Details have surfaced about the Bluetooth BlackBerry Watch accessory that was rumored a few months ago. The device will not be manufactured by RIM, but rather a third party accessory company.
The watch is a Bluetooth-connected device that serves as an alert system for your BlackBerry communications. If you’re in the car, on a bike, or traveling with your device not in-hand, the watch will keep you updated with alerts.
RIM has launched it’s new Bluetooth Headset for BlackBerry. Dubbed the HS-500, this first-party accessory is engineered to work seamlessly with your BlackBerry smartphone and costs US $79.99.
“Get the freedom of hands-free calling with the easy-to-use BlackBerry® Wireless Headset HS-500. With the simple touch of a button, you can answer, end, and mute calls, or activate voice dialing, even while you’re juggling your keys and coffee in the morning. Plus, the volume automatically adjusts and background noise is reduced, so your calls and turn-by-turn directions can be heard loud and clear in noisy environments. With the quality and performance you expect from a BlackBerry® product, the BlackBerry Wireless Headset HS-500 fits your life so you can hit the road with confidence.”
Features include:
Call control button: control calling features like, answer, end, mute and voice activated dialing with the press of a button
Automatic volume control and noise cancelation: hear and be heard loud and clear in noisy environments
Works with selected third-party GPS mapping applications: listen to turn-by-turn directions
RIM has announced a new Bluetooth Headset for BlackBerry. Dubbed the HS-500, this first-party accessory is engineered to work seamlessly with your BlackBerry Smartphone.
“Get the freedom of hands-free calling with the easy-to-use BlackBerry® Wireless Headset HS-500. With the simple touch of a button, you can answer, end, and mute calls, or activate voice dialing, even while you’re juggling your keys and coffee in the morning. Plus, the volume automatically adjusts and background noise is reduced, so your calls and turn-by-turn directions can be heard loud and clear in noisy environments. With the quality and performance you expect from a BlackBerry® product, the BlackBerry Wireless Headset HS-500 fits your life so you can hit the road with confidence.”
Features include:
-Call control button: control calling features like, answer, end, mute and voice activated dialing with the press of a button
-Automatic volume control and noise cancelation: hear and be heard loud and clear in noisy environments
-Works with selected third-party GPS mapping applications: listen to turn-by-turn directions
The Tazzle IT system offers quick, easy, and secure desktop viewing and printing for files and photos on your BlackBerry. This easy to set up USB Bluetooth device provides secure access to your BlackBerry files from your PC.
The fastest and easiest way to view, print and send e-mail message content, attachments, files, and photos from a BlackBerry® smartphone to any PC using Tazzle Desktop Software. This unique hardware and software combination effectively turns the PC into an instant peripheral for a BlackBerry smartphone, allowing direct access to the PC’s screen, printing, and storage capabilities, while securing the privacy and data on the smartphone and the PC.
Here’s a video detailing how easy it is to set up and use Tazzle IT.
Tazzle IT is recommended for most newer model BlackBerry smartphones, including the BlackBerry® Bold™, BlackBerry® Curve™ 8900, and BlackBerry® Tour™ smartphones. While Tazzle IT will run on older BlackBerry devices, performance on these devices has not been optimized. The Tazzle IT Desktop Software runs on Windows XP. Tazzle IT is priced at $79.95 and on sale at www.tazzleit.com.
VQ CarFinder are giving away 10 VQ CarFiner Bundles through BlackBerry Cool and all you have to do is comment to win.
The application helps you remember where you parked your car by integrating a GPS-enabled BlackBerry with the car’s Bluetooth. As you drive, the application recognizes that the Bluetooth signal is on and tracks your GPS location. When you park you car and turn off the engine, the Bluetooth signal is cut, signaling to the application to mark your GPS location and therefore where you parked. If your car doesn’t have Bluetooth, you can buy a Bluetooth car charger from within the app for $19.99.
To win 1 of 10 bundles through BlackBerry Cool, tell us; “have you ever forgotten where you parked?”
On top of the BlackBerry Cool giveaway, VQ CarFinder is also running their “Lost My Car” contest where users can win 1 of 3 BlackBerry devices. Honourable mentions win $25 BBerry Accessory Store e-Gift Cards.
RIM has just introduced a new version of the BlackBerry Smart Card Reader, which will help keep your organization’s BlackBerry devices and desktops secure. The new BlackBerry Smart Card Reader is a lightweight, wearable, ISO 7816 compliant card reader that enables proximity controlled access to a user’s BlackBerry and computer.
