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- BlackBerry Porsche Design P’9981 Makes it Through FCC with AT&T 3G
- BlackBerry OS 7.1.0.74 for the BlackBerry Torch 9810 Found Online (Sort Of)
- Review: BlackBerry Curve 9380
- BlackBerry Giveaways in NYC With “NYC Holiday Hookups from BlackBerry”
- BlackBerry Porsche P’9981 Hands On
- App World Changing Prices To Reflect Exchange Rates – Conversion Chart
- Devs: Adobe Flash Builder 4.6 Released With Native Extensions & Captive Runtime
- Rumor: BlackBerry 10 Codename Milan Picture Gets Outed
- Handster Android Marketplace Starting to Submit Apps to App World for Developers
- OtterBox 9900/9930 Defender Series Back In Stock December 10th
- Wikitude Expands Support to Include BlackBerry OS 6 Devices
- RIM Announces BlackBerry World Conference Dates in Orlando Florida
- Android Market, Email, & Google Apps Shown Off on BlackBerry PlayBook
- Advanced Users: Dingleberry Jailbreak v2.1 Persists Root Access With Latest BlackBerry PlayBook OS
BlackBerry Porsche Design P’9981 Makes it Through FCC with AT&T 3G Posted: 08 Dec 2011 01:13 AM PST I am not sure how many of you have been dying to pick up a BlackBerry Porsche Design P'9981 but it looks like it will be coming to these shores soon. The device has been spotted passing through the FCC with both the AT&T/Rogers WCDMA 850Mhz and 1900Mhz 3G bands. No words on if carriers will actually sell the devices or just Porsche stores but for something around ~$2,000 for these puppies I don't know if they will have people lined around the block. On the other hand if you haven't been sleeping right since RIM announced the BlackBerry Porsche Design P'9981 and cannot wait to get your hands on it then you might not have much longer to wait… via FCC via Unwired View If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:
Posted by the BerryReview Team for ©BerryReview, December 8, 2011, 4:13 am. | BlackBerry Porsche Design P’9981 Makes it Through FCC with AT&T 3G | Leave a comment | |
BlackBerry OS 7.1.0.74 for the BlackBerry Torch 9810 Found Online (Sort Of) Posted: 07 Dec 2011 07:41 PM PST Well I want to say this is a leaked OS 7.1.0.74 but its a little more complicated to install then a regular OS leak. The team at OSBB scored OS 7.1.0.74 for the BlackBerry Torch 9810 which brings the Wi-Fi hotspot functionality many people were asking for. The unofficial installer they bundled it in requires you to install OS 7.0.0.540 for the registry keys before installing this OS. You should then be able to load it with the work that OSBB has put into the installer to strip out many Thailand specific files. You can check out the details over @OSBB if you are adventurous. If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:
Posted by Ronen Halevy for ©BerryReview, December 7, 2011, 10:41 pm. | BlackBerry OS 7.1.0.74 for the BlackBerry Torch 9810 Found Online (Sort Of) | Leave a comment | |
Posted: 07 Dec 2011 02:47 PM PST I used the new BlackBerry Curve 9380 for testing purposes after RIM was so kind as to provide me with a review unit and today, y'all get to read my thoughts on this new little bit of BlackBerry hotness. Before we get into the review, however, I thought I would put a quick bullet point summation right here so if you want everything quick and dirty you get your wish. Pros
Cons
PHONE BUILD This phone is tiny, so tiny it is hard to believe it is a piece of advanced technology and not a toy. It is light to hold in your hands or put in your pocket. It is thin so you barely feel it in your pocket when it is there and sometimes I felt myself checking to make sure it was actually in there. Great job on this front RIM! To illustrate the thinness of this device I borrowed a friend’s iPhone 4 and held the two together then took a picture of them from the side, check it out below. KEYBOARD The 9380 is the first BlackBerry device of the Curve lineup to not have a physical keyboard and that is where I thought we would start. BlackBerry devices in general (aside from the Storm series and now part of the Torch series) have always been renowned for their awesome physical QWERTY keyboards. I love using my Bold 9900 on a regular basis as its keyboard is just an absolute joy to type on. However, for the Curve 9380 BlackBerry decided to do away with the physical keyboard and go rely on the onscreen keyboard entirely as they did on the Torch 9850 and 9860. I have not extensively used the aforementioned Torch devices so I cannot compare their onscreen keyboards to the Curve 9380's but, overall, I was not impressed with my experience on the 9380. The touchscreen was really responsive and the auto-correct did one heck of a job realizing what I meant as I typed but it just wasn't the same as using a physical keyboard which is part of what I love about my BlackBerry devices. The other thing which irked at me while using it was the way the keyboard had been designed. Case in point, in order to get to the "&" and "$" symbols I'd have to click the Number key to get the device to show numbers and then hit the Symbols key to get it to show the symbols. That was way, way too many steps. Beyond that, I don't know why RIM didn't feel the need to give us our "ALT" keys as they have on every other device so we can access numbers and symbols from the main keyboard. I found my typing efficiency dropped significantly and when it came time to attend a conference you best believe I switched right back to my Bold 9900 because I knew I would be tweeting up a storm that day and just couldn't take having all my attention devoted to trying to type on the Curve 9380 when I could touch type on the physical keyboard of my 9900. CALL QUALITY I tested the Curve 9380 with a Fido SIM card on the Rogers network in Toronto, Canada.