Filed under: Cellphones

Anyone who’s had the good fortune of seeing a Pearl in the flesh knows that it’s one extraordinarily good looking phone, particularly by BlackBerry standards. Unfortunately, where we come from, phones that don’t ring are called “paperweights” — which is exactly what the Pearl becomes when the trackball gets nudged. You know, like if it’s in your pocket, or your purse, or pretty much anywhere besides a stationary counter top. As it turns out, when the phone rings, the handset immediately silences the ringer with even the slightest movement of the trackball, regardless of whether keylock is enabled. While we do appreciate the Pearl taking the initiative for us and ignoring phone calls so we don’t have to, there is an occasional situation where we like to make the decision ourselves, and until RIM issues a fix users simply don’t have that option. Strangely, two Engadget editors patiently attempted to explain the issue to a RIM representative this week at CTIA for several minutes without success; we think the first step to RIM issuing a fix would be for the company to understand the problem, so we could be in for a bit of a wait. Maybe the words we were using were too big?

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Filed under: Cellphones

The stealthy BlackBerry Stealth slinks behind the scenes no more. It’s the BlackBerry 8100 and it’s got a camera, microSD slot, EDGE data, and media playback functionality — just like we’d expected (so where’s the damn WiFi?). This should be due in November on Cingular (no guarantees), but something tells us to expect an even earlier launch on T-Mo. Perhaps it’s the T-Mo branding. We can’t tell you much else as of right now, but big ups to Random Asian Dude for the hookup. Click on for a bunch more pics.

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Filed under: Multimedia, RIM

After reading United States Patent Application Publication No. US 2006/0146140, re-reading it, and reading it yet again, we’re still having trouble busting through the patent-speak to make heads or tails of what exactly RIM is trying to get at in the 2004 filing. To quote, the patent covers a digital camera and “and a wireless control apparatus. The digital camera wirelessly transmits the digital signal to the wireless control apparatus. The wireless control apparatus includes a display device, such as an LCD, for displaying a displayed image based on the digital signal.” The best we can figure is that RIM is looking to use a BlackBerry to control a digital camera, or possibly to use another device to control the camera within a future RIM device. Either way, we’re a little confused about the value of the feature (self portraits, maybe?), but it does jive with what RIM’s been saying lately, and as they say in the patent world — file now, ask questions later.

[Via BBHub]

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Filed under: Handsets, Multimedia, RIM

As we mentioned earlier today, BlackBerrys of the not-too-distant future are poised to get hooked up with a variety of features (if co-CEO James Balsillie is to be believed) like expandable memory, camera, and GPS that are fairly typical among consumer-class devices, but we’re noticing Mr. Balsillie also mentioned an upcoming device that will include ”both Wi-Fi and cellular technology.” Now, we’re not going to get ahead of ourselves and suggest that UMA is a possibility or anything cool like that, but seeing how UMTS appears to be a while off yet for our GSM BlackBerry totin’ friends in the US, we’ll all take whatever bandwidth we can get to support our newfound video streaming habit.

[Via Pinstack, thanks Gina-Lisa]

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Filed under: Handsets, RIM, Sprint-Nextel

This is what our friends north of the border get for using some second-rate market research firm. Yes, this is a giant, fully-functional BlackBerry 7520 in Nextel’s store on the Vegas Strip; we’re told the device is a bit uncomfortable in the pocket, but offers over 40 days of talk time and 1.5TB of internal flash to store contact information for everyone in the civilized world. If you’re tall enough to reach the PTT button and establish a conversation, we imagine the speakerphone could be heard from Mandalay Bay.

[Thanks, Dave M]

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Filed under: Handsets, RIM, NTT DoCoMo, GSM, GPRS, UMTS

Filed under: Handsets, RIM, Cingular, GSM, GPRS, EDGE

Today Cingular officially took the wraps off their release of the BlackBerry 7130c, the latest SureType message machine from RIM that we were expecting an announcement at any moment. It’ll come with the usual 64MB flash and 16MB RAM, a not-quite-QVGA 240 x 260 display, and EDGE data with rates ranging from the absurd ($29.99 limited access) to the hilarious ($49.99 monthly for unlimited EDGE). Of course, Cingular has another thing coming if they think a 7130c is going to get people to fork over $50 a month for unlimited data when even Verizon does it cheaper with the Q, and is asking the same $200 for the phone. Guess they’ll have until June 12 to think it over before it hits the street.

[Via Pinstack]

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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds, Portable Audio

Riiight. As much as we’d love to believe that Apple is partnering with RIM to create some sort of “AppleBerry” device to play music, check email and cook our breakfast for us, we’re going to refrain from getting too hyped up about this latest rumor. Just like most of the “juicier” (i.e., rather fanciful and completely unfounded) rumors these days, this one comes from an analyst. Peter Misek, who accurately predicted an RIM/Intel partnerships last year, is to blame for this one, and doesn’t really seem to have a lot to back up the idea. He says some senior executives at Intel have recommended the idea, and a few other analysts think it’s plausible, but with the tight control both RIM and Apple keep on their hardware and software, we can’t really imagine this as the happiest of unions. We hope we’re wrong, Peter, we really do.

[Via iLounge

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Filed under: Handsets, RIM, Cingular, GSM

An invitation for a six-day, six-city series kicking off June 13th in Houston on getting the most out of your BlackBerry also seems to reveal the launch of RIM's 7130 candybar-style smartphone for CIngular's network. Called "Own Your Day," the event is described as beginning with "an introduction to the latest BlackBerry device" complete with "exclusive hands-on demonstration." which almost certainly refers to the 7130c that we've spotted several times before. Still, until we get official word from Cingular, you've gotta file this under "speculation" for the time being.

