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.

Just look for yourself, the BlackBerry Bold 9700’s battery, lasts longer than that of the best iPod available.

In Part 1 of the BlackBerry Bold 9700 battery stress test, we threw RIM a bone and checked out the music playback with the wireless connections off. For the second part, it was important to test how long the battery would last given very heavy usage. During the 29 hours that the BlackBerry was on, it went through the following:

• About an hour of voice over 8 phone calls.
• 10 SMS messages received, 7 sent.
• 13 Tweets from UberTwitter, 9 of which contained a pic.
• Google Maps running the whole time and updating Latitude.
• About 8 hours of music streaming and playing via Bluetooth.
• Received about 30 emails and replied to around 15.
• The remaining time spent with all connections on and pulling data.

This is the first BlackBerry that I have been able to run more than 1 full day of usage without charging. There are definitely updates and optimizations made to the OS that make music playback more efficient, as well as general improvements to the device that make the battery last longer than any other BlackBerry. If you’re interested, I could do similar experiments with other BlackBerry smartphones. Anyone want to know about the Storm2 battery?

This BlackBerry test proves that the Bold 9700 has a killer battery.

Special thanks goes out to Slacker for white listing my account so it can be played in Canada. Now if only the lazy bureaucrats can get their act together, Canadians would have an awesome music device.

UPDATE: The Bold 9700 battery just died. The BlackBerry Cool official time is 19:22, exactly 29 hours. This is 29 hours while using the device heavily. Let’s see an iPhone do that!

UPDATE: 16:19 and 26 hours into the test, with 10% battery left. Part 2 of the test has sort of changed. It started off as a test of the music playback under more strenuous network conditions and has turned into a test of how long the battery will last under power user conditions. I’ve been playing music, tweeting, taking pics, using Google Maps, running several other apps simultaneously, making and taking calls and constantly pulling data from both Maps and Twitter. There was a break when I went to sleep but I left all the connections and apps running so it was still very much active.

UPDATE: 14:16, 24 hours into the test, and the battery is at 25%. Something I’ve noticed is that making calls depletes the battery much faster than anything else. I knew this intuitively but the test really made it obvious. Streaming music doesn’t seem to have much impact on battery life at all.

UPDATE: 10:40 went through the night and we’ve been back on WiFi, radio for a couple hours. At 30% and around 20 hours we’re definitely going a full day no problem.

UPDATE: It’s 02:29, 12 hours into the test. The batter reads 40% and I have been using a very decent amount of apps and data. Holding the BlackBerry Button, it shows the following apps: Messages, UberTwitter, Home Screen, BlackBerry Messenger, Media, Radio Companion, Setup Wizard (I switch devices a lot), Visual Voice Mail, Google Maps, Browser, Gmail and Phone. I’m going to give the updates a rest until around 8 AM.

UPDATE: It’s 23:11 and I have been out and about for the past 2 hours. During that time, I wasn’t listening to music but I was burning through data and the battery pretty fiercely. I was Tweeting pics, using Google Maps and calling friends. I’m not sure if this corrupts the test or anything, but I’m back at the office and on WiFi, streaming music on Bluetooth. At 55%, the battery is still going strong. We’re about 9 hours into the test.

UPDATE: 20:11 and the battery is at 65%. I’ve been using the device pretty intensely over the past 6 hours. On a normal day, I’ll probably use 20 minutes on headphones and the BlackBerry Media Gateway for 30 mins the odd time. So far, I’ve used about 5 hours of streaming Nobex on WiFi and Bluetooth, and another hour on radio and headphones.

UPDATE: The time is 18:14 and the status screen is telling me the battery is at 80%. By the looks of the meter, I would say it’s around 95%, but we’ll see. We are almost 4 hours on WiFi, taking in emails, BBM, and SMS, streaming music using Nobex and playing it via Bluetooth over the BlackBerry Media Gateway. Go baby go!

UPDATE: The time is 15:55, just over an hour into the test and the battery hasn’t budged, we’re still full bars. I’ve had a few BBM’s, and about 10 emails come in through WiFi, all the while streaming music using Nobex and playing it off the BlackBerry Media Gateway. Things might change if I leave the office and get off WiFi.

UPDATE: Okay we’re good to go. I have the Bold 9700, running all connections, using EDGE, roaming on the Rogers network and this bad boy is sucking in data like a Dyson vacuum. The time is 14:22 and we’re starting off on WiFi, at my office, listening to the Bold 9700 via Bluetooth on 7.1 surround sound. I know, it doesn’t make a difference that it’s 7.1 but it’s still cool. I also made sure to make the amplifier read Bold 9700. Oh yeah, and I’m running Nobex Radio Companion for the music because Pandora and Slacker figured out I’m Canadian. We’re full battery.

So it turns out the BlackBerry Bold 9700 can play music for up to 38 hours, as advertised (the BlackBerry Cool official time is just short of 39 hours).

It seems as though we tested the Bold 9700’s music playback in a similar way that RIM would test it. There might be a standard for such a test somewhere, and maybe the National Institute of Standards and Technology could comment.

Let’s get on to Part 2 because it’ll be much more interesting. Playing the Bold 9700 with the radio turned off is really throwing RIM a bone. It’s time to test the Bold 9700 under some decent Power User conditions. For Part 2 of “Stress Test: How long can the BlackBerry Bold 9700 play music?”, I’m going to use the device as a primary communication and music device. I think the following conditions would be cool:

• Radio On.
• WiFi On.
• American SIM and device roaming on Canadian Network.
• Streaming Slacker Radio during down time.
• Headphones On, Volume Full and Bass Boost On.
• When at office and home, connected via Bluetooth and playing to stereo (this is a personal shout-out to BlackBerry Cool Reader Caspan).
• Taking emails, calls and SMS.
• Taking advantage of GPS and maps when appropriate.
• I might even take a pic or two.

So take your guess, how long will the Bold 9700 play music under heavy usage conditions? Comment your predictions and we’ll see the discrepancy.

UPDATE: It’s dead! The BlackBerry Bold actually exceeded the marketing materials and died just short of the 39 hour benchmark.

UPDATE: It’s 1:12. There is 8% battery left and I used some extra juice to take a screenshot. Regardless, the BlackBerry Bold 9700 has been on for 36 hours and it seems like it will hit the 38 hour mark, as advertised, dead on. BlackBerry Cool reader Durbin007 deserves a hat tip.

UPDATE: 21:52. About 1/5th of the battery power left. The BlackBerry Bold 9700 has been playing music for 33 hours.

UPDATE: We are now almost 27 hours into the test and we still have 2/5 battery power.

UPDATE: We’re coming up to the 24hr mark and I have to say, this test is driving me slightly mental. If I were to design a new torture method, it would involve leaving loud music playing from headphones in the same room as someone for hours on end.

UPDATE: At 09:06 we’re about 21 hours into the test and the Bold 9700 is showing just a little over half battery. At this rate, it could be upwards of 45 hours to drain the battery completely.

UPDATE: It’s 20:32 EST, about 8 hours since we started and not even a single bar down. At this rate I won’t need to update until tomorrow.

UPDATE: It is 16:57 EST, a little more than 4 hours into it and we still haven’t gone through a full bar. Going to give it a while longer before another update.

UPDATE (14:26 EST): It has been 2 hours and we’re still running on full battery. This could take a long, long time.

So here’s the deal: The BlackBerry Bold 9700 has some battery optimizations that make it last so long it makes the Energizer Bunny look impotent. That, combined with some OS optimizations specifically tailored to the music player, means the Bold 9700 can play music for a long time.

But just how long can it play music on a single charge? Well I’m going to put this thing to the test. The test will involve 2 parts. The first part, will be playing music with the radio off and playing it directly from the SD Card. This will give us an idea of how long the battery will last, solely playing music without being interrupted by calls, emails and network searching. The second part of the experiment, will be playing the music from Slacker, to test the 9700’s ability to stream music while on the network. This will be an incredible strain on the battery but I have a feeling the Bold 9700 will surprise us.

