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BlackBerry News From The Wire for the Week of 3/15/2010

Joe — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:30:06 +0000

Some weeks we’re lucky enough to get news updates on multiple new BlackBerry devices. This time around we have word on the BlackBerry slider, a hot topic of late, and the BlackBerry…well, the new CDMA device that is an update to the Tour. Until now we had no idea what to call it. At first it was the Tour2 9650, then they wanted to drop the Tour2 part, and now, well, now it appears to be a Bold. Odd transformation it’s undergone. Anyway, there’s plenty of new BlackBerry goodness to go around.

BlackBerry slider gets pictured, numbered

That’s surely what you wanted to see, a more pictures of the BlackBerry slider. You can find a few more at BBLeaks, but I chose the above one because, again, it shows the thickness of the device. That seems to be the main concern, and while it is definitely thicker than a Curve 8900, it doesn’t seem too too bad.

Now for news on where the device might be headed. As Boy Genius Report mentioned late last week, their source saw the device with Spring branding, which raises the question of whether it could be an exclusive. Verizon, as we know, has an exclusive on the Storm in the U.S., so Sprint could counter with this. Why RIM would want to partner with a carrier with under 50 million subscribers I’m not sure. I don’t think it would be a great idea to keep this away from Verizon’s 80+ million subscribers.

Then again, BGR notes that this could also be a dual CDMA/GSM device, making it the 9900 and 9930. The GSM radio supports the 850 and 1900 MHz bands, so it would work with both AT&T and Rogers. From the sounds of it, the slider will probably hit all carriers, rather than certain ones exclusively.

Tips of the week: Overhaul your address book and mailbox with Xobni and BerryMail.

9650 gets a name, release date (plus OS 5.0 for the Tour and PTT)

A few news items got clumped into one, because they’re all somewhat related. So let’s take it from the top.

First, BRG dropped word that the new CDMA BlackBerry will drop in May. At the time they were still unsure of the name. Later that evening BBLeaks posted the user guide, which said that it will be the Bold 9650. In a way this makes sense, because the Tour was a one-off thing to promote the U2 tour last summer. Now they’re having the device fall back in line with their primary releases. Sure, they could have gone with 9730, but I don’t think it makes a huge difference.

Does this mean that we’ll have to wait until May for the OS 5.0 upgrade for the Tour? Absolutely not. Part of BGR’s report centered on the Tour upgrade, which should hit in two to three weeks. Finally. Not only will it involve the normal OS 5.0 functions, but Verizon will also include a Push-To-Talk feature, available for $5 per month. Adam at CrackBerry has some more information on the PTT plan.

Another tip: Use your calendar to set multiple alarms on your BlackBerry.

BIS 3.0 to NOT feature two-way Gmail sync?

BIS 3.0 is headed for the U.S. next week, and I couldn’t be more psyched. As a heavy Gmail user, I’ve been waiting for a two-way sync forever. BIS 3.0 rolled out in Europe this week, and as Ronen from BerryReview reports, it did not include the Gmail sync feature. I felt like tossing my BlackBerry across the room after hearing that. We got some hope from a forum posting, but it still appears not in the cards. Drat.

Could BlackBerry users flee for iPhone and Android?

We’ve seen plenty of articles and analysis regarding the health of the BlackBerry platform. Just last week we found a research article that stated Apple would soon overtake RIM’s market share. This week we get a report from Brian Deagon of Investor’s Business Daily who cites a poll of iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry users. Users of the iPhone and Android seem content, 90 percent of them saying they didn’t plan to leave any time soon. With BlackBerry, however, people seem more apt to leave. Of the respondents, 39 percent said they’d prefer an iPhone, and 34 percent said they would like to get an Android phone.

The good news is that there will always be a market for the BlackBerry. Again, nothing tops its email system, and that’s why many users — at least its business users, prefer it over other platforms. On the consumer side, though, Android is doing a great job of marketing its devices, and Apple, well, is Apple. I think the former has changed the landscape for BlackBerry more than the latter.

Error! Fix your BlackBerry after seeing Error 532.

Roundup

Just the last few things on the list for the week.

The idea behind BES Express was to allow companies to utilize BIS plans and still get BES support. In other words, to save money. Verizon’s having none of that, though. They’re requiring BES plans for BESX, which will still costs users another $10 per month. That reduces savings — although companies still save on the BES expenses on their end.
RIM teases new features for BBM. They want to make sure you have the latest version of BBM so that you can take advantage of these features right away. You can download the latest version of Messenger here.
RIM opens push framework to all developers. The best feature of BlackBerry might spread a bit further. I’m excited to see what developers can do with access to BlackBerry push services.

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

BlackBerry News From The Wire for the Week of 3/15/2010

BlackBerry News From The Wire for the Week of 3/8/2010

Joe — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:02:32 +0000

Every once in a while a media outlet comes up with reasons why the iPhone will surpass BlackBerry in cell phone market share. The latest is Forbes magazine, though the analysis comes from company called Trefis. They break down the trends of each company, and have determined that the iPhone will overtake BlackBerry in early 2011. As in, a year from now. The main evidence is that Apple has grown a bit faster, going from .3 percent market share in 2007 to 2 percent in 2009, while RIM went from 1 to 3 in that period. Further, they expect RIm to have an 8 percent cell phone market share by 2016, with Apple ahead of them at 11 percent.

