The BlackBerry curve 9380 is a full touchscreen device. It is one of those rare berries without a hardware keyboard. The 9380 is t all intents an purposes an identical twin of the Curve 9360. The difference is that the 9360′s hardware keyboard was removed to make way for a full touchscreen face.

Quick Specifications

• 3.2-inch, 360 x 480 pixels, touchscreen display
• 512 MB RAM
• 800MHz processor
• 150 MB internal memory + microSD slot (2GB MicroSD card pre-bundled)
• BlackBerry OS 7.0
• 5 Megapixel camera with LED flash
• GPRS/EDGE/UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA
• Wi-Fi
• A-GPS and NFC

Display & Text Input

Unlike its twin the 9360 which does not have a touchscreen, the 9380 is a full touchscreen Berry. This would mean different things to different people. BlackBerry OS works just fine on it. It is a good display, though not spectacular.

For text entry, this display was a problem for me. I find it difficult to type comfortably on anything smaller than 3.5 inches, and this was no exception. Of course, I have large fingers, so that is understandable. People with smaller fingers are likely to find typing on the 9380′s 3.2 inch display more comfortable.

Camera

The 5 megapixel camera on the 9380 is fixed focus and appears to be exactly same as on the 9360 too. It doesn’t sit among the best 5 megapixel cameras on the market. However, it is usable for your casual shots and videos. Just don’t expect anything spectacular.

Of course, BlackBerries have never been spectacular in the camera department. This is no exception.

General

The 9380 does what other BlackBerries do – email, web browsing, SMS, BB Messenger, etc.

There’s a music player, as well as a video player, and they work fine. The speakers are good in terms of audio quality and volume.

Viewing pictures and videos on the relatively large display is a joy, of course. You can see more, compared to what obtains on BlackBerry smartphones with much smaller displays. I was able to watch my video collection without the need to convert any of them.

Battery Life

I was expecting really poor battery performance because of the full touchscreen nature of the 9380. However, it didn’t turn out exactly poor. I found myself needing to charge the device before the end of the working day though. If you are an addicted BBM user, for example, keep your charger nearby always.

Performance

For the most part, the 800MHz processor delivered smooth performance with OS7 on this model. However, there were times when I felt some sluggishness in responses. The experience wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t 100% smooth either.

Again, the 9380 is mid-tier and the 800Mhz CPU is part of the compromise for the lower cost. The occasional slowdowns weren’t enough to make me want to tear my hair out though, but when downloading and/or installing apps from the AppWorld, things stood still for the most part. I simply had to wait for the download/installation tasks to complete before being able to do other things.

Conclusions

The 9380 does everything you’d expect it to do. However, it wasn’t designed to be outstanding at any of them. Most mid-tier devices are not either, so that’s not a bad thing. It comes with the terrain.

If you want a touchscreen Blackberry device running the latest OS7 and do not intend to cough out a fortune, the Curve 9380 comes highly recommended.

RIM have released an update for the operating system on their tablet, the PlayBook. It has been updated to version number 2.0.1.358 which sports support for Android apps along with some improvements for the browser.

Other things addressed in the update are optimisations to video chatting and Blackberry bridge applications.

RIM highlights via their blog that there are so many things that are included in the update. To update your Playbook simply go to Software Updates in the settings.

Source: Official Blackberry Blog

Apparently targeting the entry level smartphone market, RIM have launched the BlackBerry 9220 in India.

This budget device is the standard BlackBerry package, but with no 3G and with only a 2 megapixel camera. There’s an FM radio thrown in for good measure.

The whole thing sounds good, but at $213, the 9220 is not budget at all. That price (a little over N30,000) puts it smack bang in the mid-tier range.

Why would anyone want to spend N30,000 on a 2G smartphone with a 2 MP camera when for that same price they can pick alternatives (with hardwarekeyboard too) running 3G and packing a better camera? With just N25,000 one can get a QWERTY messenger packing 3G today.

