And now, the BlackBerry Torch 9800 “BlackBerry 6” software. First up, my positive impressions BlackBerry Torch 9800 Software: The GOOD. BlackBerry 6 has been called “fresh but familiar” by many, including RIM’s co-CEO Mike Lazaridis. And it is both, though the emphasis should definitely be on familiar.
- Aug 24, 2010 Installation of the BlackBerry Podcast App from Research in Motion on a BlackBerry Bold 9700. All rights reserved. For use with http://usingwindowshomeserver.
- I use itunes with my ipod so i have lots of podcasts on my pc. Is there anyway to copy these over to my blackberry torch. I see there is a podcast app for the torch but it wants me to enter the url of the podcast feed. I dont want to download the podcasts wirelessly to my blackberry (to avoid charges) so I wanted to see if i could copy them.
The new BlackBerry Torch is displayed during a product introduction in New York.
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BlackBerrys still fly off the shelves. They still convey the message that their owners mean business - that they’re people who are important enough to need e-mail access all the time.
But BlackBerrys are now being challenged by phones that say you can have your e-mail, and have fun, too.
Research In Motion Ltd., the maker of the BlackBerry, unveiled a new phone that says the company is still in the game, but it’s doing so by catching up to the competition rather than by breaking new ground.
The Torch will be RIM’s first device with both a touch screen and the BlackBerry’s signature full-alphabet keypad.
RIM, which is based in Waterloo, Ontario, sold its 100 millionth BlackBerry this year. It’s still the most popular smart phone in the U.S., ahead of the iPhone. It’s been holding its own against Apple Inc.’s phone, but in the last year, a new challenger has zoomed out of nowhere to put a dent in its market share - Google Inc.’s Android software, used by several phone manufacturers, including HTC Corp. and Motorola Inc.
Research firm Canalys estimates that Android had 34 per cent of the U.S. smartphone market in the second quarter, compared with 32 per cent for the BlackBerry and 22 per cent for the iPhone, which is hamstrung by its exclusive relationship with AT&T Inc. Android and BlackBerry phones are sold by many carriers.
The iPhone and Android phones are defined by their touch screens, and that’s an area where BlackBerry has stumbled. It introduced its first touch screen phone in 2008, more than a year after the iPhone, and took a gamble that it could take the technology further. It gave the BlackBerry Storm a feature the iPhone didn’t have - springs under the screens. The user could push in the whole screen to distinguish a hard press from a light touch.
“The Storm was an exercise in differentiation, but unfortunately, it introduced more challenges than it addressed,” said NPD analyst Ross Rubin. Autodesk revit architecture 2010 rapidshare library.
The phone was thick and heavy compared with the iPhone, and it was beset by software problems. Reviews were scathing.
The Torch, by comparison, is quite conventional. It has a large touch screen that isn’t spring-loaded. Its keyboard slides out from underneath the screen, just as it does on the Palm Pre or a few Android phones.
“It’s not particularly flashy, but it should extend the company’s reputation for solid, efficient, reliable products that have good battery life,” Rubin said.
The Torch comes with a new version of the BlackBerry operating system, BlackBerry 6 that adds touch-friendly features that are mostly already available on other phones.
The web browser should now work faster, render pages better, and respond to iPhone-like manoeuvres like spreading two fingers to zoom. It’s based on WebKit, the same underlying software used in the iPhone, Android phones, the Palm Pre and high-end Nokia Corp. phones. (The phone’s name comes from Torch Mobile, a web browser developer that RIM bought last year.)
The applications store will come pre-installed on the phone, a first for an AT&T BlackBerry. RIM launched its equivalent of the iPhone’s App Store last year, but users have had a hard time finding it.
BlackBerry 6 provides for “universal search” - one field to search all the content on the phone. This is a long-standing feature of Palm phones and was adopted by the iPhone last year.
Swiping a finger left or right on the home screen reveals favourite and oft-used applications, much like on the iPhone.
RIM said the BlackBerry 6 software is compatible with three previous models, the Bold 9700, Bold 9650 and Pearl 3G. However, it’s up to the carriers to approve the software upgrade for their subscribers.
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Printable version | Aug 29, 2019 1:58:41 PM | https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/technology/gadgets/RIM-unveils-BlackBerry-Torch/article16119319.ece
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BlackBerry maker Research In Motion unveiled a new smartphone Tuesday that offers iPhone-like features to 'crackberry' addicts – while adding a few unique touches.
