BlackBerry Applications and News

As of 11:45 A.M. EST the BlackBerry Mac Desktop Manager has been released!

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Everyone is anxiously awaiting the BlackBerry Storm 2 release and according to crackberry.com the storm 2 is to be released October 25th to Best Buy.  Previously the release date was stated to be October 14th.

Photos of Best Buy inventory list can be seen on crackberry.

http://crackberry.com/storm-2-headed-best-buy-october-25th

RIM has announced as of yesterday, September 29, 2009, Mac users will be officially supported with Blackberry Desktop Manager software. The official release date as stated by Blackberry is precisely 13:00 on October 2, 2009. The Mac package will be available for download directly from RIM.

Surely you know of a Mac user who needs to know where to find the software update? Check it out here http://www.blackberry.com/mac.

The leaked version of OS 5.0.0.230 was released on the crackberry site Monday September 28, 2009.  The OS has a great feel to it so far, there are some down sites to it although, currently there are several applications that do not run smoothly on the device.

The SMS layout seems to be much better it has the bubble chat and log from the phone number in one line instead of having it showing in several.  The OS seems to be organized better then the previous release 4.5. BlackBerry Messenger 5.0 is not supported so for those users that have the 5.0 BBM this will be kind of a let down.  Also themes for the 83xx are not working properly on the OS there is some over lapping of text, and doesnt seem to be able to recognise some trackwheel movements.

For anyone running a mail-server, it is well known that keeping up with all of the mobile devices and file formats out there is a pain in the neck. Today, a company has just announced a way to alleviate some of that strain. The new software will be able to handle a slough of formats (iPhone as well), with the coveted PUSH style of Blackberry mobile devices. Yes, this does mean that Blackberry Exchange Server is no longer the only player in the PUSH game. Offered in both freeware (GPL) and Commercial flavors, the company named Open Exchange, is sure to garner some favor by admins everywhere.

The GPL version of the server software is completely free with no bells and whistles. Tech support is considered one of those bells. This is good for admins or people running their own small website at home. While the commercial version is just that. A full suite of Software, Tech Support, and guided installation instructions.

Pick your poison, life just got a little bit easier on the administration side of things.

TiVo and RIM have announced as of late last night, there is a new application to control your TiVo box with a Blackberry. Your mobile device is now able to be used as not only a remote, but a remote schedule viewer. The remote schedule viewer is to allow a person to link their home TiVo box to their Blackberry, and browse show scheduling while on the go. This browsing feature also contains the ability to setup shows to record on your home box.

Pretty neat. Check out Blackberry AppWorld and get your TiVo setup today.

Reports are popping up on sites around the world stating that there is a new Blackberry in Indonesia. The Curve 8520 has made the jaunt into the island nations of the South Pacific. Or just above Australia, you decide. In either case, there are stated to be a handful of carriers ready to take the ‘Berry on-board and be service providers. With plans starting at rp – 6,600/day or rp – 55,000/month consumers will have a variety of access plans to choose from. Welcome to the addiction Indonesia.

There is trouble in the air. Well, not in the typical fashion most are used to. It has come to the attention of not only data communication specialists, but those who utilize such services, that the data sent over mobile devices has slowed down in recent months. Though always viewed as an expanding horizon, cell carriers are experiencing some “growing pains”. Much in the way that Internet Service Providers experienced outages in the early boom, cell carriers are having trouble keeping up with the constant influx of traffic.

It was expected to get busy, just not this intense. As companies scramble to keep up with the extremity of traffic and strain on switching towers it is consumers who are not aware of the boom, that are feeling the sluggish pinch of slow service.

Source: Reuters

There seems to be a buzz about the possibility of such a device on the horizon.  Many sites have posted opinions and possible concept designs.  Is there a market for RIM to make a Blackberry for the slider lovers?  Is the QWERTY-Slider market already at a glut?  Though just a rumor, it will still be sure to create quite a buzz in the months to come.

Reportedly, the famed RIM insider “Salomondrin” has coined the new device “Mr. T”. With a backing of this individual making it public, maybe its true?

It seems social networking sites have become vastly popular over the past several years and the newest craze is Twitter.  According to a crackberry.com recent post RIM is developing there own native application for twitter.  This will have an effect on the 3rd party developers that have been spending there time and money on their applications.

According to the post the twitter application will run through BIS-B Push, and intergrating with the address book, browser and device setup wizard. According to blackberry.com, this is a emerging application.

Are you one of those people who is absolutely, head over heels in love with your Storm?  There are many out there who will never get enough of the touch-screen ‘Berry.  For those that belong to this fraternity, why not get paid to tell the world how much you really enjoy your phone?  Perhaps, in a video blog?

Well that is what the good folks over at Brickfish are here to aide in.  Thats right.  One can be paid to explain to the world, how sweet the Storm really is.  Don’t believe?  Check out the posting on BrickFish to see for yourselves. Oh, and make sure to send your cut of the winnings to the site who helped you out (kidding).

