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Research In Motion application store gets updated

bb_app_world The sequel to App World

The RIM software for accessing free and paid for applications on their BlackBerry handsets has been upgraded - to BlackBerry App World 2.0 and brings in a friendlier interface, search functionality and better methods of payment.

The updated UI to the portal has done away with the minimum cost of an app, whilst accepting PayPal and credit cards as ways to purchase everything from applications, to themes for the BlackBerry devices. There are also better search methods too, along with lists of the top free and paid for applications.

App World 2.0 now has the look and feel to the new BlackBerry 6 OS, where there is bound to be new software available soon to take advantage of the new platform for the more recent mobile phones.

The likes of QR barcodes can now be used, where developers can publicise their works much more easily with a unique image - which can be simply scanned in by using the BlackBerry’s camera, which then links straight to the software on App World 2.0.

The update for accessing RIM’s software repository was mentioned at the launch of the Torch 9800 device, and is now available through the Beta Zone site. Research In Motion also mentioned reverse billing could be coming to App World 2.0, where they are currently running with this only in the USA.

BlackBerry Torch 9800 - First Looks Review

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Research In Motion launched their first ever BlackBerry Torch slider handset last week at an event in New York on the AT&T network, where RIM held a similar event in the UK in which One Mobile Ring attended.

We managed to spend a good deal of time with the BlackBerry Torch 9800 at the launch event, whilst at the same time obtained a detailed briefing from RIM in order to provide a first looks review of the device from our experiences alone.

The BlackBerry Torch 9800 is a full capacitive touch screen handset, with a physical Qwerty keyboard that slides out vertically in the same way as the Palm Pre Plus also functions. The keyboard has the look and feel of the same one accompanying the latest Bold 9700 handset. It has curved rows of keys and fairly identical size, where the sliding out process to expose the keyboard is very smooth and feels similar to the way the Pre Plus also operates.

The Torch stands 4.37-inches tall or 5.83-inches when opened, where their BlackBerry Storm 2 as a comparison is just 4.43-inches tall. Both devices have the same width of 62mm, where the 9800 is 14.6mm thick and the Storm 2 is slightly thinner at 13.9mm. It’s a comfortable BlackBerry to use, with the width providing a good size for holding and also typing upon with a very similar feel to the Storm 2 only with the physical keyboard of the 9700.

BlackBerry Torch’s 3.2-inch 480×360 capacitive touch screen has the same size display as that Storm 2 handset, where instead of pushing the screen inwards to action a task - the touch screen now operates in the same way as every other touch screen device. We found this is a much more preferable way of operating a phone than the way the Storms work. This venture for RIM could attract more buyers that were put off with the Storm phones and even lure those who didn’t make the leap to its sequel.

The touch screen is very responsive and handles touch requests fairly well, where in the time we used the device we never saw a misinterpreted incident. Its new operating system really takes advantage of the new screen and in a way the previous OS never could, nor could any other RIM platforms. The colours and images on the Torch 9800 are the sharpest we’ve seen on a BlackBerry handset, with one of the highest reported DPI on any of their phones.

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The slide-out keyboard does appear to be a fairly exact replica to the one that accompanies the Bold 9700, if compared side by side most people would be hard pushed to tell any differences. Besides the keyboard that’s easy and familiar to use, the call, menu, optical touchpad and end call button have also been brought across from the 9700 and the Curve 8250 which stamps home continuity within the brand and entire range as a whole.

RIM’s Torch runs with 512MB of RAM, where in the past BlackBerry’s have only reached the lofty heights of 256MB. Applications now respond faster as a result, with better multitasking possibilities and switching between the apps. The native storage has also reached new heights as there is now 4GB built into the phone, with a further 4GB microSD card bundled in as part and parcel of the shipping product.

Other notable hardware implementations on the 9800 come from the WIFI 802.11n specification, which has only been seen before in the Pearl 3G where the phone also has Tri-band UMTS and Quad-band GSM connectivity. The camera in the Torch 9800 is of the 5 megapixel variety - the highest MP count in any BlackBerry to date, where other phone manufactures have hit 12MP and are still pushing the boundaries.

At the heart of the new BlackBerry slider phone is the new operating system - the BlackBerry 6 OS. The new user interface is very touch screen centric, where RIM has certainly taken note of Android and other touch screen based operating systems with the way they function. Research In Motion has almost taken the best of those worlds and included them in the new platform, with elements of a traditional BlackBerry UI.