* I found the earpiece to produce good sound and call quality was great. There were no complaints from my friends and family about the reproduction of my voice by the 9380's microphone. All in all, a great job by RIM for keeping one of the most important aspects of any cellular phone up to snuff – the actual phone. *Rogers owns Fido and all Fido subscribers have service provided to them on Rogers' network as Fido does not operate its own. BUTTONS/KEYS I love that RIM has decided, on BlackBerry 7 OS devices, to move the Mute key away from the top of their device and put it between the Volume Up and Volume Down keys on the side. On the Torch 9800 I always found the top placement to be a huge pain as I would constantly put people on Mute by accident when using a headset and putting the phone in my pocket. The side buttons, while they took some getting used to, were quite good and very responsive. These included the "Convenience Key" as well as the Volume Up, Volume Down, and Mute keys. What I wasn't a fan of, however, were the bottom line keys around the trackpad – the Send key, the Menu key, the Escape key, and the End key. I found these keys way too difficult to push. In fact, it almost felt as if I was going to flip the phone over and out of my hands when I pressed them. The same went for the Screen Lock key on top of the device. I felt it was just too difficult to push but, reflecting on it further, for that particular key which performs a locking/unlocking function that isn't such a bad thing. BATTERY The battery life of the Curve 9380 was quite sufficient. I judge this based on how I use other devices and have yet to find a device by any manufacturer which I can take off the charger in the morning and use until I go to bed at night. The Curve 9380's battery is the same JM1 model which gives you 1230mAh and is the same as almost all the other new BlackBerry 7 OS devices – the Bold 9930/9900, Torch 9860/9850, and Bold 9790 (the only exception being the Torch 9810). This will be great for anyone who wants to replace their battery in a year or so as it means there will be plenty of them on the market. However, if you’re a user of BlackBerry devices who is used to going days without plugging in your phone, I am sorry to say but the advent of touchscreens has killed this expectation and charging our phones nightly or more is now the reality. One thing to be aware of is the way that RIM had to engineer the battery door. In order to open the door you have to get your nail under a little indentation on the left side of the device below the charging port. RIM did a great job illustrating this when you first get the device by including a white circle on the phone's protective plastic covering around this little indentation to indicate its importance to a new user. Great way to think ahead for the average user RIM! (See photo above to illustrate what I mean by this.) It was also interesting to note that the Curve 9380's charging port is flipped upside down relative to every other BlackBerry's micro USB charging port. What I mean by this is that the wider part of the Micro USB is towards the top of the device so don't try and shove it in if it doesn't seem to fit when you first get the device, try flipping the USB plug over. I assume they did this for size purposes. IN THE BOX My review device came with a stereo headset, a Micro USB cable, and an international travel charger with 3 charging clips. I am told the providers will be selling the Curve 9380 across the board with a MicroSD card in the box but I did not receive one with my review unit. CPU/MEMORY/OS At the end of the day this is a Curve device and not a flagship Bold. The 9380's processor is a relatively low 800 MHz for those of us coming to expect higher speed processors but given its placement in the marketplace is more than sufficient. I found the 512MB of memory to also be fine but required supplement of a memory card if you want to really use that camera. At times I found the device to be a little bit slow but I also realized that I was using an engineering/pre-release build of the BlackBerry 7 OS for this device so can't really pass any serious judgments. To get a sense of just how new the OS/device was check this out: During testing my up-to-date version of BlackBerry Desktop Software for Windows didn’t recognize my device as a Curve 9380 until well into the testing phase. SCREEN The 3.2" HVGA+ touch screen on the Curve 9380 was a joy to use. In contrast with my Bold 9900 which I sometimes have a hard time using with my polarized sunglasses on I found the 9380's screen to have no trouble penetrating my sunglasses polarization even on a bright, sunny day. The touchscreen is smooth and responsive and I have absolutely no complaints about it. Everything about it just worked well. For all you tech spec lovers, the screen is a 480×360 Transmissive (TFT) LCD display. The screen has a pixel resolution of 188 dpi (dots per inch). CAMERA The 5MP EDOF (Extended Depth of Field) camera which includes a flash and is capable of VGA video recording does a good job of capturing your memories. I have included comparison pictures of it with the photos taken on the camera of the Bold 9900's 5MP camera. I will say, however, that I found the 9900's camera to do a better job but, then again, the Bold is the flagship line and the Curve is not. For the money I think the 9380 does a great job capturing your precious moments. For the purposes of the pictures below I took them seconds apart and as close to exactly the same as I could without using a tripod. Toronto Police Court Services van taken with Curve 9380 Same van as above, photo taken with Bold 9900. Building in Toronto, taken with Curve 9380. Same building in Toronto, taken with Bold 9900. RATING & FINAL THOUGHTS As an all around smartphone for someone new to the world of BlackBerry I give this device a 7/10. But, as a BlackBerry device I give it a 6/10 as I found so much of the BlackBerry experience relied upon a great keyboard and well-made keys. Unfortunately, I didn't find well-made physical keys to be the case on this device. For someone new to the BlackBerry world this may be a great device providing BBM and PIM services as only a BlackBerry can but, at the same time, sticking with the touchscreen-only wave which has been sweeping the market. For someone used to their beloved BlackBerry keyboard though, this device isn't the greatest replacement unless you have a lot of time on your hands for the learning 'curve.' For its placement in the market I think this will be a great holiday gift for a young adult just getting their first smartphone but for the serious business user and someone already addicted to the RIMethamphetamine from Waterloo, Ontario I don't think this will satisfy your desires. I could see this being a superb vacation/weekend device when you want to remain connected but not too connected. Without the physical keyboard I saw it more as a consumption device than a productivity device. The device is currently available in Canada by Bell ($49.95 on a 3 year contract and $374.95 outright), TELUS ($49.99 on a 3 year contract and $369.99 outright), and Mobilicity ($299.99 outright). Be aware, however, that the Mobilicity incarnation uses AWS 3G (like T-Mobile USA) while the Bell and TELUS versions use the 3G signal that AT&T uses. If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:
Posted by Dan Levy for ©BerryReview, December 7, 2011, 5:47 pm. | Review: BlackBerry Curve 9380 | One comment | |
BlackBerry Giveaways in NYC With “NYC Holiday Hookups from BlackBerry” Posted: 07 Dec 2011 02:00 PM PST RIM is celebrating the holiday season in New York City this year with BlackBerry Teams roaming the city for "NYC Holiday Hookups from BlackBerry." The fun starts today until December 17th with BlackBerry teams around NYC doing exclusive giveaways. If you live in NYC or are visiting NYC keep an eye out for BlackBerry "Alerts" and scan the barcode on the back to add RIM to your BBM list. RIM will be promoting offers for BlackBerry users in New York giving away BlackBerry Bold 9900/9930 devices, accessories, and coffee gift cards to keep you warm as it gets colder! Let us know if you spot anything. I will definitely be keeping an eye out when I am roaming the city. If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:
Posted by Ronen Halevy for ©BerryReview, December 7, 2011, 5:00 pm. | BlackBerry Giveaways in NYC With “NYC Holiday Hookups from BlackBerry” | Leave a comment | |
BlackBerry Porsche P’9981 Hands On Posted: 07 Dec 2011 11:48 AM PST When I was at the RIM campus in Waterloo I also got a chance to get up close and personal with the BlackBerry Porsche P’9981. I got some video and some pictures of it and my thoughts as well from briefly playing with it. As you can see in the above picture presentation is amazingly key with this hot device and it shows through the box alone. The thing is huge and for good reason – this phone comes with every accessory you’ve probably wished your BlackBerry came with right in the box. The version of BlackBerry 7 OS running on the BlackBerry Porsche P’9981 which I got my grubby hands on was 7.0.0.539 (2286) and the Vendor ID was 1 – which unfortunately tells us nothing because 1 is RIM’s Vendor ID and not assigned to any carrier. The keyboard is not your average BlackBerry Bold, Curve, or Torch keyboard and is a design unto itself. I will be honest, though, the brief time I played with the keyboard on this device I thought while it looked amazing to the eyes I preferred my Bold 9900′s keyboard for day to day use. Then again, maybe if they let me use a P’9981 for a little bit longer I’d change my tune – only one way to find out I suppose. (And maybe someday I will!) I am not sure exactly what it was that caused this feeling but one thing I found weird was the “two-level” aspect each key had. Again, I have a feeling this was something I would quickly get used to if I had the chance but all I can give is my opinion based on what I saw/experienced in those brief moments. As you can see, the version of BlackBerry 7 OS which is running on the Porsche P’9981 is specially skinned to reflect its special place in the BlackBerry lineup. All the icons, while familiar, are slightly changed versions of themselves and reflect the elegance of the design of this device. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see some skins come out to reflect it when BlackBerry 7 themes are finally available. Enjoy the video below of the BlackBerry Porsche P’9981 in action while we are being told about the industrial design and insights that went into each of the new devices in the background. Because we were in the middle of listening to the awesome people at RIM who made this all possible is why I don’t talk in the video itself. Enjoy!
Desktop Video Link | Mobile Video LinkIf you liked this article, you might find these interesting:
Posted by Dan Levy for ©BerryReview, December 7, 2011, 2:48 pm. | BlackBerry Porsche P’9981 Hands On | 2 comments | |
App World Changing Prices To Reflect Exchange Rates – Conversion Chart Posted: 07 Dec 2011 11:25 AM PST Since App World started rolling out in different countries we have had users complaining about the skewed rate conversion. For example, a $0.99 app in the US costs 0.99 £ in the UK which does not figure correctly with exchange rates. This also started screwing with App World developer payments based on what country they are from and where the customer purchases the app from. RIM is now trying to address this by creating a price tier update. Here is how they describe it:
RIM has been kind enough to also include a new conversion chart for the new pricing tiers. You can check it out for yourself in this Google Spreadsheet we just made public or directly download the excel file here. If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:
Posted by the BerryReview Team for ©BerryReview, December 7, 2011, 2:25 pm. | App World Changing Prices To Reflect Exchange Rates – Conversion Chart | 4 comments | |
Devs: Adobe Flash Builder 4.6 Released With Native Extensions & Captive Runtime Posted: 07 Dec 2011 11:02 AM PST
Adobe just blurred the line between native and Adobe Flash/AIR development on the PlayBook yet again with the release of Adobe Flash Builder 4.6. This update is a complimentary update for developers from Flash Builder v4.5 and adds what they call Native Extensions and Captive Runtime. I could try to explain them but I will let Adobe do the hard work:
The new Flash Builder 4.6 also adds support for:
If you have Flash Builder 4.5 and want a free upgrade or simply want 4.6 you can check it out here. I am really curious to see if this will allow developers to create native apps for the PlayBook with an Adobe AIR frontend… If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:
Posted by the BerryReview Team for ©BerryReview, December 7, 2011, 2:02 pm. | Devs: Adobe Flash Builder 4.6 Released With Native Extensions & Captive Runtime | 3 comments | |
Rumor: BlackBerry 10 Codename Milan Picture Gets Outed Posted: 07 Dec 2011 09:56 AM PST It was just last week that they helped us with insight on the formerly BBX now BB10 line of phones scheduled for next year. Now CrackBerry has come up with a photo of the assumed BlackBerry Milan. It looks nice, but something about me it makes me question it. It doesnt have the classic BB button, is the iconic button a thing of the past? Souce: CrackBerry If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:
Posted by Fubaz for ©BerryReview, December 7, 2011, 12:56 pm. | Rumor: BlackBerry 10 Codename Milan Picture Gets Outed | 16 comments | |
Handster Android Marketplace Starting to Submit Apps to App World for Developers Posted: 07 Dec 2011 08:34 AM PST
While at DevCon I remember Kevin asking RIM's Alec Saunders if they are working with current Android catalog marketplaces to bring their catalog of Android apps en-masse to the PlayBook. RIM said back then that they were working on it just like they had with gaming SDKs for the PlayBook from Union, Marmalade, and others. Kevin just discovered courtesy of @wjddesigns that this might be happening sooner rather than later. Here is the email Handster (a division of Opera Software) sent out to developers:
In other words Handster is going to be helping their developers submit apps to App World for them along with testing. I am not sure how great it will be to have another middle man between the developers and users but its a creative idea by RIM to expand the App World PlayBook catalog. What do you think? If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:
Posted by the BerryReview Team for ©BerryReview, December 7, 2011, 11:34 am. | Handster Android Marketplace Starting to Submit Apps to App World for Developers | 5 comments | |
OtterBox 9900/9930 Defender Series Back In Stock December 10th Posted: 07 Dec 2011 08:00 AM PST Over the last few weeks we have heard several speculations regarding the OtterBox Defender series not meeting customers expectations. We reached out to OtterBox regarding the Defender series out of stock status on their website and they were quick to answet our request. According to the release they have taken then necessary steps to improve the design through minor design changes. Read below:
If you are a current 9900 Defender user and have concerns simply contact them through the methods mentioned above. If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:
Posted by Luis Merlos for ©BerryReview, December 7, 2011, 11:00 am. | OtterBox 9900/9930 Defender Series Back In Stock December 10th | One comment | |
