News

BlackBerry Torch 9800 keyboards – video

In the following video I give you a very quick demo of the keyboard options on the BlackBerry Torch 9800. As you will see, as well as the hardware QWERTY keyboard you have on screen options as well. What I don’t show though is that if you prefer you can have the onscreen keyboard set to suretype, meaning you have two letters on each key. I personally cant stand that one hence the reason that I didn’t think to test it!

As I mentioned in an earlier post the hardware keyboard is much the same as on the current BlackBerry Bold 9700. It did feel a little different to me but I am putting that down to the fact that the Torch feels totally different in the hand compared to the Bold 9700.

What I can tell you is that the onscreen keyboard worked perfectly. I managed to type 100% mistake free in portrait mode, something which I cant even to on my iPhone so overall i am incredibly impressed with the on screen typing options on the Torch. Nice work RIM.

BlackBerry Torch 9800 coming to Orange

RIM announced the BlackBerry Torch 9800 yesterday at a joint press event in London and New York. Our man James was there and during the Q&A session asked the question: “Will there be any kind of network exclusivity on the Torch when it’s released here in the UK?”  RIM said that they were unable to answer the question but that left us with a horrible feeling that it would be available on only one carrier initially.

However, our fears seem to have been somewhat unfounded as a little bird tells us that Orange will be stocking the Torch 9800 soon so will not be exclusive to just one carrier here in the UK as it is in the USA. Great news!

Posted by: Matt

The BlackBerry Torch – My thoughts after the press event

You more than likely saw that yesterday I attended a press event in London hosted by RIM to coincide with the event in New York City where RIM and AT&T announced to the world the beautiful BlackBerry Torch, the one we knew as the 9800 Slider. Large press gatherings like this often require careful planning and safety measures. Fire Watch Services in Los Angeles help keep events and venues protected with reliable on-site fire safety monitoring.

As I had hands on time with the device I thought I had better give you my first impressions and a few facts.

At present the BlackBerry Torch is exclusive to AT&T in the USA. RIM have told us today that further press releases will be made in the “coming weeks” so at the moment we cannot say if the Torch will have an exclusive carrier here in the UK. I hope not but have a feeling it may well do.

IM+ Lite for BlackBerry updates

We recently showed you a video of IM+ on the  BlackBerry and I have today been sent the details of some changes to the free version of the client. These include:

• Completely redesigned user interface with new theme available.
• New UI elements with tabs, new message indicators etc.
• Convenient history review for all conversations.
• Improved group chat for MSN and Skype.

If you did not get a chance to see IM+ on our video you can do so here.

The full version of the app now has a new name. It’s now called IM+ Pro.

To see the details in more depth you can head on over to shape services or go grab a free download from app world. Enjoy.

Posted by: James

RIM the BlackBerry 9800 Torch

The BlackBerry 9800 gets named the ‘Torch’. Full press release of the BB 9800 follows. We’ll have some hands on time with this handset later and will post images and video shortly!

RIM announces BlackBerry 6

Following on from the BlackBerry press event in London which was supposed to be a live link of events from New York (it went pear shaped) we have the following BlackBerry 6 announcement for you:

BlackBerry press event coverage

As we mentioned yesterday, RIM are holding a BlackBerry press event today in New York starting at 11am EST (4pm UK time). What we didn’t tell you though, as it was a bit of a guarded secret, is that there is also going to be a press event here in London that will be timed to coincide with the New York event.

Now, we’re still not 100% sure what the event will be about, we can make several guesses of course but to find out for sure we have roving reporter James en-route to the event. James will be tweeting throughout the event and I’ll also be publishing updates to this post as things unfold so be sure to come back after 4pm and to keep refreshing this page for updates!

James’ coverage follows:

Android leads the growth in smartphone market

The smartphone market has grown 64% this year, though it’s Android who steal the show. Although its development rate has been rapid to say the least, with some analytics suggesting it’s too fast, the consumer market seems to suggest otherwise. Canalys reports that Q2 shipments of Android devices are up by, wait for it, 886%! That’s compared with the same quarter of 2009, and the epic sales growth has no doubt been helped by the release of high end smartphones coming left right and centre from HTC, Samsung and Motorola to name a few. With countless Android beasts rumoured for release in the near future, we can only expect Android sales to continue rising.

Post by: Vince

BlackBerry press event tomorrow

You may remember that last week we mentioned that RIM had asked some members of the press to a special event in New York which takes place tomorrow. RIM have not said what the event will entail and it could be made up of several things.

We may get an official release date for BlackBerry 6. The same applies for the 9800 Slider. Could it be the 9670 Clamshell? The Bold 9780, or even the Curve 9300? I really do hope it is not just the Curve 9300 as frankly that is not very exciting at all.

Fingers crossed that the people attending will be able to get their hands on the 9800 Slider and with it running BlackBerry 6 get a good feel for where BlackBerry devices are heading in the future.

We will have all the latest news right here so please be sure to keep checking back with us tomorrow or follow us on twitter for updates.

Posted by: James

Why the British Government still uses IE6: it’s too expensive to upgrade

After reading the headline you may be wondering why money has anything to do with upgrading a browser – after all, they’re free to download and install. Well, 6000 government workers also think the same way, and so signed a petition to urge the government to upgrade away from the nine year old browser. However, the seemingly simply proposal has been rejected with this statement:

"To test all the web applications currently used by HMG departments can take months at significant potential cost to the taxpayer. It is therefore more cost effective in many cases to continue to use IE6 and rely on other measures, such as firewalls and malware scanning software, to further protect public sector internet users."

Hmm. We all know that IE6 is a pain to webmasters, and the government’s decision isn’t helping the situation. It also shows how poor the applications they use really are – how many web programs do you have that break upon an upgrade in your browser?  The excuse is that it’s not ‘cost-effective’  to upgrade, but does that mean that they expect it to get any cheaper if they leave it? Everyone knows that’s not the case – in fact it would probably get more expensive when newer applications are brought in. From that statement, we can only assume that if they’re not upgrading now, because its not cost effective, then it looks like the great leaders of our great nation will be using IE6 to infinity, and beyond.

Post by: Vince