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RIM tweaking Storm2’s SurePress underpinnings, Verizon units getting swapped out

Posted on 09. Mar, 2010 by IBM. 

We hadn’t heard that the Storm2’s unique piezo-actuated touchscreen was acting up in any statistically significant way, but apparently, there’d been enough with dodgy lower left corners to prompt RIM to do something about it. BerryScoop and BlackBerry Leaks are reporting that Verizon stores have been ordered to return their existing stock in favor of new Storm2s with “silicone actuators” added to “to improve touchpad performance and tactile response,” and don’t worry, current customers — it seems you’re more than welcome to exchange your old unit for an upgraded one provided you’re “experiencing touchpad performance issues” (wink, wink). Unfixed handsets need to be out of stores by March 11, so it looks like you can definitely find the new ones hanging around this week — let us know if you can tell the difference.

RIM tweaking Storm2’s SurePress underpinnings, Verizon units getting swapped out originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BlackBerry Pearl 9100 to come in SureType and QWERTY flavors?

Posted on 05. Mar, 2010 by IBM. 

Remember Nokia’s E52 and E55? Espoo took an interesting tactic with these two: start with the same basic phone and operating system, but offer it with two different keypad layouts (in fact, HTC did the same with its Touch Dual). It’s not a bad idea — different strokes for different folks, right? Indeed, not everyone can really get into RIM’s SureType layout, but the Pearls that usually underpin it have a distinct opportunity to appeal to a wider audience. To that end, an OEM full QWERTY module for the unannounced Pearl 9100 has made an appearance on Chinese accessory reseller TrueSupplier’s site that suggests RIM’s learned this lesson and might be prepping to offer the newest model in two different versions. What’d be tragic here is if only one flavor was offered on each carrier that picked it up — and given RIM’s history, that wouldn’t surprise us — but for now, we sticking with the “choice is a good thing” line.

BlackBerry Pearl 9100 to come in SureType and QWERTY flavors? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 14:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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More BlackBerry slider pics appear — is this the next Bold?

Posted on 03. Mar, 2010 by IBM. 

What looked like a drizzle last night seems to be turning into a full on downpour. The folks over at BlackBerry Leaks have gotten themselves even more facetime with that mysterious BlackBerry slider device — and it looks a lot better than we thought. Right now the theories are flying about just exactly what kind of phone this is, with BBL suggesting it might be the next phone in the Storm family, while Kevin over at CrackBerry has it on good authority that this new handset will be part of the Bold line. Kevin also says that the rumors he’s heard on this device call for a 360 x 480 touchscreen display (sans SurePress) and expectations for BlackBerry OS 6.0 to be onboard. The pictured phone apparently has a battery issue which is keeping it from powering up, but hopefully someone will find a way to spark this thing to life and we can get some more solid info. For now, check out one more pic after the break.

Continue reading More BlackBerry slider pics appear — is this the next Bold?

More BlackBerry slider pics appear — is this the next Bold? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 23:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Engadget app for BlackBerry gets updated to 1.0.1

Posted on 03. Mar, 2010 by IBM. 

Hey BlackBerry friends — we’ve got some news for you. The Engadget application (which is also available for the iPhone / iPod touch and webOS devices) has gone and gotten itself a little update on RIM’s platform. It’s nothing crazy, but we’ve made some bug fixes, and more importantly, added support for 5.0 devices (Bold, Curve, and Tour)! The devs also thoughtfully included keyboard shortcuts (T, B, N, P, and the spacebar) in this version for your convenience. All you have to do to get your hands on this baby is point your phone’s browser to our download page, or if you’ve already got the app installed, it should prompt you for an update automatically next time you open it. Storm users — we are working on a version for you as well, and everyone who is curious about the Android app: you should see it released this month!

The Engadget app for BlackBerry gets updated to 1.0.1 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BlackBerry slider photos leak out!

Posted on 02. Mar, 2010 by IBM. 

