Hasta La Gadget!

In a long overdue move, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion is set for a major rehaul of the phone’s operating system.

RIM will launch OS 6.0, a snazzier version of its operating system that will include a better web browser, a customizable home screen, widgets and an overall perkier user interface.

OS 6.0 is expected to be available next quarter but it won’t be compatible with all BlackBerry devices, says RIM.

RIM is playing coy with the details about OS 6.0 but the company says the system has been optimized for both trackpads and toushcreen devices.

An earlier leak of the OS 6.0 prototype showed a user interface similar to that of the BlackBerry Storm. The OS 6.0 home screen has a has a digital clock, wall paper and large icons to access services such as music, web and e-mail.

The browser, for long a sore point for RIM users, also has gotten an overhaul. Instead of displaying links and text in a reformatted version for the mobile phone, the OS 6.0 browser is closer to what iPhone and Android users get on their devices, throwing up web pages that look as good on the phone as they do on the PC.  RIM co-CEO  Mike Lazaridis showed a sneak preview of the browser in February.

OS 6.0 will include a revamped music player with an interface that displays album art.

It’s nice to see RIM take a step to modernize the BlackBerrys user interface. But when rivals such as Motorola, HTC and even Microsoft with the Kin smartphones are integrating features such as social networking, video and cloud syncing into their devices, RIM’s efforts seem too little too late.

See Also:

• RIM CEO Offers a Peek at New BlackBerry Browser
• BlackBerry Gets the Exclusive Official Craigslist App
• Obama: My BlackBerry Is Coming With Me
• Research In Motion Woos BlackBerry Developers
• Has Research In Motion’s BlackBerry Lost Its Edge?

Photo: Blackberry phone (LymStylez/Flickr)

We’re still no closer to finding out whether this is the next iteration of the Bold, Storm or some other BlackBerry line, but the unofficially coined BlackBerry Slider continues to pique our interest. Here in the third round of spy shots, we’re seeing the elusive RIM-branded device from a few new angles, namely a round of side shots and a side-by-side with Curve 8900. You’ll notice that the new guys is a bit thicker and longer, and you’ll also see a complete lack of labeling beside the camera. There’s a fair chance that hitting that Source link will simply lead to increased frustration and stress in your life, but c’mon, anything to keep you from finishing up those 2009 taxes is worth a look.

BlackBerry Slider undergoes further undercover inspection, side shots emerge originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Mar 2010 12:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink CrackBerry  |  BlackBerry Leaks  | Email this | Comments

You can consider our minds completely and utterly blown tonight, as we’ve just stumbled upon these photos of what appears to be a new BlackBerry device… a vertical slider. The source (BlackBerry Leaks) doesn’t seem to be able to confirm the legitimacy of the photos, but we’re mostly convinced that this is some variation of a RIM device. While BB Leaks speculates on the possibility of this being the Storm 3, Kevin Michaluk over at CrackBerry suggests this might not be a device headed to market, rather an early version which has been scrapped, similar to that Magnum handset that floated onto the internet recently (though Kevin suggests that our friends in Canada may very well have plans for something in this form factor). What we can say with assurance, however, is that this device coupled with those new BIS 3.0 Gmail integration upgrades, that forthcoming RIM WebKit browser, and a rumored new OS would help push things into the territory of that dream smartphone we pleaded for back in 2008. Coincidence? We think not.

BlackBerry slider photos leak out! originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  BlackBerry Leaks  | Email this | Comments

Capacity crunch, isn’t that a breakfast cereal? RIM’s Mike Lazaridis seems to have been a real grouch at MWC this week as apparently he hasn’t stopped talking about the doom and gloom awaiting mobile carriers over the next few years. Focusing on the bandwidth-hungry North American market, Lazaridis has criticized the apparently irresponsible network saturation growth, which he sees as being primarily driven by app-centric operating systems. If you’re wondering who he could possibly be referring to, let Mike clarify it — according to him, you could carry five BlackBerry devices for each iPhone on a network. As evidence of his firm’s focus on efficiency, he points us to that freshly demoed WebKit browser, which he claims uses a third of the bandwidth required by the competition from Apple and Google. If only he wasn’t implying that owning a BlackBerry would save the internet, Mike’s sales pitch would be rather compelling — those are mighty impressive numbers he is citing.

RIM CEO claims we are staring ‘down the barrel of a capacity crunch,’ should all get BlackBerrys to prevent it originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Feb 2010 03:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink 9to5Mac  |  Daily Telegraph, Economic Times  | Email this | Comments

The cult of the BlackBerry phone is based on the device’s ability to bring e-mails to users faster than they can click through them.

But that could become history. BlackBerry users faced a service outage Tuesday evening — the second time in less than a week — that made e-mail, text messages and web services such as Twitter and Facebook inaccessible.

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion restored the service Wednesday morning and blamed it on a glitch in its instant messaging program called the BlackBerry messenger.

“Based on preliminary analysis, it appears a flaw in two recently released versions of BlackBerry Messenger caused an unanticipated database issue within the BlackBerry infrastructure,” said RIM in a statement.

The company has provided a new version of BlackBerry Messenger (version 5.0.0.57) and is encouraging all users to upgrade to this latest version.

The service interruptions could hit BlackBerry’s reputation and cause some customers to consider alternatives.

RIM has sold about 75 million BlackBerrys worldwide. But it faces stiff competition from rivals such as as Apple with the iPhone, HTC and Motorola — which recently released the Droid. BlackBerry users have to still contend with a browser that’s decidedly 1990s in its look, poor maps, an anemic app store — 2,000 apps to the iPhone’s 100,000.

Meanwhile, outages on the RIM network seem to be getting more frequent. BlackBerry users faced similar problems accessing their e-mail last Thursday. Which raises the question, exactly what kind of backup systems does RIM have? So far, RIM has chosen not to answer that.

Still concerns over the BlackBerry’s recent failures may be “overblown,” writes Shaw Wu, an analyst with brokerage firm Kaufman Bros in a research note to his clients.

“RIM’s fundamental advantages, including its push network technology and ownership of core hardware and software, [are] underestimated,” says Wu. “Our long-standing view is that Apple remains RIM’s only true competitor, but we believe there is plenty of room for both to succeed.”

Still RIM’s stumbles can only help Apple pull ahead.

See Also:

• Research In Motion Woos BlackBerry Developers
• Obama: My BlackBerry Is Coming With Me
• Review: RIM BlackBerry Storm
• First Look: Redfly Dumb Terminal for BlackBerry
• BlackBerry Gets the Exclusive Official Craigslist App

Photo: (Lymstylez/Flickr)