Since I saw the Torch 9800 releasing I’ve been waiting for something like this: The guys of Boy Genius Report made a video walkthrough of the BlackBerry Bold 9700 running BlackBerry 6! Turns out it runs really smooth and responds snappy. Seems to be wortht the wait although my fingers are practically burning for this to reach my Bold 9700. Boot time seems to be about 1 minute, which is okay. It’s a full implementation of BlackBerry 6, no “lite” release as some rumours said. We will get WebKit browser, universal search, Social Feeds app, etc.

I’m hoping for a quick release, this looks pretty ready and useful to me. I can’t get my hands on a Torch as fast as you guys can, so obviously I’ll be getting this as fast as possible. What about you? Trying this or rather get a Torch?

via: CrackBerry

RIM was talking to Phone Scoop, revealing some interesting information regarding BlackBerry 6. As we all know it will first be available on the Torch 9800, then be provided to the Bold 9700 and 9650, as well as the Pearl 9100. According to RIM, the features and applications of BlackBerry 6 will be unchanged across touch and non-touch devices. The optical trackpad will take place of the 9800’s touch screen, so that the only difference between the devices will be how the user is interacting with the operating system and the device itself. Also the trackpad will offer many of the gestures and controls the 9800’s touch screen has. I’m glad to read that none of the features will be specific to the Torch 9800, meaning all devices getting BlackBerry 6 will have the possibility to use all features offered by BlackBerry 6. In their post, RIM also carified that the WebKit- and HTML5-based browser will only be part of BlackBerry 6 and will not be provided to devices running OS 5.x or 4.x. Those unlucky devices will not be able to download, install or use the new browser.

That is some good news when I’m looking at the Bold 9700 in my hand but for other users, especially Storm 1 and 2 users it just might not. Actually I hoped to see the WebKit browser at least to be provided to OS 5.x users but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Right now, I just want to get my hands on a BlackBerry 6 release, or rather get it on my phone.

Feel free to share your thoughts with us. Any Curve- or Storm-users feeling left behind?

via: PhoneScoop

RIM announced today that the white Bold 9700 is releasing in Hong Kong. Apparently available on August 6th, this will mark the first time customers will be able to purchase the device without having to enter into a contract. The phone will be available from authorized retail outlets for the purchase price of HK$5,188.

Norm Lo, Vice President, Asia Pacific, Research In Motion stated, “ Today marks a significant step in growing the presence of BlackBerry smartphones in Hong Kong with expanded retail distribution. The white BlackBerry Bold 9700 offers an extensive array of high-end communications and multimedia features in a compact and stylish design. It is a perfect tool for customers who want to easily manage both their personal and business needs.” Good for RIM, I’m glad to see that they haven’t forgot about our freinds in Hong Kong. If you’re in Hong Kong, let us know if you are planning on picking one of these bad boys up.

via MobileBurn

The BlackBerry community just got a lot bigger – or at least got the chance to get a lot bigger. BlackBerry just launched on Pay & Go from O2, delivering the BlackBerry experience to a lot of people from a whole new audience. They can enjoy full BlackBerry service, keep up with their e-mail and social networks, use BBM, etc without being bound to a contract.

Five BlackBerry smartphones are available right now, including the Pearl 3G (249.99GBP), the Curve 8520 (149.99GBP) or the Bold 9700 (349.99GBP). After choosing your phone you get a special service plan depending on how much you top up:

• The minimum of 15GBP per month will give you BBM service as well as 500MB data access.

• If you top up between 15GBP and 29GBP per month you’ll get an additional 500 texts.

• When you’re topping up 30GBP or more you’ll get additional unlimited tets.

Isn’t that nice? It will bring the BlackBerry experience we all love so much to even more people. I really hope to see that from O2Germany as well!

via: mobileburn

Many of you have been wondering what devices will receive BlackBerry 6 and which will not. Buried within RIM’s official press release of BlackBerry 6 lies the answer. The expected devices to receive BlackBerry 6 are the Bold 9700, the Bold 9650, and the Pearl 3G. Seeing as the Curve is their most popular handset due to its drastically lower price, a lot of people are going to be very upset upon reading this news.

In all reality, RIM is at fault for not planning far enough ahead and putting enough internal memory in the Curve series. If RIM had worked hard and tried to fit BlackBerry 6 on the 8500 series, all it would result in is probably dissatisfaction from customers for the OS lagging again. I can’t blame RIM for that part. They were caught in a tight spot and did what they had to do. With consumer satisfaction going down the drain, they have to make controversial decisions on which devices will get what OS based on how well it can run the software. The Curve series was not built with BlackBerry 6 in mind.