The BlackBerry Torch is targeted at general consumers rather than BlackBerry's traditional base of business users. It includes an updated version of the BlackBerry operating system, called OS 6. The phone will be available Aug. 12 for $200 with a two-year contract on the AT&T network.
The Torch is a big step forward for RIM, which has been working for nearly 16 months with AT&T to create a device that can compete not just with the iPhone but also with a host of snazzy Android devices that are fast gaining market share. RIM's earlier touchscreen phones, the Storm and Storm 2 on Verizon Wireless, were popular, but drew criticism for their buggy OS, browser and hardware. Meanwhile, in 2009 RIM launched its app store and attempted to attract developers to build software applications for the phone.
The Torch helps brings all those efforts together. The device includes a new web browser, which AT&T has called a 'generational shift' from previous BlackBerry browsers. For instance, the Torch offers tabbed browsing. And unlike most other BlackBerry devices, the Torch will have the BlackBerry app store, App World, pre-loaded.
Instead of just a touchscreen, the Torch includes both a touchscreen and a slide-out, physical keyboard. The design is evocative of the Palm Pre.
The Torch has three times the input options of the iPhone: You can tap on a virtual keyboard on the 3.2-inch, 480 x 360 pixel display, you can slide out the hardware keyboard preferred by most BlackBerry users, or you can use an optical trackpad to select menu items.
Overall, the Torch is slightly larger than the iPhone, even with the keyboard tucked in, and weighs 5.6 ounces to the iPhone 4's 4.8 ounces. Ultraman evolution 3 download torrent.
BlackBerry 6 also sports a universal search feature. When you search, the BlackBerry Torch not only queries e-mail, calendar, and apps on the device, but also external services such as Google and YouTube. An API lets developers make other services searchable here, too.
Hands on With the BlackBerry Torch
I managed a brief hands-on during today's press event. We will reserve final judgment until we get unfettered access to a unit for a full review. But in my quick test, the device was comfortable, especially if you're used to BlackBerrys. That said, it failed one early test: Swiping my finger to the side to bring up a new screen of apps, I noted way more lag time than I did on my first-generation iPhone.
If it takes off, the Torch has implications for web advertisers and publications. Its new web-browsing feature, Autowrap Text Zoom, reformats web pages with a more-suitable fonts for easier viewing. In the process, it strips all ads and images from web pages – something I confirmed during my demo.
Gone are the days when folks used their smartphones only for e-mail and SMS. Now you also need to be able to link to Twitter, Facebook, IM and so on. BlackBerry Torch integrates multiple social feeds into a single dashboard, organized by time. Likewise, a native RSS reader and podcast manager handle the same tasks for your newsfeeds and podcasts. It's about time the BlackBerry got these features, because most Android phones today do this out of the box.
RIM took several steps Tuesday to attract more app developers to the BlackBerry. RIM's strategy for growing its app selection, according to software CTO David Yachs, is to make it easier for customers to find apps and to pay for them. RIM also wants to make it easier for developers to build both native Java apps and web-based, HTML5 apps using the company's 'web-kit platform.'
'Developers using the web-kit platform get all the capabilities our Java developers do,' said Yachs.
And the universal search feature certainly makes these apps easier to find.
To solve the problem of how customers will pay for these apps and how developers can hope to make money, RIM is working with AT&T to add a charge to a customer's AT&T bill. Customers will also be able to pay for apps using Paypal or a standard credit card.
In addition, RIM allows developers to charge subscription fees and offer apps on a 'try before you buy' basis. All of those options seem aimed at giving developers more options than Apple does, which controls all iPhone app payments through its iTunes store.
Music fans will be pleased to note that the BlackBerry Torch's native music app carries metadata representing every song in your home computer's library – a unique feature, as far as I know. No matter where you are, you can tag songs for downloading to the Torch by Wi-Fi, and the next time you're on your computer's network, it will transfer over automatically. That means you can use your downtime to prune and add to your mobile music library – a nice touch.
Other noteworthy inclusions: a 5 megapixel camera with flash, geo-tagging of all photos, two-fingered tapping for the selection of multiple onscreen elements (for instance to batch-upload photos to Facebook) and seamless switching between apps.
From what we saw, the BlackBerry Torch justifies AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vega's claim that this is 'the best BlackBerry to date.' But I am not sure it can attract those who already have an iPhone or Android in mind –- and, crucially, the app developers that could draw them.
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Podcasts Blackberry Torch Software Reload
Photos: Eliot Van Buskirk/Wired.com