You can consider our minds completely and utterly blown tonight, as we’ve just stumbled upon these photos of what appears to be a new BlackBerry device… a vertical slider. The source (BlackBerry Leaks) doesn’t seem to be able to confirm the legitimacy of the photos, but we’re mostly convinced that this is some variation of a RIM device. While BB Leaks speculates on the possibility of this being the Storm 3, Kevin Michaluk over at CrackBerry suggests this might not be a device headed to market, rather an early version which has been scrapped, similar to that Magnum handset that floated onto the internet recently (though Kevin suggests that our friends in Canada may very well have plans for something in this form factor). What we can say with assurance, however, is that this device coupled with those new BIS 3.0 Gmail integration upgrades, that forthcoming RIM WebKit browser, and a rumored new OS would help push things into the territory of that dream smartphone we pleaded for back in 2008. Coincidence? We think not.

BlackBerry slider photos leak out! originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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RIM dev webinar hints at BlackBerry OS of the future?

Posted on 01. Mar, 2010 by IBM. 

See that Storm-esque device there? You may have noticed that the home screen looks positively nothing like the experience you’re used to — and that’s because it’s not. Shown off as part of a slide deck in RIM’s “Super Apps” webinar for developers last week, the company’s official explanation is that this is a pure, off-the-cuff mockup, not indicative of anything they’re working on for future devices or releases of BlackBerry OS. To be fair, when you take the shot in context with the bullet points and the fact that this presentation was geared squarely at devs, we can imagine that they really were just using it to get folks’ creative juices flowing — but it makes you wonder, doesn’t it? There’s enough active and location-aware content here to make even a heavily-widgeted Android home screen drool, so seriously, why not do this in 6.0, RIM?

RIM dev webinar hints at BlackBerry OS of the future? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Keepin’ it real fake, part CCLVI: BlueBerry gets upgraded with optical pad

Posted on 25. Feb, 2010 by IBM. 

You see, this isn’t our first run-in with BlueBerry. Nay — this is a firm that has shadowed Waterloo’s moves for some time, so when it came time for the real thing to make the transition from trackballs to optical pads, the Shenzhen doppelganger naturally had to follow suit. The result is this here BlueBerry 9500, a device that looks more like a Bold 9500 grafted to a Nokia E72 than it does a Bold 9700 — but hey, for folks torn between their Finnish and Canadian loyalties, this might be the perfect solution. The impressive spec sheet includes a TV tuner (complete with 9-inch retractable antenna), dual SIM support, and WiFi, and — most importantly — the optical pad is said to be “decent.” Check out the gallery for a couple more shots — just don’t expect any App World access with this one.

Keepin’ it real fake, part CCLVI: BlueBerry gets upgraded with optical pad originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 14:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Smartphone GPS shootout: Google, Ovi, and Verizon go head-to-head

Posted on 25. Feb, 2010 by IBM. 

It wasn’t long ago that getting somewhere required a map on paper. You know, something you bought or that came groaning out of your tired old printer. GPS navigation units made those maps obsolete, but now they too are under threat. With smartphones invading pockets everywhere it’s no surprise that their next assault would be on the dashboard, early volleys shaking up financial markets worldwide. That was just the beginning of a shock and awe campaign that will leave no automotive interior untouched — and hopefully no driver unsure how many miles until the next Dunkin’ Donuts. Google Navigation was the first to really shake things up, while Nokia’s Ovi Maps is a more recent addition to the battlefield and the latest VZ Navigator, 5.0, lets Windows Mobile and BlackBerry users join the fray. We’ve taken this sampling of the best built-in smartphone navigation options (the set of paid add-on options for iPhone is a beast we’ll be taming later), learning which you should trust to get you to where you’re going and to dodge construction and traffic on the way there. Read on for a turn-by-turn exploration of each option’s highs and lows.

Continue reading Smartphone GPS shootout: Google, Ovi, and Verizon go head-to-head

Smartphone GPS shootout: Google, Ovi, and Verizon go head-to-head originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 11:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gartner: Apple, Android, and RIM winners in 2009 smartphone growth, Nokia and Symbian still dominate

Posted on 23. Feb, 2010 by IBM. 

