Hasta La Gadget!

While we won’t get our hands on official blackberry 10 phones before 2013, RIM has confirmed that its upcoming phones will have a display resolution of 1280×720 for the full-on touch screen ones, and 720×720 for the QWERTY handsets. This is not “out of this world”, but at least, the display is pretty decent relative to other high-end smartphones.

RIM is “very excited” about those new Blackberry phones, but for the public and observers, the optimism is hardly contagious. On one hand, most folks are disappointed to wait for so long until the next update. On the other hand, this is a do or die moment for RIM, so the company doesn’t want to take the jump too early and crash on some early glitches. Blackberry is a brand new OS, built with a new codebase, so this is like walking on eggs for RIM. Let’s wait and see.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: BlackBerry 10 gets a fancy photo editor, Images of Facebook app for BlackBerry 10 leaked,

RIM took some time out from its worldwide tour to confirm that it’s standardizing screen resolutions for BB10. Tim Neil took to the company’s developer blog to say that forthcoming full-touch devices will ship with 1,280 x 720 displays, while keyboard-style phones would pack 720 x 720 screens. The only handset that won’t play by these rules is the first (presumably flagship) BB10 handset, since it’s too late to change its 1,280 x 768 screen. The company’s urging developers to get tweaking to ensure apps run properly on the new gear — or add letterboxing to offer a Sergio Leone feel to your mobile gaming.

Filed under: Cellphones

RIM confirms BB10 standard screen resolutions for touch and keyboard devices originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Aug 2012 04:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As the world awaits the arrival of BlackBerry 10 hardware, the Wall Street Journal has a report from RIM CEO Thorsten Heins that the company is ready to start showing off the “nearly complete” devices to carriers next week. Separately, CrackBerry has heard the same from its sources, along with word that more internal employees are becoming a part of the beta test group (already plugging away since May on alpha dev units like the one shown above) as well. As RIM is preparing to ramp up production of test devices, the CEO was also ready to confirm more details about the hardware, including that two devices are due at launch — one all-touchscreen and one QWERTY / touchscreen combo — with plans to expand to six models evenly split between the two options, and that it will stick with removable batteries.

Before RIM tries to convince end users early next year that its new OS was worth the wait, it will have to persuade potential carrier partners. Fortunately, if you believe one unnamed WSJ source, it’s already showing a “marked improvement” over existing phones that makes BlackBerry more competitive with Android. We’re not sure if that will keep BBM addicts on the hook until new hardware launches, but with the roadshow about to commence we should hear more concrete details soon.

Filed under: Cellphones

RIM is taking two BlackBerry 10 beta units on tour soon for carrier previews originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Aug 2012 22:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The outlook for RIM continues to cloud up as more and more consumers and business users leave the BlackBerry line of smartphones and head to Android or the iPhone. RIM is betting big on the BlackBerry 10 operating system in hopes that it will help turn the company’s fortunes around. I think it’s going to take more than a decent operating system to lure people back to the BlackBerry smartphone; the company needs compelling hardware as well.

RIM has noted that it will soon be ready to license the BlackBerry 10 operating system to other manufacturers. The company hopes to have its own smartphones running the operating system on the market by early 2013. That 2013 launch date is a delay from the previously expected 2012 launch. According to RIM, the new operating system is in the final stages of testing.

RIM CEO Thorsten Heins said recently that his company is considering how other firms might be able to use BlackBerry 10 in a range of products. The new operating system was built on a software backbone called QNX, which is very flexible and found in a wide variety of products today including cars, military drones, and nuclear power plants.

While RIM is betting big on BlackBerry 10, it’s BlackBerry smartphone sales continue to decline significantly. Sales declined 43% in the previous quarter alone. RIM purchased QNX in 2010 for $200 million. Interestingly, RIM stock price increased as much is 13% this month after an analytics firm Jefferies & Co announced that it believed Samsung Electronics could be licensing BlackBerry 10.

[via Bloomberg]

BlackBerry 10 ready for licensing soon according to RIM is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

RIM’s stock may have received a surprise boost over rumors of Samsung sniffing around its technology, but that surge could swiftly sour after denials by the Korean company that acquisition or licensing is under consideration. Analyst chatter earlier in the week prompted renewed speculation that Samsung might make a play for BlackBerry 10, as a way of diluting its reliance on Android, but the company was quick to dampen down chatter.

“We haven’t considered acquiring the firm and are not interested in [buying RIM]” Samsung spokesperson James Chung told Reuters, A further statement crushed hopes of a Samsung-made BlackBerry, too, with a further spokesperson telling TechRadar that “Samsung Electronics has not considered the acquisition of Research in Motion or licensing BB 10.”

Meanwhile, the company also said it had not been approached with regards to the possibility of a takeover. Samsung has been frequently cited as a leading suitor for ailing RIM, but whether or not backroom negotiations are actually taking place, the public message remains one of disconnected indifference.

Whether BlackBerry 10 would be a good fit for Samsung is questionable. The company’s enterprise presence – the area in which RIM’s main strengths still lie – has a lower profile than its consumer sales, but Samsung has backed Windows Phone 8 for business, counting on Microsoft’s heft in the Windows PC market.

Samsung denies BlackBerry 10 interest (again) is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.