeeks.com - home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about AT&T BlackBerry.

Pictures of the CDMA BlackBerry Curve

As far as appearance, it’s almost identical to the 8830. It’s slightly shorter top to bottom, and is black rather than silver, likely to differentiate the two. The keyboard on the Curve doesn’t light up, but that’s no big deal. It’s not like I can really read the keys on my 8830 when they’re lit up in the dark (the blue backlight on them kinda sucks).

Like with the 8830, there’s a light sensor which dims the screen when you’ve got ample light. Love that feature. The screen is also very readable in sunlight, a feature I’m sure more than a few enjoy.

It definitely runs on 1XEV, but my source isn’t sure what revision that’s going to be.

Battery life is rather impressive. With radio and Bluetooth off, she ran it for about three straight hours and only killed 10 percent of the battery. This is rather nice, since extended play with my 8830 usually means finding a charger ASAP.

And yes, there’s a camera, which is a big feature for a lot of users. It features 5x zoom, and introduces “viewfinder mode.” In this, you’ll be able to get rid of the user information under the viewfinder, so it’s full screen. Pics can be taken with resolutions of 1600 x 1200, 1024 x 768, and 640 x 480.

So yeah, I’m just a little pumped for this. A lot a little. There is no definite release date, nor is there a projected price. I would expect that we’d see this sometime in the second quarter, though. And, as I said, pictures will be coming as soon as humanly possible.

Update: As always, the comments pick up on something I missed. Talked to my source, and yes, it will include GPS.

This post originated at BBGeeks.com - home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about AT&T BlackBerry.

BlackBerry Curve, coming soon to CDMA

This post originated at BBGeeks.com - home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about AT&T BlackBerry.

BlackBerry Curve, coming soon to CDMA

A photo allegedly taken near the company’s Waterloo, Canada campus reveals a device that offers a major redesign of the BlackBerry Curve but retains the chief formula equipped with a conventional screen, it also keeps the trackball of the earlier model but includes larger, easier to hit keys on its keypad and is thinner overall than its predecessors.

We’re not quite sure where they obtained that information as the “leak” on the BlackBerry forums never said in the initial reports where the picture had come from. He only left the picture and then in a subsequent post, claimed to have seen the same device (though never saying the one in the picture) in use at the Waterloo offices of RIM.

When subsequent posts pointed out the picture had actually come from an ebay auction, the original poster admitted to lifting the picture from the auction, but kept with his story that it was indeed the 9000 series phone he has seen in use in Waterloo.

Later in the thread, member cheshillsgolf mentioned:

Take a look at “BlackBerry” on the top of the device. It appears that the “B” in Berry is backwards. I smell photoshop

And then Cooper (not the Cooper in the BB forums thread) Lang – one of the guys in our office – mentioned that he had thought so too, and that he also noticed that unlike any other BB we had seen before (as the comments will show below, I don’t look at the curve much – apologies), this one also had the RIM/BB logo to the left of the “BlackBerry” (edited to add: which would help support the claim that it is a curve). We blew up the picture in photoshop and sure enough, the second B in BlackBerry does indeed appear to be backwards. We’ve pointed out the oddities oddity below (click the picture for an enlarged version).

The picture certainly does appear photoshopped, but it also makes no sense that an ebay seller with a very high number of auctions and a very low number of negative feedback scores would be selling a phone with a photoshopped picture. So, does the new 9000 series have the BB logo next to the word “BlackBerry” now? Is the backwards B some way of identifying prototypes? Is this even the 9000 series at all? Guess we have to wait and see.

This post originated at BBGeeks.com - home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about AT&T BlackBerry.

Fake BlackBerry or not? You decide…

This post originated at BBGeeks.com - home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about AT&T BlackBerry.

Fake BlackBerry or not? You decide…

While the brand new Farmington Hills, Michigan location is the only BlackBerry store in existence at the time of this writing, it is actually the fourth BlackBerry specific store to open in history – with the other three now defunct locations having been in Toronto, London and Charlotte. The original three stores had near mirror offerings and appeal according to published reports describing them.

The question we had is if they were launched too early in the BlackBerry’s mainstream adoption and consumer friendly phone models to have achieved success or if the idea itself simply won’t work.

Pictures and phone conversations with Wireless Giant, who is behind the BlackBerry store, may be worth a thousand words, but we decided seeing it in real life would be even better, so off to Michigan we went this week and are bringing back first hand coverage of the store.

While the store is located in a very heavily populated area and across the street from a well trafficked mall, we couldn’t help but notice that there was a Verizon store, an AT&T Wireless store and a Sprint store all within walking distance.

