When I got up this morning I, along with all other CanWest MediaWorks VideoPlayer beta testers, had an email informing us that the beta trial was coming to an end, however, CamWest is about to unveil their commercial product, bbTVTM.
If I am honest, I was not all the impressed with the CanWest’s VideoPlayer. In fact, I was kind of disappointed. Needless to say, I would not pay for bbTV even if I lived in Canada. The graphic at the top of this post is kind of telling. The video quality of VideoPlayer is just a tad bit better than that. Having to download entire video clips to your 8700 or 7130 is not the way to go either. Download times were not too bad on Verizon here in the States, but pretty horrible, from what I hear, on just about every other carrier.
CanWest and Sona Mobile, I give you props for being the first to offer Multimedia on the BlackBerry, however, you should get a team of engineers to figure out how to make your video stream and flat out look better. If there is ever a plan for bbTV to fly in the U.S., take a look at V Cast from Verizon, Sprint TV, and the ESPN phone. You will see that you still have a lot of work to do.
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CanWest MediaWorks VideoPlayer, Sona Mobile, V Cast, Sprint TV
So, I downloaded the CanWest MediaWorks’ VideoPlayer for BlackBerry powered by SONA Mobile yesterday and have had a chance to play around with with it a bit. I know that it is currently in beta, however, my first thought is that VideoPlayer is quite horrible compared to what you get on Windows Mobile and Palm devices.
My first issue is with the quality of the video playback. It is quite grainy and difficult to see. Now, I am only running VideoPlayer on a BlackBerry 7130e and video quality may be better on the more powerful BlackBerry 8700, however, it is pretty darn bad on the 7130e. The sound quality is OK, however, I didn’t see a way to adjust the volume during playback.
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Is the BlackBerry 7130v about to hit in the US? The folks over at Engadget Mobile seem to think so. In fact that think it is going to hit both in the US and the UK.
Judging by the Vodafone logo across the bottom of the Blackberry 7130v in the picture, I would say that it is fairly safe to assume that it will launch soon in the UK. I am not sure who will carry it here in the US, however, EM says that it will be T-Mobile.
We thought that T-Mobile would soon launch the BlackBerry 7130g on this here side of the pond but, seeing how T-Mobile likes to keep us guessing when it comes to their model numbers (remember the BlackBerry 8700t) the BlackBerry 7130v would fit right in.
BlackBerry 7130v, BlackBerry 7130g, Vodafone
Now that the BlackBerry 7130c is available from Cingular, T-Mobile users that just have to have the latest and greatest devices will wait about 4 days for the T-Mobile 7130g to be announced before they start buying 7130cs at full price and popping their T-Mobile SIM cards into them trying to get them to work on their network.
We haven’t heard the term “period of exclusivity” surrounding the launch of the BlackBerry 7130c and seeing how Sprint and Verizon in addition to Cingular have their 7130 models out we hope that it won’t be long before we see the BlackBerry 7130g from T-Mobile.
BlackBerry 7130g
Rumor has that Sprint is about to release the BlackBerry 7130 on it’s network May 28th. Blackberry Forums member Mr. Pink57 got the inside tip from his regional manager today and states the the Treo 700p will be released on the 28th as well.
Sprint BlackBerry 7130, Treo 700p
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.
As promised, here are several more BlackBerry 8700c pictures. According to BlackBerry Forums poster apa1906 thesethese BlackBerry 7130c pictures were taken with a Treo 650.
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