The home screen on the BlackBerry 6 OS has the same initial look to version 5, with a few quick access icons to applications at the base of the screen. Instead of pressing the physical BlackBerry icon menu button to see all the applications - the quick access icon bar can be swiped up the screen, to show all the software on the phone. The screen can then be swiped across to the left, to show the individual category’s of the apps, favourites and weblinks in a similar way to other touch screen handsets. The icon bar at the top of the screen shows notifications, which can be simply touched upon to show all the new messages in a fast, friendly and easy manor. All of which is very unlike the BlackBerry business centric operating systems of the past and much more like Android than anything else.

The new universal search tool is one of the most notable inclusions in the BlackBerry 6 OS. The search tool can be run from anywhere by typing on the keyboard, and not even in a specific application. The search is performed on the fly when typing, then brings back results not only relating to emails, IM’s, text messages, but also music, RSS feeds and even from social networking sites. It’s fast and the results are very thoroughly, where the task we found takes little time in running.

Lastly, the web browser has been greatly improved in this version of the BlackBerry OS. RIM acquired a company called Torch Mobile in 2009, for their webkit web browser technology. Incidentally, it’s where the name of this new BlackBerry handset originates, as it’s their first device to show the fruits of that acquisition. Torch previously developed the Iris browser for Windows Mobile devices, where the switch to BlackBerry handsets have brought in pinch-to-zoon-in abilities and an altogether much better browsing experience on the handset - as compared with past BlackBerrys.

The Bottom Line

From the outset, the BlackBerry Torch 9800 does appear to be the best of both worlds - a touch screen device and also a handset with an actual physical Qwerty keyboard. It does appear as if the Storm2 and BlackBerry Bold 9700 have visited a chop-shop and the Torch 9800 is the result.

We’re glad RIM has switched from the push-in-screen-to-action-a-task touch screen display of the Storm handsets, as the 9800 now works much better than any of those two previous devices. The Qwerty keyboard is a little on the small side for our liking, although the learning curve and adjustment process was nothing like what was seen with the Storm phones touch screens - we were used to the actual physical keyboard in no time at all.

The OS is a vast improvement over any RIM platform we’ve seen before, with a very consumer friendly feel along with managing to still retain the business elements needed to succeed elsewhere. Over all, we were fairly impressed with the BlackBerry Torch 9800 and we’re keen to see if it wins over BlackBerry keyboard based users and also those who have come from a traditional touch screen environment.

Research In Motion unveils the Curve 3G

blackberrypearl3g New budget BlackBerry tips up

RIM has announced the BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300, their latest consumer orientated Curve handset that succeeds the 8520 and is the first in the Curve series with 3G access.

Research In Motion’s Curve 3G 9300 is their Qwerty keyboard based device that is remnant of the older BlackBerry handsets, with a very traditional BB look and feel. The phone ships with the BlackBerry 5 OS, but will be upgradeable to version 6 in due course - which now joins the Pearl 3G 9105, Bold 9700 with the Torch 9800 arriving with the platform.

The 9300 is effectively replacing the Curve 8520 that didn’t have 3G access, where this model does and carries the same ‘3G’ moniker in much the same way as the recent candy bar Pearl 3G did for that very same reason.

Also brought in from the Pearl 3G is 802.11n, making this only the third phone in the BlackBerry range to include the latest WIFI specification.

Research In Motion unveiled the Curve 3G 9300 in a low key way, with just an email dispatched to the media where no networks have even made a claim to carrying it yet. This handset was one of the likely suspects we predicted would be announced last week at the AT&T joint event with RIM, in which they launched the BlackBerry Torch 9800 instead.

BlackBerry Torch 9800 video walk through

RIM’s slider handset captured by OMR

Research In Motion’s BlackBerry Torch 9800 slide phone was launched this week at an event in New York on the AT&T network, where RIM held a similar unveiling in the UK. One Mobile Ring attended the UK launch and managed to obtain a demonstration of the handset, which we caught on video for your viewing pleasure.

Just to wet your appetite ahead of the published review is an in-depth walk through of the handset’s hardware, along with a run through of BlackBerry’s OS 6 - which will first appear on this new phone along with being available for the Bold 9700 and Pearl 3G.

Vodafone and Orange see the light

BlackBerry Torch 9800 coming to UK networks

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Vodafone and Orange have both announced they will be carrying the first BlackBerry slider phone from Research In Motion - since its launch event in America on the AT&T network.

