TamsBlackBerry – the BlackBerry blog

The long-awaited beta of SlingPlayer for BlackBerry has just gone live on the SlingMedia web site.

BrightHand’s Ed Hardy has tested the program on his BlackBerry and shared the video below – visit his web site for the full scoop!

Developers who currently work on a BlackBerry Storm-optimized program can net up to 50000$ by submitting the program to the VodaFone developer competition (click the banner below to get to the site):

Unfortunately, participating and winning is extremely dangerous – the Terms and Conditions reveal that the price covers and any all proceeds you will ever receive:

The aforementioned granting of rights is compensated by the cash value of the prizes awarded as detailed in Section 4.

I personally know that a good application for a BlackBerry device can net a lot more than 50000 Euros – so better think twice before hitting that submit button…

The folks at Boy Genius Report’s have received a leaked T-Mobile USA roadmap indicating future device plans of this (rather small) American GSM carrier.

If the information is to be trusted, the Curve 8900 will hit T-Mobile USA on February the 18th. Even though the US roadmap doesn’t contain any news on when the device will make it to the T-Mobile networks in other countries, I predict a world-wide roll-out for the device by Q3 2009…

Microsoft originally intended to give away a new beta of Windows 7 to the attendants of its PDC conference – unfortunately, the file is said to have leaked out into BitTorrent networks according to DownloadSquad.

ZDNet’s Adrian Kingsley-Hughes has taken the beta for a spin, and was pretty happy overall. His main point of grief was the newly-arranged Task bar, which he considers overloaded and difficult to use.

He generally was happy with the performance and stability of this early beta (!!!) – hit the link above for a few images!

A recent Wall Street Journal report states that the US Christmas sale season didn’t go too well, with average losses of about 20% across all categories.

The electronics/appliances market was among the ones hit the worst; having to net a -27% loss on a year-to-year perspective. Online sales were the only sector which remained somewhat constant, with a Y2Y loss of about 2%:

Few retailers were counting on the holidays being robust when they placed conservative orders for merchandise last summer … By October, retail sales were declining faster than expected amid the steady drumbeat of bad economic news.

… Among the biggest losers were electronics and appliances, which fell a combined 26.7% versus a 2.7% gain last year. … E-commerce showed the most resilience, with online sales falling just 2%. …

Image: US Government: Dorothea Lange, via Wikimedia Commons

A recently-leaked Rogers presentation contained the following BlackBerry-related slides:

As of now, little is known about when the devices will actually go live. However, I expect them to be up by Q2 – as the devices are very “hot” atm, I don’t think that a large carrier will feel like waiting…

It looks like the folks at Sling’s finally get ready to start the beta process for their SlingPlayer client for Blackberry – their official web site now claims that the public beta will start on the 30th of December.

As of this writing, only AT&T and T-Mobile USA devices are supported. However, the system requirements make me think that the program will work well on other devices, too:

Device Requirements:
* A supported BlackBerry smartphone with 3G wireless service and/or WiFi Internet connectivity, as well as the following minimum device software versions.
o Bold – minimum 4.6.0.0 and above; optimal at 4.6.0.167 and above
o 8820 – minimum 4.5.0.0 and above; optimal at 4.5.0.110 and above
o 8320 – minimum 4.5.0.0 and above; optimal at 4.5.0.81 and above
o 8220 – minimum 4.6.0.0; optimal at 4.6.0.174 and above
o 8120 – minimum 4.5.0.0; optimal at 4.5.0.110 and above

* Network download speed of 120 Kbps (or higher)
* 2 MB free memory on device to install

As of now, no further information is available – stay tuned for news as we get them!

It’s this part of the year again: while the rest of the world is running around celebrating and accepting usury cup deposits of more than 2 Euros per cup, yours truly is sitting in front of his MSI Wind U100, creating a reflection on the events of the year.

BlackBerry users will IMHO have quite a ride in 2009: the platform is on its way to undergo the biggest transformation ever. So far, BlackBerries were featureless, plain business devices. But RIM is no longer satisfied with the business clientele – it now wants to target consumers.

This puts the company in an even worse position than Microsoft: while Microsoft devices can be programmed natively (and this have a rich selection of media players from third parties), RIM OS is limited to a spruced-up J2ME runtime which can not run native code (AFAIK).

