Posted on November 30, 2007, at 11:35 am .
Oh, Boy Genius. What would we do without you? The 9100 will purportedly be carrying a 480 x 320 screen, a 624MHz processor, 1GB of on-board memory, GPS, Wi-Fi, 2 megapixel camera and be running on sweet, sweet 3G HSDPA. Hawt? Yes. You guys who have been clamouring for an all-in-one device? This sounds like it.
At least OS 4.3 will be on there (if not some mysterious new next-gen software), which means video recording and all the other features we’re seeing on recent BlackBerrys will be on the 9100. As for the keypad, you’ve got to wonder where it’s going to go, what with the screen being on par with the iPhone’s resolution. Yeah, there’s a lot of noise about a touchscreen device, but unless RIM has the cajones to say they can do the touchscreen keypad better than Apple, I think a slider format is a much more likely move. If they’re feeling kinky, maybe that roll-out keypad will see the light of day. Camerawise, there’s no upgrade planned, maybe since they stepped down from the Pearl 2’s initial 3.2 megapixels and didn’t want to disappoint again, but there’s still plenty of time for things to change. As for a release date, BG is sticking to his early ‘08 forecast, but as ever, that remains in the wonderful and exciting Land of Rumors.
Posted on October 16, 2007, at 11:30 am .
We spotted signs of HSDPA in Ottawa back in June, and now we can follow it up with an official announcement from Rogers, opening up their Vision program to a host of Canadian cities.
The expansion announced today introduces Rogers Vision services for customers in Greater Vancouver, Kelowna, Victoria, Whistler, Calgary, Edmonton, Fort McMurray, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Regina, Ottawa/Gatineau, Kingston, Sudbury, Barrie, London, Kitchener/Waterloo, Guelph, Windsor, Greater Montreal, Quebec City, Chicoutimi and Trois-Rivières. Rogers Vision is already available in the Greater Toronto Area, Hamilton/St. Catharines, Burlington/Oakville making this unique suite of services available to 60% of the Canadian population.
Vision provides YouTube, video calling, radio on demand, mobile TV and a bunch of other services to Rogers subscribers. Good stuff, Rogers!
Posted on October 3, 2007, at 10:13 am .
BGR has acquired some info on the next big leap for BlackBerry, along with this concept shot of a touchscreened prototype. 3G of the HSDPA variety with a 600mhz processor to handle all that data are both rumored to be a part of the package. On top of that, the new BlackBerry will let you backup and restore right from the microSD card. No more Desktop Manager when switching devices, just swap your card and you’re good to go. The Genius speculates an early ‘08 release for this beauty, and for the sake of getting our grubby mitts on one, we hope he’s right.
Posted on July 3, 2007, at 2:51 pm .
We’ve seen a busy 7 days in the wireless industry, with RIM and Palm’s financial statements and the launch of what savvy tech blogs have dubbed the “Jesus Phone“. Also, with Canadian’s recovering from extended national celebration, and Americans preparing for one, it’s possible that some salient facts surrounding Jim Balsille’s comments during Thursdays conference call/webcast have been overlooked. We’ve gone back over our live blog to pull out the important bits — and our thoughts on their implications — for ya.
What’s on Jim Dog’s mind?
Posted on June 21, 2007, at 7:47 am .
HSDPA, eh? Let’s take a look at the supposed coverage… Montreal… Toronto… Edmonton… Calgary… Ottawa… London… Wait, Ottawa? We’re in Ottawa. Release the flying monkeys! Find the signal, you abominations of nature! Fly, my pretties, fly! We’ll let you folks know as soon as we get a taste of HSDPA coverage here in Ottawa. Full urban rollouts are expected in Q1 2008. Go figure that Rogers is keeping quiet about this, it’s kind of their style.
Update! The monkeys have returned, and we’ve got vision on HSDPA in Ottawa, so data’s working, but the full shebang isn’t quite ready to go. Rogers has been working on a soft release over the last year, so it’s good to see things finally coming to fruition.
Update 2! Another one of my monkeys has just returned to the roost after extended reconnaissance. Rogers is aiming to have every tower pumping out HSDPA and GSM/EDGE yumminess by the end of 2007. Southern Ontario has been covered for awhile now, and a lot of Alberta is already packing HSDPA. London and Windsor should be running smoothly presently.
Posted on June 11, 2007, at 9:10 am .
Thanks to the Pearl, O2’s BlackBerry sales in Ireland are reaching unprecedented levels.
“We’re now doing the same volume on a month-to-month basis that it took us to do in the first two years of selling BlackBerry products,†said Billy D’Arcy, O2’s head of business sales and services.
D’Arcy goes over some key points that explain the recent explosion, and why sales haven’t been better over the six years that O2 has been carrying BlackBerry devices. For one, he says that it takes time for the technology to work into the roots of the business community as a viable solution. It takes a lot of convincing to get a company to adopt a single device as the wide-spanning standard.
Second, the way that the Pearl has softened the business edge off BlackBerry has had tremendous effect on the perceptions of the brand. Surely the Curve’s release there last Wednesday will do well to further emphasize that level of appeal. Thirdly, changes in labour paradigms have made working from home more acceptable than it once was. Instead of being seen as invasive, BlackBerrys are letting folks telecommute.
Continue reading ‘BlackBerry sales picking up in Ireland’
Posted on May 31, 2007, at 1:03 pm .
On an icky Thursday in Ottawa, there’s really nothing that can brighten up your day like screens of new devices from the Boy Genius. BG’s got his bling’d out hands on the new Motorola Q9h and Samsung’s i620 (think BlackJack 2) and delivers his usual brand of impressions. While he digs the new keypad on the Q9h, he laments Samsung’s decision to keep the BlackJack’s terrible design. However, it seems as though the i620 is packing Wi-Fi, HSDPA, and a front facing VGA camera (2 Mpx cam on the back) to compensate.
Not bad at all, but also not really anything to make us forget about the BlackBerry Curve. Thoughts, people?
