Switched On: Moving forward with leaning back

<div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> <em>Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.</em></div><div class="image-container" dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="DNP Switched On Moving forward with leaning back" data-src-height="412" data-src-width="620" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/02/htconehandson2-1361297526-1361568248.jpg" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> Just a few months have passed between the introduction of the Droid DNA and the new HTC One, but it seems that HTC has been turned upside down in that time. While the Droid DNA was introduced in conjunction with Verizon and can't be a wholly representative picture of how HTC might have introduced the device otherwise, it was a spec- and design-driven product -- a 5-inch, 1080p display with a 440-ppi density that appeared to spill over onto sides that included a microperforation.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> In contrast, little was said about the HTC One hardware itself until later in the device's introduction, surprising because the HTC One is not only the most attractive handset the company has ever built, but also certainly one of the most attractive on the market. While it is an Android device, the casing builds upon the tapered, Windows Phone-inspired 8X, substituting aluminum for polycarbonate. That said, there is also the spillover glass effect found on the Droid DNA. The HTC One retains the 1080p display found in the Droid DNA. However, since the screen is smaller, the pixel density is even higher (468 ppi) than in that record-breaking device.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> Key specs continue to influence the HTC One, sometimes in surprising ways. Many companies have declared the megapixel wars over through the years, but few have actually stood behind that claim by reducing resolution as HTC has with its 4-megapixel "UltraPixel" camera. Other hardware choices such as the integrated stereo speakers and dual microphones also enabled key functionality and differentiation.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> However, what provides direction for that functionality -- indeed, what HTC devoted the first half of its introduction to -- is the software experience. A theme that ran through the features was the way the One will take what is often a lean-in, 1-foot experience and imbue it with elements of a bigger-screen, lean-back experience. Examples of this included:</div><h3 dir="ltr" id="title0" style="text-align: left;"> BlinkFeed</h3><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> While HTC Sense has previously sought to be a bubble-up experience across a wide range of activities, those have now been concentrated into a Flipboard-like scrolling mélange of social- and media-driven updates. As with other content aggregators, it takes some time to set up, but once it's in place, it's time to feed at the content trough.</div><h3 dir="ltr" id="title1" style="text-align: left;"> BoomSound</h3><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> Applying amplification and Beats processing to those stereo speakers enables the One to rise above the tinny monophone of most cellphone speakers to create a tiny theater experience. You'll still probably want headphones for most listening, but there's no work to be done here. Just lean (slightly) back and enjoy.</div><h3 dir="ltr" id="title2" style="text-align: left;"> Sense TV</h3><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> Adding an infrared emitter and TV program guide to a mobile device is the kind of thing you might expect from TV vendors such as Sony and Samsung. Indeed, both have put such a port on their tablets and paired it with guides. But for HTC this is a step forward beyond the Media Link it introduced with the first One.</div><h3 dir="ltr" id="title3" style="text-align: left;"> Zoe</h3><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> "Shall I take a picture or video?" So much to think about. Not anymore. Taking advantage of the One's bigger pixels and fast processor for automatic HDR, Zoe (inspired by the "zoetrope") is a nifty photo / video combination that includes capabilities seen in Microsoft Photosynth as well as from Scalado. HTC's new photo and video experience can even automatically create highlight videos, a process that takes an extra step on the iPhone or BlackBerry Z10.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> Speaking of BlackBerry, rumors have recently swirled that Lenovo has been interested in acquiring the smartphone pioneer. The kind of personal and professional productivity optimizer that the former RIM has targeted is very much in line with Lenovo's resonant slogan, "For those who do." The HTC One, on the other hand, seems designed "for those who would rather not" -- rather not dig through separate feed apps, rather not strain to hear a music video, rather not even pick up a separate remote control. And that's OK. It can require a great deal of overachievement to enable underachievement.</div></div>

Switched On: Moving forward with leaning back

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology. Just a few months have passed between the introduction ...

مزيد من المعلومات »

AllThingsD: No native BlackBerry 10 Instagram app in sight

<div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;" trbidi="on"><hr dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" /> <div class="copy post-body" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> <div class="image-container" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="AllThingsD: No native BlackBerry 10 Instagram app in sight" data-src-height="532" data-src-width="800" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/01/rim-2013-01-24-600-12.jpg" /></div>The mobile OS that needs more big name apps to tether their wagons to insure a boost in user adoption is less one key photography app. According to <em>AllThingsD</em>, there is no native Instagram app in development for BB10 handsets -- at least for the foreseeable future. Quoting sources close to the popular social / photo filtering app, the report goes on to say that future development is also uncertain. Of course, the outfit is working on an Android port that will be usable on BlackBerry's latest, but with significant compromises to user experience to come as the cost of admission. The new operating system did secure native support from Facebook, Foursquare, LinkedIn and Twitter at launch.<br /> </div></div>

AllThingsD: No native BlackBerry 10 Instagram app in sight

The mobile OS that needs more big name apps to tether their wagons to insure a boost in user adoption i...

