Blackberry Phones

If the BlackBerry Bold 9900/9930 is the best BlackBerry yet, the BlackBerry Torch 9850 is the most beautiful. Complex curves, judicious use of metal and soft textures– it looks like the apex of European design. In fact, it looks something like a high end Nokia, only with more metal than Nokia uses. The Torch 9850, not to be confused with the BlackBerry Torch 9810 QWERTY slider on AT&T, is a full touch screen phone. It has no hardware keyboard, though a hardware keyboard is generally a ‘Berry’s most beloved feature. The Torch carries on where the BlackBerry Storm 2 left off. We completely understand the name change since the Storm and Storm 2 weren’t RIM’s finest.

The Torch 9850 is pocketable and elegant where the Storm was bulky and boring looking. The Torch looks like a phone you want to own and hold, and thanks to improvements in the on-screen keyboard (sound the death knell for SurePress) and BlackBerry OS 7, it’s a phone worth owning. Will it convert iPhone and Android users? Probably not. OS 7 isn’t much of a radical change from that old and stuffy (though still serviceable) OS 6. But for you BlackBerry addicts who covet a large, high resolution display over a hardware keyboard, this is a fine ‘Berry. Read more

It’s already day three of the 2011 Smart Phone Madness Tournament, and the action is heating up! Today’s two games feature the Samsung Nexus S vs. the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play, and the BlackBerry Torch vs. the Sprint HTC Arrive.

Game 5: Samsung Nexus S (T-Mobile) vs. Sony Ericsson Xperia Play (Verizon Wireless)

The first phone to run Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), the Samsung Nexus S is the closest thing you can get to a pure Google experience on a smart phone–unless you still have a Nexus One. The Nexus S has a cool Contour Display that’s slightly curved for a better fit against the side of your face, and its Super AMOLED technology provides a bright and crisp picture. Another first is the built-in NFC  chip, which will let users instantly look up or exchange information with a tap. (Someday soon you might be able to use this handset as a wallet.) There’s a 5-MP camera on the back, but it can’t record 720p video. We were also disappointed that the phone doesn’t support 4G speeds on T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network. Overall, though, this is a powerful device.

The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play, otherwise known as the PlayStation phone, is heading to Verizon Wireless. This device also runs Android 2.3, but has a 1-GHz Snapdragon with an Adreno GPU.  When we got our hands on it, we were impressed with the gaming experience on the Xperia Play’s 4-inch, 854 x 480 screen. You get a boatload of physical gaming buttons, and Sony Ericsson promises upwards of 50 titles, form The Sims 3 and Guitar Hero to Assassin’s Creed and Splinter Cell.While this phone will most likely appeal only to gamers, it’s a compelling variation on the Android theme.

Game 6: BlackBerry Torch (AT&T) vs. HTC Arrive (Sprint)

RIM’s first slider, the BlackBerry Torch contains a number of  firsts: BlackBerry 6, a new OS with multiple home screens, a much improved WebKit browser, and a Social Feed app that aggregates Facebook, Twitter, and RSS updates. Its 3.2 inch screen has a relatively low resolution of 480 x 360, but we like the sliding action and the premium feel of this device–it’s like a Palm Pre for the business set. Still, the Torch feels sluggish compared to other smart phones, and the interface can be confusing.

The HTC Arrive is one of a handful of Windows Phone 7 devices that have trickled out since Microsoft’s new smart phone platform was introduced last fall, and the first to arrive on Sprint’s network. The Full specifications of the device is given in HTC Arrive Review. We shall give  some information about the device. It has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, and the screen tilts upwards at a 30-degree angle so it’s easier to view your Outlook mail and Netflix movies. Otherwise, the internals are pretty much identical to other WP7 devices:  A 1GHz Snapdragon CPU, 3.6-inch WVGA capacitive touchscreen, 16GB of memory, and a 5-megapixel camera with flash and 720p video. Copy and paste is also on board (yay!) but you don’t get 4G (boo!). Overall, though, the Arrive looks like a solid phone for work and play.