The BlackBerry Torch 9800 is the first slider handset from RIM, which also has a full touch screen and runs their new OS 6.

Orange announced over twitter they will be selling the new BlackBerry handset, in a tweet from the UK PR Manager that reads: “Good news: The new BlackBerry Torch 9800 with BlackBerry 6 will be coming soon to Orange UK. We will keep you posted with details…”. - with no further information on offer, or even Orange’s own ‘Coming Soon’ page listing its existence.

Straight after the USA launch event for the 9800, Vodafone also posted on twitter they will be carrying the phone, in a tweet that reads “The BlackBerry Torch will be coming soon to Vodafone UK. Register for updates here: http://bit.ly/dzJ72A”. That very link redirects to their ‘Coming Soon’ page for the BlackBerry Torch, indicating they are more prepared than Orange and will most likely have the phone on sale first.

No pricing has been announced by either network, although expect to pay around the mid £30 mark on a 24 month contract with the handset free.

One Mobile Ring was at the RIM launch event in the UK, where we will be posting a First Looks review on the handset soon. At the event there were a number of BlackBerry Torch 9800 phones on show, with various demos being held by members of RIM staff where we noted a handset on the O2 network - but there’s no news had been made public yet from them.

Vodafone

Orange Tweet

BlackBerry launches first ever slider handset

RIM’s torch lights up the way for more sliders

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Research In Motion has announced today their BlackBerry Torch 9800 - their first device with a touch screen and a keyboard, that slides out from underneath the display. The new handset arrives with the latest BlackBerry 6.0 OS, which will first be seen on the 9800 along with a Webkit browser.

BlackBerry’s Torch has a 3.2-inch capacitive touch screen, along with a standard RIM Qwerty keyboard that’s accessible from sliding the screen upwards. On board is a 5 megapixel camera, with the phone having WIFI and quad-band GSM capabilities, in a 4.37-inch tall phone or 5.83-inches when opened up.

The BlackBerry 9800 also ships with OS 6.0, which brings a whole host of new features into the handset - most notably, universal search, social networking feeds, WIFI tethering, a Webkit browser with pinch-to-zoom-in features. The new OS will be made available for the BlackBerry Bold 9700 and also the BlackBerry Pearl 3G 9100 series.

The Torch first launches with AT&T in the USA, where future unveilings of UK and Europe networks will be announced over the next few weeks with the possibility of other slider handsets on the horizon.

RIM are announcing a new product next week

New BlackBerry handsets could be on the way

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Research In Motion and the American mobile phone network AT&T has jointly sent out an invite, to an event being held next week in New York where its rumoured the BlackBerry slider 9800 or even the 9300 will be announced.

One Mobile Ring has been in touch with RIM in the UK to see if such an event is being mirrored in Blighty, where no details of such an event can be disclosed at this time.

The BlackBerry 9800 has been leaked for some months now, with images and video cropping up on the Internet showing the large Storm sized touch screen being slid down vertically - to expose a keyboard, which almost has the appearance of the newest Bold 9700.

The other phone that might be unveiled could be their 9300 handset, which also has seen leaked images and video appearing online of late only with higher frequency. This handset appears to be a cross between their low budget BlackBerry Curve 9250 model from last year, with the size and feel of their BlackBerry Curve 8900 from a few years back.

We’ll bring you more news of the announcement next week, with a hope there will be a similar UK unveiling in much the same way as RIM has done before with the Storm 2 and more recently, the Pearl 3G.

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BlackBerry 6 OS new multimedia features detailed

The latest news from the fruit bearing operating system

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Research In Motion has listed in a blog post the rich multimedia features in the upcoming new BlackBerry OS, whilst at the same time mentioning in passing it will soon be released.

The post passed out to the press in an email, in addition to being added to their own website went on to note in some detail the new abilities of the upcoming BlackBerry 6 OS. These are features such as streaming video, better photo handling and new camera controls amongst others.

RIM has worked on aspects of the way photos can be grouped together by event or date on the handset, where there is even a pinch-to-zoom-in feature in the upcoming operating system release for the BlackBerry handsets.

Also new to the OS 6 is the ability to share videos taken by the phone, with an integrated YouTube client that provides uploading straight to the video sharing website for all and sundry to see.

The same email and blog post hinted the OS release is imminent with the opening line, which stated “as you know RIM will soon be launching the eagerly awaited BlackBerry 6″ - although no firm dates have been established yet but a new OS usually ties in with a handset release.

