RIM introduces the Pearl 8220

It's official! RIM has announced the "Kick Start" under the designation Pearl 8220. No definite word yet on when it will be available in Malaysia but Q1 sounds more realistic.

This BlackBerry is definitely targeted at the "younger" generation with it's compact and stylish design. I may even get one to replace my 8110 as my "backup" BlackBerry...

Read more here

Baha's take on the Bold (My overdue review)

Ok, it's been a week now, since I received my Bold courtesy of Celcom so I should've amassed enough impressions to write a somewhat competent review. Here goes...

Appearance

The first thing you realize about the Bold when you see one is the screen. Yes it isn't very big but my God, it's beautiful! It's bright, sharp and the colors that it portrays are vidid and a joy to look at. Even the default Vodafone wallpaper looks vibrant and rich. My unit, being a pre-release unit didn't come with the complete accessories or even a charger for that matter, but I do hope the retail package includes a sleeve or something to protect the screen from scratches  at that would definitely ruin the truly beautiful  visual experience you can experience from this device. The default pictures included with the device does great work at showcasing the high resolution and sharpness of the screen. I have already purchased a small stock of screen protectors for the Bold which I will make available for sale once the device is launched. The "screen protector" in the picture above was a temporary solution made from an old Treo screen saver; the new ones are of the proper shape and dimensions so that it covers the entire glass area, including around the speaker opening. Well worth it, believe me. I am also using my old Treo belt holster which will do the job until my samples arrive and I will take a suitable holster for "demo" purposes. Also have replacement battery cover/back plate in different colors of leather, I believe, aside from the standard black,  there's also red, blue, titanium and brown. Got to demo some of those  too!

The casing itself is all black, with metal bezels at its edges as well as a leather covered battery back plate, which gives it a sleek and professional look. It will look just at home in the boardroom as it will in the swankiest clubs in town. I also love the way how after a user specified time period, the screen powers down its lighting and so does the keyboard and then the trackball, so for a second or two you just have the trackball glowing. Pretty cool in my books. The Bold is quite heavy in the hand, it feels good, it feels solid and it sure looks like it has been well put together. Given that, I wouldn't want to drop it though! A few days ago I did just that; drop it. I was despondent, sitting on the floor next to where it fell for a good few minutes as I was stunned by the horror of dropping it. Luckily it was onto the wooden floor of my bedroom from a height of two feet or so and it landed "well".. No visible signs of damage and it still keeps on ticking!

Using the Bold

I have to say, with the faster processor in the Bold, everything is so much more snappier. Applications load faster, pictures are rendered much faster and switching between applications is seamless. It's very rare you will encounter the "clock" icon as you hardly ever have to wait for the processor. On saying that, remember that my OS is pre-release version 4.6.0.65 so it's not quite ready for prime time; it has re-booted on me twice already this week, but I can live with that. However, the OS has gone "Gold" with Vodafone though, meaning the latest version has been accepted by Vodafone as suitable for release (so the rumor goes). I will make an effort to upgrade my OS on my next trip to see Celcom in KL. There is only two included themes on my device and they both pretty look much like one another so I kept the Vodafone theme so I can promote Celcom and Vodafone as best as possible. As usual it has a row of six user selectable icons at the bottom for the applications you access the most, and if you scroll downwards "past" this row of icons, it will immediately bring up the menu screen which is a lot more fluid then pressing the menu button or the trackball, so I like it.

The Bold has 3G and 3.5G capabilities as I'm sure you've heard. I only notice the difference when I'm downloading applications OTA for installation or when Viigo is updating my article list. Otherwise  I hardly notice it unless Celcom is having problems with its GPRS network and everyone is complaining except me as I'm on 3G with a few others who use the 8707G devices. This device will also work in Japan and similar places ( I believe South Korea too) who operate on mainly non GSM networks.  Those who frequent these two countries no longer have to keep an 8707G handy. 

The one drawback of the 3G is battery life. The battery of the Bold is rated at 1550 mAh which is a lot higher then the Curve (1150 mAh) or the Pearl (900 mAh). However, with 3G that doesn't necessarily mean a lot longer standby time. On an average day for me, when I get home, my battery is usually hovering around the 50% mark, which isn't too bad really. So a day and a half shouldn't be a problem. For a 3G phone that's pretty good I suppose. 

The Bold comes with 1GB of onboard memory but for applications its still something like 64MB. Usually you will have less then 20MB of application memory free depending on how many applications you install. The remainder 800+MB is for data only. You can supplement that with a micro-SD card which is accessible without removing the battery or the battery cover for that matter.

