The guys over at BBH-Plus got their hands on a 6.1 OS and have been busy all afternoon leaking the applications found in the OS including: BlackBerry Radio, Visual Voicemail, App World, Podcasts, and  News. UPDATE: Added Facebook for BlackBerry

NOTE: The applications are only for OS 6.0,  they will not work on other devices as far as we know.

If you get errors about BBID .cods missing, Install this OTA:
http://www.bbh-plus.net/downloads.php?do=file&id=2044

If you get errors about BBID .cods missing, Install this OTA:
http://www.bbh-plus.net/downloads.php?do=file&id=2044

Thanks to Tashana and Fubaz for sending this in.

Source: BBH PLUS

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Finally we have some new info on BlackBerry smartphones. It looks like that picture of the “BlackBerry Storm 3” we snagged back in September of last year was spot on! The BoyGenius scored some hands on pictures of what is now the BlackBerry Touch codename Monaco (Verizon CDMA) and Monza (GSM). Gone is the SureType screen and we have BlackBerry OS 6.1 on board. Nothing crazy fancy in OS 6.1 but still its nice to see! It has the BlackBerry ID login built into the system where you need to login to use the device.

 

According to BGR these new devices will be announced at BlackBerry World in May along with the BlackBerry Bold Touch, Torch 2, Curve Touch, and this BlackBerry Touch Monaco and Monza versions!

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Yes, BB-Freaks is back with this eye-popping colorful new theme called Spring Story 3D. An animated ascending air balloon, 6/8 customizable icons and a bunch of others lovely details makes this theme bring a breath of fresh air. Available for a variety of BlackBerry devices, Spring Story is on sale for $3.99 but if you head over to our Berryreview Store, enter coupon code BRSPR at checkout (be sure to select your appropriate device) this baby is yours for free. Please, one code per customer…give everyone a chance. Also, if you get lucky, it would be nice to say thanks in the comments section of this post. BIG THANKS TO BB-FREAKS FOR THIS SPECIAL GIVEAWAY!

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Over the last few weeks I have tried to explain to a few people the difference between the BlackBerry Bridge and the Internet Tethering  on the BlackBerry PlayBook. The BlackBerry Bridge simply proxies certain information like email, contacts, calendar, notes, tasks, and BBM from a BlackBerry to the PlayBook and shows that information on the PlayBook. It looks like it may give BES users access to the companies intranet but that is about it.

Internet Tethering on the other hand is simply using the Bluetooth Dial Up Networking (DUN) profile that many phones support. This was just confirmed again in a leaked guide by http://crackberry.com/internet-tethering-blackberry-playbook-tablet-bluetooth. That means any phone that supports Dial Up Networking over Bluetooth, which many feature phones even support, will be able to use their phone to get to the internet from a PlayBook.

This all comes with one major caveat. Carriers are going to want to get paid. That means I can see them tacking on some $20 or so charge a month for “PlayBook Tethering.” What would be really cool is if these plans would work with the upcoming Mobile Wi-Fi Hotspot features coming in the next generation of BlackBerrys.

Check out the details from the guide at this link. I have spoken to a few devs and it does not look like they will be able to create an app like “Tether” with the current SDK’s available for the PlayBook. On the other hand my discussions with a few internal RIM devs hint that quite a few more API’s are coming soon.

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What I am hearing now is that RIM may have screwed up in the email they sent to developers that made us think the free PlayBook offer was extended. With that extension not happening that makes today the last official day to submit a BlackBerry PlayBook app to be eligible for the offer of a free BlackBerry PlayBook at launch. If you are not already in the submission process with an App World vendor account and signing keys I doubt you can still make the deadline. I am curious how many of you have already submitted apps or plan on submitting them today. Let me know in the comments along with what kind of app you submitted.

In the same vein I submitted a WebWorks app I created on March 23rd and it still is “pending review” over a week later. Maybe RIM is getting inundated with submissions? Either way they better approve it or I will have a conniption.

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I noticed an interesting new BlackBerry PlayBook app show up in App World today. ReelPortal is bringing their Adobe AIR 2.5 based video chatting and conferencing app to the BlackBerry PlayBook. One of the limits on RIM’s upcoming BBM video chatting service is that it will only be from PlayBook to PlayBook at first. We are counting on companies like Skype or even ReelPortal to make it cross platform.

