Just how many pre-production BlackBerry Storm 2 9550 handsets are there out there, waiting to be previewed ahead of the touchscreen handset’s release? We don’t know the answer to that, but phoneArena obviously have one since they’ve just pushed out a preview of their own. In it, they praise the Storm 2 for its much improved keyboard, but scold it for its dodgy stability, poor camera performance and “gimmicky” SurePress.
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Remotely controlling your TiVo from a BlackBerry has been possible for a while now - thanks to the mobile web interface - but now there's a specific app that aims to make it even easier. TiVo for BlackBerry Smartphones is available free from the App World, and has browse, search and scheduling functionality, together with "Daily Picks" and "Most Popular" categories.
The BlackBerry Bold 9700 – aka the BlackBerry Onyx – is definitely on the cards, it’s just that RIM won’t tell us exactly when we should see it on shelves. That hasn’t stopped the Boy Genius Report from publishing their early review of a pre-production 9700, however, and they’re certainly impressed: in fact, they call the Bold 9700 “the finest BlackBerry ever crafted”.
According to research done by analyst David Eller at TownHall Investment Research, return rates of BlackBerry Tour 9630 handsets to Sprint and Verizon might be as high as 50-percent. The most frequent complaint is believed to be problems with the QWERTY smartphone’s trackball, but somewhat bizarrely Eller also claims that people are “complaining about the sensitivity of the touch screen”. We’d suggest that’s probably because the Tour doesn’t actually have a touchscreen.
Celio are still attempting to carve out a niche for themselves in the “smartphone companion” segment, and to do that they’ve expanded support from Windows Mobile to BlackBerry handsets. Select RIM smartphones can now link up to Celio’s REDFLY netbook-style terminals, giving users a bigger display and larger keyboard for easier messaging, working and internet browsing.
Video demo after the cut
Fresh details and this rather fetching official render of the upcoming BlackBerry Bold 9700 (aka the BlackBerry Onyx) have emerged, courtesy of CIO. Prematurely distributed by T-Mobile USA, they confirm that the Bold 9700 will pack both 3G and WiFi, together with support for UMA VoIP.
In Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass, there is a line from the Red Queen, in which she states, “It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place.” In evolution, this is a theory that is also known as an “arms race to nowhere”, in which two different species evolve in tandem, one after the other, in an infinite loop. The reason, is because as one system evolves, then the other must evolve with it, just to keep pace.
And so the system is unending and essential for the survival of a species.
It’s no different in the technology ecosystem. In fact, it’s a lot more evident there, as we can see the fruits of these evolutionary developments as clear as day. We watched as the iPhone became the iPhone 3G, and while it may not have been leaps and bounds ahead of its predecessor in a lot of ways, we witnessed the 3G become the 3GS. And in turn, we saw almost every other major phone manufacturer develop phones to counter the iPhone. You’ve heard of them: the mythical iPhone killer.
RIM have acquired Torch Mobile, the software developers behind the WebKit-based Iris Browser. The move will see Torch Mobile’s developers working to deliver a new browser to BlackBerry handsets; WebKit is the engine underlying the iPhone’s Mobile Safari and the rendering core of Android handsets. It follows RIM’s revelations that it plans to put full Flash onto its handsets.
One of the most eagerly anticipated elements of the upcoming BlackBerry Storm 2 is its new touchscreen, which is promised to address the disappointing display of its predecessor. Details of the new panel have now been revealed, courtesy of a freshly-unearthed YouTube video; it apparently uses a piezo-electronic layer that can recognize touch-pressure at multiple simultaneous points rather than the single, central hardware button of the first-gen Storm.
The benefit is not just multiple points of touch recognition with the same tactile response as the first-gen Storm, but that it reacts quicker because the piezo system is electronic rather than physical. There are also no dead-spots – such as the corners on the Storm, which were always tougher to press – and the display physically locks itself hard when shut-off and then softens when turned on.
Video after the cut
Nothing like a leaked carrier roadmap to whet the upgrade appetite, and going by the Boy Genius Reports’ slice of Verizon’s not-too-distant future there’ll be plenty of CDMA handsets on offer to those bored with their current phone. As well as a fair sized dollop of BlackBerry detail, there’s also a splash of Android and some feature-phones to be had too.
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