BlackBerry users will now be able to quickly share their locations, thanks to today's update to the Foursuare app. The update (BlackBerry App World) implements NFC (near field communications) on certain BlackBerry models, such as the Bold 9900, to let users simply tap their handsets on NFC stickers to share their locations.
Dutch company NXP BV has filed a lawsuit against Canadian smartphone maker RIM for allegedly infringing on six of the company's patents. The firm is a wholly owned subsidiary of NXP semiconductors and wants compensatory and triple damages, though the numbers aren't revealed. It also seeks a stop of the sale of devices that infringe upon these patents, which include the BlackBerry Torch, Curve, and Bold, as well as the PlayBook tablet.
T-Mobile has updated its versions of the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and Torch 9810 to BlackBerry 7.1 with more than just the basic OS in store. The updates (EXE for 9900, EXE for 9810) both add support for voice calls over Wi-Fi, bringing a feature back not seen in most recent T-Mobile BlackBerrys. The format isn't using UMA (unlicensed mobile access) and won't automatically transfer calls to GSM or 3G if the caller wanders outside of Wi-Fi range.
RIM said Wednesday that BlackBerry 7- and 7.1-powered devices have earned a coveted FIPS 140-2 certification. The standard means they can now be used by the US and Canadian governments, as they meet stringent security stipulations as outlined by the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA). The current devices that comply include the Bold 9900, 9930, and 9790; the Torch 9850, 9860, and 9810; and the Curve 9350, 9360, 9370, and 9380.
RIM has announced that it has teamed with Turkish carrier Turkcell to launch a NFC payment system. The mobile wallet application will initially be available on the BlackBerry Bold 9900, enabling users to make payments by tapping the handset against MasterCard PayPass readers throughout the country and abroad.
RIM's high-style Porsche Design BlackBerry P'9981 has just received shipping details. It will arrive in the UK in Harrods department stores before year's end, with a steep price of £1,275 (about $2,000 at current conversion rates). This is, however, contract-free and buyers have to bring their own SIM cards.
Spotify's BlackBerry app has exited the test stage and is now available to supporting hardware. Users can visit Spotify's mobile site from their browser to download the app, with Spotify offering a 48-hour free trial. After this period, they will need to either sign up for a 30-day trial or pay for the Spotify Premium subscription, which costs $10 per month in the US.
The smartphone field is no longer as Western-centric as it used to be; it's seen madhouse lineups for BlackBerry phones for Indonesia that no smartphone maker would have seen a few years ago. With that in mind, RIM has taken the rare step of having two BlackBerry Bold phones on the same time and has added the 9790 to catch those who want the full touchscreen and keyboard without paying a premium for design. In our BlackBerry Bold 9790 review, we'll check whether RIM has managed to capture 90 percent of the Bold experience at a lower price, and whether it will give any concern to Apple or Google.
RIM's hinted-at BlackBerry 7.1 update started rolling out to Sprint owners on Thursday night. Owners told CrackBerry that their Bold 9930 and Torch 9850 phones were getting the upgrade over-the-air. Among other changes, it's expected to add 3G hotspot support for those willing to pay the premium.
Canadian BlackBerry smartphone maker RIM maintains it never gave carriers permission to install Carrier IQ software on its devices and has now detailed how users can get rid of it. T-Mobile installs the software on three BlackBerry handsets, including the Bold 9900, the Curve 9360 and the Torch 9810. Users need to download an app called IQ Agent, which will also detect and remove other third-party apps.
Indonesian Police officials on Monday revealed they will charge local RIM CEO Andrew Cobham with negligence for holding the Bold 9790 sale that caused numerous injuries during a minor riot. Cobham hasn't been detained but isn't allowed to leave the country, said Police investigator Budi Irawan, and may face up to nine months in jail. Other suspects who may face the same charge include a security consultant hired by RIM, an event organizer and a manager of the shopping centre.
A leaked memo to T-Mobile staff has confirmed that it and possibly other carriers are contradicting RIM's policies on phone tracking. Although BlackBerry designs leave RIM without Carrier IQ, TmoNews saw word that the Curve 9360, Torch 9810, and Bold 9900 all have the diagnostic app loaded inside. While not necessarily suggesting that RIM was misleading, it does show that the company has given away control to the carriers.
