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- Bill Cosby Gets a Mobile App for Laughs on the Go
- RIM Exec Insists BlackBerry PlayBook Coming in March
- Will the BlackBerry PlayBook Browser Replace Most Apps?
- Lonely Turret: Tower Defense Game for PlayBook
- Why I Choose the BlackBerry PlayBook Over the Competition
- Rumor: BlackBerry Messenger Coming to iOS and Android?
- New BlackBerry Commercial and BlackBerry Hero Videos
- Syncamatic Adds Security Features and Multi Calendar Sync
| Bill Cosby Gets a Mobile App for Laughs on the Go Posted: 04 Mar 2011 02:05 AM PST I have been a Bill Cosby fan since I first watched Bill Cosby As Himself years ago. He is now making a comeback and to usher that he has released a BlackBerry app along with other platform releases. Its out of the blue but still it has some content that will make you laugh. That is a great feature in a mostly free app. Desktop Video Link | Mobile Video LinkThe app gives you:
They are also giving away 18 free Cosby ringtones at billcosby.com/mobile which I plan to setup as custom ringtones for two friends. If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:
Posted by Ronen Halevy for ©BerryReview, March 4, 2011, 5:05 am. | Bill Cosby Gets a Mobile App for Laughs on the Go | Leave a comment |
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| RIM Exec Insists BlackBerry PlayBook Coming in March Posted: 03 Mar 2011 09:09 PM PST With the latest rumors having the BlackBerry PlayBook launching on April 10th this is a breath of fresh air. The PocketLint team got a one on one interview with Stephen Bates, Head of UK Management Teat at RIM, that while the BlackBerry PlayBook will launch in the UK in early Q2. He also said that "Its end of Q1 for the US" and that "Europe is Q@… The UK will be one of the early ones." That US Q1 means we might still be seeing the BlackBerry PlayBook start rolling out in the US THIS MONTH. I doubt it will beat the iPad 2 and its March 11th launch date but still it could be closer than we think. I am really hoping Stephen Bates is on the money with this confirmation. Otherwise he is just a tease! via Electronista If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:
Posted by Ronen Halevy for ©BerryReview, March 4, 2011, 12:09 am. | RIM Exec Insists BlackBerry PlayBook Coming in March | 6 comments |
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| Will the BlackBerry PlayBook Browser Replace Most Apps? Posted: 03 Mar 2011 11:45 AM PST There is one thing we hear over and over from RIM about the BlackBerry PlayBook is the "No-compromise Web." From the way I hear it RIM is trying to tout the BlackBerry PlayBook's web browser with its full Flash support as the ultimate app. If you think about it a bit it kind of makes sense in a weird kind of way that the browser will be the "One app to rule them all." Jim Balsillie has been saying this since November of last year and it is finally starting to make sense to me. Just think about it for a second… Many apps are just dumb-ed down (aka Mobilized) web services: If you think hard about it just look at some of the apps you use. I know BerryReader is one of my most popular apps but what if I could simply use Google Readers website properly… Would I need an app? Here are a couple other examples of what I mean:
The thing is that most of these services in "App" form have limitations that set what you can do from the app. For example, you cannot access all your Facebook settings from most Facebook apps. From the website everything is possible. It might not be totally tablet optimized but if it works 95% of the time who cares… What about Games?!?!?!?! Ever played a Flash or Facebook game? How about Farmville? RIM is promising that most Flash content games will work on the PlayBook… I have tried it and results are sweet! How about my native Email? Contacts? Calendar? etc… If you use a service like Gmail, Google Apps, or Yahoo you could simply visit their website. RIM can even make sites into "launcher links" with notifications served through a simple API when they are open. How about Pandora and Slacker or my other streaming music sites? Didn’t we say something about uncompromised web? Flash is fully supported so RIM could make all of these apps work! How about Google Maps? You just head on over to maps.Google.com and use it just like you would on your PC! Better yet use any mapping website you want. Will RIM manage to be able to make the PlayBook Browser the "One App to rule them all" to alleviate Apple's head start in the Tablet app marketplace? Its not like these other tablets do not have capable browsers but the Torch team has done some pretty sweet stuff with the PlayBook and even the BlackBerry 6 browser. I am curious if they will be able to pull of another miracle. What I am really hoping for is if RIM manages to pull off some new fangled web API's that allow websites to act more like apps without the limitations of the current WebWorks API. For example, there should be a simple API for creating a notification for a user with some reasonable limit. Or better yet the ability to make a site act as its own app instead of simply another tab within the browser. What do you think? If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:
Posted by Ronen Halevy for ©BerryReview, March 3, 2011, 2:45 pm. | Will the BlackBerry PlayBook Browser Replace Most Apps? | 14 comments |
