"3 has told Pocket-lint that it will not be the first operator to offer the new handset in the UK. That pleasure, according to a 3 spokesman, will go to Vodafone. According to the spokesman, "Vodafone will be launching the handset it the next two weeks". Vodafone however would never confirm or deny the rumour, however suggested to Pocket-lint that: "We are hoping to launch the Bold before 1st November"... "

Now, my favourite bit (DJ's, MC's, check the date stamp of this blog for future reference) - I have already messed with the Blackberry Bold, and have one on pre-order, so as the saying goes...FIRST!!! ...don't hate... OK do...

....keep hating, I'm not done. I got the hook-up direct from Blackberry in the UK, though it's not my style to mention names and get that person into trouble. Firstly, the half-VGA screen is awesome, way better than anything we've seen in conventional phones and especially on PDA's. The operating system is fast and slick, although the bottom of the screen horizontal hot icons (normally over to the left and vertical) almost look like a perminant fixture when you first see them because of the unnessacery black border. The movie imagery is brilliant, and the sound seems to be heading that way too, although I was outside for the testing. You get to keep the 35mm headphone jack, and side hot keys from the Curve also.

Note: As you can see, the one that I used was on 02, branded, badged and working...

The qwerty key's are easy to access, more in line with the 8800 series, but the finishing on the back of the phone, which is like a leathery cover over the battery, rocks. It isn't leather of course, otherwise every cow from here to China would need to be slain to meet the demand this phone is already creating.

So, like lovesoul, this Blackberry is pretty awesome. If Microsoft stuck to making PDA's, and not ass-clown Vista, they would go bankrupt this year because the Blackberry Bold will set the standard. Yes the iPhone 3G is a big deal too, as much as it's a powerful club bouncer. The Bold is the medium sized guy who is deadly at Kung-Fu. Keep an eye out for this killer new Blackberry, namely cupped in my hand the next time you see me.

Remember where you saw it first... This is a lovesoul.TV exclusive.

Phone Features:

• The BlackBerry Bold smartphone comes with the most vivid and bold display ever introduced on a BlackBerry smartphone!
• Pictures are vibrant and razor sharp, while videos play smoothly and web pages, documents, presentations and messages snap with exceptional quality and contrast.
• High performance browser and high-resolution and ultra-bright display.
• The trackball mimics a mouse, making it easy to navigate sites in "Page View" or "Column View" or to zoom in on specific parts of a web page, while various emulation settings allow users to choose between the full desktop-style HTML content and layout or the mobile version.
• Features a 2 mega pixel camera with video recording capability, built-in flash and 5x digital zoom. The enhanced media player can display pictures and slideshows quickly, play movies smoothly in full screen mode, and manage an entire music collection.
• For managing music and video, the BlackBerry® Desktop Manager software includes Roxio® Media Manager for BlackBerry® as well as Roxio Photosuite® 9 LE, which makes it easy to enhance pictures and create photo albums on the computer.
• For users that manage their collection with iTunes®, the new BlackBerry® Media Sync application provides a simple way to sync iTunes digital music collections with the smartphone.
• For even broader high-speed network coverage, the BlackBerry Bold smartphone supports the 802.11 a/b/g Wi-Fi standards, ideal for use in enterprise or campus wireless LAN deployments, over Wi-Fi hotspots and on wireless home networks.
• With its improved rendering capabilities, faster download speeds and ability to support simultaneous voice and data, the BlackBerry Bold smartphone even allows users to navigate while on a call.
• Features including Speaker Independent Voice Recognition (SIVR) for Voice Activated Dialing (VAD), Bluetooth® 2.0, with support for hands-free headsets, stereo headsets, car kits and other Bluetooth peripherals.
• Works with BlackBerry® Enterprise Server, which enables advanced security and IT administration within IBM® Lotus® Domino®, Microsoft® Exchange and Novell® GroupWise® environments, as well as BlackBerry® Professional Software for small businesses.

Apple's (AAPL) iPhone 3G goes on sale in less than three weeks, on July 11. The official U.S. release date of RIM's (RIMM) BlackBerry Bold 9000 is "July/August," although according to the Boy Genius Report, the device could arrive in Canada as early as this Wednesday.