BB Messenger is still the main attraction for me and it has a new, minimalist look which I'm not so sure about. It also has the option to show "On the phone" and "Now Playing" presence status which I suppose will inform a fellow BB user that you are doing just that when they send you a BBM. Currently with the Curves, if you're on the phone it shows you as unavailable, so this is a little more specific. I also like how when you want to send a picture to a messenger contact, once you select who you want to send the picture to it will ask you to confirm if you really want to send the picture to this particular contact. The number of times I accidentally sent a picture to the wrong person... Lucky it wasn't anything incriminating or worth an upload to  porn site or something!

Speaking of pictures, the camera is pretty good (2 megapixel) for those times when your 7.1 megapixel pocket powerhouse isn't handy and your son decides to sing and dance or something similar. I do wonder why RIM stuck to 2 megapixel though when it seems the minimal standard nowadays is 3.2 megapixel. But I'm not complaining. Oh yes, it also records video, which again comes in handy but I wouldn't throw away the JVC Enerio digital video camera just yet. The picture application also allows you to view your pictures according to user specified folders or just all photos together. I have encountered problems where after sometime, no pictures will show up in the "All pictures" mode when clearly you have pictures on the media card and it shows up in the "Picture Folders" mode. I assume thats one of the bugs associated with pre-release OS which will be sorted out soon.

The MP3 music player sound "richer" and "warmer" to me, who is unschooled in the ways of the audiophile but I have been told the MP3 player is way, way better then the one in the stock Curves (as opposed to the Curves that have been upgraded to 4.5) and both 4.5 and 4.6 have proper playlist features. I'm don't play much music on my BlackBerry so I'm not too sure on all this. I prefer to keep my BlackBerry battery saved for communications and use my iPod for music. Call me anal retentive.. I dunno.

My Bold comes with quite an array of games too. I'm not much of game player on a BlackBerry but  besides from the original brickbreaker, it also comes with Word Mole, Texas Hold'Em King 2, Sudoko and Klondike. But like I said, I'm not much of a BlackBerry gamer. I usually delete all the games of m Curve when I upgrade the OS anyway.

Another big draw of the Bold is the ability to view and edit Word, Excel and Powerpoint files. The Bold comes with Documents to Go which enables you to do all that except create new documents. For that you have to upgrade to the premium edition which requires $. That's to be expected. The Bold also does really well with viewing PDF files as well, which I do quite often.

The included BlackBerry Maps application is useless unless you live in a major city. Here in Kuching it's useless. However, you can download Google Maps for BlackBerry and that does a great job. The GPS in the Bold seems to acquire satellite reception much quicker then the Curve too.

The Email application is generally similar with a few small improvements. One which I like is the doing away of candy striping the background with the color you associate with enterprise and BIS emails. Now it colors the border around the message which is less garish. If you're not on BES, this means little to you I suppose. Also part of the Email application is the new search function that now enables you to do remote searches of the server. It allows you to search the email server based on address field, subject, message and it can search encrypted messages, individual email accounts or all at once, by folders, show sent and received messages that meet your criteria and even filter it according to emails, emails with attachments, PIN, SMS, MMS, Phone, Voice Mail or all at once. I find that incredibly handy but again, I believe that's a BES-centric feature. Correct me if I'm wrong.

The same goes for the other PIM applications; Calendar, Task and Address Book. The problem with me is that I had previously been using a Curve that had been upgraded to OS 4.5 so most of these changes are not new to me and I don't notice them. I do however like how the Address Book now displays each contact with two lines so you can now see the contacts name and the company if available. It also separates each entry by either a line or shading which makes it easier to skim through the address book. On the whole, I can say there are improvements in the functionality and presentation of the basic PIM applications.

The Browser is a huge improvement then the older version without a doubt.  You know have a little mouse pointer that you can move any which way you want to and it does a pretty good job at rendering most websites. You can also zoom in to selected areas of the website if you want to. I'm a little disappointed that it can't do Maybank2u online banking site though and will try Opera to see if that will make me smile again. I do use the browser quite a bit in conjunction with Google and that is pretty much the limit of my browsing experience on the Bold (or any BlackBerry for that matter) as I prefer my MacBook Pro to do serious browsing. Oh, and it doesn't do flash either...

The WiFi is a great addition. A number of you who have the Curve 8320 or the 88xx series already now about this, but it's news to me. I especially like it when I can switch off the Radio (telephone part of the device) and connect to my house WiFi network and still have BBM, Emails and all IM's (Yahoo, G Talk and MSN Live) ticking along like nothing has happened. I downloaded the Skype application for BlackBerry but haven't tried if  I can VOIP as well. Must give it a bash soon, but I have been told that it's not possible.

The alarm/clock has a very eye pleasing "bedside" mode which renders a beautiful analog clock but for some reason you can't press the shortcut "R" key to call up the program anymore. You have to go digging through the menu screen for it. Most annoying.

My personal take

Ok, so a review, by definition is a "personal take" but we're not here to quibble about how I name section of this article are we? I mean if I wanted to I could rename it "The mad adventures of Baha and his Bold - a reflection of the first week"...

I am very pleased with this device, even if there are a few "bugs" that I hope will be ironed out in the Gold release of the software. For the first few days I couldn't stop fiddling with it and I even was very cautious where I put it down. Usually a paper napkin or a cloth would be laid on the table ( I wouldn't leave it on anything that was not as stable as a table) before I would place my Bold on it.

The only "negative" things I can say about the Bold is it's keyboard. It reminds me of the 88xx keyboard but it isn't nearly that bad. They are a little too small and way too close together but after a week I am slowly getting used to it. The tactile feedback is quite nice too. Very solid feedback; it feels like you're pressing on a metallic button. Sounds like it too.

It compares quite favorably to the iphone (2G or 3G) in my opinion. Sure, it doesn't do youtube or surf the net as well as the iphone, but you try and type out a long email on a touchscreen. I can't. I'm a QWERTY kinda guy. I admit it. Next to the new Nokia E71 it blows away the competition. Some people say the E71 is sexier but I disagree. And the other day I tried setting up my gmail account on the E71 and it took me almost 10 minutes as I had to manually change the port settings for the SSL/TLS feature on the E71. With the Bold (or any BlackBerry for that matter) its almost a 3 step process. In fact, a BlackBerry usually auto-configures most email accounts except for some company specific POP or IMAP email access.

Given that, I strongly recommend the Bold to anyone thinking of upgrading from a Curve, Pearl or an earlier model. I strongly recommend the Bold to anyone who is thinking of embracing the BlackBerry way of life.

I say way of life because it is just that. It's more then a tool (as opposed to an iphone which is a toy in my opinion), its a new way of doing things. It's a new way of life

-end

Thunder: A whole lot of noise?

Everyone seems to be jumping on to the touchscreen bandwagon. Now RIM is trying to do so with its upcoming phone, Thunder. But should it?

Here's a couple of reasons why I think Thunder is a major misjudgment on RIM's part. It seems to compete directly with the Iphone abandoning one of the major components of a Blackberry...its QWERTY keyboard.

Interface

It's hard to beat a QWERTY keyboard for familiarity and ease of use. Most Blackberry users love this keyboard so the Thunder will not necessarily appeal to existing Blackberry users.

The touchscreen on the other hand is an excellent interface....if typing messages is not your primary concern. Apple has shown that a touchscreen is excellent for surfing and navigating through playlists, photos and media. Apple has got this down to an artform.

The touchscreen is not a bad thing if the Thunder was intending to be a media player/browser, but does it have any place on a Blackberry? Even with tactile feedback which seems to be a gimmick more than anything else, it's hard to imagine it being better than good old fashioned buttons.

Applications

The Iphone was always designed around the media player premise and as such its applications specifically cater for media playing. The touchscreen neatly fits into this playing an essential role in making the media player easy to control.

Furthermore, the Iphone's browser is amazing and possibly the most fully fledged browser out in the mobile market at the moment. Once again, the touch screen fits very nicely into the phone's role as a browser.

Blackberries on the other hand have traditionally been communication and e-mail devices. Only since the Curve have RIM's media players come into play and even then it's still no where close an Iphone's in terms of features and ease of use. The Blackberry platform, despite the Curve remains very commmunication and work centric with it only taking its infant steps into the media player world.

Blackberry's browser also still is firmly grounded in 'mobile browser' category with it struggling to render scripts and having all sorts of compatibility isssues with fully fledged sites. It is uncertain whether Thunder has a revamped browser.

Right now we're starting to see Thunder as being neither a very good media player and possibly not a good browser and yet it's not quite a good communications device due to its lack of a keyboard. The tactile touchscreen is starting to look like a gimmick rather than an interface that makes sense.

