Friday, 28 June 2013

BBM for Android & iOS not getting June 27 release date


BBM for Android and iOS will not get a release date on June 27, but it could come pre-installed on some Android handsets, reports claim

BlackBerry has high hopes for the rollout of its BBM service on Android and iOS, so much so that we might even see it pre-installed by some manufacturers. 
UPDATE: BlackBerry fielded questions about BBM for Android and iOS at the London launch of the Q5 earlier today. Unfortunately the BlackBerry execs weren't able to tell us anymore about concrete release dates for the service – 'BBM for iOS and Android is coming this summer'. 
BBM, one of BlackBerry’s most unerring USPs over the years, is coming to iOS and Android this summer. BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins broke the news at the company’s BB Live 2013 expo in Florida last month. 
Android and iOS will both support the application and the messaging service is expected to go live at some point this summer. BlackBerry hasn’t been particularly forthcoming about a specific release date although summer is now very much underway, so the service could appear inside Google Play and Apple's App Store very soon. 
Alluding to BBM’s pre-installation on some Android devices, BlackBerry’s COO Kristian Tear told CNET: ‘There is interest from other handset makers.’ And rightly so, too. BBM is used by 51 million users a month for an average of 90 minutes a day, according to reports.  
T-Mobile US dropped a ball this week, claiming the service would be available for Android users from June 27 on Twitter before subsequently retracting the statement, presumably after receiving a bollocking from BlackBerry. Here’s the retraction: ‘sorry folks, we got over-excited about the BBM app coming to Android/iOS. No specific availability date yet, stay tuned for details.’ 
BBM for Android is likely to be more feature-rich than its iOS-based counterpart, owing to the more open-nature of Google’s mobile platform, according to BlackBerry. And not all features will make the transition with the company keeping some BBM features exclusive to its hardware.
There will be chats (including multi-user chats), Groups and voice notes. Voice and video calls, channels plus screen sharing will be added later on. 
Is this exciting? We think it is – BBM is a great service and we’ve been dreaming of it making its way over to iOS and Android for years. 
Posted by Unknown
on Friday, June 28, 2013

BlackBerry posts a quarterly loss of $84 million, ships 6.8 million phones


BlackBerry just posted its latest quarterly results, and it managed to ship 6.8 million devices in the first quarter when the flagship Z10 has been sold for a complete period.

Revenue increased from $2.8 billion to $3.1 billion year-on-year, but restructuring charges and turnaround expenses are blamed for a quarterly loss of $84 million. Microsoft might have had a point when it bragged to be a viable third platform candidate with Windows Phone and Nokia's support now, beating BlackBerry for the spot. Needless to say, BlackBerry's shares took a nosedive after the press release.

Source: Phonearena

Posted by Unknown
on Friday, June 28, 2013

Report: BlackBerry 10.1 update ends rebooting issue; AT&T to try again to update BlackBerry Z10


When BlackBerry launched its first all-touch model, the BlackBerry Storm 9530, via Verizon in the fall of 2008, it might have been the worst launch ever. The accelerometer worked occasionally and the overall impression was that the phone came to market half baked. That launch led RIM's co-CEO at the time, Jim Balsillie, to say that all smartphone launches in the future would contain buggy software that would need numerous updates. 

Thankfully, the future of smartphone launches never approached Balsillie's prediction. But we do have to note that when the all-touch BlackBerry Z10 launched earlier this year, some owners were battling a nasty bug that would automatically reboot the phone. Those with a Z10 powered by BlackBerry 10.0.10.684, 10.0.10.672, and 10.0.9.2743 have been prone to the random reboot issue which should be resolved with an update to BlackBerry 10.1.2050 or higher. That is the word from a BlackBerry Knowledge Base article.

