Mobility & Email Blog » Phones

BlackBerry BBX: RIM Elevates its Mobile OS

Tim Attwood — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 14:29:31 +0000

Struggling with falling market shares, lower Blackberry shipments and the recent outage of service for users across the country, mobile phone and tablet maker RIM is in a difficult position. Inroads are quickly being made into what was once exclusively their territory by both Apple and Google, and the company is hoping that its newly-announced cross-platform OS, BBX, will be what puts them back on top.

BBX is a combination of the Blackberry OS and the QNX platform which RIM acquired last year. Together, they create BBX. But this is an entirely new animal – apps that work on current versions of the Blackberry and PlayBook OS won’t work with BBX. The company hopes, however, that the all-inclusive nature of the OS will make up for the fact that users are going to have to update all of their apps and favorite programs. RIM intends this version of their OS to work on all of their tablets and smartphones as well as in users’ cars, in enterprise-scale business, and in the cloud.

There is no release date for the new BBX as yet, something that disappointed many of the press and tech sites covering the announcement, but RIM indicates that both smartphones and tablets should see the new OS in 2012. While no smartphone or tablet was shown running a demo of the new OS during the announcement, there is speculation that the Blackberry Colt will be the first smartphone to use BBX, and that it will be released in the middle of 2012.

BBX comes with a number of notable features, starting with the fact that it is open-source, allowing developers to create apps in whatever environment they are comfortable with and then port them over to Blackberry’s OS. BBX is therefore expected to have a large variety of apps to choose from, and while it won’t run old BlackBerry OS apps or iOS apps, it will run Android, Adobe Flash 11 and Adobe Air 3. In addition, Blackberry Email users can likely expect and update from the current Blackberry Enterprise Server that handles business email to a more cloud-friendly version that will sync their mail on the fly. Whether this will come in the form of Exchange ActiveSync or another type of syncing has yet to be announced, but it should provide a more streamlined experience for business users.

RIM’s strength has always been to play to the business market, something they are clearly taking aim at with the BBX announcement. In addition to ensuring that their enterprise-level functionality is improving, however, the company is also looking to add better support for games, design, and mulch-platform app designs with their new OS. Additionally, its ability to work in a vehicle – QNX already works in over 200 vehicle types – is something that RIM hopes will put it ahead of the competition. BBX promises a great deal, but with no release date, only time will tell if the new OS can get RIM back on track in time.

Android Convergence with Ice Cream Sandwich

Tim Attwood — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 13:00:50 +0000

Due to be released in fall 2011 is Google’s new Android operating system, called Ice Cream Sandwich. It is being touted as a combination of the current mobile phone OS, Gingerbread, and their tablet OS, Honeycomb. According to Mike Claren of Google, the company wants “one OS that runs everywhere”. The idea is to ensure that all Android devices, regardless of type, will be able to run the same OS, making it easier to develop new features and push out updates.

Tasty Rumors About Ice Cream Sandwich

There are bits and pieces of information about Ice Cream Sandwich floating around on the Web, along with rumors about what devices it will launch on and how it will be numbered. The current version of Gingerbread is 2.3, while Honeycomb is running 3.1, leading many to believe that the new OS will start with 4.0 as its number, “melting” together the other two operating systems.

Right now, the front-runner for the first device to come with Ice Cream Sandwich is a mobile phone made by Google or Samsung, possibly the Google Nexus Prime or the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Specs are thought to include a 1.5 GHz processor, a panoramic camera, holographic user interface, and an expectation of launch in November, just after the release of the new OS itself.

New Features in Android Ice Cream Sandwich

Along with familiar standbys like Android Email and the Android Calendar, the new OS will come with a number of new features including a new interface with a new app drawer, a re-done notification bar, re-themed G-mail, and the ability to multitask. Having parts of Honeycomb in it, Ice Cream Sandwich will give mobile phone users USB support, and they’ll be able to plug in any USB device they’d like including keyboards, mice, and gaming controllers. Google has also improved the camera app in Ice Cream Sandwich by adding Face Recognition and 3D Head Tracking, which is able to find who is speaking in a crowd of people and focus on them, and the front-mounted camera on mobile devices will theoretically have the ability to distinguish between and focus on two distinct speakers.

In addition, Ice Cream Sandwich will also feature Open Accessory API, intended to make the development of apps more streamlined and scalable across both tablets and mobile phones, and Cloud Music, which will allow for an upload of 20,000 songs that can be played from any Web browser or the music app on an Android device.

