GADGET REVIEWS Just another GADGET NEWS

Happy news for iPhone- and iPad-using fans of the $10 standard flavor of office/productivity suite Documents To Go: Yesterday, version 4.0 was released for iOS. The $15 Documents To Go Premium hit 4.0 last week.

These were the first updates of the application following Blackberry-maker RIM’s partial acquisition of Documents To Go creators DataViz. RIM had announced that it had reassigned the majority of the company’s employees to developing applications for Blackberry smartphones and the Blackpad tablet; this had cast some doubt on future updates of Documents to Go for other platforms.

Still, this may be the last major update Documents To Go will see for iOS. We can assume that 4.0 was mostly in the can when RIM bought DataViz’s assets early this month. If RIM does indeed let multi-platform development of Documents To Go slide, that creates an opening for many would-be/could-be competitors — including Microsoft Office.

DataViz keeps Documents To Go updates coming [MacWorld]

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Image from DataViz.com.

With its flagship mobile office suite Documents To Go, software company DataViz makes some of the most popular productivity applications for Blackberry, iPhone, iPad, Windows, Mobile, and Android. Now that RIM has bought the better chunk of DataViz to work for Blackberry, its days as a cross-platform mobile superstar might be numbered.

The deal had been reported as done on Friday by Crackberry.com, reportedly for $50m in cash, shortly after DataViz had announced that they were cancelling development for Palm. RIM confirmed the acquisition yesterday in a statement: “RIM has acquired some of the assets of DataViz and hired the majority of its employees to focus on supporting the BlackBerry platform.” Translation: it’s all ours, now.

Even if RIM just lets its client apps for other platforms drift along for a while, they’re still a good business: as CNET’s Jessica Dolcourt points out, “fifteen dollars a pop for iPhone business professionals buying Documents To Go for iPhone isn’t a business to quickly pull from.”

Still, having Documents To Go in-house offers RIM terrific leverage. They can use its InTact cloud-syncing software for all media files on the Blackberry; offer the premium version for free to enterprise customers; and package a new suite of productivity and enterprise apps for its forthcoming BlackPad tablet. By buying Documents To Go and its software team from DataViz, RIM just solidified its position as the “serious” and “productive” smartphone company.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Research In Motion’s BlackBerry Torch won’t be in hands of consumers till next week but a website has taken the device apart for a closer look.

CrackBerry.com disassembled the Torch for a look at the device’s slider mechanism that helps pull out the keyboard, the bumper antenna that attaches to the board and the magnesium tray that the Torch’s display is encased in.

RIM launched the Torch on Tuesday as a $200 touchscreen phone (with contract) that would be available exclusively on AT&T’s network. Unlike the Storm and Storm 2, earlier touchscreen models from RIM, the Torch has both a touch sensitive display and a keyboard packed together in a slider mechanism–similar to the Palm Pre.

The video below shows the Torch’s keyboard slider, which is apparently rated for 15,000 cycles.

Head over to CrackBerry.com to see the rest of the photos.

Photos: CrackBerry.com

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Research In Motion’s BlackBerry operating system is long overdue for a makeover. RIM fans have been waiting for the upcoming BlackBerry OS 6 to modernize the BlackBerry user interface. Now a video from the company shows what some of those features could look like.

BlackBerry OS 6 will have universal search, a better media interface, social feeds that bring together Facebook, Twitter and chatter from BlackBerry messenger, a richer web browser and easier to manage RSS feeds.

The new features shown in this video bring some polish to the BlackBerry. But much of what the company is touting–pinch and zoom in the browser, and search–are all what Android and Apple iPhone users have had for months.

Still this is a step forward and a sign that RIM is trying to keep pace with the market. The company is yet to announce the launch date for the OS 6.

Separately, RIM launched ‘BlackBerry Protect‘, a remote backup and find feature that’s similar to the service that Motorola and Apple offer for their phones. Like Motorola, RIM will offer the BlackBerry Protect for free so consumers can back up contacts, calendar, tasks and message and restore or locate their phone using a computer if the device is misplaced, lost or stolen.

BlackBerry Protect will be available in limited beta this week and is expected to be available to all users later this year.

Photo: (Honou/Flickr)

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews