The kids over at CrackBerry got their hands on the new Blackberry Kickstart 8220—the first flip phone BlackBerry. And while they have yet to publish a complete review, CrackBerry definitely likes the hardware, claiming that RIM has not cheapened the build quality for its casual audience. But how does it match up to the BlackBerry Pearl? Pretty well, they claim. ...the KickStart has a lot going for it - bigger display, bigger/easier to type on keyboard and most important to some, OS version 4.

Windows Live was recently updated for Windows Mobile-powered handsets, offering several new features. BlackBerry users also finally get the native Windows Live application that Microsoft announced a few months ago.
Read the full story here.

The Gadget: Case-mate's Clear Armor film for the iPhone, iPod touch, iPod classic (80GB and 160GB) or BlackBerry Curve protects against scratches using a military-grade Scotchgard film from 3M. The Price: $19.99 The Verdict: Yes, yes, we know that the 3G iPhone is here, but if you are anything like me and on the fence about upgrading, Case-mate's Clear Armor will do a good job of protecting against scratches while preserving the natural beauty of your original iPhone, iPod or BlackBerry C

AT&T today announced the availability of AT&T Navigator Global Edition, a GPS-based service that provides international navigation capabilities. AT&T Navigator Global Edition can be used in 20 countries on AT&T-powered smartphones featuring built-in GPS capabilities. AT&T Navigator Global Edition’s coverage area includes most countries in western Europe, North America and the U.S. Caribbean as well as the six cities in China that will host Beijing Summer Olympics events.

AT&T Navigator Global Edition provides customers with many of the same features as AT&T’s domestic GPS-based navigation service, AT&T Navigator. Customers can get spoken or text-based turn-by-turn directions - in English, German, Italian or Spanish - and are rerouted automatically if they miss a turn.

AT&T Navigator Global Edition also features a local “business finder” service, which allows customers to find the locations of businesses by category or by specific name with the click of a button using AT&T Navigator’s GPS-based navigation capabilities. AT&T Navigator’s business finder database contains more than 19 million businesses and services located in the U.S. and abroad, including ATMs, hotels, restaurants, gas stations and airports.

AT&T Navigator Global Edition will be particularly useful to customers traveling to China in August for the Summer Olympics. AT&T customers will be ...

Microsoft has completed work on a version of its Windows Live Messenger instant messaging program available for BlackBerries to download and use through the BlackBerry web site. IMs are sent and received using BlackBerry's push technology. With the software ...
(follow link to read)

Posted on July 22, 2008 at 12:29 PM • 8 Comments • View Blog Reactions The Case of the Stolen Blackberry and the Awesome Chinese Hacking Skills A high-level British government employee had his Blackberry stolen by Chinese intelligence: The aide, a senior Downing Street adviser who was with the prime minister on a trip to China earlier this year, had his BlackBerry phone stolen after being picked up by a Chinese woman who had approached him in a Shanghai hotel disco. The aide agreed to return

3 has released its superb line-up of incoming products, including the almighty BlackBerry Bold, Nokia N96 and even the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1

Garmin has announced its Garmin Mobile navigation app for BlackBerry smartphones will soon expand to Europe. It will provide voice-guided turn-by-turn directions, as well as weather, traffic, and local searching.
Read the full story here.

Telus now offers the pink version of the BlackBerry Curve. Personally, I don't see any point in this, especially on the threshold of the BlackBerry Bold release.

Anyway, if you still intend to buy yourself a BlackBerry Curve, it can be yours for CA$149.99 on a three-yea...

[Continue reading Pink BlackBerry Curve from Telus]

View a large or more pictures of the BlackBerry 6710

Motorola and Research in Motion today announced the availability of BlackBerry Connect software (v4.0) on the MOTO Q in Australia. BlackBerry Connect software for MOTO Q9h supports “push”-based wireless access to email, including support for wireless email reconciliation and attachment viewing through BlackBerry Enterprise Server, BlackBerry Professional Software and BlackBerry Internet Service.

Additional features supported by BlackBerry Connect v4.0 on BlackBerry Enterprise Server and BlackBerry Professional Software include:

• Integration with IBM Lotus Domino, Microsoft Exchange and Novell GroupWise to enable secure, push-based wireless access to email and other corporate data.
• Complete, two-way wireless synchronisation of email, calendar, address book and task information;
• Support for attachment viewing for file and image formats;
• Remote look-up of corporate email address directory;
• Triple DES or AES wireless encryption;
• Support for BlackBerry Mobile Data System allowing organizations to wirelessly extend corporate data to mobile users;
• Wireless device provisioning to allow devices to be activated wirelessly;
• Ability for mobile users to wirelessly configure out-of-office replies, email filters, and auto-signatures directly from their device; and
• Ability for IT groups to wirelessly enforce IT policies.

