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- More BlackBerry PlayBook OS Details Confirmed in Leaked Guides
- Verizon BlackBerry PlayBook FAQ Confirms Native Email Calendar and Contacts is Coming Soon
- Contest: Spot the Best App World Dating Scene “Reviews” – 10 Copies of Fixmo Tools to Win!
- RIM Breaks Down BlackBerry OS Version Usage in Charts
- Use Staples Coupons to Get a Cheaper BlackBerry PlayBook
- Screamager: Retro Style Message and Animation Player for PlayBook
- The Joy of Tech Takes on the BlackBerry PlayBook (Comic)
- RIM Supporting Android Apps Just to Shut Up Analysts? Is it Working?
- BlackBerry Desktop Manager 6.1 Coming Soon
- Free Texas Hold’em King Live v1.0.9 Adds Twitter and More
| More BlackBerry PlayBook OS Details Confirmed in Leaked Guides Posted: 29 Mar 2011 02:52 AM PDT
The floodgates seems to be finally leaking at a faster pace now that we are closer to the BlackBerry PlayBook launch. The latest are three setup guides screen capped by Jordan Vail from a Webinar and nicely put up by Kevin. There are a few interesting takeaways in there and it shows that RIM is trying to keep things simple on the PlayBook. I wont take you through all the guides but here are some features and other information that RIM has confirmed with these slides:
Let me know if you spotted anything else in the guides that is worth noting! You can find the full guides over at CrackBerry at this link: If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:
Posted by Ronen Halevy for ©BerryReview, March 29, 2011, 5:52 am. | More BlackBerry PlayBook OS Details Confirmed in Leaked Guides | Leave a comment |
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| Verizon BlackBerry PlayBook FAQ Confirms Native Email Calendar and Contacts is Coming Soon Posted: 28 Mar 2011 02:54 PM PDT
If you had any question in your mind after RIM's CEO's confirmed it then this is another clincher. Mediq91 over @CrackBerryForums posted a PDF from a Verizon Webinar on the BlackBerry PlayBook. The PDF confirms that the BlackBerry PlayBook will be getting native email, calendar, contacts apps in a future software update. Until then RIM is saying what I have been saying all along. That BlackBerry PlayBook can access email through the browser without the need of a BlackBerry Smartphone. They are spinning the BlackBerry Bridge the right way as a "Value Add" to the PlayBook.
You can check out the full PDF at this link (via CrackBerry) If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:
Posted by the BerryReview Team for ©BerryReview, March 28, 2011, 5:54 pm. | Verizon BlackBerry PlayBook FAQ Confirms Native Email Calendar and Contacts is Coming Soon | 6 comments |
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| Contest: Spot the Best App World Dating Scene “Reviews” – 10 Copies of Fixmo Tools to Win! Posted: 28 Mar 2011 01:30 PM PDT
In case you have been living under a rock you probably have noticed that the BlackBerry App World reviews system has devolved into AOL of the 1990s. It reminds me of the day when A/S/L ruled the chat rooms. A huge portion of the "reviews" for many apps in App World have devolved into something along these lines:
That "review" was taken from Cnectd and they seem to mostly be congregated on social networking and chatting apps but no category is truly spared. From what I can tell other app stores are subjected to the same "reviews" as App World but I really wish RIM would do something to help stem the problem. RIM does not allow developers to flag reviews nor do they allow users to flag reviews as offensive or irrelevant. At the very least maybe RIM needs to create an "Dating Scene" app for these reviews and keep it out of the valid reviews section. I know that RIM is aware of the issue (they also don't live underneath a rock) so we decided to have a little fun at their expense to highlight the issue. The developers at Fixmo have kindly offered up 10 copies of the recently updated and awesome Fixmo Tools app for our contest. In case you don't know Fixmo Tools is a suite of apps likened to a "utility belt for your smartphone." It includes 17 different apps in one larger app ranging from Wi-Fi file transfers to screenshots. For your chance to win a copy of Fixmo Tools all you have to do is leave a comment with:
Submissions must be made before Friday April 1st, 2011 at 11:59 PM EDT and we will select the winners over the weekend. This is a totally subjective contest and we are counting on you to make us laugh and cry at the same time. The more absurd the better though we are definitely discouraging anyone from contributing to the problem by leaving your own "review" to win. Credit will be given for "thinking outside the box" and finding "reviews" in the most unexpected places. Multiple submissions will be accepted within reason but only one will be counted per user for the prize. Good luck to you all and most important of all, have some fun! If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:
Posted by the BerryReview Team for ©BerryReview, March 28, 2011, 4:30 pm. | Contest: Spot the Best App World Dating Scene “Reviews” – 10 Copies of Fixmo Tools to Win! | 14 comments |
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| RIM Breaks Down BlackBerry OS Version Usage in Charts Posted: 28 Mar 2011 10:40 AM PDT
Every once in awhile RIM updates their "Choosing a target Device OS" page for developers with new breakdowns. They announced on their Twitter feed that they have released the latest OS breakdown numbers for developers. The numbers are interesting with OS 5.0 still taking the lion share of all OS builds and users. I still feel bad for all the OS 5.0 and previous users who are stuck without a WebKit browser. Check out the charts for yourself and let us know what you think!
