Hasta La Gadget!

An early peek at BlackBerry OS 7.1 revealed that RIM’s handsets would finally be getting mobile hotspot capabilities. Now you can download the leaked update yourself and start sharing your Torch 9810’s data connection. Of course, it goes without saying, this is not an official update yet and the usual caveats about stability and the danger of bricking your device apply. Then again, that might seem like a small price to pay for a feature that’s become standard on practically every other mobile OS. Hit up the source link to get your hack happy hands on the unsanctioned 7.1 upgrade for the sliding BlackBerry.

Download leaked BlackBerry OS 7.1 now, make your mobile hotspot dreams come true originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Dec 2011 18:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There’s no QNX (or BBX, we should say) here, but the Bold 9930 is still taking baby steps towards the future with BlackBerry OS 7. Now that you’ve had a few months to tinker with your latest and greatest, we’re interested to hear how you’d tweak things if given the keys to Waterloo. Would you make it look a bit more like this? Change up the screen? Toss that chrome ring around the edge? Chunk it to another carrier? Go on and get creative in comments below, but keep it civil, cool?

How would you change RIM’s BlackBerry Bold 9930? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 Oct 2011 23:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, we hope you weren’t expecting to have PlayBook 2.0 up and running on your BlackBerry tablet any time soon, cause it’s been officially delayed till at least February. Word has come straight from the mouth (well, keyboard) of David Smith, senior vice president for the PlayBook project. In a blog post Smith announced that RIM would be holding back on the release to ensure many of the new features, including native email and enterprise app deployment, work as advertised. The OS update will be getting a decently long beta test, with it rolling out to some in the Early Adopter Program “shortly.” Sadly, it seems that some features have fallen by the wayside with the focus on polish — namely, BBM. Since the messaging service relies on a one-device per-PIN model, getting it on the tablet has proved troublesome. For now users will have to rely on BlackBerry Bridge and their RIM handsets to get their BBM fix. Considering the company’s track record, we wouldn’t be shocked if the OS update slips even further into the future — remember an email client was promised within 60 days of launch… that was back in April.

RIM confirms PlayBook OS 2.0 delayed until February, still no BBM in sight originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Oct 2011 10:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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And it’s real, folks — RIM has made BBX, its latest mobile platform, official at its DevCon keynote. Dan Dodge, President of QNX, mentioned that the new OS — designed for smartphones and tablets alike — is a “single, unified platform for the whole world,” incorporating Enterprise, NOC and cloud services. BBX will offer over 100 open source libraries and is certified for POSIX, which should entice more developers to use the new platform. It’ll support HTML5 (which “acts as a bridge between old BlackBerry versions and BBX”), NativeSDK and Adobe AIR / Flash, as a few examples. Finally, the OS will offer a new advanced graphics framework called Cascade UI, enabling Super Apps that provide smooth 3D animations and deep integration with BBM and Push services on the device. Make your way to the presser below to get all of the details.

Continue reading Research in Motion announces BBX, ‘combines the best of BlackBerry and QNX’

Research in Motion announces BBX, ‘combines the best of BlackBerry and QNX’ originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Oct 2011 11:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s only hours away from starting, so all you BlackBerry fans should be good and hyped for DevCon 2011. Will we finally see the promised Android app player for the PlayBook? Could those oft-rumored QNX handsets show up in the flesh? There’s only one way to find out, so bookmark this page right here and tune in at the times below to see what RIM reveals to the world in sunny San Francisco.

Feel free to throw your time zone and day in the comments below, you know you want to.

05:30AM – Hawaii (October 18th)
08:30AM – Pacific (October 18th)
09:30AM – Mountain (October 18th)
10:30AM – Central (October 18th)
11:30AM – Eastern (October 18th)
04:30PM – London (October 18th)
05:30PM – Paris (October 18th)
07:30PM – Moscow (October 18th)
12:30AM – Tokyo (October 19th)

BlackBerry DevCon starts today, get all the liveblog action right here! originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Oct 2011 07:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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