Guest Blogger @ Blackberryforums.com

Throughout the years, i have posted, replied, mentioned and blogged a fair bit about Blackberry, now it has led me to the Mothership of Blackberry Socialites, the Blackberry Forums.

I'm now a Guest Blogger for Blackberry News dot com :)


Look out for my postings.... if your smart :)



P.S. they pay good :)

HTML Email at Long Last !!!

Thankfully, over the weekend, RIM upgraded there Asia Pacific BIS Servers to 2.5, thus allowing HTML Email and a whole host of other features.

I say it's fantastic, give it a go.

I have HTML email running on our 4.5 BES but I guess i'll have to wait for corp IT to upgrade to 5.0 or the Hack, to get my BES emails in HTML.

One more box ticked on the Microsoft Push solution, couple that with the Bold then I really cannot see 1 particular advantage over Blackberry Microsoft has.

I plead with you all to write a comment and tell me just one ?


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EDIT - SP6 is released! Let the HTML Email FLooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow!!!

1.2%

A significant mention must goto SMH for this article, as I don't normally comment on articles I felt i had to since it is one of the best that I have seen from an Australian Media outlet.....

http://www.smh.com.au/news/biztech/where-to-now-for-the-blackberry/2008/05/19/1211182701198.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap2

The killer line's from the whole document which pleases me immensly is the following:

"International consultancy firm Nomura estimates that of the 600 million-700 million corporate email accounts around the world, only a tiny 1.2% have been "mobilised" to date.

"There's 1.2 billion cell phones sold every year. This is a huge market that isn't anywhere near saturation level. I think right now there's lots of room for all of us," says Mr Lazaridis."

Something tells me Wireless Data is the place to be :-)

4.5 Device OS

I have it i installed on my corporate device (will install it in the lab tomorrow), way too many features to blog about right now, very tired....

1 feature which really stands out is the browser!!!

very very impressed.

Watch this space.

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First Impressions.... they have gone into separating data, moving away from the traditional "loads of information" in one streaming data list for just about every application on the device. Looks good. Having a problem with some themes ATM, unable to lock the 8310 with the alt-enter combination from the Home screen, not the applicahtion screen. Have to have the localisation service on to shift-space and then it works, if you turn it off it stops working.
The equaliser is not always there in the media player, I was doing a demo to a work collegue and all of a sudden the EQ vanished! At this point in time I migh point out that I am using version 4.5.0.10. The Browser is getting there... it is rendering pages pretty close to the PC level now. The HTML email handy and a natural progression. In all... the Bold with the increased CPU speed and HSPDA capabilities will make this device a powerhouse for Blackberry again. The feel of the new OS is fantastic and you just get a sense that everything just works. Can't wait for that BOLD !!!

on a possible negative note...
How will the Battery go ?
Will it stoop down to the Windows Mobile Powered device levels and last for 3 hours ?

I think @ worst it will have the battery life of the 8310. It's going to be interesting to see how they switch between the 3 DATA Transports (GPRS/3G/HSDPA).

One theory of mine is that it will stay on GPRS just as normal and in true Blackberry Style it will connect to the 3G/HSDPA Network as needed, meaning the battery life is going to be huge!!

Wifi connectivity is nothing new, looking forward to the UMA ideas that are finally going to be floated around in Australia.

/me is off to talk with our RIM Account Rep :)

New Blackberry Front Page

www.blackberry.com

A welcome screen with select your country... this was long overdue, just hope that it's not a total redirect to the old site and has localised content... i'll be watching closely.

Blackberry Monitoring Service 4.1.5

I am installing the monitoring service now, very intrigueing to me as this is the side of my work where I live :)

4.1.5 was definately released as a service pack, no visual triggers to make you want to have it, only the addition of the tab in the domain selction tabs.

The Blackberry Monitoring Service installs three (3) services so to speak,

There is the Data Router, Engine and the User Interface.

I suspected that this would be web based and I was plesantly suprised that it was. When first installed the default browser is opened and 127.owed:5089 and up comes the Welcome to Blackbery page.first to note is the default username and password, one would expect these to not be changed by lots of organisation , resulting in a security breach.

Thankfully as soon as you press ok, you have to change it straight away... as expected from RIM.

Ahh my first glitch, the monitoring service uses SNMP traps, away i go to install :)

..... back.... been very busy @ work... new Job and all.... still no the trail... just very busy.

Have it working, just a few minor details before I release some screenshots, etc..

4.1.5 Install

The first notable inclusion in this release is Java 6.0 Update 2.
For a longtime now ofcourse Java 5 Update 11 was the standard.

Everything else is exactly the same as the service pack 4 installation..... ill wait until i reboot to finish this post.......

Side note, I am installing 4.1.5 Bundle 79, available through Partnerzone and not publicly anounced yet.

well... that was an anti-climax.... except the BLACKBERY MONITORING SERVICE!!!

A little present from RIM.... 4.1.5 (service pack 5) :)

Guess who is the lucky owner of SP5 :)

installing as I blog..... will keep posted :)

I never thought it was coming.

