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Visit a Starbucks and you can now forget about cash or cards: Just flash your phone to pay.

Starting today, iPhone, iPod Touch and Blackberry users will be able to pay for coffee and coffee-themed products in 6,800 of Starbucks’ own stores and in 1,000 Starbucks in Target stores. The scheme has been tested since last year in a handful of stores, and is now available nationwide. Read More…

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The folks at Boy Genius Report got to spend ten minutes with RIM’s Julian Dolce, who gave them a thorough demo of the new BlackBerry PlayBook in action. It’s pretty damn sweet. Take a look:

The tablet looks very responsive, just like the iPad. The first really neat, I-love-it feature is the “docking” mode, which lets you minimize open apps into a Cover Flow-esque row of icons. This is a much nicer way to browse open apps than the tiny iOS multitasking dock at the bottom of the iPad’s screen, and video even carries on playing in the background (you can switch this off to save battery life).

Another way to switch apps is to actually swipe on the bezel around the screen. This could be neat or confusing, depending on implementation: swiping from the top bezel into the screen can bring down a menu, for example.

The PlayBook clearly takes its home-screen UI cues from iOS, but then departs, and adds in a lot of nice extras: notifications can be displayed in the menubar, for example. I’m actually pretty impressed, especially by device that is still months away from launch.

One thing, though, is conspicuously absent from the demo. Adobe Flash. Could it be that it doesn’t work so well, or was it just that the demo-room has no internet connection?

BlackBerry PlayBook hands-on video demo [Boy Genius]

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Source:wired.com

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Research in Motion announced this morning that it acquired Swedish interface design firm TAT, whose initials stand for The Astonishing Tribe.

RIM clearly plans to use the Swedes’ talent to beef up future versions of the BlackBerry user interface, which despite the addition of touchscreen tech in the last year still seems clunky and quaint compared to iOS, Android and Windows Phone 7. That could make future BlackBerry phones — not to mention the upcoming Playbook tablet — a whole lot more exciting.

That got us wondering: What might the future, TAT-enhanced BlackBerry UI look like?

We have no idea, but if these concept videos produced by TAT are any indication, we’re guessing your next BlackBerry might have:

• A touch- and motion-sensitive UI that reponds to your body’s movement as well as your fingers on the screen
• Eye-tracking technology to provide enhanced 3-D effects
• A slicker, easier-to-manage interface for switching between multiple apps
• Eye-popping 2-D and 3-D visuals

What do you think the future holds for BlackBerry? Let us know in the comments.

This page: TAT’s vision of the “Future of Screen Technology” includes some pretty eye-popping examples of touchscreens embedded into every aspect of daily life. A man wakes up and checks the news on a stretchable screen that starts out iPhone-sized, but which he pulls on to make it nearly iPad-sized. A woman brushes her teeth while reading headlines and checking her calendar on a touchscreen mirror. A man composes a sport publication on a translucent touchscreen display whose images he can flip around, so coworkers on the other side of the screen can see them. Cool stuff!

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See Also:

• RIM’s Fighting Apple On Every Front
• RIM Unveils Tethered Tablet, the BlackBerry PlayBook
• BlackBerry OS Makeover Promises Social Feeds, Better Search
• BlackBerry Maker Overhauls Phone Operating System
• BlackBerry 6 Coming to New Curve 3G

An award-winning writer specializing in technology, science and business, Dylan Tweney is a senior editor at Wired.com and publisher of tinywords, the world’s smallest magazine.
Follow @dylan20 and @gadgetlab on Twitter.

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Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Apple’s found itself in market cold wars with many tech companies, most notably Microsoft, Adobe and Google. But things are really heating up with smartphone maker RIM. In the last 24 hours, RIM has attacked Apple’s technical chops and software philosophy.

First, RIM’s Playbook team posted a video (see below) comparing its forthcoming tablet’s mobile browser to the iPad’s. Interestingly, the video highlighted not just the iPad’s lack of Flash (which everyone knows about), but also its slow page-loading speed, lack of pixel-by-pixel rendering fidelity and lack of support for high-quality JavaScript and HTML5 video.

The implication is clear: Steve Jobs has said that Apple isn’t putting resources behind Flash so it can focus on HTML5 and other open web standards. But the iPad’s implementation of those standards is far from perfect. RIM is now claiming that it has been able to put together a faster browser with better HTML5 performance — and, as a bonus, support for Flash — even though Apple’s had more time to get its browser right.

RIM’s HTML5 emphasis is key for its second attack on Apple, which CEO Jim Balsillie voiced at Tuesday’s Web 2.0 conference: Apple’s highly-touted app marketplace really just masks iOS’s subpar web performance.

