Posted on July 16, 2010, at 3:16 PM .
At Apple’s iPhone 4 press conference today, Steve Jobs tried to deflect criticism from the iPhone’s antenna issues by saying that other devices, including the BlackBerry Bold 9700, have antenna issues and that these devices will drop from 5 bars to 1.
From a purely anecdotal standpoint, I have no idea what Jobs is talking about. Any time my Bold 9700 has dropped in signal strength, it has been very obvious why. If I’m in a basement, or away from a cell tower, the reception drops naturally, but I have never experienced anything like the iPhone 4′s “Death Grip”.
This seems like a totally unsubstantiated attack on RIM and it would be great to see RIM’s engineers respond. Have you ever experienced a Death Grip issue on a Bold 9700? Let us know in the comments.
Posted on July 16, 2010, at 2:29 PM .
Peggle is a Pachinko-inspired skill game developed by PopCap Games. Peggle is a hugely popular game that debuted on PC and has experienced a great deal of success on the Nintendo DS and other mobile platforms.
The object of Peggle is hit all of the orange pegs with a limited amount of balls. Pegs get cleared shortly after being hit by a ball. Regular blue pegs obscure many of your orange goal pegs when the round begins so it takes a bit of strategy to clear them all.
Continue reading ‘Game Review: Peggle for BlackBerry by PopCap Games’
Posted on July 16, 2010, at 12:53 PM .
China Telecom has rolled out four monthly BlackBerry packages ranging in price from 189 yuan ($27.87 USD) to 589 yuan ($86.8732 USD) per month. This marks another milestone in a greater rollout strategy of bringing the BlackBerry solution to China. The big announcement we’re waiting for is full App World support in China which will hopefully give the app economy a boost.
Posted on July 16, 2010, at 11:29 AM .
S4BB let us know that they have over 15 apps that are free and worth checking out. The apps range from games such as BlackHole, to utilities for your device such as BatteryWatch. Hit after the jump for a list of these must-try free BlackBerry apps.
Continue reading ’15 Free BlackBerry Apps: BatteryWatch, DataBackup, RestartMe and More’
Posted on July 16, 2010, at 10:35 AM .
There is a rumor that RIM tried to purchase Palm alongside Apple, Nokia, Google and of course HP. HP eventually won the deal for $1.2 billion. According to the SF Gate, RIM basically had the deal in its hands and “had to work incredibly hard to blow it,” says their source. source recalls. RIM initially came in higher than HP, but HP upped its bid, our source says.
While Palm may have had some patents that would be beneficial to RIM, the idea of acquiring the company for the WebOS or integrating the WebOS on a BlackBerry seems highly unlikely. WebOS lacks the security that is fundamental to RIM’s business, although from a consumer perspective it may be cool.
In terms of improving on the OS, it’s better to look at the QNX acquisition. QNX is a company based in Ottawa (BlackBerryCool.com HQ) and there are several people close to the company who say the acquisition has little to do with automotive integration, and more to do with developing a next-generation OS. Remember, QNX’s core business is “middleware, development tools, realtime operating system software and services for superior embedded design.” Lets hope that they can help RIM develop an OS that puts many of the developer and consumer frustrations to rest.
Posted on July 16, 2010, at 9:17 AM .
We have heard this story before – a public servant is walking around with a BlackBerry that isn’t password protected and they lose the device along with sensitive data. This has happened again, this time in Prince William County, where a public servant lost a device containing private information on almost 700 residents including addresses and Social Security numbers.
According to the executive director for county community services, “it should have been better secured with the use of a password,” he said. “We didn’t do what should have been done.” Not only that, but you would think a government BlackBerry would have an IT admin who would force a password on the device. Also, as soon as the device was found to be missing, the data could be wiped and hopefully stopping someone from taking it before it’s too late.
It’s not clear whether the device was stolen with the intent of taking the personal information, or whether the thief was simply looking to steal a BlackBerry and resell it. This is exactly the sort of situation that BlackBerry Protect will be able to address for individuals.
