ATLANTA, GEORGIA and WATERLOO, ONTARIO--(CCNMatthews - Nov. 30, 2006) - The new BlackBerry(R) Pearl(TM) from Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ:RIMM)(TSX:RIM) will arrive on the shelves of select Cingular Wireless stores beginning tomorrow - just in time for the holiday shopping season - with an exclusive look and new features, including Cingular-exclusive Push to Talk (PTT) capabilities and a GPS-based wireless navigation(1) service. Customers can now enjoy the benefits of these new features for the BlackBerry Pearl together with easy-to-use phone, email, organizer and browser applications - all in an incredibly small, light and stylish handset.
The BlackBerry Pearl from Cingular operates on the nation's largest digital voice network - with the fewest dropped calls of any national wireless carrier - and Cingular's nationwide(2) EDGE network, the largest national high-speed wireless data network in the U.S.
The BlackBerry Pearl is the first BlackBerry handset to come with a digital camera, multi-media capabilities and an expandable memory slot, while continuing to provide the full BlackBerry experience that is widely popular throughout the world. Beneath its sleek and stylish exterior, which measures just 4.2" x 1.97" x .57" and weighs only 3.1 ounces, the BlackBerry Pearl from Cingular is a quad-band GSM/GPRS and EDGE-enabled mobile application powerhouse delivering the fast performance of the latest generation BlackBerry handset platform. The built-in 64MB flash memory is now expandable with a microSD card, giving users plenty more storage for music, pictures and videos.
"The BlackBerry Pearl from Cingular provides a winning combination of business and entertainment-related applications that make it a great device both for work-time and leisure-time use," said Jeff Bradley, vice president, business data services, for Cingular Wireless. "The iconic yet highly functional design, popular BlackBerry service, and rich music and video features coupled with our Cingular-exclusive capabilities make this a powerful offering that will play well equally in the enterprise and consumer spaces."
"The BlackBerry Pearl is a breakthrough handset that looks as great as it performs. We believe this amazing new phone will attract an even broader range of mobile customers toward BlackBerry and we are delighted to be launching the BlackBerry Pearl with Cingular today," said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO at Research In Motion. "The BlackBerry Pearl is truly changing the mobile communications landscape by delivering the unparalleled BlackBerry experience that has become so popular around the world together with new multimedia features and Cingular's powerful Push to Talk service - all in an exceptionally small, sleek and stylish design."
The page I have screen-capped links to a PDF with instructions on how to install the upgrade. I've put the URL for that page in the Read link below this post.
But I am not going to send you there just yet. Not until I go over the key directions.
Pinstacker N8DBB wasn't "horsing around" when he took his BlackBerry Pearl out to Churchill Downs racetrack in Louisville in Louisville on Saturday.
Update: A BBHub reader from Louisville challenges the authenticity of these photos. He says they are not of Churchill Downs. Last night, N8DBB wrote me to confirm that this was a case of mistaken identity.
The actual Churchill Downs, just a few miles from this photo, was a far busier place tha what you are looking at here.
That's where the Breeders Cup was held on Saturday.
Bet (pun intended) you didn't know this about Churchill Downs. There's more than one track on the grounds.
Fulfilling the "road less traveled," N8DBB went to a scene less traveled, and took two BlackBerry Pearl shots. You are already looking at one. Even tho it is not of Churchill Downs, the scene has its own quality. Restfulness, for one.
Although I strongly get the sense that most of you BBHub readers already own a BlackBerry and/or are thinking about buying a specific model, I also understand that more than a few of you are new to BlackBerry and would like a basic introduction to what BlackBerry is, and does.
For that , I'd refer you to a newly posted Gorog's Guide article entitled "Berry Nice!."
Writer Danny Gorog, who reports on technology for the Melbourne, Australia Herald Sun and can be heard weekly on Radio Australia as well, concentrates on the basics of several BlackBerry models currently available in that nation.
