TamsBlackBerry – the BlackBerry blog

When it comes to mobile devices, analysts usually look just at the processor. However, the CPU alone does not make a device – it also takes the baseband processor which handles communication.

Strategy Analytics performed a tally of baseband makers, and ended up with the following chart – it shows who produced how much in Q3 2009:

Source: Strategy Analytics

RIM’s 9630 is waiting for two things: an OS 5.0 upgrade, and an eventual overhaul of the hardware. So far, not much has been said about the first item on the list – number two (the 9650) has been shown publicly and has then disappeared from sight.

The Boy Genius now has a bit of new info on both topics:

The first is that one of our connects has informed us that the mythical OS 5.0 upgrade for the BlackBerry Tour 9630 will be released within the next “2-3 weeks.” It will also contain a Push-To-Talk feature that will run over Verizon’s data network for a $5/month fee. … BlackBerry Bold 9650, or BlackBerry Tour2 9650, or BlackBerry Whatever 9650x will launch unfortunately around May.

As of now, not much further information is available – stay tuned for further info as we get it!

So far, nobody managed to boot up RIM’s mysterious QWERTY-touchscreen slider. Nevertheless, images leak out slowly but surely.

The latest image is below. It hits us via bbleaks, and shows the Slider next to a Curve 8900:

As of this writing, not much more is known – stay tuned!

Long-term followers of this web site know that I love new screen technologies – especially if they are of the OLED variety. Samsung claims to have one step further with its Super AMOLED…but has not disclosed too much so far.

Don’t ask me where erikaustria1974 got the tone-less video below – it seems to be a Samsung-internal video showing the benefits of Super AMOLED:

Not much to add here…

When the iPhone came, yours truly was among the first to muse that a stylus would eventually come back – the device has since brought us sausages used as styli, weird aftermarket solutions and a load of other ideas regarding that “god-darn toothpick”.

Dell apparently sees value in styli, too – SlashGear reports the following:

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As for stylus input – something we puzzled over earlier – Choubey seems to hint that Dell might use new transparent conductor resistive panels over capacitive technology in future tablet models, which support multitouch finger-input and stylus control with high-resolution accuracy.

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This makes their Mini5 tablet interesting all over again…

We’ve heard our fair share of news about new Bluetooth standards – unfortunately, very few devices have implemented anything beyond 2.x so far. Nevertheless, it’s always interesting to see what the boys plan for Q4 of this year.

PCWorld states the following about the new standard:

…Previous versions of Bluetooth could only go into devices with triple-A or larger-capacity batteries.

Bluetooth 4.0 includes a low-energy specification for transmitting small bursts of data over short ranges, in addition to the high-speed data transfer capabilities introduced with Bluetooth 3.0 last April.

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So much, so good…

I’d file this report straight into the under-reported but interesting category. When it came to CPU’s, QualComm was a nobody a few years ago – in the last two years, it became hard to find a non-Qualcomm mobile device.

The CEO of the company now stated the following according to Mobile Business:

Qualcomm’s chief executive Paul Jacobs said he sees the number of wireless chip providers shrinking either through consolidation or players disappearing, reports Dow Jones Newswires. “Consolidation will happen or people will leave the market,” he said.”We’re trying to make that happen sooner.” He also appeared to rule out the prospect of buying rival ARM.

Given that ARM is a fabless IP core vendor, and that Samsung has already all but left the market, this essentially targets one vendor: Marvell.

They bought up Intel’s assets a few years ago, and never got much out of it – Intel’s XScale CPU’s dominated the market, whereas Marvell’s new processors are almost invisible.

QualComm buying up ARM, on the other hand, would be a total GAU scenario. As ARM holds tons and tons of patents for ARM processors, it would allow QualComm to effectively stop competing chip vendors from creating ARM-based processors…

Traditionally, the Blackberry Pearl had one unique feature: its keyboard was SureType-based rather than a full QWERTY one.

TrueSupplier now uncovered the part below – it could indicate that the 9100 will be available with both QWERTY or TrueType:

As of now, none of this is confirmed of course…

We’ve covered the Slider BlackBerry before – and a few new images have just been leaked.

The images below hit us via bbleaks:

So far, all we know about the hardware is outlined in the text below:

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The BlackBerry Slider unfortunately has a bad battery and cannot be powered on. However, it is interesting to note that the slider’s battery is pretty unique. It is an FX-1, orange colored, has rounded edges, is a bit thinner than normal DX-1, and it is only 1050mAh. What kind of battery could this resemble?

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As usual, the folks at BrightHand’s have just released their infamous monthly mindshare numbers.

To all new readers: BrightHand is a large US mobile phone site which covers all platforms evenly (read: not much of a bias). They monitor which devices generate the most search traffic, and thus are “most in demand” with power users.

This month’s list is as follows (last month’s position in brackets):

1. BlackBerry 8530 (4)
2. Nokia N900 (3)
3. Nokia E63 (5)
4. HTC HD2 (1)
5. Samsung Moment (Android, 2)
6. Motorola Droid (Android, 7)
7. BlackBerry 95630 (Storm I, returning)
8. XPERIA X10 (Android, returning)
9. Motorola BackFlip (new)
10. BlackBerry Bold 9000 (8)

The Nokia E71 and Samsung Omnia II fell out of the top list from last month…

We’ve heard rumors of a slider BlackBerry some time ago – and now have the first ITW shot.

BlackberryLeaks has posted the image below without any further information:

Given that Austria’s governmental carrier A1 was extremely hesitant to carry the Storm2 (while having all other RIM devices), the device above sounds much, much, much more reasonable…

Reports of an overhauled GUI for the BlackBerry have been out for some time. RIM OS 6 is said to bring loads and loads of new features…

The latest leak is in the slide below, which was shown during a developer event:

BTW: developers who want to look at the full presentation can do so via the URL below:
http://webcast.streamlogics.com/audience/index.asp?eventid=84168641

Everybody who knows how I use my MSI Wind U100 probably smells that I am unhappy with the new 4xx series of Atom CPU. The reason: their VGA output is severely limited and can’t drive large monitors.

Nevertheless, the company has just added a new CPU to the line-up. The N470 has a slightly higher CPU clock speed – which comes to nothing, as almost every N270 can be overclocked to 2GhZ without much effort.

Either way – we told you about it…

RIM’s devices traditionally had but one form factor: QWERTY candybar. The introduction of the Flip and Storm series showed that RIM is willing to experiment – and it looks like the slider form factor is the next victim.

The Boy Genius claims to have heard about a new device with the following features:

• OS 6.0
• Portrait slider
• Wifi 802.11n
• Maybe touchscreen

From my personal point of view, the maybe in front of touchscreen is superfluous – how should the user do something meaningful with the device if all he has is the five-way navigator?

BTW: the image he shared is a mock-up. He explicitly stated that this is NOT the device…