The written musings of a long-time Apple //e and Macintosh tech nerd. Opinions are my own.
Digitimes is reporting that Quanta has won the bid to manufacture RIM’s tablet, the BlackPad.
“The tablet (BlackPad) will support Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, as well as 3G through connection to a Blackberry smartphone. The device will be priced at US$499 and Quanta will start shipping orders in September with volumes to reach two million units in 2010 and eight million units in 2011, the paper added.”
[Via GadgetsOnTheGo.net…]
Following closely on the heels of their BlackBerry Torch and BlackBerry OS 6 announcements, Research In Motion introduced the BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300 today. The new BlackBerry Curve has a GSM/HSDPA radio in it so I would expect it to appear on the AT&T and T-Mobile networks here in the United States before long.
Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today announced the new BlackBerry® Curve™ 3G, an exciting addition to the globally popular BlackBerry Curve series of smartphones. Designed to provide the growing mass of smartphone purchasers with a distinctly powerful, approachable and affordable choice, the BlackBerry Curve 3G supports high-speed 3G (HSDPA) networks around the world and gives users the exceptional communications features they need to accomplish more than ever, when they’re at home, at work and everywhere in-between.
“The majority of people in the worldwide mobile phone market have yet to buy their first smartphone and the BlackBerry Curve 3G is designed to provide an extremely attractive and accessible choice that will help convince many of them to make the leap,” said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO at Research In Motion. “The new BlackBerry Curve 3G is a perfect choice for happily busy people who are looking for a user-friendly 3G smartphone to help them make the most of their day and to stay connected with their friends, family and co-workers.”
The BlackBerry Curve 3G smartphone features a comfortable full-QWERTY keyboard for fast, accurate typing, optical trackpad for fluid navigation, built-in GPS and Wi-Fi®, as well as dedicated media keys, so music lovers can easily access their tunes while on the go. The new smartphone also features a camera that can record video and a microSD/SDHC slot that supports up to 32 GB memory cards for media storage. Support for 3G networks makes browsing faster, streaming music smoother, and gives users the ability to talk on the phone while they browse the web, instant message with BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™) or share their location with friends on popular social networking sites.
The BlackBerry Curve 3G ships with BlackBerry® 5 and is BlackBerry® 6 ready. BlackBerry 6 is a new operating system for BlackBerry® smartphones that was announced last week. It retains the trusted features that distinguish the BlackBerry brand while delivering a fresh and engaging experience that is both powerful and easy to use. BlackBerry 6 is expected to be available for the BlackBerry Curve 3G, subject to carrier certifications, in the coming months.
The new BlackBerry Curve 3G smartphone (model 9300) will be available from various carriers and distribution partners around the world beginning in August. Check with local carriers for details about availability and pricing.
My brother in law just got his new iPhone 4. Oh my God the screen is amazing on that device!
By now, most of you have read that there has been a leadership change over at HP. Mark Hurd, amid a sexual harassment suit, was essentially forced to resign because he submitted and was reimbursed for improper company expenses.
When the news broke, we all a hear “Hurd,” “resigned,” and “sexual harassment.” If you want to go beyond the headline grabbing blurbs, you need to read the New York Times article on the subject.
“Mark V. Hurd, who turned Hewlett-Packard into the world’s largest technology company on the back of fierce fiscal discipline, has been ousted from his post for the lowliest of corporate offenses — fudging his expenses.”
Ouch! Not cool. I find it totally amazing that someone so well respected, who has a lot of money in today’s economy would lose such an amazing job just because they wanted to cut some corners and save some personal cash. If it’s business, OK fine, expense the dinner or whatever. If it isn’t, and if there is a chance it can come back to bite you in the end, they just pay for it yourself. Mr. Hurd reportedly filed expense reports that inaccurately contained reimbursements “from $1,000 to $20,000, according to a person close to Mr. Hurd who was briefed on the situation but was not authorized to speak publicly.”
The good news for Mr. Hurd, which should allow him to get another senior management job in the near future, according to the Times article is “that the sexual harassment charge was unsubstantiated.”
With Hurd’s departure, HP’s Board of Directors has appointed Cathie Lesjak (seen above in the inset) as the interim CEO. Ms. Lesjak is a 24-year veteran of HP and will retain her responsibilities as CFO while acting as the interim CEO.
Mr. Hurd will be leaving HP with a $12,224,693 severance package. Not too bad for only violating HPs Standards of Business Conduct policy.
You can read the full article on the New York Times website. Friday’s press release can be read on the HP website.
I just moved my Palm TX, T5, and LifeDrive into storage. They had been local residents on my desk since I acquired them and I have enjoyed playing and working with them for many years. Today was the day they they moved into my storage crate with all of my other decommissioned smartphones and PDAs.
My Palm Pre, Apple iPhone 2G, BlackBerry Storm2, HTC Droid Eris, and Palm Foleo just got more room to spread out.
If you want to take a walk down memory lane, check out the PDA Museum where you can find write ups on many of the Palm/pa1mOne and Sony Clie Palm OS devices.
Has Motorola and Big Red suspended all OTA updates of Google Android 2.2 to their Android smartphones?
If MyDroidWorld and Droid-Life (link 1, link 2) are correct, there seems to be problems between the new Android OS and Adobe’s Flash Player, and Pandora.
MyDroidWorld writes:
“Motorola and Verizon are pulling all FRG Froyo builds and ceasing any current plans to update to Froyo. Seems there is a problem between Google and Adobe concerning flash, rights, and royalties. This comes as quite a surprise to us as it will others.”
