Category Archives: RIM

Selfridges announces the Blackberry Q10 as a major success

RIM, Windows

Apparently qwerty keyboards are still loved. Selfridges said that the Q10 had been its fastest-selling consumer electronics product ever, through its London, Birmingham and Manchester stores. “Selfridges’ initial stock of the BlackBerry Q10 sold out in stores within two hours,” the store said in a statement. “Stock of the BlackBerry Q10 is being continually delivered on the hour, every hour to keep up with demand.” No actual numbers were provided though.

At the launch the queue was split into two, for bulk buyers (5 upwards) and small purchases (1-5). At £600 each these phones were not cheap. They actually make the new Samsung S4 seem cheap. Several people were buying in excess of 30 phones to sell or export themselves.

So in the Q10 on your shopping list?

When is Thin too Thin and Does Size Matter

Android, Apple, RIM, Tech News, Windows

Size matters. Or does it. Is thicker better than thin. Is a longer length better than a shorter one.

Recently, I have held many different phones, some thin, some thick, some long, some not so long and some massive. And the most comfortable and reassuring phone to hold was the Nokia Lumia 620.

The 620 beat the iPhone 5, Samsung S4, S3, Note 2 and HTC One. And yet it is the thickness and for its size possibly the heaviest that gives it this result. Surely this can’t make sense.

Lets look at each of the devices in turn.

The Nokia Lumia 620 just fits in the palm of your hand. It’s weight feels assured and your would have no chance of letting it slip.

The iPhone 5 is just too light. If it had been made thicker, then battery life could have been increased. As it has more angular sides it is not as comfy to hold as the 620 with curved sides.

The S3, S4 and HTC One all should have been made thicker to incorporate a bigger battery too.

The Note 2 has a big battery for a longer usage time. Except its too big for general use.

But then we sometimes opt for a bigger screen to provide a better media experience.

What’s your ideal sized phone and why?

Blackberry 10.1 OS New Features include

RIM, Tech News

Blackberry 10.1 OS will include a HDR camera mode, PIN-to-PIN messaging within the BlackBerry Hub and an improved text selector. Other smaller tweaks include the ability to paste phone numbers into the dialer, the option to disable alerts for specific applications and the ability to check for app updates more easily.

Numerous bug fixes will be addressed too. Lets hope this platform can continue to be successful.

The Amazon Threat

Android, Apple, RIM, Tech News, Windows

I have strongly believed that the biggest threat to the mobile space won’t be Apple vs Google or vs Samsung but Amazon vs The Rest. Why?

Well it already has one of the best media libraries and credit card details for millions of customers. It already has the logistics and customer service setup to deal with mass selling of hardware. And Amazon has already sold some top budget android based tablets.

It just announced that its own Appstore on Android, will include expansion to “nearly 200 countries,” after rolling out in Europe and Japan, but wisely it’s asking for developers to get on board first. It already has Game Circle, similar to Apple’s Game Center.

So all that is left is for Amazon to launch a killer phone at a really low cost. The only issues might be the ability to manufacture so many devices versus available resources which probably have been taken up by Samsung and Apple.

One thing that is certain, is that Google, Microsoft, Nokia, Blackberry, Samsung, Sony, HTC and Apple aren’t just going to let Amazon walk all over them. Also shareholders might get twitchy with Amazon still not making a profit! The other certainty is we the consumers are going to have a tough time choosing from some top notch devices.

Get a free 64gb Playbook with a Blackberry Q10

RIM, Tech News

Phones4U are offering a free 64gb Playbook for the first 300 customers. That’s not a lot, but maybe that’s all that’s left of stock that needs shifting.

So the cost, either £36 per month for 2 years or £550 sim free. The Q10 is the keyboard version of the new Z10 running BB10. As there aren’t many keyboard phones on the market this might sell reasonable well. Seems expensive though at £550 sim free.

It seems nowadays that all phones get released at over £500 today, regardless as to whether they’re worth that amount of money.

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The Smartphone Experience has changed – so why don’t you!

Android, Apple, RIM, Tech News, Windows

It could be argued that when you buy a Samsung Galaxy, HTC One, iPhone, Nexus 4 and Nokia Lumia Windows Phone, you are now buying an experience, not just a piece of hardware and software, but a united piece.

Apple have led the way with the iPhone providing unity with the hardware and software. The same could be said when you buy a Samsung with its extra software, own media stores and touchwiz. With the HTC One, Sense 5 creates a unique experience. And the same applies for all the other phones.

We have often paid £500 or more for these devices, so why do some people rip the software off, change the launcher, jail break and more. As the years have progressed, new phones do more out of the box, do more perfectly out of the box too. 2 years ago it would make sense to delete software and change the look and feel.

So when we get a new phone in 2013, why do we still do the same things. Is it habit? Do we go in autopilot thinking we need this app, before we have even tried the new software for at least a few weeks.

I believe we should try and use the software provided by the respective companies before changing anything. It is not uncommon to realise you didn’t need to install that app, as the functionality is now provided as standard.

So here’s my suggestion. If you are going to spend £500 on a smartphone use it for a while as designed. If not buy the cheapest in its class, and redesign the heck out of it

Has Blackberry Got it Right

RIM, Tech News

The new Blackberry handsets are being released and our reasonably well received. So did Blackberry have a clever strategy by enabling android apps to port across with ease and pay developers to release games on their platform. By undertaking all the measures it now has over 100,000 apps and is well on the way to making Window Phone look derisory in comparison.

Blackberry realised that no matter how good their new operating system they needed apps.

Now lets hope Microsoft increase the ante and get more well known apps and games on their store.