Canadian Carriers Announce Torch 9800

For all of our Canadian readers we have news that the new Blackberry Torch 9800 will be released by the big 3 soon. We have all read about the AT&T release in the US, but we Canucks now know that the 9800 is going to be available for us as well. Here is what the carriers had to say…

Bell – The new BlackBerry® Torch™ 9800 smartphone with BlackBerry® 6 will be coming this fall to Bell Mobility. And because apps work best on the best network, Bell clients will enjoy using the BlackBerry 9800 Torch to access impressive mobile services from Bell like TV, radio, Remote PVR, Visual Voicemail, GPS Navigator and more. We will keep you posted with more details as we get closer to availability.

Rogers – You may have seen Research in Motion’s announcement this morning unveiling the much-anticipated BlackBerry Torch 9800.  We’re excited to tell you we will carry this stylish smartphone as part of our BlackBerry lineup in the coming weeks.

TELUS – The new BlackBerry Torch 9800 with BlackBerry 6 will be coming from TELUS this year. we’ll keep you posted with more details as we get closer to launch on our network.

The best line in most of these official statements is “in the coming weeks”! Drop a comment and let us know if you plan on getting the Torch 9800 or not.

Source: Crackberry , Nerdberry.net

Developers: BB Torch 9800 Simulator Now Available

Developers get your hands on the new BB Torch Simulator and get some nice apps going. You can pick up the new simulator at this link. The simulator version released today is at v6.0.0.141 for the 9800.

So, How Can Text Messages Be Saved Automatically?

Yes, you can save text (and other types of) messages to the Saved Messages folder on your BlackBerry. But is that the overall best way, the easiest way? For many of us, it is not.

There are at least a couple of third-party applications (“apps”) that can be used to forward copies of text messages to an email address where they can be saved. One of those apps will be reviewed in some detail in this article.

It’s worth noting another advantage to forwarding text messages to an email address: they can be accessed apart from your mobile phone, should it be:

• Left behind
• Misplaced
• Lost
• Defective
• Have a dead battery

Yet another reason:

• To save precious device memory space

New GPS-Free Geolocation Service for BlackBerry Developers

RIM has introduced a new service for BlackBerry developers that allows you to query for a location without being dependent on GPS. This service is free for developers, as it lets you get a location fix in seconds using nearby cell tower information.

“Users can be indoors with no GPS coverage, but your app will still be able to guide them to restaurants or points of interest (POI) around them. Although the accuracy of the fixes obtained from the Geolocation service may not always be as high as with GPS, it has use cases for apps that require highly accurate GPS fixes as well as apps that do not. Apps that require high accuracy can use this service to quickly show the user an approximate location while it waits for a more accurate location fix using GPS. This can offer a huge user experience improvement. For applications that do not require high accuracy, this service can be leveraged as a simple yet effective mechanism to provide location information.”

Bolt

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New Version of UberTwitter Soon to Release

Many of you are most likely already familiar with UberTwitter and its workings. Seeing how UberTwitter is arguably one of the best Twitter apps for BlackBerry, how could you have not seen its name floating around the web. Well, here are some leaked images from the newest version of UberTwitter. I promise you, you have never seen UberTwitter like this before!!!

Currently this version is in a Closed Beta and is set to go public late this week or early next week. So keep your eye on our news page for more updates. Also be sure to click the link below and to get a really good look at this new User Interface and a list of all the new/changed features.

RIM Introduces BlackBerry App World 2.0 With Carrier Billing, BlackBerry ID & More

We’ve heard that RIM is working on a new version of the BlackBerry App World and it looks like it’s coming real soon. According to one report, BlackBerry App World version 2.0 will include some minor usability enhancements as well as new features:

• Search Function: Searching for apps in version 2.0 of the App World is drastically improved and should return more relevant and better results.
• Carrier Billing: A user will be able to put charges on their credit card or carrier bill instead of paying through PayPay (although PayPal will still be supported).
• BlackBerry ID: A user will be able to create a BBID so they can transfer and access their apps should they ever change to another BlackBerry smartphone.
• QR Barcodes: Vendors and developers will be able to create a barcode for their product in the BlackBerry App World (2.0) that a user can scan and then be directed to the download page.

A great bunch of updates! RIM has slowly been rolling out support for more countries like (recently) Japan, Taiwan and South Korea so they’ll probably be adding support for even more after the release of 2.0. RIM hasn’t announced a launch date for BlackBerry App World 2.0 or BlackBerry ID but stay tuned for more info because it’s probably right around the corner.

via PhoneScoop

Use Safe Mode if your BlackBerry is on the fritz

Ever install an application and find out that it’s a huge burden to your BlackBerry? If you’ve explored the array of unofficial apps around the net, you might have encountered an issue with one. Sometimes that can cause a number of problems on your BlackBerry — including a reboot cycle or a 507 error which will make it impossible to delete that application. If you’re a user of OS 4.6 or higher, you can start your device in Safe Mode, which will allow you to diagnose and remove problematic applications.

The process is rather simple. You’ll have to pull your battery and then replace it. As your BlackBerry device reboots, the red LED will light up. Once that goes off, press and hold the Escape key (or the Back key, however you refer to it) until you see a dialog which notes that you are in Safe Mode.

You’ll have limited application access in Safe Mode — Phone, Messenger, Messages, and Browser — but you can also delete apps right from the main screen. Hit the Menu key when you have the app’s icon selected and you’ll have the option to delete it. That’s that.

Once you’re done toying around in Safe Mode, just remove your battery again to restart the device back in normal mode. Again, this only works with OS 4.6 and up, which is a shame, because us 4.5 and lower folks could use a mode like that.

Thanks to Al Sacco for the tip.

Want to limit BlackBerry data usage? Check out WiFiX

For many BlackBerry users, the new AT&T tiered data plans will save money. If you use your device entirely for email and don’t surf the web much, for example, you could cut your data costs in half. Still, as I mentioned yesterday, it might not be all good for you. Reuters blogger Felix Salmon expressed a similar sentiment, noting that his data usage fluctuates by the month, often but not always exceeding 200MB. If this is a concern for you, turning to Wi-Fi is one possible solution. Just in the nick of time Aerize has released an application that can help you out in using Wi-Fi in place of cellular data.

The app acts on a simple premise. There are a few apps that run on your BlackBerry which can consume disproportionate levels of data. For example, you never know exactly how much data Google Maps consumes, but you can be sure that it uses more than your typical web browsing session. Ditto BlackBerry maps. If you’re on a tiered data plan with a low limit, a few sessions can push you over. But if you connect over Wi-Fi, you can spare that data usage.

Aerize WiFiX comes preprogrammed for five popular BlackBerry applications: Google Maps, Google Mobile App, BlackBerry Maps, the now defunct Yahoo! Go, and WeatherEye. You can add any of your other apps to WiFiX, so you’ll make sure that your most data-intensive functions will run over Wi-Fi when possible. The only catch is that anything that runs over a secure server is ineligible. This is standard fare for Wi-Fi. For example, if you can’t set it to access your carrier billing or banking applications.

If you’re on a low level data plan, or if you’re on a higher level data plan but use your device frequently within Wi-Fi range, this app can help you avoid overages and perhaps lower your data tier. Check out the free trial at aerize.com. You can >get the full version of WiFiX for $5.

BlackBerry 9800 Slider Caught On Camera Yet Again Showing Off AT&T Splash Screen and BlackBerry 6

[ youtube video link for mobile viewing ]

More goodness today on the BlackBerry 9800 Slider. This time in a near four minute video showing off the device with an AT&T splash screen. While some navigating looks a bit rough, we do get a much better look at BlackBerry 6 than we have recently, so you don’t want to miss it. For those who don’t know what BlackBerry 6 is all about, it will feature some key enhancements:

• Crisp, more immersive visuals, including new graphics, animations and transitions
• New WebKit browser; it’s high-fidelity and very efficient, for fast, rich browsing with support for multiple sessions (i.e. tabbed browsing)
  
• Multi-touch support (e.g. pinch to zoom) while browsing, viewing photos, etc.
  
• Graphical, context-sensitive menu pop-ups
  
• Redesigned core apps, plus a new media player UI
  
• New Home Screen experience; multiple views based on content type (All, Favorites, Downloads, Media, etc.), universal search
  
• New app for integrating RSS and social networking feeds