Last week, AT&T tried to send out a BlackBerry 10.1 update but had to halt it before it could be completely rolled out to its 'Berry totin' customers. It seems that the Canadian based OEM had started pushing out the update before the carrier had put it through its testing process. That doesn't mean that the update requires any changes to it, it just means that AT&T hadn't had the chance to affix its seal of approval on it. The very same update will most likely be sent out for a second attempt soon. 

Since no notification was sent out to alert the operator's Z10 users that an update was available (which it was for a few users for a brief period of time), those who had rebooted their phone or had happened to hit their monthly update check at the right time, were able to see notification of it and download and install the latest update to the OS. Meanwhile, Verizon is said to be close to getting its Z10 owners up to date, leaving those on AT&T frustrated and envious. The word around the barber shop is that the nation's second largest carrier will try again to update the BlackBerry Z10 on July 1st.


"Every handset launched is subject to weeks of external testing to assure every device delivers a quality experience for customers. Before a device reaches AT&T labs it goes through testing with independent labs. Each device must be PTCRB certified in order to be submitted for AT&T’s Network Ready testing. PTCRB is the North American standard for testing wireless products and gaining PTCRB certification is a requirement for a product to work on a GSM-based wireless network. Testing includes (but not limited to), radio frequency testing, UV exposure testing, water testing, drop/impact tests, abrasion/scratch tests, chemical tests, application tests (streaming quality of apps), bandwidth usage on network, and field testing (voice quality, simultaneous data/voice, usage time.) "-AT&T

source: BlackBerry via Crackberry (1), (2)
Posted by Unknown
on Friday, June 28, 2013

Sunday, 23 June 2013

Easy Password’ Feature Coming to BlackBerry OS 10.1


An “easy password” feature will be heading it’s way to BlackBerry 10.1 according to BlackBerry Product Manager Michael Clewly’s BBM Channel. This will be a simple, easy PIN lock for those who wouldn’t want to type a long password with the Z10 keyboard.


You will always want to keep your device password locked, but you don’t want it to be a hassle. It has to be easy for you, but still secure enough that others won’t get into your device without you wanting them to. That’s what the feature does.

Source: CB  via  n4bb
Posted by Unknown
on Sunday, June 23, 2013

Official: BlackBerry Z10 OS 10.1.0.2006 from AT&T



AT&T has at last gotten on the ball with rolling out BlackBerry OS 10.1 to Z10 users. Customers have been reporting seeing OS 10.1.0.2006 pushed to their BlackBerry Z10s.
You may recall, BlackBerry 10.1 has the following features:
BlackBerry Hub: The BlackBerry Hub lets you access all your messages and notifications in one place. With BlackBerry 10.1 support for PIN to PIN messages for direct communication between BlackBerry smartphones has been added to the BlackBerry Hub. Plus, improved attachment support in the BlackBerry Hub makes it easier to view emails which have been sent as attachments to other messages.
Notifications: With BlackBerry 10.1 you can personalize the notifications for your accounts and contacts so you always know what is happening around you. Customize ringtones, vibration and the LED light by contact or by account for more personalized notifications.
Fine Cursor Control: BlackBerry 10.1 makes it easier and more accurate to pinpoint exactly where you want to type. Tap once to bring up the cursor. Grab the blue circle and drag it around to place it exactly where you need it. Tap either side of the circle to move left or right by just one character. It’s easy to move around with speed and precision.

Camera: BlackBerry 10 lets you create the perfect shot by moving parts of your  picture backwards and forwards in time with Time Shift mode. BlackBerry 10.1 adds an HDR shooting mode for beautiful images in tricky lighting conditions. A standard image takes a picture at one exposure level. Where you have high contrast  between light and dark areas of the photo, fine details can be lost. High Dynamic Range (HDR) mode takes multiple pictures at different exposure levels and layers them automatically to produce a single photo that combines the best of the dark and light areas.
Lots more to discover: You’ll find lots of new improvements across the BlackBerry 10 OS like landscape support for the calendar, easier international dialing, improved red eye reduction in the picture editor and much more. The first step to discovering these new features is to update your BlackBerry 10 software.
If you’re on AT&T hit the updates button in the Settings section to see if it’s available to you.
Source: n4bb
Posted by Unknown
on Sunday, June 23, 2013

