Mobile Watcher » Blackberry

Alltel Introduces BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8230

admin — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 11:12:50 +0000

Alltel has announced the availability of RIM’s BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8230 on its shelves, bringing with it 3G support. With a silver casing, the Alltel’s BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8230 sports two high-resolution color displays (one external, one internal), a 2.0MP camera (with zoom, flash and video recording), microSD card slot and a SureType keyboard that’s not quite QWERTY, but close enough for most.
It support BIS (BlackBerry Internet Service) and BlackBerry Enterprise Server, not to mention voice-activated dialing and speakerphone capability. As social networks expand, RIM is also touting this phone’s ability to hit up MySpace, Flickr and Facebook as well as IM services such as Yahoo!, AIM, Google Talk and Windows Live Messenger.
Other features include an onboard GPS chipset with BlackBerry Maps will allow users to navigate the world and the Flip also allows users to sync their music collections with iTunes and Windows Media Player.
The RIM BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8230 is available now for $80after a mail-in rebate with a two-year contract.

RIM’s Profit Soar in the First Quarter

admin — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 06:27:43 +0000

Despite the tough economic tough times, Research In Motion (RIM) has continued to record increase in its income. Announcing its first quarter financial results, RIM revealed that it has recorded a net income of US$643 million, a 33 percent jump in profit from last year’s first quarter income of $482.5 million.
During the quarter, BlackBerry sales were solid in international markets, which tend to attract more business clients, he said. Healthy revenues were recorded in Latin America, the Middle East and parts of Asia.
Eighty per cent of those new subscribers were consumers as opposed to business clients. Consumers now account for more than half of the BlackBerry client base, RIM’s co-chief-executive officer Jim Balsillie said in a conference call with analysts.
Despite the usual slowdown in summer months, Balsillie said the company expects to ship 8.1 million to 8.7 million new smartphones in the current quarter and add 3.8 million to 4.1 million new subscribers.
According to the Associated Press. RIM beat the average 94-cent estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, excluding a one-time $175 million tax benefit.

RIM BlackBerry Curve 8330

admin — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 22:25:37 +0000

Yes, the RIM BlackBerry Curve 8330 is now available, and it brings the same great design of its GSM counterparts and even adds 3G to boot. The Sprint RIM BlackBerry Curve 8330 is slightly thicker and heavier than its GSM variant, measuring 4.2 inches high by 2.4 inches wide by 0.6 inch deep and weighing 4.2 ounces. The smartphone comes in a titanium color, though unlike the AT&T BlackBerry Curve 8310, the QWERTY keyboard features black keys and a black trim around thedisplay instead of silver.

Speaking of the display, the Curve 8330 features a 2.5-inch non touch screen with a 65,536 color output and a 320×240 pixel resolution. As with the latest BlackBerry models, the Curve also has a light-sensing technology that automatically adjusts the backlight depending whether you’re in a dark room, outdoors, and so forth. This function worked well, and we found the display to be sharp and readable in most situations colours do tend to wash out in bright sunlight.

The RIM BlackBerry Curve 8330 for Sprint comes loaded with features, some that make it a better value than the competition. To start, there’s integrated GPS with support for Sprint Navigation. The
carrier’s location-based service offers turn-by-turn text- and voice-guided directions complete with text-to-speech functionality, local search, traffic updates, and other navigation tools. Being a BlackBerry, the 8330 gives you the best mobile e-mail options available today, delivering push e-mail for up to ten accounts, including POP, IMAP, and Web-based services using BlackBerry Internet
Solution (BIS). Meanwhile, BlackBerry Enterprise Solution (BES) users can take advantage of single mailbox integration and other features, such as remote address lookup on corporate networks.

The BlackBerry Curve 8330 comes with a 2-megapixel lens with video-recording capabilities. For still images, there’s a 5x zoom and flash, as well as three picture sizes and three quality options. You
also get white-balance settings and several color effects you can add to the photo. Video options are limited with just two video formats (normal or multimedia message), three color effects, and a video
light. can import your own music and video library. The built-in media player allows you to enjoy your favorite MP3, WMA, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, AMR-NB, and MIDI music files, and MPEG4, WMV, and H.263 video clips.
There’s a search function, playlist creation, shuffle and repeat, and you get a full-screen mode for video playback. The included software CD also contains a copy of Roxio Easy Media Creator, so you can create MP3s from CDs and add audio tags. There’s 64MB of flash memory onboard, but
as always, we recommend loading multimedia files via a microSD card. The Curve’s expansion slot can accept up to 8GB cards. The RIM BlackBerry Curve 8330 for Sprint is available now for $179.99 with a two-year contract and after rebates and discounts.

RIM BlackBerry Bold 9000 Debut

admin — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 03:01:07 +0000

Research in Motion’s BlackBerry series has been trying to edge its way into the pockets of consumers for some time, and despite its hefty price tag, the new Bold could be its best attempt yet. The BlackBerry Bold features a half-VGA (480×320 pixel resolution) and a 65,000-color display, it measures 4.5 inches tall by 2.6 inches wide by half an inch deep, and it weighs 4.7 ounces.

There’s a heaping of wireless options on the quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900) BlackBerry Bold, but the most appetizing and notable item is the HSDPA/UMTS (850/1900/2100) support. You also get
integrated Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g), Bluetooth 2.0 with full A2DP support, and built-in GPS (enhanced and assisted). As for multimedia, the smartphone is equipped with a 2-megapixel camera with video-recording capabilities and up to 5x zoom. The media player also continues to support numerous audio and video formats, including MP3, WMA, AAC, DivX4, and WMV3 files, and the phone is equipped with a 3.5mm headphone jack, it also has some pretty powerful speakers.

The back has a nice leather effect which grips tabletops nicely, and on the sides there are a volume rockerm camera shutter button, USB port, Micro SD slot – though you’ll need to supply your own memory card – 3.5mm headphone socket and a dedicated voice notes button. However the BlackBerry Bold isn’t available quite yet. It’s currently going through carrier certification, and although RIM wouldn’t officially name the service provider, based on the 3G bands. And while pricing will also depend on the carrier, RIM is guessing that it will be in the $300 to $400 range, and expected worldwide availability is this summer.”