So lets get started with Part 1 of How Long Will the Bold 9700 play music for?

Comment your predictions! Remember, the following conditions:

• Radio is off.
• Full battery charge.
• Full volume with headphones.
• No audio boost.
• No headset equalizer.
• Songs on continuous play so it won’t have any interruption.

The robot connects by Bluetooth and conference attendees are invited to race around an obstacle course and compete for the fastest time. First prize gets a Storm2 and the robot, and 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place all get a Storm2 as well.

Did you try it? What was your time?

Poynt is probably the best LBS app for BlackBerry. Currently, the app lets you find local businesses, movies, restaurants, events and people. The app gives you the relevant information you’re looking for, and with driving directions, interactive maps and contact information, Poynt connects you with these places.

In the upcoming version of Poynt (weeks away!), the app will be adding gas and weather functionality. These features are really awesome and we have some pics of the features in action.

The gas feature in Poynt shows you all the surrounding gas stations in your area and what the current price of gas is at that station. This feature is going to be huge for anyone who commutes to work and it will save you a ton of money over time.

The weather feature in Poynt has two components. When you set your location with Poynt, the app’s background will change based on what the weather is like. If it’s snowing, Poynt’s background will be covered in snow and show you what the temperature is. In the pic, we show what Poynt looks like for someone in Anchorage Alaska. If you want more information about the weather, you can click through and get the full weather forecasts and details.

These new features are going to make Poynt, an already killer app, even better.

Poynt is available free in App World.

As the developer of one of the most popular business category apps on BlackBerry App World – “Call Time Tracker by momentem” – Terry has learned a lot about how to build a compelling app. In this article, he talks about how he spends his day, and there are some valuable lessons in this article for all app developers.

Terry writes:

After users download our app, they have to enter their email address to sign up for our free service. These days, most people are wary of doing that, so to overcome that our description on App World has to be sufficiently friendly and credible; the end result is that 70% of all downloads sign up for the service with a valid email address, which we believe is industry-leading.

The following day I send a welcome email to each new user, personally welcoming them and giving them tips and tricks on how to get up and running. OK, I don’t manually type them all, I use an email marketing package, but they are simple plain text emails, with no nasty trackable links, with my personal email address for them to reply to. People immediately feel they have a connection with our small company and they reply in large volumes. I am now addicted to receiving their emails every day.

I don’t push people away and ask them to fill in forms, they simply reply to my email and tell me what’s on their mind. They tell me what they like and don’t like, they tell me how they are using the app to make more money, and most importantly they tell me which features they would love to see added! I add the users to my database of “fans”, so that I can ask them later on to join beta tester groups and focus groups.

I also personally see every support request and every cancel form, so I feel the users’ pain as they work with our service. I personally follow up with as many support issues as I can, to ensure we have dealt with their request. They love that.

I literally spend 4 hours of every day engaging with our customers, and I can tell you that it’s the most valuable thing I could be spending my time on. I also spend time every day tracking our key metrics; downloads, sign-ups, the number of call tags being processed every day, email opt-outs, support issues, cancel reasons, and user demographics. I am constantly taking the pulse of our business which enables me to make fast and accurate decisions.

When we launched on App World, we found that the early adopters were eager to write in with enthusiastic praise. Then, as we moved into the early majority phase, they were far less engaged. So we had to change our techniques and we have now figured out how to get our new users to become equally excited over what we are delivering. Tweak the wording, measure the response, try something different, measure the response, over and over again, and because the app market is evolving the work is never done.

So, what has this time-consuming process of engaging with customers bought us?

• Our user reviews are among the best on App World and our average ranking is 4.5 out of 5; people write long useful reviews because they want to help me and because they feel an affinity to my company. Even if users are unhappy to begin with, we resolve their issues so they have no desire to bad-mouth us.
• Around 10% of all downloads are using our app on a daily basis, even months later, so we have proved that stickiness and loyalty can be earned.
• We all know how critical word of mouth is; many of the reviews say things like “I tell everyone I know about your great service” and many people have blogged avidly about us.
• We have learned so much about who our users are and how they use the app.

The fact that I spend 4 hours a day with customers is a nice problem to have. The acronym “AI” used to mean “artificial intelligence”, but based on what my team has learned in the past few months I think we are pioneers in the all-new world of “App Intelligence” !

I would be more than happy to receive emails from other developers on this subject …. and I will personally respond to them all

The BlackBerry Bold 9700 is basically a Bold 9000, with updated specs and in a Curve 8900 form factor. It’s for this reason that the devices are probably best compared in pictures that speak for themselves.

When we first posted impressions of the BlackBerry Curve 9700, we asked BlackBerry Cool readers what they would like to know about the device. We have taken some time to post more pictures of this device, and answer some of your questions.

Albert: Does the T-Mobile HSPA Bold support more than 1700 AWS band for 3G?

The BlackBerry Curve 9700 has the following network support:

• 3G (HSDPA) compatible
• UMTS: 2100/1900/850/800 MHz (Bands 1,2,5/6), 2100/1700/900 MHz (Bands 1,4,8)
• GSM: 1900/1800/900/850 MHz
• Quad-band support: GSM 850; GSM

Touchpro247: Turn the device on show some pics of the home screen. Show a pic of the about screen.

T-Mobile Curve: I’d appreciate info on the processor. Rumor has it that T-Mobile’s version will have the 8900’s processor, not the Bold’s. Thanks!

You should check out the Bold 9000 versus the Bold 9700 spec comparison sheet.

hassan: any one when it going to be released to the hole world ???? and if any one know how can i buy it with an unlocked virgin now and ship it to another country ?

This device is going to take a while to be released in countries outside of North America and Europe. We don’t have any details yet, but stay tuned.

canadian wireless hater: Does the browser still suck? How does it run with the 3G? Fast? And is the T-Mobile 9700’s 3G AWS or north american? Test shots with the camera please and thanks.

The browser is no different than any other browser running 5.0 software. It is basically the same browser as always, but with a little more support for different web content. I’m hard pressed to see any real differences.

Here is a picture taken with the Bold 9700. The camera is pretty decent at 3.2MP but nothing spectacular. It has a flash which really helps too.

Chris: What is the impression of the trackpad? Is it better navigating than with the trackball or even the trackwheel?

Check out the original post, it talks about the trackpad.

Ethan:
1) Battery. Does it use the same battery as the T-Mobile Curve 8900 (and original Verizon Storm)?

No it does not. As you can see from this pic, the battery looks like the Bold series batteries but according to the specs, it has been updated and gives much more talk time.

2) Charging. Still charge through the micro-USB port? (Thought I read somewhere that it’s back to a proprietary charger.)

Yes, RIM is still using micro-USB. It is now the industry standard and as far as I’m concerned, here to stay.

3) 3G. Any noticeable speed difference on T-Mobile, or does the browser’s crappiness make it irrelevant?

I notice that 3G helps when you’re browsing through YouTube videos and rich media content for sure. Also, if you download a lot of applications, you will really appreciate the 3G.

4) WiFi. Curve 8900 barely attaches to WiFi, presumably to save on battery life. New Bold any more aggressive about WiFi?

There are some issues regarding WiFi with BlackBerry devices and the fact that they turn it off to save battery life. Personally, I found it stayed connected to my WiFi signal loyally, but I will get back to this issue soon with something official from RIM.

5) UMA. Curve 8900 bad about switching between WiFi and Edge when on UMA. Any improvement when talking via UMA, especially when switching between WiFi and the T-Mobile network?

It took about 5 seconds for the device to log on to the WiFi connection and start up UMA. I have about 2 signal bars of UMA and the call quality is very decent.

Any more questions? Comment and we’ll answer!