Shares of Research in Motion stock declined over 12% after hours on Thursday as the company reported its fourth-quarter earnings for its 2011 fiscal year. RIM reported revenue that missed Wall Street’s consensus on device shipments that exceeded expectations by 200,000 units. Fourth-quarter revenue came in at $5.6 billion, just below the $5.64 billion analysts expected. Device shipments for the quarter totalled 14.9 million units, beating estimates of 14.7 million units, and full-year shipments were a record 52.3 million units — a 43% improvement over the year prior.

Full-year revenue of $19.9 billion grew 33% over the 2010 fiscal year and net income was up 47% year-over-year to $3.4 billion. “We are pleased to report record shipments and financial performance in fiscal 2011,” said RIM’s Co-CEO Jim Balsillie in a statement. “As we enter fiscal 2012, RIM is in an excellent position to benefit from the continuing convergence of the mobile communications and mobile computing markets. We are laying a strong foundation for RIM’s expanding market opportunity through focused investments and we are extremely excited about our smartphone, tablet and platform roadmaps.” Hit the break for the full press release.

Research In Motion Reports Year-End and Fourth Quarter Results for Fiscal 2011

WATERLOO, ONTARIO–(Marketwire – 03/24/11) – Research In Motion Limited (RIM) (NASDAQ:RIMM – News)(TSX:RIM – News), a world leader in the mobile communications market, today reported fourth quarter results for the three months and fiscal year ended February 26, 2011 (all figures in U.S. dollars and U.S. GAAP).

Highlights:

–  Record BlackBerry® smartphone shipments of 52.3 million grew 43% over
fiscal 2010
–  Fiscal 2011 revenue grew 33% over fiscal 2010 to $19.9 billion and
earnings per share grew 47% over the prior fiscal year to $6.34 per
share diluted
–  Ongoing investment in PlayBook and QNX-based platform development in Q1
with PlayBook launch date of April 19th
–  BlackBerry was the number one selling smartphone brand in the United
States(1), Canada(1), Latin America(1) and the UK(2) for calendar 2010

Q4 and Fiscal 2011 Results:

Revenue for the fiscal year ended February 26, 2011 was $19.9 billion, up 33% from $15 billion last year. Revenue for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011 was $5.6 billion, up 1% from $5.5 billion in the previous quarter and up 36% from $4.1 billion in the same quarter of last year. The revenue breakdown for the quarter was approximately 81% for devices, 16% for service, and 3% for software and other revenue. During the quarter, RIM shipped approximately 14.9 million BlackBerry smartphones for a total of 52.3 million smartphones in fiscal 2011.

“We are pleased to report record shipments and financial performance in fiscal 2011,” said Jim Balsillie, Co-CEO at Research In Motion. “As we enter fiscal 2012, RIM is in an excellent position to benefit from the continuing convergence of the mobile communications and mobile computing markets. We are laying a strong foundation for RIM’s expanding market opportunity through focused investments and we are extremely excited about our smartphone, tablet and platform roadmaps.”

Net income for fiscal 2011 was $3.4 billion, or $6.34 per share diluted, up 47% over fiscal 2010. The Company’s net income for the quarter was $934 million, or $1.78 per share diluted, compared with net income of $911 million, or $1.74 per share diluted, in the prior quarter and net income of $710 million, or $1.27 per share diluted, in the same quarter last year.

The total of cash, cash equivalents, short-term and long-term investments was $2.7 billion as of February 26, 2011, compared to $2.5 billion at the end of the previous quarter, an increase of $227 million from the prior quarter. Cash flow from operations in Q4 was approximately $1.0 billion. Uses of cash included intangible asset additions of approximately $365 million, capital expenditures of approximately $304 million and business acquisitions of approximately $161 million.