“You dont need an app for the Web,” Balsillie said. Since many iOS apps are just frontend clients for web properties — stores, games, media companies, social networking sites — and RIM’s app strength is in documents and productivity, it’s a clear contrast.

Theres still a role for apps, but can you use your existing content? Balsillie asked web companies. Can you use your existing web assets? Do you need a set of proprietary tools to bring existing assets on to a device, or can you use known tools that you use for creating websites?

As for Apple catching up to Blackberry in the smartphone market, when asked what he would tell Jobs if he were there, Balsillie simply said, “You finally showed up.”

This isn’t the first time Balsillie has shot back at Jobs and Apple. After an October earnings call where Jobs crowed about passing RIM in quarterly smartphone sales and denigrated 7-inch tablets (a class that includes RIM’s Playbook) as overexpensive underperformers, Balsillie took to the official Blackberry blog, questioning Apple’s numbers (RIM’s fiscal quarters are slightly different from Apple’s), its software philosophy and Jobs’s treatment by the media.

“For those of us who live outside of Apples distortion field,” Balsillie wrote, “we know that 7-inch tablets will actually be a big portion of the market and we know that Adobe Flash support actually matters to customers who want a real web experience.” He added, “We think many customers are getting tired of being told what to think by Apple.”

It might be surprising that Balsillie taken such a hard line against Apple, considering that Android smartphones are arguably taking a bigger bite out of RIM’s core smartphone business, while Windows Phone 7 is trying to peel away customers too. But targeting Apple makes a lot of sense.

First, no company in technology is more visible than Apple and no person in technology is more recognizable than Steve Jobs. Shooting down Apple and the iPad is news, and doing it on the basis of HTML5 and web support is a strike at the heart of what Apple has staked its claim on. It’s like Pepsi beating Coke in a sip test.

Second, the iPad surprised everyone — including Apple — by its adoption rate among business users. RIM, which has traditionally been very strong in the business world, is eager to stop that trend in its tracks, before companies that were RIM-only decide to go iOS-only.

Finally, Blackberry offers a lot more smartphone models, at different price points and in different form factors, than it did when the iPhone was announced. It’s rebranding itself in the consumer market as a company that’s all about the web and communication. This week’s attacks were aimed at driving that point home.

No more of what Jobs once called “the baby web” for baby-sized smartphone screens. Email, Messenger, text entry, and the full web: that’s the space Blackberry wants to occupy in the customer’s imagination.

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Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

RIM has released a video pitching the upcoming PlayBook tablet against the current iPad, and it’s pretty impressive. Clearly the tests were chosen to favor RIM’s own device, but even so, it beats the iPad handily in each one.

Loading a regular webpage, for example, sees the PlayBook finished with everything, rendering and all, while the iPad still ticks along. Next, it’s on to Flash, which the iPad doesn’t do at all. Smartly, RIM chose to use a non-video serving site (in this case Adidas) as most video providers offer iPad-compatible streams as an alternative to Adobe’s proprietary plugin. Even so, the animation on the Flash site stutters noticeably (this is probably Flash’s fault, not the PlayBook’s).

Then we move to Javascript and HTML5, and while the example shown clearly favors the PlayBook, there are plenty of sites where the iPad works great.

Still, the raw rendering speed of the PlayBook’s browser is obvious, and the Flash support will make it useful for browsing restaurant websites on the go (why do all restaurant sites use Flash?). RIM must be proud. It must also be aware that the PlayBook won’t be out until next year, when it will be up against the iPad 2, not the current iPad.

BlackBerry PlayBook and iPad Comparison: Web Fidelity [Blackberry YouTube Channel]

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Source:wired.com

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If you like Blackberry’s physical form factor and Android’s app marketplace, and you want to spend less than $200, Motorola’s Droid Pro was tailor-made for you. Verizon’s online preorders for the feature-packed smartphone start tomorrow, Nov. 9th; it will ship and be available in stores Nov 18th.

Physically, the Droid Pro has a 3.1″ touchscreen along with a full QWERTY-keyboard, a 5MP still and video camera, 4 GB of memory (2GB internal), Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity and a 1 GHz processor. On the software side, it’s running Android 2.2 (Froyo), Adobe Flash Player 10.1, with QuickOffice’s productivity and both Google’s or Exchange’s push email, calendar and contact support built-in.

Verizon and Motorola also tout the device’s security features (VPN integration, remote wipe, and complex password support, with Device and SD card encryption in early 2011) and global-readiness for road warriors, offering voice and data in over 200 countries.

