Blackberry Os -- Engadget Mobile

blackberry os posts

RIM unveils tighter Adobe partnership, new app payment platform, OpenGL ES support, more

by Chris Ziegler posted Nov 9th 2009 @ 12:00PM

There aren't any new devices in the mix, but RIM has unleashed a torrent of BlackBerry OS-related news today at its BlackBerry Developer Conference in San Francisco that's sure to make devs happy in the short term -- and you know how that goes: when devs are happy, it doesn't take long before end users reap the benefits. Here are the highlights:

BlackBerry devices running OS 5.0 and higher will be able to benefit from OpenGL ES support, the 3D platform used by many of the world's high-power smartphones for delivering killer games. There's a beta of the SDK already, so let's get cracking, everyone -- we need some first-person shooters that totally negate BlackBerry's ultra-productive image.
A new plugin for the Eclipse development environment should make building BlackBerry app GUIs easier than ever, which should hopefully lead to prettier apps; it'll be available in mid-2010.
BlackBerry Theme Studio is now available, simplifying theme creation with support for changing the home screen layout, fonts, icons, colors, cursors, and more; it supports BlackBerry OS 4.2.2 and higher, which means that virtually every BlackBerry in a pocket (or holster) today should be able to take advantage. The timing's perfect on this one, because RIM has also announced that themes can now be submitted to App World.
BlackBerry Payment Service has been announced for mid-2010 availability, bringing in-app payments, subscription support, and a variety of billing options, which all sounds far more robust than the PayPal-only setup they've got going today.
The Push Service made available to Alliance Program members earlier this year will be made available to all comers in "early 2010," making it easy to push bite-sized chunks of "time-sensitive alerts" to phones quickly and easily.
BlackBerry Advertising Service has been announced for 1H 2010 availability, bringing a unified ad platform for developers with a variety of existing ad networks on board. If this means more free apps in App World, we're all for it.
Expanding on the Flash partnership previously announced, RIM has teamed up with Adobe yet again to unveil tight integration with Creative Suite 5 with direct file exports for BlackBerry-optimized formats and the creation BlackBerry-specific web layouts. End users will also be able to pull files directly off their BlackBerrys into consumer offerings like Photoshop Elements. This particular news seems pretty fluffy since Adobe products are already capable of opening and saving media formats that the phones can use -- but as with many of the other announcements here, we're on board as long as it means better-looking apps.

Sure, we wouldn't have complained if some crazy Storm2 with a QWERTY slide had unexpectedly shown up, but all things considered, BlackBerry software shops have to be salivating at the bounty here.

BlackBerry OS 5.0 leaks for Storm 9530

by Chris Ziegler posted Jul 23rd 2009 @ 7:54AM

Sure, BlackBerry firmware leaks are pretty much a dime a dozen -- especially for the Verizon-branded Storm and its CDMA cousins in Canada -- but how often is it that you've seen a 5.0 ROM leak? Not bloody often, so this one should get a few folks pretty fired up. This particular build is 5.0.0.140, and while some people have managed to successfully install it, we'd definitely recommend proceeding with extreme caution -- the firmware's apparently originally from a Chinese site with no clear backstory, so the security of the update definitely can't be guaranteed (especially in light of that recent spyware scare). If you have a go at it anyway -- and we know you probably will -- let us know how it goes.

Oh, by the way: July 15, 2009

by Chris Ziegler posted Jul 15th 2009 @ 11:48PM

Here's some of the other stuff that happened in the wide world of mobile for Wednesday, July 15th, 2009:

Pantech's SKY division has announced the IM-S480S "Tilt" flip for the South Korean market to be offered through carrier SK Telecom. It's a fairly ordinary phone -- 2 megapixel camera, microSD expansion -- but it apparently gets its name from its curved halves (how that evokes a name like "Tilt," we're not exactly sure) and features a trick LED bar above the keypad that can be used to indicate download progress and the like.
Samsung has rolled out a so-called Elegant Edition of its S7350 slider in Hong Kong. It's pink and comes with a quilted pink leather pouch, so... you know, you'd better really be into pink. It also features customized "smart seasonal wallpaper" that'll change based on seasons and calendar events. [Via Unwired View]
It looks like BlackBerry OS 5.0 will get tabbed browsing, a feature that's become virtually standard across smartphone platforms (and has even started to invade the upper dumbphone echelon recently).
The just-announced Sony Ericsson C905a for AT&T has already started to filter into some retail locations ahead of its July 19 release, so don't give up if you've got an unquenchable, urgent yearning for this thing.