The launch of the BlackBerry Bold 9790 in Indonesia's capital of Jakarta on Friday gave RIM a rare Apple-like level of demand that also took an unfortunate turn. A report from the event through the Jakarta Globe had up to 90 people face minor injuries like broken bones after a crush and queue jumping triggered by a rumor spread that the Pacific Place Mall store wouldn't have enough of the new smartphone to supply everyone. As many as 200 public and private security officers had to step in to restore order.
RIM in a statement acknowledged an unusual problem found by its users with the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930. Some of the phones will appear to spontaneously fail and refuse to turn on easily or at all. The company didn't have an explanation, but it noted that software was at fault and planned a fix.
RIM has made the BlackBerry Bold 9790 and BlackBerry Curve 9380 official. The long-rumored and oft leaked devices are said by RIM to be “available from various carriers around the world over the coming weeks.” Specific launch dates will be forthcoming.
Cincinnati Bell just added two new BlackBerry 7 smartphones to its lineup in the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and BlackBerry Torch 9860. Either gets a 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor. The former combines a 2.8-inch, 640x480 touchscreen display and a hardware QWERTY keyboard, along with an NFC radio.
AT&T caught up to other US carriers on Tuesday with belated additions to its BlackBerry line. The carrier plans to pick up both the Bold 9900 as its headlining BlackBerry and plans to sell it for $200 on November 6. Another long-promised phone, the Torch 9860, is due the same day for $100.
Rim has apparently leaked a picture of its upcoming BlackBerry Bold 9790 on its own site. Crackberry shows that, if visitors to the RIM website compare the Bold 9700 to any other phone, what actually appears is an image of the Bold 9790. Unfortunately, the phone details in the comparison appear to be that of the original 9700.
RIM on Thursday confirmed one of the longest standing rumored BlackBerry models in recent memory. The Porsche Design P'9981 Smartphone from BlackBerry is based on the Bold 9900 inside but has a Porsche Design-made stainless steel shell, a "hand-wrapped" leather back, and a uniquely shaped keyboard. Software is also unique: it not only carries Wikitude's augmented reality World Browser and a unique pre-installed theme but gives each user an exclusive PIN code that can help tell when friends also have the same phone.
RIM had the distinction of providing the first phones to use a SIM card that support MasterCard's NFC-based PayPass tech for short-range wireless payments. Both the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and the Curve 9360 can, with the right apps, pay at a store just by tapping a receiver. The account will be attached to the SIM card, not the phone, and let users swap phones with the same account, although it may create issues with switching carriers.
More positive rumors emerged for RIM on Tuesday. A source told BGR that BlackBerry 7.1 would be arriving before the end of the year with unknown but "major" additions. The OS could be the swan song for the current BlackBerry platform before BBX arrives in 2012.
The mysterious Porsche Design-created BlackBerry has been confirmed by an invite sent to the media. The BlackBerry 9980, sometimes called the Knight, will be unveiled at an October 27 event in Dubai that Stuff and others will attend. Details were short in the invoite, but it would be an "exclusive collaboration," the invite read.
Spotify answered one of its most frequent calls Wednesday by releasing a test version of Spotify for BlackBerry. The early app gives much of the same music streaming as in the Android, iPhone, and Symbian versions, including offline caching and Last.fm scrobbling to track plays. Its current version requires an SD card and won't limit caching to Wi-Fi.
RIM has revealed some basic display specs of its upcoming BlackBerry Curve 9380 and Bold 9790 to developers so they can get a head start on developing apps for the devices. Both smartphones will run on the BlackBerry 7 OS, N4BB reported. The Curve 9380's 3.2-inch screen will have a screen resolution of 480x360, just like the Torch 9800.
Several leaks suggest RIM may be preparing to launch a BlackBerry Bold 9900 variant featuring an all-white color scheme. One of the pictures, which was posted by the Arabic site Berry-Wd, is claimed to show the unannounced white Bold in the wild. The handset is built with a white faceplate and white keyboard, with the same stainless frame as the existing model.
