We just got wind that a whole bunch of countries in Asia-Pacific will be able to get their BlackBerry jollies on the Sony Ericsson P1i. Some might snub their nose at the thought of using a stylus, let alone straying from their beloved ‘Berry, but this Sony Ericsson deal is packing a 3.2 megapixel camera which doubles as a business card scanner. Nice, but worth losing the keypad over?
Tag: BlackBerry-ConnectPage 2 of 2
Sony Ericsson P1i gets BlackBerry Connect
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By snooping around some early documents for AT&T’s unreleased Tilt, PDAStreet has confirmed that the HTC device will support BlackBerry Connect. In terms of specs, “the quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE smartphone should support AT&T’s UMTS/HSDPA 3G data network and include GPS, a 2.8 megapixel camera, 400MHZ CPU, a Windows Mobile 6-friendly 128MB of RAM, 256MB of ROM, a microSD slot, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0, USB 2.0, and high-capacity 1500mAH battery.” Release date is sometime soon, so if you’re in the market for push e-mail and 3G, this could be an option for you. When it eventually does hit the shelves, you’ll be looking at a $500 pricetag and two-years signed away.
Austrian carrier Mobilkom A1 has announced their release of the BlackBerry 8310, offering it for €199. To make the deal a little sweeter, Mobilkom A1 will throw in 6 months of free GPS navigation software for anyone picking up the 8310 before the end of October. It’s typical for Austria to get devices just a little bit after Germany, and the BlackBerry 8310 is no exception. Mobilkom A1 also took the opportunity to offer free BlackBerry Connect software for the Nokia E90, Nokia E61i and the Sony Ericsson P1i.
Press release behind the jump.
We don’t really know why we like making fun of BlackBerry Connect so much here at BBCool. Maybe it’s our blogger nature, forcing us to pounce, fierce and lion-like, on whichever wounded gazelle limps too far behind RIM’s otherwise svelte pack of great devices and strong stock price. That’s why it was disappointing to hear that the poor beast still has a bit of life left in her, coming by way of support from Taiwan’s second largest carrier, Taiwan Mobile.
Taiwan Mobile announced yesterday that it was rolling out BlackBerry Connect support for the Sony Ericsson P1i and Asustek M530W handsets, with BBC support for HTC devices possibly soon to follow. Taiwan Mobile started offering BlackBerry service to its customers in late 2006, and expects to have 10,000 BlackBerry subscribers by mid-2008.
So keep running, you steely-eyed gazelle. We’ll meet again in the tall grass of the Internet someday soon.
Dopod, the Asian carrier recently acquired by HTC, is now going to be supporting BlackBerry Connect. They’re going to be the first in Asia to carry the service, which may combat a noticeable lack of interest by many. For now, the 838Pro (Dopod’s brand of the Hermes) will be the only one sporting Connect 4.0, with more undoubtedly on the way. Dopod’s not carrying any BlackBerrys yet, so any foothold RIM can get in an exploding Asian market is vital while there’s still room to squeeze in, even if it’s only as software to start. With most of Dopod’s devices running Windows Mobile, and a wide reach spanning India to Australia, RIM has some catching up to do out in the south Pacific.
