May 18

What’s Next for Blackberry Smartphones?

By phonemanandy Phones In The News No Comments »

If you haven’t been keeping up to date on the latest Blackberry Phone news, let me get you in on the secret: Blackberry has recently been teasing its Blackberry 6 operating system (which is set to premiere in the third quarter of this year) and it’s getting a lot of smart phone users excited.

Many believe the current Blackberry Operating System (OS) to be efficient but obsolete and “ugly.”

The sneak peek at the new Blackberry layout served not to educate the consumer, but to excite the nerd in all of us. While not much is known about the sleek new OS yet, one thing is abundantly clear: the Blackberry is jealous. The first quarter of 2010 has been very kind to the Blackberry; however, its OS design has caused many to choose the iPhone or Android phones instead.

But what do you think? Check out the new promo vid here (and try to ignore the Black Eyed Peas–they’re everywhere, aren’t they?)

Sources: Blackberry Blog

–Alex G.

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Feb 05

Updates From Google For Your Mobile

By Chris Samaras Interesting Phone Stuff 1 Comment »

google_logoThe good people at Google are constantly providing new services and apps for your new or refurbished cell phone. Here are some of there latest developments:

On Jan. 27th, Google sent out a notice proudly announcing that Google Voice is now available for the iPhone and Palm Web OS. Commenting on the benefits of their new advancements, the release stated: “AppCache lets you interact with web apps without a network connection and local databases allow you to store data locally on the device, so you don’t lose data even when you close the browser.”

On Jan. 29th, Google announced that their Popular Image Search for mobile devices running the Android platforms and for the iPhone. To use the feature, simply go to www.google.com and click on the Images link as you would if you were on your computer.

This past Wednesday, Google released something pretty impressive called personalized suggestions and synchronized starring for Google Maps on Android devices. The idea is that a truly “smart” phone would be synchronized with your computer and know exactly what you are trying to do at all times. The scenario is this: You’re on your computer looking for a bookstore in your area. You find one and Google map its location. Now you can either print the information, write it down, or re-look it up from your phone when you get close. With personalized suggestions, your phone will know what you Google mapped on your computer when you open Google maps on your phone, saving you the time of having to re-search it.

Synchronized starring allows you to star multiple locations in Google Maps on your computer, which will then appear when you open Google Maps on your mobile. These features are available in the new 3.4 version of Google Maps.

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Oct 14

Finally, The Blackberry Desktop Manger for Macs Has Landed

By Chris Samaras Cell Phone Reviews, Phones In The News No Comments »

Picture 1After years of anticipation, the Blackberry desktop manager for Mac has finally arrived, and it’s getting great reviews. You can now sync your Blackberry cell phone with your Mac and easily manage your contacts, music, applications, and media. What seems to be the greatest feature of the new Desktop manager is that iTunes syncs with Blackberry Media, and it does it in the same application that manages your info, so you don’t have to deal with any other programs like Roxio, which PC users have to mess with. It is now really easy to sync music and playlists from your iTunes account to your Blackberry.

Mac fanatics are a little disappointed with the straightforward layout of the application as it is not really aesthetically pleasing as is standard for all things Mac, but this is something that will undoubtedly be taken care of in the near future.

Other crucials like your contacts, calendar appointments, tasks, and notes also effortlessly sync with the Mac applications that users love and use on a daily basis. The manager will backup and restore all of the data on your device (which can be encrypted), but, by default, the application is set to only create weekly backups. You can also manage more than one device with the manager, so His and Her Blackberrys need only one Mac. You can also, of course, wipe data from your Blackberry via the manager as well.

BlackBerry_Desktop_Manager_For_MacThe system requirements for the desktop manager are:

*  Mac OS X v10.5.5 and above (Only 32-bit mode is supported on Mac OS X v10.6)

* BlackBerry® Device Software v4.2 or higher

* iTunes v7.7.1 or later

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Sep 29

Blackberry 9700 Bold “Onyx” Review

By Chris Samaras Cell Phone Reviews 2 Comments »

BlackBerryOnyxTMoThe loudest buzz in the Blackberry community is all about the soon to be released Blackberry 9700 Bold, also being called the Onyx. The much-anticipated model is expected to be released before the end of the year. Originally, the device was thought to be an AT&T exclusive, but Al Sacco of CIO.com has recently released information from, according to him, the PR department of T-Mobile USA, which states that the Onyx will definitely be released on T-Mobile in the near future. T-Mobile is reported to have said:

“The BlackBerry ‘Onyx’ sports a premium experience and design with a high-gloss black finish and leather grain detail on the back. Boasting features such as high-speed 3G Web browsing, Wi-Fi calling, visual voicemail and support for corporate and personal e-mail options, the ‘Onyx’ will satisfy all your on-the-go needs. Also the phone comes preloaded with mobile applications from BlackBerry App World, including Amazon MP3 store for quick and easy music downloads and TeleNav GPS Navigator for turn-by-turn directions.”
Other rumored details of the device that have been posted on Crackberry.com include Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE , UMTS/HSDPA, 480×360 resolution display (Bold 9000 has a 480 x 320; 9700 display should be the same or very similar to the screen on the Curve 8900), Wi-Fi a,b,g, OS 5.0, QWERTY keyboard, 3.2 megapixel AF camera, and Bluetooth. The Onyx is also said to support WIFI calling, which is great for people who have come to use applications like Skype and Google Voice.

What seems to have Blackberry addicts most excited is that the 9700 Bold will be released with the new “Track Pad” instead of the traditional scroll ball. The track pad from the Curve 8520 has been getting great reviews, so enthusiasts can rest assured that they will not have to revert back the trackball. The new Bold is believed to have 256MB of application memory and the battery is expected to last much longer than the Blackberry 9000.

blackberry-onyx-back-bold-2Undoubtedly, Blackberry Onyx will look great and perform it’s ass off but what has me concerned is the Bold’s faux leather back. I am all about taking risks and switching things up a bit, but what exactly are they going for here? I suppose the faux black leather looks alright in an “I’m in my grandmother’s SAAB” kind of way, but I saw a picture of a prototype with a brown faux leather, and the image that immediately came to mind was 80’s porn star. Hopefully, you’ll be able to opt out of the leather option entirely.

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