Mobile Phones

RIM finally officially introduced BlackBerry Storm - the first BlackBerry touch screen smartphone, which will be available in late autumn. Initially, it will be offered only to subscribers of the operator Verizon Wireless in the U.S. and operator Vodafone in Europe, India, Australia and New Zealand.

update: TELUS will be first carrier to offer BlackBerry Storm 9530 to consumers in Canada. No pricing info available yet.

Virtually all control is done through touch interface. You’ll feel a tactile effect when pressing and it’s made for a greater resemblance to a hardware keyboard, as well as support for various combinations of clicks and gestures.

Built in accelerometer can automatically switch the screen orientation between the vertical and horizontal modes. Depending on the mode of operation, it uses different types of virtual keyboards - SureType when vertically and QWERTY, when horizontally.
HTML browser also works in both horizontal and vertical modes. Double-clicking will increase the desired site, and by holding on the screen, you can scroll the page. The browser supports file downloading, works with audio and video streams, has built-in support for RSS and so on.

Media can play movies in full screen mode, play-lists can be created directly on the smartphone and you can adjust it with equalizer with 11 presets.

In the U.S. smartphone will be available as BlackBerry Storm 9530 supporting networks CDMA EV-DO Revision A, UMTS/HSPA (2100 MHz) and four bands of EDGE/GPRS/GSM. This will enable subscribers of Verizon care no difficulty with incompatibility of standards, when traveling outside the United States.

The European version is indexed as BlackBerry Storm 9500 and will be able to work in networks of UMTS/HSPA (2100 MHz) support quad-band EDGE/GPRS/GSM.

3.25 inch touch-screen display with a resolution of 480×360 pixels, is probably the best of this smartphone, but 3.2 Mp camera with autofocus and flash, embedded GPS-module, 1 GB of internal memory, support of microSD cards (up to 16 GB), 3.5 mm jack for headphones and an opportunity to listen to stereo Bluetooth (A2DP/AVRCP), will just make your life easy.

The battery capacity of 1400 mAh provides up to 6 hours of talk time (3G) and up to 15 days in standby mode.

Size is 112.5X62,2×13,95 mm and the weight - 155 grams.

The Blackberry Storm is not yet available, but it should be very soon.

More photos and screenshots of BlackBerry Storm, which is just beeing prepared for release by RIM, and its interface are emerged.

As shown in pictures published on StormReviews, BlackBerry Storm interface is quite similar to the one that is used in the BlackBerry Bold, despite the use of a virtual keyboard instead of hardware. When using the vertical mode, the buttons are displayed in much the same as those of existing smartphones.

Orientation sensor operates on a digital and analog clocks, tables, and virtually in every application. Vertical keyboard is displayed in Suretype mode.

From an internal document of operator Verizon Wireless is seen that BlackBerry Storm smartphone sales will start very soon. The letter identifies two dates - September 22 and October 1. The first of them, apparently refers to sales of Storm for business users, and the second - for usual consumers. Verizon Wireless - the exclusive partner for RIM BlackBerry Storm sales in the United States.

BlackBerry Storm - a long-awaited first smartphone from RIM with touch screen. Although the official announcement has yet to be we already know that position in the market will be as a direct competitor of iPhone 3G. According to preliminary information, BlackBerry Storm supports standards of communications not only GSM and 3G, but also and CDMA.

By the results of the second quarter in the market of smartphones unexpected changes occured: Research in Motion (BlackBerry) is becoming more and more popular and it took second place leaving behind Windows Mobile and. First place is reserved for Symbian, it takes more than half of total sales.

Thus, the operating system on BlackBerry, which is, for the most part, to service only a niche group (although recently RIM is expanding its coverage), was much popular then Windows Mobile, which is positioned slightly wider.

The strongest sales growth are seen from the iPhone - 230% compared to sales of the same period last year, the number of devices - 828 thousand. On the other hand, sales of Linux-devices decreased by 16%. Overall, the market for smartphones increased by 15.7%, they still took 11% of all mobile phones.

Stats by Gartner.

We have posted RIM’s upcoming BlackBerry Javelin pics leaked in July, now we post another one here.