مزيد من المعلومات »

The After Math: Balsillie cashes out, Dell goes private and OUYA hits 481

<div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;" trbidi="on"><hr dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" /> <div class="copy post-body" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> <div class="image-container" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="The After Math Balsillie cashes out, Dell goes private and OUYA hits 481" data-src-height="340" data-src-width="620" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/02/aftermath2.jpg" /></div>We crunched the numbers just after CES, while the organizers were barely tearing down hundreds of lavishly lit booths. Now, we're going to be making it a regular thing, pulling together and musing on the week's vital statistics. This time around, we watch iPads make an impression on computer shipments, while Dell reorganizes and goes private -- with a little help from Microsoft. All that and more awaits beyond the break.<br /><li> <span>Estimated number of Apple computer shipments (including iPads) during Q2 2012: 27 million</span></li><li> Estimated number of Dell PCs shipped in the same period: 9.7 million</li><li> Fourth generation iPads and iPad mini sold three days after launch: 3 million</li><li> Dell's percentage year-on-year decline, according to Canalys: 19 percent</li><li> Microsoft's loan to Dell, as it goes private: $2 billion</li><li> Microsoft's purchase price for Skype in 2011: $8.5 billion</li><li> Estimated percentage<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7080182682816192337"> of Apple and Samsung's combined global smartphone market share during Q4 2012: 52</a></li><li> Estimated percentage of global smartphone sales by third place BlackBerry: 3.9</li><li> BlackBerry stake sold by former co-CEO Jim Balsillie: 5.1 percent</li><li> Number of new Samsung smartphones announced in 2012: 18</li><li> Number of new Apple smartphones announced in 2012: 1</li><li> Sony's net loss for the last quarter: $115 million</li><li> Graphics chipmaker NVIDIA's profits for last quarter: $174 million</li><li> Amount pledged for the crowd-funded (and NVIDIA-powered) OUYA games console: $8,596,474</li><li> Number of game titles confirmed for OUYA: 481</li><li> Total number of Sony PlayStation 3s sold as of November 2012: 70 million</li><li> Total number of PlayStation 2 units sold before being retired: 150 million</li><li> Date of Sony's new PlayStation event: 20th February 2013</li></div></div>

The After Math: Balsillie cashes out, Dell goes private and OUYA hits 481

We crunched the numbers just after CES, while the organizers were barely tearing down hundreds of lav...

مزيد من المعلومات »

