Tagged: Phone

The Blackberry Storm 9500 – the Most Innovative Email Mobile Phone Ever Made?

It’s now available to buy, so let’s take a look at the fabulous new Blackberry Storm, and ask the question: is it really the best email-centric mobile phone ever made?

Fruit-based fact-file – the history of Blackberry mobile phones

Blackberry mobile phones have been available for many years, now, and right from the very start of their of their existence, they’ve been known for one feature above all others: email. The name Blackberry has become synonymous for instant email, wherever you are, right from the early days of their little, monochrome-screened devices that weren’t actually very good as mobile phones, and weren’t actually that appealing. However, since then, it’s fair to say that Blackberrys have taken off in a big, big way. It’s also fair to say they’ve evolved from pure email devices into proper, full-blooded smartphones. Their portfolio’s now filled with top-end mobile phones like the Blackberry Bold, the Blackberry Pearl…

…and the phone we’re here to look at today: the most advanced Blackberry ever made, the stunning Blackberry Storm.

Blackberry Storm – a touch of genius

There’s one glaringly obvious thing about the Blackberry Storm, and that’s the complete lack of a physical keyboard. That should give the game away, that the Blackberry Storm has a touchscreen; in fact, it’s the first of the wealth of mobile phones to come from Blackberry to ever have a touchscreen. Ah, but, it doesn’t just stop at the touchscreen, because it’s a special one. You see, the Blackberry Storm has a screen that can be pressed down into the body of the mobile phone, with a satisfying clicky action. In essence, it’s designed to feel like you’re pressing a real, physical button, and believe me, when you’re typing out an email using the virtual keyboard on the Blackberry Storm, that kind of physical motion and click is absolutely invaluable. No other touchscreen mobile phones can touch (pun ever so slightly intended) the Blackberry Storm, when it comes to tactile feedback.

The Perfect Storm?

The question, though, is whether the Blackberry Storm is the perfect email device, and whether it can be the perfect smartphone. It certainly has a massive list of features, beginning with the touchscreen, and taking in such varied things as a 3 megapixel camera, and superb video playback, meaning you have your very own pocket entertainment system, with the Blackberry Storm. And, of course, with HSDPA internet access and WiFi, as well as a massive screen, the Blackberry Storm (or Blackberry Storm 9500, to give it its full name) really is one of the better internet mobile phones out there. So for email and internet access, as well as for entertainment, it really is brilliant. But… there are a couple of flaws, and things to consider. First, the software interface on the Blackberry Storm has some, well, let’s call them idiosyncrasies, and it can be a bit finicky at times. Also, your may find it disconcerting have a screen that moves. It’s a brilliant, brilliant feature, and it will benefit you no end, but the first time you feel it moving and wiggling, the screen on the Blackberry Storm IS going to freak you out. If you can get past its relatively minor flaws, though, you’ll that the Blackberry Storm is one heck of a good mobile phones, and one that I really can’t recommend enough!

Blackberry Pearl 8220 Flip Phone Launches With O2 UK – Blackberry 8220 Flip

Blackberry smartphones have followed a very set design over the years, the Curve editions are always slightly wider in girth but slim whereas the Pearl range is the closest a Blackberry phone comes to looking like a regular mobile device.

However, the manufacturer has tried a new design, new for them but not for the overall mobile phones market, clamshell phones have been around for over 15 years dating back to the first ever flip phone the Motorola Star Tac – if you are old enough you will remember that it was considered a major breakthrough in mobile technology.

Over the past few years the main four UK mobile phone manufacturers have all released at least one flip phone, Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung and most fanously Motorola who always seem to have a clamshell on the market so why has it taken Blackberry so long to produce one of these? More importantly, have they made a good job of it?

The new 8220 is actually a part of the Pearl range of Blackberry phones and when you see a picture you will realise why, the handset offers the same characturistic slim but deep build of the other Pearl models especially when fully opened.

The Blackberry 8220 Flip, otherwise known as the Blackberry Kickstart 8220, is in short Blackberry’s first flip phone that offers all the added advantages of being a Blackberry smartphone but with the benefits of being a clamshell.  This phone has caused quite a stir of late, with its reinvented design, RIM have pushed the boundaries that much further with what looks to be a very successful result.

The Blackberry 8220 Flip smartphone comes with the Blackberry OS v4.6.1 and has opted for a bigger 2.6 inch internal screen as well as an external LCD display.  Although there’s no GPS radio the Pearl 8220 is still a Quad Band GSM device with GPRS support and EDGE technology plus WiFi connectivity.

The Blackberry Pearl 8220 Flip mobile phone weighs a little over 100g and features a new and improved HTML web browser that is not only capable of viewing desktop website versions but mobile versions as well.  As with the majority of Blackberry devices the Pearl 8220 is just as capable as a messaging device as any other and with the presence of SureType just as easy.  Supporting the likes of email and instant messaging with Yahoo! and Google Talk, the Blackberry 8220 Pearl shines brightly under scrutiny.

Sporting a 2MP autofocus camera with video capture for want to be photographers, the Blackberry Flip has something for everyone and music lovers will be pleased with the inclusion of a full media player with multiple audio support and 3.5mm audio headset jack.  A stereo headset is included in the package.

This new clamshell device has initially been made available on O2 pay monthly contract deals in the UK, however the phone is set to enjoy further launches on competing network operators over the coming days, in conclusion the Blackberry 8220 Flip offers the same great features as the latest Pearl edition phones but with the added benefits of the keypad being hidden beneath the flip whilst not in use.

Whether this draws a new client base for RIM remains to be seen but clamshell mobile phones do have their enthusiasts who swear by nothing else, should they be considering a business enabled phone with a pleasurable side for those dull moments then the Blackberry Pearl 8220 ticks the boxes.

Blackberry Phone Themes: How to Download and Install Free Blackberry Pearl Themes

blackberry-pearl

Your Blackberry Pearl cell phone is like a miniature PC, and comes with wallpaper backgrounds and everything! Your Blackberry comes with a number of themes that you can use to customize your phone, but sometimes those themes just don’t cut it.

If you’re looking for more themes for your Blackberry Pearl in order to further customize your phone to your liking, you can find hundreds of free Blackberry Pearl themes online. You can download and install these themes by using either your phone, or your desktop manager.

Some of the websites that offer free online themes for your Blackberry do not have theme applications that can be installed onto your phone via desktop manager because they are over-the-air (OTA) applications. In such cases, you need to go online to get the theme downloaded and installed directly from your phone.

However, you can choose to explore the theme and what it might look like using your PC or Laptop in order to avoid extra Internet usage on your phone. Then, once you’ve chosen a theme, an e-mail will be sent to your phone along with installation instructions and a link to get to your theme.

If you get free Blackberry Pearl themes from a website that has non-OTA applications, then you can install the themes using desktop manager. To install the theme, download and extract the theme file, saving somewhere you can easily find it, like your desktop. Then, you connect your phone to your PC or Laptop and use the application loader to add the extracted theme files to your phone.

Once you’ve gone through the installation wizard, you’ll be ready to reboot your Blackberry Pearl and enjoy your new theme.