It might not be your cup of tea, but pink BlackBerry devices could be somewhat popular among female BlackBerry users. Telus is going with this notion and will be making white and pink Curve 9360s available soon for their customers. They’ve been known to have a pink BlackBerry in their lineup for some time as a way of raising money and showing support for breast cancer awareness. Ladies, would you pick up a pink BlackBerry?
via:bbos
Do not adjust your computer screen, because the screenshot you’re seeing above is real. Confirmed by multiple sources, we’ve exclusively learned that AT&T — the protagonist of choice — is trimming its individual messaging packages from two to one on August 21st. The remaining survivor? The Messaging Unlimited plan for $20, which means the $10 bundle that offers 1000 messages is riding into the sunset. If you aren’t keen to do much communicating within 160 characters, you’ll be left with no other choice besides the pay-per-message option at twenty cents each (thirty cents for MMS). Fortunately, the Family Unlimited Messaging is left unscathed, continuing to offer all-you-can-eat texts for $30. Tend to do only an average bit of texting and looking to move to Ma Bell? Our friend, you’d best be making that transition before the end of this week.
Update: And just like that, AT&T has confirmed this report. A spokesperson for the carrier provided the following statement, while also affirming that “current customers can keep their texting plans even if switching handsets.”
“We regularly evaluate our offers and are making some adjustments to our messaging lineup.
Starting August 21, we’re streamlining our text messaging plans for new customers and will offer an unlimited plan for individuals for $20 per month and an unlimited plan for families of up to five lines for $30 per month. The vast majority of our messaging customers prefer unlimited plans and with text messaging growth stronger than ever, that number continues to climb among new customers. Existing customers don’t have to change any messaging plan they have today, even when changing handsets.”
[Thanks, Anonymous]
via:mobile.engadget
While Research In Motion just recently announced its new BlackBerry 7 device lineup — including the fantastic BlackBerry Bold 9900 — we all know that the real-deal smartphones are still in the oven. What everyone is waiting on from RIM is the company’s QNX-based devices, which we hope will make RIM competitive in the smartphone industry once again. BGR has learned exclusive details surrounding the first QNX smartphone RIM intends to release, which is codenamed the BlackBerry Colt, and it looks like there are already going to be some compromises the company will have to make in order to launch the smartphone on schedule. Hit the break for all the details we have so far.
Continue reading RIM’s first QNX phone revealed: BlackBerry Colt to launch in Q1 2012
Here’s some of the other stuff that happened in the wide world of wireless for the week of August 1, 2011:
engagdet
We’ve seen a lot of disappointed folks this week on Verizon that are concerned that Big Red won’t be carrying any of the new BlackBerry 7 smartphones. We don’t know the reason why Verizon hasn’t announced officially which devices they will carry, but as one of the biggest wireless providers in the US, it seems silly to think they would drop BlackBerry all together. In any case, this tidbit of information posted in the forums today should help squash some of your worries. Christian Remde is a director, and he posted on his personal blog on Tuesday about his latest project, which happens to involve this exact subject. *Edit: Apparently between the time I wrote this and it was published, he edited out the BlackBerry portion of what you see below. Rest assured, it WAS there this morning.*
This week I’m directing for Invodo, an agency here in Austin. One of their clients is Verizon Wireless and, in particular, I’m directing a web spot for one of Verizon’s new Blackberry smart phones that are coming out in the next month or so. Can’t say too much about the actual device as I had to sign some NDA’s, but it’s a very cool project.
So fear not Verizon subscribers, you won’t be left out of the loop when these new devices are released. As far as release dates and prices, well, those remain to be seen.
via: cb
Bell is up next on the rumored device front with this leaked hardware roadmap that shows off more than a handful of new devices. While there are no dates of the official or coming soon variety listed, it’s a good sign to see them in print regardless. Included in the lineup are the both Torch 9810 and 9860, Bold 9900 and Curve 9360. Again, here’s to hoping we don’t have much longer to wait before we hear some official dates for all carriers on these devices.
via: cb
As we sat in the the Research In Motion First Quarter Fiscal 2012 earnings call today, Mike Lazaridis took the time today to address the concerns surrounding delays with new BlackBerry smartphones. Some of the highlights from that call can be found below:
RIM realized through their product development that consumer demand had shifted, and as such — required new hardware and new chip sets to be adapted to the BlackBerry platform in order to stay competitive.