Dear RIM, the 9220 is simply too expensive.

Ewan MacLeod knows his stuff. He is one of the most authoritative commentators in the mobile space.

In a recent article, he paints clearly how the tightly controlled model of iOS is hindering innovation in the mobile app development space. Like me, he does not deny the beautiful work that Apple has done, yet he is able to point out serious issues at the same time.

A quote from him:

Let’s be clear: Apple’s done a brilliant job. This is undeniable. My issue is that much of the planet’s mobile mindshare is wedded to the single-app ecosystem.

There’s *so much* you can do with your iPhone. My frustration is that you have to do it sequentially. You can’t touch anything or change anything about the device experience. This ensures a familiar user experience for everyone. It also means nothing changes unless Apple says so.

He presents clear examples of how the alternate model as seen on Symbian/Belle/Android/BlackBerry OSes make for better innovation.

I also find it interesting that he is able to sift between the wheat and the chaff with regards the strengths and weaknesses of different mobile platforms. For example, he states:

Even today the messaging capabilities of a BlackBerry (SMS, email, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, GoogleTalk and of course BBM) are second to none. If you haven’t seen a proper BlackBerry running messaging in anger, I strongly, strongly recommend you experience it — even the cheapest £100 Curve 8520 will do. When I’m having a busy day with a LOT going on, the BlackBerry’s messaging services make my iPhone feel last century.

That is so on point.

Be sure to read Ewan’s article, Has Apple Put Back Mobile Innovation By At Least 10 Years?, and return here to discuss if you please.

Research In Motion (RIM), the company behind the BlackBerry® solution, will be reaching out to African developers at the Mobile Web West Africa event on the 25th and 26th April in Lagos, Nigeria.
 
End-users and developers can network with BlackBerry representatives and spokespeople, and ask any questions they have about the BlackBerry solution. People who are interested in learning more about developing apps for the BlackBerry® platform will be able to access first-hand information from RIM’s technical experts.
 
Lelany Sommers, Senior Operations Manager for Research In Motion will talk about the African mobile revolution in her presentation on the 25th of April and participate in a panel discussion after her talk.
 
Her presentation will focus on the opportunity the African mobile market represents, highlight key trends developers should consider when they create apps, discuss the challenge of monetising apps, and provide some principles of building the future of apps. 

We have been running some interesting discussions on the BlackBerry brand for a while now. My incendiary article, What Did You Say Was Wrong With BlackBerry? has attracted over a hundred comments in the roughly one week that it has been online.

As a followup to that, I put up another article to give BlackBerry users a chance to tell us about their experiences with the brand.

Unknown to us, the folks at RIM PR here in Lagos had been following the two discussions. Yesterday evening, I received a phone call from an official there and we talked about the articles. The part that will interest you is that we were sent a brand new BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900 to give out to one lucky commenter on the second article dedicated to BlackBerry users.

Our lucky winner is Udegbunam Chukwudi, who currently uses a BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300. You can read his comments here and here.

Hi second comment reads:

That said I’m sticking with the BlackBerry brand till death do us part! Lol.

I’m already planning on getting an OS 7 device soon

His dream just came true faster than he thought – and for free too. The top dog BlackBerry is his!

Congrats, Chukwudi. Do mail your address to mobility AT mobility.com.ng, so we can ship your device to you next week.

NB: Our thanks to the folks at RIM for the BlackBerry 9900 gift!

RIM recently released the new version of Twitter for BlackBerry. This version has a lot of improvements and new features compared to the previous ones. Let’s take a look at the advantages of this update and which features are still missing.