At the GITEX conference in Dubai, BlackBerry maker RIM revealed an upcoming BlackBerry 7 OS update will have a new feature contained within in called BlackBerry Tag. This will let users share contact info, documents, web links, photos and other multimedia content by just tapping NFC-compatible handsets like the BlackBerry Bold 9900 together. It will also allow friends to quickly add each other in BlackBerry Messenger.
RIM had an large internal rift over how it would pitch the BlackBerry PlayBook, executives slipped out on Friday. Traditionalists at the company, such as co-CEO Mike Lazaridis, wanted to sell the tablet as a business companion, the WSJ heard. Rivals, however, wanted it to more directly chase after the iPad and focus on games, movies, music, breaking out of RIM's usual mold.
The NFC Forum, an industry association devoted to Near Field Communications (NFC) tech, has just revised its specs, adding a new exchange protocol. Dubbed Simple NDEF Exchange Protocol (SNEP), it allows sending and receiving messages between two NFC-enabled devices. This is an extension of the NFC Data Exchange Format (NDEF), which was only applicable to NFC tags in the past.
T-Mobile is dropping the prices on all its smartphones for one day only, this coming Saturday, September 24. The "Yes, Every Smartphone Is on Sale, Sale" will apply to the purchase any smartphone, tablet or mobile broadband device for a down payment of $100 or less on any of the company’s Unlimited Value plans with 2GB or higher of data. The deals, after mail-in rebates, requires a two-year contract and will only be in T-Mobile's stores.
For much of 2011, many had counted RIM out: many 2010 BlackBerry phones were old as soon as you opened the box, and it wasn't clear that it would ever adopt features Android and iPhone users took for granted, like 3D gaming, HD video, or even just fast web browsing. The BlackBerry Bold 9900 is the vanguard of a complete overhaul that could prove the doomsayers wrong. But does it? We'll answer that in our BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 review.
Some new information has leaked out about the RIM BlackBerry Bold 9790. BGR has posted some pictures showing that the new smartphone will still come with both a QWERTY keyboard and a touchscreen display. It appears to be slightly smaller than its sibling, the 9900, which recently hit T-Mobile's shelves at the end of August.
A BlackBerry design once thought to be fake has resurfaced in what could be hints of either a discarded prototype or a third-party overhaul. Referred to as a "9980," the phone seen in Beijing has a chiseled, mostly metal look that recalls Porsche Design's work. Although completely unlike any existing BlackBerry, the unit seen at MaxPDA boots the OS (either BlackBerry 6 or 7) and has many of the same parts, down to the official battery from the Bold 9900 and the overall layout of ports, cameras, and sensors.
RIM's self-proclaimed "superphone" based on its new QNX platform, unofficially known as the BlackBerry Colt, might be pushed too quickly into the market. Based on "checks," Jefferies & Co. analyst Peter Misek believed on Friday that the Colt was "being rushed' with no BlackBerry Enterprise Server or possibly BlackBerry Internet Service support. The company might be following a classic technology company practice of speeding up its timing solely to have a device to show for CES in January, something that Misek saw as a potentially fatal mistake.
RIM may see a bounce back in the market simply out of carrier worries of an Apple and Google duopoly, Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu learned on Friday. After talking to carriers, he heard that networks are worried about the "growing dominance" of Android and the iPhone and were sorely looking for a third option to keep competition up. With Nokia not due to ship its first Windows Phones until September, he said, the BlackBerry could benefit simply by being a well-established company with a recently revamped phone line.
Rogers is giving RIM a lift on Thursday by offering its customers $100 off its new BlackBerry Bold 9900 or Torch 9810 if they buy either in conjunction with a BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. The deal requires a new three-year contract and is valid only through the end of September.
Samsung ramped up the launch of four new smartphones under a previously hinted new naming scheme. The Galaxy W hits the new mid-range and runs on a 1.4GHz, single-core chip with a 3.7-inch display. It still as much of the modern TouchWiz interface on top of Android 2.3 and supports up to 14.4Mbps HSPA for reasonably fast 3G.