Wikitude Expands Support to Include BlackBerry OS 6 Devices Posted: 07 Dec 2011 07:20 AM PST Wikitude initially rolled out their augmented reality browser with BlackBerry 7 devices taking advantage of the augmented reality enabling compass. The app is preloaded on BlackBerry 7 phones which gave them a large footprint. Now they are expanding that footprint by releasing Wikitude for BlackBerry OS 6.0 devices. This variant gives you all of the features of Wikitude except for the augmented reality which requires the compass. It does let you look around you for BBM friends and more including:
You can pick up Wikitude for BlackBerry OS 6.0 free in App World or read the release below: Wikitude Expands Support for BlackBerry SmartphonesThe BBM connected app now supports BlackBerry 6 OS and higher, and is available in BlackBerry App World starting today As part of BlackBerry® Dev Con Asia taking place in Singapore this year, Wikitude has announced additional support for smartphones running on the BlackBerry® 6 operating system (OS). With Wikitude being preinstalled on all new smartphones running the BlackBerry 7 OS, bringing Wikitude to smartphones running BlackBerry 6 will help answer considerable demand expressed by users who want to experience Wikitude's extensive content offering including more than 2,000 content Worlds consisting of approx. 150 million places around the globe. Users of the popular BlackBerry® Bold™ 9700, 9780,9788 and BlackBerry® Torch™ 9800 smartphones can download Wikitude on BlackBerry® App World™ starting today. If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:
Posted by the BerryReview Team for ©BerryReview, December 7, 2011, 10:20 am. | Wikitude Expands Support to Include BlackBerry OS 6 Devices | Leave a comment | |
RIM Announces BlackBerry World Conference Dates in Orlando Florida Posted: 07 Dec 2011 05:52 AM PST
RIM has come out an announced the dates for BlackBerry World 2012 which is once again being held in Orlando, Florida. The dates are May 1st through 3rd and you can check out more details at www.blackberryworld.com. This is going to be a huge event for RIM since it will most likely coincide with the launch of BlackBerry Fusion and BBX smartphones. So make sure to mark your calendars! If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:
Posted by the BerryReview Team for ©BerryReview, December 7, 2011, 8:52 am. | RIM Announces BlackBerry World Conference Dates in Orlando Florida | One comment | |
Android Market, Email, & Google Apps Shown Off on BlackBerry PlayBook Posted: 07 Dec 2011 05:06 AM PST
The Dingleberry team has been showing off what exactly you can pull off with their Dingleberry exploit. Thom let me know that one of the Dingleberry devs, @neuralic, posted a nice video showing off how he got Android Market, Android email, and Android Google Apps onto the PlayBook. In his demo he is using an Android launcher and the Android Market installs apps like Astro file manager. Google talk works and a other apps even with notifications built into the PlayBook which is nice. This is all being done on the latest PlayBook v2.0 developer beta which unlike the main release has not been patched for this vulnerability. Desktop Video Link | Mobile Video Link@neuralic also explains why some people may have been having issues:
If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:
Posted by Ronen Halevy for ©BerryReview, December 7, 2011, 8:06 am. | Android Market, Email, & Google Apps Shown Off on BlackBerry PlayBook | 9 comments | |
Advanced Users: Dingleberry Jailbreak v2.1 Persists Root Access With Latest BlackBerry PlayBook OS Posted: 07 Dec 2011 04:56 AM PST The Dingleberry team just followed through with their confirmation of jailbreaking RIM's first attempt to keep them out by patching the Samba exploit. The latest PlayBook OS 1.0.8.6067 has been jailbroken in a way using a new exploit. According to one of the devs on the Dingleberry team, @cmwdotme, this jailbreak actually has you downgrading to a previous OS than the latest OS 1.0.8.6067 using this method for setting up your own PlayBook update server. Keep in mind this is only for advanced users but according to @cmwdotme the trick is to run the new Dingleberry v2.1 that you can find at www.dingleberry.it and:
It should be interesting to see what exploit this latest Dingleberry is using to persist the root access now that RIM has patched the Samba exploit. Let us know if you figure it out! If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:
Posted by Ronen Halevy for ©BerryReview, December 7, 2011, 7:56 am. | Advanced Users: Dingleberry Jailbreak v2.1 Persists Root Access With Latest BlackBerry PlayBook OS | One comment | |
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