RIM’s Blackberry Curve 8980 Coming Soon

FCC (Federal Communications Commission) has recently revealed an unannounced BlackBerry handset, the BlackBerry Curve 8980. The said smartphone is also basically similar to the famous BlackBerry 8900. And it appears that it’s going to be on quad-band GSM/EDGE too. Furthermore, FCC documents shows that the unannounced phone will have Bluetooth, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, full QWERTY keyboard, 3.2 MP camera with flash, 3.5mm headset jack, and an optical trackpad.

Since this model has yet to be announced, not much is known about it other than previous reports which put its RAM at 256MB, twice that of the Curve 8900. A trackpad also replaces the 8900′s trackball. The FCC documents reveal support for AT&T’s 850MHZ and 1900MHz GSM/EDGE bands, but no 3G radio, which is par for the course with the Curve 8xxx models, save for the Curve 8530.

In addition to that image, the specs that we can mention include support for quad-band GSM/EDGE, 256MB flash memory, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth, microUSB, 3.2 megapixel camera
with flash, 3.5mm headphone jack and an optical trackpad along with BlackBerry keyboard.

And lastly, for those feeling like they need to learn anything and everything they can about the BlackBerry Curve
8980 prior to the official announcement, the FCC filing includes external and internal images along with the complete user manual, the Safety and Product Information pamphlet and much more.

BlackBerry Empathy Phone

RIM Blackberry BlackBerry Empathy Phone designed by Kiki and Daniel with n interface that integrates human emotions with the concept of social networking.BlackBerry Empathy is used in conjunction with a biometrics ring that is worn by the user to collect emotional data………

Designers Kiki and Daniel had to incorporate an interface that integrates human emotions with the concept of social network, for their sponsored project held by RIM Blackberry at the Art Center College of Design.The result of this exercise was the Blackberry Empathy concept. The phone is used in conjunction with a biometrics ring that is worn by the user to collect emotional data. Spec-wise it features a transparent OLED screen that becomes transparent when not in use and opaque during interaction. The Front is all touch surface, while on the back is a physical keyboard.

The surface is described as touch based and all the user’s connections are shown graphically so you can see who is connected to whom. Each contact has an avatar that is encompassed by two colored rings. The inner colored ring shows the contact’s previous emotional state, and the outer ring represents the contact’s current emotional state.Another important feature is the ‘Emotional Health Chart’ that will monitor the user’s emotional health through an indefinite period of time. One would be able to see how a certain event, or phone call has affected the user.

Screenshots :

Verizon selling the BlackBerry look alike Droid Pro for $179.99

If you love Blackberry phones for its trend setting QWERTY keyboard and love Android for it being open source and innovative, then you need to read this through. Verizon has the kind of device you are looking and they are calling it Droid Pro. What’s more the pre-orders of the device under spotlight start from tomorrow.

Here’s how the announcement was made:

Verizon Wireless, the company with the nation’s largest and most reliable wireless 3G network, and Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT), today announced that DROID PRO, the first Android™-based smartphone optimized for business use, will be available as a pre-sale order at select Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online at www.verizonwireless.com starting Nov. 9 and for purchase in stores starting Nov. 18. The DROID PRO will be available for $179.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement.

Coming to the specs side of things, the phone becomes equipped with a

• 3.1 inch touch screen.
• Android 2.2 aka Froyo.
• QWERTY keyboard.
• Multi-touch sporting
• Has the enhanced motoblur, Motorola’s very own custom UI for Android.

The phone sporting just a 3.1 inch long touch screen has to do with making room for the space consuming QWERTY keyboard. This phone will possibly of more interest to the business oriented people since it has the physical keyboard which will come in handy as it will save time for them on the go.

So any plans of purchasing the handset? Do let us know in the comments section.

[via Android Central]

BlackBerry PlayBook coming Q1 2011 for $500

RIM is expected to bring to shelves its first tablet PC, the BlackBerry PlayBook sometime during the first quarter of the next year, at least on the North American market.

The Playbook was announced back in September with launch dates being supposedly been confirmed by Gregory Wade, regional VP for Asia Pacific of RIM, who also noted that the Playbook would be specifically aimed at corporate users with pricing set at around $500.

Packing a 7-inch, 1024 x 600 pixels, capacitive multitouch display, the slate is powered by a Cortex A9-based, dual-core 1GHz CPU, complemented by 1GB of RAM, and should offer increased performance levels for all users.

The specifications list of the tablet PC also includes WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1 connectivity options, along with HDMI port and microUSB jack.

At the same time, the slate should boast 16GB or 32GB of internal memory, a 5-megapixel photo snapper, and a 3-megapixel front-facing camera for video conferencing.

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