As the Bold 9900 launches around the world, people are left wondering whether this is really going to be the device everyone hopes it will be. It’s clearly sporting the keyboard that the bold 9000 had, and the nice big high resolution display. It’s now sporting new things like Near Field Communication and a touch screen.

One thing that’s still remain’s to be seen is the battery life and long term effects of the Bold 9900. After fully hacking, modding and being a huge supporter of the Bold 9900, and being one of the avid owners of the bold 9700, and eventually the 9780, I too am left wondering what the Bold 9900 has ins store for the entire industry.

How hackable  is a bold 9900?
How fast are they?
Do they have OpenGL?
Will they ever be a gaming platform?
Do they plan to make one with a FFC (Front Facing Camera)?
Do they plan to at some point support Adobe Flash 10.3?
Have they improved the browser over the OS6 platform?
How is the call quality compared to prior blackberries?

I’ve heard rumors the Bold 9900’s speakerphone is incredible.

I still hold out my offer that we’d make at least 20 videos, over 40 blog posts and write at least two press releases on the incredible Bold 9900 and pump it to our list of Blackberry 9000/9700 fans who have supported us over the years.

Sincerely,
Daniel J Deyette

#1. BlackBerry PlayBook Becomes First Tablet Certified for U.S. Government.

Yes, no other tablet (android/ipad/HP Web OS) is actually allowed to be used for US Government work. With about 2.0 million civilian employees, the Federal Government, excluding the Postal Service, is the Nation’s largest employer.

#2. BlackBerry is now the UK’s biggest smartphone vendor as the youth market spurred its growth over the busy Christmas period, with over 500,000 handsets sold in December alone.

#3. Shares of Research In Motion were up 1.8% in early trading Tuesday, one day after the BlackBerry maker said it would eliminate 2,000 jobs and shake up its executive ranks.

#4. Jim Balsillie, the other co-CEO of RIM, said there are seven devices coming in the next few months with the new OS. He made this announcement at the company’s annual shareholders meeting where a delay to the firm’s Blackberry 7 OS was confirmed. The official RIM account tweeted today:

“You got it! New #BlackBerry devices are coming w/ our new OS, BlackBerry 7! Check back tmrw 4 deets on #BB7FanNight. ^CH” on Twitter.

#5. Against a fairly recent wave of new rivals, RIM still holds on to a 17 per cent share of the global smartphone market. RIM is debt-free and sitting on over $2 billion in cash to finance new and improved products..

#6. RIM innovates harder than the big Apple Inc. in the level of its R&D spending. Apple’s $1.8 billion in R&D covers last year, spread across several initiatives including the iMac, iPod, iPhone, iPad and the retail store iTunes — equalled only 2.7 per cent of total revenues.

RIM’s $1.4 billion in R&D expenses spent entirely on mobility products equalled 6.8 per cent of total sales.

#7. For many mobile users, scared by recent privacy violations at the likes of Apple, Amazon and Sony, RIM’s industry-leading emphasis on privacy protection is the real killer app. To this day, RIM’s security remains unmatched in the mobile industry.

By contrast, RIM’s shares have fallen 60 percent from a February peak, hammered by a litany of bad news. The company has missed its own limp quarterly forecasts, suffered crucial delays in bringing advanced smartphones to market and elicited yawns when it launched its long-awaited PlayBook tablet.
~Reuters – Alastair Sharp~ Tue Jul 26,2011

This is quite sad. It makes me wonder if I’m chasing the best or the worst. The first time I ever saw a Blackberry, I remember it being held with a prestige I can’t explain. At first, they were the tool of top realtors, CIA, goverment agencies and spies. They were a status symbol, a certain unexplainable bravado came with them.

I still remember the very first Blackberry I ever saw. An english businessman used to ride the bus in Vancouver from Surrey to Langley wearing his Blackberry headset chatting to different customers and companies and co-workers while scrolling with the left trackwheel and working at the same time – responding to emails.

I remember wishing I had one then…

Will that trend continue? I sure hope that they go BACK to being something that not just every college kid has, but that top entrepreneurs find themselves looking at a 2011 blackberry that’s quite capable, easy to type on and frankly – BETTER for business.

Long time Blackberry user Lance Ulanoff, a loyal Blackberry user for many years is publically switching to an iPhone 4.

