T-Mobile Shadow
(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CBS Interactive)
In addition to the RIM BlackBerry Curve 8900, T-Mobile also announced the retail availability of the T-Mobile Shadow on Tuesday night. The Windows Mobile 6.1 device was first announced at CES 2009 as the replacement to the original Shadow and can now …
RIM BlackBerry Curve 8900
(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CBS Interactive)
T-Mobile teased us at CES 2009 by introducing the RIM BlackBerry Curve 8900 but denying us any details on its availability date and pricing. Fortunately, we didn’t have to wait too long as the carrier released the final details on …
After the BlackBerry Bold’s epically delayed launch on AT&T and the Storm’s epically borked launch everywhere, RIM needs 2009 to be better than 2008. The T-Mobile BlackBerry Curve 8900 is a good way to start.
We looked at a close-to-production model Curve 8900 a few months ago (albeit one marked for the Death Star). So far, our experience on this retail unit for T-Mobile has been pretty much the same as it was on the prototype, both good and bad (but mostly good).
We won’t call anything bulletproof without less than a week with the device (especially given horribly depressing comments muttered recently by RIM’s CEO), but BlackBerry OS 4.6 has been around for several months and been on a few devices at this point, and the Curve 8900, so far, seems like the most stable and least buggy product RIM has shipped in a while. It’s also notably hardware that’s a return to what they’re most comfortable making—a 2G device with Wi-Fi—the kind of phone they’d poop out in the old days (you know, two years ago) and it’d still work fine and deflect missiles and small children while maintaining two-day battery life. So, it does bode well.
Conceptually, the Curve 8900 is almost exactly what you want in a sequel—it ups the ante in a lot of the right ways, like sex quotient, but keeps the fundamentals in place. It’s not a beautiful piece of hardware that will magnetically pull drool out of people’s lips in a trickle, but it’s black-and-chrome modern enough with just the right lines (borrowed from the Storm) that it will draw eyes, if only for a split second.
Hardware
Three things make the hardware exceptional: The screen is delicious and not just because a video of John Mayer is preloaded on it, one thing RIM’s been getting very right (the screen, not John Mayer, though that is also very right). Colors pop like John Mayer’s lyrics, contrast is contrasty and the 480×360 resolution is fantastic, with a nice, wide viewing angle. The screen’s still too small to watch anything longer than a music video—starring say, John Mayer—but it’ll look pretty good while it’s rolling.
The new “Atomic” trackball seems noticeably sturdier than the one that’s been on BlackBerrys for years. It’s more solidly implanted in the device, with less room for nasty junk to squeeze inside, but still plenty of spin in the wheel.
The keyboard, I feel, is better than the original Curve’s, with a more pronounced sloped to the keys, a la BlackBerry Bold. I prefer the Bold’s keyboard, since it’s way roomier and has perfectly squishy keys, as opposed to the super-punchy ones found on the Curve 8900. That said, the Curve 8900 keyboard is still one of the best smartphone keyboards you’ll ever tap on. RIM knows how to make QWERTY keyboards with their Canadian eyes closed, even if they’re still working out the whole touchscreen clicky thing.
The build quality is another strong point. It’s a solid device that you know won’t go down without a fight, like all RIM hardware. I’d say it feels more sturdy than the original Curve, which I always thought was excessively plastic-y. It definitely feels nicer than the Curve—more high end, and its smoother lines make for a better handfeel too. The weight’s similar to the iPhone 3G—not a feather, but not a monster like the G1 or BlackBerry Bold. The flimsiest part of the phone is the cheapo battery cover, which pops off and on mercifully easy.
A few things muddle the hardware’s excellence: The lack of 3G (sorry, once you’re used to it, you can’t go back) and the Wi-Fi’s persnicketiness—it just didn’t want to play nice with a few of the secured Wi-Fi networks I had it on, constantly dropping out. Open Wi-Fi points seemed just fine though. Also, when I talked to my mommy, the call quality wasn’t bad—it was very clear—but it also had a weird kind of hollowness to it.
