Hasta La Gadget!

RIM posted a mostly toothless smartphone teaser to its BlackBerry 10 landing page earlier this week, but really, what BlackBerry fan could be appeased by that? Thankfully, the folks at Tinhte.vn (the Vietnamese gadget site that came to prominence when it posted early video and benchmarks of the 3rd gen iPad) got their hands on the all-touch L-Series BB10 smartphone and gave it the full photo and video treatment.

Assuming its design is final (if not, it’s very recent — the device sports the recently-renamed BlackBerry World app), the L-Series carries over many of the same aesthetic choices seen in the BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha B device. The front speaker and microphone placement appears to be the same as on the tester device, as do the locations of the BlackBerry logo and the front-facing camera. Meanwhile, a quick meander through the gallery reveals that the L-Series comes equipped with a removable 1,800 mAh battery, and well as the usual collection of microUSB, micro-HDMI, and microSD slots.

Overall, the device doesn’t look too bad — it seems to have remained very understated in its design language (which is probably to be expected considering RIM’s enterprise leanings), and the rounded corners make the L-Series awfully reminiscent of that early BlackBerry London image that begun making the rounds over a year ago. Personally, the looks by themselves aren’t enough to make me want to buy one of things, but BlackBerry 10 certainly has potential and that could make all the difference.

Anyway, that’s enough out of me. I’ve included some of the juicier images below, and you can check out the rest of the photos here and here.

RIM has released BlackBerry Messenger 7 (BBM 7) complete with BBM Voice support, adding WiFi calling to the popular messaging service. The new app, headed to the BlackBerry App World today, currently works with BlackBerry OS 6 devices and above, and as well as allowing for simple switching between text messages and voice calls, adds several other new features.

There are sixteen new emoticons, shown below, as well as BBM upgrade notifications within the app itself, allowing users to easily switch to each new version. Finally, there’s BBID sync, pulling in the BBM profile, Groups, and Contacts, and linking them to each user’s BlackBerry ID.

It’s BBM Voice which will get the most attention, however, RIM’s attempt to keep the messaging system competitive with rivals such as Apple’s iMessage and Google’s Gchat. A single voice button in the top right hand corner of each text conversation begins a call, directly from the chat itself, rather than forcing the user to go through the contacts app.

RIM says BlackBerry 5 devices will get BBM Voice functionality in the new year, and the calls are free over WiFi. It may take 24hrs or so for the new app to arrive in your local version of the App World, so keep checking.

BBM Voice brings WiFi calling to BlackBerry is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It’s a red letter day for BlackBerry-owning Facebookers, as version 3.3 of the platform’s native app has arrived. BBM has been woven deep into the update, enabling you to initiate chats and find friends using your pin contacts. Of course, if you do that, you might find yourself friending too many people who share the minutiae of their lives — so the Zuck has also added easy un-friending to the mix as well. You can snag the update from the BlackBerry App World, which we’ve thoughtfully added for you down at the source link.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, RIM, Facebook

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Source: Inside BlackBerry, BlackBerry App World

Blackberry used to be (and probably still is for some) the choice of companies and governments due to its secure nature, and come Blackberry 10 RIM is hoping that security will remain a feature that the company is known for. In any case it seems that according to a document spotted within the Blackberry 10 platform, RIM has listed about 106 passwords in which users are not allowed to use to protect the content of their devices, with passwords like “123456”, “12345678”, and “123abc” taking the top 3 spots respectively. It also seems that this list can be updated at any time, which means that it will allow RIM to stay ahead of easily guessed passwords to help keep their platform and devices as secure as possible. In any case if you’re curious as to what the rest of the passwords are on the list, you can view the list in its entirety after the break. (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Nokia Lumia 620 announced, looks to be an affordable Windows Phone 8 device, RIM to launch BBM Money in Indonesia, allows the sending of money through BBM,

RIM has given the official word that it will be adding a financial feature to its BlackBerry Messenger App called “Money.” The upcoming feature will allow BBM users to transfer funds from their phone. It’s slated for release in Indonesia first, with the only timeline given being that it’ll happen “shortly,” with other locations to follow.

Word that RIM has such a feature planned has been circulating for awhile, but this is the first time any official confirmation has been given. When visiting Jakarta several weeks ago, the company’s CEO Thorsten Heins hinted at this feature, saying that BlackBerry Messenger is as strong of a platform for financial transactions as it is for communication. RIM’s Managing Director of South Asia Operations Hastings Singh then offered BBC this statement in an interview.

“Indonesia is very important for RIM. It is a huge market for us … So we are offering a new innovation – BBM Money which will be launched in Indonesia – first in the world – shortly. It is a peer-to-peer transfer service that anyone with a Blackberry phone can use to transfer funds to someone else with a Blackberry phone.”

BlackBerry has been losing ground in the market, with government agencies dropping it in favor of more popular mobile operating systems, including the NTSB, while consumers largely select either Android or the iPhone. Despite its trouble battling against Android and iOS, BlackBerry is still massively popular in Indonesia, where it has over 50-percent of the marketshare. There’s no info on when Money will be available in Indonesia and beyond, but perhaps we’ll know more once BB10 launches next year.

[via Tech Crunch]

BlackBerry Messenger Money app set to launch in Indonesia is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.