Click the links to view the full press releases:

RIM Unleashes BlackBerry 6

AT&T and Research In Motion Ignite Customers with the New BlackBerry Torch

So, there you have it folks. The 9700, 9650, and 91xx are getting BlackBerry 6. The availability is pending upon carrier approval, and we all know the drill. Those of you patiently waiting with Bolds or Pearls in hand, don’t hold your breath, carriers are notorious for taking their sweet, sweet time with approving official OS updates. Back when we were all waiting on OS 5.0, I remember months passing with no word. I finally jumped the gun and downloaded a leaked version.

via: BGR

I hope this weekend has left you all refreshed and ready to take Monday head-on. To help those 9700 users out there, we have an OS leak for you to give a try which can be downloaded here.  Please remember that this a leak, so it would be wise to backup your Berry. Also, a guide to updating your OS may be found here.  Please comment below with any changes you may notice with this OS!

via: BerryReview

As many of you have probably noticed, we’ve been pretty inactive for the past two days, and for that I offer our sincerest apologies. I won’t rehash details, but needless to say we experienced something of a “perfect storm” of non-work issues that left several of us indisposed. As a way of apologizing, here is a roundup of all the major news we missed!

- BlackBerry 6 Home Screen Evolution: The official BlackBerry blog, Inside BlackBerry, posted an excellent piece on the evolution of the Home Screen in BlackBerry 6. Our favorite excerpt:

If there was one thing you want our readers to know about the Home Screen redesign, what would it be?

I’d say that the redesign of the Home Screen in BlackBerry 6 is fresh, but familiar. When you look at it, it still looks like a BlackBerry Home Screen (for example, wallpaper selection continues to be a key attribute of the visual design), but it’s been updated – much like a home renovation still ‘feels’ like home, but is actually new.

With BlackBerry 6, we are introducing a host of new features in the design, evolving the look and feel and enabling the user to really customize the Home Screen. Overall, the visuals are cleaner and sleeker, and movement between and within the applications is more fluid, allowing users to navigate their BlackBerry smartphone in a much more intuitive and interactive way.

-Bold 9800 slider and BlackBerry 6 now supported in App World: This one doesn’t come as a huge shock, but this means developers can begin submitting BlackBerry 6 applications to the App World!

-Analyst claims 4G BlackBerry Triton coming to Verizon in December: For the time being, we’re going to be pretty skeptical on this one. Analysts have a tendency to be…inaccurate, and until we see some hard evidence for the devices existence we’re going to file this one away in the “Baseless Rumor” drawer. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to see a 4G BlackBerry (Storm 3?) help launch Verizon’s LTE network, and it would certainly go a long way toward helping RIM regain some ground in the Android-dominated Verizon lineup; we just prefer more facts before espousing the epicness of vaporware.

-The Bold 9780, a refresh of a refresh: The most underwhelming device to come out of Waterloo since the Curve 9300…oh wait. Continuing a disturbingly bad habit, the 9780 is a token refresh of the 9700, itself a refinement of the Bold 9000. To say we’re disappointed would be a massive understatement. RIM is competing against the likes of the Droid X, Galaxy S, iPhone 4, Evo 4G, and soon to be Windows Phone 7 running on super-solid hardware. If they want to stay relevant, we need to see some radically different hardware (like the 9800) that makes us say “Wow, I really want that”.

-Photos of  Bold 9650 running BlackBerry 6: Thank goodness! Now we know at least one current BlackBerry device will see an official update to the BlackBerry 6 OS. With the Storm 2 and Bold 9700 all but written off for OS upgrades (at least official ones), we’re glad recent 9650 owners won’t be burned three months after buying their device. Of course this continues to highlight RIM’s need to upgrade the application memory to something in the gigabyte range.

-RIM purchases “BlackPad.com”: This is the best evidence yet for the existence of the fabled BlackBerry tablet. Awful name aside, we’re not very big fans of the tablet idea here at BBerryDog (or at least this editor isn’t). The BlackBerry OS has never exactly been known as a multimedia or creative powerhouse, which happens to be the primary function of most tablets to-date. We’re not entirely opposed to the concept, but we need to see a concept before we’ll think about believing.