Back to BlackBerry: a whole new UI world

<div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;" trbidi="on"><hr dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" /> <div class="image-container" dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="DNP Back to BlackBerry week one" data-src-height="411" data-src-width="619" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/02/dsc04214-1360340806.jpg" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> <i>Editor's note: This is not a review. If you haven't taken the opportunity to read through our review of the BlackBerry Z10 and the BB10 operating system, now is the perfect time to do so. As I progress through my 30-day BlackBerry trial, I'm writing most of my thoughts with the assumption that you have a basic understanding of BlackBerry's new devices and platform. </i></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> If you were to ask me what the most significant changes are in BlackBerry 10, I'd likely go into detail about the user interface, gestures, the Hub and the ecosystem. It's an amazing improvement over previous BlackBerry devices in most cases. It's not too difficult to learn, either: just three days into my 30-day trial, I found myself unsuccessfully swiping up on a friend's Android phone to turn it on. But now that I've had the chance to set up all of my accounts, do some hardcore messaging and play around with the device, what are some of my thoughts about those major differences? Join me after the break and learn some of the best and worst things I discovered so far.</div><div class="image-container" dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="DNP Back to BlackBerry week one" data-src-height="450" data-src-width="570" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/02/bbsetup1.jpg" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> The setup began with my BlackBerry ID, which was so old that I was surprised when the phone accepted my password. I added all of my email and social networking accounts in just a few minutes, but adding my inboxes to the Hub took several additional minutes. No special BlackBerry data plan was required; all I had to do was simply slide my AT&T micro-SIM card into the phone, boot up and it gave me full access to everything I need.<br /> <br /> Even in the setup process, BB10 offered a few smart touches seldom seen on other platforms. For instance, my Facebook account is attached to one of my old Yahoo Mail accounts that hadn't been set up on my Z10 yet. When I added my Facebook logins to the BlackBerry Hub, it instantly recognized that I was using a different email address and asked me if I wanted to set that account up as well. All I had to do was throw in my password and I was ready to go. It's something that seems like common sense, but it's still a rarity in the mobile world.</div><div class="image-container" dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="DNP Back to BlackBerry week one" data-src-height="411" data-src-width="619" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/02/dsc04210.jpg" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> Once my Z10 was set up and ready to go, I had a chance to get introduced to the user interface. It's modern and beautiful, and the swipe gestures are a great touch. Despite its learning curve, I was used to the BlackBerry Flow gestures after just a couple days -- and it got even easier over time.<br /> <br /> Flow is much more intuitive than I originally expected. Going back and forth between the Hub and recent (or running) apps is just a matter of a couple finger swipes, which made multitasking much faster and easier once I became acclimatized to the UI. However, the phone would occasionally ignore my gestures; I've also experienced the complete opposite scenario, like during attempts to swipe up on the keyboard's space bar, which the phone interprets as the "home screen" gesture. Also, it seems odd that an OS dedicated to simple swipe gestures doesn't let me swipe up to get rid of running applications on the main screen (à la webOS).</div><div class="image-container" dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="DNP Back to BlackBerry week one" data-src-height="450" data-src-width="270" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/02/img00000056.jpg" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> Speaking of which, the recent apps screen (seen above) doubles as the UI's home panel, which was a little jarring at first; being accustomed to diving straight into the standard apps, this new style has involved a solid amount of adjustment time. I started using the recent apps much more frequently than I ever had before, since it was so easily accessible. This quick access, as well as the ability to get into apps almost immediately, has provided me with one of the best multitasking experiences I've ever had on a smartphone.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> Once I began exploring the app pages, found on the right side of home, I was reminded of iOS, which features a static grid with apps and folders. To the left of home is the Hub. Here, all of my accounts are together in one place (and filterable to specific inboxes for better organization), but it's a half-baked effort. It lacks the numerous customization and communication options from previous BlackBerry devices, and app notifications can be erratic. It's also supposed to fully integrate with native apps, but two-way communication between the two elements is quite lackluster. As an example, after looking through my mentions on the native Twitter app, they remain as unread notifications in the Hub that need to be cleared out (a time-intensive process). Because of this, I have less interest in using the Hub, and only visit it to check my emails. (<strong>Update:</strong> a commenter pointed out that it's possible to long-press dates in the Hub, which reveals a "Mark prior read" option.)</div><div class="image-container" dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="DNP Back to BlackBerry week one" data-src-height="450" data-src-width="537" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/02/bbm1.jpg" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> What about the ultimate BlackBerry staple, BBM? After setting the messaging service up -- easy to do, since it already had my ID -- and chatting with a few of my colleagues, the interface and feel seemed immediately familiar. The two-way video chat and screen-share features are handy, and BBM is just as pleasant to use as I remember. Unfortunately, the feature lacks cross-platform capability, limiting the number of potential friends and family members that I can talk to on the service. (Not to mention video chat is definitely no stranger to the smartphone world.) Unless millions of people flock to BB10 over the next year or so, I simply won't have a lot of opportunities to take advantage of BBM -- and I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> I couldn't even make it through a day before I was setting out to find worthy replacements to the "native" Facebook and Twitter clients. Since Facebook hasn't committed to pushing out its own BB10 app, BlackBerry built one; at best, the application is a horribly implemented Android version wrapped up in BB10 code, and some sections of the app take you to the site on the mobile browser. As for Twitter, I've never been able to refresh my feed without fully exiting and re-entering the program. (Not everyone has experienced this bug, but numerous attempts to reinstall the app haven't made a difference on my device.)</div><div class="image-container" dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="DNP Back to BlackBerry week one" data-src-height="450" data-src-width="537" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/02/bbhub1.jpg" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> As a hardcore emailer, the Z10 has proved to be somewhat cumbersome in real-life use. My inbox is organized into a "conversation view," but when I click on the email thread it takes me into an individual-message view and I can't hop from one email to the next without jumping out of the email first. I haven't found a way to preview the first line or two of text before jumping in to the message, and the only way to multi-select my messages is to jump into the menu and press "select more" before proceeding. These complications make for a more time-intensive experience.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> While I got push emails through IMAP, syncing my account with Google's server wasn't instantaneous. There are a few settings that let me change how often the phone will communicate with Gmail, but whenever I read my email from my desktop, it would take ages before the phone knew about it. As soon as I switched to Exchange, though, everything began syncing much more quickly. On a more positive note: push email works great; BlackBerry Peek helps me see how many email notifications are waiting; viewing / saving attachments is easy; and my experience reading HTML emails is pleasant. Typing messages on the new virtual keyboard is also fast and smooth, though my experience using the word-prediction feature is right on par with our review.</div><div class="image-container" dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="DNP Back to BlackBerry week one" data-src-height="450" data-src-width="537" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/02/bbworld1.jpg" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> Once all of my essential accounts and social networks were set up, it was time to play around in BlackBerry World. The store, which flaunted 70,000 apps at the time of its launch, still looks amazingly bare. Additionally, BB World isn't easy to navigate, so app discovery was rather difficult. Several times I've exited the store in disgust because I couldn't find anything close to what I was looking for. Only a handful of "featured apps" are shown on the first page, and "trending apps" typically displays just 10-15 of the apps BlackBerry wants to show off. To get to the meat, I have to dive into the categories, which are then broken up into subcategories. The silver lining is that once I get there, at least there are filters that narrow down my choices and let me change the sorting order.</div><div class="image-container" dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="DNP Back to BlackBerry week one" data-src-height="450" data-src-width="537" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/02/bbflipboard1.jpg" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> What if the app you really want isn't available on BlackBerry World? Welcome to the immediate future, folks. The ability to port Android apps over to BlackBerry has been a lifesaver. Once I learned how to sideload Android apps to my Z10, I installed Flipboard and used it to keep up on the usual feeds (I can access Google+ and Instagram this way). Additionally, I found apps for Remember the Milk, Google Voice, speed tests and podcasts, to name a few.<br /> <br /> This doesn't mean the use of repackaged Android apps is a flawless experience. Some are clunky, unresponsive and don't give me an experience as smooth as programs written natively for BlackBerry. Since Runtime for Android only supports Gingerbread or older versions (this will be bumped to Jelly Bean eventually), I've dealt with an archaic UI and apps that don't work. Many of the sideloaded files didn't launch. On multiple occasions, some of the apps that actually did work would freeze, forcing me to exit the app completely or reboot the phone. However, since it only takes a couple minutes to sideload an app, the additional functionality you receive is worth the gamble.</div><h3 dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> Wrap-up</h3><div class="image-container" dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="DNP Back to BlackBerry week one" data-src-height="411" data-src-width="619" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/02/dsc04209.jpg" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> While I'm fully committed to spending 30 days with BlackBerry 10, the first week onboard the new OS hasn't converted me into a dedicated user. I'm not saying my decision to do a month-long challenge was a mistake or that I loathe every waking moment with the Z10, but BB10 simply doesn't offer many competitive advantages that would take me away from the other platforms. The UI and gestures are refreshing and fun to use, but the Hub feels a little too basic for my email needs. I'm also willing to give the ecosystem some more time to grow, but it's not a good sign that I have no other choice but to sideload Android apps to fill massive holes in BlackBerry World. Granted, I believe BB10 is the best first-gen version of any mobile OS on the market, and it has a lot more potential than I originally thought. How well -- and how soon -- it lives up to that potential is a completely different story.</div></div>

Back to BlackBerry: a whole new UI world

Editor's note: This is not a review. If you haven't taken the opportunity to read through our...

