InspirePhones.com

Filed under: Handsets, RIM, Orange, T-Mobile, Vodafone

Hot on the heels of the word that RIM’s BlackBerry Curve 8520 would be heading for Vodaphone in the UK, Pocket Lint’s gotten a hold of one. The optical trackball-boasting, entry-level, non-3G darling looks pretty brilliant in the photos, despite its stripped down form factor. Pocket Lint is also reporting that it’ll be Vodaphone-bound in August, and it’ll also be available through Orange for pre-paid deals and from Carphone Warehouse where it’ll be offered in violet. Now that, we’ll admit, we’re kind of interested in. The 8520 (or Gemini, as it’s also known) is T-Mobile-bound in the US of A, most likely on August 5th. There’s another shot after the break — hit the read link for the full set.

Continue reading BlackBerry Curve 8520 gets a hands-on, photo shoot

BlackBerry Curve 8520 gets a hands-on, photo shoot originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 27 Jul 2009 19:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, RIM, T-Mobile, GSM, EDGE, HSDPA, BlackBerry OS

Sadly enough, this is pretty much par for the course with RIM. We talk about a BlackBerry for months on end, and after everyone grows acquainted with its features via less-than-official sources, the company finally confesses. At any rate, the long-awaited BlackBerry Curve 8520 (which may or may not go by Gemini on T-Mobile) has finally found a dedicated landing page on its maker’s website, and while the list of specifications aren’t a surprise, there is one thing that caught our eye. Alongside the 2 megapixel camera, video recording mode, WiFi radio, 1,150mAh battery (which is good for 4.5 hours of talk time or 17 days in standby), a fairly robust multimedia player and a 320 x 240 resolution display, RIM also promises “out of the box Mac compatibility.” Specifically, we’re told that users will be able to “sync contacts, calendars and notes” by using BlackBerry Desktop Software on Apple computers. Of course, when clicking for more information, we’re simply ported over to a page informing us that the Mac-specific version of the aforesaid platform won’t arrive until September. So, is the 8520 special, or is that August 5th ship date around 30 days off?

Update: RIM just confirmed the T-Mobile USA release date: it’s August 5th for $129.99 on a two-year agreement. Guess we’ll see just how legitimate that Mac claim is here soon, huh?

[Thanks, Marcus]

Continue reading RIM officially intros BlackBerry Curve 8520, promises “out of the box” Mac compatibility

RIM officially intros BlackBerry Curve 8520, promises “out of the box” Mac compatibility originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 27 Jul 2009 06:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, Software, HTC, Others, RIM, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, ATT, T-Mobile, Symbian, Windows Mobile, GSM, EDGE, HSDPA, UMTS, Android

Here’s some of the other stuff that happened in the wide world of mobile for the weekend of Satuday, July 25th, 2009:

• A small Chinese firm by the name of Beyond Radio Technology is working on an Android phone that they claim to have had in the labs for 18 months now. Problem is, they’ve posted screen shots, and they’re clearly QVGA — an instant fail. [Via Cloned In China]
• Sony Ericsson’s PlayNow Arena app store is now accepting apps from developers. Paid apps must cost at least €3 (about $4.25), though freebies will also be allowed; free apps with ad support, however, will require some other form of agreement with Sony Ericsson. There are no submission fees or annual charges for devs, which is nice — and interestingly, apps that are rejected will have a plan B in the form of official partner GetJar. Java and Symbian are being supported initially, with other platforms (ahem, Android) coming in the future. [Via mocoNews]
• All of the intel in the field is now pointing toward an August 5 launch for the BlackBerry 8520 “Gemini” on T-Mobile, which confirms earlier suggestions.
• Speaking of T-Mobile, the Samsung t659 — codenamed “Scarlet” — has been spotted in the wild. Unless you have a thing for 2 megapixel cameras, we wouldn’t get too excited, but the presence of AWS 3G is always welcome.
• The global number two manufacturer, Samsung, released its Q2 results — and they’re looking pretty solid. The company managed to push some 52.3 million handsets in the three-month period and said that it’ll make good on previous guidance (and then some) of hitting 200 million shipments for the year. [Via mocoNews]
• A poster over at the ever-trusty xda-developers has somehow managed to stumble upon themes for AT&T’s upcoming Warhawk — the carrier’s version of the HTC Touch Diamond2 — and they’re looking mighty Windows Mobile 6.5-ish. [Via wmpoweruser.com and Fuze Mobility]

Oh, by the way: July 26, 2009 originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Sun, 26 Jul 2009 23:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, RIM, Vodafone, GSM, EDGE

We didn’t thing Vodafone UK still had the stones to launch a non-3G smartphone in 2009, so color us a little shocked with this one. A scanned ad lends plenty of credibility to the rumor that the carrier will be joining T-Mobile USA in launching RIM’s latest entry-level QWERTY handset, the 8520 — and as the print states, these guys expect to be selling it at an “affordable price.” CrackBerry claims we could see this one in August (which is when T-Mobile will be launching it, too), so if you’re a Brit with a hankering for optical d-pads and BES, hang tight.