The ReelPortal app for the BlackBerry PlayBook is not showing up in the App World webstore anymore for some reason but here is a description I snagged from App World on my BlackBerry:

ReelPortal is an Adobe AIR 2.5 based video chat and conferencing app for the BlackBerry® PlayBook™. Designed to work with multiple devices and OSes, its features include:

video conference with multiple friendsjoin a public room, or create your own locked private roomsupports both P2P and client/server connectionsPersistent connection allows switching between Wi-Fi and 3G without dropping connectionsUse it as a nanny-cam or video monitoring system

ReelPortal is room-centric. You automatically connect to everyone in a room when you enter with no need to call them individually.

You can check out an idea of what the app looks like at http://www.reelportal.com/

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In case you don’t know Polar Mobile they are a solid mobile development shop that creates some of the popular content apps you probably already use. Polar Mobile let us know they have inked a deal to bring at least 100 apps to the BlackBerry PlayBook. These apps are probably going to be for the same clients that Polar Mobile is currently working with from their catalog of 200+ BlackBerry apps.

I am not sure what RIM had to do with the deal but I have heard of them doing similar things in the past. I know RIM has played a role in getting many apps to the BlackBerry Platform by contracting with the developing house directly. Its a pretty solid move for RIM and I hear they are looking to create similar deals. Just to give you an idea of the apps this deal will bring to the PlayBook some of Polar Moblie’s apps include: TheStreet, Bloomberg, The Hockey News, TIME. CNN Money, and many more.

Here are the full details from Polar Mobile:

Polar Mobile to support RIM’s PlayBook tablets and launch 100 PlayBook AppsMarch 31, 2011 (Toronto, ON) – Polar Mobile (http://www.polarmobile.com/) announced plans today to support Research In Motion’s PlayBook tablet devices and estimates launching at least 100 Apps for the device in 2011.Polar Mobile’s SMART Platform powers over 500 mobile Apps across every smartphone for over 200 Publishers in 10 countries. The 180+ Super Apps powered by Polar Mobile on BlackBerry smartphones today have been used by over 4,000,000 people in 100 countries. The likes of Time Inc, Conde Nast, Bloomberg, CBS Sports, Shanghai Daily and Transcontinental Media are some of Polar Mobile’s customers.“Tablets represent a massive opportunity for our customers to increase reach, drive engagement and create a new revenue stream”, says Kunal Gupta, Chief Executive Officer, Polar Mobile. “We are excited to extend our Platform to the PlayBook and believe it will be a key content consumption device that Publishers need to be on”.IDC forecasts worldwide shipments of tablets to reach 70.8 million units by next year. RIM has announced the launch of the PlayBook tablet for April 19th.“Polar Mobile is a leader in helping Publishers launch high-quality mobile Apps easily and quickly, while enabling a compelling user experience”, says Tyler Lessard, Vice President, Global Alliances, Research In Motion. “The PlayBook is an important device that partners like Polar Mobile are investing heavily on, given the opportunity to grow distribution and revenue”.Polar Mobile’s SMART™ Platform provides Publishers with an affordable solution that is fast and easy to get to-market across every major device. The Platform is a fully hosted and managed solution, incorporating a variety of mobile ad servers, mobile reporting, end-user support and other key platform services. To learn more about launching Apps with Polar Mobile, visit http://www.polarmobile.com/.

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I am not sure how we missed this but RIM has a Foo Fighters contest and sweepstakes going on with a grand prize of trip for two to see the Foo Fighters or a private performance by them in your garage. The sweepstakes for the trip to see the Foo Fighters in concert ends today and its really simple to enter compared to the Best Buy version. You need to fill out the form at http://www.foofightersgaragetour.com/ and the contest is open to US and Canadian residents except for Quebec.

The contest on the other hand is a bit more complicated but also ends today. You need to submit a photo of YOUR garage and in 25 words or less tell RIM why the Foo Fighters should play in your garage. You enter that contest at this link.