The BlackBerry Bold 9700 is the latest update to the Bold series and it’s all the specs you would expect from a Bold device, slightly upgraded and in a smaller form factor. Like many of the devices we have been seeing from RIM lately, it is a hybrid device, combining the power of the Bold with the design of a Curve 8900.

The Bold 9700 from T-Mobile ships with OS 5.0.0.330, which is a welcomed update to the device. What is less positive about the launch is that the device doesn’t ship with the latest version of BlackBerry Messenger. The T-Mobile Bold 9700 ships with BlackBerry Messenger version 4.7.0 rather than 5.0 (this is based on the device I’m holding in my hand). Ideally, T-Mobile and RIM would have at least had a warning message of some sort that tells users where they can get the latest version of BBM.

Another preload on the T-Mobile Bold 9700 is the T-Mobile web browser called web2go. This preload really adds no value to the device and is likely related to some deal that T-Mobile signed independently of RIM. It’s a sub-par browser that isn’t even integrated into the native BlackBerry mail client. It would be great if T-Mobile stopped preloading these things and cluttering our homepage.

The Bold 9700 comes with a trackpad, which seems to be the new standard on BlackBerry devices. The trackpad makes navigation much smoother, and it will add to the shelf life of the device. No more cleaning your trackball or replacing it, the trackpad is here to stay.

As mentioned above, the Bold 9700 is reminiscent of the Curve 8900 form factor. While the keyboard is in the Bold style, with ergonomic and tightly packed keys, it is definitely closer to the 8900 in size. The Bold 9700 keyboard is quite tight and it seems as though this will be the defining feature of this BlackBerry. Users will either be attracted to the slim, tight, form factor, or they will look for a device with more breathing room such as the Tour or Bold 9000.

Overall, I would say this device is a great addition to the Bold product line, and you should ask yourself whether size matters. Personally, I don’t think the Bold 9000 needed to be smaller, but I know many users who didn’t like how it sat in their pocket. For those that want a smaller, more modern sized device, I know you’re going to love this BlackBerry.

Here are some quick points about the Bold 9700 to note:

• The Bold 9700 weighs 4.3 oz (122 grams) and is 4.3″ x 2.4″ x 0.55″ (109 mm x 60 mm x 14.1 mm).
• The screen is a 480 x 360 half-VGA+ display.
• Supports high-speed HSDPA networks for simultaneous voice and data usage, quick downloads and fast web browsing. Quad-band EDGE networks are also supported.
• Includes integrated GPS with photo geotagging support, plus built-in WiFi (802.11 b/g).
• Includes a microSD/SDHC memory card slot with a 2 GB card included (will support cards up to 32 GB), plus 256 MB of Flash memory.
• 3.2 MP camera able to record video, with flash, auto focus, image stabilization and digital zoom.

The Bold 9700 review is being compiled now, feel free to comment what you would like to see included in this review, and we’ll do our best to address your questions. Also, sorry about the lame pics. I took them with the Storm2 and they didn’t come out so good. I’ll have better pics soon.

Yes, the biggest improvement in the Storm 2 is the typing technology and the ease at which you can type on the touchscreen. Typing on the Storm 2 is a more reassuring feeling versus the 9530, and it is far easier than typing on other touchscreen devices such as the iPhone. Another huge improvement is the addition of WiFi.

But what about everything else? There are a host of small improvements on the Storm 2 that don’t get as much exposure but will provide you with a little added comfort.

The SIM card is easier to remove

The BlackBerry Storm2 has a little opening in the back of the SIM card slot that helps in removing your SIM card. On the Storm 9530, you had to use a technique involving pinching the top of your SIM card, pulling up slightly and pulling out. For someone who switches SIM cards a lot, this is a great little improvement.

The battery cover is easier to remove

Personally, I wasn’t elated about the battery cover on the Storm 9530/9500. The original Storm required you to lift two latches on either side of the battery door, and it wasn’t the most convenient system. The Storm 9550 has the same battery door opening as the Curve 8520, making it much more convenient to open.

There is a power button on the top

Where the original Storm had a lock button, it has been replaced with a power button. This is a nice change in that the button serves a dual purpose. It will put your device in lock/sleep mode and if you hold it down, your device will power off.

The convenience keys are rubberized

The new rubberized convenience keys have been showing up on all of RIM’s latest devices including the Curve 8520. Like the trackpad, this seems to give the device a longer shelf life and will go a long way to keeping your device pristine.

The Speaker is on the bottom of the device

If you do a lot of conference calling, or you enjoy putting people on speakerphone, you will really appreciate this new feature. Having the speaker on the bottom of the phone means you get much more clarity from your speakerphone conversations.

We’ll have more Storm2 content coming at you soon.

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In our first series of posts comparing the BlackBerry Storm 2 (Storm2) and the Storm 9530, we’re going to compare the relative typing experience.

I have been using a BlackBerry Storm for some time now, and while the typing experience is incredibly slow compared to something like the Bold, it’s not a fair comparison. A more fair comparison would be with the other touchscreen devices on the market.

Having used both devices for a while now, I thought I would put together a little video and some impressions about the relative typing experience on the Storm 9530 and the Storm2.

It’s obvious that the Storm 2 is a better typing experience, but by how much? In the above and below videos, I type the same sentence on both devices, not as any kind of proof, but just to give you an idea of how it feels. It’s this sensation and feeling of confidence that is the real difference between the devices. While the Storm 2, on average, seems faster, I would have to say that it’s the typing sensation, which is ultimately a feeling of confidence, that is the real difference.

Something that is very apparent in comparing the Storm2 with the 9530, is the huge typing improvement that comes with OS 5. With the latest software, the 9530’s typing experience is greatly improved due to RIM adding probability-based entry with advanced auto-correct. As you’re typing, you can get suggestions or change your settings to have the device auto-correct for you, making the typing experience much faster. With OS 5, there is much less separating the two devices in terms of typing experience.

As we all know, the Storm2 uses multi-touch which allows you to hold the alt key and press a number. The only problem is that while holding the alt key, you can’t really press the numbers beside it as effectively as you can press the numbers further from it. For example, holding the alt key means the numbers 3,6 and 9 are easy to press, but the number 7 is unresponsive.

Overall, I have to say that OS 5 has really closed the gap between devices in terms of typing. That being said, the improvements to the hardware such as the 3.25 inch, half-VGA glass display, makes the typing sensation much better. Typing on the 9530 has a bit too much give and the wiggle it does in the casing makes the typing experience a little off. But this has all changed with Storm2. The device is solid as a rock and after using it for some time, you’ll feel the difference.

Today is the first day of owning a BlackBerry Storm 2 and as with every BlackBerry, you can get apps preloaded, from App World, and from third party stores such as ours.

In general, carriers do a fairly bad job at preloading your device with applications that are useful. Alternatively, there are a ton of great apps in App World and elsewhere that anyone can download. So let’s take a look at the state of the apps for the Storm2 at launch.

Preloaded: VZ Navigator by Verizon Wireless and Networks in Motion

Description: VZ Navigator is one of the few preloaded apps on a Verizon device that is actually very useful. The app takes a little while to find a GPS signal, but I find the delay to be pretty standard. One of the great things about this application being on the Storm2, is that the large, high resolution screen makes it easy to read maps. The speakerphone on the Storm2 is fairly loud too, which makes audio directions easy to follow.

Alternatives: In App World, Telenav is one of the best applications but sadly it’s not available for the BlackBerry Storm2. Personally, I would be happy sticking to VZ Navigator for the time being, until some of the other companies catch up.

Preloaded: V CAST Music by Rhapsody

Description: The V CAST Music app is one of many music applications that carriers load onto your device and it charges way too much for what it offers. If you want music on your device, just side load your personal library. It’s incredibly easy.

Alternatives: As for a third party music service, I would love to recommend the 7digital music service, but at the time of writing this, it is not available for the 9550. The App World product page lists it as available for the 9700, but no Storm2 love. Looks like you’re going to have to stick to side-loading.