مزيد من المعلومات »

BlackBerry Z10 goes under the knife, reveals innards similar to Galaxy S III LTE Mobile

<div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;" trbidi="on"><hr dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" /> <div class="copy post-body" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> <div class="image-container" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="BlackBerry Z10 goes under the knife, reveals innards similar to Galaxy S III LTE" data-src-height="390" data-src-width="619" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/02/blackberry-z10-comm-front.jpg" /></div>BlackBerry Z10 devices have only been out in the wild for roughly a week, but the folks at <em>UBM TechInsights</em> have already forced one of the handset's open to figure out just what parts make it tick. Prying the device apart revealed the expected Snapdragon S4 Plus and three other parts from Qualcomm accompanied by Samsung-made RAM and storage. What stands out most to the dismantlers, however, is that the Z10 packs many of the same components in Samsung's Galaxy family of devices, particularly those of the LTE-toting GS3. It's not the most scrutinizing tear down, but you can hit the bordering source link for the entire parts list and full set of images.<br /> </div></div>

BlackBerry Z10 goes under the knife, reveals innards similar to Galaxy S III LTE Mobile

BlackBerry Z10 devices have only been out in the wild for roughly a week, but the folks at UBM TechInsi...

مزيد من المعلومات »

Nikkei: BlackBerry to stop selling phones in Japan, no longer able to justify

<div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;" trbidi="on"><hr dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" /> <div class="copy post-body" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> <div class="image-container" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/01/rim-2013-01-24-600-5.jpg" /></div>It looks like Japan won't be a part of BlackBerry's BB10 launch plans now or anytime in the foreseeable future. According to a report from <em>Nikkei</em>, BlackBerry has decided to stop selling phones in the country, at least in part because it wasn't able to justify the cost of making the necessary language modifications to its new operating system. As <em>Nikkei</em> also notes, however, BlackBerry has seen a particularly steep drop in market share in Japan, where it now stands at just 0.3 percent. We've reached out to BlackBerry about the news and are awaiting comment.<br /> <strong>Update:</strong> We've received a statement from BlackBerry confirming that it has no plans to launch to launch BB10 devices in Japan at this time, although it adds that it will continue to support its customers in the country. The complete statement is as follows:<br /><blockquote> We are in the process of launching BlackBerry 10 globally in key markets and we are seeing positive demand for the BlackBerry Z10 in countries where it has already launched. Japan is not a major market for BlackBerry and we have no plans to launch BlackBerry 10 devices there at this time. However, we will continue to support BlackBerry customers in Japan.</blockquote></div></div>

Nikkei: BlackBerry to stop selling phones in Japan, no longer able to justify

It looks like Japan won't be a part of BlackBerry's BB10 launch plans now or anytime in the ...

مزيد من المعلومات »

BlackBerry adds ex-Verizon, Sony Ericsson chiefs to its board of directors

<div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;" trbidi="on"><hr dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" /> <div class="image-container" dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="BlackBerry adds exVerizon, Sony Ericsson chiefs to its board of directors" data-src-height="414" data-src-width="620" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/02/blackberry.jpg" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> BlackBerry's resurgence doesn't just require spiffy new software and devices, it also needs business-types who can talk about things like "profit share" and "equity ratios." That's why the company has coaxed former Verizon VP Richard Lynch away from his golf clubs and onto its refreshed board of directors. He's the latest heavy-hitter to sign up, and is joined by Bert Nordberg, the former CEO of Sony Ericsson, who's been out of work since he was deposed as the chief of Sony Mobile last year.</div></div>

BlackBerry adds ex-Verizon, Sony Ericsson chiefs to its board of directors

BlackBerry's resurgence doesn't just require spiffy new software and devices, it also needs ...

مزيد من المعلومات »