Personally, I’m a little bit skeptical of that statement. You would think that Google and Adobe would have there ducks, and lawyers, in a row before the software goes out the door. I quick Google search, ya, I should have used Bing this time out, finds an article from Examiner.com that seems to backup the Google/Verizon/Adobe claims until you start checking the links and see that they reference MyDroidLife too.
So how about it Droid Nation on Big Red; are you getting your FroYo on? Drop us a line and let us know.
Facebook has released version 1.3.1 of their Android client that corrects a battery drain issue.
Recently, the Facebook client for Android devices received a major upgrade from the previous release in the form of the 1.3 update. However, there was a bug in the background notification system that kept the phone from going to sleep and drained the battery very quickly.
Hit up the Market Place application to get your weekend update action on!
[Via Androinica.com…]
According to an article on AppleInsider.com, Apple had developed a fix for the current vulnerabilities that allow you to “jailbreak” or install and run unauthorized software on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod over the web.
“Apple confirmed Wednesday that it has developed a fix for the two security vulnerabilities that allow jailbreaking of their iOS software.
An Apple spokeswoman said in a statement, “We’re aware of this reported issue, we have already developed a fix and it will be available to customers in an upcoming software update.” No release date was given for the update.
Previously, Apple had announced it was “investigating” the issue.”
[Via AppleInsider.com…]
ComputerWorld has a good round up of reviews for the new BlackBerry Torch 9800, which launches on AT&T August 12. The Torch will be the first BlackBerry to ship with the new BlackBerry 6 operating system.
“As expected, Research In Motion launched its BlackBerry Torch (aka 9800) on Tuesday morning. Exclusively on AT&T in the U.S., this small slider offers overhauled software and a few unique features. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers can’t decide if it’s an iPhone killer or if it’s too little too late.”
You can read the Torch review round up on the ComputerWorld website.
Dallas and Waterloo, ON – Joining forces to offer the first smartphone to feature the highly anticipated BlackBerry® 6 exclusively on the nation’s fastest mobile broadband network, AT&T and Research In Motion (RIM) today introduced the new BlackBerry® Torch™ 9800 smartphone. Adept for socially connected consumers and packed with the tools business customers love, the new handset is the world’s first smartphone to combine a BlackBerry® keyboard with a full touch screen experience. Whether users choose to type out messages on the capacitive touch screen or easy-to-use BlackBerry keyboard, browse the Internet using pinch to zoom or fluidly navigate with the optical trackpad, the BlackBerry Torch allows them to communicate any way they want.
“We were the first to launch the BlackBerry solution in 1999 and have a rich history of innovation and collaboration with Research In Motion,” said Ralph de la Vega, president and chief executive officer, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. “The two companies that brought the first BlackBerry smartphones to market have teamed up again with the new BlackBerry Torch, creating a true generational shift in hardware and operating system for this enormously popular service.”
“This is one of the most significant launches in RIM’s history and we are proud to introduce the new BlackBerry Torch and BlackBerry 6 together with AT&T,” said Mike Lazaridis, president and co-ceo, Research In Motion. “With a new user interface, new browser and new handset design, the highly anticipated BlackBerry Torch and BlackBerry 6 deliver integrated and uncompromising capabilities for consumers and business professionals that preserve the industry-leading strengths of the BlackBerry platform while adding exciting new dimensions.”
BlackBerry 6
The BlackBerry Torch is the first BlackBerry smartphone to launch with BlackBerry 6, a new operating system that retains the familiar and trusted features that distinguish the BlackBerry brand while delivering a fresh, approachable and engaging experience that’s powerful and easy to use.
BlackBerry 6 features a redesigned interface that seamlessly works with the touch screen and trackpad, includes expanded messaging capabilities with intuitive features to simplify the management of social networking and RSS feeds (Social Feeds), and provides integrated access to the BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™), Facebook®, Twitter™, MySpace™ and various instant messaging applications available on the BlackBerry Torch smartphone. Its enhanced multimedia experience rivals the best in the industry and includes a dedicated YouTube app and Podcasts app.
BlackBerry 6 also integrates a new and rich WebKit-based browser on BlackBerry Torch that renders HTML web pages (as well as HTML email) quickly and beautifully for a great browsing experience. It features tabs for accessing multiple sites simultaneously, pinch to zoom for easy navigation and an auto-wrap text zoom feature that can intelligently wrap text in a column while maintaining the placement of a page’s key elements (simply double-tap on the BlackBerry Torch).
Universal search, always accessible from the Home Screen, allows users to search through email, messages, contacts, music, videos and more on the smartphone, as well as extend search to the Internet or to discover applications on BlackBerry App World™.
BlackBerry Torch Smartphone Features
Pricing and Availability
The BlackBerry Torch 9800 smartphone will be available only for AT&T customers on August 12 in AT&T company owned retail stores and online at www.att.com/blackberrytorch, as well as Best Buy, Wal-Mart and RadioShack stores.
The BlackBerry Torch 9800 will be available for $199.99 with 2-year service agreement on a qualifying rate plan and smartphone data plan required. New smartphone customers may choose from two AT&T monthly data plan options, $15 for 200 MB of wireless data or $25 for 2 GB. Enterprise and small business customers should contact their account representative for pricing details.
You can read today’s full BlackBerry Torch 9800 press release on the RIM website.