[Via Pinstack forums]

Filed under: Handsets, Messaging, Palm, RIM

Seeking to avoid the communication breakdowns that occurred as a result of the September 11th terrorist attacks and the Hurricane Katrina disaster, the Department of Homeland Security is developing an emergency network that would let officials email one another even in the absence of a cellular infrastructure. The DHS’ Advanced Research Projects Agency, which is analogous to the Pentagon’s DARPA, is looking at a number of options to keep the data flowing following an emergency, including widespread deployment of mobile mesh networking technology or re-purposing some of the government’s legacy satellites to handle terrestrial communications. This latter option is particularly attractive because some sats could offer transfer rates in excess of 100Mbps, and in fact a trial program is scheduled for this summer that will employ modified BlackBerries and Treos to send secure, satellite-based email between Homeland Security officials and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

[Via Smart Mobs]

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Filed under: Software, RIM

RIM isn’t just taking that new suit of Visto’s lying down, and have countersued, asking a federal judge to declare three of the patents in question invalid. We all know how well this worked out last time, and Visto has recently won a case with a few of these patents against Seven Networks, but RIM did manage to get most of NTP’s patents struck down before that fateful settlement of theirs. Visto has 20 days to respond to RIM’s claims, but we have a feeling they’re not going anywhere. Let the games begin.

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Filed under: Handsets, Reviews, RIM, Cingular, GSM, GPRS, EDGE

Despite Cingular's claim of being "the network with the least dropped calls," PC Mag's Sascha Segan finds that T-Mobile's version of the BlackBerry 8700 smartphone, the 8700g, actually outperforms its 8700c cousin in terms of call quality. Other improvements upon the Cingular model are T-Mobile's addition of two key software features: the OZ semi-universal IM client (no Gtalk, and AIM users are restricted to their small mobile buddy group) as well as the first implementation of the Yahoo!/RIM partnership we heard about last month, in the form of a handy Y! Mail icon pre-loaded in the launcher. Besides these small differences, however, Sascha finds the 8700g to perform almost exactly the same as the 8700c -- that is, very well. Email and texting are a pleasure, attachment support is good for all but PDF files, and the crisp screen delivers web pages cleanly (albeit at EDGE speeds), making this seem like the new go-to device for the Mob's business clientele.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

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Filed under: Handsets, RIM, Cingular, T-Mobile, GSM, EDGE

Thank you for once again making our lives interesting, oh gracious FCC. Your freshly unearthed filings from Research in Motion have divined us a small bounty of BlackBerry 7130s, which turned out to be where those other pics of the Cingular 7130 popped up from. Including the already launched 7130e, we've got four models on our hands now with the 7130c, 7130g, and 7130v. Each of the GSM devices should have quad-band EDGE as per the filing, as well as Bluetooth 2.0, 64MB flash and 16MB RAM, and the usual mini USB port. We'll let you know more as these things get prices and launch dates -- we're assuming it won't be too long now that the cat's out of the very holey FCC bag.

[Via Phone Scoop]

Filed under: Handsets, RIM, Cingular

RIM's rumored 7130cfor Cingular isn't much of a secret anymore, since a whole slew of pics have recently surfaced on a forum, including the Cingular branded promotional pics shown above. There are also promotional pics of an unbranded version of the 7130 that look more like the leaked shots we saw before of this device, along with a few other pics that all but confirm this device is right around the corner. Among other documents there are listings of 7130v and 7130g devices, which aren't explained, but it looks like Blackberry lovers of all sorts might be getting a new device offering from RIM before long. There's still not really any info on phone specs, but things are looking good. Make sure you check the read link for all the leaked imagery.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Filed under: Software, RIM

You know, it has been a bit RIM-patent-fiasco-free around these parts lately. But no worries, since Visto has decided to whip up a bit (more) patent trouble of their own. Fresh off a victory over Seven Networks regarding the same four patents that they claim RIM is infringing, and already mired in legal fights with RIM competitor Good Technology and Microsoft, Visto is looking for more, and they think they can get a payout from RIM. Visto wasn't clear as to what RIM technology is infringing on their patents, but they do mention "Visto's intellectual property serves as the basis for this industry's birth." Quite the strong words when going up against RIM, who had a slight influence on the birth of the wireless email industry if our memory serves us right. RIM believes that the Visto patents are invalid, and that Visto's victory over Seven Networks was in regards to a different type of technology than RIM's. Their patents are also dated before Visto's, but there's really no telling where this could go after the fiasco the NTP case turned out to be. We'll keep you posted.

Filed under: Cellphones

You know, it has been a bit RIM-patent-fiasco-free around these parts lately. But no worries, since Visto has decided to whip up a bit (more) patent trouble of their own. Fresh off a victory over Seven Networks regarding the same four patents that they claim RIM is infringing, and already mired in legal fights with RIM competitor Good Technology and Microsoft, Visto is looking for more, and they think they can get a payout from RIM. Visto wasn't clear as to what RIM technology is infringing on their patents, but they do mention "Visto's intellectual property serves as the basis for this industry's birth." Quite the strong words when going up against RIM, who had a slight influence on the birth of the wireless email industry if our memory serves us right. RIM believes that the Visto patents are invalid, and that Visto's victory over Seven Networks was in regards to a different type of technology than RIM's. Their patents are also dated before Visto's, but there's really no telling where this could go after the fiasco the NTP case turned out to be. We'll keep you posted.