BlackBerry Connect v4.0 for the MOTO Q is available for download at http://asia.motorola.com/q9/download/ANZ.html

T-Mobile Germany has added the BlackBerry Bold on its website. The handset costs $348 (219.95 EUR) along with the 2-year Max S plan for $39.5 (24.95 EUR) a month. We expect roughly the same pricing in T-Mobile U.S. stores when the phone is released.The German release date is ru...

[Continue reading RIM's BlackBerry Bold from T-Mobile Germany]

Verizon Wireless customers with the BlackBerry Curve 8330, BlackBerry Pearl 8130 and BlackBerry 8830 World Edition smartphones can now stay connected to their financial information while away from home with Verizon Wireless’ Mobile Banking application.

Also available on a number of popular Get It Now-capable phones, Mobile Banking offers customers the following capabilities and features on their handsets: 

• Account Balance and Transaction History - Get account balances and account transaction history.
• Transfers - Transfer funds between eligible accounts at the same financial institution.
• Bill Payment - View and pay bills when enrolled in their financial institution’s Bill Pay service.
• Mobile History - View the last five transactions successfully completed on their mobile devices.

Currently Wachovia, Regions, SunTrust, USAA, Synovus, America First Credit Union (AFCU), Arvest, Bancorp South, FirstBank, South Financial and BECU offer the service. Once customers sign up for Mobile Banking through their financial institutions’ online banking site, they will receive an eight digit secure initialization code that will allow them to access the Mobile Banking application on their phones.

Mobile Banking is a safe and secure application, offering customers the following security measures: multi-factor authentication including initialization codes and six-digit PIN requirements; lock out after three invalid PIN entries; ...

Today Zumobi announced a new widget offering for BlackBerry smartphones. The platform is ad supported, but there are plenty of widgets available, which are called "tiles" in Zumobi parlance. Some of the first batch of tiles ready for BlackBerry ...
(follow link to read)

On Thursday, Seattle-based mobile widgets maker Zumobi announced its graphics-rich application for BlackBerry. Originally developed for Windows Mobile phones, Zumobi's BlackBerry release marks the application's second platform appearance and hearkens a handful of other improvements.

As a widget organizer, Zumobi lets users add 16 "tiles" to the application'...

Zumobi today announced the launch of its application for BlackBerry devices. The new offering from Zumobi provides easy access to small “bites” of customized Web content via mobile device. With an already robust library of widgets (Zumobi calls them “Tiles”) to entice users of Windows Mobile and BlackBerry with news, sports, weather, entertainment, games and more, Zumobi now offers even more new Tiles for users including NPR, AP Olympics report, Major League Baseball as well as social media sites Facebook and Twitter. Users can also create their own Zumobi mobile widgets from just about any Web content with the new Tile Creation Wizard now available on Zumobi’s website.

The unique design of the Zumobi application provides the user direct access to what they want, when they want it, with cached content for quicker retrieval of fresh information. This puts content at their fingertips, and allows for a more engaging and immersive experience for brands.  

This announcement follows closely on the heels of the release of an updated application for Windows Mobile announced in June. For a tour of the Zumobi mobile widget platform or to download the mobile widget platform for Windows Mobile and BlackBerry, please visit ...

I’m a pretty devout iPhone user. My original iPhone has been good to me. The new 2.0 firmware upgrade takes the device to a whole new level of awesomeness. But as awesome as the iPhone is, I couldn’t help but drool a bit when I first glimpsed the BlackBerry Bold. RIM promised a unique mix of form and function and according to the Boy Genius Report, they’ve pretty much delivered. Boy Genius had a chance to take the Bold on a month long field test (seriously, we’re jealous) and the results are

The negative side of this extra-curried phone is it’s lacking in the GPS function ability like Blackberry 8800 model.

Bad news for BlackBerry Bold waiters. It seems the device has once again been delayed until September for a decent number of carriers. Apparently, there are some software-related issues that have to be resolved before the launch. And now regarding the BlackBerry Thunder: accord...

[Continue reading Release Info on BlackBerry Bold & BlackBerry Thunder]

The Red Sprint BlackBerry Curve is now available. The red Sprint BlackBerry Curve joins the titanium colored handset to become the second color option for the hot seller. Apparently, RIM is pretty keen on red, since you can get the color with the Curve or Pearl now. It actually is a very good looking phone, and I’m sure it’ll be a relief to business customers who don’t want the regular black model phones.