This struggle (as many of my posts have highlighted) has been a hard one for many Blackberry owners as there has been many offerings in the smartphone arena that have appeared to be innovative. While this columnist has actually stated right in his message that he’s considering turning back at some point, many of us have considered the change.

A former iPhone 4 user, and two time android owner, you might wonder why a person would look at buying an iPhone for business over a Blackberry. It seems like the Blackberry was meant for business, and yet many internet marketers, graphic desigenrs and other business types are now switching over to iPhones.

Truth is – there are bonuses to both… But I think in August of 2011, things may change a bit.

It’s true the iPhone has many advantages that make it a tasty treat for the mobile internet user. It’s got a super detailed retina display. It’s got a descent amount of memory and the web browsing experience is pretty good minus the flash aspect. The iPhone really shines in it’s app selection.
–
As a business tool, however.. The data security is pretty scary. They’re easily hackable and you never know what’s syncing where. Their memory and battery aren’t changeable, and you can easily wind up on a long business trip with no phone. The typing isn’t easy and no matter how good the software gets, nothing beats muscle memory. I know Blackberry owners who can type 60WPM!

The android is a totally different animal, most share the removable battery and memory card like a blackberry, some even HAVE physical keyboards and most support viewing flash online. The trouble is that most flash items were never designed for touch screens OR mobile keyboards. They were designed for the mouse. This basically means you often wind up clicking something youd idn’t mean to and that’s it’s own trouble. Androids often have features available earlier than Blackberry/iPhone – BUT at what cost?

In the end – in August of 2011 – Things will change.
The Bold 9900 seems poised to fix all that has broken with the RIM community. If we can just find a way to support the developers to build more apps (such as the video editing, garage band and other aspects of iPhone available) for the Bold 9900 and slate Storm 3 coming that would make this whole game upside down. The Bold 9900’s liquid graphics would surely support video editing and a ton of other apps similar that would allow it to become a contender for the ultimate social/business productivity tool.

Cheers to RIM in 2011.

So for many years i’ve wanted to run a contest. Promote the website, give out some killer stuff and make our sponsors proud. This week is the first of many contests just like it. I’ve designed this contest in such a way that it does two things… (no hidden missions here folks, straight up this is what your helping ME accomplish.)

#1. It gets our lovely sponsor some air time. They’ve worked hard and given us something REALLY cool to give away, so I want to get their name out there big time.
#2. It gets our name, our Blackberry tips and tricks out there and more visitors to our free guides/resources and strategy material.

Sounds like a pretty cool plan, right?

Rock on. So here’s what I’m going to do.

This week’s sponsor is GelASkins. If you’ve never heard of them, oh boy you’ve been in a closet! Time to come out now! They make these super killer skins you put on your Blackberry.

Note, they peel off easy and when you go to sell your phone it’s nice to not sell of a scuffed up one… and to walk a round with a cooler looking phone than everyone elses… that’s priceless!

To Enter, just click this button below!

Tweet

Winners will be picked this friday for a $15 gift certificate to GelASkins!
You’ll be helping your friends find blackberry advice and getting the word out there about a killer company in one shot. Don’t you love it!??!
Hurry up and click the tweet button. All people are invited, the more twitter accounts you have, the more your entered to win

Ok, so we live in a viral society… Bottom line is that Facebook, Twitter and Youtube pretty much still rule the space. You help me, I help you.

Hint: You don’t *need* to own a Blackberry to *LOVE* this contest!!!

ANYONE can enter, I don’t care who you are, what phone you have, or where in the world your located you could win this crazy amazing super prize!! (That works for MOST popular phones)

Stay tuned for details…

They’re not supposedly released until August 14th. Some rumors that Telus and Moblicity and others will carry them. Until then, here’s one way to get your ands on a Blackberry Bold 9900…

Here’s a really good demo of the Blackberry Bold 9900’s accelerometer and touch screen in use.

I really can’t wait to get my hands on one of these and see if our growing fan base of Bold 9000 users would really love to get their hands on this instead of their aging bold 9000s. I’ll detail in future updates some of the amazing addons to. The bold 9000 (minus web browsing experience and battery life) remains the top smart phone for fat fingered users who find that touch screen displays are clearly a children’s toy and not meant for business world usage.

