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First 3G BlackBerry Announced
An anonymous reader writes "The Register is featuring an article on Research In Motion's first 3G BlackBerry, due shortly for release in the UK via Vodafone. The big news is that it contains an integrated 3G data modem - meaning UK addicts will be able to connect from the device and their laptop (via USB/BlueTooth) at 3G broadband speeds. No EDGE so the US will have to carry on waiting, but for those in the UK and Europe, short of integrated GPS, is the BlackBerry 8707v finally the first example of mobile device convergence everyone has been waiting for?"
as their phones look and act as if it was the 90's
i guess the USA can put up with featureless phones but we can't
so we will stick with our 2GB Symbian/MS mobile MDA's and you can have your glorified pagers with 16mb storage
Nothing to see here. Please move on. The Symbion OS phones such as the Nokia 3650 are already on the convergence path.
No, that would be the Treo. And we stopped waiting a while ago.
Thank-you poster for including cache links!
"The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." ~Plato (427-347 BC)
I've never tried a Blackberry myself, but I've heard from someone that Email is the only thing it does right. Is that the general consensus? I'm using my Treo 650 for my (very) occasional mobile email needs, and SnapperMail is working great for me. And as a Palm, I find it a great PDA.
Maan
From looking at the market and hardware available, there's no one device which does anything and everything the "ultimate mobile device" would do. What I do see, is a few devices which merge some features, but miss out others.
For example, this new Blackberry device gives instant email, phone service, and 3G data access, but it's big and bulky and doesn't feature a mobile camera. The Nokia N-Series provides smartphone capability using Series 60, multimedia features, and high spec cameras, but it's small and only has a standard mobile phone keyboard.
The above examples are the way I see the mobile device market going; there will be many devices which offer convergence in many different ways. But, I don't see it possible to create a "one device fits all" type handset, purely because there are so many different market sections and types of people who use them.
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Nope. For that it needs to support my 1GB mini-sd card so I can carry around MP3's for my commute like my Cingular 2125 does. It's not the most featureful music player since it's really a phone, but it works and keeps me from lugging around multiple devices. You'd think that with the wheel on the side the Blackberry would be perfectly suited for this task and do it as well as it does email. Oh well. They're decent phones, fantastic for email, and suck at most anything else.
If you're primarily in urban areas that shouldn't be a problem as Cingular has rolled out their 3G network (HSDPA) and so have Verizon and Sprint (EVDO).
By positioning the 3g phone as a high speed modem, blackberry is doing something very significant: it is saying that the best thing about 3g is not that you can watch movies or do video calling on a phone screen , it's the sheer access to bandwidth wherever and whenever you want.:)
Who needs 3 gigabytes of local e-mail storage in a handheld device?
are farkwit managers and techs who are forced to carry them so farkwit managers can moan at them 24/7 via email.... blackberries are the bane of my existence and they aren't even very good device anyway, i don't know how a crap device on a flaky patent got so popular.
flamebait? me? never.....
Depends on what you call convergence. I call convergence a handheld that's reasonably small, handles data and voice, gives me real-time access to my e-mail, and serves as an effective adjunct to my laptop. And I call that a GSM Treo 650 - which I've owned for the better part of a year. With the addition of a quality IMAP-based e-mail client instead of Versamail, the Treo gets messages as they arrive, can do real background processing, and give me easy access and editing of all my accumulated information. If I wanted to, I could use the built-in camera to take pictures, and capture lo-res video to my SD card.
To me, that's convergence. The only thing it lacks is support for the higher-speed cellular broadband standards (and enough internal RAM), but the Treo 700w (Windows Mobile-based) works with the CDMA EV/DO service from Verizon, and the forthcoming 700p (PalmOS) is expected to work with Sprint's EV/DO network. GSM EDGE versions of both are slated to arrive pretty soon as well.
And the Blackberry that's covered here? That's the tip of the iceberg. The CTIA Wireless show is in Vegas less than two weeks from now. And there's sure to be quite a few relevant announcements there. I'm holding my breath for a ExpressCard-based EV/DO card, though - My MacBook Pro is on order and I'd rather use a card than tether a phone (I use a PC5220 card from Verizon right now with my existing PowerBook).