Danny, who emailed me last night to tell me a bit about his work, talks about the features and differentiating capabilities of the BlackBerry 7100, 7200 and 7250.
In a more recent review, Danny took a look at the BlackBerry 8707v from Vodafone. I would imagine his Pearl review isn't too far off in the future.
"I jet out of the front of the store to my car just to realize that I had from the front of the store to my car dropped my precious 7100i," writes HowardForums member b2k380. " I got back out of the car while getting drenched and found her laying face down in a puddle of water and getting rain pounded out of her back."
Note how b2k380 calls his 7100i "she." Or whatever.
"I knew she was toast but tried anyway, it worked but i still took it to Nextel and they sent me a new one," he writes, (but) today while attempting to charge her something seemed wrong I have had it on the charger and it seems to be full but when i look on the status page it says 80%, it went up to 85% then back to 80% while still on charge. Should i go ahead and get a battery now or what its not fully charging or at least it doesnt seem to be... "
Two fellow Ho-Fo'ers have advice for b2k380. Remember, there but for fortune go you or I..
CNET is out with "Pick the right BlackBerry for you," a post offering a side-by-side comparison of six of the newest BlackBerry models.
The new posting offers summary reviews, editors and users ratings, pricing info and technical specs for the BlackBerry 7130c, BlackBerry 7130e, BlackBerry 7100i, BlackBerry 7105t, BlackBerry 8700g, and BlackBerry 8700c. There are also video demonstrations of the 7100g, 7100i, 8700c and 8700i.
Interesting: the side-by-side display of both the CNET editors and Users' ratings show the BlackBerry 7130c in the lead with an 8.3 "Excellent" rating from the editors and a "Spectacular" 9.0 rating from Users who offered their opinions on the device through the CNET site.
South Korea-based business communications solutions provider KT Powertel said this morning they are introducing the BlackBerry 7100i together with Blackerry Enterprise Server for their corporate customers.
The BlackBerry 7100i will be compatible with KtPowertel's push-to-talk network
They specialize in Global Positioning System chips, such as those used in the BlackBerry7520 and
BlackBerry7100i.
Seems like SIRF had a
real bad day on Wall Street yesterday- dipping as much as 13% on the face of investor disillusionment at slow
earnings forecasts offered by the San Jose, Calif. based company yesterday.
Now what should BlackBerry users make of this, especially since SIRF also makes GPS chips for Garmin, Motorola as
well as General Motors' OnStar service?
Perhaps a general assumption that orders might be down because most everyone who wants a GPS-enabled device-
BlackBerry or no- already has one?
Hmm, maybe we are too early in the upgrade cycle for those GPS users to feel compelled about replacing their
unit?
After a long period of delay, Canadian carrier TELUS and BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion have officially
released the BlackBerry 7100i. TELUS is the only carrier in Canada to offer the 7100i.
BBHub reader Derek Ethier is frustrated that the long-promised Telus BlackBerry 7100i hasn't arrived yet, and is
still in the(bad pun alert) "ether."
"There seems to be some kind of hold-up on the release of the 7100i in Canada (by Telus) and given the amount of time it's been out in the US, it
seems a little strange," he wrote me last night.
"I'm just trying to raise some kind of awareness in order to force Telus into doing or saying something,"
Derek adds. "My corporate representative has been useless."
(hmm, now that's a first, wise-ass blogger thinks to self)
Derek said that because the situation is "frustrating as hell, so I thought I'd give it (contacting BB
Hub) a shot."
Well, Derek, glad you pinged us. Relieving BlackBerry user frustrations is part of the reason we are here.
So, any other of you Telus customers chomping at the bit for your own BlackBerry 7100i? Tell us! (blogger
uses up bad pun quota for the rest of the year)
TeleNav Inc. is now offering their branded TeleNavTrack GPS solution on the BlackBerry 7520 and BlackBerry
7100i.