And as Engadget blasted RIM for, it really isn’t very impressive looking from the outside (though Cory was very much in love with the BlackBerry ice sculptures that were on display in the front of the store).

We walked inside and I’ll admit it looks damn good for such a little “shack” from the outside. BlackBerry models from AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon and Sprint lined the walls and center aisle displays (Alltel does not have service in the area where the store is located, so Alltel phones are not displayed or sold. And sorry Canadians, you won’t find any of your providers there either). A quick look at the pricing tags made it obvious that the BlackBerry store was able to offer the same discounts on the devices as the “official” stores located down the street.

We were immediately greeted by an employee named Grady Wicker who was dressed to impress with a big genuine smile. We explained who we were and while we waited to talk a bit with management, Grady showed us around the store. If there is one thing I can tell you from this excursion, it is that the customer service reps who work at the BlackBerry store, called “BlackBerry Experts” are extremely knowledgeable about their products and services. Grady was easily able to rattle off facts about each of the devices and their service providers. Additionally, he managed to sell me some software while I waited.

Equally impressive was Brett Boike, another “BlackBerry Expert” who was like a BlackBerry Encyclopedia. If he ever wants a side job writing about BlackBerry phones, we hope he’ll come see us. He managed to sell us some accessories as well. This staff gets an A+ for presentation, knowledge and salesmanship.

The knowledge of this staff wasn’t simply good timing on our part for coming when knowledgeable employees were working. The “BlackBerry Experts” go through extensive training with not only all four wireless carriers featured in their store, but they also get extensive training from RIM on the devices themselves. Being a staff member at the BlackBerry store seems like a badge of honor that the staff proudly – and rightly so in our opinion – display.

After I’d purchased accessories I hadn’t planned to but couldn’t wait to play with, we were greeted by Jason Wolfenden, a District Manager for Wireless Giant. We immediately joked that the location, while in a busy area, wasn’t in a major metro area. He explained that the area was growing in population and coupled with the fact that there are many corporations in and around the Farmington Hills area the store was experiencing a huge diversity in the number of people coming through. While the first burst of foot traffic was from the BlackBerry experienced, it has quickly started to expand into reaching a broad range in regards to demographics.

Indeed, it appears their trainings will be targeting a broad set of demographics as well. The training offerings, which have yet to be finalized, will cover everything from time saving tips and tricks to high level corporate training sessions. Their aim is to offer something for every level of BlackBerry user. The store has a “training room” which looks like a very modern boardroom that will be the location for seminars led by BlackBerry trainers and RIM representatives.

The training room will also likely host demo days put on by the various service providers at the BlackBerry store for the BlackBerry curious. Corporate training will be available both off-site and on-site. No word yet on whether or not “ala carte” or “private training sessions” will be available. They also aren’t ruling out the possibility of services like information backup services, OS upgrades and firmware upgrades in the future as well.

We were a bit little less than dazzled with the amount accessories featured in the store (skins, batteries, cradles and cases were plentiful, but other accessories were few and far between). However, the eventual aim is for the physical BlackBerry store to carry all of the offerings available at the online BlackBerry store.

Additionally, now that we’ve had some time to think about it, we actually don’t see the “official” carrier stores as a hindrance to the BlackBerry store. As a matter of fact, we think having the ability to compare, live and on the spot, the coverage between the four featured carriers at the BlackBerry store and the four models attached to each one of those carriers will draw in comparison shoppers who might have alternately had to visit the stores of several carriers. And with the pricing of BlackBerry phones, we think most consumer level shoppers will want to compare before making a commitment, especially when the ability to do so is convenient for them.

We have to say that all in all, we were impressed. The staff stands out as being friendly, more knowledgeable and more helpful than any staff we’ve ever encountered in the traditional “official” carrier stores. And there was a steady stream of foot traffic in the store during the two hours we were there – both from people browsing phones and people walking in with a set mission to buy an accessory.

While prior attempts at BlackBerry stores may not have been successful, we feel timing had a big play. A few years ago, RIM didn’t offer “consumer friendly models” like the Pearl and Curve.

Additionally, data plans have become cheaper while consumer expectations that a cell phone should be able to access the Internet is at an all time high. Celebrities have also done their part, putting the BlackBerry in front of the paparazzi and making them not only highly functional, but “cool”.

This may actually be the right time for the BlackBerry store to finally succeed. All we can do now is watch and see. And stay tuned for next week! Along with some great photos, we also got some awesome video coverage of the store.

**Update: we posted the BlackBerry store video:

This post originated at BBGeeks.com - home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about AT&T BlackBerry.

The inside scoop on the new BlackBerry Store

This post originated at BBGeeks.com - home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about AT&T BlackBerry.

The inside scoop on the new BlackBerry Store