BlackBerry 8520 coming to Vodafone UK, too originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Sat, 25 Jul 2009 13:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, RIM, Verizon Wireless

Back in the heady pre-9500 days when “touchscreen BlackBerry” was still a novel and exotic phrase, “Storm” and “Thunder” were both rumored as codenames for RIM’s first foray into touch territory. Of course, “Storm” would ultimately prevail as the retail branding — and the rest, as they say, is history. Or is it? A BlackBerry Thunder has apparently magically reappeared in Verizon’s systems this week, though it’s not clear whether this is a new device — the Storm 2, for instance — or just residual offal from the original Storm launch last year. If it’s new, we get the theme, but what’s next? Hail? Tornado? Sleet?

BlackBerry Thunder codename reemerges after lengthy sabbatical originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 22 Jul 2009 12:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, RIM, BlackBerry OS

Either the gang at Crackberry have a very good special effects department (which we doubt), or we’re looking at the first footage of a working BlackBerry 9550, a.k.a. Storm 2. As noted in the video, the hardware and software is “very early stage,” but that said, there’s something mighty interesting going on here with the SurePress click. Turned off, the screen has no give whatsoever, but when the phone’s powered up, the mysterious click returns. We talked with CB, who confirms that the whole display does in fact move in and out just a bit, although much less than its predecessor, and that sound you hear is a physical click — guess SurePress really is here to stay, after all. The takeaway here is that it’s definitely a step in the right direction and perhaps what RIM should’ve released from the get-go. More impressions via the read link, and check out the video for yourself after the break.

Continue reading BlackBerry Storm 2 demoed on video, SurePress “click” and all

BlackBerry Storm 2 demoed on video, SurePress “click” and all originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Tue, 21 Jul 2009 17:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, RIM, BlackBerry OS

Um, yikes? An unexpected (and unwanted) surprise struck some 145,000 BlackBerry users in the UAE this time last week, when an official looking prompt coerced many of the aforesaid Etisalat customers to follow through with a software update. Rather than bringing about performance enhancements, the SS8-built app enabled the carrier to keep tabs on customers’ messages. According to RIM:

“Etisalat appears to have distributed a telecommunications surveillance application… independent sources have concluded that it is possible that the installed software could then enable unauthorized access to private or confidential information stored on the user’s smartphone. Independent sources have concluded that the Etisalat update is not designed to improve performance of your BlackBerry Handheld, but rather to send received messages back to a central server.”

Like we said, yikes. The zaniest part is that Etisalat isn’t backing down, still assuring the world that the upgrades were “required for service enhancements.” At any rate, RIM has made remarkably clear that the update wasn’t one authorized by the company, and it’s even providing an app remover for those who’d prefer their BlackBerry to be in working order and, you know, not forwarding all their email to some dude in an Etisalat supply closet. Good on you, RIM. Bad on you, Etisalat.

[Thanks, Gerald]

Read – Confirmation of spyware
Read – RIM app remover

Etisalat BlackBerry update was indeed spyware, RIM provides a solution originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Tue, 21 Jul 2009 09:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, RIM

Research in Motion hit a milestone today, only “achievement” wouldn’t necessarily be the best way to describe it. The BlackBerry maker has finally ended a long-running patent dispute with Visto Corp., paying out $267.5 million to settle the matter — a much larger fee than the $7.7 million Visto got from Seven Networks, but conversely a fraction of the reported $612.5 million RIM paid to settle with NTP years back. With it, however, comes a fully paid license to use Visto’s patents, and some of the plaintiff’s intellectual property by way of transferred ownership. So now that we can move on from that dispute, who’s next to take the mantle and vie for a piece of BlackBerry’s pie?

RIM settles with patent holder Visto to the tune of $267.5 million originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Software, RIM, Apple, iPhone OS, Android, BlackBerry OS

There have been pretty decent unofficial hacks to get Google Voice fully functional on a variety of mobile devices for a while now, but Google’s finally taking the next logical step in its world domination strategy by releasing totally 100-percent legit first-party apps for a couple key platforms today — BlackBerry and, of course, its own Android. As you might expect, the app lets you make calls and send texts through your Google Voice number (great for taking advantage of its mega-low international rates) and integrates with the service’s excellent visual voicemail and voice transcription service. iPhone is on the way, but for now, the BlackBerry build should be hitting a pretty wide, interested demographic — now about those Google Voice invites, eh?

Google Voice apps now live on Android and BlackBerry, iPhone en route originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 15 Jul 2009 11:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, RIM, T-Mobile, GSM, EDGE

You have to look closely but in the text of the message above circulated around Wal-mart you can clearly make out a date for the launch of the BlackBerry Curve 8520. So August 5th it is, under a two-month exclusive retail arrangement according to our Walmart-employed tipster. That’s the same date T-Mobile will be shipping out its myTouch 3G for those keeping track. That jibes with what looks to be an 8520 “Sneak Preview” pre-launch party kicking off on July 20th and scheduled to run for two weeks. See the invite after the break.

Update: Looks like one has already hit eBay. Thanks, Ben!

Continue reading T-Mobile’s BlackBerry Curve 8520 launching on August 5th at Walmart?

T-Mobile’s BlackBerry Curve 8520 launching on August 5th at Walmart? originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 15 Jul 2009 06:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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