Category Archives: BlackBerry Bold 9800

Friday News Roundup!

Posted on by

lasso

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!

RIM holding an event on August 3rd, BlackBerry 6 and 9800 to be announced?

Posted on by

BlackBerryEvent

Oh, how we have all been waiting on this! For RIM to hold an impromptu event on August 3rd tells me that they probably have something big to announce. With all of the leaks, photos, and videos we’ve seen in the previous weeks and the estimated release dates, we can only expect RIM to finally announce BlackBerry 6 and the highly anticipated BlackBerry Torch 9800. One thing that really makes this prediction a little more reliable is the fact that the event is sponsored by AT&T. We all know by now that the 9800 will be arriving on AT&T in the near future, hopefully on the 3rd they will give us an actual date! The invitation has little to no details about the event and was sent out on very short notice. What say you guys? Do you think they’ll drop an actual date?

Bold 9800 housing components in AT&T branding, multiple colors

Posted on by

Blackberry9800Caseatt1_thumb

You shouldn’t have any remaining doubts over the Bold 9800′s AT&T-branded future, but if you were getting nauseous with nervousness,  you can breath a sigh of relief. TrueSupplier, a Chinese-based OEM parts manufacturer, is selling black 9800 housings with AT&T branding, along with silver and red non-branded housings. With the flow of 9800 leaks and news starting to make Niagara Falls look like a garden hose, we feel pretty confident in saying the Slider’s release date is trending toward sooner, rather than later. Additional shot of the colored housings below:

9800red_thumb9800white

via BerryReview

Is the BlackBerry 9800 headed towards Vodafone UK as well?

Posted on by

9800foto-02

When I first skimmed over this, I brushed it off as just another rumor, no big deal. But as I came back to it and fully read through it, LouiV has some really good points. This rumor is bigger than I originally thought. Everyone knows the 9800 is slated for AT&T in the coming months. That’s no surprise. It’s been rumored that T-Mobile, Sprint, and Rogers of Canada were all getting it as well. But the big player here is Vodafone. If Vodafone gets it, the Verizon could possibly get it. I know CDMA isn’t the most popular thing, but in my neck of the woods, GSM just doesn’t cut it. (Ask Aaron the same, and you’ll get the opposite answer, we’ve agreed to disagree.)

Remember, these are all rumors and you should take them with a grain of salt, but just the thought! I love what Samsung is doing with their Galaxy S series, and it would be perfect if RIM did that with their “Torch.” That’s my take, what say you guys and gals?

via: BBLeaks

Video: Another look a BlackBerry 6, this time the boot screen and setup

Posted on by

BlackBerry6Setup

Now this is something new. We’ve seen BlackBerry 6 a few times now, and judging by the poll you’re all about as excited as I am to get your hands on it. What we’re given this time is something totally new. In a sense, it’s useless to us considering we probably know exactly how to use 6 already from watching so many videos, but it’s still cool and flashy, nonetheless. Quite honestly, BlackBerry 6 is looking mighty sexy and smooth to me. Anyway, catch the video below, and tell us your thoughts.

via: Salomondrin

Continue reading →

Rumor: BlackBerry Torch 9800 coming to AT&T August 15th?

Posted on by

9800foto-01

Now, I will start this off by saying that these people who leak rumors need to quit playing with my emotions. They’re delicate, and they get my hopes up mainly to watch them crash and burn when they push back release dates by two, three, and four months. With that being said, I’m definitely taking this rumor with a grain of salt, as you should too.

According to John Albright of BlackBerry Partners Funds, AT&T will be releasing a new touchscreen BlackBerry device on August 15th. If that’s the case, it is a very good chance that the 9800 is that very device. I know originally when RIM started talking about BlackBerry 6, they had mentioned a late summer release, and this would be right on que. The problem I see is that Salomondrin, a man known for getting devices early, and fairly reputable for his release date claims, says we probably wouldn’t see BlackBerry 6 of the 9800 before October or November, mainly due to the product not being ready for the public just yet. There was also a RIM employee was spotted in the wild last week claiming that release wouldn’t be until November. None of this adds up.

