SmartPhoneCool.com

Tomorrow is January 31st, or 31/01, if you prefer. Why is this day important? Well, if you’re a BES admin, it means that you have a new home on the Internet: Port3101.org. Port3101 is a forum community built by BES admins, for BES admins. And we’re not talking about just any BES admins, but industry luminaries (and occasionally BBCool contributers) like Jibi (give him a shout out for the great logo he designed! Based off of BBCool’s WES cards, true story) and NJ BlackBerry.

We’ve spent some time tooling around on Port3101, and we’re pretty impressed considering it doesn’t officially launch until tomorrow. There’s already a healthy following of contributors, and the Knowledge Base and 3101 sections are stacking up threads. It’s a little weird that the off-topic discussion area has the most posts by far, but we expect that to even out post-launch.

So check out Port3101.org and tell us what you think; we’ll be keeping a close eye on how it develops. Oh yeah, and for the newbs, Port 3101 is for outbound connections initiated by the BES to RIM’s SRP infrastructure - act like you know.

© BlackBerry Cool for BlackBerry Cool, 2009

Press Release

Johannesburg, South Africa and Waterloo, ON - Vodacom South Africa and Research In Motion today announced the availability of the BlackBerry Storm smartphone in the South African market. The BlackBerry Storm will be available from Vodacom on January 28.

“The BlackBerry Storm is a next-generation smartphone designed to meet the communication and multimedia needs of the most demanding customers. With its renowned communications capabilities, rich multimedia features and stylish design, the BlackBerry Storm allows customers to make the most of their time on the go with a fashionable and lifestyle-friendly smartphone,” says Shameel Joosub, Managing Director, Vodacom South Africa.

The BlackBerry Storm will be available to both Vodacom’s Prepaid and Contract customers from participating Vodacom outlets, across South Africa. Customers can also call Vodacom Direct 0860 123 123 or go to www.vodacomdirect.co.za for the best deals and have the smartphone delivered to their door. Payments start as low as R59.00 per month for the BlackBerry Internet Service (Prepaid and Contract) and R98.00 for BlackBerry Enterprise Service (excluding device).

Delivering the renowned functionality of the BlackBerry® solution, the BlackBerry Storm brings entertainment, information and communications to the tips of your fingers.

The stylish smartphone boasts exceptional performance, a stunning display and rich features including 3G (HSDPA) network support, integrated GPS, desktop-style web pages, advanced multimedia, a first class phone, camera and the industry’s most robust messaging capabilities - designed to give users an incredibly fast and powerful mobile experience.

“The BlackBerry Storm is a next-generation smartphone designed to meet the communication and multimedia needs of the most demanding customers. With its renowned communications capabilities, rich multimedia features and stylish design, the BlackBerry Storm allows customers to make the most of their time on the go with a fashionable and lifestyle-friendly smartphone,” says Shameel Joosub, Managing Director, Vodacom South Africa.

The BlackBerry Storm smartphone features the unique and innovative SurePress™ touch-screen, which depresses ever so slightly to aid in typing and navigation and to give users an experience they can actually feel. Through the revolutionary SurePress touch-screen, the virtual keyboard on the BlackBerry Storm responds like a physical keyboard and supports single-touch, multi-touch and gestures for intuitive and efficient navigation as well as easy and precise typing.

“The “clickable” SurePress touch-screen is a remarkable innovation that dramatically enhances the touch interface and user experience. We are very pleased to introduce the first touch-screen BlackBerry smartphone together with Vodacom in South Africa,” said Mark Guibert, Vice President, Corporate Marketing, RIM.

The BlackBerry Storm also features a built-in accelerometer, which automatically switches the display as the user rotates the handset for use in landscape or portrait. When in portrait mode, users can type out a quick instant message or dial a number using either RIM’s SureType® keyboard layout or a 12-key multi-tap keyboard. When the handset is rotated to landscape, the user is presented with a full QWERTY keyboard.

