eMobiStudio Blog – Boost Mobile Phones

Software For BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900 smartphone
BlackBerry Handheld Software v7.0.0.2416 (Multilanguage)

Package Version: 7.0.0.2416
Consisting of:

• Applications: 7.0.0.590
• Software Platform: 5.0.0.739
• File name: 9900M_PBr7.0.0_rel2416_PL5.0.0.739_A7.0.0.590_Partner_Communications.exe
• File size: 220.53MB

Note: The Software Platform and Applications version numbers can be found under Options-About screen on the handheld.

So if you have downloaded BlackBerry App World 3.1.0.56 you probably have noticed that it supports usage over WiFi, gifting applications and much more. However there are some hidden features that might be useful to some users.

• ALT + SSS  – If you open up BlackBerry App World and type those keys in, you’re instantly producing not only a log for BlackBerry App World but a screenshot as well. As show above, you can then email that log fil, screen cap and even fill in some details about what is happening off to RIM. Once closed, all screenshots and log files disappear.
• ALT + LOGLOG – This key combo generates a new log file. In that log file will be some information about your device such as your locale, App World version, date & time and what wireless carrier and tower you are connected to as well as, your device model and PIN #.

Now again these features aren’t going to be used by everyday users.

If you’re a T-Mobile or AT&T customer that was or wasn’t looking forward to the merger between the two companies well you don’t have to wait anymore. AT&T is throwing in the towel and giving up on the merger.   Apparently the FCC and the DOJ blocking of the merger helped fight off AT&T. Here is AT&T’s statement:

“The actions by the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice to block this transaction do not change the realities of the U.S. wireless industry. It is one of the most fiercely competitive industries in the world, with a mounting need for more spectrum that has not diminished and must be addressed immediately. The AT&T and T-Mobile USA combination would have offered an interim solution to this spectrum shortage. In the absence of such steps, customers will be harmed and needed investment will be stifled.”

Well looks like the wireless industry will stay the same for now.  I wonder if Sprint will try to purchase T-Mobile? What do you think will happen next, let us know in the comment section!Thanks for yoru reading.

Today we would like to share a nice bit of weekend news for any Orange customers or anyone who’s looking to a new BlackBerry Smartphone. Orange UK have posted the BlackBerry Bold 9790 on their coming soon page. The latest Bold device, seen as the little brother of the Bold 9900 and more of an upgrade to the Bold 9700/9780 line, sports a 2.45in touchscreen, slimmer build than the Bold 97xx series, as well as a 5MP autofocus camera, which could entice more users than the Bold 9900.

There is no date set for the release of the Bold 9790. It would make for a great Christmas gift if it was made available just in time for Christmas. Look out for the BlackBerry Bold 9790 review coming soon. Waiting it….

Today we learned that RIM has partnered with NFC marketing company Tapit in Australia to promote the NFC capabilities of the new BlackBerry 7 devices. The Sydney based Tapit is known for delivering content via NFC tags, be it movie trailers, tickets, coupons or other deliverable content. During the campaign, users will be able to tap tags on NFC-enabled posters as well as tokens that will be given out by BlackBerry street team members.

"We believe NFC will be increasingly used in Australia in a variety of ways including making mobile payments with your smart phone, transferring information or even using your smart phone as a digital key," said Adele Beachley, managing director for RIM Australia. "Partnering with Tapit will allow us to showcase the power of NFC in marketing." 

NFC is a pretty big selling point on BlackBerry smartphones, so it’s good to see RIM being proactive and making use of the technoiogy. Hopefully the NFC buzz will spread and we’ll see much more from RIM and other ways we can use NFC down the road. If you have any news about NFC, please leave your ideas about it.

The other day we were told about the 2012 BlackBerry 10 Roadmap. The first image of the BlackBerry Milan is saw by us. This looks to be the next generation Slider device that will be supporting BlackBerry 10. The look of the device looks a little bit like the BlackBerry London device we saw a couple weeks back.  You can see the topped round edges on the device that can also be found on the BlackBerry PlayBook.

Also you can see that there is no more trackpad, call/end, back, or BlackBerry menu key on the device. Looks like RIM is going to use gestures on the new devices. It’s still early so we don’t have that many specs or information on the device but when we do get it you will know! Any other comments would be much appreciated.

Today we would like to talk about that Indosat to Operator billing BlackBerry App World.

Customers will be able to apply their BlackBerry App World purchases directly to their monthly bill from Indosat

Operator billing will allow Indosat’s BlackBerry customers to conveniently and securely purchase apps from BlackBerry App World and charge the purchases directly to their Indosat bill. Customers will also be able to charge in-app purchases to their Indosat bill, which allows for the purchase of digital goods, such as additional content or more levels to a game, to be made without interrupting the application experience.

About Research In Motion
Research In Motion (RIM), a global leader in wireless innovation, revolutionized the mobile industry with the introduction of the BlackBerry® solution in 1999. Today, BlackBerry products and services are used by millions of customers around the world to stay connected to the people and content that matter most throughout their day. Founded in 1984 and based in Waterloo, Ontario, RIM operates offices in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America. RIM is listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market (NASDAQ: RIMM) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: RIM). For more information, visit www.rim.com or www.BlackBerry.com

Forward-looking statements in this news release are made pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities laws. When used herein, words such as "expect", "anticipate", "estimate",  "may",  "will", "should", "intend," "believe", and similar expressions, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on estimates and assumptions made by RIM in light of its experience and its perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors that RIM believes are appropriate in the circumstances. Many factors could cause RIM’s actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including those described in the "Risk Factors" section of RIM’s Annual Information Form, which is included in its Annual Report on Form 40-F (copies of which filings may be obtained at www.sedar.com or www.sec.gov). These factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on RIM’s forward-looking statements. RIM has no intention and undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

The BlackBerry and RIM families of related marks, images and symbols are the exclusive properties and trademarks of Research In Motion Limited.  RIM, Research In Motion and BlackBerry are registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and may be pending or registered in other countries. All other brands, product names,company names, trademarks and service marks are the properties of their respective owners. RIM assumes no obligations or liability and makes no representation, warranty, endorsement or guarantee in relation to any aspect of any third party products or services.

Any comment on this topic would be much appreciated.

RIM is celebrating the holiday season in New York City this year with BlackBerry Teams roaming the city for “NYC Holiday Hookups from BlackBerry.” The fun starts today until December 17th with BlackBerry teams around NYC doing exclusive giveaways. If you live in NYC or are visiting NYC keep an eye out for BlackBerry “Alerts” and scan the barcode on the back to add RIM to your BBM list.

RIM will be promoting offers for BlackBerry users in New York giving away BlackBerry Bold 9900/9930 devices, accessories, and coffee gift cards to keep you warm as it gets colder! Let us know if you spot anything. I will definitely be keeping an eye out when I am roaming the city.

Today we just saw an article about Andorid APP Player. Now we would like to share with you.

This is recorded from BlackBerry DevCon 2011. The following are some of the biggest lingering questions on the topic of Android Apps on BlackBerry for those who don’t have time to listen to the audio. Keep reading for more!

Android Apps on BlackBerry Q & A / FAQ / or whatever you wanna call it

Questions asked and answered in Kevin’s words based on press conference audio above…

Q: What versions of Android will BBX Support?
A: Research In Motion plans to support any open-sourced versions of Android.  Currently version 2.3 is the newest version of Android that Google has released open source code for, so that’s what the PlayBook OS / BBX currently support. When Google releases open source code for Ice Cream Sandwich, BBX will support that.

Q: Why can’t users just install APK files onto BlackBerry?
A: RIM has their own security protocols, etc. on the QNX platform so they require apps to be in the .bar format. 

Q: What kind of apps are best suited to the Android app player?
A: RIM has found that ~70% of Android apps port over with little or no issue. Apps that suit the Android App Player best are apps that are self-contained (think games) or apps that pull in data from the web (apps for websites, etc.). We’ve been finding the compatibility % to be more along the lines of 50%.

Q: How important are Android apps to BlackBerry on the BBX platform? What % of apps in App World will be re-packaged Android Apps?
A: RIM wouldn’t give a definite percentage here, but do think re-packaged apps will make up a significant contribution to the App World catalog. RIM also made it clear that Android apps on BlackBerry are more of a bonus to the ecosystem. RIM made it clear that the two main pillars of the BBX platform as presented during the DevCon keynote are HTML 5 (WebWorks SDK) and C++ (Native SDK). That being said, RIM wants to make it as easy as possible for apps to make it onto the platform, which is what the AIR SDK allows for as does the Android runtime. The most integrated apps (super apps) and high performing apps (games) will ideally be built on one of the primary platforms, but for developers looking to expose their apps to more ecosystems and get their foot in the door of BlackBerry, supporting android apps and flash apps makes good sense. 

Q: What Android APIs are not supported?
A: A whole bunch of Android hardware and software features are not supported through the APIs. RIM is working on reducing this list to make more of the APIs available, but also stated they will choose to not support certain ones for "business reasons." They wouldn’t get into details here, so time will tell.

Q: Do I need the source code for an Android app to port it over to BlackBerry?
A: No, you just need the .apk file.

Q: So does that mean App World will run rampant with Android apps that were not intended to be in there?
A: No. The submission process is still the same here. You need to sign up as a developer with App World. If you submit apps, you need to have the rights to those apps for them to get published. 

Q: Will RIM do anything to stop individual PlayBook owners from sideloading Android apps onto their PlayBook that they don’t have the rights to?
A: Crickets chirping. See our BlackBerry PlayBook Apps forum for lots of already-ported Android apps.

Q: To the consumer who owns a BBX device, will they know they are downloading Android apps from App World?
A: Not until they open the installed app (and even then they may not notice). Technically once ported to a .bar file and submitted to App World, these are BlackBerry apps and the developer is now a BlackBerry developer. Consumers browsing App World will not know if they are downloading an app that was ported over from Android. This is the same notion in that consumers don’t know if they’re downloading apps today that were built Native or in Flash. Once installed on the PlayBook, the application shortcut  style/treatment is exactly the same as any other app. However, once they open an app that was ported from Android, they will realize they are in an app that was originally developed for Android. Under the current implementation on the PlayBook OS 2.0, the app opens in the Android App Player. Also, app design intended for Android kind of stick out (settings screens designed to match Android UI, etc.).

Q: Will RIM push the fact that they are supporting Android Apps on BlackBerry?
A: The answer isn’t 100% clear here from RIM, but impression is that the Android Apps on BlackBerry message is currently targeted towards Android developers, tech media, Wall Street and current PlayBook owners as an answer to the question of how is RIM going to get more apps on the platform. RIM’s take is that an app on the platform is an app – consumers don’t care what SDK it was built on. So it’s very likely you won’t see much consumer-facing marketing on Android app support when BBX phones PlayBook OS 2.0 arrive. Right now it’s a message that has to be out there to get Android developers taking advantage of it, and to keep everybody in the loop, but once the apps are there and devices are on sale, it’ll probably be a pretty quiet marketing message on Android app support.  Note – one of the reasons I think they won’t want to make the message strong to consumers is that’ll create confusion that all apps in the Android marketplace will be available on BBX devices – which will not be the case.

Q: Will the Android App Player experience look the same on the consumer release of PlayBook OS 2.0/BBX phones as it does right now on the developer beta of OS 2.0?
A: Not sure, but hopefully it will be changed from the current implementation. Right now the Android App Player opens as one app on the PlayBook. If you open additional Android apps, they load within the App Player (and you can toggle between them within the App Player) instead of opening multiple app instances as do other apps on the PlayBook OS. Personally I think this is a big issue as it breaks the user interface consistency on the PlayBook – so I think it’s smart that they not release it as it is to consumers. They need Android apps to feel as native PlayBook as possible, which to me means running multiple app instances of Android apps at the same time, and being able to toggle between them with the standard gestures. It appeared to me that RIM is aware of this and working towards that goal. Other features are being implemented to help with this native feeling – for example, if Android apps require the keyboard, they popup the PlayBook’s keyboard, not the Android keyboard. We’re told a lot of "magic" is happening at the QNX level to interface Android into QNX for hardware and software calls.

Q: Has RIM been talking to Google about this Android App Player implementation on BlackBerry?
A: …….. No real answer, but definitely don’t have the impression that this initiative has Google’s permission or blessing, not that RIM needs it with open sourced versions of Android.

Q: Has RIM thought about ingesting Android apps from third party Android app marketplaces? So instead of bringing over apps from single developers, do a deal with a third party app store (that already has the relationships with lots of individual developers) to port over as much of their catalogs of apps as possible?
A: Definitely something that RIM has considered. Wouldn’t confirm if they’re doing it or not. This approach could immediately bring over a ton of apps to the platform, but could be a nightmare (developers waking up getting support emails for their apps in App World, even though they didn’t put them there as it was one of their distributors that did).

Q: How have Android developers been responding to this initiative? How do you convert them from just porting over Android apps to developing for BlackBerry?
A: (From Larry talking about when he’s doing presentations on this in the valley). At first the Android devs are sitting there with their arms folded, not looking that interested. By the time he shows them the tools and how easy it is, they’re much more receptive and eager to test out all their apps. He’s been finding a lot of Android developers know very little about the BlackBerry platform, so this is a great way to expose them to it and to making money and downloads from BlackBerry users (Android market isn’t that great for making $$ for devs). As Android devs start to make money on App World, there should be a natural conversion for them to want to improve their apps (go native). And RIM will actively be working with developers to gear devs up to make the best apps possible.

Q: If a developer decides to re-make their Android app with another BlackBerry SDK, will they keep all their ratings, etc. in App World?
A: Yes, assuming the developer wants to. The app id, title, comments, ratings, etc. will carry through – the developer is just replacing the .bar file with an updated .bar file. App World doesn’t know it’s been replaced via a differently developed app.

Conclusion

There’s still some work to be done with the implementation of the Android App Player on BBX, but for apps that do port over successfully the user experience should be pretty solid. For consumers, it means more apps in App World (and a fun time sideloading all the ones that are not in App World but you can find the .apk for). The existence of the Android App Player also makes for a great introduction for Android developers to get a taste of BlackBerry and even start making some money off the platform. It’s widely known that most Android developers don’t make a lot of money off of Android Marketplace. If/when they see some money rolling in from BlackBerry users it could get a lot of them more seriously looking at BlackBerry and the BBX platform. And for developers now contemplating whether to built or to port, they should definitely check out this article on it looking at the App Player from a developer perspective. 

If you have been paying attention to RIM’s financial issues you probably know that BlackBerry 7 devices aren’t doing as hot as RIM wanted them to do. I always did say that BlackBerry 7 device would be RIM’s hold over device until they released the new QNX device, now known as the BBX devices.

2011 didn’t have it’s shortage of BlackBerry devices. We saw the BlackBerry Bold 9900/9930/9790, Torch 9850/9860/9810, Curve 9380/9370/9360, and we also saw the launch of the P’9981 which was the Porsche design BlackBerry device.  All of these devices were rocking so very nice hardware that was first seen in BlackBerry devices such as better processors, more memory and better cameras. The 2012 BlackBerry devices will have even more!

2012 BBX BlackBerry Devices

The first BlackBerry device the will be supporting the new BBX will be the BlackBerry London device the we saw pictures of a few weeks ago.  This device will be an all touchscreen device which some have questioned because when they think of BlackBerry devices they think of keyboard devices. However RIM needs to do something that is different and game changing. RIM’s target release for the BlackBerry London is March 2012 but if you have been following RIM for awhile like I have then you know that RIM isn’t very good at keeping release dates. We should see this device at CES which is in January.

There are a lot more devices that we should see in 2012. One of those devices is being codenamed BlackBerry Milan which is code number is R071. This makes us believe that this could be the CDMA version of BlackBerry London. It could also be a AT&T/Rogers exclusive device.

The BlackBerry Lisbon device is something we really don’t know a lot of but we are thinking that it might be a Slider type device.

Now the BlackBerry Nevada will be the BlackBerry device that BlackBerry users have been dreaming about. This is rumored to be a BlackBerry Qwerty device running QNX that will be very similar to the Bold 9900/9930.

Now the BlackBerry Forest is something we have been hearing about for some time. I apparently is a 10″ BlackBerry PlayBook. When the BlackBerry PlayBook originally released we heard that RIM would be working on a 10″ PlayBook but then we were told it was scrapped due to design issues. Now looks like RIM is thinking about trying to give it a go again.  RIM has said that they are committed to Tablets and are going to continue to support them.  I for one still believe in the BlackBerry PlayBook even though it hasn’t received certain features. I still think it is one of the best tablets on the market and will only get better!

One thing we didn’t learn about is BlackBerry 7.1. RIM has said that they are not going to just kill off the current BlackBerry OS. They will continue to support it for sometime even after the launch of BBX devices. We know that OS 7.1 is in the works and has some nice features such as mobile hotspot but we don’t know when we will see it officially hit the market.

2012 looks to be a very promising year for RIM and BlackBerry. I for one am very excited to see BBX in action. I do believe that it will bring RIM and BlackBerry up to another level in the Smartphone world! What device are you most exicted to see?