If we know anything at all, RIM really needs to make the initial release of BlackBerry 6 absolutely perfect. If they botch this, it could spell the end of an era, the era of the BlackBerry, and RIM could begin to walk down the same path Palm did. No fear, though, I have complete and total faith in RIM. Release dates for devices have always been hard to judge, especially coming from companies like Apple or RIM. AT&T typically doesn’t make it any easier on us either. Verizon tends to build hype before the release of a device. This time around, RIM has been giving us tidbits of information the entire time, with nothing to go on. August 15th would be a great release date for this device. I’ve been dying to get my hands on BlackBerry 6 since the very first peep of it. Come on RIM, don’t let us down.

What do you guys think? Is this date legit? It’s coming from a fairly reliable source and the piece fits the puzzle. I’m just not sure whether I believe it or not (mainly because I don’t want to get my hopes up). Tell us your thoughts in the comments below. Also, if you haven’t done so yet, you should participate in our poll from yesterday and tell us how you feel about BlackBerry 6.

via: VentureBeat

Salomondrin gives a nice walkthrough of an updated BlackBerry 6

Posted on by

HTML5

If any of you follow BlackBerry news closely, you have to have heard of Salomondrin. He’s always giving us inside information that nobody else can seem to get their hands on, hence why he goes by “the 007 of the phone world.” This time, he’s at it again. Ol’ Sal gives us a nice walkthrough of an updated version of BlackBerry 6. We’ve seen 6 before, but the video demonstrations sort of made us lose out hype for 6, all up until this most recent BlackBerry 6 teaser from RIM. Straight from Salomondrin’s blog we have three different videos. One is a WebKit Browser HTML5 test and to be honest, BlackBerry 6 dominates the test.

WebKit Browser walkthrough:

This folks, is what we have all been waiting for. We need that browser update. If you go to Salomondrin’s site, he puts the test in comparison with iPhone 4 and Android (HTC Incredible on Android 2.1) browsers. The last HTML5 test that he puts all of the phones through is eye-opening. Out of 300 total points, the BlackBerry WebKit browser scores a 208 points with one bonus versus the iPhone 4 which scored a 185 with 7 bonus points and the Incredible with 151 with no bonus points. What do all these points mean? Who knows, but we know we scored higher than iOS4 and Android which have some of the best web browsing experience seen on a phone yet.

Media Menu walkthrough:

While the media menu is a less impressive improvement than the WebKit Browser, we can definitely see a huge difference in the usability of media on the 9800 versus some older models. Tiny things like the pictures loading instantly versus having to load the thumbnails every single time you open your pictures, more organized albums, etc. make a huge difference in the operation of media and likeliness that someone will convert from using a dedicated MP3 player to using their BlackBerry as their main source of entertainment and media. I’m glad to see RIM finally focusing on consumer-based features and embracing what has landed in their lap rather than simply driving their diminishing business sector.

BlackBerry 6 walkthrough:

This is also something that brings a little more warmth to our hearts. In previous videos we saw unresponsive touchscreens, and just a plain annoying rendition of BlackBerry 6. We were happy to finally catch in on video rather than just seeing some jumpy teaser from RIM, so we could actually believe it existed. Now we have physical evidence that RIM wasn’t playing their OS off as something better than it is. I cannot wait to be able to play with BlackBerry 6. Hopefully RIM doesn’t botch this release and can make a comeback in the smartphone world. While they’re still on top, it’s easy to see that they haven’t been making a large sum of their customers happy. Hopefully BlackBerry 6 can change things.

via: Salomondrin

Rumor: BlackBerry Torch (Slider) 9800 coming in white?