UPDATE: It turns out that the 7Digital app is available for the Storm2, it just hasn’t worked its way out of App World’s web cache yet. So feel free to download this application as an alternative to V CAST.

Preloaded: V Cast Song ID

Description: V Cast Song ID tells you what you’re listening to. Just play the song for the app and it will analyze the song and search the database for a match. Personally, I found it rarely works.

Alternatives: Again, I would be happy to recommend Shazam, but at the time of writing this, it is also not available in App World for the Storm2 9550. Unless BlackBerry Cool readers can find something else, you’re out of luck.

Preloaded: VzwTones by RealNetworks

Description: VZW Tones, like V CAST music, is not giving you any value for money. Again, I’m not saying you should illegally download music and side load it, as cheap as that is, I’m saying there is a more economical way of getting ringtones.

Alternatives: This is one area where the BlackBerry Cool store actually offers some great applications for the Storm2. MP3 Ringtone Creator ($6.95) and Business Professional Ringtones are two examples. If you’re looking for mainstream artists, you’ll have to refer back to the V CAST Music alternatives.

Preloaded: The Sims 3 and Tetris

Description: Both of these games come preloaded on the Verizon Storm2 and they definitely aren’t the best games available. In what was probably a big cash deal, EA seems to have bought the exclusive rights to the gaming section, leaving no room for what are much better games.

Alternatives: Games available for the Storm2 in App World include Flight Path (FREE), Pixelated Plus ($2.99), and Parking Lot ($2.99). The BlackBerry Cool store has some great content as well. We sell Berry Wars ($1.99), Jewel Breaker ($1.49) and Nintaii, one of the few Storm specific games out there ($4.99)

Preloaded: Slacker Radio

Description: Like the VZ Navigator, it’s almost surprising when you find an application that you like come preloaded on a device. Slacker is a perfectly good radio player for the Storm2 and I would recommend trying it out.

Alternatives: Also worth considering is Nobex Radio Companion ($3.99). With over 4000 radio stations from around the world, it’s definitely worth trying.

Preloaded: City ID

Description: City ID is a very basic app that for free, will display the city and state for a number you enter. For $1.99 per month, City ID will display the City & State of an incoming call.

Alternatives: Ideally, you would download Poynt for the Storm2, but as of writing this article, it is not available. What is available for the Storm2 is Privus. For $5.99 per month, Privus gives you true caller ID. It’s more accurate than traditional caller ID as it gives you the name of those not in your Address Book.

Other apps that come preloaded on the device include:

• MySpace by RIM
• Yahoo! Messenger by RIM
• Google Talk by RIM
• AOL Instant Messenger by RIM
• Windows Live Messenger

As I have received this device just before launch, I can’t be 110% certain that my device looks exactly like yours, but I’m fairly positive. For example, I can’t be certain if it’s just my device, but it seems as though BlackBerry App World finally comes fully preloaded with the device. Before, App World was a web link, or totally non-existent.

Also, the Verizon BlackBerry Storm 9550 I have here did not come preloaded with BlackBerry Messenger. This is incredibly strange and it may just be the device I have on me. If you purchased the device today, let us know. Did it come with BBM?

UPDATE: I’ve just learned that while the review unit I’m using is using final software, there are a few apps that will be preloaded at retail that are not on my unit. They are:

Preloaded: Bing

Description: Bing is the search engine by Microsoft; the Ballmer answer to Google. In fact, Ballmer has even called Google out, saying: “We’re going to do things that surprise [Google], and they’re going to hustle to catch back up and copy us.” Bing is actually a pretty decent search tool, and it would have been nice to have this preloaded on the device to compare with Google.

Preloaded: V-Cast Video

Description: The V CAST Video service offers some semi-brands including the Comedy Network, Adult Swim, ABC News, ESPN, NBC etc. While the branding sounds good, the content itself is mediocre. The service costs $10 a month and you don’t get any full episodes of your favorite shows. Even though the Verizon website says you can watch full games, a Verizon rep told me today that this isn’t the full truth. You may get some games in full, but the vast majority are only in clip form.

Alternatives: At this point, there is really nothing better than YouTube. Until the major broadcasting companies see value in bringing full quality content to your device, we’re stuck with clips. If we’re going to be watching clips, just stick to YouTube, it’s free and probably has more clips than Verizon will ever have.

Preloaded: Visual Voicemail

Description: The Visual Voicemail application from Verizon is a welcomed feature. The service costs $2.99 (not positive on the price, their website isn’t the easiest to navigate), making it a decent add-on to your plan.

Alternatives: PhoneTag is a really good premium voicemail service. The voicemail gets transcribed and sent to your email inbox, making it an effective way to check and prioritize your mail. It’s much more expensive ($9.95 per month) than the Verizon Visual Voicemail, but it also provides a little more value.

I have to say, Verizon made my day/weekend with their official BlackBerry Storm 9530 OS 5.0.0.328 update. While I am not using the latest OS build on a Verizon 9530 (actually TELUS), installing it on any 9530 is very easy.

If you’re a Verizon customer, you can simply grab the update from Verizon and install it like you would any OS. If you’re on another carrier, you have to remember to delete the vendor.xml file, allowing you to use the OS update for your carrier. You will find the XML file at:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Research In Motion\AppLoader

The first thing you will notice about this update is that the transitions between portrait and landscape have been improved. While the transition is still not perfect, it is definitely better. I personally really enjoy the use of scaled transitions between screens. It’s a subtle difference yet it makes everything easier on the eyes.

There are a host of cosmetic changes in OS 5. For example, lightly tapping an icon gives it a fading blue light, a small enhancement to the previous highlighting technique. Also, leaving your finger over a message subject or name, will now produce a light blue loading bar that will search for the respective field. Before, it was more of a sparkle wipe. Again, these are all very minor, but still something a BlackBerry enthusiast would notice.

There are also a few improvements in the way you make phone calls. You can now call someone much more easily from the SMS screen. Simply press the menu button and the call feature appears. You can also press the “call” button and a message screen pops up asking whether you would like to call the contact. The only thing RIM hasn’t implemented here is the ability to press the call button while not inside the message body. Pressing the call button in the SMS folder brings you to the dial screen. Much like pressing it on the homescreen.

While the load time for the device doesn’t seem to have improved, the loading bar has. Before, the loading bar seemed to jump, whereas now it seems much more gradual.

Storm users will particularly like that the camera is now blazing fast. There is almost zero delay when taking a picture. From the time you press the camera icon, to the time the picture is saved to your media card, is a matter of maybe 1.5 seconds. Before, it seemed this process would take around 3 seconds.

This isn’t the first time we have seen OS 5, as we have seen it on the Storm2 prerelease device we had in-house. There have also been a great number of OS 5 leaks circulating which give you a preview of what it will look like. In the end, it’s best to wait for the official release as it means all your third party apps will work smoothly, and you can be more certain it won’t brick your device.

The above impressions are more geared towards the 9530, but all BlackBerry devices running OS 5 will see improvements. You can expect the following to be rolled out on all BlackBerry devices before 2010:

• Threaded SMS.
• When sending pics, you can resize individual photos to 1024×768, 800×600 or 640×480 is given.
• Flag emails for follow up. You can even change the properties of your flag, with the ability to define colors and the priority.
• Calendar can now accept conference call information, allowing you to dial straight in.
• RIM has updated the Maps application to render around two times as fast as they did in the past. In addition to this, scrolling around and zooming in should no longer result in lagging.

Download OS 5.0.0.328 for your BlackBerry Storm 9530 today!

With the BlackBerry Bold 9700 now official, we can take a look at the known specs for the device. Overall, things are to be expected. The device takes everything that the 9000 had, and improves on it. The easiest way to understand the Bold 9700, is to see how it compares to its predecessor.

As you can see from the above image, the form factor is significantly more compact in the 9700 than with the Bold 9000. Every dimension of the 9700 is smaller, especially the weight. The Bold 9700 weighs in at 89 grams, while the Bold 9000 weighs in a 136 grams.