Editorial: BlackBerry slumps into history of Super Bowl tech ads

<div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;" trbidi="on"><hr dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" /> <div class="image-container" dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="Editorial BlackBerry slumps into history of Super Bowl tech ads" data-src-height="337" data-src-width="620" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/02/screen-shot-2013-02-04-at-6.04.42-pm.png" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> The comparison is obvious: BlackBerry's already-infamous "Can't Do" commercial in this year's Super Bowl vs. Apple's legendary "1984" spot in the 1984 game. Let's do the comparison anyway, and consider some other tech advertising over 35 years of Super Bowls.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> BlackBerry is taking scorn for its capricious ad depicting several fantastic scenarios created by, or solved by (it's not always clear what the heck is going on during the montage), the upcoming Z10 smartphone.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> Analysis from the commentariat complains that the ad fails to illustrate what the phone <em>can </em>do, which you might think would be good market preparation for its March US debut. Such criticism, though, disregards the traditional role of Super Bowl advertising, which is to make a memorable brand impact. Uninformative, absurd, nonsensical commercials are standard, even expected.</div><div class="image-container" dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="Editorial BlackBerry slumps into history of Super Bowl tech ads" data-src-height="334" data-src-width="620" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/02/screen-shot-2013-02-04-at-6.10.00-pm.png" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> More to the point is the lack of a jolt, big statement, brand shaping, majesty or even pop. I don't mean to pile on; as I've written before, I'm rooting for BlackBerry. But this is where the Z10 commercial suffers a patent and predictable comparison with Apple's "1984." The setup is roughly the same: both commercials are prologues to imminent product launches (the Macintosh in Apple's case). It might seem unfair to contrast any modern commercial with a piece of creative work that has, over time, accrued luster as one of the great TV ads in and out of the Super Bowl. But remember, BlackBerry's CEO said at the BB10 launch event last year "We are at the beginning of a new era of mobile computing." If, now that TV advertising has begun, the product messaging cannot carry forward that level of aggrandizing rhetoric, it is a branding failure.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> The truth is that BlackBerry does not have a category-changing product on its hands -- classy, smart and effective though the device is. Did Apple know that the Macintosh would change computing and (arguably) justify the titanic imagery of the "1984" ad? The company was conflicted internally, with execs battling the board, which opposed airing the piece. Notwithstanding the extent to which the Apple ad was a gamble, it reached for the glory of extreme hyperbole, and brazenly set user expectations to the sky. There were no product spec details, but the 60-second drama promised revolution and salvation.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> The "Can't Do" ad (dreadful title, by the way) promises only that the Z10 phone can do unspecified things, and too many of them to describe in a commercial. That's a vague dispatch. Other tech commercials are also necessarily concise, but some focus their messages on solving problems.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> Amy Poehler's flirtatious energy enlivens Best Buy's pedestrian retail message: the salespeople are helpful. "THANK YOU!" she screams at the end, exiting the store wearing noise-canceling headphones. The spot resonates with an ethos of the venerable <em>...for Dummies</em> book line -- tech is fun and we can make you understand it.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> GoDaddy.com, a veteran of controversial ads, stirred two commercials into this year's stew. The first mocks would-be entrepreneurs who fail to act on their ideas (solution: we make it easy to protect your new trademark). The second veers onto the company's well-trod ground of sexploitation to promote a hybrid view of the brand as both sexy and practical. The service's two sides are cemented by a long kiss between a swimsuit model and a stereotyped geek. A kiss by itself not being sexual enough for GoDaddy's shock tradition, the scene is recorded with a high level of lip slurps. Queue Twitter explosion of disgust.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> GoDaddy has stepped into the big game before, but E-Trade is the champion of Super Bowl website advertisers with the placement of seven ads in six games. This year's entry is disappointingly weak and unfunny in my opinion, but look again at the first talking-baby commercial from 2008, with its laconic voicing, low-fi webcam production value, expert editing and surprise ending.</div><div class="image-container" dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="Editorial BlackBerry slumps into history of Super Bowl tech ads" data-src-height="297" data-src-width="620" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/02/screen-shot-2013-02-04-at-6.11.52-pm.png" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> E-Trade placed its first Super Bowl spot in 2000, the bubble year for Web 1.0 ad invasions. The 2000 game featured messages from Buy.com, HotJobs.com, Computer.com, Epidemic.com, LifeMinders.com and the notorious Pets.com spot -- the emblem of the dot-com bust. And while E-Trade is known best for the talking babies which came later (the greatest of which might be this one -- "What, I can't flex the golden pipes?"), in 2001 it presented a remarkable symbolic eulogy of doomed dot-coms from the year before in a commercial called "Ghost Town."</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> Going back further, the 1976 Super Bowl featured a Xerox ad that set a template for future insouciance and cleverness. Entitled "Monks," the spot depicted a scribe saving his aching hand by machine-copying 500 replicas of an illuminated manuscript -- at two pages per second. ("It's a miracle!") The opening line of the ad's script foretells a good amount of contemporary tech culture: "Ever since people started recording information, there's been a need to duplicate it." Could be an ad for BitTorrent.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> Back in this year, SodaStream represented the quirkiest tech ad in the 2013 game. The home-carbonated drink maker put out a confusing environmental message of conserving bottle consumption with DIY beverages. It would have made more sense to introduce this product to millions of new people by emphasizing fun, unique flavors or cost-saving benefits. But we certainly get a splashier commercial when stacked crates of soda in a warehouse suddenly lose their bottles and fizzy liquid pours everywhere.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> Samsung had the most delightfully loopy messaging of this year's ad crop in tech, with a couple of loose, self-deprecating, 60-second riffs featuring Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen. They hook into the Galaxy line and its existing "Next big thing" tagline. But the attitude remains too cool to attempt making a point, selling a feature, solving a problem or caring whether we receive a coherent message. The opposite of Apple's long-ago aspirational epic, Samsung's nonchalance also skewers BlackBerry's earnest deflection.</div></div>

Editorial: BlackBerry slumps into history of Super Bowl tech ads

The comparison is obvious: BlackBerry's already-infamous "Can't Do" commercial in...

مزيد من المعلومات »

Jelly Bean update planned for BlackBerry 10 Android runtime

<div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;" trbidi="on"><hr dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" /> <div class="copy post-body" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> <div class="image-container" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="Confirmed Jelly Bean update planned for BlackBerry 10 Android runtime" data-src-height="412" data-src-width="619" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/02/rim-2013-01-24-600-12-1360083758.jpg" /></div>It's official: BlackBerry 10's Android runtime layer will be updated to Jelly Bean. Reports of the announcement, which should please users looking to shore up the platform's app selection, surfaced this morning, apparently stemming from the company's developer-focused BB Jam Europe event in Amsterdam. We've since reached out and received confirmation that it is indeed true, although no timetable has yet to be announced. In the meantime, current Z10 owners can continue to sideload Gingerbread-based apps -- which the runtime layer currently supports -- while they wait for those big name, third-party apps to land in the BlackBerry World store.<br /> </div></div>

Jelly Bean update planned for BlackBerry 10 Android runtime

It's official: BlackBerry 10's Android runtime layer will be updated to Jelly Bean. Reports ...

