The new BlackBerry Bold 9700 is expected to launch very soon. The “Bold” series has garnered a high fanfare, mainly because of its ease of use. The new Bold 9700 will become even more user friendly, replacing the “Pearl” with an optical pad similar to the Mac compatible 8520 launched earlier this quarter.
The new 9700 will feature a 3.2MP camera and voice calls via WiFi. Essentially it is the same BlackBerry we’ve come to love. Is this bad? RIM is turning into a Nokia with their release of very similar spec phones.

It’s out! Although in beta. BlackBerry is sure stepping up, not to be left behind by Nokia and Apple. The BlackBerry Widget Packager 1.0 Beta allows developers to pack all their developing goodness into a little widget which they can export.

There’s a conference for this — on November 9-12, RIM will be holding a session for developers who want to develop apps for the Blackberry platform. You can also proceed here for more details.
The developer tool can be found here.

It’s been more than a year and a half since my BlackBerry’s pearl conked out and I’ve already weathered through 3 phones. I had the unit sent back to RIM last year as this is apparently the only solution to servicing the unit. I was warned that it would take at least 6 months. It’s been much more than that. Not that I’m really complaining. I think it’s owed to the fact that I easily found a replacement unit. Nonetheless I’d like to get your insights on the matter: how long did it take to service your BlackBerry? Do tell …read more

Out for the BlackBerry and now for the Android OS, PhoneFace makes dialing a visual treat by turning your phonebook into a photo album. It is easier to recognize faces rather than names at times so this is what PhoneFace capitalizes on. You can scroll through the faces of often called contacts and once you click on their face, you can choose to dial their home or cell number. What’s also cool — PhoneFace allows you to download photos of your friends from Facebook.
The app is rather cheap at $0.99 and makes phonebook browsing worth it.

Interesting. Nokia sent over some PR material listing the 16 reasons why the Nokia E71 is a winner. Well, I won’t post all 16 but here are some notable mentions:

Recently voted by a panel of judges for the 2009 Mobile Innovation Global Awards held in Barcelona, Spain as one of the GSMA’s best handsets of 2009.
Device lock, device and memory card encryption, remote device management ensures your precious data doesn’t fall into the wrong hands even if your phone does.
Setting up webmail and corporate email only takes 5 clicks with the Nokia email wizard.

The Nokia E71 is a true beauty …read more