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It looks like RIM is extending their free BlackBerry PlayBook for developers offer yet again. I think this is a great move by RIM though I have not seen the change reflected on the RIM website yet. Long time reader Marc received an email today stating:

The BlackBerry developer community has already begun developing and submitting applications for the BlackBerry® PlayBook™. Registered developers who submit a qualifying BlackBerry® PlayBook™ app that is accepted into BlackBerry App World™ prior to the initial product launch in North America (April 19th) will receive a free BlackBerry® PlayBook™. Learn how to qualify for the free BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet offer.

I am not sure if RIM changed their qualifications for the offer anymore but I expect we will hear from them soon. I think this is a brilliant move on RIM’s part because it will net them many more than the 100 or so Android 3.0 HoneyComb tablet apps available now.

Keep an eye out on BerryReview for updates!

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Google followed up their incremental update to Google Maps with an update to the Google Mobile App. The new version is 3.9.7 which brings us a few ticks closer to v4. Still it has been over 3 months since the last update to v3.9.6. My guess is it is just a couple bug fixes but there is no change log to confirm. Let us know if you spot anything in the comments!

You can pick up the update at m.google.com/search from your BlackBerry

Thanks Tom and Nikolaus for the tip!

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If you needed any more proof that RIM originally planned on launching the PlayBook in March this should clinch it. Doug (Hayes Developer) noticed that RIM has filed an extension with the FCC asking them to keep the PlayBook’s details confidential until April 19th (the launch date). The previous date was set for March 31st.

They want the FCC to do this to:

…ensure sensitive business information remains confidential until the actual marketing of the device.”

Now this makes me truly wonder what is in these approval documents that RIM has not told us already??? Any guesses? I am hoping for a built in sonic screwdriver.

RIM is asking them to withhold the:

External photosTest setup photosUser’s manualInternal photos

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I know that RIM is licensing their BlackBerry Travel app using WorldMate’s tech but even so RIM rarely releases updates this close to each other. That is unless there is some critical bug that needed squashing. Nikolaus let us know that RIM has updated BlackBerry Travel to v1.0.350.99 which is only slightly newer than the v1.0.341.99 released on the 23rd. In typical RIM fashion there is no changelog to help us decide if the 3MB download is worth it, but we sort of found an update in BetaZone change log that seems kind of helpful:

Added Bold 9000 support.
Fixed issue of disappearing itineraries.
Resolved device freezing (white screen) on launch of application.
Fixed settings reset after battery pull:
Caused TripCatch to turn off.
Caused users to lose their home city until next sync.
Updated the splat mechanism to fix various bugs.
Added Hotel promotions in hotels results screen.
General push framework fixes.
Fixed airport selection on new flight.
New UI control in weather card.
UI fixes for LinkedIn screen.
Various small UI changes and fixes ? All screens.
Improved swipe behavior for home screen cards.
Added ?All cities? option:
Will show multiple weather displays (one per each city).
Will show all LinkedIn connections per trip.
Yelp links will go to Yelp search screen (instead of results), with the selected category pre-populated as well as the first city.
Added sort menu items in Yelp screen.
Added empty images to LinkedIn field like in LinkedIn card.
Added state to airport name in auto complete field.
Currency screen: Corrected concurrency issues and added ‘Update Rates’ option in menu.
Implemented key press: ‘T’ & ‘B’ scrolls to Top and Bottom accordingly.
Added timer for ensuring GPS deactivation.
Fixed XML encoding in BlackBerry Maps.
Fixed calendar sync.

Check out the latest version of BlackBerry Travel in App World at this link.

PS: I am sure we will make Mike Lazaridis cry by the possibly wasted 3MB upgrade data usage.

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I was out at the mall yesterday, and happened to run in to an old classmate from college at the Bell store, and saw him looking at a 9780 and an Atrix.  I immediately had to go and talk to him and ask what his needs and wants were for the phone, and whipped out my 9700.  I obviously told him about all the pro’s and how I have had my 9700 since release and it’s been flawless, and the 9780 was an upgraded version of my great phone.  How OS6 has made the BlackBerry a more competitive smartphone, and the push technology makes them excellent communication devices.  Now the Atrix is a good phone as well, but showing him hands on how my 9700 worked helped him seeing the phone first hand.

