Another First Image of a BB10 Phone Emerges!

Posted By Ray Nicolini

CrackBerry just posted another image of what is supposed to be the BlackBerry London running BB10.  Nothing new is known, but it is nice to see a pic of the device.   If they are trying to capture the North American consumer, it might just work.  To me it looks a lot like the Droid X, or as CrackBerry says, a ‘phonified BlackBerry PlayBook’ .  No news on what the screen is, or what camera’s it is running(yes this is very important to people), but it is rumoured that they are testing  both the TI OMAP5 and Qualcomm chipsets.  These would ring at around 1.5ghz, so the spinning clock should be a thing of the past.  With this leaking, more will probably arise in the next we days.  Let us know what you think.

Source: CrackBerry

Free BibbyCam Filters Your BlackBerry Photos With 14 Filters & Social Integration

Posted By Ray Nicolini

 

One of our anonymous tipsters let us know about BibbyCam becoming available on App World. The app tries to compete with Instagram by offering up 14 photo filters on your BlackBerry smartphone. It also lets you connect your account to Facebook or Twitter to share the filtered pics and like/comment on others pics.  It also has BBM connectivity if you have OS 6.1+.

I have not managed to get the app to work on my BlackBerry 9350 but a friend who tried it out said it is pretty solid for a free app. You can pick up BibbyCam for free in App World and let me know what you think!

RIM’s co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie have stepped down

Posted By Ray Nicolini

Wow, this is unexpected for a Sunday night. Both of RIM’s co-CEOs, Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, have stepped down, but will keep their roles as co-chairmen. Stepping into the RIM CEO limelight is COO Thorseten Heins. Heins stated that “It’s a fantastic growth story and it’s not coming to an end… What you will see with me is rigour and flawless execution.”

It’s been a whirlwind for RIM over the past year, competition has been intense on the hardware and software front, delayed products, poor sales, frustrated investors and a huge drop in their stock price. Over the past few weeks there have been rumours that RIM was looking to sell the company, specifically to Samsung, but this was quickly denied. Even in a the Wall Street Journal tonight “There is no intent to put the company up for sale”.

On a more interesting note, one of the rumours pointed towards to licence their BlackBerry 10 OS to other manufacturers, Heins stated that they are exploring this route and are looking at possible suitors “on a case-by-case basis”.

Source: Globe

Incipio OffGrid Pro for iPhone 4/4S

Posted By Ray Nicolini

via iLounge.com

Unveiled at the 2012 CES to a receptive audience of battery-drained iPhone 4/4S users, Incipio's new OffGrid Pro ($100) isn't the first case we've seen with the ability to swap rechargeable cells, but it's definitely a very polished implementation -- worthy of our 2012 Best of Show Award. Based upon the original OffGrid design, OffGrid Pro amazingly packs an even more powerful 1700mAh battery inside, housed in a thin rectangular block that can easily be removed and swapped with an included 1700mAh spare. Unlike rivals, Incipio includes not only the case as a battery charger, but also a standalone battery charger that can refuel the second cell while the first is being used; the pieces are so compact that both batteries and the charger can fit inside the frame, a major space savings relative to typical iPhone batteries. OffGrid Pro is amazingly thin given its capacity, adding only a modest bump to the iPhone's flat back, while providing button coverage and all the openings you'd expect. Only the headphone port hole is a challenge: it's as small as Apple's latest plugs, and therefore incompatible with many headphone brands unless you use an adapter.

Roam Mobility now offering affordable voice, data and text plans for Canadians visiting the US

Posted By Ray Nicolini 

If you're Canadian and ever spent anytime in the US making use of your Canadian SIM card, then you know full well it's a few megabytes of data usage while roaming can lead to a pretty high wireless bill -- even while using a BlackBerry. Roam Mobility is looking to change that -- they want to provide a painless solution for roaming Canadians that gives them access to a
fast, reliable network (T-Mobile) while in the US.

Whether you're looking to use a basic handset, Liberty mobile hotspot or just want to use a a SIM / Micro-SIM card for your unlocked device, Roam has a plan and solution for you. You can choose between data only plans, text & talk, or text, talk and data and with these plans you are given the option to pre-pay for the time you will be here, or pay by day.

Instead of roaming and getting charged for that usage, you can connect to what is essentially a 'home' network and not worry about roaming charges.You can check out the Roam Mobility website for the full details and supported devices and plans.

Source: Roam Mobility

WhatsApp for BlackBerry gets refreshed, here’s a first look

Posted By Ray Nicolini

Via www.BGR.com

The most popular and successful multi-device communication platform is without question WhatsApp. More of a text messaging replacement than straight BlackBerry Messenger competitor, WhatsApp has been the number one service people rely on to communicate across iOS, Android, BlackBerry, and Windows Phone devices. We were sent a preview copy of the new version of WhatsApp for BlackBerry smartphones, our exclusive first look is after the break.To start, the entire app’s user interface has been refreshed, and it really looks strong. It’s clean, it’s sophisticated, and it’s one of the better interfaces on a BlackBerry product that we’ve seen. The app contains the same basic 5 tabs that you’re used to — chats, favorites, contacts, status, and settings — but it’s done in a way that feels natural and light. There’s a really intuitive context button on the right of the top tab bar, and it changes based on what tab you’re on. If you’re in the chats tab, the button changes to allow you to start a new chat, if you’re on the favorites tab, it changes to refresh favorites button, a search option on the contacts tab, add a status on the status tab, and add a friend on the settings tab.