Software
Software-wise, the Curve 8900 has every strength and weakness that every BlackBerry phone has when compared to other smartphones: If you’re not familiar with BlackBerry email, BlackBerrys are all about it, with features like real push, server-side search, Exchange support, serious security, a million keyboard shortcuts and other power perks. It’s not the sexiest looking email client around, but it does everything you’d ever want a smartphone to do in terms of email. There’s a reason it’s a corporate warrior’s mandatory piece of kit.
The OS is fairly easy to use (some particulars aside)—it’s an icon-based layout where what you see is what you get. Settings can be a bit of a listicle labyrinth, but for the most part, everything’s presented right up front and easy to get to.
Even though the iPhone and though Android get all the press for apps, BlackBerry also has the backing of a pretty solid developer community for applications, so there are tons of applications to download and install, even if they aren’t quite as shiny as what’s on the iPhone or Android or available from a convenient storefront (yet). The Curve 8900 comes loaded with a solid starter suite though, with instant messenger apps from everybody that matters, like AIM and GTalk; BlackBerry Maps (which is alright, though I prefer Google Maps); and Office to Go, which lets you edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint files…on the go. The media apps work fine, with a fairly generic UI.
The software is hampered mostly by its message-oriented roots, so while it does email better than anyone and does have a ton of apps from the developer community, the whole web thing the iPhone, Android and Palm Pre get, and its attempt to scale to that kind of complexity, is clearly a struggle within the BlackBerry OS paradigm. The Curve 8900’s browser, though ridiculously more usable and accurate at rendering than the original Curve’s, is slow even over Wi-Fi. Its application approach is still browser-oriented while we wait for the BlackBerry app store and it’s pokey and annoying, even from RIM’s own central app hub. The apps are there and many are good—Kevin from CrackBerry highly recommends the Bolt browser for a much faster browsing experience—you just have to find ’em.
Oh, one other sore point for BlackBerry is trying to sync one to a Mac. It’s not a fun experience, with PocketMac providing nowhere near the kind of complete functionality of the PC BlackBerry Desktop Software, which handles all of your syncing, app and media management, and the total inability to have more one sync program installed on a Mac at once. If you install BlackBerry Media Sync to sync iTunes to your BlackBerry on a Mac, it borks your other syncing programs. =(
Conclusion
Based on our time so far, if you have a BlackBerry Curve, the Curve 8900 is the same thing, but better in a lot of little ways that add up to a markedly better experience overall, thanks to a gorgeous display, slicker OS and well-designed hardware.
It’s not a phone to switch to T-Mobile for—especially since it’s obviously coming to AT&T, and most probably Verizon and Sprint too—but this is the BlackBerry that most people will be rocking in the next year as it inevitably spreads from carrier to carrier, and for good reason. If you’re on T-Mobile, you really have two (good) choices for a smartphone now: This or the G1. If you do serious business, well, the choice is made for you.
T-Mobile’s just launched the Shadow (Shadow II), the successor to the HTC Shadow, which features a customized UI on top of Windows Mobile 6.1. It’s quite similar to the original in just about all respects.
The scroll wheel’s still there, and the T-Mobile customized UI is still there, the sliding SureType half-QWERTY keyboard is still there and the Windows Mobile Standard (non-touchscreen) edition OS is still there. I can’t call this the same phone, but it’s pretty damn similar. It does have support for T-Mobile Unlimited HotSpot Calling, which is the calling over Wi-Fi (@ Home) system you can sign up for.
The first thing we’ve noticed is that the phone is light—we thought the battery was missing at first until it booted right up. The keys are bulged and feel good enough (looks the same as the first), and the scroll wheel flipped between items with only slight lag. There’s still Windows Mobile sluggishness throughout, which you’ll notice as you’re dumped from the T-Mobile customized front screen whenever you’re trying to do some task.
The new Shadow doesn’t seem to push the bar of Windows Mobile as much as the original Shadow did, but it’s not a bad phone—it’s just a Windows Mobile phone. It’s portable, light, and somewhat solid. It’s just too bad that it uses Windows Mobile Standard instead of Professional. This is about as good a WM Smartphone as you’re gonna get before Windows Mobile 6.5 hits later this year, which is what you should be waiting for instead of making a purchase now. But if were looking for a phone that’s really black, there’s a reason why they call this the Shadow. Seriously. Cause it’s black. Really black. Ninjas could use this and not be detected.