Posted on by

BlackBerryRumor

The 9800′s release is, without a doubt, one of the more anticipated device releases of a BlackBerry device yet. I know personally cannot wait to have one in my hands. The design is very pleasing as is the new OS. A touchscreen and full QWERTY combo BlackBerry has been fabled for going on two years now, and we’re all just ready to unearth this mythical beast. A lot of BlackBerry fans and haters alike are surprisingly still very displeased with RIM and after seeing the direction RIM has decided to move, have written them off and jumped ship to one of the competitors. Let the fair-weather fans live! I will wait on the company that got me hooked on smartphones until they make a glorious comeback, whether it be this year or five years down the road.

Amongst all of the excitement and anticipation of this prolonged release, Salomondrin has clued us in on some information that really makes us even more excited (or…me at least). He claims that the BlackBerry Torch is already being made in and will also be released in white. Whether the white version will be available on launch day, we’re unsure. The way RIM usually releases the white versions of their devices is months after launch day in an attempt to give sales one that specific device a little nudge. In other series like the Curve, we’ve seen every color from red, plum, to even orange. Don’t expect these colors on a Bold or higher end series as the Curve series is aimed at a younger demographic and women. The only thing left to question now is, when will we see this beautiful beast? We know it’s coming to AT&T as a 6-month exclusive here in the US, and more than likely T-Mobile afterwards. We also heard a rumor that it will be an exclusive for Rogers to our neighbors up in Canada. So what do you guys think? Is WhiteBerry the new BlackBerry? Give us your thoughts in the comments below!

via: BBLeaks | Salomondrin

Rumor: 9800 to be a Rogers exclusive in Canada?

Posted on by

BlackBerryRumor

Put on your tinfoil hats and whip out your salt shakers, its rumor time! While we’ve known for some time that the 9800 Slider would be an AT&T exclusive in the United States, we hadn’t heard much about availability in the Great White North. Fortunately (or unfortunately, if you happen to not be on Rogers) we finally have a smidgen of news (read: rumor) to report. According to Canadian blog Mobile Syrup, one of their sources is reporting:

“…the 9800 could be exclusive to Rogers only due to Bell and Telus already has touch screen BlackBerrys (Storm 1 and 2).”

While we aren’t overly impressed with the source, we have to agree with their logic. With both Bell and Telus (and Verizon in the US) already selling one of RIM’s touchscreen devices, it makes sense to launch their new flagship on a carrier where it won’t be competing with its cousins. There’s no word on the length of the potential exclusivity deal, but we’d expect something in the three to six month range.

How about it folks, does this impact your Slider plans or were you already prepared for this to be a Rogers-only party? Let us know what you think in the comments!

via MobileSyrup

Bold 9800 slider spotted in the wild, launch delayed?

Posted on by

rim-employee-blackberry-bold-9800-slider

In a moment of both joy and disappointment, CrackBerry forum member goblue ran into what we presume to be a RIM employee sporting the Bold 9800 slider in the wild:

“A few weeks ago I was at my kids event and saw some person sporting a slider….no big deal I thought until I saw him slide it and saw the BB Logo….I asked him it that was the new BB Slider and he yep. Played with it a few, it was running 6.0. No idea what build. He basically said this would be out in November. I asked how he had and he is in public relations for RIM here in Chicago. I was a huge BB fanboy and if I had not gone Android; I would be **. The UI was nice, very smooth and FRIGGIN Fast. Again, I mean no disrespect, I can not answer any questions, just here to say those that are staying BB will definitely enjoy.”

We’re thrilled to hear that BlackBerry 6 was running smoothly and quickly on the slider, but we’re also pretty bummed out about the “November release” date that was dropped during the course of conversation. Previous reports had pegged a September or even August release date, while RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie has promised a release by the end of September. While a November release wouldn’t be the end of the world, we really hope the 9800 is launched before any Windows Phone 7 devices hit the market. RIM needs to have some success with this device, especially if Redmond’s latest offering turns out to be semi-competent.

Are you disappointed in the new release date? Will you be sticking with BlackBerry if it’s pushed all the way back to November? Let us know what you think in the comments!

via BlackBerryRocks