The Droid Pro costs $279.99 up front with a two-year service agreement, with a $100 Verizon debit card following later in the mail. Net, it’s $20 less than iPhone 4, all the new Windows Phone 7 handsets, the Samsung Galaxy and even Motorola’s own Droid X (which still ships with Android 2.1).

But the Droid Pro’s $180 is quite a bit more than all of Verizon’s Blackberries, which range between free and $150 out-of-pocket with the same two-year contract and data plan terms. A few users might like what they see and being willing to pay a little more than the Blackberry or a little less than those other smartphones.

DROID PRO By Motorola Now Available [Verizon]
DROID Does Business [Verizon]

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Source:wired.com

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AT&T’s Windows Phone 7 handsets drop today, but if you navigate past the company’s big splash page, you’d never know it.

That’s because like most other phone retailers, AT&T’s online store drills down by manufacturer and device type (e.g., smartphone, feature phone, tablet/computer), but not operating system. The only smartphone OS it currently separates out is Android, grouped with categories like “free,” “slider” and “refurbished.”

MoreWindowsPhone7 coverage on Gadget Lab:

• Samsung’s Windows Phone 7 Packs Intuitive, Visual Punch
• Microsoft Announces First Windows Phone 7 Handsets
• A Humbled Microsoft Prepares to Boot UpWindowsPhone7
• Microsoft Blends Zune Media, Xbox Live Into NewPhoneOS
• Microsoft’s Mobile Strategy Takes Aim at Apple, Google
• Microsoft TellsWindowsPhone7’s App Story

While tech-savvy consumers increasingly think of smartphones in terms of competing operating systems, wireless companies still think of their own relationship with their subscribers first, manufacturers second and platforms a distant third.

It’s even starker if you’re an existing customer looking to upgrade a mobile phone; an AT&T customer trying to find an Android phone has to navigate a long list of smartphones, while Apple and Blackberry’s models jump to the top.

Verizon Wireless’s online store does break phones down by operating system if you mouse over the “Phones & Devices” menu. The choices are Android, Apple iOS, Blackberry, Palm WebOS and “Windows phone” — the last something of a misnomer, since Verizon only offers older Windows Mobile devices, not the new Windows Phone 7.

This arguably benefits companies like Apple and Blackberry, who enjoy high name recognition and whose platforms are only available on their own branded devices. It also benefits particular smartphones, like Motorola’s Droid on Verizon, who are featured prominently on store websites and network advertisements.

But the balance is tipping in favor of the operating systems. With Windows Phone 7 now offering devices from multiple manufacturers on AT&T and T-Mobile, Verizon selling iOS devices like the iPad (and perhaps soon the iPhone) and Android’s share of the market growing an extraordinary rate, wireless companies will be hard-pressed not to put a device’s operating system front and center — not buried at the bottom of a tech sheet next to its Bluetooth spec and its camera’s megapixel count.

AT&T has made a big bet on its support of Windows Phone 7 — I wouldn’t be surprised if we see those menus get an upgrade soon.

Images: screenshots from AT&T Wireless Store by Tim Carmody.

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Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Late yesterday, Verizon and Motorola announced a new Android smartphone with a front-facing QWERTY keyboard, sleek black business-casual look and a 3.1″ multitouch multimedia screen. The Droid Pro is expected to attract a big chunk of Verizon’s existing Android and Blackberry high-end and business users when released in the coming weeks.

My first, beloved smartphone was a first-generation Blackberry Bold; for me, Motorola’s Droid Pro is clearly the handsomest Android phone I have ever seen. (Yes, I like it more than the R2-D2 Droid.) The major differences between the new Droid Pro and my old Blackberry Bold are Android apps and a touchscreen. As long as the Droid Pro’s keyboard is a champ like the Bold’s, the touchscreen isn’t too teeny and its yet-unannounced pricing isn’t too obscene, we can say that it’s improved in every way.

The Droid Pro’s specs are also impressive: Android 2.2., a 1GHz processor with 2GB of storage, Adobe Flash Player 10.1 and support for both Exchange and Google email and calendar programs. It can act as a 3G mobile hotspot (although Verizon has disabled that functionality for current Droid users) or stream media from a server over a Wi-Fi network using the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) standard. Its 5MP camera can shoot still images and video, so you might even have something on your phone worth streaming back.

When the Droid Pro’s finally released, upgraders should make sure they don’t throw their old phones away: Verizon Wireless today announced a new trade-in/recycling program that will appraise your old phone, refurbish or recycle it and offer you a Verizon Gift Card. Even non-Verizon phones can be traded in, so network-switchers can take advantage of it too.