The ultimate definition? Convergence is a state of mind. And when your device does all the things you need, it matches that.
-- Josh Turiel
"2. Do not eat iPod Shuffle."
"No EDGE yet so US will have to wait..."
Blackberry 8700c that's been out for months is quadband EDGE, the US will have to wait for north american-banded 3G (UMTS R99/HSDPA) blackberry
I don't get it. At first, I thought it was something like a telephone jack on the phone, but that would be pretty slow. Then I thought it was access to the internet, and it clearly says over USB/Bluetooth, and upon reading the article, it's not very clear. So, uh, what's the big deal? Haven't we had phones that connect via USB (and beter yet - Bluetooth) to give a PDA/laptop/whatever internet access? As we move into 3G, doesn't it follow that we can access it the same way? Is this just 'big news' because it's the first 3G phone? If so, color me completely underwhelmed by the complete inevitability of such a device.
I think it depends on what you mean by "first". I don't think that the Nokia E61 is actually in the shops yet either, but it was due for release in February and looks like a far nicer device, with the same bluetooth modem/3G concept, plus WLAN, various synching and push email options and a nice screen. Oh, and Nokia just bought Intellisync, so you can assume that Intellisync is going to provide their superior experience on these E series phones sooner rather than later.
You mean the integrated MP3 player, camera, video playback, SD expansion and touch sensitive screen etc? I guess not. Those are all the things missing from RIM that are offerced by competitors on even entry level Microsoft PDAs. Face it. RIM only does one thing well: email. Period. They totally suck as PDAs and are the worst cellphones I have ever seen or used. Until they get the price down on a cheap and reliable text message service plan for $20, most people will be reluctant to drop $600 on a RIM and pay 60$+ monthly on a 3 year lock-in. How many of us really need portable browsing when most cheap cell phones can do WAP?
The big news is that it contains an integrated 3G data modem - meaning UK addicts will be able to connect from the device and their laptop (via USB/BlueTooth) at 3G broadband speeds
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And the only thing faster than the connection will be the speed at which the bill rises.
Beep beep.
Where I live (not USA), the thing that is holding back new devices is the insane connectivity costs imposted by the mobile companies. 3g and the trimmings is out unless it is on business expenses. Using an "ordinary" old mobile is expensive enough. Naturally if you impose a greed-crazed charging structure like this, as if megabytes were as rare and precious as diamonds, there will appear to be no demand for all-in-one devices, phones with mp3 players, etc. Someone, somewhere will suss this eventually and if they make a fortune by breaking up the cosy club and bringing all-in-one to the mass market they will thoroughly deserve it.
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The reason blackberry doesn't have an all important camera on a phone is because of secuuraty. This same train of thought follows with removable media and bluetooth. RIM says they cannot secure these features. Most offices and of course FED offices where people use blackberrys dont allow cameras on phones, and sure as hell dont allow removable media. Bluetooth in insecure as articles posted on this site have shown. This is why bluetooth is limited on blackberrys. And if you dont believe me on the camera thing, palm sells a treo with no camera. Although RIM could do this too, why should they? They have the market clocked. As a user who does own both a Treo650 and BB7250, I can honestly say E mail is a joke on the Treo. The only way you can have fast as Blackberry E-Mail on a treo is if you have a dedicated Exchange style server. Blackberry has that all built in. The reason this phone is important, is because it can be tethered as a modem. And with Unlimitd data plans, that can be pretty sweet.
The treo does have a better PDA style features though. I do like the treo, but not for e-mail.
PS.There is no ultimate l33t super ub3r super device that does everything.
EVDO is a 3G standard.
An EVDO Blackberry has been out since late 2005.
Therefore, this is not the first 3G Blackberry.
Unless they want to make the distinction that the voice traffic is being handled by a 3G-type connection as well?
