One of the bigger upgrades with the BlackBerry Bold is the browsing experience, which you can see clearly in this video from Boy Genius. You get a look at the general rendering capability of OS 4.6, as well as speed differences between EDGE and Wi-Fi. I’d be curious to see how 3G compares… On the whole this is a much needed update - the poor BlackBerry browser has been a point of contention for plenty of users for a good long time. You guys happy to see the problem fixed? What’s the next biggest issue RIM needs to tackle?
[Via BGR]
According to the latest RBC Capital Markets report, 56% of consumers looking to pick up a smartphone in the next three months having the iPhone 3G at the top of their list, with the BlackBerry Bold following up at 23%. Ouch. So does this mean the iPhone’s features are wowing buyers? Not quite. The biggest factor influencing these decisions is the announced price cut of $199 on the 8 GB model and $299 for the 16 GB iPhone 3G. The extra speed from 3G was a close second point of interest, while GPS was the third most important factor. It’s bizzarre, considering the BlackBerry 9000 will be covering all of these bases, too - T-Mobile Germany’s price point for the Bold has been revealed, putting it in the same ballpark as the iPhone. Maybe if we had clearer information on BlackBerry Bold pricing, folks would be more inclined to consider it a competitor to the iPhone…
[Via BlackBerry Cool]
Makayama just let us know that the latest version of their movie converter is good to go for the BlackBerry 9000’s shiny, shiny new screen, allowing you to quickly and easily compress videos from online, TV, and DVD to a BlackBerry format while still taking full advantage of the 480×320 screen without the usual cropping you might be used to. They’ve got a free demo available if you want to give it a shot.
The Boy Genius Report is claiming that the long-awaited BlackBerry 9000 will be appearing at the Wireless Enterprise Symposium on the 12th. Lending some credence to the rumor (which is hardly unexpected anyway), a new ad has appeared on blackberry.com and should be making its way to TVs everywhere. The ad doesn’t mention the 9000, but is instead targeted at a general consumer market — a pretty big change for the platform which, aside from the Curve and the Pearl, is mostly aimed at businesses. Hopefully the 9000 will pack in some fun toys in addition to stodgy business apps.