If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:
Posted by the BerryReview Team for ©BerryReview, March 28, 2011, 1:40 pm. | RIM Breaks Down BlackBerry OS Version Usage in Charts | 13 comments |
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| Use Staples Coupons to Get a Cheaper BlackBerry PlayBook Posted: 28 Mar 2011 08:13 AM PDT
Quite a few readers have let us know they are using Staples coupons to cut down the price of the BlackBerry PlayBook. There was one for $50 off Staples in Canada but it expired quickly. Nikolaus let us know about his method of getting $30 off the BlackBerry PlayBook from Staples and we thought that would be a great deal to share. What he did was:
All in all we have for a 16GB BlackBerry PlayBook from Staples at:
An easy way to save $30 off a PlayBook. Let us know if you did anything differently! If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:
Posted by Ronen Halevy for ©BerryReview, March 28, 2011, 11:13 am. | Use Staples Coupons to Get a Cheaper BlackBerry PlayBook | 13 comments |
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| Screamager: Retro Style Message and Animation Player for PlayBook Posted: 28 Mar 2011 08:00 AM PDT
When I first caught a glimpse of this new PlayBook app called Screamager, I wasn't sure if many would find it useful. After reading the description on App World, my mind was instantly changed:
There have been many times I have wanted to let drivers around me know something. Using the mirror effect on the scrolling text, I could tell someone in front of me, "Move over! You're in the FAST lane!" Or I could show someone beside me a message saying, "Your trunk is open!" Or maybe a simple, "Call me! (insert fake number)" The developer of Screamager, Marco Vlieg, has posted a video demonsrating the features of the app. I found it interesting that he developed this for PlayBook first. He plans on porting to WebOS and iOS next. Keep reading for the demo video and more screenshots.
Is this an app you can see yourself using on the PlayBook? Let us know in the comments! If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:
Posted by jforce for ©BerryReview, March 28, 2011, 11:00 am. | Screamager: Retro Style Message and Animation Player for PlayBook | One comment |
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| The Joy of Tech Takes on the BlackBerry PlayBook (Comic) Posted: 28 Mar 2011 07:14 AM PDT
I can't say I agree with The Joy of Tech but for every joke there usually is at least a grain of truth. RIM has been pulling out accessories out of recent BlackBerry smartphones like the Torch not shipping with a holster. Still it is funny to see a "everything but the kitchen sink" take on the BlackBerry PlayBook. Still I think they are on to something with the adorable baby chicken… Maybe TAT can create a 3D apps for that. via AllThingsD If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:
Posted by Ronen Halevy for ©BerryReview, March 28, 2011, 10:14 am. | The Joy of Tech Takes on the BlackBerry PlayBook (Comic) | One comment |
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| RIM Supporting Android Apps Just to Shut Up Analysts? Is it Working? Posted: 28 Mar 2011 07:06 AM PDT
RIM dropped a bomb on the press last week with the announcement that the BlackBerry PlayBook will be able to run ported Android apps. It has been really fun to see how the press and analysts are responding to the announcement. Even RIM admits that the reason they opened the door for Android application emulation on the PlayBook is to appease the haters who keep harping about what Jim Balsillie calls "Application Tonnage." Essentially the race to higher numbers of "apps." The sad part is these haters have not skipped a beat and are already complaining about the "Android Support" not being ideal. Here is the new list of complaints:
First of all I have to commend RIM for changing the conversation here. At first the complaints were all about there not being enough apps for the PlayBook to compete with the more established iPad. Now RIM has performed a "Jedi Mind Trick" and the conversation is all about the Android support. It gets even better when you consider that this feature is unnecessary but it managed to get EVERYBODY talking about the BlackBerry PlayBook. Kudos RIM. So back to the complaints: The BlackBerry PlayBook is "old Skool" it will only support Android 2.3 apps not 3.0 HoneyComb?This one is a pretty easy answer if you just stopped and thought about it for a second. Google has released the source code for Android 2.3 which means RIM can build an emulator based on that code. Google currently refuses to release the source code for the tablet optimized Android 3.0 HoneyComb due to the fact that it would lead to a "bad user experience" since they "took a bunch of shortcuts" to release it. In other words Android 3.0 is half-baked currently and Google rushed it out the door to compete. My guess is once Google releases the source code RIM could just as easily decide to upgrade the virtualization layer. Right now they cannot promise support for Android 3.0 OS apps because Google