The Blackberry Bold 9700 & Blackberry 9000 Review

Leaks of the Blackberry Torch 3 and Blackberry Dakota

According to Blackberry Cool and Gizmodo there’s more info coming out of RIM about the Dakoda and Torch 3 devices.

Of course, I’ve got my eyes on the Dakoda given the disappointment we faced with the Torch. The torch seemed like lipstick on a pig in the sense that it really didn’t dramatically improve the blackberry browsing experience as much as we thought it would. It helped sure, but it was a mini-leap and not a dramatic jump from where things should go.

Hopefully with a juicy faster processor, and higher resolution screens we can see some significant advancement. These will all still run the Blackberry 6.0 operating system we’re slowly getting used to and apparently we won’t be seeing smartphones running QNX (the system that runs the Blackberry Playbook) until 2012. Weird that would even happen… That any device would see their next generation OS before their flagship devices would… yet such a huge step in hardware upgrades.

The Dakota is basically a Bold form factor phone but they’re adding a touch screen and higher resolution screen. No word on whether it’ll see a processor upgrade like all the other phones are recieving but since the Curve series is seeing a boost to 800mhz, I can only imagine the Dakota series would see the same.

Boy Genius Report said:

Sorry RIM, but while I still love the quality of your phone builds, I’m looking for something more in my relationships.

It seems that while these specs are nothing to sing and praise home about compared to other phones out there, to be honest it’s pretty exciting to me. Given a robust device that’s harder to break, longer lasting battery life and more enterprise quality business tool like than the other phones on the market, I can’t complain compared to the others out there.

I hope this thing comes with a slightly better web browser. I still find quirks and weird things that really annoy me on the 9780.  I also hope this thing’s a bit wider like the Blackberry Bold 9000. We all miss that thing. If they could have given that better battery life and higher resolution screen with a better web browser, none of us would even care about anything launched to date so far. I bet many are still very happy with their Bold 9000’s.

Anyone else out there not impressed with much out there and waiting for the 9000’s next cousin with nice large keyboard buttons?

OS 6.0 on blackberry bold 9000

I see a ton of people posting and asking in forums “why can’t a bold 9000 run os 6.0?” and it’s a very good question. I’ll be the first to say I’ve looked too. I think rim is making some big mistakes by not making another modern bold 9000.

The keyboard and screen size were perfect.

The original bold has the same processor as the 9700 and even the torch! In fact the only reason an old bold can’t run os 6.0 is the fact that it only has 128mb ram. The bold 9700 can run os 6.0 but it’s buggy and not ideal because it only has 256mb ram.

The two official os 6.0 devices are the 9780 and the 9800 and they both have 512mb on board memory.

We all wish the old bold could be modernized with better battery life, an upgraded browser and a bit higher resolution but at this moment it’s not in the cards.

However the bold 9780 is the next best thing.

UberTwitter for Blackberry Bold 9700 and 9000 Devices

I know, it’s been a while since I posted a ton of material on the site here. This was one of those things where, you’d feel guilty if you didn’t tell fellow Bold 9700 and Bold 9000 users about.

See, when I first got my blackberry the only Blackberry Bold Twitter client program or application available was from Orangatame software and it was called “Open Beak” now, i can’t complain about free software too much, but honestly I think…

…having this software for so long actually HURT My opinion of Blackberry Phones!!!

Why? Because it’s so basic, so ugly and so simple that the very features of Twitter that make it an exciting platform just aren’t there. You don’t get the social interactivity feel of actually chatting or interacting with people… You read other people’s stuff, you read your own stuff… and you post stuff.. whoo hoo? It’s like a blog!

Twitter’s not a blog!??!!!

Well, it’s microblogging, but with the @replies and such its’ alot more than a blog, it’s a social network with active communication going on! But not with Openbeak.

This week, a few minutes before bed, I downloaded UberTwitter and my life changed. Yes in 48 hours my life became a different life. Twitter became people I could talk to, i found a report spam button for all those idiots who keep DM ing me stuff, you know who you are… I mean goodness! I have over 325 DM’s sitting in the inbox, do you REALLY think i’m going to read them? Spammers!

Ubertwitter’s allowed me to see threads of conversations, interact and read other conversations, and actually find MORE tweets fitting on my screen (it seems) then my desktop computer, and easier to read!

If you haven’t tried it your doing yourself a major dis-service, it may in fact actually change your life and grow your business just by installing it. Don’t blame me if you loose hours of precious family time and even have a divorce over how addictive this thing is to use.

Daniel J Deyette

Bejeweled for the Bold 9700

Easily argued as one of the best games to play with a trackpad.. Bejeweled gives some kind of strange and sickly twisted rush when casually flicking the track pad from right to left as you complete a series of 3 shapes. Not only does it flow so nice and sweetly, but it’s a great way to pass the time and won’t leave you frustrated and upset at yourself due to the lack of control that a non-trackball device can sometimes leave you.

I genuinely believe that Bejeweled may very well be the best Bold 9700 game on the market at the moment. It’s one of the few worth paying for. The arcade modes, the advanced levels and the graphics even look better on the Bold 9700 version than on the iPhone version. (iPhone version pictured to the right..).

Download Bejeweled for the Bold 9700 Today!

They have the OTA option there too via SMS to most carriers.

Share Blackberry Internet With Your Laptop – 50% Off

Probably one of the most useful pieces of software available for the Blackberry Smartphone today is the Tetherberry software… Which this week got re-branded to just “tether” due to it’s arrival in the Blackberry App World store.