BlackBerry and Skype Giving Away 3 Month World Subscriptions


Have you recently downloaded Skype for Blackberry 10? In celebration of Skype finally arriving on BlackBerry, you can receive a 3 month world voucher.
All you have to do is head over to the voucher claiming website here and fill out the requested information. You’ll need your BlackBerry 10 phone’s PIN and IMEI.
Once you proceed and see your voucher code, copy it, click ‘claim voucher’, sign into Skype, and then paste the voucher code. After that you’ll be able to enjoy 3 free months of calls to 60 countries compliments of BlackBerry.BlackBerry 10.1 OS is required to download the Skype app. The Skype Unlimited* World Voucher offer is only available in USA, Canada, UK, Germany, Italy, Turkey, Spain, Netherlands, South Africa, Nigeria, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Australia.
Click below to get your Skype voucher.
Posted by Unknown
on Sunday, June 23, 2013

Viber Likely Releasing with BlackBerry OS 10.2, says CEO


Viber, one of the most popular VoIP and messaging apps, recently had their CEO Talmon Marco sit down for an interview. Marco explains his future innovations for  the company and thoughts on the messaging market.
Within the interview, Marco is asked what other platforms the company intends to extend Viber. We’ve known for sometime that Viber has been planning a release on BlackBerry 10.
Marco says that his company plans to have the launch soon “likely hand in hand with the release of BB 10.2″, but we’re not entirely sure when that will be. Nevertheless, keep your eyes peeled.
source: TruTower via n4bb
Posted by Unknown
on Sunday, June 23, 2013

BlackBerry faithful seen stemming sales slide


BlackBerry is poised to snap a five-quarter streak of declining smartphone shipments, a sign its recovery is gaining traction.
BlackBerry probably delivered 7.7 million smartphones to customers in the three months ended in May, a Bloomberg survey of analysts shows. That would reverse a plunge to 6 million units in the prior quarter from 11 million a year earlier for the Waterloo, Ontario-based company.
New models are the reason for the resurgence. Even if the touch-screen Z10 is getting a mixed consumer reception, pent-up demand for the Q10, which has a physical keyboard to appeal to the BlackBerry faithful, is fueling a rebound, said Maynard Um, a Wells Fargo & Co. analyst.
“The die-hard BlackBerry installed base of 76 million subscribers loyal to the keyboard presents a strong upgrade opportunity,” said Um, who is based in New York and rates the stock the equivalent of a buy.
Um is among analysts who have raised sales estimates or ratings on BlackBerry in the weeks before the smartphone maker reports earnings on June 28. While BlackBerry steadily lost market share over the past three years to Apple Inc (AAPL). and Samsung Electronics Co., it now has an opportunity to win back some consumers in the lull before the next iPhone arrives and after Samsung’s Galaxy S4 got mixed reviews.
“The new BlackBerry handsets are holding up reasonably well against a number of recently released handsets,” said Andy Perkins, an analyst at Societe Generale SA in London. Perkins lifted his rating on BlackBerry from a sell to a buy last week, citing the phones’ better sales momentum.
Fumble Culmination
Q10 Peak