Some reports seem to have taken it upon themselves to cast blame onto the technology sector, namely Research In Motion, for the market’s stagger over previous days.

Citing the recent market value of RIM being lower than that of which analysts had expected, as one of the main hinderances of the market.  Not to mention the statement of Apple, Inc (iPhone) of a stock gain and it’s current climb in market value.  Some have claimed that Apple is winning customers from RIM.  Though time will tell, RIM has been in the smartphone market for quite a while already, standing strong against a score of competetors.

With new Blackberries on the horizon, it comes as no surprise that sales for RIM (Research In Motion) have slowed down.  With a slough of new devices, the company has reported a slight drop in sales of $19.9 million in total revenue.  That comes to about $0.83/share of stock, $0.03 lower from the same time last year.

It seems fitting that the sales have started to fall off though, as most seem to be anticipating no, salivating, for the coming models.  The Onyx, one of these touted new “Berries”, will create a large splash when it debuts sometime later this year (anticipated).  Expect a quick comeback as many people are waiting in the wings with baited breath for that new toy.

I’ve been testing .230 for a few days and I must say I haven’t noticed many improvements from it over .191.

We all know the basics of what 5.0 brings to the field but I will point out a few glitches I have experienced over the past few days (most reoccurring from .191)

• Bluetooth Audio disconnecting after a few songs.
• Media Player silencing songs.
• Home screen refreshing issues.
• Threaded SMS messages not appearing correctly.
• Deleting Prior on SMS not working correctly.
• Bluetooth slow to turn on, sometimes failing the first try.

Overall the battery life is much better in 5.0 than it was in 4.7.1 but you won’t notice much of a difference between .191 and .230

Improvements over .191:

• Speed throughout the entire O.S. is faster.
• Better call quality.
• Slightly faster boot time.

If you have the time it is definitely worth the upgrade from .191 and I would recommend anyone still using 4.7.1.53 (or .40)  to give it a shot.

Download Tour 9630 5.0.0.230 here

You can find a link to the 5.0 compatible AppWorld here

5.0 compatible IM clients:

AIM 5.0

Yahoo 5.0

Gtalk 5.0

MSN 5.0

Note: As with any beta / unreleased application or operating system please install at your own risk. I would recommend backing up all files before attempting to load beta applications.

Alright guys, I just found a working copy of AppWorld for OS 5.0

Here’s what you need:

AppWorld 5.0 COD Files

Blackberry Swiss Army Knife Tool

Here’s how to do it:

1.) Back Up Your Phone

2.) Download The AppWorld COD Files

3.) Extract to Your Desktop

4.) Run BBSAK, Use “INSTALL COD” Command to Install Both COD Files

Your phone will give you the hour glass for a moment, but should not restart. Once your phone’s done installing the COD files you should have a working version of AppWorld.

Confirmed Working On: Bold (5.0.0.190), Storm (5.0.0.230), Tour (5.0.0.191)

BoyGeniusReport has reported that BlackBerry Desktop Manager for Mac is coming on September 25. This is a huge win for Mac owners, as previously they have been out of luck, or had to go to extremes like running the software in a VM.

According to the guys over at BoyGeniusReport, a higher up at T-Mobile slipped a release date of November 11th for the BlackBerry 9700. They are also reporting that AT&T plans to launch at the same time, and Rogers plans to launch it in mid-to-late October.

The 9700 is reported by BGR as having these great features:

• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE
• UMTS/HSDPA
• 480×360 resolution display
• Wi-Fi a,b,g
• OS 5.0
• QWERTY keyboard
• 3.2 megapixel AF camera
• Bluetooth

RIM ran an article about their new Gmail Enhanced Plug-in and slipped in a pretty interesting piece of information:

Initially, synchronization with the Gmail webmail client is only in the smartphone-to-webmail direction, meaning that changes made to messages (such as adding or editing a label) using the web client will not be reflected on the handheld, but two-way synchronization is expected to be implemented in the near future.

This is certainly something we have been looking forward to for quite some time. Knowing the way these big companies work, once its posted on an official page like this, it is probably legitimate and on the way in an upcoming update!

We will keep our eyes out and be sure to let you know when it hits! Leave a comment with whether you are looking forward to this, or if you didn’t even know you didn’t have it.

It appears OS 4.7.1.53, officially rolled out yesterday, has been pulled. Some have speculated that users were experiencing errors in the upgrade process, and that RIM has taken it down for some investigation.

For those of us on OS 5.0, this isn’t very interesting news; but for those that only install official OS’s, you may be upset. This would have been the first official update available by Verizon for the Tour, forcing users to wait even longer to get a much needed update.

Stay tuned for updates about this release, and we will let you know when the update is available again.