10 $50 Amazon Gift Certificates Draw from Zumobi!!, Jul 18

If you really dug the standard Icon iBerry theme, Bplay just busted out a Today version of the iBerry Blackberry theme, letting you get a better view of your incoming messages, meetings and calls on your home screen. On top of that, you get four of your top apps shown in a bottom dock, just like the classic iPhone style. For the full-blown Macophile, the Finder theme has also returned, featuring a familiar bottom dock and icon set. Of course, the iBerry theme might be admitting some defeat to the iPhone hype, wouldn’t it? You could always scope out the re-released Crossbar theme, or some other fresh Next Gen themes like Reflex Today Plus.

Ringtones are without a doubt one of the most popular mobile markets out there, and apparently a healthy chunk of them aren’t playing by the rules. The European Union has looked at over 500 websites and found that 80% garnered investigation in regards to misleading charges, secret contract agreements, and misusing the word “free”. There’s an FAQ detailing how the EU is going to continue the process, and they’ve already posted a list of many retailers who have been flagged, so before you buy any ringtones, be sure to make sure they’re legit, and for your own sake, read the fine print. In the end, you could just use cellsea to convert your own ringtones…

(via cellular-news)

The latest BlackBerry operating system has been making the rounds by way of private beta builds for awhile now, but it looks like a few carriers are starting to make them publicly available, including Orange UK for the BlackBerry 8120 and BlackBerry 8320, as well as TIM Italy for the 8100, 8300 and 8310. Odds are these will work hunky-dory for your own device, so feel free to give ‘em a shot and get on fresh goodies like HTML e-mail viewing (if your BIS supports it), remote e-mail lookup, native document viewing, and plenty more.

(Pinstack via BerryReview)

The battle of the titans has commenced, and the first to the fight is Boy Genius who put the iPhone 3G against the soon-to-be-released BlackBerry Bold. Factors such as enterprise functionality, build quality, e-mail, keyboard, design and battery life are taken were taken into account for the review. At the end of the day, it was a pretty locked fight, even when it came to the screen. The review states that the BlackBerry Bold is second even to the 8800’s build quality, which really disconcerts me, having used an 8800 for a good long time and being generally impressed by its sturdiness. The application round went to the iPhone, which RIM should be downright ashamed of. They’ve been in the mobile game for so much longer that they should have gotten it right by now. Of course, Apple has an established relationship with developers for their computer segment, which provided a solid foundation to work with. Regardless, it’s a great review and worth checking out.

(via BGR, image via Slate)

We gave you a brief sneak peak during WES in May, but today is the day Zumobi has officially announced their free mobile widget application for BlackBerry. What exactly is a mobile widget application? Look at it this way: the power of the smartphones in the hands of the BlackBerry Nation gives us the ability to update our Facebook, check out cool Flickr images, and maybe even read BlackBerry Cool (ahem), all while on the go. However, tricking out your BlackBerry in such a fashion usually requires a bit of work, or at least a handful of applications. Zumobi gives you the power to do all this and more in one application, using a slick graphical interface of 16 widgets (or ’tiles’ as Zumobi likes to call them) to place all the mobile content you want on one pretty little screen.

Zumobi was kind enough to give us an advance build, as well as an instructional video which should give you a better feel of how the application works. You can find our initial impressions and the video after the jump. Stay tuned tomorrow for the full review, as well as some special prizes we have in store for you on Zumobi’s behalf.

Hit this link in your mobile web browser to download Zumobi for BlackBerry:

http://get.zumobi.com/bbcool

Click here for a Zumobi demo video and hands-on impressions

Once upon a time, VIP Communications sold GSM gateways. These magical gateways enabled extra-cheap calling by shunting the calls over the cell network, and saved the poor landline callers precious pennies and nickels every day. That’s when the big bad magenta monster, T-Mobile, came along and stomped VIP Communications into a legal pulp for overloading the wireless network in the areas around the gateways. VIP crawled away wounded and went to sell cheap cell time to enterprise through other means, but was still bitter about the situation.

One day when frolicking in the woods and gathering minutes, VIP Communications found a report…

Viigo’s sports portfolio is happily expanding, now locked onto Formula One, NASCAR, Tour de France and IndyCar news. Sports are a big part of Viigo’s new default channel listing, and the possibility of not only checking your scores, but also getting upcoming events, news items via RSS, and hey who knows, maybe even live video on your BlackBerry someday. If you’re packing the latest beta of Viigo, scope out the Sports channel, and if you’re still on the classic, hit menu, go to Add Channel, Sports, Chose Sport, then Motorsport to keep tabs on the fastest-moving billboards on the planet. Haven’t heard of Viigo? It’s a great little RSS-reader for your BlackBerry that’s working on delivering all sorts of content and services in its ongoing Project Tango. It’s free, so go on and pick up Viigo!

A security warning has been placed for BES 4.1 Service Pack 3 (4.1.3) through 4.1 Service Pack 5 (4.1.5) and BlackBerry Unite! earlier than 1.0 Service Pack 1 (1.0.1) bundle 36. The problem involves distilling PDF files in e-mail attachments on the server. Should a crafty hacker cook something up, the file could activate some code on the server once it was sent through the pipes tubes. Admins should make sure their software is as current as possible and disable PDF attachments until the issue is resolved. You can find out more about the BlackBerry Unite! vulnerability here and the BES vulnerability here.

(via Heise)

The bigger memory cards for BlackBerry can get pretty expensive, but this is a solid deal. Meritline is selling 8GB A-DATA microSD cards for a scant $39.99, complete with converter and free standard shipping within the US. The downside is that us international folks are boned - it looks like the only shipping method I qualify for up here in Canada is FedEx International which runs a scandalous $59.52. And here I was looking to replace my junky 512 card for the BlackBerry Bold. Looks like we’ll have to find another place for cheap memory cards up in the cold, desolate north… Seen any good deals lately?