Google is hoping that together, Honeycomb and Gingerbread will provide the best of a tablet in a phone, and the best of a phone in a tablet, giving both users and developers a simple OS to work with. Android is already known for its ability to adapt to new devices, and by creating a unified Ice Cream Sandwich, the company may just have the recipe to melt the hearts of non-Android users and bring them in for a bite.

Windows Phone 7 Roundup: New Features, Nokia Devices

Tim Attwood — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 13:00:37 +0000

Windows Phone 7.5 Mango Set to Offer Sweet Features

For the better part of the last year, Microsoft has been working on its new Windows Phone 7.5, also known as “Mango”. Set to roll out the Mango update for all Windows phones by the end of September 2011, there is a great deal of speculation about which new devices will also come with 7.5 support built right in. So far, the Fujitsu Toshiba IS12T has been confirmed as a new handset that will come loaded with the update, and the HTC Titan and Radar have also been announced as taking advantage of Mango’s features from the get-go. Samsung, ASUS, Dell and Acer are all expected to come out with announcements of their own 7.5 phones as well.

In addition to a more streamlined interface and other quality of life improvements, the Mango update includes a number of enhancements to Bing, Microsoft’s search engine. First up is Bing Audio, which will function a great deal like Shazam and will let phone owners identify songs simply by placing their handsets near speakers. Bing Vision, meanwhile, will use the device’s camera that to scan barcodes, Microsoft tags, QR codes, CDs, DVDs and text. Scanning products will allow users to find prices for them both online and within their local area. Bing will also come with an updated maps interface and turn-by-turn navigation featuring voice directions. Support for multitasking, IE9 mobile and Twitter is also included in the Mango release. Windows phone email will be returning to all devices, allowing greater functionality and syncing of contact lists.

Nokia and the Windows Phone Rumors

One of the hottest rumors surrounding the Windows 7.5 update is that a Nokia phone will soon be launched using Mango. Nokia has now confirmed that their Windows 7.5 device will be released in Q4 2011 and that large volumes of the device would be pushed out in the early part of 2012. Details surrounding the new Nokia handset are still sketchy, but a “leaked” video released on June 30th, 2011 showed a phone called the “Sea Ray” with no physical keys and an indication that it might come with a swipe interface. This is in defiance of the mandate set down by Microsoft, which states that every Windows phone must have a physical Back, Home and Search button, and some speculate the special relationship between Microsoft and Nokia is what makes this possible.

A development video of the N9 from Nokia shows a similar button set and indicates that the Sea Ray may be very close in design. Expectations are that Nokia will have more secrets to reveal about its new Windows phone lineup at Nokia World 2011, which is set to take place on October 26, 2011. For now, those with a Windows device can look forward to an update by the end of November, and Nokia users should only have to wait a few months for a Mango phone.

RIM Refreshes the Bold and the Torch: New Smartphones from BlackBerry

Chinonye — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 13:00:11 +0000

BlackBerry has been fighting hard to retain its place in the smartphone world amid stiff competition from Apple, Android and Windows Phone 7. The company has seen less-than-stellar tablet sales, and recent rumors have RIM scrapping plans to create a second version of their PlayBook. Now, the company is on the verge of releasing a new generation of their classic BlackBerry smartphone in several varieties, and has also announced that these new phones will come with their next OS, BlackBerry OS 7.

Five new smartphones from the company have been unveiled – the Bold 9900 and 9930, the Torch 9850 and 9860, and the Torch 9810. All of the phones come with a touch display, with the Bold 9900 and 9930 keeping the classic BlackBerry keyboard on the bottom design, and the Torch models featuring a full-screen on top with a slider keyboard underneath. One of the main improvements in all of the phones is the addition of a 1.2 Ghz processor under the hood, which, by preview reports, makes browsing and other functions much more streamlined.

The Torch 9810 in particular has been hailed as what the Torch should have been the first time around – small, powerful, and functional. The 9930 adds Dual-band CDMA and EVDO as a step up from the 9900, and the 9860 includes Tri-band UMTS networks instead of the single-band supported by the 9850.

A New OS For BlackBerry

BlackBerry OS 7 is also a milestone for the company, and adds several important features for users. First is an improved browsing experience, which RIM claims is 40% faster than browsing done under OS 6 and 100% faster than under OS 5. It also includes HTML5 support, the new Liquid Graphics Interface, BBM 6 and “BlackBerry Balance”, which can create two separate streams of content on a single device – one for business and one for personal life.

In addition, the new OS also comes with Social Feeds 2.0 and Facebook 2.0, allowing BBM integration and the ability to see all social networking in one place. BlackBerry has seen the value of the social consumer, but knows that its core purchasers are those who use the device for business. BlackBerry email will still be supported along with Hosted Exchange through BES, with the intention of keeping a BlackBerry smartphone as the go-to device for business power-users.

