The voice of the BlackBerry community.
Gotta love Salomondrin for leaking pics of the upcoming BlackBerry Pearl 9100 aka Stratus. The 9100 is apparently a 3G Pearl for the GSM network. It has SureType, an optical trackpad, 3G, WiFi and the version we’re seeing is running OS 5.0.0.350. Too bad Sal’s YouTube was taken down by RIM legal. Those lawyers are killing the Internet, 1 leak at a time.
Click through for more leaked pics of this device
Testing the BlackBerry Bold 9700 battery has been an interesting experience. I always thought consumer electronics manufacturers embellished their battery life expectancies in order to impress the buyer. In this case, RIM has actually slightly under-stated the Bold 9700’s battery life, and really proved themselves to be an honest company when it comes to their battery life marketing. Could we say the same for Apple? I challenge TIPB to do the same with the iPhone, and see if it can play 39 hours of music off radio and last 29 hours with heavy usage. Speaking of Apple…the BlackBerry Bold 9700 lasts longer than the best iPod.
Click through to read more about the BlackBerry Bold 9700 battery
Elecite have a new theme out called Sentient. It looks pretty cool and features an animated shield with 6 customizable icons. It’s easy to use and the navigation is pretty user friendly. As with most Elecite themes, the icons could do with a little work.
Sentient is $6.99 and available for the Storm, 8900, 9700, Bold & 9600 (OS 4.7 & 5.0).
Personally, I’ve never read an entire book on my BlackBerry, but I might just give it a try. Viigo is a part of my daily reading habits and if the font size were right, and the interface was clean, I could see myself going through a full eBook on my BlackBerry.
If you want to try it out, or you’re looking for another book, Fictionwise are offering BlackBerry Cool readers 25% off with the coupon code “blackberrycool25″ (sans quotes). The coupon is good until the 30th of November.
Some instructions from Fictionwise:
For Fictionwise.com customers, every MultiFormat (unencrypted) eBook and every Secure eReader eBook will work on your BlackBerry. When you log in to your Fictionwise.com account from your BlackBerry, note that you will only see listed those eBooks that work with eReader for BlackBerry. You will not be shown eBooks that don’t work, such as Secure Microsoft Reader eBooks, etc. If you see it on your BlackBerry, you can download and read it.
Scott Totzke, RIM’s vice-president of BlackBerry security, recently spoke with the press about the potential of the DDOS attack by hackers using BlackBerry devices to target wireless networks. The thought is that because the BlackBerry is essentially a smaller PC, it could be used in a similar manner to overload networks.
But is this really a big concern? I have to agree with Ronen at BerryReview, that someone stealing personal data with an application seems like a bigger concern. All you have to do is build an application that accesses user data, and sends it back to the company’s servers. If they wanted to, a company could use the data on your BlackBerry for malicious purposes.
It seems like only a matter of time until someone in Nigeria figures out how to submit a malicious app into Mobihand. While App World might have a vetting process that looks at what the app is accessing, I can guarantee you the Mobihand network isn’t diligent enough to catch something like this.
Remember, Mobihand are the same people who sell NetworkACC, a bogus application that claims to speed up your mobile network. Not only is the app bogus and a waste of money, but I bet you eMobiStudio are gaming the review system because their app is filled with 5 star reviews. Mobihand have such a weak review system that anyone can write a hundred positive reviews about their app.
We can only hope that if a malicious app shows itself, the good people at BlackBerry Cool, BerryReview, CrackBerry, etc. will find out and spread the word not to download it.
Bplay has launched a new line of city themes. They’re pretty basic themes with changing backgrounds and easy to read icons, but they do a good job of representing your favorite city.
Embrace Los Angeles
Embrace New York
Embrace Paris
Embrace London
Embrace Rome
Embrace Berlin
Embrace Vancouver
Embrace Tokyo
Embrace Beijing
Embrace Barcelona
Check out all of their featured cities here.
There is a free app in App World called Hockey Scores that lets you check NHL scores across the league. The app is updated frequently but it’s not clear whether it takes advantage of the Push APIs from RIM, which would push the scores to the device in near-real time.
Hockey Scores is free in App World and available for almost every device.
There are some rumors going around that the BlackBerry Curve 8530 will be launching December 10th. Barring some unforeseen testing issues, this date will probably stick. With an 8530 on the way to Verizon as well, this device is going to get a decent spotlight. Remember, this is the same 8530 that we discovered will feature OpenGL, so there is some awesome app potential. It will be interesting to see if the carriers even mention it.
HedoneDesign have prepared a new theme designed for OS 5, called GreenTech, which was made using the latest BlackBerry Theme Studio 5.0. GreenTech features an easy-on-the-eyes green color, with large time, battery and signal icons.
Because it was developed using the Theme Studio 5.0, this theme is compatible with all the latest devices including Storm2, Storm, Tour Bold 9700, 8900 and 9000. On the other hand, popular but older devices like the 8330 aren’t compatible.
GreenTech is available for $3.99 until November 23rd (regularly $7.99).
Nickel Buddy are really cool BlackBerry game developers because they’ve been putting out quality games specifically with the BlackBerry Storm in mind. The latest is called Revball and it’s a paddle ball type arcade game.
While the game is available for the Storm2, it doesn’t use the multitouch feature which is a pretty key element of the device. As a Storm2 user, I’m always on the hunt for content that uses its unique features, but a Storm game is good fun regardless.
Revball is $4.99 and there is more information available on the purchase page.
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