May, 2012

• 1 May

  Is RIM getting its mojo back with BlackBerry 10?

  

  ORLANDO, Fla. — BlackBerry maker Research In Motion showed off some cool new features today for its upcoming BlackBerry 10 software, but will it be enough to stop the company’s free-fall into the smartphone abyss? That’s the big question that fans of the once mighty smartphone and other industry watchers are asking here today at …

  Read More »
• 1 May

  Can RIM make the virtual keyboard sexy again?

  

  commentary A BlackBerry without a keyboard? Sacrilege, I suspect many of the faithful will say. But Research In Motion has bit the bullet and shed its physical keyboard — arguably the defining trait of its best phones — and has opted to go virtual with its BlackBerry 10 operating system (at least for the initial phone). And even though I …

  Read More »
• 1 May

  Apple fans told to “Wake up” in bizarre BlackBerry stunt

  

  Wake Up! That’s the cryptic message for Apple fans from a bizarre mob swarming Apple Stores. Samsung was the prime suspect, but the perpetrator has now been revealed: BlackBerry. The strange stunt consisted of mysterious black-clad protestors swarming Australian Apple Stores in Sydney and Melbourne, waving signs and chanting “Wake up!” At first no-one claimed responsibility for the mystifying marketing …

  Read More »
• 1 May

  Motorola, awaiting Google’s takeover, posts quarterly loss

  

  Motorola Mobility posted a wider first-quarter loss in what will likely be its last report as a standalone company. The mobile-devices and TV set-top box manufacturer, poised to be acquired by Google, posted a loss of $86 million, or 28 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $81 million, or 27 cents a share. Excluding items, the company …

  Read More »
• 1 May

  Time

  

  ORLANDO, Fla. — Cameras using BlackBerry OS 10 software will have the capability to wind back time on selected portions of photos to make sure that the image has captured all of its subjects at their best. The example used in the demonstration at BlackBerry World showed two people having their photo taken; when one of the subjects had her …

  Read More »
• 1 May

  Apple updates iLife apps with minor fixes, tweaks

  

  GarageBand got a few tweaks, but they are mostly limited to fixing stability issues. Apple says a bug that formerly would crash the app when uploading songs to iCloud, and another that caused an error when logging into SoundCloud with a Facebook account, have been fixed. iPhoto received mostly bug fixes and enhancements to streamline use as well, but did …

  Read More »
• 1 May

  Samsung pulling away from Apple in smartphone market

  

  It’s no secret that Samsung and Apple are battling it out for smartphone dominance. But it appears Samsung is, at least for now, winning the war. During the first quarter, Samsung shipped 42.2 million smartphones worldwide, earning it 29.1 percent market share, according to a study released today by research firm IDC. Apple, meanwhile, shipped 35.1 million iPhones, helping it …

  Read More »
• 1 May

  Hands on with the BlackBerry 10 keyboard and Dev Alpha phone

  

  ORLANDO, Fla. — Heaven knows RIM has taken a quite a beating these last few years. Here at BlackBerry World 2012 in Orlando, a gathering of the RIM faithful, the company says it’s on the mend and will focus like a laser on what it does best — building mobile products for doers, not talkers. Meet the BlackBerry 10 Dev …

  Read More »
• 1 May

  Boost, Virgin Mobile push phone insurance for $5 per month

  

  Sprint is about to do you a favor, by selling you insurance on your phone. Both of Sprint’s no-contract carriers, Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile, are offering customers on the Monthly Unlimited plan a “unique opportunity” to insure their phones for $5 a month, even though the phone insurance window typically closes after the first 15 days of buying a …

  Read More »
• 1 May

  So the HTC One X doesn’t have quad

  

  Today, CNET and other U.S. mobile reviewers got a chance to gush over AT&T’s HTC One X superphone powerhouse. It boasts a stunning 4.7-inch display, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and 4G LTE muscle. But the spec that’s tripping up many is the processor: a dual-core Qualcomm chip in the U.S. instead of a quad-core Nvidia chip abroad. On the …

  Read More »