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BlackBerry Storm 3 details have been leaked

With built-in MIFI

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Research In Motion’s upcoming Storm 3 handset has been leaked in a presentation, with details capture on an image that outlays what features and functionality the new device might have.

An image has appeared on the technology website Engadget which goes on to show, although in somewhat of a blurry captured picture, what the new handset will feature and how it differs from the Storm 2 launched last year.

The training presentation slide notes the new BlackBerry handset will only have a minor hardware overhaul, with no major differences in appearance between the Storm 2 and 3 - judging by the image shown.

Brought in from the recent BlackBerry Perl 3G is the ability to access a 802.11n WIFI network, which was first seen in that candy bar designed phone. The RAM appears to have been doubled, from 256 to 512MB that will serve the applications running on the handset and the camera has gone from 3.1 megapixel camera, to a 5MP.

The operating system on the mobile phone appears to have had a refresh too, moving from OS 5 to the new BlackBerry version 6 - which we brought you news of last week. The most surprising addition is at the base of the captured image, which is the inclusion of a mobile hotspot application and is another term for MIFI.

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Weekly Review 16th of July

It has been a busy week in the mobile world, which makes for a much welcomed change from last in which it appeared the world had a quiet one following on from Independence day in the States.

This week’s news mostly surrounded BlackBerry, companies mentioning upcoming features in their OS that BlackBerry will have soon. The iPhone 4 maker scheduled an impromptu press conference, along with releasing a possible signal fix to their mobile OS.

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The week started with an analyst report from the company Rodman and Renshaw, detailing there is an iPad-esque tablet on the way from Research In Motion. This report had specifics that seemed to be backed up in a video of the new upcoming OS, later on in the week.

A 7-inch BlackBerry tablet device by Research In Motion was apparently scheduled to be released next year, with the analyst company detailing that it has now been changed. The report goes on to mention the BlackBerry will be powered by a 1Ghz Marvell processor with abilities such as full HD 1080p playback, advanced 3D graphics, 16 megapixel image capture, front facing and rear cameras.

Midweek, BlackBerry’s new OS 6 was officially demoed on video, ahead of its unveiling later on this year. The preview of the OS 6 highlighted exactly what features will be in the new platform, where the video appears to be very touch screen centric. Some more astute observers will note the BlackBerry’s screen dimensions and not a single physical keyboard was seen in the footage.

All of this could just highlight RIM are now focussing heavily on large touch screen devices, with more of a tablet style screen - as the dimensions alone of the device’s screen denotes a BlackBerry Tablet.

Another BlackBerry new’s item came across our desks this week, in the form of an invite to try out a new piece of software for the device. BlackBerry Protect is an upcoming app from RIM, where someone will be able to locate a misplaced phone easily or remotely wipe the phones’ contents if permanently lost.

The free application for BlackBerry mobiles will provide access to a webportal, where all of the features listed above are accessible. It will even be possible to triangulate the missing phone’s position by surrounding cell towers, or actually remotely power-on the GPS to aid in the handset’s recovery.

Not to be outdone by this, Microsoft also made public on the same day their upcoming mobile OS will also have these features. Windows Phone 7 will have a similar set of abilities as BlackBerry Protect, only natively inside the OS.

These features are comparable to Apple’s FindMe, only they differ in the cost as apparently this will be free and part and parcel of the Microsoft mobile OS where FindMe does carry a price.

Microsoft has a web based portal known as SkyDrive for accessing these security features, which also allows for 25GB of data to be stored. Services such as locating of the missing phone, locking the device or remotely wiping all the data will be possible in much the same way as BlackBerry will offer.

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On Thursday it came to light that Apple will be holding an unscheduled press conference on Friday, all in order to talk about the iPhone 4 with the possibility of the signal dropping issue on the agenda that has plagued the handset since day one.

Speculation has been rife over whether they will recall the new fourth generation Apple mobile, which will be a vast operations seeing as they sold 1.7 million iPhone 4 handsets in just 3 days.

What could be a more likely scenario would be that Apple will put the world at ease by openly discussing the issue relating to the signal problem, as their open letter last month did not go down as well as they expected where its contents surrounded the miscalculation of the signal reception only.

Later on in the same day, an update to the iPhone’s operating system was made available from the usual source of iTunes, for all those iPhone 4 users along with the older iPhone 3G/3GS owners that have upgraded to iOS 4.

iOS 4.0.1 was released way ahead of their press conference, all with a view to resolve the issues that have surrounded the handsets signal problems.