With the launch of the BlackBerry PlayBook, RIM put resources forward to that launch and working on the QNX OS — given the time frames needed, if QNX was to be ported to BlackBerry Smartphones it would have left RIM with no smartphone lineup for all of 2011.
Technical carrier acceptance was an issue at the time, and things have moved slowly in that area. Once one device meets carrier requirements — all devices running the same OS (BlackBerry 7) should see rapid acceptance and ultimately release.
Looking at the information provided on the call, RIM was deep into their development cycle but then realized the shift in the smartphone market and as such, needed to adjust their upcoming line-up. This took time, which in turn also took more time to due the need of meeting carrier demands as well. But, the devices are coming and once they start rolling out, they will all be rolled out together rather then a staggered release.
via:cb
BGR was very lucky to sit down and interview Verizon Wireless’ Chief Marketing Officer Marni Walden and discuss a couple different topics. Some of these topics were about LTE, iPhone, Android and BlackBerry. Where was not many BlackBerry questions asked, but the following information gain should excite many Verizon customers.
Originally Posted by BGR Originally Posted by CMO Marni WaldenThis is very good news for Verizon customers. What products do you think she is hinting at? 9900? The Storm 3 or Torch Touch (whatever they may call it)? We will have to wait and see.
via:bbos
According to multiple unofficial reports/leaks the newest additions to the BlackBerry lineup, the 9810, 9850 and 9860, will all share a common name: Torch.
To make the distinctions clear, the Torch 9810 will be most likely known as the Torch 2 as it’s the predecessor of the first Torch 9800 and will only be available to GSM carriers. In the U.S. the 9810 would join both AT&T and T-Mobile’s lineup. No reports or leaks suggest that there will be a CDMA version of the popular RIM slider.
Then it gets a little confusing. When pictures first leaked of the BlackBerry codenamed Monaco/Monza it was thought they’d be the 3rd version of the Storm series due to the fact that it had no keyboard and was only touch screen. Unfortunately though, it seems that the “Storm” brand name had too many negative stigmas attached to it which prompted a change.
Most outlets starting calling it the BlackBerry Touch for lack of an official name. Then reports came out suggesting that the Monaco/Monza could be known as the Volt. The name again changed when certain leaked documents seem to indicate that the 9850 will now be known instead as the Torch. Logically, the 9860 would also be a Torch but would instead be available for GSM carriers.
While none of this is officially confirmed by RIM, it does seem like by the end of the year we’ll have multiple BlackBerry devices named Torch (one a slider/touch screen combo and one just touch screen) which for some could get confusing.
This seems to be a good strategy on RIM’s part to drop the “Storm” brand name specially due to all the complaints about the Storm I and Storm II’s hardware, the lack of OS 6 support, and overall public dissatisfaction with it. The Torch 9850/9860 will feature the 9810’s touch screen which is a different technology than that of the Storm which used “SurePress”. So with all that in mind do you think it’s a good idea for BlackBerry to name its next full touch screen phone Torch? If not, what would you name it?
via:bbos
TI announced a new top player in their OMAP 4 processor lineup. In case you missed it the BlackBerry PlayBook runs a TI OMAP 4 processor at 1Ghz called the 4430. There is a 4440 which runs at 1.5Ghz but RIM did not go for that one. On the other hand this new 1.8Ghz OMAP 4470 could almost double the processing power for the BlackBerry PlayBook in future larger 10 inch designs with larger batteries.
TI touts that this new 4470 processor offers:
Customers designing ultrathin laptops, tablets or smartphones around previously released OMAP 4 processors (OMAP4430 and OMAP4460 processors) gain the added benefit of pin-to-pin hardware and software compatibility for maximum re-use and faster time-to-market.
The new 4470 processor bumps up performance with:
Who knows if RIM will actually use the OMAP 4470 processor but its great to see that its there. One of RIM’s biggest problems in the past was using Marvel’s processor in their phones which did not have a good upgrade path without rewriting parts of the OS like they just had to for BlackBerry OS 7. That is why RIM decided to dump Marvel more or less in future phones except for the upcoming Curve Apollo. On the other hand there is still TI’s OMAP5 processors that will supposedly run at 2Ghz with dual cores.
The question truly is if the PlayBook really needs a faster processor now. What I really want to see is more RAM in the device since it seems to run out when you run too many apps concurrently.
via Reuters and IntoMobile
Night Hawk Computers Blackberry Alliance 