BlackBerry slid 1.5 percent to $13.78 at the close in New York. The shares have climbed 16 percent this year and have more than doubled since reaching a nine-year low in September. An international BlackBerry service disruption that month, which coincided for a second time with the introduction of a new iPhone, was the culmination of years of marketing fumbles, product delays and other missteps by the company.
Since taking over in January 2012, Chief Executive Officer Thorsten Heins has named new sales, marketing and legal chiefs and squeezed out $1 billion in operating costs by cutting six of 10 manufacturing sites, eliminating 5,000 jobs and selling one of two corporate jets.
BlackBerry surprised analysts in March by reporting a return to profitability for its fiscal fourth quarter, earlier than expected. The company probably had a profit of 9 cents a share excluding one-time charges and gains in the first quarter, which ended in May, reversing a loss of 37 cents a year earlier, according to analysts’ estimates.
Sales Gain?
Sales probably climbed 20 percent to $3.38 billion from a year earlier, the estimates show. That would be the first year-on-year gain in eight quarters.
BlackBerry has no comment on its performance last quarter, said Rebecca Freiburger, a company spokeswoman.
Heins, a native of Germany, was criticized after he was promoted from chief operating officer to CEO 18 months ago and told investors no “drastic change” was needed at BlackBerry.
Regardless of what he said at the time, Heins has definitely shaken things up, said Colin Gillis, a BCG Partners LP analyst.
“He’s done a great job -- he’s put up way more of a fight than people were expecting,” said Gillis. “The question is, is it too late?”
Twenty-two analysts, including Gillis, rate BlackBerry a sell, 12 call it a hold, while nine recommend buying the stock.
BlackBerry’s shipments are expected to decline again this quarter. In the current period, which will end in August, units will decline to 7.4 million from last quarter’s estimate of 7.7 million, according to the Bloomberg survey. That’s because shipments of older models will fall while sales of the Q10 will potentially peak after a wave of upgrades, said Gillis.
“This is the quarter where they’re likely to put product into the channel and the numbers may look pretty good,” he said. “The next quarter is probably going to be tough for them.”
BlackBerry’s share of the global smartphone market shrank to 2.9 percent last quarter from 6.4 percent a year earlier, according to research firm IDC. Apple’s iOS and Google Inc.’s Android operating system, which Samsung uses, together accounted for 92 percent of the market.
BlackBerry was knocked out of third place by Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Phone platform, which finished March with a 3.2 percent share. Still, Microsoft’s new phones haven’t made huge inroads with consumers, leaving BlackBerry in the running for third place, said BGC’s Gillis.
Stacy Drake, a Microsoft spokeswoman, declined to comment.
“Microsoft haven’t blown the doors off that space to secure that third space in the ecosystem,” said Gillis. “It’s still an open race.”
source: Bloomberg
Posted by Unknown
on Sunday, June 23, 2013

Saturday, 22 June 2013

BlackBerry shares fall as analyst downgrades stock ahead of earnings


BlackBerry shares fell 4 percent on Wednesday after a Bernstein Research analyst cut his rating on the stock to "underperform" ahead of the company's quarterly earnings release next week. While Bernstein's Pierre Ferragu said he expected disappointing results from the smartphone maker, other analysts have bullish expectations, pointing to an even more volatile run for a generally volatile stock. In the last few days, there have been are both upgrades and downgrades to the stock as BlackBerry seeks to win back market share it has lost to the likes of Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics with new smartphones powered by its BlackBerry 10 operating system. "The initial enthusiasm that we observed for Blackberry 10 devices now appears to be waning," Ferragu said in a note to clients. He also cut his price target on the company to $10 from $15. Shares of BlackBerry, which reports fiscal first-quarter results on June 28, fell 3.6 percent to $14.31 in morning Nasdaq trading. The stock dropped as low as $6.22 last September, but has more than doubled in value since then. The new devices launched over the last few months to mostly positive reviews. But the company has not yet released too many details about sales figures. Societe Generale analyst Andy Perkins last week upgraded BlackBerry to "buy" from "sell," saying that channel checks had come up with some surprisingly strong numbers for the company's unit sales. RBC Capital Markets on Monday raised its first-quarter sales estimate to 3.5 million BlackBerry 10 units from 2.75 million. It expects shipments of 4 million BB10-enabled devices in the current quarter, up from a prior outlook of 3 million.

source:Reuters
Posted by Unknown
on Saturday, June 22, 2013

Friday, 21 June 2013

BlackBerry 10.2 update brings lock-screen notifications and more



The upcoming BlackBerry 10.2 update will introduce a raft of new features including support for lock-screen notifications, so you’ll always know what type of message you’ve received and who it’s from. 
As you can see from the screenshot below, the option to set up lock-screen previews for text messages, emails and other apps is located in settings. The leaked image comes via CrackBerry who sourced it from Flip4Bytes. 

