BB Geeks » New Developments

Will your device get an upgrade to OS 5.0?

Joe — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:30:56 +0000

The launch of OS 5.0 appears to be nearing, so you might be wondering if your device is eligible for an upgrade. RIM won’t release the OS for every device, but it will offer upgrades for all of its latest generation handsets, plus one older model — and for that one I’m grateful. After the jump, a list of the eligible devices, plus a hint of when we can expect OS 5.0 to become officially available.

The list:

BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8200 series
BlackBerry Curve 8330 (yay!)
BlackBerry Curve 8350i
BlackBerry Curve 8900
BlackBerry Bold 9000
BlackBerry Storm 9500 series
BlackBerry Tour 9630

The cut-off, it appears, is for devices with more than 64MB of internal memory. That would exclude the original generation Curve devices, plus the Pearl 8100 series and the 88xx series.

Good news: the Verizon Storm 9530 update is live now. So does this mean that other OS 5.0 releases will be coming shortly? We’ll keep this updated, and also make sure to check out the Twitter feed for the latest on OS 5.0.

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

Will your device get an upgrade to OS 5.0?

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

Will your device get an upgrade to OS 5.0?

Bored at work? Try the BlackBerry YouTube channel

Joe — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:30:03 +0000

In the contest of the greatest all-time time-waster, it’s a toss-up between Wikipedia and YouTube. Wikipedia has the advantage of seemingly infinite links, allowing you to hop among subjects for hours on end. YouTube provides cheap, free entertainment that doesn’t involve that whole reading thing. Via BlackBerry Rocks we learn about the official BlackBerry YouTube channel. It’s full of how-to videos, which is great if you have the dual need of wasting time and fixing your BlackBerry. Of course, it’s just a rip-off of the BBGeeks YouTube channel, which was set up nearly three years ago. Y’know, just saying…

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

Bored at work? Try the BlackBerry YouTube channel

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

Bored at work? Try the BlackBerry YouTube channel

mSpot brings streaming movie rentals to BlackBerry

Joe — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 12:30:08 +0000

If the success of Netflix has proven anything, it’s that people still want to rent movies. Sure, there are some out there who want to own their media, but some of us just want to kick back and enjoy a movie without having to fork over the purchase price. Even with Netflix, customers have to subscribe. What if you just want to rent a movie every once in a while? Blockbuster isn’t doing too great, and in any case if you want to rent from there you have to make at rip. Pay per use rentals is an inevitability, and thanks to mSpot, it’s coming to your BlackBerry. They’ve introduced Mobile Movies for many platforms, and thankfully the Berry is on there. Now you can pay for single rentals and watch them anywhere.

If you’re stuck on a train or bus with nothing to do, you can now drop $4.99 and watch one of the roughly 350 movies mSpot currently offers. This is just an initial library. Like any multimedia service, it will take time to get more studios on board. As mSpot’s Mobile Movies service grows, they should be able to work out deals with more studios — and, if I can think wishfully for a moment, maybe they can strike better deals if this takes off.

If you plan to watch more than a movie or two per month on your phone, mSpot also offers Movie Club, which puts movies on a credit system. Each movie typically costs five credits, though that can vary depending on the title. For $9.99 customers get 20 credits per month, $12.99 gets 30 credits, and $15.99 gets 40 credits. These expire at the end of each month. New customers get 15 bonus credits upon signing up.

Would you watch movies on your BlackBerry? People seem to do it on their iPhones all the time — though they might not be experiencing the film. If you’re interested (and not a curmudgeon like David Lynch), you can check out mSpot’s Mobile Movies by heading to http://www.mspot.com from your mobile browser.

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

mSpot brings streaming movie rentals to BlackBerry

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

mSpot brings streaming movie rentals to BlackBerry

Two-way sync coming for Gmail and BlackBerry

Joe — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 12:30:39 +0000

It’s the headline we’ve all been waiting for. Caught this on Berry Review, and they found it in the BlackBerry Connection Newsletter (lots of good stuff in there). In talking about the Enhanced Gmail plugin, they dropped the bomb: “two-way synchronization is expected to be implemented in the near future.” With the two-way sync and the enhanced plugin running, the debate between the Gmail plugin and IMAP/POP retrieval. I encourage woo-hoos in the comments.

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

Two-way sync coming for Gmail and BlackBerry

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

Two-way sync coming for Gmail and BlackBerry

Take a look at BlackBerry OS 5.0

Joe — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 12:30:54 +0000

We’ve known for a while that RIM has been working on a new version of the BlackBerry Operating System. Early impressions were not that glowing — not that it’s bad, but just that it’s not that much of an upgrade over the current iterations. Now you can be your own judge, though I would not recommend it. The files leaked onto the BlackBerryOS message board, in its complete, unsanctioned entirety. If you were so inclined, you could head over there and install it on your device. However, BBGeeks does not recommend you install this software. It’s not an official release, so it could be buggy and cause your device to malfunction. Plus, as they note on the message board, it’s a pain to downgrade to your original OS. Thankfully for the curious, someone else loaded it up on his own BlackBerry.

Zack Whittaker of ZDNet.com was kind enough to take the plunge, using his Curve 8900. He takes note of many upgrades, including more advanced ways to customize profiles, better power management, and the addition of Google Gears, among many others. You can check out his findings at the link, or you can check out the gallery of screenshots. It will be a welcome upgrade, it seems, but perhaps not the big leap many hope to see RIM take with the BlackBerry OS.