So how do the year's most eagerly-awaited smartphones stack up?

Pinstack.com has published the handy tale of the tape shown at right (click on the image to see it full size). Meanwhile, Crackberry.com produced what is still the most exhaustive hands-on review of the new BlackBerry, using a pre-release version purchased in May on eBay. The YouTube version is pasted below (e-mail subscribers, click here).

The iPhone Blog, CrackBerry's sister site, has posted a video side-by-side of the iPhone and the BlackBerry Bold, but it's not as useful; it uses the old iPhone and by the time they got their hands on CrackBerry's Bold, RIM had turned off the PINs. You can see that video on YouTube here.

What none of these comparisons can predict, of course, is how rich the two software ecosystems are likely to be, and how much value third-party apps will add to either device.

See also: The keyboard wars, Round 2

[Chart reposted with kind permission of Hayden James at Pinstack.com.]

i started using one of the blackberry due to loads of emails to read everyday and i saw this couple days ago......when is Iphone 3G launching??? Blackberry is hitting so close!

The Blackberry Bold has been in production since November of 2007, however it was just named this after the increase of Blackberry users in the last few years. I saw the first glipse of how it may have looked like HERE, on Engadget, and blogged about it in one of my posts earlier in the year. I was excited and definitely looking forward to getting my hands on this new Blackberry, merely because (a) the over hype on the IPHONE was seriously getting on my nerves and I knew then that RIM seriously needed to step it up in the tech game (b) just the features of the phone itself was a really good step from what they made the 8800 on (and trust me, I wasn't too pleased with what they did WITH the 8800, that's why I've stayed on the 8100/8300 path) and (c) it looked like they had done something great with all of the advancements and demands that other BB users wanted.

The breakdown of the Bold goes something like this, LateFab readers, according to Engadget:

• Family will include HSDPA and EV-DO versions (including an AWS-capable 1700MHz version)
• 480 x 320 display
• 625MHz CPU, 1GB internal flash memory
• 802.11a/b/g, Bluetooth 2.0 (with A2Dp), GPS, MicroSDHC
• 480 x 320 video recording, photo geotagging
• 4.5 x 2.6 x 0.55-inches, 4.7 ounces

For all you Canadians out there, it WILL be released in the summer... but with ROGERS first ONLY; and who's so surprised!? The price range (rough estimates) say that it will be between $300-$400; but accurate pricing is still very much unknown.

I personally can't wait to have this phone in my hands... and to get more accurate (CANADIAN) information on the device itself. Got some? Send 'em over my way!

I've heard lots about this phone, and although at first thought, I'm not exactly sold on the concept, I think it will definitely make a splash in the market, and is something I look forward to.

2)Blackberry 9000 (AKA: Blackberry Bold)

I know that everyone is looking forward to this, (unless your John Mayor) and I am ridiculously excited about it. I keep more updated on the Blackberry 9000 then I did for Macworld back in the beginning of the year. At any rate, (price, really) this will most certainly be on my radar the next time my contract expires and I go phone hunting once more.

3) iPhone 2

Although there is no, 'official' word on this, it is a given, and I could really go on forever about the iPhone, (don't worry, one of these days I'm gonna explode and spread my thoughts on the iPhone all over the interweb) All I can say as of now, is that I am anticipating it, along with everyone else in the world. The next time I hear from the iPhone, I expect to see some 3G support, better MMS, video support, the SDK, and most importantly better wallet support. :)

4) Android

Basically, for those of you in the dark here, Android is Google's Mobile OS, which is currently still in development, and most of the news on Android at the moment are just rumors. But Google has announced the project, and is currently working on it. It is going to be a totally open platform, where the OS, device, applications, and any other factors are all controlled by different companies and/or people. Remind you of anything? (*coughWindowscoughcough*) I think that this can be a good thing, but its exactly like Mac vs. PC, (except not so brutal... yet) in that, among other factors, Microsoft makes the operating system, and leaves (practically) everything else up to the OEM's. Apple, on the other hand, controls every aspect of the final product, and in practice, that is a great thing. It helps maintain a consistently high quality product, yet at the same time is open. (Mac software is some of the best out there, period. Just as good, and possibly better then Windows or any other platform) My instant tells me to remind everyone that history will repeat itself, but you can make the call. I really think that this might work, as a kind of much more open, beautiful, and overall cleaner Windows Mobile-esk concept. I doubt that all our wishes will be granted upon the first few beta releases, but as this platform matures, I see lots of potential.