There’s all kinds of controversy over this app, because apps similar to it aren’t allowed in the Apple store and I imagine the Droid app store has the same song and dance… Whatever the case may be, it’s on at 50% off from now until January 10th, 2010. You really should take advantage of this… Because $24.98 for a $50 program is a good deal – and it was even too rich for my blood until they announced this…

What’s is “tethering” anyway?

Tethering is where you connect your Blackberry via USB to your laptop and use it’s internet connection. If you get an unlimited internet plan from your cell phone provider – this is essentially free internet wherever there’s a signal. If your provider gives you 1GB per month or similar (..and your probably finding your not using it all anyway) you can tap into that for quick email checks and save paying Starbucks any cash.

This works with any provider.. but some require a different config than others, but this software very much simplifies the whole process. This entire process can work easily with a mac or a PC, with windows 7, windows 98, windows 2000, even a server your troubleshooting somewhere that needs a patch or an update… Just brilliant! It’s your swiss army knife, and $25 could easily save your bacon one day even if you don’t need it today…

Download Blackberry Internet Sharing “tetherberry” today.

What’s Slowed Down RIM on OS 5.0?

What’s taking so long to launch OS 5.0 to all Blackberries?

According to RIM, it’s not them, it’s the carriers! Crackberry.com set out to find what’s going on with RIM and the end of 2009 promise to have os 5.0 launched to the majority of devices out there and what the hold up was and found that was RIM’s take.

A statement filed by RIM said:

RIM began rolling out BlackBerry OS 5.0 late last year through our carrier partners for supported devices, including the BlackBerry Bold 9700, BlackBerry Storm and BlackBerry Storm2. We continue to work with our carrier partners to make BlackBerry OS 5.0 available to users on new and other supportable in-market BlackBerry smartphones.

So what’s that mean, that kinda leaves out the Bold 9000, doesn’t it? Apparently the software is available to all carriers to make this available to anyone, as we saw recently with Bell releasing 5.0 to the Bold 9000, all carriers have the software and ability. So from this byte of news, we can stop screaming “when’s RIM going to release 5.0 for my device” and start screaming “When is my carrier going to release it?”.

That… Is the question.

Jeremy Atkins

The Blackberry Presenter – Powerpoint Presentations

On Wednesday, January 6th 2010 – RIM released a new device that really changes the name of the game! A Wireless presentation device allowing you to do power point presentations with no laptop.

Given the native resolution of a Blackberry Bold 9000 or Bold 9700, this method of presenting would be best for text Power Points and non high resolution, non technical presentations only, but regardless it’s really cool. Makes you wonder if it would also work to play DIVX movies from your blackberry to  your TV Set.

Kind of disappointed this device didn’t come with HDMI though, that would make it truly a game changer and something totally useful in a mountain of situations.

Freeze mode is really neat. You can actually pause the powerpoint on the screen while browsing the presentation on your smartphone so you can digg thru and find what’s coming next then flow back all while the audience still sees the screen you were last on. Pretty awesome!

10 Meters of walk around space while still controlling the presentation, Impressive. I’m sure more news will surface and more strategy around  how it works as it slowly gets mentioned around the web.

Technical Details:

Video Formats:
NTSC/PAL

Power Connection:
USB

Video Formats:
VGA, S-VIDEO

Languages Supported:
English, French, Italian, German, Spanish

Display Resolutions:
640×480, 800×600, 1024×768

Bluetooth:
Version 2.o + EDR, Class 1.5

They might want to  add native Indian languages, as Blackberry devices are beginning to get a huge following in that country too.

-Richard

OS 5.0 For Blackberry 9000 Official

… At least from Bell Mobility! Great job, Bell! At least this is a clear sign that it will be released for other carriers.

As reported from BerryReview, CrackBerry,  Phone’s Review and other sites out there. I mentioned before that I was hoping for Os 5.0 to bring battery improvements to the Bold 9000. There’s no guarantee though so we’ll just have to see how it goes.

This was also one of the reasons I stated that it made sense to buy a Bold 9700 over a Bold 9000 for “futureproof” reasons. However, i’m not sure that’s a big deal now that they’re both officially going to support the latest OS, it’s going to be more of a question of what you like better and if you’re ok with a shortened battery life and lower quality camera.

P.S. – For newbies, yes you can still do the upgrade if you’re not a Bell Mobility customer. Yes, it’s the exact same hardware.

OS 5.0 for the bold 9000?

Rumors are floating around the web that os 5.0 will come available for the Bold 9000… That its one week away.
According to many sources, RIM claimed they’d have it rolled out before the end of 2009, which of course is very very near….

I sure hope that’s true. They’re still selling the device, now in white too.

Its a much needed upgrade and I hope battery life improvements we saw on the Bold 9700 come along with it. But, if it does come out soon for the Bold 9000 I will be doing the upgrade on my spare as it’d be nice to see how it runs on it compared to how it runs on the Bold 9700…
What about you? Will you do the update if RIM rolls out OS 5.0 to the Bold 9000?

P.S. This week we removed Google Adsense from the site, hope that keeps the site clean for everyone! It’s really about the content more than the revenue ideally…

Daniel J Deyette

Vonage voip for blackberry now an option

Yeah, I often get excited about affordable calling on the blackberry, but hey! Who doesn’t like money saving tips?

Vonage brought out a blackberry app bacl in october so that’s kinda old news, but what’s new is their $24.95 plan rates instead of paying by the call… Who’s up for unlimited USA blackberry calling??