Price and release date for the Droid Pro have yet to be announced; when released, it will be available through Verizon Wireless’s online and retail outlets. You can fully expect that Verizon’s people will be happy to sell you one.

Image from Motorola.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Skype released its long-awaited app for Android. It’s free and available for download now at Skype’s website or the Android Marketplace for devices running Android OS 2.1 and above. But US users will have to wait for Skype calls over 3G.

Outside the US, the new Skype app for Android works over both Wi-Fi and 3G, features free Skype-to-Skype calls and group IMs, and paid US or international calls to any mobile or landline number using Skype credits or a subscription plan.

If you use a carrier inside the US, however, 3G calling is disabled, as was initially the case with Skype for iPhone. Video calling, which is supported on Skype’s desktop apps, is not available for mobile. It also doesn’t appear that you can receive calls on Skype for Android — only IMs.

Skype for Android works using the same Skype account as your desktop and autoloads your contact list. You can also search for and add new contacts within the application.

Unfortunately, some users have already had difficulty using the new app. Currently, Skype doesn’t work on Samsung’s Galaxy S, although a fix is promised for the near future. According to Skype, the app has been tested only on HTC and Motorola phones running Android 2.1 and above. The app also doesn’t work on Android phones with screen resolutions below 480×320 pixels, including the HTC Wildfire.

Some Android users on Verizon have already been able to access to a mobile Skype application through Verizon’s media store. However, Verizon’s Skype app worked only over the 3G network, and calls to mobile and landline phones in the US counted towards a user’s wireless minutes. In the new Android app, all Skype calls to non-Skype numbers use Skype credit.

Skype has an application for iPhone with similar functionality over Wi-Fi and 3G; Blackberry users are currently limited to Verizon’s mobile Skype application.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

When Research in Motion introduced its tablet, the PlayBook, on Monday, it was diving into a market already dominated by Apple’s iPad.

But there’s other competition too, either already on the market or soon to be: The 5-inch Dell Streak, which is available now; and Samsung’s 7-inch Galaxy Tab, which isn’t.

Since the iPad started shipping in April, Apple has sold more than 3 million devices. In June, Dell introduced the Streak, a device billed as a tablet but priced like a phone. Samsung hopes to bring its tablet, the Galaxy Tab to market in time for the holiday season shopping.

RIM announced its latest device, the 7-inch PlayBook at its developer conference Monday.

The PlayBook won’t be available till early next year. But it’s not too soon to see how its promised specs stack up with the main competitors it will face when it comes out.

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.table ul#label_row{background:#666;color:#FFF;}

• Tablet
• Apple iPad
• BlackBerry PlayBook
• Samsung Galaxy Tab
• Dell Streak

• Display
• 9.7 inches, 1024 x 768 pixels
• 7 inches, 1024 x 600 pixels
• 7 inches, 1024 x 600 pixels
• 5 inches, 800 x 480 pixels

• Processor
• Apple A4 1 GHz
• 1 GHz dual-core
• 1 GHz ‘Hummingbird’
• Snapdragon QSD280 1 GHz

• Weight
• 1.5 lbs
• 0.9 lbs
• 0.8 lbs
• 0.48 lbs

• Dimensions (H x W x D)
• 9.5″ x 7.4″ x 0.5″
• 5.1″ x 7.6″ x 0.4″
• 7.5 ” x 4.7 ” x 0.4″
• 6″ x 3.1 ” x 0.4″

• Storage/Camera
• 16GB, 32GB, 64GB; no camera
• 16 GB, 32 GB; 5 MP rear camera, 3 MP front camera, video recording
• 16 GB, 32 GB; 3 MP rear camera, 1.3 MP front camera, video recording
• 16 GB microSD card; MP rear camera, VGA front camera, video recording

• Operating System
• Apple iOS
• QNX
• Android 2.2
• Android 1.6

• Connectivity
• Wi-Fi + AT&T 3G (no contract) + Bluetooth
• Wi-Fi + Bluetooth
• Wi-Fi + 3G (on AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile) Bluetooth
• Wi-Fi + AT&T 3G (on contract) + Bluetooth

• Internet
• No Flash Support
• Supports Flash 10.1
• Supports Flash 10.1
• No Flash Support (Flash software updates could come later)

• Battery
• 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching video, or listening to music
• N/A
• 4,000 mAh rated for 7 hours of movie play
• 1,530mAh battery, rated for up to 9.8hrs talk time