Branding

The Iphone has the immense branding advantage with all the goodwill of IPods and its integration with ITunes together. Apple as a brand, has been portrayed as young, creative and hip and has large succeeded in getting this message across. The Iphone is not just a phone with an Ipod. Think of it, we don't even call it a mp3 player. We call it an Ipod. Apple products are status symbols in their own right and is evidenced in the failures of competitors coming up with products that may be technically superior to Apple's and yet doesn't do well. After all, no one wants an Ipod/Iphone clone and the Thunder will find it hard to shake this off.

RIM on the other hand has a reputation of making reliable, minimalistic, robust and practical communication devices. Not a bad thing, but hardly close to being 'hip' though the Curve did manage to bring RIM out of its purely business image.

It is one thing to alter RIM's perception as a purely business image into a consumer friendly brand and another to completely reinvent itself to be 'cool'.

Demographics

If the Thunder is not a true communications device, then what is it? I can see the main target market of the Thunder as young people or mild Blackberry users that want something different. and the whole coolness of having a tactile touch screen. This largely overlaps with Apple's market who is already leaps and bounds ahead of the competition especially with its recent release of its USD199 3G Iphone.

Can Thunder match this price?

What RIM should do and what it should see as the real threat

At the end of the day, Blackberry users and IPhone users are different kinds of people. They each serve their own niches and it would be unwise for either company to seriously think of trying to gain market shares in each other's demographic.

An Iphone with its touchscreen will never beat a Blackberry in terms of sheer ease of typing something out. A Blackberry on the other hand with a keyboard and its smaller screen will find it very difficult to beat the iphone for its browsing and media capabilities. They can be decent at its other functions but sheer design dictates that they are for different purposes.

Thunder's attempt to bridge this gap just appears to be sending a scouting party into a deeply fortified warzone. Apple is light years ahead in this area, why should it compete to only be seen as a poor copy?

Instead of worrying about the Iphone, what RIM should REALLY be concerned about is Google's open source Android platform in which I will deal with in my next post.

First live pictures of "Thunder"

Crackberry.com has the scoop on the first live pictures of the BlackBerry device known as "Thunder".. the iPhone contender... the wannabe.

I'm not quite sold on the "tactile feedback" of typing on a touch sensitive screen; I much prefer a real keyboard with real tactile feedback, but different strokes for different blokes right?

If you were to hold the phone in landscape mode you can type with a virtual full QWERTY keypad while if you use it in portrait mode, you can key your data in via a "virtual" suretype keypad.. hmmm... I'm not sure about this? Not that it effect me, but what about women who have long finger nails?

I think Reuben has a few things to add regarding this topic haven't you Reuben?

It's getting hectic around here...!

It's getting hectic around here!

This website began as a passion. I wanted to share my passion for the BlackBerry with others so that they in turn, will be convinced  to take the plunge as well. I began selling accessories for the BlackBerry to cater to the local BlackBerry user base. It was strictly informal and non professional in nature.

Since April, I turned it up a notch. I started a company that took over the selling of BlackBerry accessories and am in the midst of negotiating with various suppliers so I can bring a greater range of accessories at a lower price. Again for the good of the local BlackBerry user base. I'm actually going to open a dedicated office and hire staff to cope with what is expected to be a major spike in interest in Celcom BlackBerry and in my workload. I have new stock of accessories arriving almost weekly and am turning over these accessories quite fast as well! My reputation as the BlackBerry "go-to guy" is building rapidly! I even have plans to sit for BlackBerry certification examinations in the near future...

 I was invited to Miri to attend the Celcom BlackBerry Business Circle in conjunction with the Miri Jazz Festival where I met the great folks from Celcom Enterprise KL as well as a RIM representative.  We started talking and all I can say is there are good things in store for us all! Wait for it.. it will be worth the wait. I promise! 

I have a plan (Oh crap!! Better run for it...) and I believe it will be wonderful for the local BlackBerry market. Celcom have been great.. RIM have been great!

Lets make this real!!

BlackBerry Bold officially announced!

It's official!!

The BlackBerry Bold has been officially announced. No word yet as to when it will be available; rumors to it being available on AT&T in the US around August persist though, so lets wait for it.

When will it hit our shores? Not sure? I'm guessing around Nov/Dec this year if not early 2009. I also know its going to be expensive! But what the heck! It's worth it isn't it? Look at the beauty in its design. Look at the comprehensive set of features it will come with. How can you not want one???

The official website is up at www.blackberrybold.com so have a look for yourself...

Here's the official press release regarding the BlackBerry Bold

RIM 4Q and 2007 Financial results!

