Commercials for the two upcoming BlackBerry devices leaked
Commercials for two of BlackBerry’s upcoming devices have been leaked out onto the Internet and along with it their official names. First we have the leaked commercial for the BlackBerry Bold 9900, the first touch-type Bold to come from RIM and the other is the BlackBerry 9860 or what most are referring as the Touch.
Typical to the Bold franchise, the ads suggest the 9900 to be a business-centric device with enhanced entertainment features like gaming. The 9860 on the other hand, is positioned to be a more entertainment-focused device for those who like to play games, watch videos and create content with their device.
Considering these BlackBerry leaks are appearing quite regularly in this few weeks, we’re expecting a big announcement from RIM very soon.
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Pricing for HTC Desire S with Maxis revealed
If you’ve signed up for the HTC Desire S registration of interest you’ve probably already receive this piece of interesting information from Maxis.
Ahead of the launch tomorrow, Maxis has revealed pricing details for the HTC Desire S.
The Desire S which retails at RM1799 outright is offered from as low as RM1299 with 24 months contract. What’s interesting to note is that the data contract is eligible even on Maxis Value First postpaid plan of RM30/month.
So what do you think?
Buy 1 free 1 promo from DiGi. Get a BlackBerry for free with contract purchase
To celebrate the opening of its Seberang Jaya and 1 Borneo retail centres DiGi is offering free BlackBerrys with purchase of a BlackBerry Bold 9700 or a HTC Aria.
Specifically if you purchase a BlackBerry Bold 9700 with a 24 months contract, you’ll get another 9700 for free. On the same offer, if you purchase a HTC Aria with a 24 months contract you’ll get a BlackBerry Curve 8520 for free.
The promo material is very vague about the offer but our DiGi source tells us that the promo is very limited to 13 customers for both outlets combined at each outlet with the following breakdown:
- Free BlackBerry Bold 9700 limited to six customers at Seberang Jaya and seven customer at 1 Borneo in Sabah
- Free BlackBerry Curve 8520 limited to five customers per outlet for both outlets.
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Best mobile phone ad we’ve seen. Ever!
Actually, this is one of the best ads for any product we’ve ever seen. It’s is worth every second of your three minutes. Watch it.
What is the add about? We don’t want to spoil it for you, so if you want more details about the phone in the ad, head on over to after the jump.
Nokia introduces Symbian Anna – Symbian^3 PR2
When Nokia announced their new Nokia E6 business phone and Nokia X7 entertainment device, they have also revealed Symbian Anna which was formerly known as PR2 update for Symbian^3. The new Symbian Anna comes with a number of key enhancements as follow:
- New icons, appear more rounded
- Improved touch screen keyboard for better typing and QWERTY in potrait mode
- Improved Ovi maps with check-in support for Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare
- Improved Ovi store with increased download limit for WLAN
- Improved Social app
- Enhanced Browser with touch UI improvements and URL bar. Responsiveness and navigations are improved
Nokia has mentioned that Symbian Anna will be available for existing Symbian^3 devices such as Nokia N8, C6-01, Nokia E7 and C7 in the coming months but no dates were given.
For more information, head to Nokia’s Conversation blog here.
Check out more screenshots and introductory video of Symbian Anna after the break
Maxis WiFi Hotspot Service
Maxis has finally revealed its Maxis WiFi Hotspot service. Earlier on this was silently mentioned during its iPhone 4 price slash where it comes as a Free subscription for new subscribers. However it was later removed and we wondered if the service was ready for prime time. Now looks like it is finally ready and had reappeared on Maxis site together with its full packages.
Currently this service is only available for Maxis postpaid and Hotlink Prepaid customers. For SMS activations, there are 3 plans available – RM3 daily, RM10 weekly and RM20 monthly with 500MB, 2GB and 4GB quota respectively. Once you have finished your data quota or if your access has expired, your subscription will be terminated immediately.
However for postpaid customers, there’s another plan option which is rather affordable if you subscribe online. Maxis offers RM3/month with 2GB access for Maxis postpaid customers. That’s quite a vast difference compared to its SMS activated packages.
In terms of coverage availability, we can’t seem to get a list as the WiFi Coverage Area finder is not working. You can try your luck again over here. For any assistance related to Maxis WiFi, you can call their careline at 1800 82 1123.
This isn’t the first time Maxis offered a WiFi subscription service as they previously had a WiFi service branded Utopia alongside other providers such as AirZed and TM Hotspot during the early days.
Currently we got no clue where this service is available but this seems to be an affordable add-on option for Maxis subscribers. For RM3 a month with 2GB quota, the WiFi option is great for users that often tether their phones with Maxis 3G network or those who often exceed their monthly quotas. All it boils down to is its coverage at popular hotspots such as shopping mall and coffee houses.
For more information on Maxis WiFi Hotspot, click here.
RIM says BBM is the largest mobile social network in the world
RIM has just released some numbers on its BlackBerry Messenger app based on a recent study it had done and by any measure the numbers are astonishing. 35 million people around the world are actively BBM-ing each other with 2,000 more jumping on the BBM bandwagon every hour. BlackBerry says the BBM now ranks as the world’s largest mobile social network platform.
The independent study commissioned by RIM done between November and December 2010, sampled 1,125 smartphone users to find out their usage patterns and thoughts about mobile applications. The survey also asked BlackBerry users about the ways they use BBM and their attitude towards the service.
Generally, users in Malaysia liked the following about BBM:
- Like to share what music they are listening to
- Like knowing when a message has been delivered and read
- Like choosing a BBM display picture
Overall BBM users also like that they are able to send messages with no charter limit, the ability to create groups with BBM contacts, and the fact that no extra fees are charged outside of data.
The study also found that BBM users are more connected with their family and friends compared to IM users and that BBM users send 50% more messages everyday compared to other IM platform users.
There’s no denying that BBM is a strong pull for people that are interested BlackBerry device but is the BlackBerry platform just a one trick pony? Is RIM relying solely on the BBM service to stay relevant? What is RIM doing to innovate its most popular application? Can we expect cross platform support for BBM? Will we see a BBM desktop app?
We don’t know. What we do know is that in terms of user experience, not much has changed with BBM and with alternatives like whatsapp gaining traction across two of the most popular mobile platforms in the world (Android and iOS), RIM would need more than a chat app to win customers.
But after all that’s said and done, when it comes to mobile instant messaging, we concur, nothing beats the speed, security and certainty of BBM.