It has already been noted by early adopters of the update that Apple has increased the size of the bars in displaying the signal, just to make the reception visually clearer with its recalibration already firmly in place.
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Two new handset announcements hit the wires this week, with one appearing on Three and another being the smallest and lightest Guinness Book of Records holding mobile phone with cases that add functionality.

An Israeli mobile phone company launched in the UK the Modu 1, which is a small phone that can be placed in a number of different fascia or cases to offer up different functionality.

The Modu 1 is only 72.1mm in height, 37.6mm in width, whilst it’s only 7.8mm thick with a weight of 40.1 grams where an actual credit card comes in around 53.9mm in height and 85.6mm in length.

There are 12 different cases currently available for the Modu 1, which dramatically changes the whole look of the handset and its functions. These range from sporty designs with a pedometer, to a night fascia with a 3.2MP camera.

Natively, the phone has a 1.3-inch OLED screen, with tri-band connectivity and has features such as 2GB of memory, an mp3 player, Bluetooth 1.2 with a proprietary OS and a 7-key pad design.

Three jointly unveiled a sub £100 Android handset, running version 2.1 of the Google OS. ZTE’s Racer is a 2.8-inch QVGA resistive touch screen mobile, with 2GB of storage from an accompanying microSD card along with a 3.2 megapixel camera - all running from the same 600Mhz chipset as the HTC Legend.

The £99 Racer handset is co-branded by Three, in much the same way as two other joint venture mobile phones that are on Three by ZTE, the MF112 and F930.

The phone is free from as little as £13 a month on Three’s Internet Talker 300 tariff, or costing £99 plus a £10 credit on pay as you go - which makes for one of the cheapest 2.1 Android handsets around today.
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So, what can you offer me for £15 a month?

At the end of the week we begun a feature to aid people in the minefield of choosing a tariff and along with their handset deals, by starting at £15 a month and what that consists of on each major network.

In this week’s break down we highlighted what Three, T-Mobile and Orange all have to offer in their £15 a month bracket along with what phones are available too and also the network’s ‘SIM Only’ offering.

Each of the networks have competitive deals in this price range, all with a good range of phones on offer to suit all tastes and styles.

Three’s £15 ‘SIM Only’ tariff appears to be a strong contender, if you just want a contact and not a phone too.

This deal offers up 300 minutes at any time of the day and to any network, along with 2,000 minutes to any Three based phone numbers, with 3,000 texts, a 1GB data allowance and free voicemail. This comes with free Windows Live Messenger chats and free Skype-to-Skype calls which does not encroach on that 1GB data allowance - all on a one month rolling contract.
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Samsung Galaxy S review

The review of the week came from Samsung’s flagship Android handset, the Galaxy S. This new model arrives with a much larger screen than ever seen before on an Android mobile phone in the UK, with Samsung’s own familiar tweak to the OS. Samsung’s Galaxy S runs from a 1Ghz processor, but not the Qualcomm version that’s in the HTC Desire only this is Samsung’s own mobile chipset that also features in their Wave phone.

The Galaxy S’ display has the brightest and most vivid screen we’ve seen, with a 4-inch Super AMOLED 800×480 display that is really the handset’s most outstanding feature. The screen actually puts the Desire’s version to shame, with its colours and sharpness that are beyond belief and are not even washed out in bright sunlight, where AMOLED screens usually are.

Samsung has tweaked the 2.1 Android OS, to have a familiar overlay called TouchWiz. This new version of 3.0 also appears on their Wave phone, which has a different OS altogether. This does feel very similar to their other handset overlays, from the Jet to Toco mobiles that all have early versions but this really is just a Samsung theme running on Android and nothing major.

Bottom Line
This surprisingly light 118gram Android handset has a bit of a cheap feel to it, where some might assume it’s a budget model due the plastic casing only it’s far from that. The Samsung Galaxy S is a fast mobile, with a truly outstanding screen where movie playback, web browsing and writing are exemplary on the large screen with lots of storage capabilities too.

OneMobileRing

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Research In Motion application store gets updated

BlackBerry Torch 9800 - First Looks Review

Research In Motion unveils the Curve 3G

BlackBerry Torch 9800 video walk through

Vodafone and Orange see the light

BlackBerry launches first ever slider handset

RIM are announcing a new product next week

BlackBerry 6 OS new multimedia features detailed

BlackBerry Storm 3 details have been leaked

Weekly Review 16th of July

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