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.

Post from: Cellphone9

Looking at this line chart showing smartphone market share and sales since the past year, you can see three things:

1. Nokia is still number one

Though sitting on your laurels is usually ill advise, the Finns may actually be the only ones capable of actually doing this. I remember a press conference back 3 years ago where one Nokia regional marketing guy mentioned that they ar the number one camera and MP3 manufacturer in the entire world, alluding to their phones as being multimedia device. This chart shows smartphone shares. But the same applies to other device types especially in the mid and entry level range.

2. Apple’s market share is thanks to the iPhone

Though a far number three from Nokia, Apple’s market share has seen the biggest increase thanks to the device that revolutionized the smartphone industry. Bringing in a revamped touch user interface philosophy, a dedicated applications store and wow-ing people more with what it is than what it really has, the iPhone is here to stay.

3. BlackBerry still has its solid following

Truth is, nobody can contest the joys of owning a BlackBerry. It is the one device that can claim true push email and efficient data compression when sending files (1MB is really much less on the ‘Berry). It is loved by corporates and is truly its own device, not running on any other platform rather than its own — similarly with the iPhone. The BlackBerry was the enterprise device of choice and today, RIM hopes to gain more ground by pushing their consumer-oriented services such as POP email pushing and the app store.

[photo c/o source]

Post from: Cellphone9

[image courtesy of author]

Post from: Cellphone9

If you’re reading this from a phone, you can go directly to this link to download the application.

Post from: Cellphone9

The BlackBerry Storm is RIM’s first touch screen BlackBerry. This has been a long time coming and with the stability of the BlackBerry’s operating system with the semi-recent release of a crackoad of berries, we’re glad to see that a good touch screen device has arrived in time for the holidays. So now that we have the Berry, we’re curious with the pricing.

To quote from CrackBerry, there are four Perfect Choice plans available:

* Under the Perfect Choice Access 100 plan, the Storm handset will retail for €109.99 and will cost €49.99 a month as part of a bundle that will include 100 minutes, 100 texts, 1GB of BlackBerry email, mobile TV and 10 full-track music downloads.
* Under the Perfect Choice Access 200 plan, the Storm handset will retail for €64.99 and will cost €64.99 a month as part of a bundle that will include 200 minutes, 200 texts, 1GB of BlackBerry email, mobile TV and 10 full-track music downloads.
* Under the Perfect Choice Access 400 plan, the Storm handset will retail for €69.99 and will cost €84.99 a month as part of a bundle that will include 400 minutes, 400 texts, 1GB of BlackBerry email, mobile TV and 10 full-track music downloads.
* And under the Perfect Choice Access 600 plan, the Storm handset will retail for €49.99 and will cost €99.99 a month as part of a bundle that will include 600 minutes, 600 texts, 1GB of BlackBerry email, mobile TV and 10 full-track music downloads.

[photo c/o SFGate]

Post from: Cellphone9

The BlackBerry Bold 9000 is perhaps on the most anticipated BlackBerry devices in the market. It will be available come Q4 of 2008 exclusively with AT&T.

OK let’s get these specs out of the way, mmkay:

GPRS/EDGE/UMTS/HSDPA
Integrated Wi-Fi and GPS
Half-VGA (480×320 resolution) color LCD screen
Up to 5 hours GSM talk time, up to 13 days standby
Side-loading memory slot
1GB of on-board memory storage
624 MHz processor and 128 MB flash memory
Bluetooth® 2.0 capability with support for hands-free headsets, stereo headsets, car kits, and other Bluetooth peripherals

This is one of those proof of concepts from RIM. I can almost hear the engineers say “OK we’ve come up with several of these BlackBerries for 2008 and we need to leave the year with a bang — so here it is – more of the same with slight tweaks here and there – how BOLD, how BEAUTIFUL!.”

This is how you make phones! Let’s not stray away from over the top designs and weird features. Sticking to what works, with a touch of elegance is by itself, Bold.

Post from: Cellphone9

McCain’s admission in a July 11 New York Times interview that: “I use the BlackBerry, but I don’t e-mail. I’ve never felt the particular need to e-mail.” A statement proving the boneheaded joke of the McCain staffer to be particulary boneheaded considering the purported inventor of the Blackberry does not use the device to accomplish what it was invented to do: send emails.[Geek.com]

This quote was published in an article where McCain’s economic adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin stated one of those “if a butterfly flaps its wings on the other side of the world, will it cause a storm back here” lines saying that inevitably, McCain was responsible for the BlackBerry’s creation because of … economics.

[insert crickets chirping]

Post from: Cellphone9

The new BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 was unveiled recently. Other than being the first BlackBerry to sport a clamshell design, the new 8220 Flip still pretty much has the same features of previous Pearl models including the SureType QWERTY hybrid. This move was, in my opinion, an aesthetic preserver as the new Flip phone would look fugly if it were wider (full QWERTY). The 8220 comes with a 2.0MP camera and connectivity options has included WiFi onto the roster, so it does make a better impression on the original BlackBerry Pearl.

Why a flip design? More importantly, why only now? Because they can.

Post from: Cellphone9

Have any of you Berry users experienced similar impediments with the FaceBook application?

Post from: Cellphone9