Blackberry Development Talk

Research In Motion Acquires Tungle

Apr 28, 2011 News Leave a comment

Tungle, the Canada based social calendar company, has been acquired by makers of BlackBerry – Research In Motion (RIM) for an undisclosed amount. Tungle’s website has announced that the entire Tungle team is joining the ranks of RIM.
“By working with Tungle to add cloud-based, cross-platform calendar capabilities to the BlackBerry platform we can further enrich our customers’ experience with BlackBerry and continue to help them get things done,” says Tom Goguen, RIM’s VP of collaboration and social networking.

The basic service of Tungle is free, but for companies who want a brand experience, their service costs are $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year.

Image Courtesy: Tungle.me

BlackBerry PlayBook vs Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

Apr 20, 2011 Uncategorized Leave a comment

Research in Motion recently released BlackBerry PlayBook. In our series of comparing BlackBerry PlayBook price and specs with other available Tablets in the market, this time we compare BlackBerry PlayBook specs with Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 specs.

• Operating System- RIM’s PlayBook uses BlackBerry Tablet OS whereas Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 uses Tablet specific Android OS, v3.0 (Honeycomb). There is not much to choose between the operating systems of both devices, and it generally depends on the user preferences.
• Processor- There is little to choose between the two, a few minor differences here and there, RIM’s BlackBerry Playbook and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab as both use 1GHz Dual Core processor.
• Form Factor- Both, BlackBerry Playbook and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 are nicely designed and look very attractive.
• Display- BlackBerry Playbook with 7-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen, resolution- 600 x 1024 pixels is smaller in size and also in resolution when compared to Samsung’s Galaxy Tab’s 10.1-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen, resolution of 800 x 1280 pixels.
• Memory- BlackBerry PlayBook and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 are similar in memory storage as both Tablets offer 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB of onboard storage and both come ready with 1 GB of RAM. The only difference being the MicroSD card support (upto 32GB) available in Galaxy Tab.
• Camera- BlackBerry Playbook features a 5 MP rear camera and 3 MP front camera with autofocus facility whereas Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 features 8MP rear and 2MP front camera with autofocus, LED flash and geo-tagging facility. Clearly, Galaxy Tab gets ahead in the camera features.

RIM’s First BlackBerry World Conference In Orlando

Apr 19, 2011 Blackberry Development, News Leave a comment

The Canada based mobile phone giant Research In Motion will host the first BlackBerry World Conference from May 3-5, 2011 in Orlando, Florida, USA.

Industry experts will provide with first-hand advice and an in-depth view of BlackBerry products and services. It will feature keynotes from some of today’s leading mobile thinkers, over 100 breakout sessions, Hands-on Labs, BlackBerry training, certification opportunities and more.

The conference attendees will also have the opportunity to have valuable hand-on experience with the latest BlackBerry products like the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet.

Apple iPad 2 Vs BlackBerry PlayBook

Apr 19, 2011 Uncategorized Leave a comment

On the eve of BlackBerry PlayBook hitting shelves in United States and Canada, we did a quick comparison of PlayBook specs with iPad 2 specs. Here’s our feature wise comparison of RIM’s PlayBook with Apple’s iPad 2. Scroll down and decide yourself!

To find how BlackBerry PlayBook stacks up against iPad 2, Samsung Galaxy Tab and other Tablet devices in the competition, you can view this presentation from [x]cubeLabs-

RIM’s PlayBook hits store shelves in United States and Canada.

Apr 19, 2011 News Leave a comment

RIM’s PlayBook will hit store shelves in US and Canada on Tuesday. The PlayBook was touted as RIM’s response to Apple’s iPad. According to reports, around 20,000 stores across the US and Canada will sell PlayBook.

Experts say that RIM is banking heavily on the success of PlayBook and is desperately hoping to win customers with its latest Tablet. Pre-order figures from retailers do indicate pent-up demand for the device. However, the latest device has been welcomed with some harsh reviews.