I’ve never been one to buy into long-term forecasts like this. So much can change, and change quickly. For instance, if you were doing six-year forecasts in, say 1994, you might not have accounted for the internet. That would have thrown off everything. So, while Apple might be on pace to grow faster than RIM, it’s far from a given.

Tester types fast on a Bold

At PC Pro, writer Paul Ockenden tested out the keyboards of six popular smartphones to see which allowed him to type the fastest. The list includes the Apple iPhone 3GS, the HTC Hero and Touch HD2, the Nokia E75, and the BlackBerry Bold 2 and Storm 2. Here are his results.

It looks like the Bold is the best, and by a decent margin. The drop-off seems precipitous after the Nokia. The Touch HD2 did the next best, beating the iPhone by two seconds and one error. The downside, of course, is that the Storm 2 is by far the worst among the group. But there’s good news about that…

RIM to implement new screen on Storm2

This news came down last week, but there wasn’t confirmation (I think) before we ran News From the Wire. It appears RIM is shipping out the Storm2 with an improved screen. Verizon stores have to return their stock by today, and have already started receiving shipments of the new models. Users having issues with their screens might be able to trade it in, though there doesn’t appear to be a hard and fast guideline. Best to check with your local store.

Tip of the week: Don’t wipe your device if you see JVM Error 201. First, use this workaround so you can recover everything from your device. And then wipe it and start over.

Using Skype on Verizon

As we know, BlackBerry users will soon be able to make Skype-to-Skype calls from their devices. While we don’t have a ton of details on the matter, we do have a video. And if we have a video, well, we have to post it.

Weekly wrap-up

Just some stray links and items.

Twitter and LinkedIn apps around the bend. So claims RIM. Make sure to click through for a good laugh.
Win a copy of Tether. We already have 69 responses, as of this writing, to win the 25 licenses. WE’ll be picking winners on Monday.
Telus getting the Pearl 9100 in black and pink. Now the only question left to answer is of when we’ll see it.
Blackberry! Also a great source of info about AT&T BlackBerry.

BlackBerry News From The Wire for the Week of 3/8/2010

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

BlackBerry News From The Wire for the Week of 3/8/2010

BlackBerry News From The Wire for the Week of 3/1/2010

Joe — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:00:40 +0000

It seems that at every year at this time we’re anxiously awaiting a few new BlackBerry devices. Last year it was the Curve 8900, though by this point it was already released, and the Tour, which was still a ways off. This year the Pearl 9100 is like the Curve, and I suppose the 9650 is like the Tour. Ah, but it seems RIM is doing us one better. This week we’ve seen pictures of a new kind of BlackBerry. A touchscreen with a slide-out, portrait keyboard, the device could be the next in the Bold or the Storm lines. Either way, it’s sure to get BlackBerry geeks talking.

BlackBerry takes the Palm Pre route

That there is the first blurry image of the portrait slider touchscreen device. We first heard something about it on Friday at Boy Genius Report. They got some information, though not the picture. They reported the resolution staying the same as the Storm, at 360×480, but would run OS 6.0. It could also be released before a possible Bold touchscreen. The biggest news is that, unlike the first two Storm models, this will be a GSM/HSPA device.

Then, on Tuesday, BBLeaks caught the device on camera. The reaction, from what I’ve read, was not very positive. The device does look a bit clunky, and it could be a bit thicker than normal models. I wish some of the pics we saw, especially from the higher-res, close-up ones, put it up against the Storm.

Anyway, all of this has made BBLeaks wonder if this is indeed the Storm3 after all. It could be the next Bold evolution, complementing or possibly taking the place of the Dakota. Given its place on a GSM network, that might be the right call at this point. Clearly, we’ll be all over this one.

Look for BIS 3.0 on March 21

One of the worst feelings is opening up a BlackBerry blog on Thursday afternoon and seeing a newsworthy item. It’s just after News From The Wire, so it has to wait an entire week. In this case, it was a good thing. BerryReview heard that BIS 3.0 could be coming out next week. Since that was Thursday, that meant this week. Clearly that did not happen, but some good did come of the ordeal.

CrackBerry posted about the matter, but then got their hands on an email from RIM stating the March 21 release date. So it looks like we’re just two weeks away from two-way Gmail syncing and more.

BES Express screenshots and FAQ

After only a few weeks of anticipation, RIM released BES Express this week. It’s not a huge deal for personal BIS users, but or small businesses it can be a boon. The crew at BerryReview grabbed some screen shots and compiled a FAQ, so if you’re interested in learning more about BES Express you can head right over there.

BlackBerry adds 10 days to your work year?

Every few month we get a story of this nature, so I think everyone gets the point by now. But, in case you were wondering how much longer you work with your BlackBerry, it’s about 10 days a year. It’s mostly due to email checking over the weekend, which is more a distraction than work. Much as I tire of these stories, they do always make me remember to separate work from leisure. Blending the two can only lead to trouble.

My favorite story of the week

We’ll close out the proceedings this week with a personal favorite. I do my share of traveling, and the one thing I’d love for my BlackBerry to do is pen my hotel room door. It appears that could be on the way. It “remains a concept” for now, but I imagine this is practical enough to eventually implement. It will save me from having to go down to the front desk and get a new key card because the magnet in my money clip deactivated my original one.

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

BlackBerry News From The Wire for the Week of 3/1/2010

BlackBerry News From The Wire for the Week of 2/22/2009

Joe — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:00:05 +0000

It seems like we’re seeing new BlackBerry devices released more frequently than ever. RIM has set a number of model lines — the Bold, the Curve, the Pearl, the Storm — and has been pumping out more and more, for both CDMA and GSM networks. Eventually, once they hit a certain pace they have to start phasing out the old models. The Curve might be the top-selling smartphone in America, but that’s not going to last forever. Newer devices will eventually catch it on the list, perhaps as soon as this quarter. This week, we learn that Verizon might be retiring a few of its devices to make room for the new.

Pearl Flip, Storm among the handsets leaving Verizon

Early in the week we heard a rumor from TheStreet.com that Verizon would soon stop selling the original Storm. This doesn’t come as a huge surprise. The Storm2 has been out for about four months now, and I’m sure both RIM and Verizon want to focus on selling that model. More recently, though, we learned that the Storm won’t be the only casualty on Verizon. In fact, given this screenshot, courtesy of CrackBerry, it appears Verizon will ax four BlackBerry models.

Three of the four models make sense. Verizon already has replacements for the 8830 (Tour and soon 9630), the 8330 (8530), and the Storm (Storm2). The Pearl flip 8230, however, seemingly has no replacement. Seems that one didn’t sell enough. We are due for a new Pearl sometime soon, but that looks ready for GSM markets, not CDMA. Looks like the 8130 will still be the CDMA Pearl of choice for another few months at the least.

Tip of the week: Clean your BlackBerry Tour trackball. The housing for the trackball on the Tour isn’t the same as on the Curve and other BlackBerry models. That means it requires a different cleaning method. Check out the video if you missed it on Monday.

Bold 9700 tops cell phone radiation charts

Since even before cell phones became widespread, people worried about the radiation potential. It’s not unfounded. Cell phones do emit radiation, and if you’re holding it to your ear you’re certainly exposing yourself. What we don’t yet know is how that type of radiation affects our bodies. There are conflicting scientific studies, some of which say the radiation poses a high risk, while other say it does not. Cell phones haven’t been used long enough, by a large enough segment of the population, to conclude much at this point — though apparently it does improve Alzheimer’s symptoms in mice.

The Environmental Working Group released their list of phones that emit the highest radiation, and topping the charts is the BlackBerry Bold 9700. Most of the top 10 comprises advanced feature phones — either smartphones or otherwise touchscreen devices. It’s surprising, then, that the BlackBerry Storm 9530 ranks as the third lowest emission.

PocketGear and Handango form largest cross-platform app store

Could the third party, cross-platform app store market be shrinking? It must be tough keeping up, seeing as how each major platform now has its own app store. Not only that, but carriers, like Verizon, are also creating their own application stores. So where do the third parties fit in?

Combining forces, it seems. This week we learned that PocketGear and Handango will join forces, creating the largest cross-platform app store. This includes not only BlackBerry, but also Android, Symbian, Windows Mobile, and Palm. With over 140,000 available applications the combination should be a force. I do wonder, though, if even a company this large can keep up with the manufacturer and carrier app stores.

If there’s room for one flashlight app, there’s room for plenty

I’ve never shied from mocking BlackBerry flashlight applications. You can use your video camera app and do it for free. Hell, even apps like QuickLaunch have the function built in. So why, then, does one company think it can patent flashlight functionality?

The whole saga is beyond ridiculous. The Jared Company has written developers of flashlight apps to let them know that they’ve applied for a patent in the U.S., and that the other applications might infringe. It sounds like crap to me. Patents are, in essence, government-awarded monopolies. So why would they hand one out for a function native to the device?

But hey, if you want a flashlight app, check out the selection at the store. Just don’t buy the top one on the list. That’s the one from The Jared Company.

Notes

Just a few closing items.

Rogers improves roaming rates in U.S. It’s called One Rate Roaming, and it costs from $20 to $55 more per month for more robust roaming plans.
Check out this week’s BlackBerry themes. There’s a particularly awesome one for the Storm in there.
Make sure to get the latest version of Slacker radio, complete with revamped UI.

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

BlackBerry News From The Wire for the Week of 2/22/2009

BlackBerry News From The Wire for the Week of 2/15/2010

Joe — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 16:00:01 +0000

This week the wireless industry got together in Barcelona for the annual Mobile World Congress. I’m sure plenty goes on at this event, as we’ve seen plenty of dispatches from our favorite correspondents. A number of them relate to BlackBerry, which means we’ve got a pretty full News From The Wire this week. In fact, the lead item is a pretty big deal if you run or work for a small- to mid-sized business.

RIM announces BES Express

Using BlackBerry Enterprise Server brings many advantages for small and medium sized business. It allows for wireless syncing of email, calendar, contacts, notes, and tasks, so that a user’s BlackBerry has the same information as her computer. It also hooks them into the business’s server, so that they have access to important data on the go. Part of the problem with BES, however, is the price. Not only do IT departments need to host the Exchange server, or otherwise outsource it, but the business also has to pay more to the wireless carrier. That is, while a BIS unlimited data plan typically costs $30, BES costs $40 per month.

At Mobile World Congress RIM announced BES Express, which stands to save small and medium businesses a little money. Using free software, businesses can host a BES server for relatively cheap, while allowing their users to run on BIS plans. That allows for $10 per month in savings up front — the downgrade from BES to BIS from the wireless carrier. Then there are the savings from the hosting end. It looks like RIM will charge $5 per user per month, but it still seems to save businesses both up-front and recurring costs.

I wonder what hosted exchange companies think of this.

Also from MWC: RIM previews Webkit-based browser. We’ve been waiting for this for a while. The demo looked smooth. Who’s not excited about this?

Verizon and Skype partner for calls over 3G

It still pains me to go back into the archives and see this headline: Skype headed to BlackBerry in 2009. That was in January. We went through the next 11 and a half months of 2009 and heard nary a word about a Skype application for BlackBerry. That changed in a big way this week, at least for Verizon BlackBerry customers. The carrier announced a partnership with Skype which will allow its subscribers to make free Skype-to-Skype, which will route over its voice and 3G networks. These calls will not count against a user’s minutes, though a data plan is obviously required.

In addition to Skype-to-Skype calls, users can also place international calls with the application, again not using any carrier minutes. Appropriate Skype Out credit is the only requirement, and rates start fairly low — from what I’ve seen 2.1 cents per minute at the lowest. That’s a huge perk to Verizon users who have friends and family, or otherwise conduct business, overseas.

The application should be available in March, and will work with almost all of Verizon’s BlackBerry lineup: Storm and Storm 2, Curves 8330 and 8350, 9930 World Edition, and the Tour. I presume the Tour 9650 will be included once launched.

Tip of the week: Control your impulsive emailing with Unsend Email. The best of us send impulsive emails from time to time, only to regret it shortly thereafter. This application stores your email in queue for 30 second to 5 minutes, so you can pull it back if you think better of it.

Of OS 5.0 and a delayed BlackBerry Tour 9650

Whenever we hear rumors of a release date, we always view it with skepticism. It’s not that the sources are unreliable. Typically we don’t even consider listening to a projected release date from a source we don’t trust, because we can make up projections ourselves in that case. But this one came from Salomondrin, and we like that dude. He spoke of an early February release for the Tour 9650, and clearly that hasn’t happened. So what gives?

As the man himself explains, it’s because Verizon hasn’t released OS 5.0 for the Tour 9630 yet. They haven’t yet approved a build, and don’t want to face a perturbed crowd of Tour users who feel slighted because they released the follow-up device less than a year after the original. Back in October Verizon released OS 5.0 to Storm 9530 users, in anticipation of releasing the Storm 2 not long thereafter. Same deal this time So we won’t see the Tour 9650 until we see OS 5.0 for the 9630.

How long will that be? Sprint already has it, so it doesn’t seem too too far off. Hopefully only a few more weeks. It won’t turn the trackball into a trackpad, and it won’t make the processor run faster, but it’s an appreciated upgrade from OS 4.7.

Speaking of Verizon, they’re apparently no longer selling the 8330. That makes sense. With the Curve 8530 on shelves and the Tour 9650 not far away, it works. I’m still kind of hoping they hold a bunch of inventory and sell the 8330 cheap when they launched the rumored prepaid BlackBerry plan next month.

T-Mobile to get the Storm2?

This is an absolute rumor, but it still warrants a mention. According to BBLeaks, T-Mobile plans to hold a meeting on March 3, which could be to discuss the carrier getting the Storm2. Again, this is just a guess on the part of BBLeaks, but the rumor of T-Mo getting the Storm2 has circulated, so their March 3 meeting does raise some eyebrows. We’re still a couple of weeks away, though, so we’ll have to sit tight until then. That is, unless someone picks up a more solid source in the matter.

Twitter client of the week: This week I reviewed the official BlackBerry Twitter app. It works well enough, and I love the DM integration with my messages app. It does need some work, but I don’t think much. Hardcore users will still probably prefer UberTwitter, which is now in Beta-7.

The weekly links

In weeks like this, where we get a ton of big stories, I like to wrap up News From The Wire with a series of other interesting links that you might enjoy.

Adobe AIR coming to BlackBerry. As we saw in the Webkit browser preview, perhaps Flash will be coming soon, too.
A bullet for my BlackBerry. In what was termed an accidental shooting at a restaurant, a man’s gun discharged, sending a bullet into his girlfriend’s leg. Only it didn’t go into her leg. Instead, the BlackBerry in her pocket stopped it. It reminds me of the movie Problem Child, when John Ritter’s fossilized prune stops a bullet aimed at his heart.
Looking for headphones? Cooper reviews V-Moda Vibe In-Ear BlackBerry headphones. They sound killer.
Kids get Blackberrys, start sexting. Apparently BBM facilitates their dirty talk.
We learned about the new Sirius XM BlackBerry app earlier this month. Brad from Berry Reporter gives us the review.

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

BlackBerry News From The Wire for the Week of 2/15/2010

BlackBerry News From The Wire for the Week of 2/8/2010

Joe — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 16:40:12 +0000

Stop me if you’ve heard this before. This week IDC Mobile Devices and Technology Trends released their list of top-selling smartphones in the U.S. And, for what seems like 20 quarters in a row, the BlackBerry Curve came out on top. This time around, though, a few more questions surround the rankings, including one, posed by Kevin at CrackBerry, that I hadn’t thought of before. My main question pertains to the classification. We know that Curve includes the 83xx series, but what about the 85xx? Was that included in the survey? Or were people taking advantage of discounted older generation Curves?

Furthermore, if the 83xx and 85xx were in fact combined, then why does IDC separate the iPhone 3G and the iPhone 3GS? Perhaps if they combined those two the iPhone would top the charts. So it’s not as cut and dry that the Curve was tops, depending on the methodology. The iPhones ranked Nos. 2 and 4, making a Droid sandwich. The Pearl, Bold, and Storm ranked Nos. 5, 6, and 7 (did they count the Storm and Storm 2 as one?), and the Tour finished at No. 9. Not a bad showing for BlackBerry at all.

Tip of the week: Exercise caution when changing application permissions. You might notice that when you install and run some third party applications, they ask you to change your permissions, or else the app won’t work. Most of the time this is nothing to worry about, but as we learned last week it can lead to spyware attacks. This isn’t to say you should never change your permissions, but rather that you should only change them for trusted applications.

RIM makes more than $4 per month per subscriber

While RIM does make a profit on each handset sold — at least in most instances — they also have a revenue stream derived from monthly usage. How much, exactly? According to a Trefis estimate, the company brings in an estimated $3.65 per month per BIS user, and $6.86 per month per BES user. RIM is seeing more and more users on the consumer side, but as long as it doesn’t come at the cost of business users, they’ll stay ahead. At over 36 million users worldwide, that’s close to $150 million per month.

BlackBerry Atlas to ship with OS 5.0.1.205, include widgets?

We hear so much about new BlackBerry models that it’s tough to keep everything straight. For instance, when I saw the BBLeaks post about the BlackBerry 8910 running OS 5.0.1.205, I didn’t put two and two together. Thankfully, they did. In their Storm 3 rumor post they noted a similar OS build. This one includes widgets, or at least that’s the idea. We’ll see what OS the model eventually ships with, but given all the information we’ve heard over the past few weeks I don’t think it will be too far away.

Random notes

We’ll close out this week’s News From The Wire with a few random notes of interest to BlackBerry fans.

Want to annoy the crap out of people? Then download this cowbell application. It’s meant for the Olympics, but you can use it to bother anyone at any time. Tampa Bay Rays fans will be happy to hear about this.
Check out this week’s group of premium BlackBerry themes.
I don’t know why you’d be reading this if you’re not a BlackBerry user, but on the off-chance that you’re a Windows Mobile user with BlackBerry envy, you can check out the BlackBerry Application Suite. It turns your WinMo phone into a BlackBerry, which will be attractive to some. Apparently it works with WM 6.5.1, though it appears you need to be running on BES for it to work.
Where to buy digital music on your BlackBerry. There aren’t many outlets, but here’s a list of a few.
GymTechnik updated to support OS 5.0. You know, if you’re still holding true to your New Year’s resolution at this point.

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

BlackBerry News From The Wire for the Week of 2/8/2010

BlackBerry News From The Wire for the Week of 2/1/2009

Joe — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:01:33 +0000

Like the rest of you, I love my BlackBerry. It does the one thing I bought for, which is to deliver my email in an intuitive manner. All the other features are nice, and I use them, but they’re not central to my device usage. I do wonder, however, whether my opinion on that would change if some of these additional features worked better — more intuitively, with a better interface. Would I use my BlackBerry more fully? If a recent rumor pans out, I might find out in the near future.

Rumor: RIM working on OS overhaul

When I first heard about OS 5.0, I thought it might be RIM’s step up in the software department. Again, I love the hardware and I love the core function, email. And while I do enjoy the rest of the software on the device, it feels old and outdated. I’m always on the lookout for new themes that change the interface, though that’s just putting a band-aid on the problem. Anyway, as more information leaked out about 5.0, it became apparent that it was just one step up from OS 4.6, rather than the full flight ascension for which I had hoped.

The initial hopes I had for OS 5.0 are now pinned on OS 6.0, which we heard is in the works. It sounds like an upgrade, OS 5.2, should also hit your BlackBerry device later this year, but this will clearly just be another step. Or, perhaps, the new OS for the Dakota, which should hit some time this year, as early as the spring. Will OS 6.0 be the big jump we’ve been wanting for years? At this point, I have to think so. Otherwise, why bother?

Tip of the week: BlackBerry Messenger pointers. Al Sacco lays them out, and I can’t help but nod in agreement.

T-Mobile opens a spot for the 8910. Verizon, too?

A few weeks ago, we saw this:

It’s the Curve 8910, and at the time many of us thought that it was headed for Asian markets. We had good reason, too. With so many BlackBerry models already on the market, and with this one lacking a 3G radio, it didn’t seem to have a spot in any North American BlackBerry lineups. But when we later learned that it passed though the FCC — the American FCC — we were left wondering. Turns out, the answer was right in front of our faces.

This week we learned that T-Mobile is phasing out the Curve 8900. Ah ha! It looks like the 8910 will be a year-later replacement, catering to the T-Mobile markets that lack 3G. There are also rumblings of a Curve 8930 model hitting shelves, presumably for Verizon. And since Sprint seems to pick up all these devices, them too. My question is how an 8930 would differ from the Curve 8530 and the soon-to-be-released Tour 9650.

How to: Set up BIS email on your BlackBerry. A basic but essential tip.

RIM helps fuel smartphone growth

In a time when we’re seeing a lot of less than stellar news in the mobile space, RIM still thrives. The whole smartphone industry, in fact, has continued to grow despite shaky economic conditions. In the fourth quarter of 2008, companies sold 41 million smartphones worldwide. That number jumped to 53 million this year, a 30 percent increase. While Nokia shipped the most, 20.8 million, RIM saw its own uptick, selling 10.7 million BlackBerry devices. That accounted for 20.2 percent of the fourth quarter market, and its 34.5 million units sold in 2009 accounts for 19.8 percent of the overall market.

It’s no wonder, then, that so many companies seem eager to add mobile services. It’s a growing industry, and everyone wants to tap it.

RIM simplifies 3G bands

The story started off when we saw pictures of the Pearl 9100 running T-Mobile 3G bands.That sounds great, right? Of course it does, but there’s an even better story behind it. As Boy Genius Report explains, RIM is now releasing its GSM models with one radio. That is, they’ll make the same phone for all of their GSM carriers — T-Mobile, AT&T, Rogers, WIND, Vodafone, etc. RIM them flashes the phone for the specific carrier, rather than putting in a different radio for each one. That should reduce manufacturing costs — which you should only really care about if it reduces the price for the end user. Still a cool story, though.

Want to access stuff faster on your BlackBerry? Try Iconify, which allows you to create home screen icons for contacts and web pages, or SuperQWERTY, which essentially turns your keyboard into an app-launching machine.

Gear up for the Olympics with a BlackBerry theme

Thanks to IntoMobile for pointing this out — though I have no idea how I missed it on BBOS. If you have a BlackBerry Storm and want to cheer on your country as they compete for glory, you can show your colors with a free Team USA or Team Canada BlackBerry theme.

Here’s the USA version (Woooooooooo!)

And here’s the Canada version (Boooooo — though I’m sure my co-works will disagree)

It’s RIM, not BlackBerry

So apparently Jeopardy! fudges facts in order to conveniently fit a question into a category. Kevin explains, though I’m sure you’ll get what I’m talking about just by watching the video.

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

BlackBerry News From The Wire for the Week of 2/1/2009

BlackBerry News From The Wire for the Week of 1/25/2009

Joe — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 16:00:48 +0000

When we changed formats over a year ago and stopped doing daily news in favor of this weekly feature, I fancied it like a network news program. We’d run down all the things relevant to our local niche. One of my favorite parts about network news — well, my only favorite part, since I don’t watch the actual programs — is the teaser they play in the hours before. “Is your breakfast cereal making your children dumber? Story at 11.” This week we can see such a teaser: “Will the BlackBerry be banned in America? Story after the jump.”

Instead of competing on product, many companies nowadays compete on patents. Company A will claim that Company B’s product infringes on its patents, as if Company B blatantly ripped off the technology and thought they could get away with it. I tend not to buy this. I don’t have an intricate enough knowledge of the patent system to say just how bad it is, but from stories I’ve heard many patents are ridiculous.

To that end, Motorola has filed suit against RIM, claiming that the latter violated patents involving Wi-Fi access, application management, power management, and UI. Seriously? You can patent a UI? Sounds a bit ridiculous to me, as does application management. But I’ll refrain from further comment, since I do not know nor would I understand the technical aspects. What I do wonder is of whether Motorola thinks it owns patents on Wi-Fi access in general. Wouldn’t that be an interesting scenario.

In any case, Motorola has asked the International Trade Commission to block the import of RIM devices which violate Motorola’s patents. This, in all likelihood, will never happen. I do want to see how this case plays out, however, because of the nature of the patents.

Photos, video of the BlackBerry Magnum

We’ve heard murmurs about RIM’s attempt at a full-QWERTY, touchscreen phone for a while now. It was originally supposed to be the Magnum, but then we heard the name changed to Dakota. Apparently, the Dakota is a complete update, with better specs, leaving the Magnum dead before arrival. This week, however, The Cellular Guru showed off the defunct model. Here’s a shot, with thanks to CrackBerry for the pointer.

As Kevin noted in the update, we should not expect to ever see this specific model on shelves. We’ll instead see the Dakota, which has yet to show up on the Internet. But, since we love new devices so much, we’ll close this section with a video demo of the Magnum. It’s not really that impressive — since the device doesn’t have a working OS there’s not much to demo beyond the hardware.

Tip of the week: Fixing your BlackBerry after a Reload Software: 522 error. It can be deadly, which is why you should follow…

Tip of the week No. 2: Back up your BlackBerry wirelessly with Aurkon. Read the post first, however, as it goes over the matter of data privacy.

Yet another sign of the coming Tour 9650

We know of the many signs that a device release is nearing. We see photos, then video, we see it pass through the FCC, and then, sometimes, we see bloggers get hands on demos. This one we’ve yet to see: A Facebook status update. RIM announced that the Tour 9650 is coming soon, though the update came down soon after.

Notice how it says Tour 9650 and not Tour 2. If this is the case, it sounds like a marketing ploy to soothe original Tour buyers. I’ve wasted plenty of breath saying how unfair it is to original Tour customers that RIM releases a better version of it seven months later. In any case, I can’t imagine this device is further than a month away. Best Buy is already phasing out the 9630.

BIS 3.0 to support OpenOffice, Windows Media

A bit of good news about BIS 3.0, which should hit in the next couple of months. According to BBLeaks, the new service will support OpenOffice and Windows Media Audio files. There’s not much to add — it’s pretty cool that RIM will support these file types. I’m still much more psyched about the two-way Gmail sync.

12-key Pearl coming?

This has to be some kind of mistake. BBLeaks mentioned it about a month ago, and now they have further confirmation that RIM is working on a 12-key Pearl. Yes, 12 keys, as in zero through nine plus star and pound. Here’s the patent drawing.

Doesn’t that defeat the entire purpose of the BlackBerry? If ever released, I imagine this would sell worse than the Pearl flip.

BlackBerry rundown

I bookmarked a lot of stories this week, but most of them stand on their own. Here’s a list of links you might enjoy.

Verizon to offer a prepaid BlackBerry? Looks like they’re trying to keep up with other prepaid services, if true.
The Curve 8910 was at CES? I still don’t see where it fits in the lineup.
RIM creating fingerprint reader? That would be a pretty cool security feature.
How would you change the Storm 2? There are about 250 comments on this post, so if you have some time you might be able to weed out some decent ones.
How to make your smartphone last longer. Al Sacco brings us the best tips. What would we do without that guy?
Verizon offering music pre-loaded on microSD card. The card comes with 1,000 popular songs plus 4GB of storage beyond that. It’s going to cost $50, and comes with a choice of a few different genres. While I don’t see it catching on, the price seems right. The songs essentially cost 5 cents each and the card is free.

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

BlackBerry News From The Wire for the Week of 1/25/2009

BlackBerry News From The Wire for the Week of 1/18/2009

Joe — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 17:00:04 +0000

In last week’s edition of News From The Wire we saw the first photos of the BlackBerry Curve 8910. After many of us wondered what place it had among the current BlackBerry lineup, a few commentators noted that the device resembles the BlackBerry Atlas, a device discovered around September and reportedly headed for Asian markets. That made sense, and I thought that would be the end of it. But early this week the device passed through the FCC. Since the US government likely isn’t in the business of approving devices set for release in Asian markets, it appears that the 8910 will, indeed, hit North America.

The Curve 8910 features a quad band GSM/GPRS/EDGE radio, with support for what’s termed evolved EDGE. This supposedly speeds up typically slow EDGE speeds. The display checks in at 428×360, and the camera is the now-typical 3.2 megapixels. It’s essentially an update to the Curve 8900, and I’d expect it to hit both T-Mobile and AT&T, just like its predecessor. I’m not exactly sure what kind of demand there will be for the device, but apparently RIM thinks it’s worth a release.

Specs for Pearl 9100, Apollo

Oooh, new BlackBerry device time. We’ve heard of this one before, the BlackBerry Apollo, though like most pre-production devices the name will change upon release. It looks like it will be called the Curve, or maybe the Curve2, as its the GSM next generation model. It features a 3G HSDPA radio, a “High Performance 3G Processor,” quad-band radio, Wi-Fi, GPS, and a 3.2 megapixel camera. In other words, it will be everything we expect from the next in the Curve line.

The information comes from BBLeaks, which also runs down the specs of the Pearl 9100. In bold on that page: “3G compatible.” That’s pretty sweet for Pearl users. Otherwise it’s pretty much what we expected, the biggest improvement, I think, has to be the screen. The resolution is 360×400, besting the original Pearl by plenty. It also features both GPS and Wi-Fi, plus a 3.2 megapixel camera and an optical trackpad.

Check the post, too, for all the specs on the Curve 8910.

Tip of the week No. 1: Send BlackBerry contact information with vCards. If you ever have to send someone contact information, your BlackBerry makes it easy, whether its to another BB user or not.

RIM looking to speed up BlackBerry internet

Your BlackBerry might not be providing you the fastest possible Internet experience. Sure, it might maximally use the network speed its granted, but the data transfers uncompressed, which means longer load times. There’s an explanation at BlackBerryOS, along with RIM’s patent-pending solution. They plan to set up a proxy server in order to compress the data, making for faster transfers. It should look something like this.

Make sense to you? Yeah, I don’t get it either. All we can do is trust that this will make a difference in our browsing speed. As they said on BBOS: “Couple this with the possibility of a WebKit browser, and we may just start drooling a little.”

Tip of the week No. 2: Managing folders on your BlackBerry. My older BlackBerry application menus were always marked by clutter. Folders can help reduce that.

BlackBerry Presenter gets high marks

A few weeks ago, RIM unveiled a new gadget at CES, the BlackBerry Presenter. A little box with a few input and output ports, the device allows you to hook up your BlackBerry to a projector, thus making for laptop-less presentations. How well does it work, though? Luis at BerryReview takes a look and he comes away impressed, giving it 9/10 stars. Check out the video.

Make sure to read Luis’s full review if you’re undecided about whether to purchase the device. RIM has also set up a website for the Presenter.

Tip of the Week No. 3: Use SearchIt to expand your web search options. I love SearchIt because it allows me to dig deeper into sites, rather than just search engines.

OS updates

We saw a few OS 5.0, and even 4.5, updates this week. So here goes. Remember, while these are official releases, they might not come from your carrier. As such, we recommend that you wait for your carrier to release the OS before installing. But, if you’re feeling adventurous, give them a try. But don’t come crying to us if it hurts your device.

Via BlackBerry Rocks, OS 5.0.0.419 is out for the Tour 9630 from MTS Mobility, a Canadian carrier.
Verizon customers looking for OS 5.0 on the Tour will have to wait another month or two.
Via CrackBerry, Bell Mobility released 5.0.0.149 for the Storm original. It’s not a huge deal for US users, however. Verizon has already released .328.
Again via BB Rocks, AT&T has released OS 4.5.0.182 for the Pearls 8100 and 8120, and the Curve 8300.

More evidence of the BlackBerry Twitter client

We’ve spent a lot of time running down various BlackBerry Twitter clients, and soon we might see the official RIM version. A picture emerged of the app this week, and could be released next month. You can be sure we’ll cover that one extensively.

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

BlackBerry News From The Wire for the Week of 1/18/2009

BlackBerry News From The Wire for the Week of 1/11/10

Joe — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 15:39:55 +0000

In last week’s News From The Wire we focused on the BlackBerry Pearl 9100. That’s one of two BlackBerry models slated for an early 2010 release, and since we haven’t seen a Pearl release since 2007 it’s probably the more exciting of the two. The other device, the Tour 2, a/k/a the Essex, will also hit shelves soon. I’ve expressed my dissatisfaction with a release so soon after the original Tour, but that doesn’t make it any less noteworthy. So what did we learn about the Tour 2 this week?

Verizon, Sprint preparing for the Tour2

During the course of device development, we’ve come to recognize certain milestones. There are the first pictures of the device in the wild. There’s the first listing on eBay. Then there’s the spotting of the device in a carrier’s computer system. That’s what we saw this week with the Tour2. In the least exciting screen shots ever, we see that the both Verizon and Sprint will carry the device. CrackBerry outed the Verizon model on Saturday, and just a day later BlackBerry Links caught the Sprint version. We still don’t know when these devices will reach an official release, but given the appearance in both systems, it shouldn’t be too far in the future.

Charging your BlackBerry: We saw two stories about new charging implements for your mobile device. First is Energizer’s EnergiStick, a small bugger that can give your Berry a little extra juice. The other is the RCA Airnergy, which charges your BlackBerry using WiFi signal. The latter, however, might be a bit of snake oil, according to a few commenters.

BlackBerry Curve 8910 spotted

Well, that was unexpected. We spent so much time getting excited about the Pearl 2 and Tour2 that we forgot about a number of other BlackBerry models rumored for 2010. Among them, the Curve 8910, which BerryReview spotted in the wild. Bla1ze had a look, and determined that we might have seen this before, as it looks like the unreleased BlackBerry Atlas. As the model number suggests, this will not have 3G, just EDGE. It’s also probably not headed for North America, but rather the Asian market, which makes sense. It’s hard to figure where this would fit in the US and Canada BlackBerry lineups.

Samsung readying 32GB microSD cards

Late last year we went over what memory card your BlackBerry can support. The new OS versions, including OS 5.0, support 32GB cards, but they’re not exactly easy to find. It looks like Samsung is ready to put a product on the market. They’ve announced they will begin mass production of 32GB microSD cards next month. They’ll be expensive at first, for sure, but this is a big step in terms of capacity.

A first look at the inPulse smartwatch

Yes, that is an inPulse watch pictured above, as reviewed by Engadget. You can check out more images at that post. It’s essentially everything we thought it would be. When you get a call, text message, email, or even BBM, the watch will display a notification. This includes the message sender or caller and a preview of the message. Sounds pretty basic. The watch face is a bit bulky, but other than that it looks pretty good. No word on release date right now, but we’ll try to get our hands on one for a review once it’s out.

In brief

To run down the remaining items of the week:

I took a look at Glide Engage, a Twitter-like service that offers a lot more, including cloud storage. While I enjoyed the interface, Engage misses one critical element: a user base. Maybe as people tire of Twitter and its 140-character limit, they’ll find Engage a worthy alternative.
Are you a battery cover geek? If so, BlackBerry Cool has a rundown of them.
If you’re into subscription music services, check out Thumbplay’s new unlimited music service. You can get access to their whole catalog, on your Berry and on your PC, for $9.99 per month. That’s a good price for a store with a growing library.
Is the Sirius XM app for BlackBerry coming soon? We got excited about the prospect in October, and it seems like we’re just a few weeks away from an actual release. Maybe? Please?

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

BlackBerry News From The Wire for the Week of 1/11/10