5) Palms Next Move

What do I have to say. Palm used to be the giant in the PDA biz, and now that our Palm Pilots are long retired to the ancient technology museum, we have been expecting something else new from Palm for too long. The Treos are ok, but i think most people agree that you don't get enough bang for your buck. Not only that, but the Palm OS, is dreadfully outdated, and i don't see it being updated anytime soon. Palm, in an act of desperation, in my opinion, has recently been utilizing Windows Mobile on some Treos, and it seams to have worked, but again, the hardware just doesn't match the competition in most cases. Now, I have to say that i do like the new direction Palm seems to be going in with the Centro. They are now targeting it more toward younger audiences, and turning their focus from "Meetings to meeting-up." It looks like its worked so far, and the Centro has sold well. Now that the tiny device is on (or about to be on) every major US carrier, I am anxious to see what Palm will do next. As far as software goes, I'm hoping to see an updated Garnet OS, and not a continuation of the Windows Mobile trend, as with the new Treo 500.(europe only) But I do like the new styling of the 500- a nice blend of the Centro's good looks, and the usability of the classic Treos. (try typing an email on the Centro- good luck) I really think that Palm should keep things going, and try to keep up with the competition that seems to have all ready lapped them, but I wouldn't be surprised if Palm decided to slowly abandon ship, and possibly (yet again) move into another market.

via Boy Genius Report

Let’s start this off this by stating there’s more to this device than what will be listed. This is just what’s known at this point, although these details have yet to be confirmed as final specifications. One of the BlackBerry 9000 devices will sport a screen with the dimensions of 480 x 320 (or maybe that’s 320 x 480), 1GB of on-board memory, and an Intel XScale PXA270 processor at 624MHz, clocking in slightly faster than the 620MHz ARM 1173 processor found in the iPhone.

The BlackBerry 9000 will also sport the dual-threat of GPS and WiFi as well as introducing 3G support (multi-band HSDPA) to the GSM carrier family devices, answering the prayers of many of us. At this point in time, there’s no update to the camera, which remains at 2 megapixels, although we’re hearing there is the possibility of seeing a 3.2 megapixel camera at launch. You all know the drill! Rest of the goodies, after the break!

No features, both software and hardware, that are currently enabled in OS 4.3 and above will be missing from the 9000-series family. This doesn’t rule out a major change in direction for the BlackBerry OS, as there is a strong possibility that what we’ll see in the future will either be completely different, or at least it will look the part of a distant - but more intelligent and handsome - cousin.

Barring a massive breakthrough in pixels per inch capacity in the 480 x 320 resolution, with the obvious increase in real estate, you have to wonder what will become of our beloved keyboard. We have yet to hear any final details in this arena, but this certainly will make for loads of speculation, both on the internet and off-net, of a touch screen or slider device. We’re not holding our breath with regards to the near-term introduction of any non-standard keyboard layouts from Research In Motion, though.

As you might have guessed, there’s no pricing or availability information for this device. If you want our opinion and pure speculation for a release date, based on the information we have, we’d expect this to drop sometime in Q1 - Q2 2008. Bring it, RIM!

But everyone knows that already.

There are now two brand new heavyweights though.

iPhone, say hello to the brand new BlackBerry Bold (aka BlackBerry 9000) as well as the HTC Touch Diamond. First, let's take a look at the iPhone's new competitors, along with a picture of the iPhone we all know and love.

The BlackBerry Bold features a full QWERTY keyboard along with the revamped and absolutely beautiful Blackberry OS and feature 3G for the first time on a BlackBerry device.

The HTC Touch Diamond is a full touch screen phone like Apple's device running on Windows Mobile OS with a sleek and sexy presentation.

All three phone look great, and all three look to go to war by the end of the year.

The Bold will be out sometime this summer from AT&T with other versions coming to other carriers as time goes on, and the HTC Touch Diamond has been submitted to the FCC but doesn't have a carrier in the US yet.