Gartner just released its annual numbers for worldwide mobile phone sales to end users in the year known as two thousand nine. Looking at smartphone OS market share alone, Gartner shows the iPhone OS, Android, and RIM making the biggest gains (up 6.2, 3.4, and 3.3 percentage points from 2008, respectively) at the expense of Windows Mobile (off 3.1 percentage points) and Symbian (off 5.5 points). Although Gartner says that Symbian “has become uncompetitive in recent years,” (ouch) it concedes that market share is still strong especially for Nokia; something backed up by Nokia’s Q4 financials and reported quarterly smartphone growth by 5 percentage points. Regarding total handsets of all classifications sold, Nokia continues to dominate with 36.4% of all sales to end users (down from 38.6% in 2008) while Samsung and LG continue to climb at the expense of Motorola (dropping from 7.6% to 4.5% of worldwide sales in 2009) and Sony Ericsson. See that table after the break or hit up the source for the full report.

Continue reading Gartner: Apple, Android, and RIM winners in 2009 smartphone growth, Nokia and Symbian still dominate

Gartner: Apple, Android, and RIM winners in 2009 smartphone growth, Nokia and Symbian still dominate originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Feb 2010 05:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Kindle for BlackBerry e-reader app now available

Posted on 18. Feb, 2010 by IBM. 

Amazon is today adding BlackBerrys to its stable of Kindle-compatible devices and also taking the opportunity to remind us that it’s working hard on Mac and iPad versions of its software. The app is a freebie download for Americans (sadly it’s not international just yet) and should offer the same functionality as its PC and iPhone brethren — namely automatic syncing via Whispersync and what Amazon hopes will be a seamless reading experience from one device to the next. There’s also an in-app book store, as well as the ability to create bookmarks and view annotations from other portable Kindle readers. Go download it at the Amazon link if you care, or move right along if you don’t.

Kindle for BlackBerry e-reader app now available originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 03:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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RIM CEO claims we are staring ‘down the barrel of a capacity crunch,’ should all get BlackBerrys to prevent it

Posted on 17. Feb, 2010 by IBM. 

Capacity crunch, isn’t that a breakfast cereal? RIM’s Mike Lazaridis seems to have been a real grouch at MWC this week as apparently he hasn’t stopped talking about the doom and gloom awaiting mobile carriers over the next few years. Focusing on the bandwidth-hungry North American market, Lazaridis has criticized the apparently irresponsible network saturation growth, which he sees as being primarily driven by app-centric operating systems. If you’re wondering who he could possibly be referring to, let Mike clarify it — according to him, you could carry five BlackBerry devices for each iPhone on a network. As evidence of his firm’s focus on efficiency, he points us to that freshly demoed WebKit browser, which he claims uses a third of the bandwidth required by the competition from Apple and Google. If only he wasn’t implying that owning a BlackBerry would save the internet, Mike’s sales pitch would be rather compelling — those are mighty impressive numbers he is citing.

RIM CEO claims we are staring ‘down the barrel of a capacity crunch,’ should all get BlackBerrys to prevent it originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Feb 2010 03:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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RIM demos new WebKit-based BlackBerry browser at MWC — it’s fast!

Posted on 16. Feb, 2010 by IBM. 

We weren’t expecting much out of RIM’s presser here at MWC this morning, but the company managed to bust out one surprise — a demo of the company’s new WebKit-based BlackBerry browser. We’re assuming this is what came out of that Torch Mobile acquisition, and the early build shown off on-screen looks pretty solid, rendering Amazon.com quickly and scoring a full 100/100 on the Acid3 test. Unfortunately, there’s no word on when BlackBerry users will actually be able to get their hands on this, but rest assured we’re digging for more info. Video after the break.

Continue reading RIM demos new WebKit-based BlackBerry browser at MWC — it’s fast!

RIM demos new WebKit-based BlackBerry browser at MWC — it’s fast! originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Feb 2010 11:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BlackBerry stops bullet, at last proves itself useful beyond BBM

Posted on 13. Feb, 2010 by IBM. 