The BlackBerry Storm smartphone brings images to life with stunning clarity through its gorgeous 3.25-inch, high resolution (480×360-pixels at 184 ppi), colour display. A multimedia powerhouse, the BlackBerry Storm smartphone has rich media player that handles a number of music formats. It can even be synchronised with iTunes® so customers can enjoy their music on the move*, or synced wirelessly via Bluetooth® to the BlackBerry® Remote Stereo Gateway to enjoy songs through a home stereo. It also comes standard with a premium stereo headset. The built-in speaker and stereo headset both deliver music with excellent sound quality. The BlackBerry Storm also has 1GB of onboard memory storage, comes standard with an 8GB microSD/SDHD memory card and supports up to 16 GB of storage per memory card.

BlackBerry Storm users can also find their way in unfamiliar surroundings thanks to built-in GPS and Vodafone SatNav which comes preloaded. Vodafone SatNav enables users to find an address and track their location simply and easily. It can also display the route on a 3D map, together with audible step-by-step directions. The 3.2 MP digital camera with autofocus, a powerful flash and video recording rounds out the smartphone’s rich multimedia capabilities.

Preloaded with an incredible selection of applications that were custom-built for use on BlackBerry® smartphones, the BlackBerry Storm enables users to simply and easily keep web community pages current, continue instant message chats or even add pictures directly to Facebook®.

Preloaded applications include:

* Facebook for BlackBerry Smartphones
* Windows Live™ Messenger for BlackBerry Smartphones
* Yahoo® Messenger for BlackBerry Smartphones
* Flickr™ Photo Uploader for BlackBerry Smartphones
* Vodafone SatNav, powered by Telmap SatNav technology

The BlackBerry Storm smartphone will be available to both Vodacom’s Prepaid and Contract customers from participating Vodacom outlets, across South Africa. Customers can also call Vodacom Direct 0860 123 123 or go to www.vodacomdirect.co.za for the best deals and have the smartphone delivered to their door.

Starting as low as R59.00 per month for the BlackBerry® Internet Service (Prepaid and Contract) and R98.00 for BlackBerry® Enterprise Service (excluding device), customers get unlimited email, unlimited Internet browsing, as well as unlimited use of pre-loaded data applications (for accessing sites and services such as Vodafone SatNav, Yahoo! Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, Flickr and Facebook from the handset) without incurring any additional data charges**. These pre-loaded data applications are available in conjunction with all personal and corporate BlackBerry service options for the BlackBerry Storm.

For further information call Vodacom’s Customer Care Centre on 111, free from a Vodacom cellphone, or 082 111 from any other cellphone, or go to www.vodacom.co.za or www.blackberry.co.za.

© BlackBerry Cool for BlackBerry Cool, 2009

Some great, if not belated news, for all the BlackBerry Developer Conference attendees that were given an IOU for a free BlackBerry Storm during the show. One of the developers at the show has informed us that those near-forgotten devices are in the home stretch of their Odyssian journey:

We are happy to tell you that your BlackBerry Storm smartphone from the device giveaway at the BlackBerry Developer Conference has been shipped!

We hope to see you again at next year’s conference.

Sincerely,
The BlackBerry Developer Conference Team

For those keeping score at home, this post indicates an almost 3-month turnaround. But I guess you can’t look a free Storm in the mouth, especially since RIM just sold 1 million of them.

Special thanks to my main man, Rob K., for the tip!

© BlackBerry Cool for BlackBerry Cool, 2009

Big news for Canadians on the Mike network. Telus yesterday launched the BlackBerry Curve 8350i, the newest iDEN BlackBerry with Push to Talk service. Telus is selling the BlackBerry Curve 8350i for $249.99 on a three-year contract or $599.99 without a contract.

“The BlackBerry Curve 8350i combines the convenience of our Mike Direct Connect Push To Talk technology and the trusted BlackBerry solution,” said Jim Senko, vice-president of Mobility Solutions at TELUS. “It’s a fantastic new addition to our extensive selection of business-ready smartphones operating on our Mike or PCS networks.”

