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Roundup of RIM releases for BlackBerry World 2011

Wednesday, May 4th, 2011

BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones on BlackBerry 7 operating system, new Facebook and Video Chat apps for the PlayBook tablet — these are some of the initiatives unveiled by RIM just prior to the BlackBerry World 2011 conference.

A range of enterprise solutions for unified communications, device management and mobile security for smartphones and tablets were also announced.

Research In Motion (RIM) BlackBerry World 2011 The annual BlackBerry World is now ongoing at the Orlando World Center Marriott in Florida from 3 – 5 May. Typically, new devices, solutions and initiatives are announced during this period. This year, there is much anticipation on what devices will be unveiled, given the large number of leaks about Research In Motion’s (RIM) lineup of smartphones for 2011.

Here is a roundup of releases just prior to BlackBerry World. Some are for RIM’s consumer devices while others are from their traditional stronghold of mobile IT solutions.

New BlackBerry Bold Smartphones on BlackBerry 7 OS

The BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones will be the thinnest and most powerful BlackBerry devices yet. The easy-to-use BlackBerry keyboard is integrated with a brilliant, high resolution, capacitive touch screen. These smartphones are built on a new platform powered by the BlackBerry 7 operating system and designed to deliver high performance in communications, multimedia and productivity for users around the world.

Sporting a 1.2 GHz CPU, a 2.8 inch 640×480 pixels VGA display at 287 dpi resolution, the smartphones support 4G and NFC (Near Field Communications).

The two Bold models are expected to be available from carriers around the world beginning this summer.

New Facebook and Video Chat apps for BlackBerry PlayBook tablet

Following the release of the Facebook for BlackBerry® smartphones app, RIM has announced the Facebook for BlackBerry PlayBook app. This new app delivers popular features of Facebook, optimized for the 7″ high resolution, multi-touch LCD display of the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. Facebook for BlackBerry PlayBook offers users a highly engaging experience by integrating popular features such as viewing and adding friends, seamless photo and video viewing, connecting with friends by using Facebook chat, and viewing and interacting with the News Feed.

The app be available on BlackBerry App World later this month.

BlackBerry App World RIM has also announced the availability of the BlackBerry PlayBook Video Chat app – an easy and fun way for friends and family to place and receive video calls between BlackBerry PlayBook tablets over an internet connected Wi-Fi network. Key features of the PlayBook Video Chat application include: one-click video and voice over Wi-Fi calls, incoming call notifications, powerful in-call functions and a friends list.

The app will be distributed to existing BlackBerry PlayBook customers through an over-the-air software update and is available on BlackBerry App World.

BlackBerry Balance for Work-Life Balance on BlackBerry

RIM is advancing work-life balance on BlackBerry smartphones with BlackBerry Balance. This new technology allows the convenience of using a single BlackBerry smartphone for both work and personal purposes without compromising company security or personal privacy. RIM is introducing this technology in response to the growing trend by businesses to allow employees to use personal BlackBerry smartphones for work, or company-owned smartphones for personal, and the need for businesses to secure, manage and control confidential company or client information.

Multi-Platform BlackBerry Enterprise Solution for Smartphones and Tablets

RIM has announced plans for a multi-platform BlackBerry Enterprise Solution for managing and securing mobile devices for enterprises and government organizations.

The solution will make available the market-leading management, security and controls of BlackBerry Enterprise Server and BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express for BlackBerry devices. In addition, through RIM’s pending acquisition of ubitexx (creator of the ubi-Suite device management solution), the solution is expected to incorporate secure device management for Android and iOS based devices and tablets, all managed from a single web-based console.

The multi-platform BlackBerry Enterprise Solution is planned for general availability later this year.

BlackBerry Mobile Voice System 5 with Voice Over Wi-Fi Calling for Avaya and Legacy Nortel Communications Systems

To help more businesses bring together the desk phone and smartphone. RIM announced plans to make BlackBerry Mobile Voice System 5 (BlackBerry MVS 5) available to more corporate phone systems and unified communications applications. BlackBerry MVS 5 with voice over Wi-Fi calling will soon be available for Avaya Aura 6.1, Avaya CS1000 Communication Server, as well as legacy phone systems such as Avaya Communications Manager and Nortel Communication Server. BlackBerry MVS 5 has also been re-architected to be more extensible with third party applications and phone systems.

