866 Cellphones
Just another Cellphones News weblog
Storm 2 Confirmed by RIM CEO
Author: +866.com28 Apr
Do you find yourself wanting to love the touch-enabled Blackberry Storm but for some reason it lacks a certain something? Or do you find yourself not wanting to get the Storm because it’s a first-gen model?
If you fall in either category, you will be happy to learn that the long-rumored Blackberry Storm 2 is currently being engineered.
While we have been hearing rumors about this for quite some time now, we finally have official confirmation from the big man himself, Jim Balsillie. Speaking to Reuters, he said “we have next-generation devices with [touch] and the whole roadmap.”
Apparently with one million devices sold, Blackberry has determined that there is a large consumer market to be had. Large market, indeed. Especially if the Storm 2 comes with some significant improvements or feature additions.
No release date was mentioned. Rumors have mentioned September 2009 as a possible date, but it all depends on how far through the process RIM is at this point.
via PhoneScoop
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BlackBerry Gemini 8325 appears in a live image
Author: +866.com20 Mar
It looks like that BlackBerry Gemini we saw last month will not be officially called BlackBerry 9300, but BlackBerry 8325.
A live picture with the Gemini 8325 has just been spotted over at BGR.
Unfortunately, it’s not the best shot around (quality wise), so we can’t see the new smartphone in all its glory.
Anyway, the 8325 looks like a mix between the (now old) Curve 8300 and the new and sleek Curve 8900.
Besides the obvious presence of a full QWERTY keyboard, the rumored features of BlackBerry Gemini 8325 include:
- Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE connectivity
- QVGA display
- Wi-Fi
- BlackBerry OS 5.0
- 2.0 MP camera
No details yet on when RIM plans to officially announce this new handset, but let’s hope it won’t happen too late.
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Verizon
Author: +866.com20 Mar
Far from being RIM’s best kept secret, BlackBerry Niagara 9630 has appeared in several leaked photos until now, and even in a blurry video.
About one month ago, some rumors said the new smartphone would be introduced by Verizon Wireless sometime in May 2009, and it looks like this will indeed happen.
According to The Street, “analysts familiar with the plan” have confirmed the May release, although an exact launch date and a price are still not known.
The 9630 would come to replace Verizon’s BlackBerry Curve 8330, which is currently offered by the giant CDMA carrier for as low as $99.
It’s said the BlackBerry Niagara 9630 has both CDMA and GSM connectivity, so it may be launched in Europe too, via Vodafone (the global mobile operator that owns E of Verizon).
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PhoneGap To Bridge Mobile Platform Gap
Author: +866.com16 Mar
Looking to develop some mobile apps, but can’t decide whether to come up with something for RIM’s BlackBerry, or the ever-popular iPhone? Well, you might not have to worry too much about that in the future, thank to a framework called PhoneGap. The framework will allow developers to write programs in HTML and Javascript, after which those apps will be ported to BlackBerry, Android and the iPhone seamlessly. There are still a couple of bugs here and there, but it’s still very impressive. Would you rather develop apps with the PhoneGap framework, or concentrate solely on a specific mobile phone platform?
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BlackBerry 9630 Niagara Sold On eBay
Author: +866.com16 Mar
Drooling over the upcoming BlackBerry 9630 Niagara? Well, you certainly won’t be the only one, judging by the $1995 price that somebody on eBay was willing to fork over for the device. As mentioned, a BlackBerry 9630 which managed to escape from RIM appeared on eBay, but only managed to last about 4 hours till it was snapped up for said figure. The BlackBerry 9630 is rumored to be heading for Verizon and Sprint in Q3 this year, and should be the CDMA alternative to the BlackBerry Bold 9000, sans Wi-Fi.
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HTC To Challenge RIM In US
Author: +866.com15 Mar
Reports are filtering in that the HTC Maple will be launched during the CTIA Wireless 2009 trade fair, which will be held between April 1st to 3rd. Apparently HTC is busy trying to strike a deal with the 4 major carriers to launch the smartphone and get it ready to market. Statistics indicate that the market for messenger will be as large a 3-million annually in the US. The Maple is most likely going to be a lower cost device, which might be a smart move, considering the current economic situation.
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Nokia Loses Marketshare To Rivals
Author: +866.com15 Mar
Everybody knows that Nokia is the current king of the mobile phone industry, but how long more will the Finnish giant stay there? In Q4 of 2008, Nokia’s overall market share fell from 50.9% to 40.8% and smartphone sales dipped 17% to 15.6 million units. Of course, if Nokia’s market share goes down, then somebody’s has to go up. In this case, RIM and Apple are both the beneficiaries of Nokia’s slump. Nokia had better come up with something to halt the downwards slide that it’s in. The release of its highly anticipated N97 would certainly help things, but it still remains to be seen how long they’ll be able to last at the top.
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BlackBerry Storm 9530 Firmware Leaked
Author: +866.com15 Mar
We’ve said it once, twice and who knows how many times, but RIM certainly needs to stop the firmware leaks that are coming from the company. Of course, it’s nothing that we’re complaining about, but it just seems like a good idea if RIM didn’t let all these firmwares that they’re working on appear online. Next up on the firmware list is the OS 4.7.0.114, which is available for the BlackBerry Storm 9530 and Storm 9500.
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An Acer App Store In The Future?
Author: +866.com11 Mar
It seems everybody is copying Apple and coming up with their own version of the incredibly successful App Store. Hot on the heels of RIM, it looks like Acer is gearing up to prepare its own version of an online application store. The senior corporate vice president of Acer has mentioned that the company is “examining the viability of an app store”, though there was no confirmation that the company would take the plunge just yet. Judging by the popularity of Apple’s App Store, it’s certainly no surprise to see various companies consider joining the party.
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Motorola Rugged Phones Look Ugly
Author: +866.com11 Mar
Must industrial-grade mobile phones all look rugged and ugly? Well, it certainly looks like Motorola thinks so, despite the fact that Nokia and RIM all have very classy looking business phones (albeit not rugged). The MC5590 and MC5574 phones that are being offered by Motorola certainly could do with a trip to the beauty parlor, but at a time where mobile phones are becoming more and more flimsy, it’s probably a good thing that there are still rugged phones out there.