The Card Reader uses Bluetooth 2.0 with advanced AES-AES-256 encryption to enable secure pairing and communications between the reader, BlackBerry, computer and PKI applications.
The new BlackBerry Smart Card Reader features:
Enhanced Design – a sleeker design measuring only 3.98” x 2.4” x 0.57” and weighing only 2.26 oz. makes the peripheral more comfortable to wear. It also features a larger display and backlighting for easier viewing, as well as power management features that can extend battery life between charges (900mAh integrated lithium ion battery).
Increased Security – when used with the BlackBerry® Enterprise Solution, the new BlackBerry Smart Card Reader offers additional security options that can be set by the IT administrator.
Additional Content Protection – IT administrators can configure settings to allow handset passwords to work only if the BlackBerry Smart Card Reader is within range. These settings add another layer of protection on top of the handset password and will also be enforcable for a secondary password* required to unlock encrypted data on the handset.
More Complex Bluetooth Passwords – the previous BlackBerry Smart Card Reader model supported a randomly generated 8-digit numeric Bluetooth pairing PIN and this new model can now support more complex Bluetooth pairing PINs with both characters (symbols, letters, capital letters) and numbers.
Support for a Wide Range of Smart Cards – the BlackBerry Smart Card Reader supports all ISO 7816 compliant smart cards and provides out of the box support for Personal Identity Verification (PIV) cards, Common Access Cards (CAC) and Safenet 330 cards.
UPDATE: The image you’re seeing isn’t the actual watch. It’s just a mock-up to show what the watch might look like.
Back at WES 2009, the VP of RIM Antoine Boucher, confirmed the upcoming BlackBerry Bluetooth Headset and apparently let it slip that a Bluetooth watch was in development.
The watch would be a hub for all your notifications including facebook, BBM, email and SMS. It may also include some of the functionality of the VM 605, which allows you to send music from your BlackBerry to the car stereo.
While it is rumor at the moment, I can tell you I definitely see this happening. RIM has a history of letting accessory details slip well in advance of the product launch. Before the VM 605 launched, journalists were playing with it months in advance. I’m predicting we’ll be seeing much more news about this accessory as we near the holiday season.
EasyTether is the simplest way to tether your BlackBerry to your Mac via Bluetooth. All you have to do is follow some basic setup procedures and run the application. Once your device and computer are connected, you can use your BlackBerry data plan to get Internet access.
Setting Up:
On BlackBerry:
Enable Bluetooth and ensure you are in the data coverage area
Set the device in discoverable mode
Start EasyTether and turn on the Bluetooth PAN connection
On Mac:
Start Bluetooth Setup Assistant (Bluetooth -> Set up Bluetooth Device)
Select “Mobile phone” or “Any device” as a device type
Wait until Mac OS X finds your BlackBerry
Select the “Use device as a network port” service
You will only have to do this setup the first time. The company also has a caveat that due to limitations in Bluetooth stack on BlackBerry, the first attempt to connect will often fail. Just ignore the error message and re-connect.
Entries that meet the Contest Rules & Reg’s will be posted for others to see, rate and comment on. Contest officially opens Aug. 4, 2009 and runs through Sept. 20, 2009 (end date subject to change).
You can purchase a license for VQ CarFinder for the introductory price of just $9.99 (regular price is $24.99). VQ CarFinder interacts with your in-vehicle Bluetooth or with a VQ Bluetooth Car Charger, which is just $19.99 plus S&H (regularly $39.99 plus S&H) when you purchase a VQ CarFinder license.
VQ CarFinder is an app that automatically remembers where you parked your car and helps you find it.
All you have to do is find a parking spot and VQ CarFinder will automatically register where you parked your car, and then when you want to find it again, simply click the VQ CarFinder icon on your BlackBerry, and BlackBerry Mpas will guide you back to the parking spot. The map comes with directional arroves that are continuously updated as you walk to the car.
The app works with a combination of software and in-vehicle Bluetooth to determine when and where the car is parked. When the user starts their car, VQ CarFinder notes the existence of the Bluetooth signal and automatically launches the GPS; when the user turns off their car, VQ CarFinder notes the loss of the Bluetooth signal and stores the last GPS waypoint as the location of the parked car.