BlackBerry OS 5.0 previewed on the Storm

by Chris Ziegler posted Jul 7th 2009 @ 9:47AM

We've already seen a few builds of BlackBerry OS 5.0 in action -- but so far, everything we've seen has been on the RIM's decidedly less touch-friendly array of devices. Now, we're finally seeing what this stuff looks like when applied to the Storm, which in itself gives us hope that the company's first touchphone won't be abandoned in the face of an upcoming successor (assuming Verizon and others can work up the motivation and know-how to actually release it to owners, that is). German site Benezblog has posted a plethora of Storm-based 5.0 shots, noting that it's not yet stable enough for everyday use (if you like "calling" or "typing," for example, you'd best steer clear for the time being) -- but the browser and keylock are apparently better by miles, and just like the build we saw earlier on a Curve 8900, there's a new memory manager in the mix. We wouldn't count on seeing official carrier-supported releases of this any time soon, but we're sure it won't be that hard to get leaked builds going forward if you're into that sort of thing.

[Via CrackBerry]

SureType coming to BlackBerry OS 5.0

by Chris Ziegler posted Jun 18th 2009 @ 9:19PM

As far as we can tell, BlackBerry OS 5.0 is shaping up to be extraordinarily incremental -- some users will barely notice the difference -- but one welcome change is the addition of SureType support on full QWERTY devices. Dropdown boxes spotted in build 5.0.0.110 for the Bold seem to make typing even easier than it already is, which is actually a pretty scary reality considering how quick some folks on the 9000's keyboard. Of course, this means you'll have to spend more time wheeling the trackball than you might like, but it's a tradeoff we'll take.

Gmail gets pushed to select BlackBerries

by Tim Stevens posted May 5th 2009 @ 8:19AM

There's a new push purveyor on the mobile scene, come to show the competition what's what -- despite being completely dependent on that competition, at least for the moment. Hot on the heels of RIM adding a push API, Google is enabling some BlackBerry users to get their Gmail and Google Calendar goodies shoved straight to their handsets. However, there are a number of shortcomings here that make this addition somewhat limited in usefulness. For one thing users have to be connecting to BlackBerry Enterprise Server instances, and furthermore those instances have to be backed by Microsoft Exchange. Additionally, only 250 users per Enterprise Server instance can get their mobile Gmail on, changes made to appointments on a handsets cannot be pushed back to Google Calendar, and to top it all off searching for Gmail messages still requires a separate app. Updates and improvements are coming, but until then it's caveat emailor.

RIM pushes standardized push framework for BlackBerry OS

by Chris Ziegler posted May 4th 2009 @ 3:49PM

RIM has announced the availability of a new push API framework for BlackBerry devices that'll allow developers to push up to 8 kilobytes of data at a time -- just enough for a glanceable update, we figure -- to handsets. Though the full API is just now being announced, it's actually based on technology culled from RIM's Web Signals tech announced last year that allows users to subscribe to push updates over the web. True push available to third-party developers is a long time in coming for every platform -- and for devices as connected as BlackBerrys (and their users), we're thinking that an official solution for this should play pretty well. The API's available now to members of RIM's Alliance Program.

BlackBerry Bold graced with a leaked build of 5.0

by Chris Ziegler posted Apr 10th 2009 @ 7:02PM

It's one thing to see it on video, but it's quite another to try it for yourself, isn't it? Intrepid Bold users are now invited to take BlackBerry OS 5.0 for a spin courtesy of a freshly-leaked build (5.0.90, if you're curious). Of course, a good majority of the world's Bolds are used in somewhat mission-critical environments -- so if you use your trusty sidearm for corporate email or anything else where bricking the phone might cause some drama at the workplace, you may want to hold off. Just sayin'.

[Via BlackBerryNews]

BlackBerry OS 5.0 previewed on video, don't expect a revolution

by Chris Ziegler posted Apr 9th 2009 @ 4:18AM

When a key feature of a new platform version is said to be its awesome startup screen, we question the importance of said version -- but when that new startup screen is nothing more than a logo and a progress bar, we're really starting to lose hope. Don't get us wrong, BlackBerry OS 5.0 is shaping up to be a nice little upgrade for folks currently on 4.6 or 4.7, but from what we can tell in the preview video posted over on CrackBerry, it's certainly not worthy of a major version bump; indeed, it seems that it's only being called 5.0 to bring it in sync with the imminent launch of BES 5.0. There's a new memory details screen (pictured), trackball "flicking" through photos, some minor improvements to email and folder management, browser updates (thank goodness), and a handful of other trinkets scattered through the platform -- not exactly the scorched-earth rewrite you might expect going to a number as grand as 5.0. Then again, why mess with a good thing, right?

