That nifty image you see above is apparently 100 percent legit. The Verge posted it on Monday afternoon, and Boy Genius Report followed with more information. What you see is the BlackBerry London, RIM’s first BBX* device, and it does look quite different than any BlackBerry model we’ve ever seen. Unfortunately, BGR provided a bummer of a news nugget: we shouldn’t expect this until the third quarter, and maybe even late in the third quarter, of 2012. It’s going to be a while until we see the future of the BlackBerry platform. But that might not be all bad.
* Apparently Basis, a company that has a trademark on the term BBX in the US, is has filed an injunction that would force RIM to stop using the name. It sounds like they are deadly serious about this.
This week has changed RIM forever. At BlackBerry DevCon the company unveiled BBX, the new operating system that will carry the BlackBerry platform into the future. There is plenty to like about the new platform. It represents a wholesale improvement over the current Blackberry OS. But at the same time the drastic changes could have an adverse effect on current BlackBerry users. Here’s what we can expect once RIM starts releasing these smartphones next year.
A BlackBerry plan without email just seems wrong. Yet that’s the latest promotion from Verizon Wireless and RIM. Today they announced a $10 monthly BlackBerry data plan that focuses on social networks. It comes with the Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace (??) apps pre-loaded and ready to access. It also provides access to RIM’s suite of instant message apps. That includes BBM, which is certainly one of the plan’s highlights. Email is completely out of the picture, but subscribers can download apps and browse the internet via WiFi.
Verizon offers the new BlackBerry Social Messaging Data Package with the Curve 9330. That goes along with the discount price, since the Curve costs just $50. You’ll have to sign a two-year contract that includes a voice plan of at least $40 per month, and then a text messaging plan on top of that. Essentially, that makes it $20 cheaper per month, or $480 over the life of the contract. You can check it out at Verizon’s website.
How do you usually go about sharing information with other BlackBerry users? For me it mostly involves sending files through BBM and emailing contact cards. The process isn’t difficult at all, as we laid out in the guide to BBM and introduction to vCards. But RIM just made it a ton easier. This morning they announced BlackBerry Tag, which enables sharing between BlackBerry devices by bumping them together. That can make for easier person-to-person transfers. Though I do have to wonder how well this will play with certain parties.
When your cellular contract runs out, what do you do? Traditionally users have two options. They can either continue with their current plan on a month-to-month basis, or they can upgrade — which involves getting a new phone at a discount and signing a new two-year agreements. Simple Mobile now adds another alternative: take your BlackBerry to prepaid. They have introduced two prepaid BlackBerry plans that allow you to bring your existing BlackBerry to their service, insert a new SIM, and pick one of their two new plans. They definitely have the potential to save users some money.
What you see above is not the Bold 9650 or 9780 up against the Bold 9900. Instead, it’s an unreleased BlackBerry, the 9790. As noted in my BlackBerry Bold 9930 review, RIM changed the design slightly this time around, creating a thinner but wider device. I prefer it to the other Bold designs, but there are surely BlackBerry geeks who would rather have the narrower, thicker device. This one is for them. The Bold 9790 brings the same under-the-hood improvements as the other new BlackBerry models, including the all important 1.2GHz processor and the touchscreen. It just comes in a different shell. Apparently this could drop sometime in October, presumably on GSM carriers. Maybe this is what AT&T will get instead of the Bold 9900.
Pictured above is the BlackBerry Torch 9810, one of many devices that RIM recently unveiled. We’ve known about these handsets since early in the year, but it’s always refreshing to see RIM or a carrier make it official. This year, however, it seems there is a bit less excitement to go along with these announcements. The BlackBerry brand has taken a considerable hit in the past year, with customers defecting for the iPhone and Android devices. The question that even die-hard BlackBerry fans are asking with this crop is, will it be any different? I think there’s sufficient reason to think so.
Think that just because RIM is rearranging management and cutting jobs that they’re going to slow down their initiatives? It would appear not. In fact, late last week they announced a new addition to the RIM family. JayCut is a Swedish company that specializes in video editing services, and they will be working with the BlackBerry PlayBook. This is another step in the right direction for RIM and the PlayBook, as the tablet now has the potential to be an even more powerful media device. Imagine reaching into your back pocket and having a device that can not only play, but cut, edit, and create new media. RIM is definitely continuing its move in the right direction with this acquisition.
For basically the entirety of American cell phone history, or at least since ownership became widespread last decade, we’ve had an agreement with carriers. They give us a steep discount on a phone, and we agree to stay with them for two years. While there have been some complaints on the fringe, for the most part people have gone about this willingly. After all, who wants to drop $600 on a smartphone and then pay monthly fees? If we’re going to be with the carrier for a while anyway, it makes sense to take that subsidy. Yet there’s something else at play. The cost of service, presumably, is inflated, which is how the carriers make back the money from the subsidy and fuel their profits. If you pay full price for a phone, then, shouldn’t you get cheaper service?
Most cell phone carriers say no. The price of service is the price of service, period. But T-Mobile is trying something new. Starting on Sunday, you can choose to pay full price for a handset, and in exchange you’ll get a cheaper service rate. You’ll still have to sign a two-year contract, but you won’t be paying as much as a person who took the subsidy. Clearly this will work differently for different people. Will it work for you?
While RIM made definite upgrades to its operating system with OS 6, it has still left the smartphone loving masses wanting. There will be some subtle improvements with OS 7, but as per usual it will be nothing groundbreaking. The revolution, as we’re told, will come when RIM gets its QNX operating system on its line of smartphones, which will probably happen in 2011. With the QNX team working on the back-end, and with The Astonishing Tribe handling the UI issues, RIM probably isn’t seeking any outside help with the design. But if they were so inclined, they could gain a lot of insight from a 16-year-old who goes by the handle Bongs on the CrackBerry forums. He’s created a video walk-through of what he imagines would be a powerful and up-to-date OS for the BlackBerry.
Make sure to watch the video above. After the break is one of his huge images describing the OS. Make sure to check out the CrackBerry Forums thread too, as it has more images. It truly is a marvel, as it combines the traditional RIM feel with other features present on the other popular smartphone platforms. I know that if RIM put out a device running this software that the complaints would cease.