I didn’t stick around to see what his decision was, but later on Facebook I got a pm with his PIN, and with this I am asking, has your BlackBerry knowledge and addiction influenced people around you to get a BlackBerry, theme, apps or accessories?  I know that I now have siblings, friends, and extended family addicted… do you?

Also, with the launch of the PlayBook, have you swayed people to hold off on a tablet purchase? Have you examined the strengths and weaknesses of the PlayBook versus the Ipad (1 and 2) as well as the many Android tablets becoming available. Have you adapted to the mentality that the PlayBook is for everyone, even though RIM is pushing it as the first business oriented tablet, seeing how many of us adopted BlackBerry’s for personal devices while they are mainly business oriented.

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For all of you sporting unreleased BlackBerry Torch 2 9850’s or BlackBerry Bold Touch 9930s we have an OS leak for you! If you don’t have one of those devices simply jump in your Tardis (that’ makes 3 @DrewCPU) and pick one up from the “future you.” All of those leaked apps were extracted by this new OS 6.1.0.44 that has been leaked by the Driphter team courtesy of ALKi3. You can see how early of a release it is based on the numbering but still it might be fun to download if you want to tinker and create a “frankenOS” hybrid.

You can pick up the OS at the links below:

Thanks to everyone who sent this in! (image credit AussieGall)

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Retailers are gearing up for the April 19th launch of the BlackBerry PlayBook. I got an email yesterday from Sears Canada announcing that they have opened the doors for preorders for all three variants of the BlackBerry PlayBook. Quite a few readers also let us know that Office Depot in the US is also accepting preorders. The prices are the same across all these retailers but the trend I am seeing is that many of them are only really going to have quantities of the 16GB variant in stock at stores.

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I didn’t notice it until Marc Paradise pointed it out but anybody notice something funny about the BlackBerry Touch pictures leaked by the BoyGenius? They have a black box over one of the icons on the homescreen. While Marc thought that points to it being a controlled “leak”, Jonathan (aka BoyGenius) confirmed in the comments when Afrolion also pointed it out that:

Stuff we blurred that isn’t quite ready to be public yet! Well, you know, besides the phone and all that.

So I thought I would throw the question to all of you. What do you think could be hidden behind door black icon #1? A icon for the Apple App Store? A Tardis? A BlackBerry Music Store? Let us know what you think!

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Yesterday we pointed out a picture on RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook site showing a then unknown app with popular magazines featured. Having no idea what the app was I decided to open up to floor to our readers to figure out what it was and it looks like we have it figured out. The BlackBerry PlayBook render of the app looks exactly like Zinio.

In case you have never heard of Zinio (I hadn’t) they offer up popular digital magazines and books through their service. From what I can tell Zinio offers National Geographic, Rolling Stones, Harvard Business Review, and Popular Mechanics which are shown in the rendering on RIM’s site. What really clinches it is that their latest Zinio Reader4 beta is built on Adobe AIR which should be super easy for them to port to the BlackBerry PlayBook.

So it looks like we will probably hear an announcement about the PlayBook getting Zinio soon. What do you think?

Thanks to Tenniscpa and Michael for pointing this out!

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We have been hearing so much conflicting information on the upcoming BlackBerry OS 6.1 and OS 7 making it hard to break fact from fiction. We just heard from one of our sources who passed along the gist of CTO of software, David Yach, keynote at RIM’s internal RDX dev conference today. Here are some highlights from his keynote though he kind of jumped around a bit:

A big portion of the talk is focusing on the benefit RIM will get from centralizing processes and tools. (what RIM’s COO of product engineering, Thorsten Heins,said yesterday)One of the key reasons OS 6.1 is falling behind schedule is miscommunication between teams in the critical path of the projectHe didn’t focus on the problems as much as how RIM is going to solve them by easing conflicts in the critical path

The second part of the keynote is where things got interesting talking about OS 7 and OS 6.1:

