Research In Motion today announced the new BlackBerry® Curve™ 3G, an exciting addition to the globally popular BlackBerry Curve series of smartphones. Designed to provide the growing mass of smartphone purchasers with a distinctly powerful, approachable and affordable choice, the BlackBerry Curve 3G supports high-speed 3G (HSDPA) networks around the world  and gives users the exceptional communications features they need to accomplish more than ever, when they’re at home, at work and everywhere in-between. continue

BESadmins can now download the latest service pack  BES 5.0.2 (now with support for Windows Server 2008 R2)
This service pack is also expected to become available to businesses that use BES Express, later this year.

Here are highlights on the upcoming features and an instructional video detailing the new features:

Single sign-on allows end users and administrators to directly and securely access BlackBerry Web Desktop Manager and BlackBerry Administration Service once they’ve signed in to the network without the need to re-enter their user ID and password. Smartphone users can be allowed access to the intranet, files and business systems “behind the firewall” directly from their BlackBerry smartphone without the need to enter their network password with the device already authenticated via Active Directory and BlackBerry Enterprise Server. continue

Orange, O2 and Vodafone have all collaborated to develop a mobile broadcast system, capable of delivering data-intensive services. The new system means users will soon be able watch TV on their handsets.

The multi-operator pilot, which will run for three months commencing in October 2010 in central London and Slough, will assess how mobile broadcast services can be deployed using shared network infrastructure.

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Apple will launch iPhone 4, the thinnest smartphone in the world with the highest resolution display ever built into a phone on 24th June.

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RIM has redesigned the wall power charger which now includes a USB plug where a USB data cable can be plugged in to charge the BlackBerry, just like the iPhone charger. This makes sense, as there is no need to carry two cables and now users have less weight to carry while travelling. continue

Research in Motion and BMW have been working on technology that essentially turns your BMW’s ConnectedDrive (iDrive) into a remote control of your BlackBerry.  Using a new Bluetooth protocol called MAP (Message Access Profile), the BMW and BlackBerry can pair allowing ConnectedDrive to sync all the contacts and email from the BlackBerry.  Once paired, ConnectedDrive can scan through and read headers of emails through the iDrive console and select messages can be read using iDrive’s text-to-voice feature. continue

RIM has officially announced the Pearl 3G aka the Pearl 9100 aka Stratus. Despite its impressively compact and elegant design, this stylish new handset is a powerful 3G BlackBerry smartphone with uncompromising performance and high end features:

• Elegant candybar design measuring 4.25″ x 1.96″ x 0.52″ (108mm x 50 mm x 13.3 mm) and weighing only 3.3 oz (93 grams)
• 624 Mhz processor with 256 MB Flash memory
• 360×400 sharp-resolution display (238 ppi)
• Optical trackpad that makes navigation fast and smooth, plus a comfortable keyboard that enables quick and accurate typing
• Media player for videos, pictures and music (music plays up to 30 hours), plus dedicated media keys integrated along top of the handset

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RIM felt it important to release a KB for this:

Overview

A hoax message circulating on BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) asks users to forward on the BBM message to their contacts in order to maintain BBM service, and claims to have been originally sent by Research In Motion (RIM). 

Rest assured that this BBM message did not originate from RIM and that it does not impact the security of BlackBerry smartphones. It is simply a hoax chain message. Unfortunately, many social networking applications face this scenario, whereby any message, including a hoax message, can be forwarded to a user from one of their contacts. We recommend that users simply ignore the message and do not forward it. continue

According to research by the business loyalty programme Nectar Business, millions of workaholic Britons find it impossible to switch off their work devices even when they’re not in the office.

British worker’s refusal to turn off their Blackberrys or mobile phones means they are effectively working an extra 10 days a year

Nectar Business did the study to reveal the impact of technology on British working lives.

The study found that 20 per cent of UK workers keep their phones on over the weekend.

24 per cent of Brits complain they feel stressed because they are always on call, with 33 percent of male and 54 percent of the women respondents saying that they cannot switch their BlackBerry smartphones off when they leave the office. continue

Four new Vertu limited edition handsets have been revealed by Nokia.

Each of the four models comes with a hand-painted chassis, illustrated with gold elements. The new phones have been entitled the Vertu Kinko, the Vertu Kikusui, the Vertu Nanten and the Vertu Daigo. The different designs stand for the different seasons of the year. What makes them even more outstanding is only four copies of each mobile phone will be available. continue