As promised, both AT&T and Sprint joined the BlackBerry 7 mix Sunday with their own additions now reaching shops. Sprint had the biggest release and shipped both the BlackBerry Torch 9850 and the BlackBerry Bold 9930. The two are the least expensive versions on sale in the US: the touch-only 9850 costs $150 when bought online with a contract, while the 9930 costs $200 under the same conditions.
T-Mobile chose midnight to price and date its version of the BlackBerry Bold 9900. The BlackBerry 7 hardware reaches shops on August 31. For unknown reasons, the phone will cost much more than at AT&T, Sprint, or Verizon, at $300 on contract, even after a $50 rebate.
AT&T allegedly has no plans to embrace the BlackBerry Bold 9900's near-field communications (NFC) capabilities at launch. Although the hardware is likely to be capable of NFC features when it arrives in the hands of AT&T's customers, unnamed sources have told TechnoBuffaflo the carrier will implement a software block to prevent users to taking advantage of the technology.
The rumored August 21 ship date for the BlackBerry Bold 9930 and Torch 9850 smartphones at Sprint has now been confirmed by the carrier. The former will cost $250 on a new two-year contract while the Torch 9850 will cost $150 on the same term. Either gets a 1.2GHz CPU and BlackBerry 7.
Without any fanfare, Verizon has started selling the BlackBerry Bold 9930. The 9930 is an update to RIM's classic BlackBerry design. It carries the same features as the Bold 9900, its GSM-based sibling.
Sprint is reportedly ready to launch RIM's BlackBerry Torch 9850 and Bold 9930 within the next two weeks. The carrier recently confirmed plans to launch both devices, however the company did not provide details regarding release timing. Leaked advertisements posted on CrackBerry suggest both handsets will be available on August 21.
The BlackBerry Bold 9900 is now shipping at Canadian providers including Bell and Virgin Mobile, with Rogers and Telus expected to update their product pages later on today as well. At the former two, the smartphone costs $600 CAD ($607) without an agreement and $170 CAD ($172) on a three-year/SuperTab contract. Rogers has already said it would charge a steep $250 for the same device.
Canadian carrier Rogers appears to be the first company to confirm launch dates for RIM's BlackBerry Bold 9900 and Torch 9810 smartphones. Customers will be able to purchase the Bold beginning tomorrow, while the Torch is said to be available by August 12, according to a post on Rogers' official Twitter feed, however pricing remains unclear.
A CrackBerry forums member, danny28, posted images of an as-yet unreleased BlackBerry Curve 9360 smartphone. The photos, embedded below, confirm that the device is indeed equipped with an NFC (near-field communications) radio. The handset is on the left in the comparison shots with the BlackBerry Bold 9700.
The top three Canadian carriers have not only unveiled their plans to carry the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and new BlackBerry Torches but given the clue as to pricing that will likely translate to the US. Rogers has said that both the 9810 and the 9860 will cost $200 when attached to a three-year contract. The Bold 9900 will carry an unusual premium at $250 on the same terms.
A leak reportedly details the launch time-frame for RIM's BlackBerry Bold 9900 and Torch 9810 smartphones through the Canadian carrier Bell. Screenshots allegedly showing the carrier's internal documents, which were posted by CrackBerry, suggest both the Bold 9900 and Torch 9810 will be available at Bell on August 16.
Canadian wireless provider Telus will get the BlackBerry Bold 9900 on August 15, a leaked inventory screen image sent in to BGR revealed. Other BlackBerry handsets, including the Torch 2 and the Torch 9860, are expected to arrive on August 15 and 22, respectively, while the new Curve (Apollo) is coming on August 29. The BlackBerry Orlando will come out on October 1, along with the Bellagio and, supposedly, the iPhone 5.
Sprint is planning on discontinuing its HTC Evo 4G smartphone by October. SprintFeed reports that the flagship, along with several other phones launched in 2010, will be phased out as well. Sprint will discontinue the white model in September, and other versions in October.
RIM dropped a strong hint on Monday that it was about to unveil more BlackBerry 7 devices. The company promsied that "new BlackBerry devices are coming with our new OS" and invited users to check back on Tuesday for details from a BlackBerry 7 Fan Night. When asked if it involved more than the Bold 9900, one follower was told only that they would "have the answers tomorrow" with a wink.