I need a PDA, Cell phone, and 802.11 VOIP phone w/ bluetooth. I need the ability to read my email and ssh back into my home computer. I need the ability to open webpages and read the news. When I get something that does those things, then I'll pony up the big bucks for it. Until then I'll stick w/ my sanyo 7300.
I do security
and the worker bee's, they did rejoice.
Could someone please explain why this is news? Is the UK behind the rest of the developed world when it comes to communication? 3G phones/handhelds is nothing new, everybody (here, Sweden) has been using that for at least two years or so - and it's hard to find new phones/handhelds still using that other system, whatever-it-was-called.
They need to get back to what the internet is all about, what increased 3G bandwidth is all about, hell, what am I talking about? High definition porn direct to your hand... ( just where you need it )
And the name of this new product, the RIM BlueBerry .
It seems from the pictures that the phone is pretty thick. Does it have a big battery?
Don't get me started on how well these things perform as phones. With the exception on the 7100 series, Blackberries are generally awful as phones. The form factor is all wrong, the UI is all wrong, it's just plain wrong. Put your voice plan on a decent wireless phone, and put the data plan on the Blackberry if you must have one. Of course if you're going to go this route, and don't need live access to your email, then forget the Blackberry, get a Bluetooth phone, a Bluetooth PocketPC or Palm, and access the net through the phone.
I can only second that, I don't understand what all the fuss is about. The Blackberry is really a rather mediocre package which makes me wonder why it is so popular. I have used the Blackberry but ditched it in favor of a PocketPC PDA phone which does not have push mail but is in every other respece superior to the Blackberry, as an organizer, an email client, it is pretty equal as a telephone and now that Exchange 2003 with push-mail is available even the Blackberry service is losing it's appeal. Blackberry fans keep telling me their 72xx, 77xx or 87xx series phones are smaller and weigh less than my PDA phone but when I put it down on the table and physically compare the two the difference betwen the bigger (supposedly so small and neat) model of Blackberry phone and my (supposedly big as a king-sized club sandwich) PDA phone is marginal. Also keep in mind that my PDA phone is OLD, these days, you can actually get PDA phones with Windows Mobile 5, Linux or some other OS installed that are both ligher and handyer than the Blackberry plus the ones with Windows Moble 5 into the bargain are also push mail capable vis-a-vi an Exchange 2003 server.
Only to idiots, are orders laws.
-- Henning von Tresckow
I suppose because the 8707v (Vodafone) is being released in Britain that's implied already. But "3G" isn't a single technology, and in fact the BlackBerry 7130e - which has been commercially available in Canada, the US, and Australia for a while - uses the CDMA2000 standard (with 1xEV-DO technology), which is also considered 3G.
So this isn't the "first 3G Blackberry". It is however, the first UMTS BlackBerry, which would make it the first BlackBerry to support 3G in the UK (and other places).
Also saying "no EDGE so the US will have to carry on waiting" sort of neglects the fact the the 8700c (Cingular) available in the US and the 8700r (Rogers) available in Canada do in fact have EDGE - they just don't have the same "integrated 3G data modem".
I think you've missed the point of convergence.
People don't wander about with digital cameras at all times, but they do wander around with their phones.
Therefore if you can provide an ability to take a snap, most people will be happy with that. The image quality is roughly equivilent to a disposable camera.
You could probably say the same thing about the calculators on phones. They cover the basic functions, but you'll have a problem doing trig on them. Is that a major flaw? No, not really.
MP3 players... It's not the highest quality audio recording, but it's good enough for being out and about, and less hastle then carting a bag full of CDs with you everywhere, but you'll probably not be throwing away your Hi-Fi.
Like StarTrek's communicator presaged the flip phone, this , "Global Link", from the TV show "Earth Final Conflict" (terrible show yes) would really be an example of what we are after in a mobile device. The technology needed to make it happen is a high resolution OLED flexible display, so you can roll up the screen tightly. But nearly everything else is very doable with today's technology. Also, with better voice recognition with dictation it would make the interface much more appealing by limiting the need for a keyboard.
