Hasta La Gadget!

First Netflix, then Instagram, now BBM? We’re getting reports along with plenty of Twitter noise that the popular BlackBerry service has headed south. This makes for one heck of an anti-social weekend if you’re a photo-sharing, BBM-er for sure. Let us know if you’ve been affected by the service, in the meantime why not read up on some tech news? We’ve plenty!

Update: We’ve just received word from RIM itself explaining the situation. Basically, you might experience some hiccups with BBM and web browsing, but everything else should be back to normal. Check out the response below:

Today, we experienced a service issue which may have affected some of our customers in certain parts of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Some minor issues relating to browsing and BlackBerry Messenger may still persist, but all other services are operating as normal. We apologize to any customers in these regions who may have been inconvenienced.

Users reporting BBM down, joins Instagram in being less social (update: RIM’s on it) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Jun 2012 09:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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RIM reported a disastrous Q1 2013 financial result in an earnings call yesterday, with the company still resolute in preparing BlackBerry 10 despite yet another delay. RIM also noted how it would be exploring all available avenues, and Reuters is reporting that the company’s board is coming under increasing pressure to sell its software services or partner with Microsoft on Windows Phone.

One of the options is to completely scrap BlackBerry 10 and license Windows Phone 8 from Microsoft. Steve Ballmer has reportedly approached RIM in the past hoping to form some sort of partnership, similar to its deal with Nokia, although the Waterloo-based company has declined such offers. RIM could also look to Microsoft to buy a stake in the company, although it’s not as attractive a proposition as the company would lose its independence.

The other option would be for RIM to sell off its private network infrastructure and software services to a private equity firm or another tech company. RIM’s servers could then be retooled to work on other mobile operating systems like iOS or Android. That’s a plan similar to what former co-CEO Jim Balsillie wanted to pursue, a course of action that was ultimately nixed.

Sources indicate that RIM’s board would prefer to keep developing BlackBerry 10 and see it through to an eventual release in the first quarter of 2013, although one has to wonder if the company can hold out for that long. The company yesterday reported a net loss of $518m, with revenue also down a third compared to the previous quarter. RIM stated that 5,000 jobs will be cut from the company.

RIM mulls Windows Phone partnership amid squashed BlackBerry is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

RIM gave the impression when it unveiled the BlackBerry Curve 9320 and 9220 that its lowest-cost Curves were doubtful prospects for the US. Thankfully, that’s been proven wrong by Boost Mobile, which just launched the 9320’s CDMA cousin, the Curve 9310. The message-manic BlackBerry comes to Sprint’s prepaid network with its BBM key intact as well as BlackBerry 7.1, a 3.2-megapixel camera and that all-important low price: at $100 contract-free, it’s one of the cheapest ways to leap into smartphones in the US. To top it off, Boost is throwing in a very tantalizing BBM Unlimited plan. The deal offers unlimited calling, text messaging and (naturally) BBM; although it starts at $45 per month, it gradually dips down to a very reasonable $30 per month if owners pay their bills properly for six months. Both the Curve 9310 and its companion plan will be available July 10th, giving us time to find the needed spare change under our couch cushions.

Boost Mobile takes BlackBerry Curve 9310 to the US, spices it up with $30 unlimited BBM, voice and text plan originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jun 2012 11:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Just yesterday we saw details leak of RIM’s new BlackBerry handsets, with touchscreen and QWERTY keyboard offerings that will both run BlackBerry 10. N4BB is back with yet another leak, this time of the revamped BlackBerry Messenger that will debut along with the new version of the operating system. The biggest change seems to be a redesigned user interface with an eye-catching color scheme.

In fact, the company will supposedly use several different themes for BBM in Blackberry 10. The first mixes things up with a white and green color scheme that looks surprisingly easy on the eyes, while the second adds black into the mix. There’s a technical reason for that change: both handsets detailed yesterday will make use of OLED screens. When presented with pure black elements, OLED pixels completely turn off, unlike LCDs which are still backlit regardless. That can lead to drastic power savings, with one of the leaked BBM slides estimating a 25% decrease.

Tweaking the colors even further in favour of darker tones such as grey and blue will lead to even bigger savings: 75%, or so the slide claims. It’s a trick that manufacturers such as Samsung have used in the past to maximize battery efficiency combined with aggressive auto-brightness settings. Otherwise, feast your eyes on the redesign above and below, which seems to fall in line with what we’ve seen so far from BlackBerry 10.

[Thanks, Jack.]

BBM design for BlackBerry 10 leaks is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The Sunday Times is reporting that RIM is planning to split its handset and messaging network into two separate companies, then sell off the ill-fated BlackBerry hardware business. More »