The red Sprint BlackBerry Curve features include: GPS, a 2 megapixel camera with video recording, Bluetooth, “enhanced” web browsing, and of course the Sprint music and TV services. Also, the mulitmedia services available on the phone are quite exceptional. The red Sprint BlackBerry Curve is available now for just $149.99 after 2 year agreement and rebates.

source

The upcoming BlackBerry Javelin has a similar design as BlackBerry Bold. It comes with built in WiFi and GPS but will only support EDGE data connection without 3G. The availability date is still unchanged though, it is rumored to be available in mid-2009.

Source [berryreview.com]

The BlackBerry Pearl 8130 offers voice and data in a style that goes from day to evening in one slim package.

These live photos were provided by CrackBerry and are first-ever shots of the RIM's new upcoming touchscreen handset, the BlackBerry Thunder. Enjoy :)For more info, hit the source link.

...

[Continue reading First Photos of the BlackBerry Thunder]

CrackBerry.com has posted some of the first good quality photos of the unannounced RIM BlackBerry Thunder, and have provided a bunch of their initial impressions as well.
Read the full story here.

crackberry has obtained the BlackBerry Thunder live photos, which is also rumored to be called BlackBerry 9500 when available. The BlackBerry Thunder is the first full touch screen BlackBerry smartphone from RIM, it has 4 shortcut key buttons below the display screen, and text input is rely on the virtual keyboard like the iPhone.

While you will get a full QWERTY keyboard in landscape mode, a SureType keyboard is used in potrait mode. Not all the users will love this implementation, although this will give you a bigger size for each buttons. Of course what you see here should be a prototype, it is not final until you see the official announcement this year.

Source [crackberry]

Check out the related posts here

http://www.slashphone.com/blackberry-thunder-gets-an-official-leaked-08618

http://www.slashphone.com/rumor-blackberry-thunder-9500-with-full-touchscreen-13460

Several new photos of the upcoming BlackBerry Javelin have surfaced today. Maybe these will distract a bit of your attention from the iPhone 3G. Check'em out below!

Supposed features of the Javelin include:

QWERTY keyboard; 480 x 360 LCD; Quad-band GSM/EDGE; GPS; Wi-Fi; 3.2M...

[Continue reading New Pics of the RIM BlackBerry Javelin]

This is the picture of BlackBerry Thunder, which is leaked by UnWiredView. The BlackBerry Thunder is also called Blackberry 9500, it has a very similiar interface of iPhone 3G, also featuring a big touchscreen (360 x 480 resolution) without QWERTY keyboard. Please check back for more updates.

RIM's BlackBerry Bold has been approved by the FCC for AT&T today. This means we can expect the handset to arrive pretty soon, though not sure when exactly. Anyway, they'd better hurry, as the iP...

[Continue reading BlackBerry Bold Passed the FCC]

The FCC, ever a source of new cell phone information, has approved the well-known Research In Motion BlackBerry Bold 9000, which is the first BlackBerry to offer tri-band UMTS (850/1900/2100MHz) support, with HSDPA for fast data speeds.
Read the full story here.

Since... Source : The Mobile Phone Review (subscribe) Explore : Canada...

NTT DOCOMO announced today that on August 1 it will launch the BlackBerry Internet Service for direct connection to the Internet without the need for a dedicated server. The service can be used with the BlackBerry 8707h, which is being sold in Japan at the moment.

The BlackBerry Internet Service will cost 3,045 yen per month (tax included). The FOMA basic monthly fee and normal packet charges will apply separately. In addition, a discount packet-billing plan to be launched on September 1, called the BlackBerry Data Transmission Package, will enable users to transmit up to 80,000 packets of data per month for a flat charge of 1,680 yen. Data exceeding this limit will be charged at 0.0525 yen per packet.

DOCOMO will demonstrate the new BlackBerry Internet Service during Wireless Japan 2008 at Tokyo Big Sight from July 22 to 24.

The touch screen device will sport a large 360-by-480 touch display on a glass surface similar to the original iPhone. The Thunder is expected to be a robust multimedia player, be able to record videos, and BB Sync

I'm personally not too keen on a touch-screen keyboard but this new Blackberry Thunder looks to be a potential real competitor to the iPhone, at least for business users. And yet, somehow this new BB makes me like the iPhone even more.

I'm not convinced music apps matter ...

We have some the first pictures of the of the new BlackBerry Thunder in action.  The UI looks nice, and apparently it mainly focuses on media. BlackBerry Sync, the source of the images, notes that there will also be a carrier (Verizon) music store, so what we see in the pi...

[Continue reading BlackBerry Thunder UI in Pics]

Source : The Mobile Phone Review (subscribe) Explore : NTT DoCoMo Inc., Research in Motion Ltd., Telecommunication, Telecommunication Companies...

Source : The Mobile Phone Review (subscribe) Explore : NTT DoCoMo Inc., Research in Motion Ltd., Telecommunication, Telecommunication Companies...

NTT DoCoMo and Research In Motion have announced the arrival of the BlackBerry Internet Services in Japan. The service will bring Research In Motion's push email service to consumers and will only be available on the BlackBerry 8707h, which was launched in 2007.
Read the full story here.

Owners of the BlackBerry Pearl 8110, 8120, and 8130 in the U.S. can now take advantage of the new experimental service from Google that allows for voice searching in Google Maps.

It lets you search for restaurants, poin...

[Continue reading Google Maps Voice Search for BlackBerry Pearl Series]

Users of the BlackBerry Pearl 8110, 8120, and 8130 can now perform searches using their voices rather than keying in queries when in Google Maps. The technology uses the same speech-recognition engine as Google's voice mobile search product. Now, ...
(follow link to read)

Google has released a new version of its Google Maps Mobile for the BlackBerry Pearl handset that allows users to search using their voice. This experimental feature allows users to simply hold a button and say what they'd like to find on the map.
Read the full story here.

Is that for real? BlackBerry KickStart for just $49.99? We knew it wouldn't be expensive, but didn't expect this. The handset should be available soon from T-Mobile on a 2-year contract.

P.S. The information above is not yet confirmed.

...

[Continue reading T-Mobile to Offer BlackBerry KickStart for $50?]

It seems like Roger Wireless is grabbing all the hot deals in cellphone deals. It has landed an extravagant deal with Apple Inc. to offer iPhone 3G for Canadian consumers. Today, Roger Wireless has yet another plan to launch the next big thing in the Canadian cellphone market. The said service provider would be offering [...]

MetroPCS has moved into Philadelphia and is letting customers bring their old CDMA phones with them for a free month of service. Nokia and Telenor team up on Ovi, Nokia settles a patent suit and gets to keep Navteq. TI has put a projector in a BlackBerry.
Read the full story here.

Last year, Texas Instruments has already presented a prototype of its DLP Pico Projector. Now they are integrating it into a BlackBerry.

The BlackBerry with Pico Projector is definitely slimmer than last year’s prototype, though the BlackBerry is wider. The BlackBerry in the video is actually just a dummy BlackBerry casing, hopefully TI will be able to complete a working phone with the Pico Projector integrated.

Check out this ShengTai CKing mobile phone in China, they have a working phone with a mini projector with a small projection screen size.

Source [crunchgear]

Other than the new Googld Talk for Apple iPhone, Google Maps for mobile team has also announced a new voice search feature on its search application. The new feature is compatible with a select group of BlackBerry devices at the moment include BlackBerry Pearl 8110, 8120 and 8130 in US.

According to the announcement on the team blog, here is the instruction on using the voice search:

Press “0″ to center the map view around your location

Press the left-side key and hold it while you say the name or type of business you’re looking for (for example, “pizza”)

When you’re done speaking, release the left-side key, and our voice recognition technology will figure out your request and find the business you’ve been looking for, no typing needed.

Get it now on your BlackBerry Pearl by visiting http://www.google.com/gmm on your mobile phone

via [googlemobile]

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google Brings Voice Search To Maps On Blackberry Mobile Phones Today Google announced a download that enables voice search for Google Maps on Blackberry devices. This is very much like the existing Windows Live Search for Mobile service with voice or Tellme for Blackberry devices (also Microsoft). Yahoo also recently integrated Vlingo's speech technology i

And now for something completely different… To start, I’d like to thank my Wife for helping me with the review for this case, as it’s more her style than mine. She’s been searching high and low for a case that offers a little more style and femininity. When she recently decided to cross over to the dark side and join the BlackBerry ranks, she was less than impressed with the BlackBerry pouch and Lambskin leather case. It had been a long journey to various accessory stores, trying to fin

You probably know that BlackBerry Bold's new UI and Sony icons and the PS3's XMB are very similar.

Well, the new PS3 BlackBerry Skin from CS Designs meant for the BlackBerry Curve or 8800 resembles the one on the BlackBerry Bold.

<...

[Continue reading PS3 BlackBerry Skin: BlackBerry Bold UI on your Curve]

Caveat: This post is mostly for the benefit of Canadians but then again if you're outside Canada where unlimited data plans are the norm, count your blessings. These plans do have implications for mobile Skype usage costs, such as with iSkoot. Rogers takes major steps towards lower cost data plans for Canadians but they still don't measure up to US and European benchmarks. To review the Canadian wireless data scene: Rogers is the only GSM carrier in Canada the iPhone is to be launched J

Author: gc1800mobiles. Keywords: Blackberry Pearl 8120 Cell Phone Review 1800mobiles. Added: June 26, 2008...