You can find the press release after the jump, or head to www.noordinaryphone.com for more info, but we’ll be at a Telus event today, so expect some hands-on goodness.

TELUS launches the new BlackBerry Curve 8350i smartphone with Direct Connect Push To Talk - only on the TELUS Mike Network

Toronto, ON – TELUS today launched the new BlackBerry Curve 8350i smartphone, featuring support for the popular Direct Connect Push To Talk service and available only on the TELUS Mike Network.

The BlackBerry Curve 8350i smartphone is the ultimate productivity tool for professionals in the field and on the go who need instant communication with their teams along with instant access to their e-mail. The new smartphone is packed with functionality, including built-in Wi-Fi and GPS, and combines BlackBerry communications and multimedia capabilities with Mike’s Direct Connect Push To Talk, all in one.

“The BlackBerry Curve 8350i combines the convenience of our Mike Direct Connect Push To Talk technology and the trusted BlackBerry solution,” said Jim Senko, vice-president of Mobility Solutions at TELUS. “It’s a fantastic new addition to our extensive selection of business-ready smartphones operating on our Mike or PCS networks.”

Featuring integrated Global Positioning System (GPS), the new BlackBerry Curve 8350i smartphone from TELUS supports GPS tracking and dispatch solutions and also has Bluetooth-enabled support for accessories such as wireless headsets or hands-free car kits. In addition to being ready for work, the BlackBerry Curve 8350i is ready for play. It includes a robust media player, a 2MP camera with video recording and the capacity to store up to 16GB of music, pictures, video and documents per memory card. And with its built-in Wi-Fi, users have more ways to stay connected with the people and information that matter most.

“The BlackBerry Curve 8350i is a communications powerhouse that makes it easier than ever to stay connected,” said Mark Guibert, vice-president of corporate marketing at RIM. “We are very pleased to be working together with TELUS to bring this innovative and stylish smartphone to Canadians.”
Additional features include:

- High-resolution, 320 x 240 colour display
- 35 key backlit full-QWERTY keyboard
- Premium phone features including voice activated dialing, enhanced background noise cancellation and a low-distortion speakerphone
- Expandable memory via microSD/SDHC memory card slot supporting cards of up to 16GB for additional storage, 1GB microSD card included
- USB connectivity for charging and fast data file transfers between the smartphone and PCs
- Removable, rechargeable battery
- Robust messaging capabilities with support for popular instant messaging, multimedia messaging (MMS) and text messaging services
- DataViz Documents To Go preinstalled for editing Microsoft® Word, Excel and PowerPoint files directly on the smartphone
- Support for thousands of applications, including business, lifestyle and entertainment titles
- BlackBerry Enterprise Server support, providing tight integration with Microsoft® Exchange, IBM Lotus Domino, and Novell GroupWise and works with existing enterprise systems to enable secure, push-based, wireless access to e-mail and other corporate data
- BlackBerry Internet Service support for smaller businesses and individuals, allowing customers to access up to 10 supported email accounts (including most popular ISP email accounts) from the handset

The BlackBerry Curve 8350i smartphone is available from TELUS for as little as $249.99 on a three-year contract or $599.99 without a contract. For more information about TELUS’ full suite of Mike services on the BlackBerry Curve 8350i, please visit www.noordinaryphone.com.

© BlackBerry Cool for BlackBerry Cool, 2009

The WSJ is reporting that sales of the BlackBerry Storm are not as impressive as they were expecting and are blaming “clunky software” that crippled the user experience and performance at launch only to be (partially) corrected later via software updates. This is especially interesting considering that Verizon is reporting great numbers with over 1 million Storms sold on their network. WSJ sources say sold some 500,000 units in the first month following its global release. Jim Balsillie does not seem phased by these accusations and believes that the post-launch choas to fix bugs is part of the “new reality” of making complex smartphones in large volumes.

[Via]

© Kyle for BlackBerry Cool, 2009