• Price
• $500-$700 (for Wi-Fi only). $630 – $830 for Wi-Fi + 3G
• N/A
• N/A
• $560 with no contract, $300 with a two-year contract

• Availability
• Shipping since April
• End of the year
• Early 2011
• Shipping since August

• Apps
• iPad + iPhone apps through Apple app store
• New app store will be launched by RIM
• Android Market Apps
• Android Market Apps

*battery life as specified by the manufacturer

Photo: BlackBerry PlayBook/Research In Motion

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Image by Charlie Sorrel and Tim Carmody

There’s a lot of gadget news about Amazon today, so we’re going to take these items one at a time, in increasing order of uncertainty:

1. Amazon launches Beta version of Kindle for the Web. Think YouTube for books. You can preview short selections of books in your browser, embed them on web sites with a little bit of JavaScript, and customize the size (it won’t automatically keep the aspect ratio) or even add your Amazon Associate tag to the embed. Click through and it takes you to the book’s entry on the Amazon Kindle store. Level of certainty: This you can actually use right now.

   KindleReader.LoadSample({containerID: ‘kindleReaderDiv’, asin: ‘B003X28734′, width: ’640′, height: ’346′});

2. Amazon announces Kindle app for forthcoming RIM Playbook tablet. Makes perfect sense given yesterday’s Playbook announcement, natural extension of the Kindle app for Blackberry, iPad, and other platforms. Level of certainty: Actual press release from Amazon after high-profile announcement from RIM. I suppose a bolt of lightning could strike one or both companies tomorrow. But you can’t see it today.
3. Amazon to Launch Android App Store, which my pal Charlie Sorrel already let you know about. Level of certainty: Well-reported rumor. But it makes sense — Amazon sells a lot of stuff, and there are a lot of Android app stores — and it’s confirmed by multiple developer sources. Don’t be surprised if you hear details soon.
4. Amazon to Build Own Branded Android Tablet. Okay, so, a source comes to you with what seem like two wild, fan-fiction stories about Amazon and Android. You ask around, and one of them — an Amazon App Store — turns out to probably be in the works. Is the other story true?
   
   On the one hand, again — Amazon sells a lot of digital products online, not just e-books: movies, games, music. And it’s not hard to make an Android tablet. In fact, at this point, Amazon has more hardware-production experience with the Kindle than some of the companies that are coming forward with pretty solid products. Add an App Store and it starts to look pretty appealing.

   On the other hand, Amazon’s built up good brand identification with the Kindle, e-books, and E Ink. Will they turn around and say, “oh yeah, multimedia tablets are really awesome, but not, um, more awesome than a Kindle, I mean, um, why not buy both?” Just seems a little surprising. Level of certainty: Pretty cloudy. The source was right about an app store, but as they say, a stopped clock can be right twice a day. If Amazon releases some kind of other media hardware, whether using Android or anything else, it’s equally likely to be a TV box or a smartphone or something else that equally plays to their strength while being a little more differentiated from a dedicated reading machine than a tablet.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

SAN FRANCISCO — BlackBerry maker Research In Motion is jumping into the tablet arena with the ‘PlayBook,’ which will have a 7-inch screen and is designed for both consumers and business users.

“This is an ultra mobile, always on, ultra thin device,” Mike Lazaridis, co-CEO of Research In Motion told attendees at the ongoing BlackBerry developer conference. “The first time you hold it, it just feels right and you want to take it everywhere you go.”

The BlackBerry PlayBook is 0.3 inches (9.7 mm) thick, making it thinner than the iPad’s 0.5 inches thickness.

It will include Wi-Fi but no 3G connectivity, making it a tablet that will have to be paired with BlackBerry phones for 3G internet access. RIM did not comment on whether the wireless tethering option will be available with other smartphones too. But it is promising 3G and 4G models in the future.

The device will have a high-resolution 1024 x 600 pixels wide screen display and will be lightweight at just 0.9 lbs, compared to the iPad’s 1.5 lbs.

The PlayBook will run on a 1 GHz dual-core processor and come with 1 GB RAM. It will also include two cameras: a 5 megapixel camera at the back, and a 3 megapixel front-facing camera. The PlayBook also has video recording capability.

The tablet will run QNX, an operating system from a company that Research In Motion bought last year. It will include a HDMI video output and a USB port.

RIM did not announce pricing or exact availability for the PlayBook. The device is expected to hit retail stores early next year.

BlackBerry’s PlayBook the latest challenger to Apple’s iPad, which launched in April. Apple has sold more than 3 million iPads so far, while rivals have been slow to meet the challenge. Dell and Samsung have announced their own tablets, though Samsung’s Galaxy Tab tablet has yet to hit the market. Meanwhile, Microsoft and HP have both canceled planned tablet projects.