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| Lonely Turret: Tower Defense Game for PlayBook Posted: 03 Mar 2011 11:00 AM PST It was only a matter of time. The first crack at a tower defence game has arrived for the PlayBook. Having a larger multitouch screen to work with could make tower defense games like Lonely Turret quite enjoyable. Imagine hordes of enemies attacking while you're furiously buying, positioning, and upgrading your turrets with BOTH hands! Sounds like fun to me! Lonely Turret boasts a wide variety of enemies and 100 levels to stretch your strategy and defence skills to the limit. The app is in the approval process with App World so it is not currently available for download. More screenshots below. Source: PB Daily If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:
Posted by jforce for ©BerryReview, March 3, 2011, 2:00 pm. | Lonely Turret: Tower Defense Game for PlayBook | 3 comments |
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| Why I Choose the BlackBerry PlayBook Over the Competition Posted: 03 Mar 2011 10:01 AM PST Since RIM announced the BlackBerry PlayBook months ago there is a whole new landscape in the tablet market. These new competitors have many BlackBerry users wondering how the BlackBerry PlayBook stacks up to the competition and what makes it special. Here are the features I think will make the PlayBook stand out: QNX Operating System: I could go on about the QNX OS for ages but this is RIM's core differentiator. It allows them to do things that would be almost impossible and inelegant on other devices. For example, the QNX based Tablet OS can be updated without rebooting and wirelessly. That means no iTunes required and if RIM pulls it off right we can get incremental updates that add functionality in easy to implement installs. The real time OS also means that multi tasking will blow away the competition. More on that… Speed, Speed, Speed: While the competition might also be starting to get 1Ghz+ Dual Core processors the QNX OS and how it uses the processor makes the whole difference. The QNX OS is a real time OS lets long processing operations/applications/drivers not have to hold up other processes by not locking up the processor. You will notice this on your desktop and other machines when you run more than 2 things on a dual core processor. Other functions will run much slower because the processor intensive functions are locking the processor. I am being very simplistic about this but check out the details here. A Fresh Start: Some/most of the BlackBerry PlayBooks competition is trying to run a smartphone designed OS on a Tablet. RIM is working the other way by bringing a secure, mission critical, top of the line microkernel OS to a Tablet form factor. In other words the same OS that runs tanks and even nuclear reactors reliably will be running your tablet. Fastest 7 inch ultraportable tablet: Its is currently the only player in the 7 inch field with a dual core processor and is just a tiny bit heavier than the Samsung Galaxy Tab. Most of the competition is working on the 10" size which I think does not make much sense compared to a full laptop. Still different strokes for different folks. My guess is RIM will release a 10" version in the future. Browser with Flash AND HTML5 media: While some Android tablets now have Flash or are getting it soon RIM has it built in. Other tablets (iPad) will probably never have it. Also the PlayBook does Flash natively and is blazing fast about it. BlackBerry Integration: This can be taken as both a plus and minus. The Bridge connection to the BlackBerry means you don't have to manage yet another email client but it does limit the functionality of the PlayBook without a tethered BlackBerry. This seems to be a developing feature for RIM. Confirmed 4G versions: Unlike other current tablets RIM has confirmed that a WiMax version is coming out close to launch and a LTE one will be here before the end of the year. I am sure the competition will also have some 4G versions by then (HP TouchPad) but RIM will finally not be playing catch up. Bezel Gestures: While I think the HP TouchPad will also have gestures no other tablet I know of has them. The current default gestures from the plastic bezel are cool and RIM only has room to improve on it! Megapixel Cameras: The BlackBerry PlayBook cameras stack up well against the iPad though they are comparable with Android and WebOS devices. The 5MP rear and 3MP front should be fine for most applications. MicroUSB and MiniHDMI: One of the things that drives me nuts in the mobile space is proprietary connectors. RIM is using the same standard MicroUSB and MiniHDMI specs built into the device. No dongles required. Enterprise Compatibility and Security: Companies have the RIM name to fall back on when it comes to security. The QNX OS is rock solid and certified so. Something tells me the Tablet OS is not far behind. RIM has spilled a few beans about how the PlayBook fits into the enterprise angle but I expect we will hear much more at BlackBerry World in early May. Multiple programming languages and extensible platform: RIM currently supports Adobe AIR/Flash and WebWorks to develop apps but a native C/C++ and a Java platform are also coming. RIM can also add more platforms as they see fit due to the QNX architecture and update them piecemeal. More options means more developers with differing skill sets are able to create apps. Only time will tell how that will turn out but it looks promising. Fresh start with carrier and retail partners While not exactly a feature of the PlayBook it is a whole new chapter for RIM. They can finally do away with all the crazy control they allowed carriers on the BlackBerry Smartphones. For example, carriers now have to approve every OS update. Hopefully RIM will tell them to fly a kite. Same thing with allowing carriers like AT&T to push 25 homescreen spam icons to my BlackBerry Torch. A clean slate can let them clear that out. I am