(via BerryReview)

The latest rumours of a BlackBerry Thunder release date are pointing to mid-October on Verizon, no doubt to the fanfare of many. Both the iPhone 3G and HTC Touch Diamond have been setting a high bar for touchscreen devices, and no doubt RIM wants the BlackBerry Thunder out there ASAP so competitors don’t get too much of a head start. The Thunder is supposedly taking precedent over final touches on the BlackBerry Bold, now due out in September due to extraneous software tweaking. The little slip-up yesterday certainly whet our palette for the touchscreen BlackBerry, but that’s some bum news about the Bold. Hopefully the Canadian release is unaffected…

(via BGR)

A slick, ground-breaking theme from Bplay mysteriously vanished awhile back, to the disappointment of many, but for reasons unknown, Crossbar is now again available on Bplay. Oh, happy day. Seriously, if you haven’t checked this out, it’s one of the most innovative themes you’ll find out there. All of your icons go in a horizontal line which scrolls left and right as you chose icons. Not only stylish and simple, but also gets more icons on your home screen than standard Zen and Today styles. Hats off to Bplay for getting this one back on the shelves! The Explorer theme is back too, if you were missed your chance for a Vista-styled BlackBerry.

Mig33, a social network built on the mobile mentality, announced today that they’re going to be providing wallpapers and ringtones in their online store. These are some no-brainer additions to their already solid picture sharing and VoIP services, and they’re looking to add a lot more mobile-centric content. Facebook’s obviously the default for most of your social networking, and has a pretty good presence on BlackBerry, but it’s interesting to see how another network evolves from the ground up with the mobile lifestyle in mind. You can nab mig33 for BlackBerry here.

We just got wind of The Mistubishi City Chase, a Canada-wide event sponsored by BlackBerry. The goal is for teams of two to run around a big city and hit ChasePoints by overcoming a set of 12-15 challenges. Think of it as a smaller-scale Amazing Race. These can range from answering trivia questions, finding unique items, or complete bizarre tasks. This kind of situation sounds exactly where I would want a BlackBerry to quickly look up facts, get directions to remote parts of town, as well as get pictures of some pretty incredible situations. It’s just in Canada now, but is coming to the US and other locations soon. Check out some of the previous seasons, or tune in to CBC on Monday nights at 8:30.

Gadget guru Boy Genius has been toting around a BlackBerry Bold for at least a month now, and has posted a lengthy and juicy run-down of the device. A lot of it has to do with OS 4.6, but there’s plenty on build quality, screen, and speakers too. BlackBerry Messenger gets a significant overhaul, including ability to send videos, send messages to multiple recipients, show the music you’re listening to, and automatically change your status message when on the phone. Notifications for buddies coming online is a pretty sweet feature too.

Plenty more on the BlackBerry 9000 behind the jump!

We’re not going to show you the rest of the comic (for that, you’ll have to head to The Joy of Tech, which is a must-read anyways), but the snippet presented above does raise an interesting question: how big of a factor is Apple’s Apps Store in the ongoing smartphone wars? Would it benefit the RIM ecosystem to have a all-in-one shop for productivity, lifestyle and entertainment applications? Post a comment and let us know what you think.

(comic via The Joy of Tech)

Rogers busted out the Pink BlackBerry 8310 not too long ago, and word has it Telus will be following suit. Telus’ pink BlackBerry Pearl was raising money for breast cancer, and it’s a safe bet that they’re doing the same with this new BlackBerry 8330. Pink sells, especially to the female customers, and if the breast cancer donations are ongoing with this model, we can expect a lot more Canadian ladies packing a BlackBerry. Price point is likely to stay at around $149.99 on a three year contract.

(via BlackBerry Sync)

Can’t wait to get your hands on the touchscreen BlackBerry? Well, it may be here sooner than you think, since Expansys is now offering the BlackBerry 9500 on preorder. No word on pricing, but we do get a feature list. Any surprises? For one, miniUSB, not the microUSB that the BlackBerry Javelin seems to be carrying. The format may just be a one-off in order to save room, rather than a new standard for all BlackBerrys. It looks like Wi-Fi is only available in 802.11g, no a or b, so older flavours will be left in the dark. There’s also no mention of a camera, for anyone wondering. The rest of the info is pretty much old hat: it’ll be launching with OS 4.7, quad-band GSM plus 3G of the HSDPA variety and Bluetooth 2.0. Bottom line is if this is up for preorder now, it seems likely that the launch date will be before the end of August, as told by Verizon’s visual voicemail roadmap.

UPDATE: Looks like the pre-order has been pulled. Jumped the gun a little bit, eh, Expansys? No worries, we got a screen capture behind the jump just to prove it happened.

(via TrustedReviews)

BlackBerry Thunder features after the jump!

Last month our current writer for Windows Mobile Cool, Bambi Blue, was down at North by Northeast in Toronto covering some news for Trans Canada Radio. While enjoying lunch at a quiet, chic restaurant, one of these BlackBerry guys flung themselves violently against the front window overlooking the street - face-first, arms wide open. This was a fairly upscale place, so everyone there was stunned and aghast when the guy reached down to his scrollball and started rubbing it in a less-than-wholesome way. After doing a sexy little dance, BlackBerry guy number two came crashing in, doing all sorts of things to the first that kept the diners well and truly shocked. Unfortunately, they ran off before she could grab any pictures, but Bambi still learned a valuable lesson: BlackBerry guys are possibly the coolest mascots on the planet.

(video via CB)