The concept of convergence depends wholly on your personal needs, and based upon the posts so far, seem to have a lot to do with the BlackBerry vs the devices running Windows Mobile and Symbian that tend to have a lot more add-ons that people add into their personal definition of convergence.
RIM have built up a critical mass of customers because lots of companies and organisations really don't want devices with removable media or integrated cameras because it would break every security rule they have. They want end-to-end encyrption of internal e-mails that are necessarily deflected outside the LAN to mobile devices without having to install and support additional layers on their server and clients to try and do that job. They want the ability to lock then remotely wipe a device when its left down the side of a chair. They don't want the support calls after meddling users play with the device configurations while sat waiting for the gate to be called at the airport. Most certainly don't want to pay for data so users can download mp3s and amusing avis on their company device.
For the majority of mainstream business users, the idea of a 3G BlackBerry is incredible. Users moaning that BlackBerry e-mails only supports plain text (ps - it is a pain!) might be forgetting that with 7x the bandwidth, moving "bulky" HTML around is no longer an issue and so will likely be supported sometime soon. Attachments, the annoyance of all mobile devices (how do you download to review that huge presentation?), suddenly become a lot less scary. Users will be able to ride off the back of their 3G BlackBerry via their laptop to connect securely to the company LAN via the built-in BlackBerry Mobile Data Service and will remove VPN and security issues to access company intranet sites.
For those who do miss add-ons like digital cameras, the BlackBerry could connect (when the centrally managed IT policy allows) to a BlueTooth-compatible digital camera (a camera that will always be able to have a much better feature set then the rather inadequate ones currently found squeezed into phones and PDAs)? And with the broadband connection from the device, the pictures will be easier to move around.
For them, they bought the 7100 to finally get one device that could do a proper job of handling voice and e-mail/PIM. Now, a device with the specifications of the 8707v means they can have one device that expands the e-mail and PIM abilities, allows for faster secure browsing of the company intranet sites, and makes the laptops broadband-fast without the need for the separate 3G data card - the data card you couldn't give most of the executives because their 0.5oz supermodel-slim laptops didn't come with a PCMCIA slot!!
The point of convergence for this set of people - with this device, for now - is 95% there. Once a device with GPS comes out that will allow these users to route from A->B without the need for a in-car or portable sat nav... wow!
Convergence for the more technical users of mobile devices often does mean the need for removable media, the ability to properly support multimedia, lots of menus full of settings to play with, hackable firmware (alright, an "open" architecture), the choice of ways of being to able to fully access, for example, IMAP accounts - its what we are used to and what we need. I think, in short, it means having access to as many of the things on the handheld device as we're used to being able to use on our desktops... well, aside from monitor size and 7 speaker set up!
The point of convergence for most of us will always be another handful of device features away.
Don't start with a PDA and add a camera, start with a good camera and "converge in" the PDA things you might want.
I have no idea, anyone make anything like that? Niche market but it might sell.
With OS 4.02 or higher, the 7250 supports EVDO. You just have to make sure before you load the newer OS that you contact your provider and make sure your account is set up to allow EVDO otherwise you'll get "Data Connection Refused" when trying to transmit data. Check out blackberryforums.com to get more info.
As someone who routinely scitters his cell phone across the concrete floor at the firestation, I didn't want to spend several hundred bucks on a fragile one.
I got a Motorola e815 -- it is first and foremost great at being A PHONE. Reception and clarity being the key. It does bluetooth and is easily hacked to remove the verizon crippleware. It does EVDO and can act as a broadband modem. It has a pop3 client, calendar, text message, camera, and MP3 player. It has a 512 meg transflash card I can pop into my laptop and move music and pictures without using minutes.
If I want, I can write my own applications for it using a variant of Java without doing the stupid "get it now" crap because there are hacks out there to unlock it.
For the "push" technology, I write my own. Since I control my mail server, I can make it push whatever I want as a text message to the phone -- so it can easily interact with me for calendaring and so on.
What more do I really want out of a phone?
Also, remember, its best at BEING A PHONE -- which the crackberries basically suck for. Its reliable, can take a little abuse, and didn't cost a fortune.