can't even promise it. But, but, dude the Android apps might run slower on the BlackBerry PlayBook since it is "Virtualized"?Ah so now we come down to the real meat and bones. What most people don't understand is that most of the resource intensive Android apps (think games) will NOT be portable to the BlackBerry PlayBook. This is because games like Angry Birds are created with the Android NDK (native development kit) which is not what RIM is porting. The thing is most "Apps" are not resource intensive. Most of the "Apps" users are clamoring for are simply dumb-ed down website experiences where slower performance is mostly irrelevant. Don't get me wrong there may be some apps that are trying to compute "Pi" to the thousandth decimal point but most of them simply search for restaurants near you, movie reviews, and such. If you have ever used virtualization software like VMware or Parallels just consider of the speed difference in browsing the web on the main machine or the virtual guest machine. Irrelevant right? Android developers will have to "port" their apps since RIM will not have access to the Android Marketplace! Developers are lazy!I realize the stereotype exists that developers are smoking mary jane in a basement somewhere worshiping Apple and his holiness Steve Jobs. The fact of the matter is there are more than enough developers to go around. RIM has really taken the shotgun approach to offering environments to as many developers as possible. They have announced or released SDK's for Flash/AIR, WebWorks, C/C++, Java, and Android Java. With the Android Player support RIM is appealing to the lowest common denominator. They are saying simply take your already developed Android app, code sign it, put it on App World and suddenly you have a whole new revenue stream. RIM did something similar when they first decided to support J2ME Java apps years ago on their smartphones. While I admit many developers might not be bothered RIM is not targeting those developers. They are offering Android developers a way to test the PlayBook waters without having to create a whole new app from the get go. If the strategy works, only time will tell. But it has yet to be done in the Tablet space to give RIM some credit. If RIM allows developers to port Android apps won't developers just stick to Android?Now this is a solid question. I am not sure what will happen but RIM actually has a good thing going with the Android support. They suddenly have thousands of Android developers talking about the BlackBerry PlayBook as a possible platform. Don't believe me? Look at all the Android blogs covering the news and the forum threads on it. I cannot answer how RIM will design the virtualization environment to allow for native and Android apps side by side. I give RIM the benefit of the doubt that they will find a way and will leave it at that until we learn more. In conclusion I think RIM has done a brilliant job of changing the conversation for analysts and the press. They also managed to get tons of coverage for supporting a virtualization layer after launch. In other words this was hopefully a smart move on RIM Marketing's part to change the conversation from the "lack of apps" to "BlackBerry running Android? WTF?" Share your thoughts in the comments… If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:
Posted by Ronen Halevy for ©BerryReview, March 28, 2011, 10:06 am. | RIM Supporting Android Apps Just to Shut Up Analysts? Is it Working? | 21 comments |
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| BlackBerry Desktop Manager 6.1 Coming Soon Posted: 28 Mar 2011 06:14 AM PDT
One of the things they notice is the it will be able to select not to use previous backed up or synced device data. Other than that there really isn't much information available to us. We expect probably some changes in the appearance and more functionalities for 6.1 compatibility.
Source: BGR If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:
Posted by Luis Merlos for ©BerryReview, March 28, 2011, 9:14 am. | BlackBerry Desktop Manager 6.1 Coming Soon | 9 comments |
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| Free Texas Hold’em King Live v1.0.9 Adds Twitter and More Posted: 28 Mar 2011 05:55 AM PDT
Magmic's Texas Hold'em King Live is one of the most popular if not the most popular multiplayer BlackBerry game. The best part is that it is free! A few readers who are avid players let us know the game has been updated to v1.0.9 which adds some Twitter features. You can now share you achievements and the game through Twitter along with following the conversation on Twitter. BlackBerry Cool also learned that this version adds an in-game username/password recovery system without having to restart. They have also thrown in a few bug fixes for kicks! You can pick up the update to Texas Hold'em King Live in App World If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:
Posted by Ronen Halevy for ©BerryReview, March 28, 2011, 8:55 am. | Free Texas Hold’em King Live v1.0.9 Adds Twitter and More | 3 comments |
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