BlackBerry OS 4.5 on the way for Verizon's 8830

by Chris Ziegler posted Mar 30th 2009 @ 6:24AM

With the 9630 hopefully right around the corner, the BlackBerry 8830 should be gearing up to take its final curtain call -- but Verizon's not done supporting it just yet. Thankfully, we've been assured the device will be graced with an official upgrade to 4.5, up from the build of 4.2 that it's rocking right now. For what it's worth, Sprint has already released a 4.5 upgrade for its version of the 8830, so this should come as no big surprise -- they're just keeping up with the Joneses, as it were. Too bad they couldn't do it a little faster, though, eh?

Major smartphone platforms emerge unscathed from Pwn2Own

by Nilay Patel posted Mar 25th 2009 @ 11:24AM

Sure seems like your handheld is a lot more secure than your computer, at least in some sense -- although the desktop versions of IE 8, Safari, and Firefox were each almost instantly cracked on the first day of the Pwn2Own contest, no one claimed the $10,000 bounty placed on each of the major smartphone platforms. That's certainly reassuring, but it may not ultimately mean much: according to contest organizers Tipping Point, the bugs in Android, Symbian, Windows Mobile, and the iPhone and BlackBerry OSes are still there, but they're harder to exploit because of device, OS, and carrier variations. That makes any vulnerabilities even more valuable -- one of the contestants apparently had an iPhone exploit ready to go, but wasn't willing to part with it since he wanted more than $10K for it. Tipping Point says it'll try and nail down specs of each platform earlier next year to make it easier on hackers, but let's hope the results are similar.

[Via Slashdot]

SocialScope for BlackBerry impressions (and invites!)

by Jacob Schulman posted Mar 23rd 2009 @ 1:46PM

Twitter clients for the iPhone are pretty much a dime a dozen, but unfortunately, the same can't be said for the BlackBerry platform. Things are looking up for the Waterloo faithful, though, with a number of clients on the horizon -- and one of the best we've seen thus far is SocialScope from the guys at Ubiquitous Systems. The app has been around in the form of an invite-only alpha for a few months now, and with more recent releases the guns are coming out and it's really starting to develop into a fairly advanced app. Read on for more impressions and an exclusive hands-on with the latest build -- and oh, yeah, we've got loads of invites for you certifiable addicts as well!

Continue reading SocialScope for BlackBerry impressions (and invites!)

Mobile OS shootout: iPhone OS 3.0 enters the fray

by Chris Ziegler posted Mar 19th 2009 @ 12:19PM

Now that we know what iPhone OS 3.0 holds, we wanted to circle back and take stock of all of the major mobile platforms. Who wins? Who loses? Who's in the penalty box? Head on over to Engadget for the in-depth look.

Sprint's BlackBerry 8130 and 8330 get 4.5 update

by Chris Ziegler posted Feb 6th 2009 @ 9:31AM

For Pearl and Curve 8300 owners, BlackBerry OS 4.5 is something of a holy grail -- awesome, but pretty hard to find because carriers have generally been slow to roll it out. Fortunately, Sprint has graced owners of the 8130 and 8330 with the latest and greatest pre-4.6 goods, and what's more, tipsters are telling us that the latest version enables MMS messages. MMS, really? Reminds us of the year 2004, our road trip to the Canadian Rockies, and a simpler, more innocent time. But we digress; if you've got one of these devices, go kick off the download and get ready to play almost-catch-up to the 4.6-based 8350i, why don't you?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Sneak peek at RIM's BlackBerry Application Center

by Darren Murph posted Oct 6th 2008 @ 7:50AM

At this point, you're probably wondering what section of the Storm's UI you haven't seen. Enter a few new sneak peeks, this time showcasing the purported BlackBerry Application Center. Granted, these shots are from the Vodafone edition, but we don't suspect the Verizon version will look much different. Reportedly, the Application Center will be available on v4.7 Storm devices, and carriers themselves will be responsible for hosting the data and sending updates; additionally, the download / installation will be handled by the browser in the first release, meaning that the software cannot restart the app or download intelligently. Give the read link a look for a few more tidbits / pictures.