The BlackBerry Balance feature is a good choice for the company, which needs to show that while its phones and BlackBerry email are still great for the work world, they can also keep up if users want to play.

Carriers for the new phones include AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon, among others. No official pricing has been released, but expectations are that they will be in the $199 range with a contract. Release dates for the phones and the new OS are mid-August, and consumers should see the full line of new BlackBerry smartphones rolling out by the fall of 2011.

Smartphone Smarts: Which BlackBerry is best for you?

Chinonye — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 13:00:41 +0000

For those looking to get the most out of their phone, a smartphone is an attractive purchase. Unlike traditional cell phones, which allow users to make calls, send texts and possibly take photographs, smartphones include features such as portable media playing capabilities, GPS navigation, Wi-Fi and access to a mobile broadband network. And when it comes to smartphones, many consumers choose to purchase a BlackBerry smartphone.

Consumers Love BlackBerry Smartphones

According to a recent Nielsen study, BlackBerry usage accounts for 20% of the United States’ smartphone market. Consumers choose a BlackBerry smartphone because of the enhanced communication capabilities available. BlackBerry smartphones offer free data sharing with laptops and tablets, the innovative BlackBerry messaging application, which allows consumers to chat even while working inside other applications, and the BlackBerry email system.

With BlackBerry email, consumers can access email from up to six different email accounts in one inbox. Emails can be scrolled through with one’s thumb, automatically forwarded to other email accounts and even received from a computer’s Microsoft Outlook account, provided that the computer is left powered on. With support offered for email accounts such as Hotmail and GMail, BlackBerry email makes staying in touch easy.

Choosing a BlackBerry Smartphone

With so many options available, consumers may wonder which BlackBerry smartphone is for them. There are six current BlackBerry smartphone models to choose from, which include the Torch, Bold, Style, Curve, Pearl and Storm models. A consumer’s desired price range and feature requirements will dictate which smartphone is the best for them.

If you are interested in the screen, the Torch, Bold 9780 and Storm2 9550 models offer the clearest picture, with a 480×360 display capability. For battery life, the Bold 9780 is the standout option, with up to 6 hours of talk time available. The Curve 9330 and Style 9670 offer the least amount of talk time, with roughly 4.5 hours of battery life.

If you like the touch screen capabilities of other smartphones, the BlackBerry Storm2 9550 uses a touch screen for navigation, while the Torch model allows consumers to choose between a touch screen and an optical trackpad. All other models use the optical trackpad exclusively.

All BlackBerry smartphone models use a QWERTY keypad for typing, with the Torch model offering a slide out keyboard as well as an onscreen keyboard. The Storm2 9550 is the only other model that allows one to type onscreen.

If you are looking for a smaller phone, the Pearl offers a smaller form factor than many of the other models, but sacrifices slightly in the QWERTY keyboard, as each button doubles as a key for two different letters of the alphabet. Alternately, if you are interested in a flip phone style, the Style may offer what you need.

For those using price to determine which BlackBerry smartphone to buy, the Storm2 9550 is the cheapest option, with a suggested retail price of approximately $340. The Torch model is the most expensive, with a suggested retail price of approximately $700. Other suggested retail prices include $390 for the Pearl 3G, $400 for the Curve 9330, $550 for the Style 9670 and $600 for the Bold 9780.

However, keep in mind that most that these are just suggested retail prices and substantial cost savings can be found at participating retailers and wireless providers.

BlackBerry Messenger goes Social with BBM 6

Chinonye — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 13:00:20 +0000

The newly-released BlackBerry Messenger 6 (BBM 6) application for BlackBerry Smartphones is an effort by BlackBerry’s parent company, Research In Motion (RIM) to tap into and tie together some of the popularity of smartphone applications and social media. It is also an attempt by RIM to take a piece of the smartphone market back from platforms such as Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android, which have capitalized heavily on social media integration and open platform applications.

RIM is branding BBM 6 as a real time messaging client that provides an innovative experience by focusing on social media and app integration. The BlackBerry Messenger 6 application allows a user to share what he or she is listening to, reading or using for applications. The real innovation is that users do not have to switch back and forth between BBM 6 and the application they are using. Instead, they can interact within a third-party app without actually leaving whatever application they are already using. Third party developers can integrate the BBM 6 instant features into their own apps for further social integration and more innovate marketing.

According to RIM Director of Platform Product Management Hossam Bahlool, 70% of Blackberry users already use BBM, and the launch of social media integration with BBM 6 should help propel the company back into direct smartphone competition.

