In last week’s edition of News From The Wire we saw the first photos of the BlackBerry Curve 8910. After many of us wondered what place it had among the current BlackBerry lineup, a few commentators noted that the device resembles the BlackBerry Atlas, a device discovered around September and reportedly headed for Asian markets. That made sense, and I thought that would be the end of it. But early this week the device passed through the FCC. Since the US government likely isn’t in the business of approving devices set for release in Asian markets, it appears that the 8910 will, indeed, hit North America.
The Curve 8910 features a quad band GSM/GPRS/EDGE radio, with support for what’s termed evolved EDGE. This supposedly speeds up typically slow EDGE speeds. The display checks in at 428×360, and the camera is the now-typical 3.2 megapixels. It’s essentially an update to the Curve 8900, and I’d expect it to hit both T-Mobile and AT&T, just like its predecessor. I’m not exactly sure what kind of demand there will be for the device, but apparently RIM thinks it’s worth a release.
Specs for Pearl 9100, Apollo
Oooh, new BlackBerry device time. We’ve heard of this one before, the BlackBerry Apollo, though like most pre-production devices the name will change upon release. It looks like it will be called the Curve, or maybe the Curve2, as its the GSM next generation model. It features a 3G HSDPA radio, a “High Performance 3G Processor,” quad-band radio, Wi-Fi, GPS, and a 3.2 megapixel camera. In other words, it will be everything we expect from the next in the Curve line.
The information comes from BBLeaks, which also runs down the specs of the Pearl 9100. In bold on that page: “3G compatible.” That’s pretty sweet for Pearl users. Otherwise it’s pretty much what we expected, the biggest improvement, I think, has to be the screen. The resolution is 360×400, besting the original Pearl by plenty. It also features both GPS and Wi-Fi, plus a 3.2 megapixel camera and an optical trackpad.
Check the post, too, for all the specs on the Curve 8910.
Tip of the week No. 1: Send BlackBerry contact information with vCards. If you ever have to send someone contact information, your BlackBerry makes it easy, whether its to another BB user or not.
RIM looking to speed up BlackBerry internet
Your BlackBerry might not be providing you the fastest possible Internet experience. Sure, it might maximally use the network speed its granted, but the data transfers uncompressed, which means longer load times. There’s an explanation at BlackBerryOS, along with RIM’s patent-pending solution. They plan to set up a proxy server in order to compress the data, making for faster transfers. It should look something like this.
Make sense to you? Yeah, I don’t get it either. All we can do is trust that this will make a difference in our browsing speed. As they said on BBOS: “Couple this with the possibility of a WebKit browser, and we may just start drooling a little.”
Tip of the week No. 2: Managing folders on your BlackBerry. My older BlackBerry application menus were always marked by clutter. Folders can help reduce that.
BlackBerry Presenter gets high marks
A few weeks ago, RIM unveiled a new gadget at CES, the BlackBerry Presenter. A little box with a few input and output ports, the device allows you to hook up your BlackBerry to a projector, thus making for laptop-less presentations. How well does it work, though? Luis at BerryReview takes a look and he comes away impressed, giving it 9/10 stars. Check out the video.
Make sure to read Luis’s full review if you’re undecided about whether to purchase the device. RIM has also set up a website for the Presenter.
Tip of the Week No. 3: Use SearchIt to expand your web search options. I love SearchIt because it allows me to dig deeper into sites, rather than just search engines.
OS updates
We saw a few OS 5.0, and even 4.5, updates this week. So here goes. Remember, while these are official releases, they might not come from your carrier. As such, we recommend that you wait for your carrier to release the OS before installing. But, if you’re feeling adventurous, give them a try. But don’t come crying to us if it hurts your device.
- Via BlackBerry Rocks, OS 5.0.0.419 is out for the Tour 9630 from MTS Mobility, a Canadian carrier.
- Verizon customers looking for OS 5.0 on the Tour will have to wait another month or two.
- Via CrackBerry, Bell Mobility released 5.0.0.149 for the Storm original. It’s not a huge deal for US users, however. Verizon has already released .328.
- Again via BB Rocks, AT&T has released OS 4.5.0.182 for the Pearls 8100 and 8120, and the Curve 8300.
More evidence of the BlackBerry Twitter client
We’ve spent a lot of time running down various BlackBerry Twitter clients, and soon we might see the official RIM version. A picture emerged of the app this week, and could be released next month. You can be sure we’ll cover that one extensively.
This post originated at BBGeeks.com – home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about AT&T BlackBerry.
BlackBerry News From The Wire for the Week of 1/18/2009
This post originated at BBGeeks.com – home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about AT&T BlackBerry.
BlackBerry News From The Wire for the Week of 1/18/2009