According to the CellPhoneBeat, it may replace BlackBerry Curve (center, as it’s used as Javelin’s comparison in the picture) and also have 3.2-megapixel camera with flash. But regarding the rumor of its 3.5mm headphone jack, GPS and Wi-Fi capabilities, are still not confirmed yet.

 via slashphone.com

Today RIM officially announced its first phone to come in the clamshell form factor - the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220. In addition to the one-off Blackberry form factor the Pearl Flip 8220 packs a no-thrills overall functionality and large size but still very decent looks.

The highlights of the Blackberry Pearl Flip 8220 include the company proprietary OS, Wi-Fi connectivity (with UMA support) and the traditional trackball navigation. The SureType QWERTY keyboard is also on-board and so is a 3.5mm audio output jack. The internal display of the Pearl Flip 8220 features QVGA resolution and there is a secondary external display with a resolution of 128 x 160 pixels.

The new BlackBerry Pearl Flip measures 101.1 x 50 x 17.5 mm and weighs 102 grams. The size puts it in the category of the bar-shaped Blackberries even when not opened so you can bet it’s a large cellphone. The Pearl Flip supports microSD cards for expanding the internal memory. The final extras include a 2 megapixel camera with video recording capabilities, Bluetooth and USB v2.0.

The BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 will become available at the beginning of this fall. The pricing details are to be announced at a later date.

via gsmarena.com

Smartphone BlackBerry Storm (or Thunder) will be put on sale in the U.S. by operator Verizon in November of this year.

The price is $199 in pay-to-go two year contract to service operator. We should remind that BlackBerry Storm - the first smartphone from RIM, with a touch screen and has no hardware keyboard.

At the moment we know only few specifications: CDMA EV-DO and GSM/HSPA networks support, display with a resolution of 320×480 pixels, 3.2 Mp camera and a microSD slot.

Official information on the BlackBerry Storm from RIM and Verizon has yet been received.

via BoyGeniusReport.com

Almost immediately after the rumors of the first information about the new Communicator of the Blackberry Javelin, technical specifications of this new handset was reported. We now know that Javelin is equipped with an unusual display with a resolution 460×360 pixels (HVGA +) and a processor with 512 MHz frequency.

Embedded, it has 256 MB memory, but might expand with the cards format of microSD. In addition Javelin is equipped with a 3.2 Megapixel integrated camera and GPS-module. Communication opportunities are not limited to only one communication module, in addition it provides Bluetooth adapters and Wi-Fi. To synchronize with a computer uses a new interface MicroUSB.

Preliminary, sales of  Blackberry Javelin, are scheduled for 2009.

From press release of T-Mobile America we see couple of new smartphones from BlackBerry. In particular, besides red, gold and titanium BlackBerry Pearl 8120 models, also this device will appear in three new colors: green, indigo and blue light.

BlackBerry Pearl in new colors

Blackberry flip phone

In addition, in late September and early October will be announced a flip phone, formerly known as Kickstart. Reportedly, the device will be officially known as the Pearl 8220. Its price along with contract with T-Mobile will be about 50 dollars.

In addition, in late November - early December will be released QWERTY-monoblock BlackBerry Javelin. This model will be for 2,5 G networks with a keyboard in the style of Curve, a large size of the display and more compact body.

From a Verizon Wireless inventory screenshot posted by BGR, the upcoming BlackBerry Thunder could be named as BlackBerry 9530 and will be released on October 13th this year. The BlackBerry Thunder is the first full touch screen BlackBerry smartphone from RIM. It is known to be available in CDMA version and might be made exclusively for Verizon Wireless and Vodafone only.

This rumor is from slashphone….

Long-awaited start of sales of BlackBerry Thunder are expeted to be on October 8 Internet resource Fudzilla reports. The first smartphone from Research in Motion with touch screens will appear in stores of American cellular operator Verizon (reportedly, he will get exclusive rights to sell smartphone in the U.S.).

Also under the partnership agreement signed with the music service Real Rhapsody, according to which, in BlackBerry Thunder will be possible to download music without connecting to WiFi-channel.

According to the same source BlackBerry Thunder, also known as the BlackBerry 9500, will receive 480×320 - resolution display, 3.2 - megapixel camera which also records video!!! :), and a slot for memory cards microSD. Touch screen interface new items very much remind us those ones used in iPhone 3G.