Tags:Apps, BlackBerry, Bold, enterprise IT, Facebook, Playbook, RIM, smartphone, Video chat
Posted in BlackBerry, BlackBerry OS, Bold, Events, Gadgets, Launch, Phones, RIM, Tech news | 3 Comments »

Apple profit almost double after iPhone’s Verizon debut

Thursday, April 21st, 2011

Profit for the second quarter almost doubled due to iPhone sales via Verizon, even though sales for newly launched iPad 2 were below estimates because of supply shortage.

Fears of growth being affected by supply disruptions from Japan’s earthquake and tsunami were also allayed.

	2nd Quarter	A year earlier	Bloomberg survey
Net income (almost doubled)	$5.99 billion, $6.40 a share	$3.07 billion, $3.33 a share	$5.04 billion, $5.39 a share
Sales (up 83%)	$24.7 billion	$13.5 billion	$23.4 billion

Apple began selling the iPhone through Verizon Wireless in February, and launched the iPad 2 on March 11.

Demand for the iPad has been so strong that Apple has not been able to make enough, leading to sales that were lower than what most analysts predicted.

	2nd Qtr	Analysts predictions
iPhones sold through Verizon	18.7 million	16.3 million
iPads sold	4.69 million	6.1 million
Mac computers	3.76 million	3.6 million
iPod media players	9.02 million	9.8 million

“Apple is ramping up production as it prepares to start selling the tablet computer in 13 additional countries this month”, Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook told Bloomberg.

Still, sales of products in the country may be $200 million lower as consumers coping with the temblor and tsunami buy fewer gadgets, he said.

Tags:Apple, iPad, iPhone, Japan, smartphone, tablets
Posted in Apple, Figures, iPad, iPhone, Phones, Tablets, Tech news | No Comments »

BlackBerry Torch 9800 Review

Monday, April 18th, 2011

RIM touts the Torch as the best BlackBerry ever. I’ve been using one over the last two weeks. Indeed, it’s the best BlackBerry smartphone I’ve played with so far and I certainly prefer it over my wife’s BlackBerry Bold.

The BlackBerry Torch was the first smartphone from Research In Motion (RIM) that shipped with the new BlackBerry OS 6. It has a completely new keyboard implementation – instead of having the physical keyboard and the screen share the face of the device, the Torch allowed the 3.2 inch screen to hog the entire front.

BlackBerry Torch 9800 with 6.0 Operating System.

An on-screen keyboard – which I found rather responsive – can be easily called up in case you need to type something. Need the traditional QWERTY keyboard to do some intensive typing? Slide it out from below the screen and you’re good to go.

It’s a trade-off, whether you have the hard keyboard readily available all the time or hide-in below the screen to make for a bigger screen.

For my usage profile, at least, I liked the balance – I do a fair bit of messaging and typing but I don’t mind having to slide out the keyboard when I need it – since I get a bigger screen real estate – 480×360 pixels on a 3.2 inch capacitive touch screen.

I did find the Bold keyboard slightly easier to type than on the Torch, but both are far more tactile and better than typing on a touch screen.

I suppose those who really have a lot of typing to do would rather have the keyboard available at all times – it depends on your usage profile. The Torch tries to give you both the large screen of the Storm and the popular hard keyboard in a compact body.

The hardware

The form factor is almost identical to many other BlackBerry devices like the Bold. The usual five buttons line the bottom of the screen: BlackBerry call, menu, back, and end buttons and optical trackpad.

The Marvell CPU runs at 624MHz (though the company claims this is a newer generation chip), with 512 MB RAM and 4 GB of storage. You can add up to 32 GB though the microSD slot. The device also comes with 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1 and an AGPS chip.

Photos were rather impressive for a phone camera

The Torch has a 5 megapixel camera, with an LED flash. Photo quality was rather remarkable for a smartphone camera. I like the preset scene modes – Party mode for lowlight indoor shooting and Sports mode both yielded impressive results. Video wise, you can shoot clips at 640×480 resolution.

New OS and interface

With the new OS 6, web browsing on the Torch is now quite a pleasant experience using the new Webkit-based browser. Unfortunately, neither Flash nor HTML5 video are supported.

I really love the persistent notification alert bar at the top of the home screen: the small row of icons allows you to see social networking, email, SMS, call, and calendar alerts all in one place. The bar drops down a separate window to show the list of notifications, each of which can be clicked on to bring you to the app.