RIM has one advantage: The BlackBerry platform is still the number one smartphone operating system because of the company’s strength with business users. Because the PlayBook is tied to the BlackBerry, that may give it a leg up on the market.

BlackBerry’s tablet also hopes to beat rivals by offering a rich web experience, multitasking, a speedy processor, and by attracting developers and publishers to the device.

The PlayBook will support full Flash 10.1, have hardware-accelerated video and 1080p HD video.

Lazaridis hopes the PlayBook will become a favorite among business users.

“The BlackBerry PlayBook, just like the BlackBerry smartphones, will become the enterprise standard,” he told developers.

The PlayBook will support multi-tasking and a native SDK (Software Developers Kit) will be available for the device.

“The PlayBook will be an incredible gaming platform for game designers and a great platform for publishers,” says Dan Dodge, the founder of QNX who is also being billed as the inventor of the PlayBook tablet. “We are giving everyone the full web experience on a very powerful platform.”

Here’s RIM’s preview video for the BlackBerry PlayBook:

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

The tablet wars is set to heat up. BlackBerry maker Research In Motion may announce its tablet next week at the company’s developer conference, which starts Monday in San Francisco, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

RIM has already trademarked ‘BlackPad’ and ‘SurfBook’ and it is likely that the new tablet from the company could carry one of these names.

Last month, Chinese language paper Apple Daily reported that RIM has chosen Taiwanese notebook manufacturer Quanta to produce at least two million tablets this year. RIM and Quanta were said to be targeting a $500 price tag for the BlackPad to make it competitive against Apples iPad.

RIM’s new tablet announcement, if it happens next week, will come just weeks after the debut of the Samsung’s 7-inch tablet called the Galaxy Tab.

Since Apple introduced the iPad in April, tablets have made a big comeback and become of the hottest consumer gadgets of the year. Apple has sold more than 3 million iPads. In June, Dell launched the Streak, a tablet with a 5-inch screen. Samsung has already said its tablet will be available on all the four major U.S. carriers — AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile–but hasn’t announced exact pricing or availability.

BlackBerry’s new tablet will be different from its peers. It will support Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 3G connectivity but through tethering the device to a Blackberry smartphone. Essentially, the tablet has been designed as a “companion” to the phone, according to earlier reports.

The BlackBerry tablet would likely have a 7-inch screen and run a new operating system designed by QNX Software, a company that RIM acquired earlier this year, says the Journal.

RIM has been trying to go beyond its core audience of business users and attract more consumers, especially with the launch of devices such as the recent touchscreen phone Torch. A BlackBerry tablet seems like yet another step in that direction.

Photo: (Sean Hobson/Flickr)

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

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

Windows Phone 7 Office Image via Microsoft.

Traditionally, Microsoft has been a software company, leveraging its office suites and operating systems, but selling applications for any compatible hardware and platform. For smartphones in particular, its strategy has been to supply the software and let other companies worry about developing the phones. So why not go all the way and sell its software for every device on every platform?

That’s what Business Insider’s Dan Frommer proposes the company do: “Microsoft should develop Office apps for the iPad, Android, Chrome OS, BlackBerry tablet, and any other computing platform that is likely to become popular over the next 5-10 years,” adding that “if Microsoft wants to keep people tied into its Office suite, it needs to go where the people are going.”

Office is integrated into the forthcoming Windows Phone 7 OS, but would compete on several fronts in smartphone and tablet platforms, including iWork on Apple’s iPad, Google Docs on the mobile web, and Dataviz’s multi-platform Documents To Go, just acquired by Blackberry maker RIM.

Frommer sees RIM’s purchase of Documents To Go as a defense against the possibility of Microsoft introducing an Office app for Blackberry. Ironically, if RIM stops active development of Documents To Go for other platforms, that could create just the multi-platform opening needed to entice Microsoft to swoop in.

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

Gadget lovers have long held to the secret belief that the right camera, smartphone or large-aperture lens will make them sexier.

Now dating site OK Cupid has proof.

According to OK Cupid’s survey of 552,000 user pictures, digital SLRs make you look more attractive, Panasonic cameras make you sexier than Nikons, while using a flash will make you look 7 years older, and large-aperture lens’ make you look a lot more attractive.

And iPhone users have more sexual partners than BlackBerry or Android owners. By age 30, the average male iPhone user has had about 10 partners while female iPhone users have had 12. By contrast, BlackBerry users hover around 8 partners and Android users have a mere 6.