مزيد من المعلومات »

PSA: BlackBerry 10 doesn't need a special data plan

<div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;" trbidi="on"><hr dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" /> <div class="copy post-body" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> <div class="image-container" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="PSA BlackBerry 10 doesn't need a special data plan" data-src-height="412" data-src-width="619" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/02/blackberry-z10-messaging.jpg" /></div>With BlackBerry 10 devices wending their way into the hands of patient fans, there's been some uncertainty as to just what service plans customers need to reach the new platform's full potential. The short answer, after confirmations at <em>CrackBerry</em>: just about any of them. Unlike older BlackBerrys, the Z10 and future models don't require tiers with BlackBerry Internet Service or BlackBerry Enterprise Server support in order to work their push messaging magic. Those migrating from a regular BlackBerry plan won't have to worry about switching, though. The lone exceptions are subscribers who have barebones, social-only plans where BIS serves as the filter. While the switch could lead to price hikes for those cost-conscious users, it's otherwise good news for BlackBerry devotees who've wanted the same choice in service as the rest of their smartphone-owning peers.<br /> </div></div>

PSA: BlackBerry 10 doesn't need a special data plan

With BlackBerry 10 devices wending their way into the hands of patient fans, there's been some un...

مزيد من المعلومات »

Back to BlackBerry: one editor's 30-day trial run

<div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;" trbidi="on"><hr dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" /> <div class="image-container" dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="BlackBerry 10 for 30 days" data-src-height="532" data-src-width="800" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/01/rim-2013-01-24-600-12.jpg" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> I confess, I'm intrigued by BlackBerry 10. Surprised? So am I. It's been easy to pre-emptively count BlackBerry out of the smartphone wars based on its performance over the last two or three years, but there's an element of mystique and personality that have made me quite curious to give the new OS a shot. While Wednesday's BB10 launch answered a lot of questions, it also raised a lot of new ones. Most of the mysteries revolve around its ecosystem, hardware quality, competitive advantages / disadvantages and if the platform can persuade Android and iOS users to switch. As a former Pearl and Curve owner, I want -- nay, <i>need</i> -- to determine for myself how well BlackBerry's latest effort holds up against its rivals. Thus, I have decided to use the BlackBerry Z10 as my sole device and daily driver for thirty days.<br /> <br /> From now until March 3rd, I'll experience nearly every aspect of BB10: the UI and its learning curve, its performance and battery life, BlackBerry World, the highly praised virtual keyboard and how well it can handle my work load. I'll even use the phone at MWC, a major international trade show in which I'll be even more dependent on my mobile than usual. Throughout this process I'll be documenting my thoughts, feelings and emotions and deliver them in a regular series of weekly posts. By the end, we'll see whether or not BB10 can win my heart; is it a suitable replacement for the average iOS or Android user, or does the company still have a difficult path ahead of it? Time will tell, and I'm eager to find out.</div></div>

Back to BlackBerry: one editor's 30-day trial run

I confess, I'm intrigued by BlackBerry 10. Surprised? So am I. It's been easy to pre-emptive...

مزيد من المعلومات »

BlackBerry Q10 flashes pearly whites in brief debut

<div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;" trbidi="on"><hr dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" /> <div class="copy post-body" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> <div class="image-container" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="Blackberry Q10 flashes pearly whites in brief sortie" data-src-height="413" data-src-width="619" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/01/blackberry-q10-white-1-31-13.jpg" /></div>A previously unseen BlackBerry Q10 in alluring white made a blink-or-you'll-miss-it appearance at last night's BlackBerry 10 Experience event in New York. <em>Crackberry</em> was on hand to snap a few photos before the 3.1-inch, dual-processor toting device went back into the pocket of BlackBerry CMO Frank Boulben. The color certainly lends it a heaping dose of <em>James Bond-esque</em> elegance, to our eyes -- as for our other thoughts on the physical-key toting handset, check our recent hands-on.<br /> </div></div>

BlackBerry Q10 flashes pearly whites in brief debut

A previously unseen BlackBerry Q10 in alluring white made a blink-or-you'll-miss-it appearance at l...

مزيد من المعلومات »

RIM: A brief history from Budgie to BlackBerry 10

<div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;" trbidi="on"><hr style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /> <div class="copy post-body" style="text-align: center;"> <div class="image-container" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="RIM a brief history from Budgie to BlackBerry 10" data-src-height="340" data-src-width="620" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/01/rim-history-until-blackberry-10.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"> Listen to much of the chatter about Research in Motion today and you'll hear the launch of BlackBerry 10 described in almost apocalyptic terms. All-or-nothing. Live-or-die. Make-or-break. There's some truth to the extreme language, but BlackBerry 10 is really just the latest in a series of transformational moments for a company that has frequently had to adapt to survive. In that sense, the appreciation for crises and opportunities is almost as natural as breathing for RIM. What's less certain is whether or not the company in 2013 is as capable of wholesale shifts in strategy as it was for much of its not quite 30-year history. Read on to see why reform is possible, but won't be quite so easy.</div><div style="text-align: center;"> For its first two decades, RIM often showed the traits of a scrappy startup. It had nothing to lose and was willing to turn its business model on a dime to stay afloat. More importantly, it also had a simple, overriding determination to spread wireless data to the masses, no matter how that would come to pass. That gave it a leg up over contemporary technology stalwarts like Apple, Microsoft and Palm, all of whom were at least slightly behind RIM in seeing the value of truly instant mobile communication. CEO Mike Lazaridis (and eventual co-CEO Jim Balsillie) would see a void in the market, whether it was two-way paging or mobile email, and switch strategies to fill it.</div><div class="image-container" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie" data-src-height="310" data-src-width="620" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/01/mike-and-jim-1359140133.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><blockquote class="quote right"> The company spent more time trying to justify its existing smartphone philosophy and less time getting ahead of trends.</blockquote></div><div style="text-align: center;"> As the 2000s wore on, however, RIM slowed down. Much of the decade revolved around entrenching what we know as the core BlackBerry business model, where messaging-focused smartphones ship to large-scale customers. The company acknowledged the consumer world as early as 2003, but its approach was increasingly reactionary. We wouldn't have had the BlackBerry Storm without the iPhone popularizing touchscreens first, for example. The company spent more time trying to justify its existing smartphone philosophy and less time getting ahead of trends, even as it lost its market share advantage and started working on BlackBerry 10. Some saw the eventual departures of Lazaridis, Balsillie and a slew of executives as necessary to undo an institutionalized resistance to change.<br /> <br /> The launch of BlackBerry 10 isn't just the test of a software redesign, then. It's gauging whether or not a leaner RIM is once again nimble enough to stay relevant. We haven't quite returned to the company's early days, but its current position is an uncannily familiar one where RIM has to bet the farm on a new project. The difference? RIM isn't entering an untapped wireless market this time. While it's on better footing than a defunct mobile veteran like Palm, there's not much room for a second chance. Follow along with our timeline to see just how RIM's opportunities opened up, closed shut and maybe (just maybe) opened up again with a new OS.</div><h3 id="title0" style="text-align: center;"> 1984 - 1994</h3><div class="image-container" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="Mike Lazaridis and Doug Fregin with Budgie" data-src-height="425" data-src-width="620" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/01/rim-budgie.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"> Mike Lazaridis and Doug Fregin officially founded Research in Motion on March 7th, 1984 with a desire to commercialize Budgie, a system that wirelessly displayed information on a TV screen. It generated enough business to let RIM take on side projects, including a film barcode reader, but the real kick start was the arrival of one of the earliest wireless data networks, Mobitex. Software deals to support it led to the 1993 launch of RIMGate, the precursor to BlackBerry Enterprise Server, and wireless point-of-sale terminals in 1994. This early period also saw the introduction of Jim Balsillie, who met Lazaridis while trying to negotiate a purchase of RIM in 1992 and quickly became the future BlackBerry maker's VP of Finance. Few other companies were as actively interested in mobile data at the time: apart from Mobitex creator Ericsson, the most conspicuous participant was IBM, whose smartphone-like Simon Personal Communicator went on sale briefly in 1994 and still depended on a 2,400-baud modem for data.</div><h3 id="title1" style="text-align: center;"> 1995 - 2001</h3><div style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="RIM Inter@ctive Pager" data-src-height="250" data-src-width="190" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/01/rim-interactive-pager-sm.jpg" style="float: right;" />RIM's experience developing code for Mobitex led it to building hardware, starting with a PCMCIA modem in 1995. The company's first mobile messaging device, the RIM 900 Inter@ctive Pager, came a year later, followed by the smaller and more successful RIM 950 in 1998. The first hardware that resembled a BlackBerry as we know it today was the not-very-elegantly named RIM 957 from April 2000, but it only offered data and wasn't joined at the hip with the BlackBerry name. While the BlackBerry email service launched in January 1999 and went mobile with the 957, it would be three years before there was a proper BlackBerry phone. More smartphone-like technology was emerging in the form of devices like the Nokia 9000 series in 1996, Ericsson's Symbian-based R380 in 2000 and the Palm OS-running Kyocera 6035 in 2001, although few would say they cracked the market wide open when the PDA side was either crude or entirely separate. This was Palm's heyday, and many were still satisfied with a cellphone in one hand and a PDA in the other.</div><h3 id="title2" style="text-align: center;"> 2002 - 2005</h3><div class="image-container" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="Blackberry 5810" data-src-height="423" data-src-width="620" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/01/blackberry-5810-1359142237.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"> The BlackBerry era started in earnest in March 2002, when RIM unveiled the BlackBerry 5810. It was the first handheld from RIM to carry GSM and GPRS, although phone service was almost incidental when owners had to plug in a headset just to make calls. The situation got better when the 6710 and beyond had audio hardware built-in. Color came with the 7200 and 7700 series in 2003, but the real breakthroughs were the 6200 series from that year and the 7100 in 2004, which were explicitly targeted at "prosumers" who wanted a BlackBerry for personal use. In 2005, the 8700 series took the 7100's sleeker aesthetic to the high-end; for many, it was the first modern BlackBerry, where a polished design, phone features and a full keyboard were all in one device. Not that RIM could rest on its laurels. Nokia, Palm and others had thrown themselves wholeheartedly into smartphones, and Microsoft's launches of Pocket PC 2002 and Windows Mobile provided a start for smartphone makers that would eventually play important roles, like HTC.</div><h3 id="title3" style="text-align: center;"> 2006 - 2007</h3><div style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="BlackBerry Pearl for T-Mobile" data-src-height="250" data-src-width="160" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/01/blackberry-pearl-t-mobile-small-1359152125.jpg" style="float: left;" />It's at the middle of last decade that RIM simultaneously reached its creative zenith and sowed the seeds of its decline. The BlackBerry Pearl of 2006 was the company's first phone built expressly for the regular public, and had such radical concepts (for RIM) as a camera and dedicated media playback. Both the Pearl and the QWERTY-equipped Curve of 2007 would be key to an explosion in sales over the next few years. However, it's also in 2007 that Apple launched the iPhone and began the public's love affair with touchscreens in their mobile devices. RIM's response, even into 2010, was to downplay the threat; it argued that customers needed hardware keyboards. It was difficult to know then just how dangerous the attitude would be when others were similarly dismissive -- see Steve Ballmer's jab that the iPhone was too expensive to succeed, for example -- but it's clear in hindsight that RIM had put the blinders on at the very moment its eyes needed to be wide open.</div><h3 id="title4" style="text-align: center;"> 2008 - 2009</h3><div class="image-container" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="BlackBerry Storm, Bold 9000 and Curve 8900" data-src-height="376" data-src-width="620" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/01/blackberry-storm-bold-and-curve.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"> Despite its love of physical keys, RIM's solution to newfound competition was to hedge its bets. Traditionalists got the upscale Bold 9000 line in May 2008; would-be Android and iPhone converts got the BlackBerry Storm in November of that year. BlackBerry App World also countered the Android Market and the App Store several months after the fact, in 2009. The platform reached a peak of 20.8 percent market share in the third quarter that same year, according to Gartner, but the bloom was already starting to come off the rose. The iPhone 3GS helped Apple outsell RIM for the first time, as Steve Jobs noted that fall. Hype for the Storm quickly fizzled out, and Verizon's edition of the Storm 2 launched the same day in October 2009 as the more heavily promoted (and ultimately more successful) Motorola Droid. RIM could mostly take comfort in knowing that the competing Nokia N97 and Palm Pre also did little to halt the declines of their respective creators.</div><h3 id="title5" style="text-align: center;"> 2010</h3><div class="image-container" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="BlackBerry PlayBook at DevCon 2010" data-src-height="385" data-src-width="620" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/01/blackberry-playbook-devcon-2010.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"> RIM was aware that the BlackBerry needed more than just a small tuneup, and spent much of 2010 laying the groundwork for an overhaul. It bought real-time OS developer QNX in April for code that would eventually power BlackBerry Tablet OS and BlackBerry 10. Help building the interface would come in December, through the acquisition of mobile software developer The Astonishing Tribe. We quickly saw early results from the QNX deal when RIM previewed its first-ever tablet, the BlackBerry PlayBook, in September. Mobile customers weren't patient enough to wait for a finished product: Apple eventually eclipsed RIM's market share on a more permanent basis and more and more of the BlackBerry's loyal enterprise users were among those switching to Android and the iPhone. Most long-serving competitors weren't faring much better. Palm's overcommitment to Sprint and its missed opportunity with Verizon led HP to snatch it up. The year was ultimately defined by Android, which Gartner says catapulted from a token 3.9 percent of the smartphone market in 2009 to 22.7 percent for 2010, just behind a rapidly crumbling Symbian.</div><h3 id="title6" style="text-align: center;"> 2011</h3><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><div style="text-align: center;"> RIM arguably faced its nadir of public perception in 2011. The PlayBook was rushed to market in April and tanked badly enough to require fire sale pricing for unsold stock -- in part because it initially lacked the very messaging features that were supposed to be RIM's strong suit. BlackBerry 7 devices like the Bold 9900 series gave RIM's legacy platform a last hurrah, but a sustained, worldwide service outage stained the line's reputation (and the company's) in October. Building the $2,000 Porsche Design P'9981 BlackBerry and losing the BBX trademark dispute didn't exactly endear RIM to the public, either. Management was increasingly seen as the problem, rather than the solution, as disappointing earnings and delays became the order of the day. The firm escaped the ignominy of Palm's fate, which saw HP reduce webOS to a side project, but was well behind Nokia in the reinvention process, which already had Windows Phone-based devices shipping in late 2011. Apple and Google both took advantage of customer frustration with old stalwarts like Nokia and RIM, to the point where their respective iOS and Android platforms were the only ones gaining significant share. Gartner and other firms crowned Android as the market leader in the spring, and Apple would eventually rise to second place in 2012.</div><h3 id="title7" style="text-align: center;"> 2012</h3><div class="image-container" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="Thorsten Heins of RIM talks with Tim Stevens" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2012/11/thorstenheinsinterviewlead03.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"> The year of renewal... mostly. Balsillie and Lazaridis were out almost as soon as the year began, replaced by company veteran Thorsten Heins. He spent most of the year getting RIM's house in order, including thousands of job cuts among the rank and file. Multiple long-serving executives left, and little energy was put into new hardware outside of the already expected 4G PlayBook and budget phones. Most of the company's fate was now tied up in BlackBerry 10 and its matching devices. Heins ran into flak quickly: BlackBerry 10 was delayed into 2013, and the company started racking up significant losses after years of profit.</div><h3 id="title8" style="text-align: center;"> 2013</h3><div class="image-container" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="BlackBerry Dev Alpha B hands-on" data-src-height="413" data-src-width="620" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/01/blackberry-dev-alpha-b-hands-on.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"> RIM is starting 2013 much as it spent most of 2012. It's in a race to establish BlackBerry 10 as a truly credible third competitor among smartphone platforms before the industry shifts to an Apple / Google duopoly -- and before the cash runs dry.</div></div></div>

RIM: A brief history from Budgie to BlackBerry 10

Listen to much of the chatter about Research in Motion today and you'll hear the launch of BlackBe...

مزيد من المعلومات »