In terms of available features, the Bold 9700 packs everything that the 9000 had, but a few changes have been made. Most notably, the device uses a trackpad, whereas the Bold 9000 uses a trackball. This is unofficially the new standard at RIM and it’s very welcomed. Trackballs tend to break and a trackpad will mean the device lasts much longer. Also improved is the camera. The standard for RIM is now 3.2MP, which provides decent pictures, good enough for sharing on the Internet at least.

The media capabilities of the 9700 are better than the 9000. The 9700 packs 480×360, whereas the Bold 9000 comes in at 480×320. Again, everything we’re reading about this device tells us it’s a little better spec wise with a much more modern form factor.

There isn’t anything spectacular to report in terms of new media functionality but that is to be expected. We do know that this device will ship with OS 5, meaning the media experience from a software perspective will be a little improved. Overall, OS 5 is going to make this device a little better in terms of navigation and user interface.

The battery life has been significantly improved on the 9700. RIM has managed to add 1.5 hours of talk time and 8.5 days of life to the battery. This may turn out to be the most loved feature of them all.

So it looks like the Bold 9700 is shaping up to be a top-of-the-line device. Running on 3G HSDPA networks, packing a 624 MHz processor, 256 MB Flash memory, built-in GPS and WiFi, 3.2MP camera and a sharp display, you can’t go wrong with this BlackBerry.

The new BlackBerry Storm 2 9550 by Verizon is shaping up to be the BlackBerry touchscreen device we’ve all been waiting for. I remember back when Mike Lazaridis was taking criticism for the original Storm and his response was “sorry it was the number 3 selling smartphone in North America. I wish it could have been number 1.” Well this is the second time out the gate and they definitely have it right this time.

Will sales of the Storm 2 beat the original Storm? If the hardware is the deciding factor I would say yes. But what about all those who have bought the original Storm? How many will upgrade? How many new touchscreen BlackBerry users will this device convert? These are all questions that will have to wait to be answered until after the device launches, which we expect to happen in early November. Some are suggesting late October and this could also be true. We’re seeing a lot of leaks happening which means we are approaching launch date. Until then, lets take a look at the pre-release version of the Verizon BlackBerry Storm 2 aka 9550.

Something to keep in mind about this article is that it’s about a pre-release device. While the form factor will remain, it’s hard to say what will happen to the software. Also, it’s difficult to say what iteration of 9550 I have in my hands. I have heard rumors that the Storm 2 has gone through over 8 iterations as the RIM continually improves on the touch interface and the end user experience.

As previous leaks have mentioned, the latest BlackBerry Storm 9550 has some technology under the hood that makes for a much better typing experience. While the first BlackBerry Storm had a single contact point, the latest BlackBerry shows four contact points, dispersed equidistant to each other across the touch screen. It’s just speculation but this is largely what makes the typing experience so much better on the Storm 9550.

The touchscreen is really what you first fall in love with about the device. With my original Storm, it had a bit of a shake to it, and it felt a little loose in its casing. The BlackBerry Storm 9550 doesn’t have this in the slightest. The screen is a rock solid piece of glass, and pressing the screen really gives you a feeling of confidence.

As you can see from the pictures, the outside of the device has had some significant changes. The major change is obviously the Call, End, Return and Menu buttons are built into the screen, rather than being separated. While using our pre-release device, I found that at first the keys were slightly unresponsive, but a battery pull really helped. Because these buttons are now, and I’m assuming here, driven by software rather than physical keys, much of their stability and usability are dependent on your device’s performance. Again, this is one of the downsides of reviewing a pre-release device, you’re trying to comment on something that isn’t a finished product, so there’s really no telling if it will be like that when it launches. Other form factor changes include the side keys which are now rubber. This adds some durability to the device.

The typing experience is definitely improved on the BlackBerry Storm 2. Once you pick up the device and start typing, you can feel yourself getting to speeds that are closer to that of the QWERTY devices. It is really apparent that the new multi-contact point system means you can be pressing keys much faster and the device has no problem recognizing the letters. While I was making mistakes, it was a huge leap over the Storm 1.

When we first posted about the Storm 2, we asked BlackBerry Cool readers what they would like to know about the device, many readers asked questions that we simply can’t answer such as exact release dates and carriers, but there are a few we can address. Many readers wanted to know about the battery life. I really can’t say this battery is a huge improvement in any way over the original Storm. I was able to use the Storm 2 for an entire day without fully draining the battery, but any power user will tell you that regular battery charges are common for a BlackBerry.

The camera on the BlackBerry Storm 9550 is a standard BlackBerry camera. It’s a 3.2 megapixel camera, and the video quality seemed about the same. The pre-release Storm 2 I was using still had the camera lag that I experienced with the Storm 1, but it was slightly better. Camera lag is one of those issues that will certainly be addressed when the device officially launches, and being a software issue, I can’t say anything for certain about it given this isn’t the final version of the device.

The media player is slightly improved on the Storm 2 which is great considering this will be a device heavily marketed to the consumer space. If you use the speaker often, you’ll like the fact that the speaker is located at the bottom of the device, meaning you get better sound quality as it sits on your desk.

As you can see from the above picture, this device is using OS version 5.0.0.164. I can’t say for sure if this is the OS that the 9550 will have when it launches, but there are some decent improvements that I can see already. One of the most obvious changes is that the device finally has threaded text messaging. There are also some minor changes such as menu transitions and the overall responsiveness of the device has been improved. Switching from portrait to landscape was completely seamless and there was almost zero lag.

When RIM acquired Torch Mobile, it became official that they were developing a WebKit based browser and that we can expect a browser comparable to other smartphones such as the iPhone. It is really too bad that we aren’t getting that browser on this device, because the Storm 2 could have greatly benefited from it. While the browser was slightly better, it wasn’t anything spectacular. I really appreciated the ability to browse over WiFi, even though the device has 3G. As we mentioned before, the device now has multi-touch support, which is great for things such as copy and paste, but I was really hoping to be able to zoom in and out using two fingers as per the iPhone. Again, being a pre-release device, this may come when the device launches, but I doubt it. This sort of functionality will likely come with the WebKit browser that’s in development.

Overall, this device makes for a much more solid touchscreen smartphone experience. So many of the issues that I had with the Storm 1, which were all software related, have largely been addressed. What’s really positive is that this device isn’t even a finished product, and it already feels like a winner. Once we get closer to launch, we’ll see even more software improvements, which go a long way in making the end user experience better.

We’ll continue to post about the Storm 9550 and get around to answering more of your questions about the device. As we draw closer to launch, we’ll probably get our hands on an updated Storm 9550 which could prove to be even more solid than the one we’re using now.

We have had the Photobucket Mobile Uploader here at the office for some time now and it’s a great application because of it’s simplicity.

We all know photobucket as one of the biggest and best managed image hosting and sharing sites out there. Photobucket Mobile Uploader is an application geared towards getting your pictures off your smartphone automatically. It quietly uploads them every ten minutes to your your choice of Photobucket account, email, and PC . You can also force an update if you need to post a pic right away.

The app is simple and clean with no hiding of options with a menu hierarchy. There are also no pop-up “are you sure?” bubbles which makes sense because the only time you’re going to actually be in the application is for configuration. The uploader allows to to use your camera freely while it takes care of the photo management.

After snapping a few photographs, I realized that I didn’t give a second thought as to when my next sync or file transfer will be: it was all taken care of.

If you’re a T-Mobile customer, pick your device and download Photobucket for Blackberry.

Although it seems like an eternity, the BlackBerry Storm has only been for sale for almost a year.  RIM went back and reworked with mechanics of their touch screen and cooked up a new(er) operating system. 

Now, we at BlackBerryCool.com have gotten our hands on a pre-released 9550.  Yes, the screen rebound is much better, thanks to the shortened travel distance, and we’re enjoying the more responsive keyboard.  Both of these aspects have been significantly improved. 

