Hasta La Gadget!

This week at BlackBerry World 2011, Jaguar is showcasing one of its lovely XJ sedans outfitted with a prototype of its upcoming Connect and View technology which the car manufacturer is developing together with RIM, Denso, and RealVNC. Like Terminal Mode, the system allows a client running on the vehicle’s head unit to connect to a server installed on a BlackBerry smartphone. Communication is handled by VNC — a platform-independent remote framebuffer protocol, which mirrors the handset’s display on the car’s infotainment screen and maps the device’s physical buttons to softkeys. This provides control of the phone directly from the center stack of the XJ sedan but lets the company block potentially distracting apps. Audio is piped via Bluetooth while VNC traffic is routed over USB, thus also keeping the BlackBerry conveniently charged. Jaguar hopes to have Connect and View in its vehicles by late 2012. Until then, check out our hands-on video (above) and the press release after the break.

Continue reading Jaguar XJ with BlackBerry integration hands-on (video)

Jaguar XJ with BlackBerry integration hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 May 2011 02:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We knew it was coming, but today at BlackBerry World 2011 we were treated to a demo of Android apps running natively on the PlayBook. The end result isn’t too far removed from what we saw with Myriad’s Alien Dalvik at Mobile World Congress. Android’s menu and home buttons are emulated using the standard PlayBook gestures, and the back button is replaced with an on-screen softkey. Of course, you’ll have to visit App World to download Android apps for the PlayBook when the Android Player (as it’s called) finally becomes available. And speaking of Android apps, the wildly popular Angry Birds is coming to the PlayBook as a native game – no cross-platform trickery required.

Android apps on PlayBook eyes-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 May 2011 12:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mobile payment systems may be gaining only gradual steam in the US, but over on the other side of the pond, Vodafone UK has launched a broad new campaign to integrate smartphone technology where Londoners may need it most — in the back of taxis. As of today, many cab passengers will be able to charge their smartphones in transit, thanks to a wide range of chargers that the mobile carrier has installed in more than 500 of London’s iconic black vehicles. Vodafone is also rolling out a new payment scheme today, whereby cash-strapped travelers can text their cab’s license number to a specific code, allowing any owed fares to be charged directly to their phone bills. The system certainly doesn’t sound as elegant as some of the NFC-based operations we’ve heard about, but it still beats having to navigate your cab driver to the nearest ATM, with the meter tick-tocking away.

Vodafone lets Londoners pay for taxis via text message, charge their phones in transit originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 May 2011 06:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We just spent some time with Ryan Bidan, senior product manager for the PlayBook, who gave us a hands-on demo of BlackBerry Messenger on RIM’s little tablet. It’s not a native app — it requires the PlayBook to be paired with a BlackBerry smartphone via BlackBerry Bridge. The functionality is being pushed out “tonight” with a Bridge update on the handset side, and an OS update on the tablet side. So if you and your PlayBook have been longing to get your BBM on, today’s your lucky day — assuming of course that you have a BlackBerry phone on another network than AT&T. Expect a standalone app sometime in the future, but in the meantime hit our video above for the full demo.

BlackBerry Messenger on PlayBook hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 May 2011 18:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Blackberry Bold 9900 and 9930 seem competent

RIM has just announced the BlackBerry Bold Touch. The new handset comes in two versions: the 9900 is the GSM 3G and 4G version, and the 9930 is the CDMA world-phone, with quad-band GSM and and dual-band UMTS.

With those various confusions dealt with, let’s take a peek inside. The Bold Touch runs on a 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor, has 768MB RAM (and storage of 8GB to 32GB), a 5MP camera (which shoots 720p video), a 2.8-inch, 640 x 480 (287 ppi) display, all crammed into a pedestrian, thin-ish, corporate-friendly shell.

The Bold Touch also ships with a new version of the BlackBerry OS, BlackBerry 7. This brings a new, HTML5-compatible browser, voice search and a smart feature which lets you seperate business and pleasure, segmenting things like Twitter and Facebook into their own ghetto. You know, because Twitter and Facebook are never used for work. I kid. This compartmentalizing means you can carry just one phone and be certain your drunken party videos will never turn up when you’re in a meeting.

It looks like a strong but unspectacular update from RIM. Which is of course exactly the kind of update its market — the IT department — loves.

Available this summer, price tba.

BlackBerry BlackBerry product page [BlackBerry]

BlackBerry Bold press release [BlackBerry]

See Also:

• BlackBerry Bold Loses Against iPhone in Browser Race
• BlackBerry Bold Now Free At Wal-Mart
• BlackBerry Bold in Trouble? Orange UK Suspends Bold Shipments …