As the blog’s author’s wryly observe: “Finally, statistical proof that iPhone users aren’t just getting fucked by Apple.”

That should give iPhone and iPad users some comfort for being considered ‘selfish elites,’ as another recent survey found.

OK Cupid has been analyzing the behavior of the site’s millions of users for some time, and has discovered many interesting tidbits: People tend to lie on their profiles, people’s political preferences change as they age, and men can increase their chances of getting a date by being open to older women. The site’s massive dataset, huge volume of activity, and interesting slicing and dicing combine to produce some keen observations on human nature.

But for gadget heads, there’s no more pertinent observation than (hard) data. The Panasonic Micro 4/3 camera will make you look far more attractive than a Canon DSLR, which in turn is better than a Nikon or Sony DSLR. And forget about cameraphones: Android, Nokia, BlackBerry and Windows phones all make you look less attractive, with Motorola phones at the absolute bottom of the list.

Similarly, the type of camera you wield makes a big difference. There’s a dramatic illustration showing how the same woman looks photographed with a cameraphone, a point-and-shoot camera, and an SLR. That makes sense: As we’ve explained before, larger image sensors give you better-quality images.

Along the same lines, a larger-aperture photo lets you put the background out of focus, increasing the apparent attractiveness of the person you’re taking a picture of.

So if you wanted an excuse to buy a fancier camera with a bigger lens, OK Cupid’s got all the rationale you need.

As for switching from Android or BlackBerry to an iPhone? Well, that’s up to you. Unlike with the photos, it’s hard to tell whether iPhone use is the cause, or the effect, of having more notches in one’s bedpost.

OkTrends, via EthanZ

Image: via OKCupid

Follow us for real-time tech news: Dylan Tweney and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Not only does a “death grip” cut into your phone’s ability to connect, it also increases the amount of radio-frequency radiation it’s pumping out.

Now you can see exactly how much more radiation your head is absorbing, with an app that estimates the RF output of your smartphone in real time.

Israeli mobile software company Tawkon Monday released a video that shows its app measuring the impact a “death grip” can have on a mobile device’s radiation. Using the app, an iPhone 4, BlackBerry Bold, and Google Nexus One all show a significant increase in RF radiation when held tightly in the user’s palm.

That’s to be expected: Whenever a cellphone has difficulty connecting with a cell tower, it increases its RF output in order to maintain the connection. Anything that interferes with that connection — be it a death grip, stepping into an elevator, or locating yourself in a low-signal area — will increase any phone’s RF output.

So is Tawkon suggesting that the infamous “death grip” can actually be detrimental to the user’s health?

“Tawkon doesnt advocate that the death grip is necessarily unsafe, because final answers on the health ramifications of mobile phone usage wont be known for decades, until researchers have had that time to track long-term usage and impact,” Tawkon co-founder Amit Lubovsky told Wired. ”However, recent studies do indicate a health impact of mobile phone radiation on mobile phone users, especially on people whose usage is termed excessive and cumulative. Until the long-term studies are concluded (decades from now), Tawkon believes consumers should have the right and ability to minimize their exposure to mobile phone radiation.”

Most ongoing studies cannot yet draw a causal link between cell phone usage and physical disorders, and Tawkon should know, since the company follows many of these studies.

The World Health Organization’s Interphone study, <a href="http://www.iarc.fr/en/media-centre/pr/2010/pdfs/pr200_E.pdf
“>released in May, could draw no causal link between glioma/meningioma and cell phone use. However, it noted, “There were suggestions of an increased risk of glioma, and much less so meningioma, in the highest decile of cumulative call time, in subjects who reported usual phone use on the same side of the head as their tumour and, for glioma, for tumours in the temporal lobe.”

A 2009 study from the Environmental Working Group measured the radiation from more than 1,200 mobile phone models. While the EWG study could not draw any conclusions as to the risks of mobile phone use, it did provide the beginnings of the group’s database of mobile phones and their emissions.

Currently, the group ranks the Motorola Droid, iPhone 3GS, Google Nexus One, BlackBerry Bold 9700, and Samsung Instinct HD as the top five most radio-emissive phones. All of them, however, fall within the FCC’s acceptable SAR (specific absorption rate) limit of 1.6 watts per kilogram (1.6 W/kg).

The Tawkon application gets all its information about the phone’s radiation from the cellular protocol stack that manages the baseband modem.

“We use this information in the form of different RF parameters extracted from the device itself,” Lubovsky said. “We then take into consideration the proximity of the phone to the user –for example if the phone is held against the users ear or on the users lap– to help determine the actual exposure level at any given time.”

