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Feeling overloaded with BlackBerry news and rumors? We know the feeling. We hear new things almost every day, and it can be tough to keep up with it all. that’s why we’re bringing you BlackBerry News from the Wire every Thursday.
We’ll catch you up on everything ‘Berry that happened over the course of the week. Not only that, but we’ll rank ‘em by importance, so you can more easily skim the items and read the ones of most significance. If you only have time to read one article, for instance, you might want to head down to our 5-star section. It’s All the BlackBerry News Fit to Geek.
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Disassembling the BlackBerry Storm
Here’s what I think is the coolest link of the week: the guys at phoneWreck took apart the BlackBerry Storm. It looks pretty cool from the inside. phoneWreck describes it as “gorgeous.” It’s an awesome breakdown not only of the insides, but it’s also a pretty comprehensive review of the device itself. Like another review, which we’ll get to momentarily, this didn’t go over too well.
Storms shipping on December 8
Everyone is probably familiar with the Great Storm Fiasco from last week. Yeah, the one where they had limited quantities in high-demand areas, reportedly due to a security flaw. The worst part was that when ordering online, the order wouldn’t be shipped until December 5. That news got worse when things got pushed to December 15. However, the latest word is that it will actually ship by December 8. Robb of RIMarkable says that some readers claim they’ll get them even sooner.
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Telus charging an arm and a leg for the Storm?
This news is no fun. We know that Bell and Telus will start selling the Storm sometime in December, which is a good thing. We now learn that Telus could sell the device for $299.99 with a three-year contract. Will people pay that kind of price for the Storm? If anything, it represents a chance for Bell to undercut them. But will they? Can they? I’m not really sure how the pricing deal works. The two companies had a little tiff last month over who would have the device first. They could get into a much bigger fight over this.
Pearl 8220 flip free at Best Buy?
I haven’t seen this ad myself, and I refuse to shop at Best Buy unless completely necessary, so confirmation/debunking on this one would be nice. It appears that Best Buy could be offering the Pearl flip for free. If true, this could certainly boost “sales” of the device, which essentially means sales of T-Mobile plans. BGR notes that this came from someone in the San Fran area, so it could be a regional promotion. However, it’s certainly worth a shot.
Storm OS has issues
Let’s go over the saga. Late last week, word came down that supply of the BlackBerry Storm would be limited. This was said to be because of a emergency-reflashing due to an OS security leak. Okay. So BGR concocts a reasonable story, using evidence of a newer OS to say that the new OS had huge issues, hence the downgrade to 4.7.0.65, hence the OS bugs. They were later proved wrong, though they never purported anything to be fact. Conspiracy or not, the OS has some serious bugs, as Times tech guru David Pogue notes, in what has become a universally-cited review. Some problems seem unfixable at this stage, though some could be improved in an OS update, which could be coming soon.
BlackBerry Curve 8330 hits Virgin Mobile Canada
We knew this was coming, but now we have the official word. The BlackBerry Curve has launched on Virgin Mobile Canada. Because the carrier employs both contract and prepaid services, there are a number of pricing options. The cheapest is $49.99 on a three-year contract, which is pretty standard in Canada. If you’re getting a contract, you’d best go three years, because the two-year deal skyrockets to $329.99. Not a chance in hell I’d ever pay that. In fact, you’re better off adding another $100 to that and picking it up contract-free.
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Browser speeds: Storm, Curve, Bold
Thomas from BerryReporter has three BlackBerry devices, and has pit them up against one another to determine the best browser speed. These are the Curve 8320 from T-Mobile, the Bold with AT&T, and the Storm with Verizon. Which do you think came out best? Yep, the Storm. EVDO just has the better speeds, it seems.
Fido back in the BlackBerry groove
Fido, the low-cost brand under the Rogers umbrella, is looking to snag itself some BlackBerry devices before the holidays. Specifically, they’re asking Rogers for permission to sell the Pearl 8120 before the holidays, and the Pearl flip afterwards. They want the WiFi models so they can offer their UNO service, which is just like T-Mobile’s HotSpot @Home and Rogers’ TalkSpot.
Curve 8900 accessories on U.S. site
Not sure if there’s anything really here, but BGR points out that the US BlackBerry shop site has Curve 899 accessories. Why would you need an accessory if you can’t get the phone? It could mean it will be hear earlier than we expected. It could also mean nothing.
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iLane now available in North America. This was one of the cooler gadgets featured at WES earlier this year. The iLane reads your emails to you in the car, so you don’t have to take your eyes off the road. Cooper has the full news.
How to get your LED to stop blinking. First you have to know why it’s blinking in the first place. Then you can figure out how to stop the nuisance.
Nintaii for BlackBerry. I installed this and played it on the train ride back to my folks’ place this holiday weekend. Definitely addictive.
Mobile Heist at the BBGeeks Store. It runs through December 1, so check it out. Tons of software for half price.
NFL Mobile Live on Sprint. I don’t get the NFL and their exclusive deals. Mobile Live only on Sprint; Sunday Ticket only on DirecTV. Dude, we all want in on the action.
Sol Mania. I should have installed this, too. It’s 29 simple games, but surely at least a few have to have staying power.
Service books, host routing tables, and how they can solve BlackBerry issues. They won’t solve all of them, but they’re a good first step.
Three more BlackBerry themes reviewed. We’re out to make sure your BlackBerry interface never gets stale.
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