Globe Telecom and Research In Motion yesterday announced the new BlackBerry 8700gTM. Operating on Globes high-speed EDGE network, the BlackBerry 8700g provides the ultimate blend of performance, design and function, featuring a completely re-engineered device platform with expanded memory and a powerful Intel XScale processor.
The EDGE-enabled BlackBerry 8700g features a full QWERTY keyboard, 64 MB flash memory and 16 MB SDRAM, offering enhanced data and voice functionality in a sleek design. The BlackBerry 8700g also includes premium phone features such as quad-band support, dedicated “send”, “end” and “mute” keys, smart dialing, conference calling, speed dialing, speakerphone, and Bluetooth support for hands-free headsets and car kits.
Read the enitire press release…
Globe Telecom
I spent a good half-hour or so playing with the Mobile ESPN phone from Sanyo at Best Buy last week and all I can say is that Research in Motion should have their people up in Waterloo talk to the ESPN people down in Bristol and figure out a way to come out with a new BlackBerry Mobile ESPN Edition device.
I am already thinking about carrying a second mobile device so that I can make calls while using the wireless services on the BlackBerry. When Mobile ESPN comes to Verizon I am sold.
If these two companies ever come together to offer Mobile ESPN service on a BlackBerry device I think that you would see existing sports loving BlackBerry users upgrading to whatever new units support the service faster than anything else RIM could add to the BlackBerry, less maybe digi-cams and an MP3 player.
My guess is the BlackBerry 8700 and 7130 series devices have all the horsepower they need to run Mobile ESPN for live updates. It probably wouldn’t take much to add the multimedia capabilities needed for streaming video.
It is inevitable that someone will eventually integrate Mobile ESPN into an existing smart-phone. Research in Motion may as well be first to do it.
Mobile ESPN
Charlotte, North Carolina based SunCom Wireless and Research in Motion today announced the availability of the BlackBerry 8700g at all SunCom Wireless stores. The new BlackBerry 8700 offering will run on SunCom’s GSM/GPRS EDGE network.
Via TMCnet
SunCom Wireless, EDGE
The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) today announced that Research in Motion President and co-CEO, Mike Lazaridis, will give the opening keynote address at GLOBALCOMM, TIA’s communications marketplace and summit taking place June 4th thru the 6th in Chicago.
Mike Lazaridis has been a major force behind the wave of mobile innovation that has produced global efficiencies for companies and dramatically enhanced connectivity for consumers and business professionals,” TIA President Matt Flanigan said. “One of the major themes of GLOBALCOMM is ‘global communications driving global commerce 365 days a year’, and RIM’s BlackBerry platform is a leading example of the 600 plus TIA member companies making that theme a reality. We’re excited to have him kick-off our event as GLOBALCOMM’s opening keynoter.
Read more here and here…
Mike Lazaridis, GLOBALCOMM, TIA
For all the folks in Waterloo, Ontario who think up all the new features that come out in next-generation BlackBerry devices, I have a request. Allow me to talk on the BlackBerry and send & receive email at the same time.
This request may not seem all the important to BlackBerry users that don’t fly all that often, or when they do, have the luxury of taking direct flights. For those of us, however, that have to fly out of regional airports, almost always having to take a connecting flight, a BlackBerry that allows you to talk while pulling down email would be a thing of beauty.
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Well, it appears that BlackBerry 8700g from T-Mobile is available and from the looks of this picture is actually shipping, however, we still haven’t heard an official announcment from either T-Mobile or Research in Motion.
There are rumors floating various message boards that Sprint is going to release their version of the BlackBerry 7130 sometime this month. I haven’t been able to confirm this however, Sprintusers forum member Walkie Talkie User has posted a list of all the new phones coming out on Sprint in Q2 and Q3. Low and behold the BlackBerry 7130 is listed and is supposed to come out in April.
CNet is reviewing it, UShopWireless is selling it, everybody is talking about it. Today could be the day that T-Mobile and RIM actually announce it. We, of course, are talking about the long awaited BlackBerry 8700g.
Many BlackBerry users, myself included, believe that T-Mobile’s unlimited data plan is the best plan available so you can expect a large number devices upgraded to the 8700g. Some T-Mobile users were so eager to get their hands on a BlackBerry 8700 that they actually bought the BlackBerry 8700c from Cingular, had the device unlocked, and used it on T-Mobile’s network. It looks like the rest of us who were a bit more patient will be able to get a BlackBerry 8700g that works on T-Mobile’s network right of the box very soon.
For as long as we have been waiting for BlackBerry Connect to come to the Treo, it looks like the promise has actually been fulfilled. Earlier today, BlackBerry maker Research in Motion and Singapore based operator SingTel announced the availability of Blackberry Connect for the Palm Treo 650.
SingTel is not the first operator to announce BlackBerry Connect, however they are the first to offer BlackBerry Connect on the Treo, arguably the number two smartphone/PDA device to the BlackBerry. This announcement has some analyst wondering if BlackBerry Connect will actually cut into Blackberry device sales.
The short answer to this question is ‘Probably’, however I don’t think that this is necessarily a bad thing for RIM. In fact, I think that for RIM to move to the next stage of it’s evolution, it has to start to transform from a hardware provider, RIM makes over 70% of it’s revenue from device sales, to a service provider.
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