I have noticed a couple little issues using this pre-release version on my BlackBerry 9900, though. The touch area for the tab buttons at the top of the interface are a tad small and I have tapped a contact’s name and started a chat instead of changing to the tab I aimed to switch to. Additionally, the rows that list your favorites or contacts are very narrow, and while that works fine for navigation with the trackpad, not the best possible spacing for touch selection.

All in all, the app gets a very welcome refresh, and the best multi-platform communication service gets even better. It should be available tomorrow directly from WhatsApp’s beta site, and in BlackBerry App World soon after.

 ”Our current UI for BlackBerry is something only an engineer could love. With this update, we’ve had a designer who has no knowledge of BlackBerry UI difficulties mock up new screens for every part of the app.  It has then been our engineering challenge to make those mockups reality across the wide range of BlackBerry devices available.  When we started, it looked very challenging to make these screens happen, said Michael Donohue, Senior BlackBerry Engineer of WhatsApp, This is truly a great UI for BlackBerry.”

 ”WhatsApp wants consumers to have the ability to message easily, intuitively to that degree we have overhauled the UI, making it simple, clean and easy to use. Our overall commitment to product quality and continued improvement to the BlackBerry is important to us, it is a great messaging device and we are fully committed to supporting the consumers who use it, said Jan Koum, CEO, WhatsApp.”

Apple prepping 42-inch and 50-inch iTV models as talks with TV industry stall, report claims

Posted By Ray Nicolini

Apple’s design boss Jonathan Ive is reportedly hard at work on two models of Apple’s upcoming “iTV,” a new report claimed on Wednesday. Earlier rumors suggested that Apple is preparing to launch 32 and 37-inch HDTVs this summer, but USA Today cites an anonymous former Apple employee in stating Apple is prepping a 42-inch model and a 50-inch model. The report also reaffirms a number of previously reported iTV features such as Siri-powered controls, iOS app support, AirPlay, iCloud support and deep iTunes integration. USA Today also notes that stalled negotiations with content providers within the TV industry are a “major roadblock” for Apple. A la carte availability of top-tier TV shows is said to be a key to the success of Apple’s HDTV, but Apple has reportedly been unable to secure the licensing agreements it would need to offer content using its desired distribution model. ”I do expect Apple to make an attempt, since I expect the living room to remain a center for family entertainment, and that touches on all areas of consumer products that Apple is already making,” Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak told USA Today.

“RIM likely agreeing to license Blackberry 10 to Samsung, HTC, and possibly others”, analyst says

Posted By Ray Nicolini

BASIS International hit RIM with a trademark infringement lawsuit over the use of term “BBX”. RIM started using BBX to describe the new BlackBerry smartphone OS, but to avoid a massive issue they quickly shifted its name to “BlackBerry 10″. According to Jim Balsillie, RIM’s co-CEO, these new devices will apparently “leap frog” the competition when they are released… but we can now expect them sometime during “the latter part of 2012“. The five rumoured “BlackBerry 10″ to be launched in 2012 is the London, Lisbon, Milan, Nevada, and Black Forest.

So until RIM gets their stuff in order, here’s a fresh, new rumour to ponder. Peter Misek, analyst from Jefferies & Co., stated in a note to his clients that he believes RIM has, or will, start to licence the BlackBerry 10 OS to other manufacturers such as Samsung, HTC. No other details are given, but personally I cannot see either of these companies licensing another OS. Both of them are deeply involved with Google’s Android OS and Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 OS. In addition, Samsung has their own bada OS (which isn’t widely adopted), and HTC has reportedly pondered creating or buying a mobile OS. Just like the note to his clients states, if RIM goes in this direction it will put pressure on their hardware business, but increase the service revenue.

“We think some of this has already been started with RIM likely agreeing to license Blackberry 10 to Samsung, HTC, and possibly others. This would help create a critical mass for the ecosystem and maintain RIM’s monthly service revenue; however, it puts more pressure on the hardware business in the short term. Longer term, it possibly gets people hooked on the RIM ecosystem and may in fact allow them to sell more BB 10 handsets (if they are able to create compelling handsets).”

Thoughts?

Source: Barrons

New Year’s Resolution: Review your social network privacy settings

Posted By Ray Nicolini

Via Rene Ritchie @ Tipb.com

What better New Year’s resolution to start with than to check out all your in-app privacy settings, especially where Google, Facebook, Twitter and other social networks are concerned? We know how it goes; you get a shiny new iPhone or iPad app and you just want to use it so you log in through Twitter of Facebook or Google because it’s easy, quickly tap through all the set up pages, granting who knows what permissions and for how long, and then forget about it the moment the next shiny app comes along.

MyPermissions.org thinks you should take a few moments to review your settings, revoke or reduce access for those apps that no longer need full, free access to your personal, sometimes private data, and get 2012 off on a saner, more socially secure start.

(I just did mine and I was startled how many old apps still had access to my stuff.)

Source: MyPermission.org