FY2012 and Q1 Outlook:

For the full year fiscal 2012, RIM expects earnings per share to be in excess of $7.50 fully diluted. Revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2012 ending May 28, 2011 is expected to be in the range of $5.2-$5.6 billion. Gross margin percentage for the first quarter is expected to be approximately 41.5%. Earnings per share for the first quarter are expected to be in the range of $1.47 -$1.55 per share diluted. This guidance range reflects a mix shift in handset towards lower ASP products in the first quarter and an increased level of investment in Research and Development and Sales and Marketing related to our tablet and platform initiatives. The guidance range is slightly wider than normal to reflect the risk of potential disruption in RIM’s supply chain as a result of the recent earthquake in Japan.

When looking at these two handsets it is clear to see that each have undergone development in such as way as to create very separate identities, after all Blackberry and Nokia are two very different companies. On closer inspection, however, do these phones seem very similar? Lets remember these are not cheap mobile phones and therefore you need to be sure that the phone you choose is the right phone for you.
Measurements of the chassis reveal that the N8 at 113.5×59.1×12.9mm is not much smaller than the Torch at 11x62x14.6mm and, with a weight difference of 26g, is not that much lighter.
Both handsets are capable of holding a 32GB memory and the capabilities to play various media formats, surf the web and interact with social networking software but apparently this is where the similarities end.
The Blackberry designers have integrated TFT screen technology into the Torch, which provides satisfactory quality on a 360x480px screen but holds little light to the AMOLED technology employed by the designers at Nokia.
The use of this technology is the first aspect of the N8 handset that proves that Nokia are serious about producing a handset that could honestly compete in the smart-phone market. Blackberry seems to have become too comfortable with the popularity of their design methods and not adopted the same attitude as Nokia in their attempts to grasp the attention of smart-phone consumers.
The communications market, and more particularly the smartphone market, is a battleground for innovative concepts and pioneering technology; could there be any room for tried and tested methods? Blackberry users are certainly loyal and the Torch provides enough new tech and gadgets to satisfy them but the purpose of the handset was to move into new arenas of the smartphone market, something that Blackberry may not achieve.
A comparison of these two phones creates a defined separation between the two. Nokia seem to be attempting to operate in the same arena as the Samsung Galaxy or the iPhone, whereas Blackberry could risk lingering in that small corner of business communication technology.

MANILA, Philippines – Smartphones and cameras with more flexibility are high on the wish list of tech-savvy gadget fanatics.
Speaking on “Mornings@ANC”, Alora Guerrero, Managing Editor of techie.com.ph said more and more people are switching to smartphones with various features for their needs.

Smartphones

There’s the recently-launched HTC Desire HD, which offers 4.2 inches with Android 2.2 out of the box for P35,000. Slightly more affordable (P32,000) is the newly-launched HTC Desire Z which boasts of a portable hotspot, slightly bigger keys on its keypad, and an Android froyo.

The HTC 7 Mozart is the new Windows Phone 7 operating system which also has a hub like a computer that allows you to pin application features to your screen.

There’s also the Android 2.2. LG Optimus One (P12,900) but the cheapest price still belongs to the Samsung Galaxy 5.

The Blackberry Torch offers the best of both worlds by incorporating the keypad and touchscreen features (around P25,000 in the US).

Cameras

The market also offers a new camera that gives the flexibility of a digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera without the bulk (P30,000).

Guerrero said camera manufacturers are looking at interchangeable lens models that offer the versatility of a DSLR but with a compact body, and the size of a regular point and shoot camera.

She added that while the Olympus has a retro look, this and the Sony NEX 5 camera have a modern look and more playful designs compared to regular DSLRs.

Those who go for more edge can fork out P20,000 for a 3-D camera, or P19,000 for a front-facing dual camera that allows anyone to take a shot of themselves with their favorite subject.

Until January 2011, Samsung cameras even come with an Aranaz wrist strap.

May be some people are interested in the full specs of the phones, here we have found some reviews: HTC Desire Z Review and Blackberry Torch Review

Rogers is brings white edition of both the BlackBerry Torch and BlackBerry Bold 9780 smartphone.

The BlackBerry Torch smartphone is sold for priced at $229.99 with a 3-year contract, while the BlackBerry Bold 9780 is offered by Rogers for priced at $149.99 on 3-year terms also.