Instead of writing a review of a pre-release device, we’d like to know what burning questions you have about the device.  We’ll work to answer them.  Again, considering that this is a pre-release device, there are still bugs, quirks and gremlins clearly running wild. 

So drop us a line on what you’d like to know and we’ll do our best to answer your questions!

Update: Thanks for the participation! Winners will be informed via email shortly.

We’re giving away 20 AddOnis apps: the ultimate in BlackBerry configuration. To win, just comment what your next model BlackBerry is going to be and why. The best 20 entries will enjoy the all-in-one utility that your BlackBerry can’t be without.

AddOnis (formerly BerryAddon) is the ultimate BlackBerry tweaking/configuration utility that allows to control some of the finer functions of your device. The Twinkler software team has managed to combine the utility of 5-8 separate apps that would normally cost $50.00 – $60.00 dollars, and did it all in less than 80k of memory. AddOnis also adds features to the device, letting you selectively block or permit calls from certain numbers, adding options to various alerts, adding a configurable missed call indicator, providing In-Call notifications and so much more.

Buy AddOnis, on special now through September 2009 for %25 off, only $7.47!

RIM’s 2nd quarter fiscal 2010 financial results conference call began at the close of the markets, at 5pm, Thursday, September 24th, 2009.

Before we begin a breakdown of RIM’s 2nd quarter fiscal 2010 financial results, there are a few BlackBerry Cool articles worth reading:

Rearch in Motion’s 1st Quarter Fiscal 2010 conference call

Lessons for App World – Keep your Market Open For Developers

App Store Numbers are Deceptive – Beware of Bulk Apps RIM

Improving the App World Experience

RIM vs Carriers – Balsillie and Lazaridis Strategies to Push App World

The reason these links are important is because RIM talked a lot about how BlackBerry is becoming “mainstream.” This is because RIM is seeing a tremendous growth in the consumer market. It’s not that the enterprise market is shrinking, but that the consumer market growth is so large, it is basically overwhelming the enterprise market.

As per usual, Jim Balsillie took the call and updated investors on the 2nd quarter for the fiscal year ending 2010. Revenue was very strong at 3.5 billion, up 37% from last year.

This quarter saw 2 new smartphones introduced to the market, the BlackBerry Tour 9630 and the BlackBerry Curve 8520. While the Tour was an important addition to the BlackBerry lineup, it was not the focal point of the conference call. The BlackBerry Curve 8520 was the center of attention during this quarter’s report.

Net subscribers for the 2nd quarter were at the lower end due to the nature of the devices released. The Tour in particular is an upgrade device and not necessarily a device that brings new subscribers. The 8520, on the other hand, is the ultimate device for bringing in new BlackBerry subscribers. The device appeals to consumers as well as international users, due to the low price point. BIS users have steadily increased, and RIM’s customer base is seeing over 80% come from non-enterprise subscribers.

This doesn’t mean that RIM has forgotten about enterprise users. Keep in mind that enterprise is what provides RIM with a competitive advantage and while consumer may become a larger share of revenue, enterprise is still crucial to the brand. The BlackBerry MVS system as well as some upcoming enterprise features will help stimulate a steady growth in enterprise users.

One of the more interesting discussion points surround this conference call was the focus on the international component of RIM’s business. About 1/3 of RIM’s new subscribers were located outside of North America. With 9.2 million devices expected to ship in the 3rd quarter, this will likely come from North America as these devices are in the higher end of the price and feature spectrum. On the other hand, this figure of 9.2 million will become significantly increased in future quarters when RIM launches more low end devices that appeal to an international market.

ASP, or average sale price, is another focus of RIM’s conference call. Many of the investors who called in with questions wanted to know more about this. RIM continues to lower the ASP while marketing campaigns and great partnerships with carriers further lowers the cost of owning a BlackBerry. Jim Balsillie hinted towards some upcoming “integrated marketing campaigns” which sounds interesting, but is too vague to comment on.

As previously mentioned, the Curve 8520 was the focal point of this conference call. The Curve 8520 for GSM networks is the first with the touchpad and is the first BlackBerry to offer the standard BlackBerry services at a pricing point that is more “international.” In Europe and Latin America, the 8520 has seen incredible sales because its pricing point makes it competitive in local markets. Latin America has seen double digit growth!

The 8520 exposes the new face of RIM which is an international company. More so than any other quarter or year, RIM is seeing sales of BlackBerry devices all over the world. Countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, Venezuela and Mexico, are all purchasing the 8520, the affordable BlackBerry.

Not only is the 8520 exposing an international side of RIM, but it also brings to light the fact that RIM is becoming increasingly a consumer smartphone manufacturer. As the smarpthone industry progresses, we’re seeing the line blur between enterprise and consumer, and a device that has been traditionally meant for business users, is now a device for the average user.

Back to School promotions were very effective due to this shift. Back to School during this fiscal quarter have been the most successful yet. In France, 3 carriers had a special rate plan and a lower pricing point for the 8520, making it more attractive for a larger market. Students are a real opportunity within the consumer market, and RIM is reaping the rewards of this consumer/enterprise split.

We can all agree that a smartphone is nothing without a solid developer community. RIM knows this and has invested heavily in their developer community. It seems RIM believes web application development is the future of smartphone applications, and the developer community is being given tools and resources to help further this type of development. According to Jim, web application development brings together the best of Java and the best web development.

In terms of popular applications, social media is on top. BlackBerry users have downloaded over 20 million social network type applications including MySpace and Facebook. Second in line came radio applications such as Slacker and Pandora, which have seen over 7 million downloads.

The news about the Torch Mobile acquisition was minimal, and RIM only mentioned that the acquisition would be beneficial for developers and provide a platform that was on par with the market. Something that has not been mentioned, is that RIM has bought into the development of Webkit. By purchasing Torch Mobile, RIM now owns developers who are part of the core contributors to the open source technology that drives much of the smartphone web browsing technology. If they wanted to, RIM could leverage these contributors to insert code into the open source platform that was beneficial to the BlackBerry platform, but not necessarily to the other smarpthones. This is purely conjecture on the part of BlackBerryCool.com and was not part of the conference call.

We’ll bring you more on the questions posed after the RIM 2nd quarter fiscal 2010 conference call soon. Feel free to comment your thoughts and opinions about RIM’s situation in the 2nd quarter, and we’ll discuss.

Today BlackBerry Cool passed 7,000 posts! The site is doing very well almost 5 years and 7,000+ posts later and we’re all excited about things to come.

Here are some great articles from the past:

The BlackBerry 9700 is the BlackBerry Onyx? (For the record, we were the first to bring you this tidbit.)

T-Mobile BlackBerry Gemini 8520 review, pics and comparisons

“Storm vs. iPhone: which will win?” (Weekly Contest)

And of course, best of all, is our very first post dated the January 5th, 2005:

BlackberryCool.com Now Live!

Something else you might enjoy, remember when we interviewed the Boy Genius?

The BlackBerry Cool Podcast: Boy Genius Interviewed (Pt. 1)
The BlackBerry Cool Podcast: Boy Genius Interviewed (Pt. 2)
Exclusive: Boy Genius interviewed – round 3

Looking forward to another 7,000 posts with the BlackBerry Nation!

What was your favorite BlackBerry Cool article? Comment and let us know!

Yesterday’s article had a great response from BlackBerry Cool readers, and it’s important to follow up with some points to consider. Special thanks goes out to Peter Werry from Multiplied Media for help with the article.

On RIM and the Consumer Space

It’s important to note that the consumer space is getting an incredible amount of internal focus at RIM. This is evidenced by the fact that RIM refer to themselves as “BlackBerry” rather than “RIM” at trade shows, they release numerous updates for App World, and they have expanded the BlackBerry Developer Conference to almost twice what it was last year. Last quarter alone, we saw RIM nearly double their total sales in the consumer space. All signs are pointing towards the consumer space being a key market for the smartphone industry and RIM isn’t about to ignore it.