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

Take a look at BlackBerry OS 5.0

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

Take a look at BlackBerry OS 5.0

Check out the just-launched MyBlackBerry

Joe — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:30:42 +0000

Update: It looks like RIM hasn’t fully released this yet. Why they would tell everyone that it will be available Tuesday night and then not make it available I don’t know. But they did.

In case you hadn’t heard, RIM has been preparing a social networking service for a good while now. It was invite-only, as many test runs are, but as of a few hours ago, it’s live to the public, so regular schmoes like you and me can join the cool kids’ club. The outlet, as described through words and screen shots, is more of a hub than a social network, though there are plenty of networking opportunities. The focus, though, will be on tips & tricks and applications. Hmmm…sounds kind of like the focus of a certain site I know…

It looks like it will be centered around a forum, which will allow users to vent and share information with each other. Kind of like the forums we see all around the Internet, like BlackBerry Forums and Pinstack. MyBlackBerry will tailor the network to your device, which is one advantage it holds over other outlets (though the aforementioned forums break down categories by device type).

Might as well give it a shot, right? You can register by visiting blackberry.com/myblackberry.

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

Check out the just-launched MyBlackBerry

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

Check out the just-launched MyBlackBerry

Info on BlackBerry Storm, Bold coming sooner than we think?

Joe — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 12:26:56 +0000

Well here’s a welcome change. We’re so used to hearing the word “delayed” that it sometimes feels like nothing gets done on schedule. We could be seeing a couple of BlackBerry models, though, before we anticipated. First up is the Storm. No, it doesn’t sound like it’s coming out any earlier — November 1 is the current favorite — but we should hear some news on it sometime today. A Verizon internal email makes it seem like big news, probably the device announcement, is coming. Clearly, we’ll update this further as the information becomes available. It should prove an exciting day for the world of BlackBerry Geekdom.

Thanks to Phone Mag, CrackBerry, BlackBerry News, and everyone else who ran with this.

Next up is the Bold, which AT&T might release a bit earlier than expected. Not that much, though. We’d been hearing October 2 or October 15. The latest is that they’re pushing it up to the last week or so of September. Clearly, this might not be the case. But it’s coming from an inside source, so hopefully this is the real deal. We’ve waited long enough.

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

Info on BlackBerry Storm, Bold coming sooner than we think?

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

Info on BlackBerry Storm, Bold coming sooner than we think?

Official announcement on 8220, Storm video

Joe — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 12:02:59 +0000

To kick off the morning we’ve got a couple of items on new RIM devices. First up is the BlackBerry Pearl 8220. We knew the announcement was coming, so when this press release came over the wires a little after midnight, it came as no surprise. At this point, we pretty much know the specs, so I won’t rehash things here. As expected, this be an exclusive for T-Mobile. It’ll hit this fall, hopefully sometime in October. We all know that the ugly five-letter word could rear its head, though.

Next up is a short video review of none other than the BlackBerry Storm. We’ll get to that one after the jump.

(hat tip, Kevin)

The Storm bit comes in at around 2:50. The “ninja” here says he doesn’t like it, because the screen is one button. A tap selects an icon or highlights a keyboard key, but you have to press down to make it register. This actually sounds somewhat like the system they have on the Samsungs Instinct and Glyde.

This doesn’t have me liking the device any more or any less. All it really makes me want to do is get my hands on one to review myself.

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

Official announcement on 8220, Storm video

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

Official announcement on 8220, Storm video

AT&T to add BlackBerry Curve 8320, OS 4.5

Joe — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 11:58:17 +0000

Good news for BlackBerry users on AT&T. No, the Bold hasn’t been announced yet. Strangely enough, this involves an announcement of an older model heading to Ma Bell. Boy Genius Report tells us that the Curve 8320 — y’know, the one with WiFi on T-Mobile — will be hitting the nation’s largest carrier at the end of the month. This comes with free logins at AT&T’s 17,000 nationwide WiFi hotspots, including those at Starbucks. I’m assuming the same deal will be available for the Bold. Further, it will come with OS 4.5, which we’ll get to discussing in just one second.

The new operating system is ready to hit AT&T, with a PowerPoint slide showing a mid-September release. This will be available for download at AT&Ts site — att.com/bbdownloads — and will work with the 8820, 8310, 8120, and 8300. These devices will be pre-loaded with the new OS starting sometime in October. Hopefully, this doesn’t mean that’s the new target release date for the Bold. Can we even handle yet another delay?

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

AT&T to add BlackBerry Curve 8320, OS 4.5

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

AT&T to add BlackBerry Curve 8320, OS 4.5

Nextel BlackBerry 8350i set to drop in Q4

Joe — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:13:15 +0000

The kind fellers at Boy Genius Report have scored again. This time, it’s a roadmap of Sprint’s device releases through the rest of the year and into 2009. Of interest to us: the BlackBerry 8350i. It’s in the Curve family, given the model number, and it’s set to drop in the fourth quarter of this year. I wonder how this will play out if Sprint ends up selling the iDEN network, as has been rumored. Anyway, the Nextel 8350i will features WiFi (woo hoo!), GPS, and an optional 2 megapixel camera. Spec sheet, courtesy of BGR, after the jump.

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

Nextel BlackBerry 8350i set to drop in Q4

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

Nextel BlackBerry 8350i set to drop in Q4