11 scene modes are available for taking photos under different situations

Another new feature I like is the universal search. Ever wanted to look for something you know is on your phone but can’t recall exactly where it is located and how to get at it? Simply begin typing the relevant search term into the search box and the Torch throws the icon for it right at you – almost instantaneously. It really beats having to wade through the menus and interface looking for contacts, messages, calendar, music or pictures.

has included a powerful universal search alongside a social networking tool which allows you to aggregate RSS feeds and services like Twitter or Facebook into a single view. There are a lot of changes, so we’re going to go step-by-step through what we consider the biggest changes for the BlackBerry platform.

Battery life

As with other BlackBerry devices I’ve tested before, battery seems to last forever. Alright, that’s exaggerating. There were days when I ran Youtube videos and videos from the media folder for extended periods of time and the battery held out. Under normal usage, I only had to recharge the battery every few days.

BlackBerry Torch 2

There’s been numerous leaks about what the upcoming BlackBerry smartphones lined up for 2011. One of them is the Torch 2. Expected to be announced during the BlackBerry World in May and released in the US in July, it looks physically like the Torch, but features a 1.2 GHz processor and a 640×480 resolution on a similarly-sized 3.2 inch screen.

Going by previous BlackBerry release schedules, we’ll probably only see the Torch 2 in Singapore towards the end of the year.

In the meantime, if you’re looking at replacing your current BlackBerry phone, do give the Torch a spin and see if it impresses you enough for you to pick one up as replacement.

Tags:BlackBerry, RIM, smartphone, Torch
Posted in BlackBerry, BlackBerry OS, Gadgets, Phones, Review, RIM, Specifications, Torch | 2 Comments »

BlackBerry Torch 2 sneak peek

Sunday, April 17th, 2011

The BlackBerry Torch 2 is rumoured to be announced during the BlackBerry World in May and then go on sale in the US in July later this year. With the release of the PlayBook tablet next Tuesday in the US, RIM has a few more models in line to keep its fanbase riveted for the rest of the year.

There has been plenty of leaks from RIM (Research In Motion) about upcoming BlackBerry models for 2011. These include the BlackBerry Touch (Monaco/Monza), Bold Touch, Storm 3, Bold (Dakota), Curve (Apollo), and the Torch 2.

Having gotten hold of a Torch 2, BGR reports that the new device looks almost identical to its predecessor but features a significantly more powerful 1.2 GHz processor. Coupled with the BlackBerry OS 6.1 and a 3.2 inch 640×480 VGA display, it will be an exciting gadget to own.

Processor power has been doubled from the current 624 MHz, and the 3.2 inch screen runs at a higher pixel resolution than the 480×360 pixels on the current BlackBerry Torch.

Going by previous BlackBerry release schedules, we’ll probably only see the Torch 2 in Singapore towards the end of the year.

The main specifications of the Torch 2 are listed below:

CPU – 1.2 GHz processor
Display – 3.2″ VGA (480 x 640) capacitive touchscreen display
Radio – Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE ; Tri-band HSPA 14.4Mbps
Memory – 8GB storage + 512MB RAM + up to 32GB MicroSD
Connectivity – WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC
Camera – 5 megapixels
Battery – 1300MAh battery
Thickness – 14.6mm thick
Sensors – magnetometer, digital compass

Tags:BlackBerry, RIM, smartphone, Torch
Posted in BlackBerry, Gadgets, Phones, Review, RIM, Specifications, Torch | 3 Comments »

Company byte: Nokia

Friday, April 8th, 2011

Nokia is a global leader in mobile communications whose products are used by more than 1.3 billion people around the world.

Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational corporation with 132,000 employees in 120 countries and sales in more than 150 countries.

Nokia Corporation, global leader in mobile communications

First established as a ground wood pulp mill in 1865, Nokia only produced its first electronic device in 1962 – a pulse analyser for nuclear power plants.

Since 1998, it has been the world’s largest manufacturer of mobile phones.

In 2010, it had a global annual revenue of over 42 billion Euros and operating profit of 2 billion Euros.

Information extracted from Wikipedia.

Tags:Lumia, Nokia, smartphone
Posted in Company byte, Gadgets, Lumia, Nokia, Phones | 4 Comments »

Ransom for a kidnapped phone – $148

Wednesday, March 16th, 2011

With the stress and inconvenience of losing one’s mobile phone, half of those who had lost one were willing to pay an average of S$148 to get their phone back, a survey of mobile phone owners in Singapore found.