On Security and the BlackBerry Browser

In everything they do, RIM never forgets that security and reliability are the key to a successful enterprise product. However, just because there needs to be a focus on those two features doesn’t necessarily mean the browser and other aspects of the device have to suffer.

RIM has made public comments about their intentions to improve the browser. TD recently released a speculative report on the subject as well. While security and reliability no doubt remain a key focus of the platform, RIM has made obvious moves towards improving their browser and making it more consumer focused. This is evidenced by their acquisition of Torch Mobile for their WebKit software. We could all agree that RIM’s browser tends to fall short in the consumer world, and we can be fairly confident they will be able to bring it to a level that will make them an industry leader in the mobile browser space once again.

On the Issue of WiFi and Pricing

In yesterday’s article, it was suggested that WiFi is left out as a feature on some devices in order to allow for price flexibility. The truth is that it can actually become more costly for RIM to create two versions of a device, one with and one without WiFi. This is because of the costs associated with developing for different hardware configurations, and the administrative costs of treating them as separate entities. The decisions to go with or without WiFi are mainly driven by the carrier. Generally, RIM is very constrained by carrier demands.

On the Topic of App World

A few BlackBerry Cool readers have been very adamant that App World has essentially been a development disaster. The theory is that management got freaked out that they were missing some huge opportunities for growth and they pushed the application to release before it was ready. RIM has done a good job of upgrading App World to fix the bugs, but much of this should have been happening before launch.

The question for the future is: will RIM step up its game as it has been doing so far to meet the consumer market demands?

RIM may have to essentially re-write most of their key components, and expose much more of the device capabilities to 3rd party developers. Eventually, it’s all going to come down to which device has the best apps, the best network, and the best device capabilities. Look to the first quarter of next year to see if RIM will continue to lead.

So it seems as though 2009 will be the year of the upgrades. The following devices are rumored to hit shelves before 2010:

• The BlackBerry Onyx aka Bold 9700
• The BlackBerry Storm 2 9520
• The BlackBerry Essex
• The BlackBerry “Striker” 9100 (rumor probably has the codename wrong)

Lets take a quick look at each device, so you can see why 2009 should be dubbed “The Year of the Upgrades.” While these devices haven’t launched yet, and nothing is final, there are a variety of features that I would like to see ship with these devices, to truly add a great leap forward element for the device.

The BlackBerry Bold 9700

The BlackBerry Bold 9700 is essentially the Bold 2. It’s a slightly improved version of the Bold spec wise, but also in form factor. The Bold 9000, while it is in my opinion the flagship device of RIM, is a little bulky for today’s standards. The Bold 9700 addresses this and packs everything into a smaller form factor with minor improvements. Like all the devices I’ll describe, they are really great additions to the RIM product line, but we’re not seeing anything too revolutionary. I would definitely recommend this device to a Bold owner, but I would also like to see RIM raise the bar just a little higher.

My recommendation: For each device, add a feature that appeals to the target market of that device. The Bold 9700 is clearly aimed at the enterprise market, and therefore I would love to see the device ship with a feature that would appeal to the CEO and VP level users. This feature should have been a front facing camera. A CEO should be able to have a video conference with employees or clients on the go and a front facing camera would enable this. In general, a CEO on a BlackBerry 9700 should feel ahead of the competition and have access to a mobile office.

The BlackBerry Storm 2 9520

The BlackBerry Storm 2 is a huge improvement on the BlackBerry Storm 1. The device is faster, more responsive and the new touch interface makes typing much easier. Also, the multi-touch functionality adds a lot of potential for developers. That being said, it isn’t a huge jump from the Storm 1. Users who purchased the Storm 1 when it first launched, should have been purchasing what will be the Storm 2.

What it should have shipped with? OpenGl support. The Storm 2 is the ultimate consumer device and consumer apps are going to get bigger and graphically more intense. With a OpenGL support, developers can create new and innovative applications as well as creative user interfaces.

The BlackBerry Essex

The BlackBerry Essex is the Tour 2. The updates to the Tour include WiFi as well as a Curve series style keyboard. Again, this device is a great addition to the product line, but it could have shipped with a feature designed to really drive sales.

The Tour is a World Phone and a consumer device. The target market for this device is therefore somebody who loves rich media on their device, but also travels a lot. The recommended feature for this device is therefore an internal compass. While a BlackBerry has the ability to calculate True North using GPS, you have to have certain inputs in order to do so. With direction, longitude and latitude, you can calculate True North, but this creates some barriers for developers. An internal compass would allow for augmented reality applications, which would come in handy for the traveling consumer.

The BlackBerry 9100 “Striker”

While nothing is really known about the 9100, we’re expecting updates shortly. We do know that this will be the updated BlackBerry Pearl and I can bet you that, like all these other devices, it will be slightly upgraded in terms of performance as well as form factor, but nothing to really brag about.

While I can’t be certain because again, this device hasn’t surfaced, I can guess that it won’t have a tremendously better camera. This is the recommended feature for a BlackBerry Pearl user. A Pearl user target market is a consumer who likes a small and compact form factor. This user would benefit tremendously from a really nice camera and video setup. A camera setup much like the N97 would be a welcomed feature. The Pearl 9100 would ideally come with a 5 MP, 2592×1944 pixels, Carl Zeiss optics, autofocus, LED flash, video light and VGA at 30fps.

So there you have it. All the devices we will see in 2009 are updates of previous versions without anything absolutely major included. The above are my recommendations for features that would really drive home the launch of each device and get the community excited. Again, while none of these devices have launched and things can and likely will change come launch date, I seriously doubt anything I’ve mentioned will be coming soon.

The developer community around the iPhone is fairly different from that of the BlackBerry developer community in that iPhone developers have OpenGL at their disposal, allowing them to create visually rich applications, as well as as the marketplace and demographics are slightly different. While the BlackBerry Storm is capable of running OpenGL hardware-wise, we have yet to see the API’s unlocked.

Lets assume for a moment, and this might be a crazy assumption, that BlackBerry had OpenGL API’s (possibly with the Storm 2?), and that any iPhone app you see could be ported to BlackBerry. For this to be true, we would also need to see device memory increase, as well as perhaps a built-in compass.

With those assumptions, and there may be a few more, what applications have you seen for iPhone, that you would like for BlackBerry? Or rather, what are your favorite iPhone apps that aren’t available for BlackBerry?

Here are some that I would like to see, and they’re mostly for entertainment. I’m sure there are a ton of apps out there in various categories so share what you find.

Birdhouse
“Ever think of something for your Twitter that you don’t want to post right away? Birdhouse is the perfect place to put it.”

OldBooth
“Have you ever wondered what you’d have looked like in another era? How about your friends? Be a lady from 20s or a funky hairy hippie. Now you can turn into in the fastest way ever.”

Yelp Augmented Reality Easter Egg feature
“Download the new Yelp app (came out yesterday). So you shake your iPhone 3 times. That activates a feature called Monocle. A message should come up if you activated it. A blue box will come up saying “the Monocle has been activated.” It will create a button in the top right corner. Now you should be able to look at the bars, restaurants, etc. Only works on iPhone 3GS.”

Ocarina
“Ocarina is the first true musical instrument created for the iPhone. Both experts and beginners will be amazed by this innovative player. Ocarina is sensitive to your breath, touch and movements, making it even more versatile than the original.”

TapTapRevenge
“Tap Tap Revenge is a rhythm game similar in concept to games like Phase for the iPod, or the console titles FreQuency and Amplitude, all developed by Harmonix, which also makes Guitar Hero and Rock Band.”

Google Earth
“Hold the world in the palm of your hand. With Google Earth for iPhone and iPod touch, you can fly to far corners of the planet with just the swipe of a finger.”