Effect on Manufacturer RIM

RIM is launching BBM 6 just days after the announcement of massive layoffs at the company. Approximately 11% of the company, or 2,000 workers, is expected to be laid off. During the same announcement, the company said that Thorstein Heins was replacing Don Morrison as Chief Operating Officer due to his retirement.

These shakeups at RIM come after missing quarterly earning profits and a year in which stock prices have fallen about 42%, a time period in which direct competitors Google and Apple’s stocks rose 15% and 35%, respectively.

Many analysts have blamed this decline on RIM’s inflexibility and failure to innovate. The BlackBerry historically had the competitive advantage of being the most secure and encrypted smartphone. While other smartphone platforms have begun to rise to the security level of the BlackBerry, these competing platforms have also developed touch screens, easily developed and promoted third party applications, and two-way video chat. In the meantime, analysts say, RIM rested on their laurels with its security features and was quickly surpassed in the marketplace.

RIM hopes that BBM 6 will bring the company back into the competitive market by combining the best of social media and third-party apps that iPhone and Android have pioneered and on which they have capitalized. By focusing on applications that are more easily designed, more open and fully integratable with a real time messaging client, the BlackBerry Messenger 6 may be the hit product that launches RIM and the BlackBerry smartphone back into mainstream competition.

Windows Phone 7.5 Mango Tries To Play Catch Up

Chinonye — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 13:00:52 +0000

In November of 2010, Microsoft released their own version of the smartphone, Windows Phone 7. Caught off-guard by the absolute domination of iOS across the market, Microsoft was looking to get a piece of the smartphone pie. As it turned out, their slice was very, very small.

As of July 2011, most experts pin Microsoft’s market share at right around 5%. The CEO of Microsoft, Steve Balmer, recently said of the phone that they’ve “gone from very small to very small but it’s been a heck of a year.” Bulmer went on to re-affirm the company’s commitment to the Windows Phone at the Worldwide Partner Conference in Los Angeles, claiming they’re going to be “pushing very far and very fast.”

Right now, fast is looking like before the end of the year, and far is the next iteration of the Windows Phone OS, codenamed “Mango”. Coming in as Windows Phone 7.5, the new build is set to keep many of the core features that make up the Windows phone – things like exchange email, the Me Hub, and the company’s “glance and go” concept. Microsoft hasn’t officially confirmed a release date for the new OS, but a tweet in regards to a contest the company is running said that all winners would receive their Windows 7.5 Mango phones by September.

While not everything about the new OS is known, there are a number of confirmed bits of information. Mango is slated to come with things like the Outlook Conversation View, which will combine emails into “threads” much like text messaging on the iPhone, Office 365 integration, which will give the phone built-in Office 365 features, turn-by-turn voice navigation, as well as HTML 5 support and hardware acceleration.

Several companies have received trial versions of the Mango per-release candidate, and the general consensus is that Microsoft hasn’t demolished their OS house to build a new one, but has spruced up things inside. Items like Windows phone email or the Me Hub aren’t disappearing, simply being streamlined to provide a better user experience – something Microsoft says they’ve learned a great deal about thanks to their new retail stores.

According to Microsoft COO Kevin Turner, Microsoft stores have helped the company “transition from thinking about our customers to thinking like our customers”, something that has likely played a role in the improved feature set of the Mango build. 75 more stores are in the works over the next 2-3 years.

With other phone retailers largely snubbing the Windows Phone, Microsoft needs to make inroads into the market, especially in the upcoming 2011 holiday season. While the features in the Mango build aren’t enough on their own to encourage new customer adoption, an aggressive marketing campaign combined with local availability at a Microsoft store may help the company push up and out of its 5% share of the smartphone market.

Smartphone Adoption Soaring in the US and Abroad

Chinonye — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 13:00:41 +0000

The days of the feature phone are numbered.

A new generation of phones have come calling – “smartphones” – and they are quickly beginning to dominate the market.

According to a Jun 9, 2011 press release from analytics firm IDC, the worldwide market for smartphones is expected to grow 55% over the 2011 calendar year, and almost 500 million units will be shipped to consumers before 2012 arrives. By 2015, predictions are that the number of smartphones shipped will total almost one billion.

The smartphone market is growing four times as fast as the mobile market itself, and sales of smartphones currently outpace those of desktop computers by four to one. The sales of these devices are outpacing even the expectations of those who know the market, according to a recent comScore report, as more and more functionality is packed into handheld units.