Developers thus are disadvantaged over programs embedded in the ROM of the box: their code will always run (a lot) slower, which is subideal for multimedia stuff (and puts the whole burden of development efforts back on RIM’s shoulders)..

The next raging issue has the shape of the BlackBerry Storm (and touchscreen devices in general). RIM has no experience with touchscreens – getting this will be a hard time for them. Of course, touchscreen excellence can be bought for cheap in the shape of UIQ: but I am not sure if the company still has any valuable human resources left.

2009 will IMHO be a very wild ride – stay tuned to TamsBlackBerry for the full scoop!

P.S. Similar thingies will pop up at our sister sites shortly. In case you are interested in my outlook on any of the platforms below, just hit the link and enjoy!

Palmary Christmas (about Palm OS) @ TamsPalm
PPC Christmas (about Windows Mobile PocketPC devices) @ TamsPPC
Christmas with Symbian @ TamsS60
iMas (on iPhone and iPod touch stuff) @ TamsIJungle

The image on the left hits us courtesy of notebookitalia – they claim that it is the first image of the Samsung NC20. The device has rather usual netbook specs except for the 12″ screen, 450Euro/650USD price tag – and – surprise, surprise, the VIA Nano CPU.

Netbook freaks have known that the Nano outperforms the Intel Atom in almost all situations for quite some time: nevertheless, no hardware manufacturer had the nerves to create a Nano-powered notebook so far – Intel’s Atom apparently is cheaper and / or more attractive (could this be due to Intel’s “monopoly” on mobile CPU’s?).

However: the reason for Samsung’s deviation is said to be directly linked to the boys with the i in their name according to PCWorld. They claim that Samsung is fed up with Intel’s totally bogus rules on Atom deployment (e.g. no PCI Express, no large screens) and has decided to go with the no-nonsense folks at VIA’s instead.

I personally hope to see the device in the near future: even though I am extremely happy with my Wind and will not update (I like the small form factor), I nevertheless hope to see the VIA folks succeed at powering up the netbook platform…

So far, customers on Sprint’s iDEN network (formerly known as Nextel) were limited to a small array of rather unimpressive (Motorola) phones – they were completely out of luck if a smartphone hit their fancy.

This has just changed to the better. The device pictured on the left is commonly known as Curve 8350i, and can be considered a distant sibling of the 8300 your editor currently uses courtesy of a donor requesting to remain unnamed.

Surprisingly, the device is priced rater affordable:

The full specification list found on Sprint’s web site is below:

Nextel Direct Connect®
Direct Connect service that instantly connects you to all other Nextel users – across town, across the nation. It’s now available in up to five countries.

Full QWERTY Keyboard and Trackball Navigation
Faster and Easier typing and navigation.

BlackBerry push technology for email and messaging
Get all of your email in one place wirelessly. Receive emails from your corporate and personal email accounts.

Embedded Wi-Fi Capable
Connecting to a Wi-Fi network isn’t complicated. With the Wi-Fi feature engaged, the device locates available networks. With the right one selected and correct password entered the connection is complete. Once a network is set up, the BlackBerry Curve 8350i smartphone can reconnect automatically whenever the device is in range.

Group Connect
Users can instantly connect a group of people nationwide – all at once – with the Group Connect service. Click here to learn more about this service.

Talk Group
A Blackberry smartphone user can make group calls using Push to Talk with the TalkGroup feature. To make or receive a group call, you must be a member of TalkGroup. All members of the TalkGroup can speak or listen during a group call, but only one member can speak at a time.

2.0 MP Camera
2.0 MP digital camera featuring a 5x digital zoom, flash and video recording.

Micro SD Card slot
1GB MicroSD card included give you the room you need for larger work files, presentations, reports, documents or fun files like photos and music.

Bluetooth 2.0 Technology
Fast and secure transmission without cables or wires

GPS capable
Allows you to view your geographic location and works with BlackBerry maps as well as other location-based services.

Media Player
Features a media player with stereo headset jack, so you can play video and music files you’ve downloaded.

Integrated Attachment Viewing
View attachments in popular file formats such as Microsoft® Office Word, Excel® and PowerPoint®.

DataViz® Documents to Go®
Pre-loaded software makes it easy to edit documents, spreadsheets and presentations directly on the phone.

