Blackberry

Features

• 1

  Mobile apps: The IT pro's new power tools

  Think the mobile revolution is all about word games and social networking apps? Think again. Heavy-duty apps for IT pros have arrived on mobile platforms and they're quickly changing the face of IT systems management.

• 2011's biggest security snafus

  Perhaps it was an omen of what was to come when the city of San Francisco on New Year's Eve 2010 couldn't get a backup system running in its Emergency Operations Center because no one knew the password.

• Beyond the iPhone: A buyer's guide to smartphones in the enterprise

  Once ugly, slow and purely functional, the smartphone has become sleek, fast and at the forefront of technology. And the devices aren’t just for the enterprise — ever since Apple released it's ever-popular iPhone in 2007, more and more consumers have forgone their candybar phones in favour of mobile computers.

• Breaking down the BlackBerry Pearl 3G, Bold 9650

  Research in Motion isn't turning the smartphone world on its head with its two new releases, but is rather refining its own product lines.

• iPhone vs BlackBerry: Survey pits sexy against the suits

  The "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" stereotypes in Apple's famous ad campaign have nothing on the findings from a new study of BlackBerry and iPhone owners.

• BlackBerry Storm browser keeps pace with peers

  Research In Motion's BlackBerry Storm features a Java-based full-HTML browser, which RIM claims is in the same class with the browsers on iPhone, Palm Pre, Nokia, and Android devices. In many respects, that assertion is true.

• Why BlackBerry Curve 8520 is First to Get Trackpad

  Today, Research In Motion (RIM) launched the new BlackBerry Curve 8520 smartphone, an evolution of the Curve 83xx and Curve 8900 families of BlackBerry devices. Though the new Curve's really nothing groundbreaking--it's basically a combination of the two earlier Curves--the device features one brand new BlackBerry component that could prove to be quite significant: the trackpad. But why would RIM ditch its traditional track ball now and release the trackpad on its cheapest, lowest-end BlackBerry ever? Keep moving for an official answer from RIM, as well as my own "unofficial" opinion.

• BlackBerry App World: 9 Must-Do Fixes

  2009 is the Year of the Mobile App Store. Apple started the movement with the launch of its hugely successful iTunes App Store for the iPhone in 2008, then all the handset heavies followed suit. Today, Nokia operates the Ovi Store; Microsoft's got the upcoming Windows Marketplace for Mobile; Google runs Android Marketplace; and Research In Motion (RIM) runs BlackBerry App World.

• Phoenix Freeze auto-locks laptops via smartphone

  A new product from Phoenix Technologies, called Freeze, lets you use BlackBerry or iPhone Bluetooth to tell a PC that you're leaving the area and want it to lock up. When you return, Phoenix Freeze can also automatically unlock the machine so it's ready for you. However, it only works on Windows PCs, doesn't support 64-bit platforms, disables all other Bluetooth peripherals and seems to be a bit buggy for an official release. Phoenix Freeze for BlackBerry and iPhone

• BlackBerry Tour vs Nokia E72: The battle for business

  Two new business-oriented smart phones are about to the hit store shelves: The latest in Nokia's line of business phones, the E72, and the long-rumoured BlackBerry Tour 9630.

• iPhone vs. BlackBerry: Readers strike back

  In comparing the RIM BlackBerry Bold to the Apple iPhone 3G, after a month-long test of each, I declared that it was time to bury the Blackberry, as it was mediocre in its signature mail functions and pathetic in next-gen mobile capabilities such as Web browsing and applications. I got many heated replies, such as this one from reader Mortys11 (a comments handle, as with the other names cited): "Who is this guy? He must be on the Apple payroll because any tech writer with half a brain would never claim that the BlackBerry is an inferior e-mail device." (Sorry, I do not work, and have never worked, for Apple. I do use a Mac, but until Vista I had used Windows XP.) Smalpre says, "I would have to declare the writer of this article a completely incompetent nontechnical person that obviously has never had a 'real job' in IT."

• One way to build mobile-friendly apps for all devices

  Adam Blum, CEO of startup Rhomobile, says 90% of the programs being written with his company's open source mobile application framework are by ISVs and the other 10% by enterprises, but over time he'd like to see those percentages reversed.

• Best mobile entertainment apps for your smartphone

  You've spent your hard-earned cash on a brand new smartphone. Now it's time to put that money to work and turn your new acquisition into an entertainment powerhouse. The number of mobile entertainment apps out there is incomprehensibly large, and relatively few of them truly shine. Never fear: We've scoured the Web and found the best music, video, and gaming apps for your iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, or Symbian smartphone. Most are free, but for some--as you'd expect with top-notch entertainment--a price tag is attached.

• Palm Pre vs iPhone 3.0 vs Blackberry Storm 2 vs Nokia N97

  In the next few months four smartphones are going to battle it out. The Palm Pre, the iPhone 3.0, the BlackBerry Storm 2 and the Nokia N97 are all going for the crown title this summer. But which one should you choose?

• Palm Pre, other smartphones will still sell despite recession

  Despite monthly costs of $70 or more for voice and data service on new smartphones such as the Palm Pre, consumers and business users have been lining up to buy the devices when they first go on sale as if the recession had never hit.