RIM recently reported its 4th quarter and end of year results for 2007 (Fiscal Year 2008).

Revenue for 4Q was $1.88 billion, up from $930.4 million in the previous year and it shipped 4.4 million devices in the quarter or approximately 14 million devices in 2007. Approximately 2.18 million new user accounts were added in the quarter bringing the total number subscriber accounts to over 14 million.

I'm not sure what BlackBerry figures for Malaysia are, but in Kuching, it has been explosive. Not just among corporate types but also amongst small business users and social users as well.

To read the RIM press release, click here

BlackBerry 9000 in the wild!

Engadgetmobile has posted pictures of the upcoming BlackBerry 9000!

It looks sweeeeeeet! Definitely going to hold out for this baby! RIM.. release it already!!! Now! Now!

Unfortunately, latest rumors from BGR says that release of the 9000 has been delayed till around August or September, so don't expect it in our part of the world till December or even early 2009.

To see more pictures, click here

The worlds first BlackBerry multi-carrier superstore!!

The worlds first multi-carrier BlackBerry superstore opened recently in Farmington Hills, Michigan.

As a good friend of mine so eloquently put it, "it's like a BlackBerry Hamleys!" If only we could do something similar to that here. Well maybe not in Kuching, but how about Singapore? As my friend again suggested, "next to the Mac Store at Wheelock.."

This store is a milestone because normally BlackBerrys are sold in carrier specific outlets if at all. RIM prefers to deal with carriers direct.

One can only dream...

Fire at RIM? Could this be the reason why Celcom BB is laggy?

Apparently a fire at RIM in Canada caused a disruption in the email services of a Philippines BSP, Smart Communications! The fire affected the leased line that links the companies servers at RIM to Smart's GPRS platform in the Philippines. Smart was the only affected BSP in the Philippines and traffic is being re routed to overcome the problem.

Hmmm! I wonder if Celcom was affected too? Friends on Maxis also complained of laggy service this morning. SMS's and BB messages to Celcom remain unanswered. I've tried resending service books twice this morning and have still not received the activation messages that usually accompanies the sending of service books!!

Read the article

BlackBerry Pearl 8120 launched in Singapore

On 30th November, RIM announced that it has released the BlackBerry 8120 "Pearl 2" in Singapore and should be available sometime in December.

No specific carrier was mentioned but odds on favorite appears to be SingTel but it is expected that M1 and Starhub will also introduce the model in the near future.

What about us Malaysians? Unfortunately I have it on very good authority that the chances of WiFi equipped BlackBerrys being introduced in Malaysia are slim at this point. Why? Four letters.. V-O-I-P!

Read the RIM press release here

RIM launches Blackberry Professional Software

Research in Motion recently launched the Blackberry Professional Software, targeted at small to medium businesses.

Based on the Blackberry Enterprise Server but streamlined to meet the needs of small organizations with less then 30 Blackberry devices, it is available now at $499 for 5 users

Key features and benefits of BlackBerry Professional Software include:

• Small IT Footprint – Installs on the same server as the email system, saving customers the cost of additional hardware and operating system licenses.
• Support for the Leading Email Systems – Provides tight integration with Microsoft® Exchange or IBM® Lotus® Domino®, allowing a full complement of synchronized wireless services including access to email, calendar, contacts, notes and tasks.
• Simple Installation – A Pre-install Assistant utility performs a technical assessment of the environment and provides a recommended configuration making installation fast and easy with little or no requirement to determine configuration settings.
• Easy Management – Simplified BlackBerry Manager Interface is a one-stop location for most management tasks, and wizards and quick-links enable customers to easily change common functions such as adding or deleting a user. IT policies are also easy to set up with pre-defined IT policy templates.
• Advanced Security – Utilizes the same certified security architecture and encryption system of the BlackBerry® Enterprise Server, which is trusted and accredited by more organizations around the world than any other wireless solution.
• BlackBerry® MDS (Mobile Data System) Support – Provides customers with the ability to extend internal applications to mobile employees and use any of the thousands of third party applications developed for the BlackBerry platform.

Read the press release

RIM releases Q2 financial results

Research in Motion recently released its Q2 financial results for 2007. Revenue increased 27% from last quarter to US$1.37 billion; 78% of which came from the sale of new devices. Approximately 1.45 million new Blackberry subscribers were added during the quarter and over 3 million new devices shipped. Total Blackberry subscriber base now stands at approximately 10.5 million

The future's looking good for RIM and the entire BB community as a whole...