We kid, we kid. There are many excellent reasons to choose a BlackBerry as your main handset in the year 2010, but we’ve got a brand new item to add to the list: bullet stoppage. A woman in Ohio was sitting with her gun-handling boyfriend at a restuarant when the gun went off and hit her leg. Lucky for the both of them, the BlackBerry in her pocket intercepted the bullet — rather sufficiently, though to the considerable demise of the handset. It seems as if it was helped along by a neoprene case of some sort, but it’s still pretty impressive for such a point blank attack. Love is a battlefield, folks.

[Thanks, Tommy G.]

BlackBerry stops bullet, at last proves itself useful beyond BBM originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Feb 2010 18:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BlackBerry Application Suite leaks, ready to corrupt a perfectly good WinMo phone

Posted on 12. Feb, 2010 by IBM. 

We’d figured that RIM’s ambitious (if not questionable) project to port the juiciest morsels of BlackBerry OS to a virtual machine running atop Windows Mobile was abandoned long ago, and for all we know, it has — but the half-baked remnants of the undertaking are finally available thanks to the good folks at xda-developers. BlackBerry Application Suite, as its known, has finally found a proper home in a CAB file that’s making the rounds on the forums, and it’s apparently been bolted together with enough duct tape to work on an AT&T Fuze. Well, “work” is a relative term — you’ve apparently got to be on a BES server for it to work, you need to generate a valid PIN, and actuating the touchscreen requires a double-tap, but when you’re ready to stop punishing yourself with this craziness, the cold comfort of WinMo is just a couple clicks away. If you think you need this, odds are you really just need a Storm2, but hey, feel free to ruin your weekend trying to get this to work.

BlackBerry Application Suite leaks, ready to corrupt a perfectly good WinMo phone originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Feb 2010 07:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Twitter for BlackBerry launches in private beta, we check it out

Posted on 11. Feb, 2010 by IBM. 

Continue reading Twitter for BlackBerry launches in private beta, we check it out

Twitter for BlackBerry launches in private beta, we check it out originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 17:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BlackBerry Tour2-compatible visual VM on Verizon suggests release is growing near

Posted on 08. Feb, 2010 by IBM. 

It feels like the Tour isn’t quite aged enough to be replaced — especially when you consider that the downright ancient Pearl 8100 series is still sold on carriers around the world — but it seems that Verizon (and Sprint, naturally) might be champing at the bit to move on to a newer model with WiFi and a complete eradication of the pesky trackball. Verizon’s posted a Java app to its site with the file name “vvmail_9650.jad,” a reference to the Tour2’s model number. Of course, the Tour2 itself has yet to be announced by RIM in any capacity — let alone for a specific carrier — so we’ve got some hurdles to jump before this is on shelves, but if nothing else, we can safely say it’s coming to Big Red sooner or later.

[Image via BGR]

BlackBerry Tour2-compatible visual VM on Verizon suggests release is growing near originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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RIM’s BIS 3.0 email features apparently leaked, finally does Gmail justice

Posted on 05. Feb, 2010 by IBM. 

For a platform billing itself as the business user’s best friend, BlackBerry’s list of unsupported protocols that have achieved ubiquity is actually astonishing: you can’t do two-way read status sync with an IMAP email account, for example, and amazingly, you can’t natively connect to an Exchange ActiveSync service without being routed through RIM’s back-end software. In a shocking move that’s straight out of 2002, it seems at least one of those niggles is going to get patched up soon thanks to a leaked list of email features in BlackBerry Internet Service 3.0, the software carriers deploy to marshal all data connectivity on the handsets they’ve deployed to customers. Yes, that’s right: you’ll be able to synchronize read status and sent items with your Gmail account, just as if you were using virtually any other phone produced in the last several years! It’s hard to fathom that it’s taken this long, but hey, we’ll take it — unfortunately, it’s up to each carrier to decide when they’re going to deploy BIS upgrades, so your mileage may vary on the wait time. Of course, RIM could just add IMAP support directly to its phones so that this whiz-bang tech would work with any third-party email service and wouldn’t have to go through BIS in the process, but that would be crazy talk, right?

[Thanks, Jeff]

RIM’s BIS 3.0 email features apparently leaked, finally does Gmail justice originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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