My Gadget, Game & Gizmo Obsession

Check out the new commercial / BEP video demonstrating the updated BlackBerry OS 6, coming soon.  Lot’s of touch capabilities, swiping, and more.  The UI is familiar but fresh looking, and shows off multimedia as much as it does communication. (Thanks @Crackberry for the tip)

So, the iPad is here, we know that.  Some are calling it a revolutionary device. I won’t get into my opinion of the iPad right now.  Though, I will get into what is possibly soon to come.

There’s most likely a BlackBerry touchscreen phone coming out this year (looking like the Palm Pre). See my earlier post on this.

I got wind today from TechTremor, that Research In Motion (aka RIM, the makers of BlackBerry) are readying a combatant to the iPad.  If there is any credence to this early rumor, we may be seeing a BlackBerry tablet computer in the near future.

Source: TechTremor

If your tired of tablets already then you’re in for a tough year I’m afraid. Research In Motion, the creator of Blackberry, were caught buying up 8.9 inch screens and later ordering tablets from Foxconn, the largest electronic assembly plant in the world. Again, more rumors, but this would slate the tablet for an attainable late summer early fall launch. It looks like tablets are going to be the new Christmas crazy come 4th quarter.

So, what say you BlackBerry users? Does a BlackBerry tablet interest you? For me, I am begging RIM to make a touchscreen BlackBerry. Though, not sure yet what I think about a BlackBerry tablet.

UPDATE: In this weeks CrackBerry podcast, we have a confirmation that engineering of a BlackBerry tablet is in the works. Listen to Kevin Michaluk at 31:40 into the podcast. He had to change topics because he is obviously under an NDA not to talk about it.
Get the podcast here or just listen below.

According to some reports, a BlackBerry slider device (looking a bit like a Palm Pre) is coming. Not only that, but its coming to Sprint and its possibly to be released in April.

It will have touch screen, without the clicky SurePress of the Storm. It will have a slide out portrait QWERTY keyboard. From prototype photos, it looks like a Bold 9700 with some Palm Pre sliding.

Looks interesting. I’m typing this on WordPress for BlackBerry, so will post some photos when I get to a computer.

The people at PC World and Engadget seem to have a scoop on it.

The Canadian company RIM famous for BlackBerry smartphones is releasing a new model next month. Known as the ‘T,’ The new model is an ambitious product aimed at competing against iPhone’s storm of success. Rim will present it (‘T’) as its flagship model to compete in global markets such as the U.S. and Europe.

I’m just learning what Google Buzz is all about today.  I like to keep things short and simple here. Think of Gmail mixed with all the social aspects of Facebook and Twitter.  Photo sharing, status updates, posts/blogging, geolocation, etc.  All this in the simplistic Google interface.

Who doesn’t have a Gmail account? Just about no one.  Who doesn’t use Twitter and/or Facebook?  Just about no one.

Google Buzz is rolling out today to Gmail users.  The coolest part, is it’s not only rolling out for desktop users, but also smartphone users.  At first rollout, a bunch of dekstop (Windows, Mac, etc) users already have the Buzz features enabled, plus iPhone and Android users have access just by navigating to http://buzz.google.com from the browser. No word yet on BlackBerry or WebOS support.

Knowing that Gmail already has a huge install base, would you give Buzz a try? I know I will.

From zdnet.com

To the gadget readers, I’m sorry for the lack of postings on gadgets. I’ve been slacking in this area for a while, as I generally have been using Twitter for quick thoughts.

Well, I have a reason to write up a post now. My history comes from Palm Treo’s, you know the original smartphone with both a real QWERTY keyboard and touchscreen. I love that setup. But, due to rules and regs at my employer, I was required to move over to BlackBerry. My first go round was with the Storm 9530 on Verizon. That’s the BlackBerry that was complete touchscreen with the clicky screen. It was supposed to be Verizon’s answer to the iPhone. Due to the click screen and software bugs (to keep this short), the device was a failure, in my hands-on opinion. My use of the Storm lasted a whopping 3 months. Then I moved to AT&T and got the Bold 9000. That was known as the Cadillac of BlackBerry’s, with a large keyboard, hi-res display, WiFi, GPS, and everything you’d expect in a top notch smartphone. Though, it didn’t have touchscreen.

Now, let me fast forward to sometime in late 2010 or 2011 (ooh, this is some Back To The Future kind of thing).

There have been FCC reportings of a new BlackBerry that has both a QWERTY keyboard and touchscreen, code named Magnum. Now, a video has surfaced of a working prototype. And, I have to say…I see my next BlackBerry. This device, or as the prototype shows, is exactly the same size and layout as the Bold 9000 (interesting that it’s not the same size and layout as the newer Bold 9700). Possibly, the Magnum prototype was built before the 9700, and we may eventually see a newer prototype that looks more like the 9700.  Though, I prefer the 9000 size and layout.