-The case of the mysterious AT&T monoliths: There is a lot of speculation about what these mystery monoliths contain within their glowing bowels, and so far nobody has any real idea. Most speculation points to one of three options: the Bold 9800 (which would coincide with the upcoming AT&T and BlackBerry event), an unknown Android device, or a Windows Phone 7 device (if it turns out to be some silly messaging phone, we’re quitting AT&T). We’d love for it to be the Bold 9800, but given the number of leaks, we’re wondering if it might be a Windows Phone 7 propaganda tool.

That’s all we have for now! Again, we offer our sincere apologies for the news gap and we’ll be back in action next week at full strength. For now, let us know what you think of these news developments in the comments!

With all of the other fancy toys out there now, it’s not often RIM gets nominated for awards, especially gadget of the year. The BlackBerry Bold 9700, arguably the most popular BlackBerry to date, has been nominated for the following:

Read the full story

As you all may recall quite well, Steve Jobs made an appearance on Friday, at the iPhone 4 press conference, in an attempt to alleviate the black cloud that has been raining on his iPhone 4 parade since launch day, the death grip and antennagate problem. Very politely, Jobs begins to shed light on the situation. As he does so, he also began to bring other manufacturers with over, specific phones into it as well. One of those phones was our very own BlackBerry Bold 9700. Here’s what Jobs said:

This was, in all ways, out of line. Signal dropping when you hold a phone a specific way has been a problem from the time manufacturers started moving away from those old, ugly external antennas. That is no mystery, and it never has been. Your hand can potentially block the antenna and you receive a lower signal. It makes sense. If you deliberately hold a phone in a way that you’re going to block the signal, you can make that issue seem worse than it is. The problem with the iPhone isn’t the signal dropping a bar or two. The issue is not even when you’re holding your phone in the so called “death grip.” The big issue is that when you create a bridge between two out of the three external antennas, your signal pulls a Houdini. I can attest to this as I have held many iPhone 4’s and while holding the phone in the same way I hold my BlackBerry or Nexus One, the signal would quickly degenerate and I would have to move my hand to a different position to use it. This definitely causes a lot of trouble when in general use of the phone, and if you’re a business user, can most certainly create a huge window for missed calls while you are completely oblivious to your signal being gone.

The striking thing is, RIM, a typically passive and quiet giant, decided to fire back this time. Here’s what RIM Co-CEO’s (Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie) had to say in response to Jobs’ claims:

“Apple’s attempt to draw RIM into Apple’s self-made debacle is unacceptable. Apple’s claims about RIM products appear to be deliberate attempts to distort the public’s understanding of an antenna design issue and to deflect attention from Apple’s difficult situation. RIM is a global leader in antenna design and has been successfully designing industry-leading wireless data products with efficient and effective radio performance for over 20 years. During that time, RIM has avoided designs like the one Apple used in the iPhone 4 and instead has used innovative designs which reduce the risk for dropped calls, especially in areas of lower coverage. One thing is for certain, RIM’s customers don’t need to use a case for their BlackBerry smartphone to maintain proper connectivity. Apple clearly made certain design decisions and it should take responsibility for these decisions rather than trying to draw RIM and others into a situation that relates specifically to Apple.”

– Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie

Quite honestly, I couldn’t have said it better myself. Nor could most of our other fellow ‘Berry heads over at CrackBerry. Kevin of CrackBerry actually took it upon himself to ask his followers to try to replicate the issue and share their results via poll. It’s pretty obvious that Steve Jobs needs to tuck his tail and run to the high ground this time.

via: CrackBerry | BerryReview

There were a few of you requesting the BBerryDog theme in different colors, so we’re (when I say we’re I mean Don from Dream Themez) here to deliver. As of right now the only other color available is crimson from Today’s iPhone, but they will be coming in the assorted colors associated with PhoneDog’s network sites, TmoNews, Today’s iPhone, and DroidDog. (Therefore, green, fuchsia, and orange are left as you can see in the picture below.)

To download your new, red BBerryDog theme, click here. As of right now it’s only available for the 85xx, 96xx, and 9700. Also, we have also received quite a few requests for a BBerryDog theme for the 83xx series. Your wait is over! You can now download the red version here from your BlackBerry Browser (blue version pending). Don is spread pretty thin between work, being a contributing editor, and making themes, so if the color you’re waiting for is not available yet, it is coming, but it may take a little longer than originally expected. He is working diligently on these themes for us and we want to make sure there is a flavor out there for everyone. So anyone who wants to show a bit of gratitude, you can follow Don on Twitter, or ask us about how you can donate. Also, if you’re an MMA fan like many of us here at BBerryDog and Don, check out Don’s other theme site Dream Themez MMA, and Unfiltered MMA where Don is a contributing editor.