Posted by Joe on January 20, 2012 | 1 comment | Filed under : News
It has been quite a confusing time for Research In Motion. They are clearly a company in transition. Not only are they working furiously on BlackBerry 10 smartphones, but they’re going through major changes. As we’ve learned in the past few weeks, they’re looking at a new chairman of the board, and they’re reportedly looking to license the BlackBerry 10 operating system. This week brings us more rumors. One will have BlackBerry fans salivating. The other might make them retch.
Read the rest of Sale to Samsung? New PlayBooks? The Week in BlackBerry…
As expected, RIM has announced two new BlackBerry 7 smartphones, the all-touch Curve 9380 and the Bold 9790. We’ve seen both of these devices pop up in rumors before, so they’re really nothing new. The Curve features a full touchscreen interface, with a 3.2-inch screen at 480 x 360 resolution. That’s nice enough, though not nearly the screen of the Torch 9850. The Bold 9790 is essentially the Bold 9900, though it retains the previous Bold form factor. It’s only 1GHz, as opposed to 1.2GHz, but that doesn’t make a huge difference. It still retains the 640 x 480 resolution, which many more people will find attractive.
Today came only the general announcement. We have yet to hear anything about pricing and availability, though that should come soon enough.
The AT&T BlackBerry lineup is about to grow a bit larger. After months of waiting and wondering, we finally have an announcement on three BlackBerry 7 smartphones. Starting on November 6th AT&T will begin carrying the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and the Torch 9860. A few weeks later, on November 20th, they’ll pick up the Curve 9360. The Bold will cost the standard $199.99, while the Torch will cost half that at $99.99. The Curve, long a discount BlackBerry model, will cost just $29.99 on a two-year contract.
If the above-pictured device doesn’t look new to you, it’s because we’ve seen rumors of it for a few months now. It’s the new Porche Design P’9981, and it’s certainly a change of pace from what you normally see from the BlackBerry. It retains the basics of the classic BlackBerry design, but adds a modern twist. As expected, it is essentially the BlackBerry Bold 9900 in a different shell, so it has that fast processor and the high-resolution touchscreen. Unfortunately, no information about carrier, release date, or price came with the press release, so we’re still in the dark on some of the most important aspects. A rumor pegs the price at $2,000, though. Yikes. After the break, a couple of videos.
Read the rest of RIM announces Porche Design P’9981…
That’s a shot from the overhauled BlackBerry App World webstore, which is live and running right now. Many of the changes are immediately noticeable, such as the scrolling featured app section on top. I kinda dig it, as it provides a nice little description along with a rating and link to the app. The Top Free, Top Paid, and Newest Items sections remain largely unchanged, though they also got something of a visual overhaul. There are big changes on the individual app pages, too. Gone is the old black and blue background, in favor of a more simplistic white and gray. I have to say I like it, as I always prefer black on a light background over white on a dark background. If you don’t feel like heading over and checking it out now, there’s an additional screenshot after the break.
Read the rest of Welcome to the new BlackBerry App World webstore…
With the PlayBook launch less than two weeks away, I figured we’d see plenty of material this week. While that’s true — we got plenty of BlackBerry previews — there was very little involving the forthcoming tablet. I haven’t even seen much marketing material on TV, which seems odd, too. In fact, the only story from the PlayBook this week was of the negative type.
Read the rest of BlackBerry News From The Wire for the week of 4/4/2011…
Eventually there will be nothing new to report on the PlayBook. That’s the day we’ll have them in our hands. And even then there will be quirks and other such minutiae that we’ll report. But for now we’re still learning about the device that hit retail outlets in April 19. So let’s dive into that, and some OS 6.1/7 issues.
Read the rest of BlackBerry News From The Wire for the week of 3/28/11…
The day is coming closer. As we X off the days in our calendar we’re inching closer to the Blackberry PlayBook release. Now we have a firm date on it: April 19 at Best Buy. We had previously heard April 10, but by this point we know how these things can change. And now we just play the three-and-a-half week waiting game. But that doesn’t mean we’re without news until then.
Read the rest of BlackBerry News From The Wire for the week of 3/21/11…
Roadmaps. That’s the theme of the week. The site N4BB — formerly BBLeaks* — has posted two potential RIM roadmaps. The first covers software that RIM will release this year, and the second is a GSM roadmap. We previously saw a CDMA roadmap, but we haven’t seen much in terms of GSM. And, of course, we have plenty on the PlayBook.
*Had I known N4BB was BBLeaks, we could have avoided an unnecessary tiff. Oh well. Them’s the breaks.
Read the rest of BlackBerry News From The Wire for the week of 3/7/11…
