blackberry

The net takeaways: - The Bold appears to be the best Blackberry yet, with higher quality camera, screen and keyboard - The new UI has done a lot toward making the device much more usable. Of course, Verizon or someone else will come along and bastardize all that work, then we'll lament the fact that the iPhone has a better interface. - Folder icons in the UI may/may not be interesting … Read more

The long-awaited BlackBerry Bold, or BlackBerry 9000, made its North American debut Thursday on Rogers Wireless in Canada.

The Bold is a souped-up version of the BlackBerry Curve model, which has sold well in the U.S. on all four major carriers. This new and improved BlackBerry is supposed to have a superior screen resolution to the Curve and more memory. It also has Wi-Fi and operates over a 3G network, something the GSM version of the Curve does not do. Rogers, like AT&T and T-Mobile, which offer the Curve in the U.S., is a GSM carrier.… Read more

Underwhelming--that's the word that comes to mind when I look at the new Palm Treo Pro.

Yes, nicer looking for sure, with a strong influence from the lower-cost Centro model (and looking rather like the upcoming BlackBerry Bold). It also has 3G and Wi-Fi, which is great, the newest version of Windows Mobile, and GPS, though these can also be found on existing competitors. So it's got a decent package of features, but what's so compelling about it that isn't offered elsewhere?

In this day and age, offering a screen that takes up less than 50 … Read more

MyCaption, a member of the BlackBerry Alliance, introduced on Tuesday a new way BlackBerry users can work with e-mails on their smartphones: by speaking.

Actually, this is not exactly a breakthrough, as voice recognition technology has been out there for a long time and can be found in the Voice Command or Voice Dialing features of many smartphones. However, this seems to be the first time you can use it for more than simple sentences, such as, "Call Johnny at the office."

MyCaption claims that its new application is sophisticated enough that people can compose, forward, or reply … Read more

When it comes to smartphones and cell phones, one size does not fit all. So while it might seem like everyone wants the BlackBerry Bold, Research In Motion knows better. Enter the RIM BlackBerry Javelin. This rumored smartphone is like the little brother to the Bold. It drops the HSDPA support but offers EDGE, Wi-Fi, and GPS.

The Javelin is also said to have a 512MHz processor and 256MB of flash memory under the hood, while rocking a 480x360-pixel resolution display like the Bold. Some say the Javelin is in line to replace the RIM BlackBerry Curve 8320 in T-Mobile'… Read more

Q: I guess I'm missing something, because I don't really see the overwhelming appeal of the Nokia N95. Yes, it has all the radios that we all want, but it's SO big. Also, it has Symbian, which seems about as common as a unicorn.

With its different interface and high price, why do so many editors love it so much? I would expect the iPhone or a BlackBerry model or a Treo model to be ranked higher than the N95 as a smartphone. Wouldn't you call the N95 a feature-phone rather than a smartphone? -- George, … Read more

Gold and silver are fine colors for cell phones and smartphones--that is, if you like to play it safe. However, if you like to make a statement, you might want something a little more bold like green, purple, or how about sunset red? If you fit into this latter group, you might interested to know that today, T-Mobile released a sunset red model of the RIM BlackBerry Curve 8320.

Rocking an orange-red casing, the BlackBerry Curve offers the same great features of the previously released versions, including integrated Wi-Fi, support for T-Mobile's HotSpot@Home service, Bluetooth, and a 2-megapixel … Read more

It's been 19 days since I tried and failed to get a new iPhone 3G, but today I became eligible for the discounted price, and at 7:50am I was in line at the Apple Store at the Westfield Valley Fair mall in San Jose.

As you can read in my previous post, I couldn't get the usual low price for my new iPhone because I had 19 days left on my current 2-year AT&T service contract. Apple was willing to sell me the phone for an extra $200, but I decided I'd rather wait until today.

I was the sixth person in line, and by 8:00am when the store opened, there were five more iPhone buyers in line behind me.

As we lined up, we received cards from an Apple employee reserving the particular model we wanted. I'd estimate the fellow had about 40 cards. I asked if the number of cards corresponded with the number of iPhones in stock, but he wouldn't say. Another Apple guy followed behind, checking our AT&T upgrade eligibility. I did this myself last night, so I was sure it would be okay this time, and indeed it was.

The doors opened right at 8:00am and… Read more

iPhone, schmiPhone. Now wait, don't go calling me an iPhone hater because I'm not. I'm just saying that there are a lot of other hot smartphones out there that deserve as much attention as Apple's starlet, and I've rounded up five of the hottest models.

Whether you're into the BlackBerry Bold or the Samsung Omnia, this group represents some of the most popular and highly anticipated smartphones this year.

I get a lot of reader e-mail wondering about their availability date, pricing, and so on, so I thought I'd try to kill five … Read more