The types of functions that smartphones are being used for are also broadening, with mobile banking set to make a major impact on the market in the next few years. Currently, the application market for phones is red-hot, but consumers are beginning to demand more from their devices, and one of the areas poised to expand into the online market is the financial sector, with many banks moving toward true mobile banking options.

For companies, operating in the mobile world is essential – a single Web site is no longer sufficient to reach all potential customers. This need for mobile marketing also speaks to a need to track its efficacy, which is why many businesses are turning to products such as MobiLens from comScore, which are designed to track consumer demographics as well as behavior in order to give them the ability to react quickly in the growing world of smartphone users.

The idea behind such programs is to allow companies to create sets of targeted information based on criteria such as demographics, technology used or media consumption, allowing them to target their efforts to best effect.

Smartphones show no sign of slowing down according to consumer buying and use habits, and companies need to be proactive in developing not only ways to appeal to mobile users, but create applications that will provide the best user experience.

Understanding the landscape of smartphone use and growth, along with finding a reliable way to chart user data, can help a company find their niche in the market.

Will Application Developers Help Windows Phone 7 Gain Market Share?

Chinonye — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 13:00:14 +0000

At the beginning of May, technology giant Microsoft announced that they were releasing an API mapping tool that would allow iPhone application developers to port their applications to Windows Phone 7.

The hope is to encourage developers that are already committed to a smartphone or tablet platform to consider the Windows Phone as a viable end-point for their creations, and as another stream of revenue, but the question remains – is Microsoft too late?

Early adopters of technology often pay the price. Cloud computing is a good example – those that got into the market too early suffered as the industry stuttered, constantly evaluated by those around it.

On the flip side of the equation are those that are late to the party. Apple made a huge splash as one of the first in the touch-screen smartphone market, one that has been followed by ripples of companies like HTC, Microsoft, Samsung, and Nokia.

Now, the number of applications available for download on Android, iOS and Windows environment phones are rapidly increasing, while at the same time the amount that a user is willing to pay is quickly declining. What was impressive and warranted $5 from a smartphone user three years ago will no longer command the same interest, and application developers are constantly tasked with pushing the envelope of design. Add to this the fact that free applications are also competing for the same market space, and its no wonder that the gap for new additions to the world of profitable applications are shrinking.

Cross-platform use is what Microsoft hopes to cash in on by developing their API mapping tool, and have provided developers with a number of services to assist in porting apps to Windows Phone 7. In addition to the tool itself, Microsoft is also providing a dedicated Web site where developers can go to learn more about API mapping. They have also provided an eight chapter, 90-page white paper that is constantly growing to further accommodate new information. A series of “developer stories” are also available online, giving developers the chance to see what others have experienced in moving their applications to a new platform.

The true test will be in the number of apps that make the jump – Microsoft is counting on software to turn the tide in their favor, but it’s possible that their porting ability has come too late, and that the market is already saturated.

iOS5 Preview: New features for Your iPhone and iPad

Tim Attwood — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 16:30:59 +0000

The new iOS5 is due to hit Apple devices in fall 2011, and the Web is all abuzz about what will be included in the massive update. Arguably the biggest and most game-changing OS improvement that iOS has seen in its years on the market, there are a host of features that have Apple users eager to get the new OS up and working for them.

First up is the most important question – just who is this OS going to work for? According to Apple at WWDC 2011, it will support iPod Touch 3rd and 4th generation devices, iPhone 4 and 3GS, and both iPad 1 as well as iPad 2. It will be free, of course, and will most likely be very, very big.

One of the biggest new features of iOS5 is the Notification Center that Apple has developed. From a menu at the top of the home screen of any iOS5 device, a user will be able to pick and choose which notifications they want to see. Android has a similar feature in their OS, and this should provider Apple users with a way to centralize all of the notifications they have coming in. Notifications will also show up on the lock screen, and can be swiped over to access them directly.

‘Reminders’ is another self-explanatory upgrade that is aimed at helping users organize their lives. The Reminders feature will let users make a note about something that needs to be done, where it needs to be done, and when. Then, Reminders will sync with an iPad or iPhone Calendar as well as Outlook and iCloud, so that the note will be updated across any Apple devices that user owns. Reminders can also be location-based, meaning that when a user enters the grocery store, a note containing a shopping list can be set to automatically pop up. With iPhone Calendar syncing already announced, it’s no great stretch to imagine that Reminders will also support Hosted Exchange calendar syncing, but no official word has been given.

The iOS5 package will also come with the new iMessage center, that allows for free texts between Apple product users, along with send and delivery receipts and the ability to see if someone is replying to a message – much like BBM.

With a substantial list of upgrades, iOS5 looks poised to help streamline the experience of Apple users across the board.