So heres what will come as far as features in the new Blackberry Bold line:

1. Higher contrast screen

2. New Blackberry operating system (OS 4.6)

3. 624mhz processor for seamless operation

4.WIFI

5.GPS

6. Micro SD expandable up to 16GB (HC)

7. 1 GB on board AES256 secure memory (for those worried about confidential files)

8. ITUNES Integration THATS RIGHT, ITUNES!!

9. a 1500 mAh battery! Watch out Seido, RIM is packing their batteries which means a talk time cerca 5 hours and a standby time of 13 DAYS!!! AWESOME!!!

10. The New BB 4.6 OS will allow users to edit Microsoft PPT and Word documents!!

11. A media rich browser supporting rich media (in the near future)

12. Camera (Video @ 480 by 320)

Rim really is stepping it up offering an all in one device, with valuable tools for business and personal applications. No word of price yet... but expect to see these in stores within the next few months.

-John

Damn, took 'em long enough! RIM finally announced the BlackBerry Bold / 9000 -- we've got specs, but no price or hard launch date. Here we go:

PC Mag's got the (latest) hands-on, hit the read link.Read
sourced from engadget

<3.
Click here for details

The latest Crackberry to join the family was recently unveiled. Among the leaders in PDA phones, the code named 9000 was officially bestowed the some what cheesy name Bold. Nomenclature aside, the Blackberry Bold enjoys a well deserved upgrade as the first major BB release in two years. The aesthetics are relatively the same, keeping that distinct BB look stressing what most business users will confirm, usability.

The development of a new software platform goes hand in hand with the obvious hardware improvements such as HSPDA, Wifi, 625MHz CPU, 1GB internal flash memory and expandable storage up to 16 GB. While unsure of how many people defected from Blackberry to the iPhone, for those looking to return to the goodness of a solid keyboard, a new king has emerged.

clicca qui per visionare video

Fonte:CrackBerry

My initial speculation was the iPhone would be launched on June 12th at WWDC.  It makes perfect sense that Jobs would wait a year to announce the 3G functionality rather than simply put it up on the apple website and have a limited press announcement.  It seems like any change the iPhone might make would be at the front of Jobs' keynote.

The new blackberry looks pretty sweet.  I'm a proud owner of a Blackberry Curve and I absolutely love it.  The UI, easy typing and size of the device makes it the perfect device.  I even use it for media and have discontinued using my iPod as it syncs very well.  The major improvement I see in this version is the ability to conduct video recording - something I wish the Curve had.

Here is a final product view of the 9000:

Just my $02...

-SD

The BlackBerry Bold is indeed the official name for the BlackBerry 9000 device and it should be available starting "this summer." AT&T is the first carrier to launch, but there is also a 1700MHz model coming which will support T-Mobile’s 3G data network. Here are a couple highlights:

• 1GB on-board memory with encryption.
• Tri-band HSDPA.
• Pricing in the $300-$500 range with a carrier.
• Launching on AT&T "this summer."
• Interchangable color back plates.
• 5 hours of talk time, 13 days of standby time.
• 624-MHz Marvell Tavor PXA930 processor.
• Taller and wider than the Curve.

Fonte:crackberry

Fonte:CrackBerry

That being said, RIM is planning on announcing the launch of the Blackberry 9000 which is shaped similar to a curve but looks a little less professional to me.  It looks strangely similar to an iPaq or one of those "other" smartphones that is not made by Apple/RIM.

What's crazy is that an unlocked version has leaked and is being sold on eBay for 399 GBP.  You can buy it here if you'd like.

Here is a pic of the Blackberry 9000:

Just my $.02...

-SD

The new Blackberry 9000 (far right), looks bootifuwl. Kinda looks like an iPhone, but get this... It has a real keyboard. Not one of those imaginary ones like the thing i've been typing on for months now. Don't get me wrong, I loves my iPhone, but texting is a complete female dog (bitch, for all the young kids in the room). Just like the other Blackberrys, the 9000 has cameras, emails, etc. With the exception of the WiFi addition... nothing really new here. 

It sure is sexy tho.