• Flag ship device for Blackberry OS 7.0
• Same Form Factor as Bold 9000.
• Bold 9900 on crackberry.com

Summary of news:

Bold 9900 is leading the pack with a 1.2Ghz snapdragon, faster sunspider java tests than an iPhone 4, magnetometer, compass, GPS, near field communications (NFC), Bold 9000 sized keyboard and larger screen. Thinnest blackberry yet, boasting 21 hour battery life, Blackberry OSv 7.0, and an HD recording video camera built in.

Update: Bold 9900 won’t support android apps or flash.

Update: these guys have done a fantastic job of showing all the views, pictures, etc of the unseen. What we’re all waiting for on the Bold 9900.

Ok, so many of you have seen how quiet this website has gotten. It’s no secret. I’ve gotten just plain (&$@^) tired of RIM and their lack of innovation. When I first got started into smartphones in the early 2000’s, the smartphone to have, the best on the block was a Blackberry. Sure, iPhones had a better web browsing experience, but a blackberry was your all around info-powered, hub of business transactions.

User experience, feature sets and popularity quickly died for Blackberry to it’s android and iOS counterparts.

Skip ahead I actually had a very expensive battle between Blackberries and other devices.
I had an iPhone4, Google Nexus One, Curve 8310 and Bold 9700 and Bold 9780 in the span of less than a year.

I started out being a RAVING fan (actually knocking other devices) over the 9700’s power. I would regularly convince non-blackberry users to switch.  At some point, I watched the story of the Nexus One videos on Youtube, and my heart was a flutter. A browser experience like no other, flash support and other fancies took my heart for a spin and I became a Level1 Android user (get to that later).

Then, after months of battery pain, and the annoying typing on a touch screen, I returned to Blackberry (But with a very limited budget) I was forced into a temporary Curve 9300. The thing had a bug where SMS messages were super slow and other features didnt’ work well either. The thing was hardcore underpowered, low resolution (320x something) and super slow. The keyboard made these plastic noises that made you not sure if it would last the week!

My contract was due and I moved into an iPhone4, thinking this is the wave of the future, and this looks fantastic! It was an amazing toy. Incredible in fact, the retina display and many other features made me like it much more than the phones I had in the past… But again, I became frustrated with the typing experience (which was notedly better than a Google Nexus One) so, I traded it for the Bold 9780. I wanted to try Blackberry OS 6.0, and I once again (as I have cried about before) was dying for a Blackberry with webkit….

Anyway,… After using the 9780 for nearly a year… I liked OS 6.0 enough, the battery life was good, typing was “OK” but the web browser SUCKED. The processor SUCKED. The social media was annoying and the screen was in my opinion still way too low resolution for my use.

After what seemed like it should have been their flag ship device, I decided to move back to an android and i’m currently using the HTC Desire. Long story, there’s a million better androids and i’d rather have a Desire Z or a Motorola Charm to keep my physical keyboard, but to be honest, this was actually just the cheapest thing I could find in my friend circle.

A better blackberry arrives from RIM….

NOW, for **years** (no joke, at least 3) the Blackberry community has been BEGGING RIM to release OS 6.0 for the bold 9000, or an update to the bold 9000 unit. I even condemplated making one myself. You’d never match the battery life but other things might be possible… anyway…

THEY Finally have a NEW Bold 9000 with OS 7.0 and as it should be it’s their new flag ship device, and as it should be it has the same sized keyboard for the big thumb users who still want a real keyboard, AND it has a touch screen, and it has a 1.2ghz processor and HD recording.

Now, as a corporate internet marketer who focuses primarily on internet marketing and social media compliance and other jobs, I can’t really go out and switch, but if they sent me a demo device, mark my words… I would litterally make my entire life and every video and every app I use blasted all over the web.

I would:

• Write Reviews
• Comment on other blogs
• Make videos on Youtube
• Write at least another 20 blog posts about it
• Build custom themes
• Show it to my iPhone and Android friends
• Promote on Facebook to my 2,000 peeps
• Promote on Google +1
• Promote on Twitter to my 1500 peeps there

But at the moment, ironically it’s not about money, but… starting off with my blackberry 6230 to the curve, bold 9000, curve 8310, 9700 and 9780 that i’ve had over the years… I don’t think she’d let me justify buying another one. I dunno what that conversation would look like…

But RIM, i’m actually love sick over the Bold 9900. Litteral gut pains, and I wish I could justify switching to my 7th phone in 2 years, I better look away. But – RIM, as the famous line in relationships goes.. .”it’s not you, its me…”

Phone me! 604-626-4820