There is a new project “Highlander” using the concept from the movies “There can be only one”This project is taking the best features from OS 6.1 and the QNX OS to make OS 7. This seems to be where the rumors about OS 6.1 having a QNX core are coming fromRIM is “very happy” with OS 6.1 but it struggling with losing the features users loveOS 6.1 is almost 10 years old and has pushed its limitsStill they are very happy about the “Liquid Graphics” in OS 6.1 adding a WOW factor to BlackBerrysThis new OS 7 will also be the OS for the Playbook down the road. Seeing the theme of  "there can be only one" ?RIM is still in the “early stages” of OS 7 with a target of 2012

I am really loving the Highlander references and think RIM should actually give their OS builds a name. For example, OS 6.0 could be Phoenix… So what do you think of the info passed along? It is second hand so its hard to analyze properly but still I am really excited to see RIM has a plan for 2011 and 2012. Here is to hoping they execute it correctly!

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Now that RIM has officially set the BlackBerry PlayBook launch date for April 19th along with opening up preorders I keep wondering one thing. Where are all the BlackBerry PlayBook ads. RIM has really stepped up their game with BlackBerry smartphone ads but I have yet to see one ad for the BlackBerry PlayBook. No billboards, web ads, nothing…

So I have to wonder if we are in the quiet before the storm? Will we suddenly see the floodgates open in the next three weeks? What do you think RIM’s game plan is?

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RIM is really shaking up their enterprise offerings the past year or so. They threw in BES Express for free, worked with Google Apps, and are rolling out a “Cloud BES” solution. Lucas @N4BB scored a slide showing what is supposed to be the Enterprise Roadmap for BlackBerry solutions in 2011. We don’t have much confirmation on the rumor beyond the releases that already happened but some things are interesting:

SharePoint 1.0 general availability is “on hold since Nov RTM” whatever that meansBES 5.0.3 is still showing a late March or April releaseBES Express 5.0.3 seems to be coming later in late May 2011Some sort of BES for Google Apps is coming in the beginning of September which looks like part of the “Cloud BES” we have heard of beforeA unknown Contrail 1.0 rel;ease is scheduled for sometime in November. No idea what it is but it may be something to do with the cloud BES solution

Here are two product slides to accompany the roadmap:

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I am not sure how many of you are familiar with Zillow but it is an awesome resource for home shoppers. When you are looking for a new house Zillow provides you with a ton of vital information about each property. They just announced today that they have released a BlackBerry app for their service that allows you to view a aerial map of your location using GPS displaying

Zestimate home valuationshomes for salehomes for rentRent ZestimatesMake Me Move listingsand recently sold data on the homes around them. Additional features on the

The Zillow BlackBerry App also allows you to have:

Multiple search filters that include price, number of bedrooms and bathrooms and other valuable home-related information.Homes viewable on a map with high-resolution satellite and street view.Home search by location or by typing in a city, ZIP code or address.Full-screen color photos of homes.

The Zillow app is totally free and you can pick it up at zillow.com/blackberry/ or in App World by searching for Zillow. It supports OS 5.0+ so it should cover most users.

Check out a video demo of Zillow for BlackBerry below:

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I can’t believe another month has gone by and we are only weeks away from the launch of the BlackBerry PlayBook on April 19th. Today is the last day of our March Rewards contest with a BlackBerry PlayBook up for grabs. The contest is still going on until midnight tonight with a BlackBerry PlayBook (base model) when it is publicly available or a $500 Amazon/PayPal gift certificate as the prize. With all the news on the PlayBook this is a great way to get one for free when it comes out!

As many of you know every comment, forum post, and tip submission you make on BerryReview during the month of March 2011 will be counted as an entry to win. That means every forum post or comment you contribute increases your chances of winning! You must be registered and logged in to BerryReview when leaving comments for them to be included in the contest and the winner will be chosen by the BerryReview staff in the beginning of March.

You can check out all the details and official rules in the announcement post. If you have any questions comments leave a comment on that post. So what are you waiting for? Today is the last chance to win this months PlayBook!

Start a New Forum Discussion Visit the forums

PS: The last three months of PlayBook giveaways have been awesome. We are taking suggestions on what we should try to do for next month since the PlayBook launches in April! Let us know in the comments what you would want to see as a prize!

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