Average ransom people are willing to pay for their lost phone. That is assuming that the finder or thief offers the owner the chance to redeem their lost or stolen mobile phone. Most of the time, it’s “finders keepers” and the owners are laden with the inconvenience of reconstructing lost contact lists and worried over their private information falling into wrong hands.

Victims who have become celebrities overnight because the saucy secrets from their mobile phones have been splashed all over the Internet can attest to the stress involved.

In Singapore, where each person owns – on average – more than one mobile phone, about half (52%) of Singaporeans have lost their phones before. Despite that, only slightly more than a third (37%) currently have a password protecting their devices. These are some of the findings found by a survey commissioned by Symantec Corporation in January 2011.

With smartphones being so capable, people are relying more on them to communicate, work and play. Almost ninety percent of “Singaporeans never leave home without their mobile phones and nearly half cannot live without their phones” [Synovate 2009].

Norton Mobile Survey commissioned by Symantec The Norton Mobile Survey found “a whopping 89 percent of victims noting that they could neither remotely lock nor wipe the phone’s memory after the device was stolen or lost.”

“As smartphones become more pervasive in our lives, there is a greater need to protect the data on such devices. This is one of the reasons why Norton is taking security beyond the PC to develop solutions that protect consumers, regardless of the device they use,” says Effendy Ibrahim, Internet Safety Advocate and Consumer Business Head, Asia, Symantec.

On the whole, a significant number of Singaporeans consider security factors before making a mobile phone purchase, with 72 percent noting that they are more likely to make a purchase if their mobile device or software is able to be locked remotely and has the ability to erase all the data on their device remotely.

Protection

So what does Symantec have to counter cybercriminals cashing in on increasing prevalence and reliance on smartphones? Norton Mobile Security has been introduced as part of the Norton Everywhere three-part initiative, which will address some of today’s most common issues for smartphones, including device loss and data protection.

Norton Mobile Security will allow users to locate and remotely wipe or lock their lost or stolen Android phones with a quick text message. Consumers can currently download a free limited-trial beta version directly from the Android Market.

Tags:mobile, Norton, security, smartphone, survey, Symantec
Posted in Figures, Norton, Security, Tech news | 2 Comments »

Go to work dressed as Lady Gaga for a week?

Tuesday, March 15th, 2011

This is what 17% of Singaporeans would rather do than to lose their mobile phones, a survey of mobile phone owners in Singapore found.

Other noxious things that these 17% of mobile phone owners were willing to put themselves through – rather than lose their mobile phones – include getting a root canal and eating rotten eggs.

In fact, “32 percent of Singaporeans would rather lose their childhood photographs than lose their mobile phones,” the Norton Mobile Survey found.

The Norton Mobile Survey is based on research conducted in January 2011 by The Leading Edge, an independent market research firm, on behalf of Symantec Corporation. The Leading Edge conducted an online survey among 500 adults, between the ages 18 and 54, within each of the following six markets: Singapore, India, Australia, Taiwan, China and Japan.

The Singapore sample size comprised the following:

Gender	Percentage of 500 respondents
Female	51%
Male	49%
Age Group
45 to 54 years old	26%
35 to 44 years old	34%
25 to 34 years old	27%
18 to 24 years old	13%
Phone Type
Standard mobile phones	42%
Smartphones	58%
Apps on Smartphones
Average free Apps	23
Average paid Apps	3

Tags:mobile, Norton, security, smartphone, survey, Symantec
Posted in Figures, Norton, Security, Software, Tech news | No Comments »

Free BlackBerry 6 upgrade available now

Monday, March 14th, 2011

BlackBerry 6, the latest BlackBerry smartphone operating system from Research In Motion (RIM), is now available to existing owners and new customers of BlackBerry® Curve™ 3G and BlackBerry® Bold™ 9700 smartphones for free.

The new BlackBerry 6 operating system includes an intuitive user interface, enhanced web browsing experience, universal search, social feeds and an engaging multimedia experience.

BlackBerry 6 OS available for upgrade

To upgrade, existing owners of the BlackBerry Curve 3G and BlackBerry Bold 9700 can connect their smartphone to their computer and go to ap.blackberry.com/blackberry6 to download the update.

You will find detailed instructions and additional information at the website as well.

Tags:BlackBerry, Operating System, OS, RIM, smartphone
Posted in Operating Systems, RIM, Tech news | No Comments »

Adobe Refresh Roadshow in Singapore

Thursday, March 10th, 2011

Two product “evangelists” and the Product Manager of Flash Professional show designers and attendees how to design once but deploy to different hardware and software platforms and screen sizes.

Instead of designing for the standard desktop monitor at standard screen resolutions, end-users are accessing web content using a whole range of devices with different screen sizes/resolutions, and on different hardware and software platforms.

These devices range from the traditional PC to the whole range of smartphones and more recently the tablets and web TVs.

Richard Galvan, Product Manager - Flash Professional Flash Professional Product Manager, Richard Galvan, went through the trends of the day and predicted that the number of people surfing the Internet using smartphones and tablets will surpass the number using PCs by 2013 – maybe earlier.

He demonstrated how the existing and upcoming versions of Adobe’s Flash Professional and Flex application development platform facilitates the ability to develope apps only once but deploy to devices running different operating systems such as Google’s Android, Apple’s iOS and RIM’s BlackBerry.

Paul Burnett, APAC Evangelist - Adobe Systems Inc Michael Stoddart, APAC Evangelist - Adobe Systems Inc The product “evangelists” Paul Burnett and Michael Stoddart also illustrated how the software assisted coders by providing features such as code hints, code completion and code snippets – so much so that even designers could have a go at the coding.

Some of the sneak peeks of features being explored for future products were also presented. Some of these were first shown in Adobe Max 2010 developer conference in October last year.

The beta version of the BlackBerry Playbook, which made its first appearance during Adobe Max, was also displayed for the first time in Singapore.

Photoshop on a tablet?

Galvan also gave a demo on the recently released Wallaby – an experimental piece of software for converting Flash files into HTML5.

The simple animation he converted were identical before and after conversion – handy for banner ads without audio, video, or ActionScript.

Multi-touch interface for a future version of Photoshop?

Galvan believed that Flash and HTML5 were complementary instead of being mutually exclusive. He emphasised that Flash and HTML5 will continue to complement each other into the future, with Flash providing additional features and capabilities to HTML5 based content.

The roadshow was held at the NTUC auditorium at One Marina Boulevard from 8.30am to 5.30pm.

Tags:Adobe, Flash, Flex, smartphone, tablets
Posted in Adobe, Events, Flash, Gadgets, Notebooks, Phones, Photoshop, Software, Tablets, Technology | No Comments »

India to get BlackBerry access

Monday, August 30th, 2010

India to get BlackBerry access from RIM

The Indian government disclosed that Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM) has given Indian authorities access to BlackBerry e-mail and instant messenger correspondence. This is on the eve of an August 31 deadline for RIM to do so or face a ban on BlackBerry services in India. RIM first agreed to allow monitoring of e-mail on BlackBerry handsets by the Indian government in 2008.

Other countries like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have also threatened to shut off BlackBerry services unless RIM provide access to its encrypted client data. These countries are worried the secure comms provided by BlackBerry devices could be exploited by terrorists such as those in the 2008 Mumbai attacks and insurgents from Kashmir and Assam. It could also help criminals evade authorities monitoring their comms for illegal activities.

Nokia Oyj, the biggest mobile-phone maker in the world, has agreed to set up servers in India by Nov 5, to allow security agencies to monitor its customers’ e-mail.

India is also exploring how to track voice-over-Internet protocol services provided by companies like Skype and Google.

RIM’s proposal to placate India would be at the expense of legitimate corporate customers whose privacy will be compromised.

Roger Entner, an analyst with IAG Research Inc. told Bloomberg that in the U.S., the Federal Bureau of Investigation can monitor the mobile e-mail of particular people with authority from a judge, as they do in wiretapping phone calls. American officials would go to a company for access to an employee’s messages or to an Internet service provider for non-corporate e-mail.

According to Bloomberg, India accounts for about 2 percent of RIM’s 46 million customers worldwide. Mike Abamsky, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets in Toronto, puts the number to about 1.1 million. As of June, India had 636 million mobile-phone subscribers, second only to China’s 805 million.

Romal Shetty, executive director of the telecommunications division at KPMG’s Indian unit, opined that “India as a market is small today for BlackBerry phones but the opportunity space for RIM is very, very large. They can’t walk away from a market like India. It’s not something anybody can afford to do.”

India’s telecommunications department will test RIM’s proposal for 60 days to see whether it allows security agencies to tap its messenger and corporate e-mail services.

Tags:BlackBerry, RIM, smartphone
Posted in Gadgets, Phones, Tech news, Technology | No Comments »

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