The company brands TeleNavTrack as the first BlackBerry platform service that offers real-time, combined
turn-by-turn GPS navigation and tracking capabilities.
A fully hosted Web-based service, TeleNavTrack's pricing per phone/device starts with the
TeleNavTrack Basic plan at $9.99 per month, plus a one-time $19.99 activation fee. The basic service includes GPS
tracking, timesheets and location reporting.
For a little something extra, The TeleNavTrack Plus plan offers two-way messaging, and comes in at $12.99 per
month.
The $15.99 TeleNavTrack Enhanced plan adds barcode scanning, wireless forms and job dispatching and scheduling
capabilities.
The top-line TeleNavTrack Premium costs $21.99 per month, which includes turn-by-turn audible and visual
navigation.
I've found an interesting Howard Forums thread in which a reader writes
from a "somewhat rural area" he has traveled to with his BlackBerry 7100i, but with no charger to keep the
power in his BlackBerry up to snuff.
"I left home for the week-end, (100 miles), with my somewhat new BB 7100i, (haven't bought any extras yet),
and I forgot to grab the AC charger on the way," writes Rick-o in the thread he's started called "Help! Slight
Emergency with 7100i."
"After noticing I was without the charger, I thought I was ok since I was
coming back home Sunday afternoon and figured the battery would hold up long enough to get back on the charger,"
he adds. "Well, come to find out, I'm now stuck away from home until tuesday, with no way to charge my
phone."
And without any carrier stores around, the reader wants to know if there is something - anything- he can pick up
that will rev up his 7100i should the power drop real low.
Member Turbo993 offers a couple of suggestions, but then it seems that Rick-o found his own. In some store, he
found a $19.99 Belkin car
charger, one made by a company called Talkworks.
And just in time, apparently.
"My BlackBerry was down to 0% this afternoon, but was still functioning," Rick-o
writes. "How's that for cutting it close?"
To which I say, I bet the next time Rick-o hits the road, he packs up his BlackBerry charger.
A new Pinstack.com thread covers a subject sure to be crucial to the decline
of Western civilization- which car cradle is best for the BlackBerry 7100i?
"I need something that's not going to scratch up my 'Berry and will hold it tight," writes Pinstack
Member oyster rsx. "Also I will be using (BlackBerry-compatible mapping service) Telenav so it will have to be at
an angle to get (a) good signal."
Yet not every BlackBerry 7100 user is in search of the perfect car cradle.
"I am too rough in the car for a car cradle," writes Pinstack Member melissaox. "It would not survive a day with
me tossing the laptop around in the front."
Several security experts think that because of the increasing number of smartphone users as well as the comparative
ease of spreading viruses across these platforms, that smartphone security will be tested this year.
Attacks on smartphones haven’t reached the critical mass needed but it will happen sooner rather than
later,” antivirus firm Kaspersky Lab CEO Eugene Kaspersky, tells Red
Herring.
"Mobile phone attacks scale very well for fraud," Internet Security Systems chief technology officer
Chris Rouland also tells the publication.
"Phone viruses are propagating quickly and they have only been gated by the fact that there are not enough
smartphone users today," he told the magazine.
Rouland added that because phone carriers would likely have to bear the $100-per-incident cost of cleaning infected
handhelds, only a few hundred infected phones are enough to cause a problem.
Yet network security executive Simon Klalaf disagrees. The Vernier Networks CEO tells Red Herring that the
financial incentives that spur malware writers to develop viruses are not there for smartphones.
“Putting a worm on laptops where the objective is to steal financial or personal data is a bigger problem for
everyone,” he tells Red Herring.
Although I strongly get the sense that most of you BBHub readers already own a BlackBerry and/or are thinking about buying a specific model, I also understand that more than a few of you are new to BlackBerry and would like a basic introduction to what BlackBerry is, and does.
South Korea-based business communications solutions provider KT Powertel said this morning they are