The American version of BlackBerry Thunder will work in 3G-CDMA networks using data transmission protocol EV-DO. Also it is supposed that it will support the GSM-networks (using a protocol HSPA).

The first images and screenshots of BlackBerry Thunder were only similar to this. Now, finally, we have received practical proof in the form of live pictures that BlackBerry Thunder is real and valid (of course, only time will tell for sure how well it works). Internet resource CrackBerry published the first pictures of BlackBerry Thunder in working with virtual QWERTY keyboard and SureType.

Key features of BlackBerry Thunder:

Tactile Response (tactile impact) - when you click on the screen, in response hear the sound click, and you can feel the vibration on finger in a place where you actually clicked on the display.

Full and SureType QWERTY input. In horizontal mode, you can take advantage of the full standard letters on the keyboard. When using the phone in a vertical mode, you can enter data on the keyboard SureType. You can change the orientation of the screen /keyboard at any time.

The screen BlackBerry Thunder supports multi-touch. Smartphone uses WebKit engine as the browser (as iPhone), which is likely to provide stable and convenient web surfing.

As the source said, screen keyboard skins are from earlier version of Thunder 4.7 OS. Keys on it are quite large and comfortable. You can also keep the device with both hands and write e-mails. The photos provide yet another confirmation that in the OS of BlackBerry Thunder calling of key functions and advanced options are still tightly tied to the menu button BlackBerry, while on its main competitor iPhone all options are placed directly on the screen.

Although rumours of BlackBerry Thunder circulate for many months, there were very little info to what relates the release date of this smartphone in the market. According to the latest information, producer RIM is still far from the starting of mass production of its first device with a touch screen.

Anonymous source gave Boy Genius Report description of current state of development of BlackBerry Thunder. It can be expressed in one word - “bad”. There are hardware and software problems. Among the most notable - a very slow response to touching the screen, as well as halfsecond delay of appearing of characters on screen keyboard. In addition, there are problems with the accelerometer. Source directly said BGR: “Thunder is not yet ready to enter the market, and will not be ready for at least another 4-5 months.”

We should recall that according to preliminary information BlackBerry Thunder will be relatively large touch screen device and will not be a traditional hardware keyboard, even as sliders or trackball. However, it is planned to set standard control buttons.

As the Internet resource Boy Genius Reports, that company RIM will issue its first device with touch screen in the third quarter of this year.

The new smartphone has the code name Blackberry Thunder, this will be the first RIM smartphone without physical keyboard, but with a touch screen. Of all the hardware buttons on the front panel will be present only 4, instead of the usual QWERTY.

It is anticipated that the smartphone would support a standard CDMA EV-DO Rev. C, and GSM / HSPA. In principle, the company produces two standard smartphones, so there’s nothing surprising here. The source illustrated the design option of Blackberry Thunder, of course this isn’t the real photo, but gives an idea of the future appearance of BlackBerry Thunder.

RIM finally officially announced the smartphone BlackBerry Bold, which has already been rumoured known as BlackBerry 9000. All the preliminary information already known about the device was practically confirmed, including support of 3G networks, availability of GPS and Wi-Fi.

But the dream of many BlackBerry smartphone fans about the touchscreen display is yet to be fulfilled (though, according to the latest unofficial information,there were no such expectations). But the display of Blackberry Bond has a resolution of 320×480 pixels.

Manufacturer notes also the design of its device: an updated QWERTY-keyboard and the cover of rear shell texture reminiscent of the skin.
BlackBerry Bold will be avabilable from for sale by mobile operators-RIM partners around the world this summer.

Specifications of BlackBerry Bold:

Networks GSM / EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS / HSDPA 850/1900/2100 MHz

Intel PXA270 processor with 624 MHz frequency

The display with a resolution of 480×320 pixels, supporting up to 65 K colors

128 MB flash memory, 1 GB of internal memory microSD/SDHC- slot

Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g, Bluetooth 2.0

GPS-receiver

2-Mp camera with 5 - multiple digital zoom and an outbreak

The battery capacity 1500 mAh

Time running conversation - up to 5 hours

Hours in standby mode - up to 13 days

Dimensions - 114×66x12,7 mm

Weight - 133 grams