Blackberry's Outstanding Figures - as usual :)

It's of no supporise that RIM have doubled there income since the same time last year.... hence my employment :), but there have been some out there attempting to predict Blackberry's downfall, and have obviously no idea what they are talking about, amongst other things.

When the number just keep coming good.....

see: http://www.rim.com/news/press/2008/pr-02_04_2008-01.shtml

....it's a sure bet this time next year will be looking good aswell.

It's definately a massive sign that Blackberry is by no means, going away anytime soon.

I predict 18million subscribers next year ... big call, but I think it is realistic.

Service Pack 5 - Delayed till April 15th, 2008

Bit old news now... but still, I have to post it as I have been extremely busy with the New Job @ Optus and all.

Service Pack 5 - Delayed till March 28th, 2008

All set to download.... again, since I am off work the most I can do with Blackberry ATM is wait for SP5 until I start my new role.

As mentioned on blackberryforums.com it does feel like the old days where you would be hanging out for a new scene release on IRC waiting for this service pack !

Mobility Banking - Secure Internet Banking

Seems to be a big grey area in the market these days.

Only one notable Australian Bank has come to the plate with mobile banking, enter, Bank of Queensland (BOQ).

This is one of the areas that is easily steaked in the group as a competitive advantage to the rest of the market. Now let's not forget IT's roots here, to support the business.

This is a primary example of where technology is capable of doing 256 Bit HTTP SSL Encryption over an AES Data connection and a business not being to "scared" to be the first to offer it.

I look forward to the day the desktop is obsolete. I pretty much only use it for research, banking and remote-desktop these days anyway

IM (MSN, GTalk, YMessenger), Email (Desktop,Windows Live Hotamil,Gmail), SMS, MMS, Phone-calls, Feeds, Cricket Scores :), Facebook and of course the once a day Accuwhethere Push Service all are done from my 8310 Curve.

Banking on my Blackberry would be fantastic, it might even be a pre-requisite in the not too distant future for which bank (no pun intended) I go with.

Here's to reading your last 7 days transaction whilst in transit minus a laptop :)

OCS 2007 Certification

One thing I did forget to mention was that Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Certification for Blackberry Enterprise Server will not be granted until service pack 6. Lotus sametime seems to be the flavour of the month, and why not? Lotus is by far the largest messaging/communications solution for the the US fortune 500.

Link to SP5 PDF from Webcast

SP5 WEBCAST PDF LINK

Thanks to Dataoutages :)

Service Pack 6 - Confirmed

Due out later this year apparently :)

What little goodies will we see ?

Aaron Stuart from RIM stated "released later this year"

BES SP5 WEBCAST .... Flooded !!!

Well here I am.... 4:06am AEST ..... trying to get onto the RIM resourcecentre website to watch the official presentation for BES 4.1 Service Pack 5 and it appears that the site has been swamped. Even using an overseas proxy still would produce no results when trying to attempt to connect.

Hopefully I will have something to post in the next hour.

and hopefully I didn't get up @ 4am for nothing to :)

EDIT: Just checked out the forums.... everyone is unable to get in :-(

Although annoyed it is very satisfying that there is such demand for a newly relesed service pack.

Onward soldier...

Jumping Ship

Sorry for the amount of time between posts, been busy getting myself a new Job @ Optus Australia :)

One thing I am definately looking forward to is the Wireless Lan Pearl that's on offer through Optus.

UMA is definately the future....

Blackberry Wishlist / Need List

Ill start the ball rolling now, not conclusive, but I am going to put up my Wishlist for the Blackberry Solution, ones that are easily added to the device and aren't unrealistic (i.e a key dedicated to producing wormholes :P )

1. GPS Notification Icon - Doesn't that just bite when ur battery goes dead because you have left GPS on all day ?
2. BES Management Console for the Device, i.e. So BESadmins can add and remove and reset passwords on the go.
3. Ability to remotely hide/show icons on users devices rather than just the service. i.e Hid the compose icon.

EDIT: Good to see atleast one of my ideas was fixed with SP5 :)

more to come.....

The Inner Workings of a Blackberry Curve 8310

Bang!

Shouts of Horror!!

I nearly lost my Blackberry today.... the world most definately would have ended... lol

Until I got another one out of the Cupboard @ work tomorrow ... lol.

While it was smashed into smitherines from my accidental throwing of the device I decided to check it's guts out :)

The design is very well made, complements to the chef :)

But one thing caught my eye and that was , you guessed it, the trackball. I had always been wondering what it looked like underthere and how it all worked (engineering background/nature) but i had always been "too busy" to pull it apart.

It actually works like the legacy ball mice for PC's but there are 4 rollers rather than 2, thus surrounding the trackball on 4 sides.

The rough texture of the Trackball is actually by design, thus making it grip.

Anyway.... i was intrigued...

Scrubbing Part 2

After looking through my Website stats I have notice that people are looking for a particular duration of the scrubbing feature.... Unfortunately it cannot be quantified exactly, but, in real life terms on my 8310 it takes about 2 hours to complete.

Hope this helps.