BlackBerry Torch 9800 Smartphone – Announced

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

BlackBerry are currently holding a press event in the USA and the UK to launch the BlackBerry Torch 9800 smartphone.  Initially a US exclusive device with AT&T it is expected that a European variant will land in October/November.

Here is the official press release:

AT&T AND RESEARCH IN MOTION IGNITE CUSTOMERS WITH

THE NEW BLACKBERRY TORCH

BlackBerry Torch Smartphone First to Feature New BlackBerry 6

Combines New Touch Screen Experience with Easy-To-Use Keyboard and Rich WebKit Browser

First Smartphone to Support AT&T’s Next Generation Messaging Experience, and First to Offer Locations Feature

New BlackBerry App World Pre-installed with Carrier Billing Support

DALLAS and WATERLOO, ONTARIO, August 3, 2010 — 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, double-tap to zoom that can intelligently wrap text in a column while maintaining the placement of a page’s key elements, and pinch to zoom.

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™.

Advanced Messaging

Messaging has always been a core element of the BlackBerry smartphone experience and the BlackBerry Torch smartphone expands on RIM’s popular messaging solutions with the support of AT&T’s advanced messaging features for SMS and MMS. RIM’s new Text Messages application is especially exciting for users who communicate most via SMS and MMS, providing support for AT&T’s next-generation messaging experience, which includes group messaging with “reply all” functionality for up to 10 contacts. And for the first time, AT&T’s platform includes a new Locations feature.

Locations lets users easily search for points of interest, businesses,  and even the user’s own location, and insert this information directly into a message, all without leaving the messaging application. Using group messaging and locations together, users can arrange to meet a group of friends easily by sending one message to all of them, discussing together where to meet and then sending a map – all in one threaded conversation. AT&T designed the service based on research that revealed customers want features that help facilitate social planning, improved message organization and location sharing.

Apps At Your Fingertips

After powering up the BlackBerry Torch smartphone for the first time, users will notice a set of pre-loaded icons which allow them to download and immediately begin using a variety of rich entertainment and social networking applications to access Bloomberg, ESPN, The Weather Channel and Slacker Radio content in addition to Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and more. Also available is AT&T’s Web Video Search, a unique new app that searches video content from over 70 major Internet video websites.

In addition to searching the Internet for video, the BlackBerry Torch smartphone also features more multimedia apps that let users download TV shows and watch live TV, as well as create video content and upload it to YouTube. The new Podcasts application makes it easy for users to find and manage audio and video podcasts.

Another application that puts a key function of a phone at your fingertips is Visual Voicemail, which benefits customers by allowing them to select the voicemails they want to hear first.

The BlackBerry Torch 9800 is also the first BlackBerry smartphone to include BlackBerry App World™ pre-installed, supporting carrier billing through AT&T, making it easier for customers to discover and purchase applications.

BlackBerry Torch Smartphone Features

  • Elegant styling, measuring approx. 4.4″ (5.8″ open) x 2.4″ x .57″ and weighing 5.68 ounces
  • 3.2″ 360×480 capacitive touch screen display
  • 35 key full QWERTY backlit slide-out keyboard, designed to feel optimally balanced when opened for typing
  • Optical trackpad that makes navigation fast and smooth
  • Powerful 624 Mhz processor with 512 MB Flash memory
  • 4 GB built-in memory storage plus a microSD/SDHD memory card slot that supports up to 32 GB cards; a 4 GB card is included giving users 8 GB of storage out-of-the-box
  • 5 MP camera with flash, continuous auto focus, image stabilization, scene modes, geo-tagging and zoom, as well as video recording at up to 640×480 resolution
  • Built-in GPS for location-based applications and geo-tagging
  • Wi-Fi® (802.11 b/g/n); qualifying smartphone customers can enjoy seamless connectivity to over 20,000 AT&T Wi-Fi hotspots at no additional cost
  • 3.5mm stereo headset jack
  • Premium phone features, including voice activated dialing, speakerphone and Bluetooth® (2.1) with support for hands-free headsets, stereo headsets, car kits (including systems that support the Bluetooth Message Access Profile standard) and other Bluetooth accessories
  • New BlackBerry® Desktop Software 6 with integrated media sync for easily syncing music, photos and videos**. It also includes Wi-Fi Music Sync, a unique feature that allows users to view their entire iTunes® or Windows Media® Player music libraries from their BlackBerry smartphone, create and edit playlists as well as select music for download. When in range of their home Wi-Fi network (or via USB), the changes are synced with iTunes or Windows Media Player and the songs are automatically downloaded to the smartphone
  • Tri-band HSDPA (3G) and quad-band EDGE support for the option of voice service in more than 220 countries, data service in more than 195 countries and 3G connectivity in more than 125 countries, including Japan and South Korea
  • Removable, rechargeable 1300 mAhr battery that provides approximately 5.8 hours of talk time on 3G networks or 30 hours of audio playback or 6 hours of video playback

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.

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Posted by Clove

Acer neoTouch S200 – £100 Price Drop

Monday, August 2, 2010

The Acer neoTouch S200 is Acer’s flagship Windows Mobile smartphone.  With a fantastic specification it has always been a real competitor to the HTC HD2, HTC’s flagship Windows Mobile device.

Unfortunately the neoTouch has thanks to the HTC brand and very strong marketing campaign been somewhat over-shadowed.
The product is just as good and has always been the more cost effective solution but with Acer still being a relatively unknown brand in smartphones (one of the biggest in netbooks and PC’s) the confidence has not always been there in the product.  Whilst the neoTouch isn’t perfect (no smartphone is) we believe it desrves a little more attention.

A little bit like the quiet child in a class who then turns out to be the most successful, the Acer neoTouch S200 has been overlooked by the more talked about and known devices.  However it is now time for the Acer to come out it’s shell and prove a point.

How you may ask?  Well the specification is fixed so price is the only adjustable attribute.

To that tune, we have teamed up with Acer to bring you the Acer neoTouch S200 at a price that you would be silly not to consider.  Whether it is for you,  friend, a colleague or as a device to play around with for some development work the neoTouch is now available at £100 less than it was just a few days ago. £210 + VAT is the new price, that is under £250 inclusive of VAT.

To put this in persective the HTC HD2 is currently £188 more expensive!!  If your a business and equipping some of your team with smartphones, and were previously considering the HD2 the savings are considerable.

If your the IT guy at your company and you can go back to your director and tell them that by going for the Acer instead of the HTC you can save £1800 and they both do the same job, then it would be fair to say you will be in their good books and who knows, maybe a bonus for the huge cost saving?!

This is not to say the HTC HD2 isn’t worth the money – it has a lot to offer to certain users which may make it the better solution, but if your not sure, do not rule the neoTouch out until you have read all about it.

So what do you get for less than £250??

  • Qualcomm 8250 1GHz processor
  • Windows Mobile 6.5 with Internet Explorer 6
  • 3.8” WVGA Touchscreen Display
  • Quad-band GSM / Tri-band HSPA
  • 512MB ROM / 256MB RAM
  • 5 Megapixel Autofocus with LED flash
  • microSD slot (support up to 32GB)
  • WiFi 802.11 b/g & Bluetooth 2.1
  • Motion Accelerometer
  • 3.5mm audio jack
  • 2 Year warranty

How can you argue with that?

If you want to understand the neoTouch a bit more and what it can do and what it looks like in use, check out the video below.  OR, if you need no more information and simply want to get one at this super price then CLICK HERE.

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Posted by Jon

Clove World Cup Competition Winner

Saturday, July 24, 2010

StillCap0000

Congratulations to Mr.Keane who was the winner of our Clove World Cup competition. Mr. Keane won the prize of an 8GB iPod Nano for the closest guess (144) to the number of goals scored (145) throughout the World Cup. He also guessed the winning team correctly.

Keep an eye out for the chance to win in future competitions, which we post on both the blog and the Clove Website.

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Posted by Clove

Samsung Give away FREE Galaxy S I9000

Friday, July 23, 2010

With the whole iPhone antennagate debacle that has been going on Samsung earlier this week hit back at Apple’s claims that their devices too suffered from signal problems.

Samsung’s PR team has come up with a fantastic scheme that in my opinion basically puts two fingers up to Apple and proves their confidence and how they handle such negative press.

The UK Samsung team on Twitter (@samsungukmobile) are giving away free, unlocked, and SIM free Galaxy S smartphones to angry (soon to be former) iPhone 4 users in the UK.

At least one user has reported that he has actually received the phone, and Samsung has been asking many other users for contact and shipping info. Check out their official Twitter account (@samsungukmobile) for yourself if you want to see the magic in action. [via Pocket-Lint]

VIA: Android Central

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Posted by Jon

Inside BlackBerry 6

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

image As you probably already know, RIM will soon be launching the eagerly awaited BlackBerry 6, ahead of this launch, they wanted to provide potential users with some information on the multimedia experience this will bring.

A summary of the features:

  • Music Album Art and Discovery – for instant and easy recognition of your favourite albums
  • Organise Your Photos – photos will be able to be grouped by event or by date with the “Pinch to Zoom” feature
  • Streaming, Sharing and Searching for Videos – instantly share your videos with the world using the new integrated YouTube® video uploader
  • New Camera Controls and Supported Scene Modes – access and review camera pictures, set popular options and pick from a variety of scene modes, all directly from the camera screen
  • New Podcasts App – subscribe and play entertaining audio and video podcasts directly for free
  • Finding New Multimedia Content and Apps - direct link to quickly discover popular media apps from BlackBerry App World
  • BlackBerry Desktop Software and Media Sync - greater music sync options

Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted by Clove

Windows Phone 7 hits technical preview stage

Monday, July 19, 2010

Today is quite a milestone for Microsoft – they have confirmed that the newest version of Windows Mobile, Windows Phone 7 has reached a ‘technical preview’ stage.

What this basically means is that after months of working on the new OS they are now at a stage where they have produced devices to send out to a series of early adopters, bloggers, beta testers etc.

Having employed over 1000 people to work on the Windows Phone 7 project, Microsoft are investing a lot of time and money into getting this right.

Working with key manufacturers a number of handsets have been produced and over the coming weeks and months will be put through their paces.  Testers will feed back to Microsoft who will continue to develop and make changes until such time that they have a comercially stable and acceptable OS.  Therefore over the coming weeks you will no doubt see a lot more information appearing on the web about Windows Phone 7.  In fact Engadget have already begun posting bits, you can read this here.

We will keep you posted about any interesting developments that occur, but it just looks like Microsoft could well be on track for hitting their target of releasing the OS just before the Christmas holidays.

Source: Windows Team Blog

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Posted by Clove

Smartest smartphone user revealed!

Thursday, July 8, 2010
BlackBerry Bold 9700 winner James Howell

James Howell is the winner of the BlackBerry Bold 9700 competition.

Back in April, we launched a search for the smartest business use of a smartphone.

The prize for one lucky winner was a brand new BlackBerry Bold 9700, and with more than 200 entries the competition was stiff.

What was clear from the wide variety of entries was just how versatile today’s smartphones are, not to mention how innovative their owners can be. Choosing the winner was a very difficult decision for the Clove Technology team.

However, the ultimate winner was James Howell, who works in the IT department of a school. James told us: “Working in a school, money for devices and equipment is limited. I use my BlackBerry to keep track of support requests, monitor the status of hardware around the site, and to switch on Bluetooth to find out when students are using their phones and shouldn’t be!”

Chris Love from Clove said: “It was great to see James win this prize of a Blackberry 9700, we even made it more special by sending him one of the white versions, so very unique! I hope it helps James further with his work at school, well done! Congratulations to the 10 runners up as well.”

James was delighted to receive his prize, a BlackBerry Bold 9700 and bag of BlackBerry goodies.

Ten lucky runners up won a bag of BlackBerry accessories.

Among the favourite entries were Hazel Rigiazo, a hairdresser whose smartphone features an app to enable customers to see what a new hairstyle would look like and whether it would suit them, Khaled Khalil, who photographed notes on a whiteboard during a meeting and emailed them to participants so that everyone had full notes, Luke Harwood, who uses his smartphone to book and organise gigs for his band, and junior doctor Abby Parish, who uses hers to refer to online papers and journals to assist in the treatment of her patients.

We also particularly liked the entry from Neil Tattersall, a busy dad who works from home. By playing lullabies through his smartphone’s speakers, he’s able to get his toddler to sleep – so he can get on with some work!

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Posted by Stephen

UK Mobile Networks set to work together to launch Mobile TV

Thursday, June 24, 2010

This is an interesting article that describes how O2, Orange and Vodafone are going to team up to pilot a system that will allow more data intensive service to be streamed to smartphones, such as Mobile TV.

Three of the world’s largest mobile operators, O2, Orange, and Vodafone, have announced an initiative to jointly pilot a new mobile broadcast system capable of delivering data intensive services such as mobile TV in a more efficient way.

The multi-operator pilot, which will run for three months commencing in October 2010 in central London and Slough, will assess how mobile broadcast services can be deployed using shared network infrastructure.

Integrated Mobile Broadcast (IMB) is a standardised 3GPP technology recently endorsed by the GSM Association. As well as offering broadcast services to customers, it can seamlessly link with traditional unicast or on-demand services delivered over 3G.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted by Wardy

Palm confirms webOS upgrade and new devices

Friday, June 18, 2010

palm_hp_logo

Things have been a bit quiet since HP bough Palm (for $1.2 billion) earlier in the year. webOS, the operating system developed by Palm, has been relatively unsuccessful so far and there has been much speculation as to what HP would do with it. However, Engadget reports that Palm’s Develop Relations team has told developers that future devices and a new version of webOS are on the way. As of yet it is unclear if these devices will be Smartphones, or possibly tablets, but apparently there is a ‘very exciting’ year ahead.

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Posted by Wardy

Samsung Galaxy S i9000 – Detailed Part Thirteen

Sunday, June 13, 2010

image

On the i9000 pre-loaded is Layar, an app that is downloadable from Android marketplace – but there is a difference here!

Samsung have teamed up with Tele-Atlas to provide the most comprehensive list of POI’s which through the custom Layar app gives access to more POI’s than ever before or on any other smartphone.

Just point the i9000 Galaxy S camera at your surroundings and using GPS and your signal you ill have a real view of your surroundings with POI’s marked.  See something you like?  Just click the POI to get more information.

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Posted by Jon

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