BB10.2 will also bring with it support for Android Jelly Bean applications and games – BB10.1 only supports Android 2.3 at present. These are just two of the confirmed features of the update but there’ll no doubt be more once it arrives in Q3.
‘All the great features that were previously available in Gingerbread will continue to be supported, as well as some specific Jelly Bean OS features such as Fragments, embedded fragments, animation framework and hardware acceleration. Keep in mind this is the first beta release, and there will bound to be some bugs as we work our way towards the gold release later in the summer,’ said BlackBerry on its Dev Blog.
Not much else is known about the BB10.2 update at time of writing although reports suggest it could be quite a significant bump for the ever-evolving platform. 
BlackBerry 10.2 beta is now in the hands of developers and should see a release sometime in Q3. We may even see it launched alongside some brand new hardware like the rumoured Z10-successor, the BlackBerry A10.
Posted by Unknown
on Friday, June 21, 2013

Thursday, 20 June 2013

BlackBerry Q5 hits UAE today, costs $400


BlackBerry Q5 was announced last month at a dedicated BlackBerry event. It’s a QWERTY smartphone targeting emerging markets and those on a tighter budget that was supposed to hit the shelves in the early days of July.
It seems the first BlackBerry Q5 stock is going to come a bit early though, as the Canadian company will be offering the Q5 at the opening of its BlackBerry Concept Retail Store in Dubai, UAE tomorrow. It will cost AED1,499, which translates to about €305 or $408. This price tag is not what we call an affordable one, but it’s almost two times cheaper than the BlackBerry Q10.
The Blackberry Q5 is built around a 3.1-inch 720×720 pixel LCD touchscreen and one of BlackBerry’s classic physical QWERTY keyboards. Inside the BlackBerry Q5 there’s a dual-core 1.2Ghz CPU, a 5MP camera and 8 gigs worth of storage.
The Q5 is expected to hit Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia (including the Asia Pacific region), and Latin America in the beginning of July. You can have it in black, white, red or pink color.
Posted by Unknown
on Thursday, June 20, 2013

Thursday, 13 June 2013

Blackberry Q10 review









If losing the keyboard on the BlackBerry Z10 was a step too far for most BlackBerry users, the keyboard-equipped Blackberry Q10 is here to put them at ease. It’s the second phone in BlackBerry’s 2013 arsenal to run the new BlackBerry 10 OS, and our initial impressions were promising.

BUILD AND DESIGN
Thanks to its slim 10mm waistline, its stocky exterior feels modern and professional. The textured pattern on its non-slip rubber back gives it a little more personality as well, and its smooth, curved frame made it very comfortable to hold and use.

We quite look the look and feel of this phone, even though the Q10 is a rather traditional looking smartphone. One area where the Q10 has really changed compared to previous BlackBerry models with a keyboard is with the larger screen. A 3.1in Super AMOLED display occupies a much larger space on the phone and it looks fantastic. It has a 720x720 resolution, giving it a high pixel density of 331ppi. We found colours were bright and vivid with very deep blacks. Whites had a slightly yellowish tone, but the screen's contrast levels were good, even on half brightness settings.
Of course, part of reason why the screen looks and feels so large is due to the removal of the sensor button. This might seem unthinkable on a BlackBerry keyboard handset, but the Q10’s new touch-orientated BlackBerry 10 OS makes it more or less redundant. All of your apps are arranged on four main screens, and you swipe left and right to access them. It feels just as slick as Android, but the ‘Home’ gesture (swiping up from the bottom of the screen) adds an extra degree of flexibility. This takes you to a separate app tray that lets you dive between different apps you currently have running as well as return to the main app screens. We particularly liked how the internet browser also adopts a thumbnail approach with your most visited web pages, making it that much easier to surf through your favourite sites without having to type in the addresses every time.
Messaging takes place in the BlackBerry Hub, which is just a left swipe away from the main home screen. Here you can access your text messages, email accounts and voicemail from a list on the side of the screen. There's also an integrated inbox, so you can see all of your messages in one place. It’s far more sophisticated than anything else we’ve seen so far on Android and iOS and its clear and simple layout makes it even more accessible to first time users.