Yep, the deed’s done. Er, it will be come March 11th, and there’s no avoiding it. Unless, of course, you lock in a lower rate now, but we suppose that’s the point of Sirius XM coming out with this information over a month in advance. As of now, both XM and Sirius’ separate websites have “lockin” pages hosted up, with XM’s noting that after March 11th, subscriptions will no longer include internet listening gratis. For those who renew their existing contract now, you’ll be grandfathered in and continue to listen for free; after that deadline, it’ll be $2.99 per month for the premium (and only) stream. Over at Sirius, we’re told that the SIRIUS Everything plan will rise from $6.99 per month to $8.99 per month unless you lock yourself in prior to the eleventh day of March. So, should you stay or should you go?
[Via The Wolf Web]
Read – XM’s page
Read – Sirius’ page
Filed under: Portable Audio
Sirius XM plans official rate hike for March 11th originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Jan 2009 22:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
A final vote on legislation to delay the digital television transition has been postponed until Wednesday morning, but House members braved a Washington, D.C. ice storm Tuesday night for a partisan battle over the impending switch.
Pushing the DTV transition from February 17 to June 12 is “a highly regrettable but necessary step,” said Rep. Rick Boucher of Virginia, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce technology subcommittee.
Boucher was the only Democrat to appear at the floor debate, facing off against seven of his Republican colleagues, all of whom opposed the measure.
The bill is “a solution looking for a problem,” said Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee. “We could do nothing worse than to delay this date.”
Do not attempt to adjust your monitor: yes, the eMachines you see to the left of this copy is just as boring as it appears. It’s a budget system that costs $380, so we’re not expecting world-class design, but eMachines doesn’t even make it pretty on the …
It kind of figures, right? Famed American Idol judge Simon Cowell sports a phone crafted by a Finnish handset maker. We know, that’s not quite England, but it’s close enough. In tonight’s episode, he proceeded to tell the iPhone that it simply “wasn’t the complete package” while alluding to the lack of copy / paste, the T-Mobile G1 that it was “too young to be taken seriously” and the BlackBerry Storm that it just “pushed his buttons the wrong way.” Ultimately, Paula, Randy and even Kara were coaxed into agreeing, sending the N95 8GB to Hollywood for one more shot at stardom. Sigh.
Filed under: Cellphones
Screen Grabs: Nokia N95 8GB is Simon Cowell’s American Idol originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Jan 2009 21:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
A year ago, “innovation” and “iDEN” were two words we wouldn’t dare use in the same sentence — but in the age of i9s and 8350is, the landscape has changed just a bit. That’s not to say we’d dare consider switching from CDMA or GSM to the old-school PTT airwaves, but hey, it’s good to know the Nextels and Mikes of the world are still getting theirs in 2009. This year should see the release of the Motorola i465, the very first iDEN Moto to score a QWERTY keyboard — and no, it’s not Windows Mobile or anything fancy like that. Instead, it seems they’ll be taking the low-tech route by grafting a full keyboard onto a dumbphone, a strategy that’s really caught on with many of the world’s carriers in the past year as they’ve looked to boost messaging revenue with cool, affordable phones geared toward a younger segment. It’s got Bluetooth 2.0 and a lowly VGA cam, but other than that, specs, release dates, and target carriers are all a mystery to us — so if you’re in that curious group of folks who text and push-to-talk like monsters and can’t tolerate anything out of Waterloo, keep your eyes peeled.
Filed under: Cellphones
i465 to be first Motorola iDEN phone with QWERTY originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Jan 2009 21:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Well, it looks like the BlackBerry faithful have come out in full force to snag “Verizon’s best-selling device,” after all. Despite RIM’s nightmarish “new reality,” of half-baked firmware and broken dreams, Verizon has made it known that the latest ‘Berry has grown to a full 1 million units sold between the November 21st launch and the end of January. Apparently the ever-leaking updates have kept enough people satisfied with the keyboardless device to reach this milestone, so we’ll just keep our fingers crossed that the updates don’t stop flowing and this powerhouse becomes the titan it has the potential to become.
[Via CrackBerry]
Filed under: Cellphones
Verizon touts 1 million BlackBerry Storms sold to date originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Jan 2009 19:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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