hearing they plan on taking advantage of it. A real key concession they could get out of carriers is not charging more for using your BlackBerry smartphone as a modem for your PlayBook and just using the same data out of your bucket. Details might have to be worked out but that would be an interesting twist. Clean slate without legacy support and applications One of RIM's biggest issues with the BlackBerry smartphone OS is legacy support. They are still supporting older versions of BES and always need to look back to make sure they have not broken anything. The PlayBook gives them a fresh and modern start so they are not building a tablet on an OS originally designed to be a pager. They own the whole vertical development Both HP and Apple develop both the OS and the devices so they make sure their OS compliments every device. This is the same with the PlayBook and is really only a differentiator from the Android tablet OS. The Android phones are made by different manufacturers with each one having to deal with what Google provides them and customizing it. It makes for messy yet customizable solutions. This also relates to how fast your tablet is outdated. With Apple you know once a year you will get see a new iPad. With Android you are going to see different ones every few months or even weeks. The PlayBook will be getting different versions but all based on the same design. This is both good and bad but I personally like the fact that I know my device will be the main device supported for apps and such for at least a year. With that said… I am sure there are many more reasons but share yours in the comments! Don't get me wrong the lack of apps and loss of first to market advantage are going to be hard for RIM to overcome but RIM definitely stands a good fighting chance. Comparing Tablets is not exactly a perfect Apples vs Googles vs HPs vs RIM comparison but I will try to detail what I think RIM can do about trouncing the competition soon! If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:
Posted by Ronen Halevy for ©BerryReview, March 3, 2011, 1:01 pm. | Why I Choose the BlackBerry PlayBook Over the Competition | 16 comments |
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| Rumor: BlackBerry Messenger Coming to iOS and Android? Posted: 03 Mar 2011 07:58 AM PST The latest rumor thrown in the mix by the BGR is that RIM is working on bringing their platform BlackBerry Messenger to other devices including iOS and Android. Who knows if this will ever see the light of day like their BlackBerry services that were supposed to run on Windows Mobile and Symbian but its an interesting twist. The new app is supposed to come to Android first since it is an open platform. It seems like RIM is trying to take back the mobile messaging title across all platforms from the startups that are trying to copy them. Supposedly these cross platform BBM clients will only support a limited subset of BBMs features like chat and presence. Picture, file, and video sharing will be left to actual BlackBerry device. Supposedly RIM is toying with ideas for charging a one time fee or subscription for BBM on other platforms or even making it free. My advice is free is the best way to go but find a hook that will make users want to come to the BlackBerry. Hopefully RIM executes on this nicely if the rumor is true. I have always said BBM could be the thing that makes RIM especially if they extend its features even to desktops. If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:
Posted by the BerryReview Team for ©BerryReview, March 3, 2011, 10:58 am. | Rumor: BlackBerry Messenger Coming to iOS and Android? | 14 comments |
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| New BlackBerry Commercial and BlackBerry Hero Videos Posted: 03 Mar 2011 06:52 AM PST I am really not sure how to describe these two latest videos from RIM on YouTube. The first shows the an interesting "Making of" video of for a commercial with 2AM, a South Korean boy band, showing off a bunch of the latest BlackBerry devices. They also have a new BlackBerry Hero promo video showing off how to Australian fashion designers cannot live without BBM… Desktop Video Link | Mobile Video LinkIf you liked this article, you might find these interesting:
Posted by the BerryReview Team for ©BerryReview, March 3, 2011, 9:52 am. | New BlackBerry Commercial and BlackBerry Hero Videos | Leave a comment |
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| Syncamatic Adds Security Features and Multi Calendar Sync Posted: 03 Mar 2011 05:55 AM PST Desktop Video Link | Mobile Video LinkSyncamatic is one of the most feature filled yet relatively unknown solutions for synchronizing your address book, calendar, tasks, and memo from your BlackBerry to a PC or Mac or even their website. They have released a new version of their product (now v2.4) which enables a bunch more features that kind of remind me of the upcoming BlackBerry Protect product. The Syncamatic service can now helps you recover your lost BlackBerry and protect/recover the data stored on it from your web browser including the ability to:
The app is also now capable of multiple calendar access. That means users can now support multiple calendars from their BlackBerrys keeping them in sync. They are also finalizing the upcoming online file storage capability letting you access your computer files from your phone. Check out all the details at www.syncamatic.com If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:
Posted by Ronen Halevy for ©BerryReview, March 3, 2011, 8:55 am. | Syncamatic Adds Security Features and Multi Calendar Sync | 2 comments |
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