KEYBOARD
Typing it all together is the Q10’s QWERTY keyboard. It takes up less space than on previous BlackBerry handsets, but we found it very easy to type on. Each key has a curved ridge down the side to help give your thumbs a bit of extra grip and to stop you from mashing multiple keys at the same time, and we were able to type quickly and accurately after a few minutes.
Unfortunately, when we did make mistakes, we found they were very fiddly to correct if they were in the middle of a sentence. With no sensor button or arrow keys built into the keyboard, we had to rely on the touchscreen to jump to different parts of our message. It was generally very responsive for flicking through web pages and swiping round its operating system, but it was far less sensitive when it came to tapping precise points on the screen. On several occasions, it either failed to register our touch completely or activated something else nearby, such as the onscreen attachment button. The auto-correct feature goes some way to help keep this problem to a minimum, but it’s not perfect.

HARDWARE
On the whole, though, we had very few problems during day to day use. Its 1.5GHz dual-core processor and 2GB of RAM completed our SunSpider JavaScript benchmarks in a relatively quick 1,483ms, and we were able to render the BBC News home page in just 4 seconds. Due to the screen's comparatively low resolution, we still had to zoom in to read desktop versions web pages, but we were impressed by its smooth handling of image-heavy pages. We only experienced a very small amount of jerky movement when we were zoomed in, and the Q10 was able to load images without any major delay.
Its main strength lies in its pre-installed productivity apps, such as Docs To Go and Print to Go. The former lets you create and edit Microsoft Word and Excel documents as well as view PowerPoint presentations, while Print To Go lets you send files and printouts wirelessly from your computer to your phone as a PDF file. Print To Go was a little fiddly to set up, but after we installed the software on our PC and paired it with our phone, it worked perfectly.

CAMERA
The Q10's 8-megapixel camera is disappointing.Outdoor shots are very sharp and clear, colours were generally quite inaccurate. It lost a lot of the finer detail as well due to colours appearing quite dark and muddy even in bright sunshine. Indoor shots fared better, but it didn’t cope well in lower lighting conditions. Objects appeared very blurry and there was a considerable increase in the amount of noise.
Capturing video was also quite poor. In still life test it rendered the fur of  toy monkey very well, but colours were too warm and the lens had to refocus every couple of seconds. It also seemed to reflect the light of  LED fan back onto the lens, producing a distracting ghosting effect on the other side of the screen. Noise was another issue as the whole image began to shimmer when the light is turned off.
BATTERY LIFE
Thankfully, the Q10 redeemed itself somewhat with its superb battery life as its 2,100mAH battery lasted a massive 13 hours and 45 minutes in video playback tests with the screen set to half brightness. Its everyday battery life was also impressive. It was set up to sync with three email accounts with the Wi-Fi left on and after a full working day with time to spare, so it shouldn’t need as much charging if you need it to last into the evening.

CONCLUSION
The BlackBerry Q10 is certainly a worthy alternative to the Z10 if a keyboard is one of your top priorities, but it comes with a hefty premium.We love the new BlackBerry 10 operating system and its messaging hub, but its fickle touchscreen just isn’t good enough, especially compared to the Ultimate award-winning Samsung Galaxy S4. Still, if you’re set on having a physical keyboard and don’t mind putting up with its flaws, then the Q10 is a good choice.
Posted by Unknown
on Thursday, June 13, 2013