There is no word on release date of both White BlackBerry Torch and White BlackBerry Bold 9780 smartphone but should be available within next couple weeks in holiday season.

As specs, the BlackBerry Bold 9780 smartphone has a 2.44-inch (480×360) TFT display, 512MB on board memory, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, and a slot for microSD card slot (up to 32GB).

AT&T has slashed the price of its flagship BlackBerry smartphone in half. The BlackBerry Torch, which became available in August 2010, is RIM’s first smartphone to feature both a touchscreen and a physical QWERTY keypad. It was also the first BlackBerry to launch with RIM’s new OS, BlackBerry 6. It initially hit store shelves at $199.99 and after roughly three months, the Torch is now available for $99.99 with a 2-year contract. A price drop after this length of time is not necessarily an indication of poor sales, as several blogs have speculated, though many analysts agree that sales have been less than spectacular. At it’s new price point, which is below the magical $100 mark, AT&T clearly hopes that the BlackBerry Torch will finally spread its wings this holiday season.

Just in case all the talk of the BlackBerry Bold 9780 releasing in Canada was driving you crazy because what you really want is red BlackBerry Torch or BlackBerry Style  then this news may be more to your liking. It seems as though both the red Torch and BlackBerry Style will be shipped off to Bell locations across Canada starting on November 15th with device purchasing going live on November 23rd.

The red Torch is suggested to cost $179.99 with a 3-year contract while the BlackBerry Style retail price is said to be $399.99. The contract pricing for the Style at this point was not available. Which would drop the cost to something a little more realistic with contract terms but I’m sure that will pop up soon enough.

Blackberry Torch Vs HTC Desire HD is there with which you will come to know which phone will suits the best. BlackBerry Torch 9800 is there with so many awesome features like the Camera there in this is of 5 mega pixel. There are so many facilities which you can have with this like the auto-focus, LED flash, Geo-tagging, Continuous auto-focus, Image stabilization etc.

The Operating System used in this is the BlackBerry OS of version 6.0. The 624 MHZ of processor is there in the phone. You can also access Internet in this with the help of the HTML Browser so that you can be the part of the big world any time you want.

There is music Player also in this so that you can listen to the rocking music of your Choice. The Blackberry Torch deals are very lucrative as with them you can have them with any of the deal like the SIM free deal, SIM Only deal, pay as you go deal and the Contract deal. And can also have so many free gifts with this and can also pay your mobile phone bills at the end of the month.

While reading HTC Desire HD Review you will understand that the HTC Desire HD is one of the mobile phone which is very popular in the mobile phone market because its features like the Camera of the phone is of 8 mega pixel and is with the Internal memory of 1.5GB and 768 MB of RAM. The two colors with this phone are Black and Brown. The HTC Desire HD deals are there as Contract mobile phone deal, SIM free deal, pay as you go deal and the SIM Only deal. And the details about the HTC Desire HD Vs BlackBerry Torch can be obtained from our well-born website Free Contract mobile phone. There are so many incentives that the users can avail with the Contract deal like the free text, free minutes, instant cash back and Internet allowances etc.

Step right up boys and girls… for your chance to win a custom-painted BlackBerry Torch!!! That’s right folks, we’re giving away another BlackBerry Torch to a lucky CrackBerry reader, and this time it’s coming to you courtesy of our friends at ColorWare.

The Prize: The lucky winner will win a BlackBerry Torch 9800 and get to paint it in the color scheme of their choosing. You can jump over to ColorWare’s BlackBerry Torch 9800 Design Studio to figure out how you’d do it up. Keep in mind it’s an unlocked OEM non-CDMA phone, which means you’ll need to be running it on GSM network (best on AT&T in the USA (T-Mo works, but no 3G), Rogers in Canada, etc.).

How to Enter: To enter, JUST LEAVE A SINGLE COMMENT to this blog post. You can say whatever you like in the comment, though we always love to see comments about how much CrackBerry and ColorWare rock! Or let us know what color you’d paint your Torch if you win.  Contest ends Sunday, November 14th at Midnight PT.  That’s it. GOOD LUCK!!!