Full Messaging Capabilites
Instant Messaging and SMS Text Messaging.

Internal Antenna
Improves design appeal and durability.

Speakerphone
Enjoy easy, hands free communication with a speakerphone that lets you hear callers loud and clear.

Brilliant Color display
Vibrant TFT display with 65K colors and 320 x 240 resolution.

Virtual Preloads
Pocket Express, Sprint Software Store, Navigation, BIZ Apps, AIM, Google Talk, Yahoo IM, NFL Mobile, NASCAR Mobile.

Voice Command and Voice Activated Dialing
The Built-in speaker independent voice command lets you use your voice to look up contacts, place phone calls and get key information from your device.

1400 mAh Battery
Provides the exceptional batery life that BlackBerry smartphones are known for.

International Direct ConnectSM
International Direct Connect Calling lets you instantly connect from the U.S. to users in other eligible countries including Canada and Mexico. In addition, International Direct Connect Roaming lets you make and receive push-to-talk calls while traveling in those countries.

P.S. Use the zip code 60002 to get past the highly annoying ZIP code barrier on Sprint’s web site…

So far, notebooks have been limited by their lack of display space – even a 17″ notebook (which is barely portable) has significantly less screen real estate than a nice dual-screen workstation. So far, no manufacturer had the nerve to tackle the issue – enter Lenovo’s W700ds (pictured below):

The image above hits us via eweek – the noys claim that the device is intended for photographers and graphic artists who want to use the extra display for “side tasks” like color swatches or GUI panels.

Lenovo will release the device at this year’s CES – hit the link above for further information!

While our Brussels-based friends have had quite a few useful ideas over the last years, sometimes, their plans are nothing short of hilarious and/or batshit crazy. After trying to regulate the usage of the term “marmalade” in Austria and Germany, their latest insanity is a high tax on certain types of cell phones.

According to Reuters, their plan is as follows:

The European Commission last week sent to member states a formal proposal to reclassify some phones as “multi-functional devices”, which would trigger a 14-percent tax on phones with TV receivers and 3.7 percent on navigation-enabled phones.

I have no idea where this sudden change of policy comes from (and why it targets mobile TV in specific). So far, the EU has had a rather innovation-friendly stance – for example, their recent forced lowering of roaming tariffs.

I can only hope that this idea gets killed off quickly due to overwhelming public resistance – unfortunately, I fear that the chances are rather bad. If the EU disregards its inhabitants opinions on issues as important as the Lisbon treaty, why, for heavens sake, should they care about the opinions of the mobile computing economy…

Image: Wikimedia Commons / Lars Aronsson

Reports of dissatisfied customers returning their Storm boxen (touchscreen-only Blackberry devices) have popped up all across the media in the last days. Even though Verizon has jumped and publicly declared its “satisfaction” with return rates, the fundamental problem IMHO remains untouched.

On average, I think that BlackBerry users are less technically savvy than users of other platforms (especially Windows Mobile) – they are typical users who react bad to all kind of change. For them, a different icon is a different GUI: if you change the icon of a program, they can no longer find it.

So far, the BlackBerry’s have had one defining element: their QWERTY keyboard. Users adjusted to it, and expected it on new devices.

Enter the Storm and its touchscreen. Touchscreen devices are difficult to use with just one hand (unless they have a 5way), on-screen keyboards can never replace traditional ones due to lack of tactile feedback.

As carriers have peddled the Storm aggressively, many users who would have been happier with their current Blackberry device (or a bold) were enticed to update to the Storm without thinking about “the consequences”.

These customers then find themselves lacking their QWERTY keyboard, think that typing is impossible and give up. This is not too big a problem: these devices can be refurbished (they are usually treated well) and can be given to new users (who restart the cycle).

I think that RIM should have started with a Treoesque form factor, and transition slowly – kicking users into cold water rarely works out well…

The folks at AdMob’s have served me well in the past – their data contains a wealth of highly useful stats related to all things mobile web.

The chart below comes off a recent blog post of theirs, and provides an overview of how the new devices are accepted by users on the three major US carriers:

Apparently, the Storm has been accepted very well even though it got some pretty negative reviews and lacks a QWERTY keyboard (the characteristic feature making up BlackBerry devices so far)…