The problem with quotes on the internet, is that nobody bothers to check their veracity. -- Abraham Lincoln
Here is the URL,
http://lists.kde.org/?t=114207413900001&r=1&w=2
Think Konq vs Mozilla
KDE vs. Gnome
PerlPHPPython vs. Mono C#
sqlite vs. MySQL
... salesweenies and marketroids are.
And they like the BlackBerry. (Hell, it's a lot more convenient than trying to boot up a laptop and pay the Marriott ten freaking bucks for internet access, and a thousand times more convenient that unlugging your desktop-replacement laptop.)
Why do they like it? It. Just. Works. It gets email from point A to point B, fast. It's fully integrated with either Exchange/Outlook and Notes, which covers, what... 90% of the Fortune 500 companies? The people who use BlackBerries religiously are the people to whom the ability to communicate with their ilk is their livelihood.
Slashdot, you are not the target demographic for BlackBerries. You are simply blue sky sales, so what you think about the technology, UI, or comparables really aren't freaking relevant.
I wasn't commenting on the blackberry, just on the topic of convergence in general as a subthread side issue. I have heard that reply about "crappy cameras in phones" many times before, just thought that as long as they make good cameras and people tote them now and they are much larger than modern phones, that it might be easier to incorporate a decent phone/wireless function into a high end camera than vice versa. A niche product.
I'm sure blackberries are just fine products. I don't need one, but I am not a jet setting manager or governmental functionary either. I have a real cheap cell phone that probably does more things than make and take phone calls, but that's all I use it for. I think it does text messages but I've never even tried that. I don't even look at my email every day for that matter, it's always 99% spam anyway. My priorities and interests are quite different than from people who own blackberries, for the most part anyway. I'm more likely to drop 500 bucks on a used engine or a power tool or new rifle or something like that over a souped up cellphone.
Personally, I don't like most of the new cell phones, just too small, buttons too small, screen too small, and cost way too much. You can get a decent used laptop for what one of those new phones cost. Ya, you can't stick it in your pocket, but I don't really carry one all the time either, and when I am working I don't have the cellphone on me because A-I couldn't hear it, B-too dangerous, it would probably get smashed (already happened with pagers), and C-I can get to a phone or radio quick enough without carrying one constantly. If they ever release the cranked up MIT 100 buck laptop to civvies I'll buy one of those. Until then, I have a box of cell phones that are allegedly "obsolete". Screw it. Not buying any more, they can give them away, that's as much as I will pay for one anymore. I still have old bagphones that work-but you can't get them activated.
Anyway, carry on, I'm sure your company appreciates what you are doing, and heaven knows, our poor underpriveleged government workers and hard laboring corporate execs need every advantage they can possibly get to "stay on top of global business" and "manage" and "govern" us poor peons. In fact, I think RIM needs to come out with the 5,000$ limited edition co-branded with Rolex and DeBeers "global psychic plutocrat" model, think about how much more productive all those users will be with that one! They'll get their email before it's even sent!
Verizon Blackberry devices in the US already have 3G-speed EVDO (1.5M downstream) network access and tethered modem capabilities, with much better coverage than EDGE in the US. (http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?contentid=5 488)
So I was driving out in the middle of nowhere today and noticed a new e-mail in my gmail inbox. I stopped to see what it was, a friend alerting me to a slashdot story about a brand new blackberry. Ok, I'll bite. I opened up my web browser and checked it out, and laughed to myself as I began typing a reply to my deluded friend. I was interrupted by his IM, and explained to him that the future has already arrived.
Then I decided to get back on the road. I put my PPC-6700 away and merged back into traffic.
Seriously, now. Sorry to sound like a commercial, but I love this device! There's also a windows mobile Treo, the 6700 is also available from Verizon, and several other pdaphones on the way.
By the way, I can connect the phone I have in my pocket to my laptop and get great speeds. Enough , in fact, to play World of Warcraft. With the phone in my pocket. I won't be holding by breath for this new blackberry.