Crayon Physics
“Crayon Physics is a 2D physics puzzle / sandbox game, in which you get to experience what it would be like if your drawings would be magically transformed into real physical objects.”

iEmoji
The Japanese are really into Emoji and it’s a fun way to make your SMS and BBM messages more fun. With iEmoji for BlackBerry, you would have access to a much broader range of cartoons to express yourself with.

Real Racing
“This new racing game is looking to add even more content to the racing genre for the iPhone and does this wonderfully.”

MouthOff
“MouthOff is a simple mouth simulation app for the iPhone. The idea behind the app is to provide a silly way to express yourself.”

Just a reminder to all the BlackBerry Curve 8520 and Curve 8350i owners out there that you can purchase a host of premium themes for these devices from Elecite.

You can download the following 10 premium themes for your Curve: Analog, Ascarii 2.0, Ulterior, Droid, Leopard, Eerie, iBerry, Inspirat, xBerry and Grunge.

Each BlackBerry Curve theme costs $6.99, check out all 10 of them here.

Have you ever been around a baby or child and watched them grab for your BlackBerry? We place so much attention and value on our BlackBerry devices and children recognize this. In the same way that kids love handling money because of its value to their parents, they love playing with a BlackBerry too.

The folks at Zeebu have made a free application that is unique in that it focuses on babies and children as their target market. BabyGo is a free app that is not only fun for your child, but healthy too!

The application is simple: load the app, give the device to your baby and let them play with it. The letters on the keyboard respond with the relative audio and visuals. Press the letter ‘a’ and hear a cute voice say “a.” The above video shows you just how simple and fun the app can be. You don’t have to worry about accidental emails or calls either. All keys are intercepted so your device is protected.

We pay so much attention to our BlackBerry devices and now, just as we teach our kids to share, we too can share our toys.

To get started, visit http://babygo.zeebu.com/download on your BlackBerry Browser.

For Storm users, visit http://babygo.zeebu.com/download/storm/.

You can also visit their homepage for more information or to have the application emailed to you.

One of my favorite apps on my BlackBerry is the new BlackBerry Messenger 5. The features, UI, and style all make messaging an awesome experience. One of my favorite features is the threaded messaging capabilities used. Sadly, this is a feature left behind when it comes to SMS on the BlackBerry. Supposedly, this is a feature soon to be coming to BlackBerry OS 5 in the future. While we wait for RIM to introduce truly threaded SMS I went on a search for third party apps to bring this much needed feature to my phone.

I tried a few different options and finally settled on Empower SMS Viewer. Empower has loaded their app with more features and UI tweaks than any other, yet it still seems somewhat useless to me. A true threaded SMS experience is when messages from people (incoming and outgoing) are grouped into a single message in list form, much like all popular IM clients do. BlackBerry devices currently do not offer this feature and will remove conversation points as individual messages are deleted from the inbox. Empower advertises their application as a “Threaded SMS Viewer for BlackBerry” but sadly this isn’t entirely true.

What Empower SMS Viewer does is skins your SMS messages with a custom UI, giving it a threaded IM look. What it doesn’t do though is combine messages into a single user, thus not changing the current functionality of BlackBerry messaging whatsoever. As far as skinning, Empower SMS Viewer does a great job. You can set custom headers, backgrounds, and fonts for your SMS messages. There is quite a bit of control available for these options. They also support contact pictures and a plethora of emoticons. If you’re looking to make your SMS messages look more interesting, then Empower SMS Viewer gives you the tools to make it as custom as you like.

Pros:

• Excellent skinning options
• Fast and efficient on many devices
• Gives your SMS messages a truly custom “threaded” look
• Adds emoticon and profile picture support to SMS

Cons:

• Not really a true threaded option
• High price

With a high price tag of $14.99 I’m not sure if it’s worth it. If skinning is your thing, then you can’t find a better app, just don’t be fooled by the “threaded” claims made by Empower as they simply are not technically true. I will continue to wait for RIM to roll out BlackBerry Messenger’s SMS capabilities (though as we all know, that could be a long time).

Robert Losch

Snakeskin battery cover, yellow scroll ball, and Turkcell carrier bottom panel.

In the past couple of years we’ve seen BlackBerry go from a business-oriented uber pager, into the swiss-army knife of smartphone entertainment and productivity it is today. With so many high-end devices on the street, my Bold is no longer as special as it was when it first launched late last year. Time for a change that will elevate my device ten floors above the pedestrian and into the penthouse.

The Bold was the first BlackBerry that could be easily customized with interchangeable battery covers. On launch they had red and blue faux leather, now there are dozens of battery covers available from gold snakeskin to pink denim. We got our custom kits from Cellular Nationwide Network: an OEM parts distributor with a thorough selection of BlackBerry custom parts and quick shipping.

For these custom devices we wanted to switch the silver bezel and buttons out for a matte black set, I also wanted to switch carrier tags to add some international flavor. Ordering a battery back is simple enough but for these other modifications we’re going to have to so some disassembling and warranty voiding. Taking the device apart was simple enough, putting it back together is a little tough so here’s a disassembly guide just in case.

I would like to note how light the BlackBerry Bold’s guts are without the battery and external housing. To me the bold is a computer in every sense, but taken apart it weighs about as much as an Oreo.

Black denim battery cover, black scroll ball, matte black bezel with blank carrier bottom panel, and a set of black buttons.

If you’ve done any BlackBerry case modifications that you’d like to share please email us at tips(at)blackberrycool(dot)com.

The BlackBerry App World catalog is now available online. You can browse all the applications available to download online and while you can’t purchase anything from the web, this feature is just around the corner.

The online catalog lets you browse by featured items, top downloads, categories or subcategories, as well as search for applications by name, “free,” “paid,” or “new.”

Each application page features a description, pricing, size of download, screenshots and reviews. Users can also see which BlackBerry smartphone, language and carrier the application is available for.

To download an application, you currently select “Get it Today” which allows you to enter an email address where a link to App World is embedded. From there, you pay for the app like any other from App World. This feature is going to get a major overhaul in the coming months.

Eventually, you’ll have an online version of App World that has all the functionality of the on-device App World. You’ll be able to purchase applications and keep an inventory of what apps you have downloaded in the past.

Personally, I would also like to see RIM implement much of the functionality you see in the Mobihand stores such as affiliate programs and potentially, the ability to push the app to your device from the web, thus circumventing the email portion of the process.

Check out the BlackBerry App World online catalog.

On Wednesday, Microsoft and Nokia announced an alliance to bring enterprise software to smartphones. The move is an explicit targeting of RIM’s core business and dominance in the smartphone market.

The alliance looks good on paper with Microsoft Office representing the vast majority of office software, and Nokia representing the majority of global handsets. Nokia’s VP, Robert Andersson, has already started calling out RIM.

“This is giving some of our competitors — let’s spell it out, RIM — a run for their money,” said Nokia executive vice-president Robert Andersson, in a telephone interview. “I don’t think BlackBerry has seen the kind of competition we can provide them now.”

The alliance will make Microsoft Office readily available on Nokia devices and provide greater integration of Microsoft products into Nokia devices.

So what does this mean for BlackBerry? Well it isn’t obvious just yet. Microsoft products are already easily viewed on a BlackBerry, and there are a host of options for users creating, editing and sharing Microsoft products from their BlackBerry device. So far, the alliance is boasting that the Nokia E-Series will now be imbued with the following features:

• The ability to view, edit, create and share Office documents on more devices in more places with mobile-optimized versions of Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft OneNote
• Enterprise instant messaging and presence, and optimized conferencing and collaboration experience with Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile
• Mobile access to intranet and extranet portals built on Microsoft SharePoint Server
• Enterprise device management with Microsoft System Center

The number of organizations that use the E-Series device is relatively small in North America and the above features are easily implemented in organizations that use BlackBerry. While there may be some cost savings on the software side for organizations, it isn’t enough incentive for an organization to change their entire device structure.

[Via]