The BlackBerry PlayBook is priced at at $499, $599 and $699 for 16GB, 32GB or 64GB models respectively.

Free access to MobileCloud for BlackBerry developers from Perfecto Mobile.

Mar 31, 2011 Blackberry Development, News Leave a comment

Perfecto Mobile, provider of cloud-based testing, automation and monitoring solutions for mobile apps and websites, has announced that it will provide free access of its MobileCloud services to BlackBerry developer groups.  BlackBerry app developers will get access 30 free hours of Perfecto’s MobileCloud usage for remote testing and collaboration between group members.  Blackberry developers who want to acquire more hours of MobileCloud services or wish to subscribe to advanced testing services will get discounts up to 30 percent on their purchase.

“Perfecto Mobile’s MobileCloud helps developers test their applications and websites on a wide variety of BlackBerry smartphones from virtually any location around the world,” said Tyler Lessard, vice president of Global Alliances & Developer Relations, Research In Motion.

“MobileCloud can help BlackBerry developers test that they are delivering reliable user experiences with apps that take advantage of unique capabilities and run consistently across different BlackBerry smartphones around the world,” he added.

MobileCloud for BlackBerry developers is a web-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform that enables easy access to a large number of mobile handsets and tablets connected to mobile networks. It allows BlackBerry developers to simplify development, testing, support and monitoring processes.

tinyHippos team joins BlackBerry Developer team.

Mar 28, 2011 News Leave a comment

RIM has acquired tinyHippos Inc., makers of mobile environment emulator Ripple. In a post in its blog, RIM’s Tyler Lessard, VP Global Alliances & Developer Relation, writes “ We are pleased to announce that tinyHippos has joined Research In Motion (RIM). We’re excited that the tinyHippos team is joining the BlackBerry Developer team and bringing their expertise in cross-platform emulation environments to the BlackBerry platform.”

He further writes “We have been integrating support for web technologies like HTML5 and BlackBerry WebWorks into our developer platform, and working to continually deliver enhanced tools and frameworks to our developer community. We look forward to working with the team at tinyHippos to further provide a simplified and streamlined experience to our developers.”

A blog post on the tinyHippos website says “We are extremely excited about our future at RIM and continuing to grow and support Ripple. This is a great step towards our goal of providing a cross-platform mobile application development and testing tool to developers worldwide.  Specifically, we will be working to bring BlackBerry support to the Ripple product.

We also want to reassure all new and existing users that we expect that the Ripple product will continue to be offered for download and the team will continue to develop features, provide support, and help grow the mobile application developer community.”

RIM expands app ecosystem, to provide more commercial opportunities to BlackBerry developers.

Mar 25, 2011 Blackberry Developer, Blackberry Development, News Leave a comment

BlackBerry app developers for the BlackBerry PlayBook will soon get additional tools and opportunities to expand their business. RIM has announced new plans to widen the app ecosystem for its upcoming Tablet.

RIM is planning to launch two optional “app players” that will provide an application run-time environment for Android v2.3 apps and BlackBerry Java apps. The app players will help PlayBook users to download Android apps and BlackBerry Java apps from BlackBerry App World.

“The BlackBerry PlayBook is an amazing tablet. The power that we have embedded creates one of the most compelling app experiences available in a mobile computing device today,” said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO at Research In Motion.

“The upcoming addition of BlackBerry Java and Android apps for the BlackBerry PlayBook on BlackBerry App World will provide our users with an even greater choice of apps and will also showcase the versatility of the platform,” he added.

Higher degree of AP compatibility in the PlayBook OS will allow BlackBerry Developers to swiftly and effortlessly port their apps.  The app players can be downloaded from BlackBerry App World and will be placed in a secure “sandbox” on the device.

BlackBerry app developers interested in seeing the new app players can see demos at BlackBerry World in Orlando, Florida (May 3 to 5, 2011) (www.blackberryworld.com).