“As part of the production procedure we have, each device goes through a long calibration process in an RF lab prior to its release to make sure that our measurements meet the actual values,” he continued.

Tawkon is only available on the BlackBerry platform via App World, Mobihand, and Handango, but not on Android or iOS as shown in the video.

“It works on the iPhone but were waiting for Apple approval to make it publicly available,” Lubovsky said. “Android is expected to launch very soon.”

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

Cellphone battery dead? No problem: Just borrow a charger from a friend. Oh, wait — you can’t, because your friend doesn’t have the same phone as you, and his charger won’t work with your phone.

That annoyance will end next year, for Europeans at least. Thanks to the efforts of the European Commission, most cellphones sold in Europe will have a one-size-fits-all charger starting in 2011. So far, 10 major cellphone makers, including Apple, Motorola, Samsung and Research In Motion, have signed on to the agreement.

American users will have to wait. Without a government agency setting a deadline, it is up to handset makers to make the switch to a single standard. All consumers can do is let their old chargers gather dust in a drawer somewhere, while hoping manufacturers will eventually converge on a standardized charger.

“For the FCC, this is probably number 5,000 on their list and it is legislative priority number 10,000 at this point,” says Joe Banos, chief operating officer for Wilson Electronics, which makes cellphone boosters and antennas. “We believe the U.S. will ultimately follow Europe here, but the question is when.”

Today each cellphone ships with its own charger. Different companies use different connectors — and often different models from the same company do too, making it difficult for users to borrow a charger. And when it’s time to toss the phone, the charger goes into the bin too.

A universal charger means consumers don’t have to get a new charger with every mobile phone. As a bonus, it will be easier to borrow a charger when in need.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Android is now the fastest-growing smartphone OS in both overall share and sales of new devices — and for the first time, people in the U.S. bought more Android phones than iPhones.

According to a Nielsen study released Monday, 27% of all purchasers of smartphones in the past 6 months bought an Android phone, up from 17% in a poll from the year’s first quarter. The Android OS jumped to 14% of overall smartphone share, just behind Windows Mobile at 15%. Apple dropped from 27% to 23% of new smartphone sales, but kept its 28% second-place position in the total smartphone user base.

The report is probably most troubling for Blackberry, which while still first overall in total smartphone users and new sales, has seen a steady decline in its share of new purchasers, from 45% a year ago to 33% in the recent quarter. Only 42% of Blackberry owners say that they want to purchase a Blackberry next, with a full 50% leaning towards either an iPhone or Android.

Nielsen’s data is not broken down by carrier, but it’s no coincidence that Verizon has heavily promoted the Motorola Droid and other Android phones over both Blackberry and Windows smartphones, while Motorola has in turn pushed against the iPhone, which is exclusive to AT&T. (See Motorola’s new ad campaign for the Droid, “No Jacket Required.”)

John Gruber, whose popular blog Daring Fireball is mostly about Apple news and products, commented: “How much of Androids U.S. success is attributable to Verizons strength as the number one U.S. carrier? I.e., how different would these numbers look in an alternate universe where Verizon, not AT&T, is the iPhones exclusive U.S. carrier?”

Gruber also noted that by only counting smartphones, Nielsen’s statistics exclude the iPad and iPod touch, which run Apple’s iOS; including these non-phone mobile devices would give a better picture of the total market for developers targeting each of these platforms. But it’s unclear whether Apple benefits more by having devices like the iPad counted with smartphones or laptops: another new report by IDC shows that if iPads are added to the company’s notebook sales, Apple jumps to third place in the global mobile computing market.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Dropbox, the file-syncin’, cloud-storin’ service for the cognoscenti and the extremely good-looking, has released a beta for the Blackberry. Currently limited to 1,000 users (and already fully subscribed), the beta essentially brings gigabytes of remote storage to your crackberry.

Dropbox is a service which syncs any files in the Dropbox folder on your computer with 2GB free space in the cloud (you can pay for more). This is at once a backup (with versioned saves of files, so you can rescue a file you wrongly edited) and as a sharing service.

Like the versions for iPhone and Android, Dropbox for Blackberry lets you open files, stream movies and music and view pictures right on your handheld. You can also upload files: pictures taken with the Blackberry’s camera, for example.

It’s too late to sign up for this wave of the beta, but hopefully this signals that the fully-baked app, which will run on OS 5.0 devices, will be launched soon.

Dropbox for Blackberry Beta Begins [Dropbox Forums via <a href="http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2010/07/31/dropbox-launches-a-limited-beta-version-for-the-blackberry/
">Boy Genius]

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews