It appears BlackBerry’s upcoming Kickstart clamshell handset will be making its way to Rogers - Canada’s largest GSM mobile carrier. The Kickstart clamshell is BlackBerry’s attempt at bringing BlackBerry functionality to a lower end market - the mass market that is. According to Gizmodo, T-Mobile expects to launch the Kickstart in September for a price of $50 bucks. BGR thinks Rogers will be launching the Kickstart at around the same time.. for probably near the same price. If so - this could definitely give BlackBerry a major edge when it comes to the smartphone market.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Rogers, BlackBerry Kickstart

Duracell has launched the Duracell My Pocket Charger and PowerSource Mini to help keep your mobile devices powered while you’re on the go. Its actually pretty amazing that the company best known for batteries didn’t come up with these solutions sooner! In any event, here’s what you need to know about these two new products.

The Duracell My Pocket Charger is a pocket-sized power source comprised of two Duracell AA batteries. It comes in two models - one for MP3 players and one for all BlackBerry models and the newest Motorola phones. The MP3 player model can provide up to 24 hours of music on the latest iPod nano. The BlackBerry model can provide an additional hour of talk time.

The Duracell PowerSource Mini is a pocket sized rechargeable battery that can provide power to USB powered devices (cell phones, BlackBerry phones, MP3 players etc). The PowerSource Mini is a DC to DC lithium-ion battery pack. Features include:

Via GearFuse

• mini USB pivot arm for direct connections to devices
• Second USB port allows you to power two devices at once
• Includes AC adapter and DC charger - each with a USB port

Technorati Tags: Duracell, PowerSource Mini, My Pocket Charger

By now, we all know the FCC’s approval process lets us know what new mobile phones will be hitting these shores in the near future. Near the end of last week, three new phones were approved by the FCC - the BlackBerry Bold, the HTC Touch Diamond, and the HTC Touch Pro.

According to Crave, the BlackBerry Bold will be coming to AT&T although when this will happen is still up in the air. Meanwhile, the Touch Diamond getting approved paves the way for the phone to make it’s appearance possibly with Sprint (maybe in Sept?).  No details on the HTC Touch Pro as of yet.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: BlackBerry Bold, HTC Touch Diamond, HTC Touch Pro

MobileBurn has published a review of the updated BlackBerry Pearl 8120 here on their website. Features of the Pearl 8120 include:

• Supports Wi-Fi and Mobile Calling via the T-Mobile HotSpot@Home service
• 2.0 megapixel camera
• Stereo Bluetooth support
• Sync with Microsoft Outlook
• Instant Messenger support
• micro SD slot
• Music player
• Picture messaging
• Full QWERTY keyboard
• Speakerphone
• Measures 4.2 x 2.0 x 0.6 inches and weighs 3.2 oz
• Li-Ion battery
• 4 hour talk time and 15 day standby time
• Quad band GSM

The phone is currently available for $149.99 after an instant discount of $150 and a mail-rebate of $50 dollars (must be activated with a T-Mobile monthly rate plan). Here’s the verdict from MobileBurn:

I give the RIM BlackBerry Pearl 8120 a ‘Recommended’ rating, with the hopes that RIM soon does something to set the multimedia features apart, rather than just maintaining the status quo.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: BlackBerry 8120, T-Mobile

Psyched about the new BlackBerry Bold mobile phone?  Well you may or may not be happy to hear that AT&T will be the exclusive provider of the Bold for this summer. The Bold will be available in both CDMA and GSM formats which means it should eventually come out for all the major US carriers. Features of the Bold include:

• 624 MHz processor
• 3G networking
• 480 x 320 display with support for 65K colors
• QWERTY keyboard
• Trackball navigation
• 2 megapixel camera
• microSD card slot
• Features tri-band UMTS connectivity
• Measures 4.48 x 2.59 x 0.55 inches

You can see a hands-on look at the new BlackBerry Bold here at PC Magazine.

[Check it out]

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: BlackBerry Bold, AT&T Wireless

In an interview with Reuters, Co-Chief Executive Jim Balsillie of Research In Motion, hinted that a touch-screen BlackBerry could very well be on the horizon for the company. “It’s really user preference-oriented” remarked Balsillie who was emphasizing the point that the company needed to be flexible in meeting what the customer demands were for future products. Mr. Balsillie also commented that RIM would be introducing devices that would support HSDPA - a high speed wireless technology that is prevalent in Europe and here in the U.S.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Research in Motion, Jim Balsillie

It looks like 2007 will be yet another good year for Research in Motion. According to ABI Research, Research in Motion will be the second largest smartphone vendor (after Nokia) for 2007 with approximately 10 percent of the overall smartphone market. RIM’s share of the smartphone market has steadily increased over the last five quarters - from 7.2 percent in Q3 of 2006 to 9.5 percent in Q3 of 2007.

What’s the secret to RIM’s success? Staying focused on email and on the enterprise market! If there’s one concern to be had with RIM, it would be where the overall sales are coming from. ABI Research notes that the majority of sales come from North America. In order to maintain growth going forward, RIM will need to expand manufacturing and sales to other parts of the world - notably Asia Pacific.

One other interesting note about RIM BlackBerry smartphones. The average selling price for a RIM handset is substantially higher than other vendors’ handsets - $345 to $248. This shows that people are willing to pay higher prices if the features are worth it.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Research in Motion, Sales, ABI Research

The folks at LaptopMag have published a review of the BlackBerry Pearl 8130 here on their website. The 8130 is basically an upgraded version of the Pearl 8100 which also happens to run on the Verizon Wireless network. Features of the BlackBerry Pearl 8130 include the following:

• 225 MHz ARM 9 processor
• CDMA and EV-DO support
• Bluetooth support
• Wireless email support
• IM support
• SMS and MMS support
• Integrated Media Player
• 64MB ROM and 32MB RAM
• microSD slot
• Built in speakerphone
• 2.3 inch display with 260 x 240 resolution and 65K colors
• 2 megapixel digital camera with 5X digital zoom and flash and video recording
• Measures 4.2 x 2 x 0.6 inches and weighs 3.4 oz

Here’s the verdict:

RIM kept all the features we loved on the 8100 and made them better.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: BlackBerry 8130, Verizon Wireless, LaptopMag, Review

BlackBerry fans, start the drooling.. The Boy Genius Report has posted up supposed specs to the upcoming BlackBerry 9000 series here. Let’s do a run down of the major tidbits from the posting shall we?

• The screen will have a resolution of 320 x 480
• 1GB of memory (what the heck?)
• Intel XScale PXA270 running at 624MHz
• GPS and Wi-Fi
• Multi-band HSDPA support for GSM carriers
• 2 megapixel digital camera (hopefully the camera will be better than this)

No word on pricing or availability as of yet but the specs alone look pretty sweet.

[Check it out via Mobile Mag]

Technorati Tags: BlackBerry, 9000 series,

Otter Products has released two new semi-rugged, fully-interactive Defender Series cases for BlackBerry smartphones. The two new cases are the OtterBox 1934 for the BlackBerry Pearl and the OtterBox 1935 for the BlackBerry Curve. Features of the new OtterBox cases include the following:

• Enables complete usability of the trackball and camera
• Three protective layers provide bump, scratch, and drop protection
• Layer 1 is a thermal formed protective clear membrane to safeguard the screen and keyboard
• Layer 2 is a hi-impact polycarbonate shell
• Layer 3 is a silicone skin that absorbs bumps and shocks
• Includes three Donaldson Acoustic Vents that cover and protect the microphone, headset, and speakerphone openings
• Sync/Charge jack is accessible through a silicone plug
• Includes holster-style swivel belt clip
• Available in yellow/black or black

The OtterBox 1934 for the BlackBerry Pearl measures 4.45 x 2.20 x 0.86 inches while the OtterBox 1935 for the BlackBerry Curve measures 4.53 x 2.72 x 0.94 inches.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Otter Products, OtterBox 1394, OtterBox 1935, BlackBerry Curve, BlackBerry Pearl