Additionally, RIM will soon release the native SDK for the BlackBerry PlayBook which will enable C/C++ application development on the Tablet OS. For game developers, RIM has gained support from two leading game development tooling companies which will allow developers to use the cross-platform game engines from Unity Technologies and Ideaworks Labs to bring their games to the PlayBook.

RIM also announced the BlackBerry Tablet OS NDK, which is at present in limited alpha release, will be converted into open Beta by this summer. The NDK will allow app developers to build high-performance, applications with industry standard GNU toolchains create advanced 2D and 3D applications with special effects by making use og programmable shaders available in the OpenGL ES 2.0.

Other features of the upcoming NDK includes:

• QNX POSIX library support and C/C++ compliance for quick and easy application porting and for creating native extensions.
• Easy integration of device events like gesture swipes and touch screen inputs.
• Eclipse CDT (C/C++ Development Tools)
• Debug and analysis tools

“The response to the BlackBerry PlayBook from the developer community has been exceptional. Our commitment to supporting HTML5 and Adobe AIR development has resonated and spurred developers to create fun and innovative applications for BlackBerry PlayBook users,” said David Yach, Chief Technology Officer, Software at Research In Motion.

“The upcoming BlackBerry Tablet OS NDK beta will add C/C++ tools to our repertoire and gives developers one of the broadest and deepest platforms to develop on,” he added.

Source- RIM press release

Best Buy begins accepting orders for BlackBerry Playbook from today.

Mar 22, 2011 News Leave a comment

If you are eagerly waiting for the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet then you can place your order today.  Best Buy, popular retailer for BlackBerry, has started accepting orders for the Tablet device. BlackBerry PlayBook with Wi-Fi will come in three models and will be priced at $499, $599 and $699 for 16GB, 32GB and 64 GB model respectively.  It is scheduled to be available at all Best Buy stores and Best Buy Mobile stores in US and Canada on April 19. Customers can place their orders starting today in their local Best Buy, Best Buy Mobile or Future Shop store. They can also place their order on-line (after 8am ET) at:

U.S. – www.bestbuy.com/playbook

Canada – www.bestbuy.ca/blackberry

www.futureshop.ca/blackberry

BlackBerry PlayBook specifications:

• 7″ 1024×600 WSVGA capacitive LCD touch screen
• Ultra-portable at less than a pound and less than one-half inch thick: 0.9 lbs (425g) and 5.1” x 7.6” x 0.4” (130mm x 194mm x 10mm)
• 1 GHz dual-core processor
• BlackBerry® Tablet OS with support for symmetric multiprocessing
• MP3, AAC and WMA audio playback
• Support for high resolution video playback (H.264, MPEG4, WMV)
• 1080p HDMI output
• Dual 1080p HD cameras for video conferencing and video capture (3MP front and 5MP rear)
• 1 GB RAM memory
• Up to 64 GB internal storage (16, 32 and 64 GB models)
• GPS, Orientation Sensor (Accelerometer), 6-Axis Motion Sensor (Gyroscope), Digital Compass (Magnetometer)
• Stereo speakers and stereo microphones
• Wi-Fi® (802.11 a/b/g/n) connectivity
• Bluetooth® 2.1+EDR support

Source- BlackBerry

RIM anounces retail outlets for BlackBerry Playbook, prices starting at $499.

Mar 22, 2011 News Leave a comment

Research In Motion today announced that the much-awaited BlackBerry PlayBook tablet will be available in over 20,000 retail outlets in the U.S. and Canada.

“The BlackBerry PlayBook is an amazing tablet that is already being widely praised as a multi-tasking powerhouse with an uncompromised web experience and an ultra-portable design,” said Mike Lazaridis, President & Co-CEO, Research In Motion.

“Given the high level of customer interest in the BlackBerry PlayBook, we are particularly pleased to be working with such an amazing lineup of retail partners,” he added.

The BlackBerry PlayBook with Wi-Fi will be available in three models and will be priced starting at $499 in US and Canada.

BlackBerry PlayBook will be available with the following list of retailers and wireless carriers-