Advantages:

1. BBM connectivity. This option allows you to post your tweets as your BBM status.
2. “Twitter” photo upload service is added alongside “yFrog” and “TwitPic”. This was a much needed feature as photos posted via Twitter loads faster than photos which were uploaded using yFrog/TwitPic photo service.
3. The URL is shortened automatically. You can just copy and paste the entire long URL of the site you want to share on Twitter and this app will post it with the URL shortened.
4. Elegant timeline design. The tweets are more convenient to read.
5. In the previous versions, the timeline used to show how long ago a particular tweet was posted. For example: 35m, 3hours. But if we selected a particular tweet and viewed the details we couldn’t see exactly when the tweet was posted. The only thing we’re able to see is 5 hours ago or something like that. But in this version the exact time is shown when a tweet is selected.
6. Improved notification for messages and mentions.

This version features improvements to the previous version without messing up any existing strengths. However, there are a few important features that need to be introduced in this Twitter app. They are:

1. Connect, Discover and Activity Tab.
2. “Copy link to tweet” option. This function is really helpful when you want to embed a tweet or refer to an old tweet.
3. Once the timeline is refreshed, this app views the last tweet posted. So you have to manually scroll down and find the last read tweet. The app should point to the last read tweet even after the timeline gets refreshed (like the Twitter for iPhone app)
4. When viewing a single tweet from a timeline, the app should show the total number of tweets in the timeline. For example: 23 out of 100. This gives you clear idea about how many tweets you missed while you were asleep or how many tweets were posted yesterday by the people you follow. This feature is now removed from Twitter for iPhone. It’s a very simple feature with a huge significance.
5. Top tweets. Even though Twitter has introduced “Discover” tab. It consists of top news around the world and the link to an article featuring the news. But this is not an alternative to the Top Tweets feature which shows 15 top tweets at any particular moment depending on the number of ReTweets. This Top Tweet feature lets you know the latest score of a soccer match, which Discover Tab doesn’t. Top Tweets should exist alongside Top Stories.
6. Instagram integration. Twitter for BlackBerry now views photos uploaded via yFrog, twitpic, lockerz and native twitter photo service. But in order to view photos uploaded via Instagram by the people you follow  you have to view it in native BlackBerry browser. It’s kind of a distraction and its time consuming. Therefore, this app can integrate Instagram service in the timeline as well, as more and more users use Instagram to upload photos nowadays.

If the next update features all of the missing items that I mentioned above, then Twitter for Blackberry can be a top Twitter app without a doubt.

Download Twitter for BlackBerry v3.0.0.20.

I am amazed that my recent article in which I asked what was wrong with BlackBerry has clocked over 70 comments till date. It is interesting to observe the passion that has been on display in the discussion following that article.

For or against, there certainly is a lot of passion about the BlackBerry brand.

A reader suggested that I publish an article asking BlackBerry users (please read: ONLY BlackBerry users) to tell us the stories of their devices.

The Questions
Why did you decide to get a BlackBerry smartphone, what do you use yours for daily, and what do you love most about your BlackBerry smartphone? What are the things that you dislike about it too?

Eligibility
Please note: BlackBerry owners only may comment here. You must post your comment from your BlackBerry smartphone. That’s the criteria for getting your comment approved. If a comment on this topic is not from a BlackBerry, it will be deleted.

Having made things clear, please do let’s hear your stories, BlackBerry users!

In a rash of irresponsible news reporting, media outfits and bloggers went to town yesterday and today with the false news that RIM (makers of BlackBerry smartphones) are exiting the consumer market to focus on the corporate market.

When I first got wind of the news, I was taken aback but decided to take it with a pinch of salt. You see, to call a spade a spade, exiting the consumer market is the most foolish thing for RIM/BlackBerry to do at this time.

Simply put, it would spell DOOM for the company.

Fortunately, RIM did not say they are. I hunted down the official press release and found no such statement there. What RIM did say was that they would be leveraging on their strengths in the enterprise area. Simple.

How that translates to exiting the consumer market beats me. RIM’s statement says “Hey, we will be taking advantage of what we know best and not trying to be like other platforms”.

That is music to my ears. I have written articles earlier on this blog to say that BlackBerry trying to be like iOS or Android is a bad idea. I had written that RIM needed to focus on their strengths – like the excellent keyboards that they are known for.