This new phone has a couple changes over the Bold 9000, like a micro-USB input, instead of the mini-USB. Plus there is no trackball or trackpad. That means all navigation takes place on-screen, like the Storm.

Other than those features, there is the obvious touchscreen, which looks to have the clicky screen of the Storm. Touch = good. Clicky = less than good, but better than nothing.

I’ll embed the video below. But, as far as things go, I’ve been using the Bold 9000 for just under 1 year, and I’d expect the Magnum to make it onto shelves by Christmas 2010 (or maybe Spring 2011). This will likely be my next phone soon after release.

I use a BlackBerry Bold 9000 on AT&T. This is a corporate device, and it’s connected to my companies BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES), for over the air (OTA) syncing of email, calendar, contacts, and tasks.

A few months back, I opted to upgrade my Bold’s operating system to a leaked version of the BlackBerry OS.  After it was complete, my Bold started showing signs of syncing issues.

In a quick detail it goes like this:

• I delete an email from Outlook, and it does not automatically delete (aka Reconcile) from the Inbox on the Bold.
• I open an email in Outlook, and it does not automatically mark as opened on the Bold.

These things used to work, prior to upgrading the OS.  On the flip side, if I open or delete an email message on the Bold, it does reconcile within Outlook.  So, this is saying the there is some sort of syncing, but it’s not fully working both ways.

I’ve done many tests, including following RIM’s Knowledge Base suggestions of KB 10939.  I’ve gone as far as to wipe the device (aka remove all the data, applications, and OS; and reinstall an official OS and every app from scratch. I’ve even tried exploring deleting/undeleting messages in Outlook.  None of these options resolved the issue.

This morning, as I continued to troubleshoot, I stumbled on a tip that suggested I toggle Wireless Reconcile from on/off and then from off/on.  Interestingly, doing this process, cleaned up the Inbox on my Bold to match Outlook.

The steps to do this process are below (which I suspect are similar for any BlackBerry):

1. On the BlackBerry, open the email application.
2. In the menu, select Options > Email Reconciliation.
3. In Email Reconciliation, change Wireless Reconcile to Off, and then Save.
4. Return to Email Reconciliation, change Wireless Reconcile to On, and then Save.

The above steps forced my Inbox on the BlackBerry to match the Inbox on Outlook.

As a follow-up test, I created a new email message in Outlook and sent to myself. As expected, the message arrived in both my Outlook and BlackBerry Inbox. I opened the message within Outlook, but the message remained unopened in the BlackBerry Inbox. Grrr!

So, I’m able to to a one-time clean up by using the steps above, but I’m still not able to get the Reconcile feature to automatically update the BlackBerry Inbox.  My plight continues…

If you have any suggestions, please post below.

Hey BlackBerry users, and music lovers, our favorite internet radio application has been updated. After a quick check this morning of the BlackBerry App World, I see that I’m offered an upgrade from v2.0.45 to v2.0.49.0.

In this update we get the following:

All the details in the release notes look warranted to me.  As a heavy user of Slacker on both my desktop and BlackBerry, I’m looking forward to testing out this new version.  If you are new to Slacker, you can point your BlackBerry web browser to www.slacker.com to get the application, or you can use App World on your BlackBerry to get it, or you can go send it to your ‘berry from the App World site on your desk top.  To play Slacker from your desktop web browser, just go to www.slacker.com in your browser of choice to get the complete awesomeness of Slacker.

Slacker is available on all BlackBerry models.  I use it on both the Bold and Storm.  Works great on both, and looks incredible on the Storm.  Slacker also offers a full-featured application for iPhone and iPod Touch too.

It’s been ages since I wrote about my gadgets, thanks to my love affair with the Xbox 360. Right now my Xbox is setup at work for a big Guitar Hero 5 and Beatles Rock Band event tomorrow.  I’m here talking about my other big obsession, applications for BlackBerry.

As far as BlackBerry’s go, I’m somewhat of a n00b. My first berry was the Storm 9530 on Verizon, which after 5 months, I switched to AT&T and got the Bold 9000. Don’t worry, I have been a smartphone junky for 6 years now, just recently new to BlackBerry.

So, now onto my list of must have applications for BlackBerry. I’m going to spare the suspense and jump right into my #1 app and work my way down to the minutiae.

1. PodTrapper (Versatile Monkey) – This is the premiere podcast player for BlackBerry.  I’m a heavy podcast listener, and in the past used iTunes on my Windows computer to download podcasts.  Then I’d transfer over via Windows Media Player syncing.  Basically, it was a crappy kludge, and I never much liked all the steps to get podcasts on my device. With PodTrapper, all podcasts can be downloaded over the air (OTA), via cell signal, WiFi, or USB. There’s even a pseudo-store front for browsing known ‘casts. The app lives within BlackBerry’s limited usable memory, but the podcasts live in the microSD (or on-board 1GB flash) memory. I use this app several hours every day. It’s available at www.versatilemoney.com for $9.99.
   If you are wondering, the podcasts I most listen to are 2old2type Radio, BB Geeks, CrackBerry.com, Jay Severin, PalmCast, Pandora Presents…, SANS Internet Storm Center StormCast, Starpower, The Live Music Podcast, gspn.tv Weekly Lost Podcast, The Xbox 360 Fancast, Major Nelson.
2. Garmin Mobile GPS - This full-featured GPS is just as good as the stand-alone units and costs the same as the cheap units, but offers features that some of the high-end units can’t match. The benefit of Garmin Mobile for BlackBerry is that your BlackBerry has a cell phone radio in it and the software uses the cell radio to assist in location finding. You may know of tower triangulation, which uses your cell phone radio to determine roughly where you are.  Well, Garmin uses both the on-board GPS and the cell phone radio to locate you (better known as aGPS), which just about every stand-alone GPS does not have.  Also, Garmin Mobile is a very small application and there is no downloading/installing maps. The maps all come to your BlackBerry real-time, OTA. So, as maps (in the Garmin cloud) update, you get them immediately without having to purchase maps every year. Garmin Mobile has the features you’d expect, audible turn-by-turn announcements, 2D, 3D, text views that update as you progress in your trip, speed, and estimated time of arrival (which updates as you progress). It also has traffic warnings, which is another benefit of the cell phone radio. Garmin Mobile will determine the best route if a major road is known to have traffic or construction. On the somewhat downside, if your phone cannot get a cell signal when you start Garmin, the app will not open. It needs a cell signal to get the initial maps. If you lose cell service during your route, that’s ok, as long as your phone can access GPS satellites, your route will continue. For Storm users, you have full touch screen capability, making it even better to use, plus the portrait or landscape layout is very nice. I chose Garmin Mobile for my Bold and my wife’s Storm, instead of paying $100+ for a stand alone unit. It’s available at http://www8.garmin.com/mobile/blackberry/ for $99, but can be found for $79 if you do a little online searching.
3. Slacker Personal Radio - This is a free music application that has access to over 100 pre-programmed (and unlimited custom made) radio stations. It’s based on the popular browser based streaming radio at www.slacker.com, and is used daily on my BlackBerry. It has taken over as my primary music player, used more often than the built in BlackBerry Media Player. For Slacker, you pick a station and songs play at random. Stations can be cached, which helps reduce data usage and saves battery. The app is free and all music is free with an occasional advertisement. There is a paid option for about $4 per month, which supports no ads, song lyrics, and other features. You can download it at www.slacker.com.
4. SocialScope Lite- This is one of the many Twitter applications for the BlackBerry.  Previously, I used TwitterBerry and UberTwitter. I switch out Twitter apps like underwear. This current favorite, also integrates Facebook support into a single feed, which is a good thing for me. I have noticed though, that during times of limited BES coverage, SocialScope does not update, but UberTwitter figures out how to reroute traffic through a different port and works fine. That is something SocialScope, I hope, will fix in their next update. The app is still in beta. It’s free (for now) and can be located at http://www.socialscope.net/.

Some other mentionables include: GymTechnic, WeatherEye, CaptureIt, LeaveItOn, and I Love BlackBerry.

I’ll cut there for now. How about you BlackBerry owners, what apps are you using every day?

Courtesy of WordPress.org

I’m a BlackBerry junky. I’m a WordPress blog junky. Now, there is a WordPress for BlackBerry app that allows full blogging capabilities on your ‘berry. I’m typing this post on my Bold.

It’s still a beta app, at version 0.9.0.134, but so far, so good. I installed the app no problem. There’s not much to look at on the main screen. You need to hit the BB menu button to see initial login options. After typing in my URL, by the way, that’s here, admin user name and password; blammo, I was presented with the name of my blog. By the way, that’s My Gadget, Game & Gizmo Obsession.

Like the login, there’s not much to look at on screen, until you hit the menu button. The menu gives options to view posts, pages, etc. Also, it gives the option to write a new post, which brings me to right now.

Other than the limitations of typing on a BB keyboard versus a full size desktop keyboard, all looks good.

The things I need to look into next is:
Can you add images, and how easy is it to do so?
Can you add Amazon or Google ads, and how easy is it to do so?

You can pick up the app directly on your ‘berry here. (I believe, it works on all models–Storm excluded)

I’ll be back with an update.