Add to that the data compression, email and top-notch security. Those are what RIM should be pushing to the cutting edge. I certainly am glad that they have seen the light.

The corporate market was RIM’s original priority, yet the products automatically won consumer appeal. Unfortunately, they got sidetracked trying to beat iOS and Android at their own game. Bad move.

Trying to play the touchscreen slab game was a mistake. People loved/love BlackBerry for the business features – even if they don’t use them for business – the keyboard, email, security, BBM, etc.

RIM’s profitability is another matter entirely. Whether or not RIM returns to profitability is dependent on several factors, but it is always a good idea to leverage on one’s strengths.

BlackBerry users and subscribers have nothing to fear. RIM are not cutting you off or abandoning you. Enjoy your smartphones and services.

You can download the RIM press release here.

You should also read this CrackBerry article that includes an official response to the false reporting.

I keep hearing people talk about how BlackBerry is “crap”. Well, not exactly people. Geeks and nerds actually. Yes; those species that are very close to the human race, but quite a bit separated from everyday people.

You see, I run into normal people everywhere who are perfectly happy with their BlackBerry smartphones.

Coming home to my personal lifestyle, everytime I have had a BlackBerry, other phones have taken a back seat in terms of usage: the BlackBerry always gets used more extensively. Every single time.

I have had a Bold Touch 9900 for some weeks now, and all of the Nokia E7, Nokia N9 and Samsung Galaxy S II have taken a back seat. The S II only gets used for voice calls, SMS and videos.

Amazing; isn’t it? The BlackBerry 9900 is the device that I can’t put down while the others mostly decorate my desk. That’s amazing for a “crappy” device.

It has the apps that I need and many more that I don’t. It is rock stable and hardly crashes. Text input is superb. And it is a beautiful phone to hold in the hand.

But I’m guessing that lots of folks are itching to have their say, so tell us: what exactly do you say is wrong with BlackBerry?

To use your BlackBerry smartphone as a modem, you will require the following:

- BlackBerry smartphone
- laptop/desktop PC
- USB cable
- a BlackBerry Internet Subscription (BIS) or a mobile internet subscription on your line
- configuration settings from your mobile network provider

Note: Some networks allow you to tether with your BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) subscription, while some do not. Those who do not allow that require you to have an active generic internet bundle or be billed from your airtime.

What you are able to use depends on your network’s policies, so give them a call or visit a customer care centre to obtain the settings that you need..

SetUp Your Phone
Find TCP/IP option under the “Options” menu on your BlackBerry. Options – Device – Advanced Systems Settings – TCP IP. Enter the settings provided by your network. Save.

SetUp Your PC
Install and launch BlackBerry Desktop Manager (BDM) on your PC.

In the Mobile Internet options menu, enter the same settings as provided by your network.

Connect
Connect your BlackBerry to your PC via USB cable and click the connect button.

BDM should make a connection within a few moments and you should be able to browse on your PC.

Blackberry 8520 not basic enough

The news is that RIM is after the African smartphone market. Well, they should. As far as I’m concerned they should have done this a long time ago.

However, should RIM be serious about Africa, they need a very basic Blackberry smartphone, and I recommend that it comes with the following features:

- a flashlight
- superb battery life
- FM Radio
- a camera
- hardware QWERTY keyboard
- costs about the same as the Nokia Asha 302/303

RIM may skimp on some of the advanced features and apps that are usually bundled into regular Blackberry devices in order to deliver this, but I can assure them that the segment of the market that they are now after don’t care for those super-duper advanced features.

Such a basic Blackberry with the specifications above would translate to an easy win for RIM in the African smartphone market.

The Blackberry 8520 is not basic enough to deliver the African smartphone market to RIM. As a matter of fact, the above hypothetical basic Blackberry will also eat the lunch of many feature phones in the market.

Can it be done? I believe that it can. Will it be done? Only the brass at RIM can answer that.