The old adage that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence can be extended to our technology cravings. Even the person holding the shiniest new gadget can’t help but eye a neighbor who has a different device and wonder, “What does that do that mine doesn’t?”

Thoughts like these are especially prevalent when it comes to the devoted owners of BlackBerrys and iPhones. All too often, the people carrying these smart phones are curious about what one device has that the other lacks. This week, I’m going to save you the trouble and outline some of the personal usage ups and downs to each device.

Because I regularly use both gadgets and am accustomed to their different features, I have included fresh observations from five people who recently switched from BlackBerrys to iPhones. At my request, these people kept track of their impressions, noting the things they missed on their BlackBerrys along with things they preferred on the iPhones. This column isn’t meant to promote one device over the other; rather, it is a summary of some people’s sentiments, combined with my own observations in hopes of enlightening readers. I inevitably left out some differences.

The most outstanding observation from my switch group in favor of the iPhone was an appreciation for its applications, or apps.

They used things like driving directions for the first time because these apps looked and worked better on the iPhone than on the BlackBerry. And they went through a downloading frenzy during which time they found all sorts of apps for the iPhone, such as games, entertainment and those that enhanced business-travel productivity. “Browsing for games. Probably should leave the office now,” said one person’s notes.

Though Research in Motion’s (RIMM) BlackBerrys also run apps (including some of the same ones as for the iPhone), BlackBerry’s App World offers only a little better than 2,000 apps. Apple’s (AAPL) App Store boasts more than 65,000. A shortcut to the App Store ships preloaded on iPhones. BlackBerry App World is preloaded or virtually preloaded by carriers at their discretion, so a shortcut to App World may not be visible.

My switchers were frustrated by the iPhone’s battery life and complained of running low on battery. One person said, “I need to charge my iPhone a couple of times throughout the day which can be inconvenient, especially when traveling. With my BlackBerry I just charged it while I slept and it was good to go for the day.”

Granted, these people were all using the iPhone 3GS and had previously used various models of BlackBerrys that ran on slower networks and had smaller screens—two features that require less battery. Still, worrying about running out of juice is a hassle. One person said his iPhone’s weak battery was a tribute to the fact that he used it more often and for more things than he did the BlackBerry.

The most obvious difference between iPhones and BlackBerrys are the keyboards. The iPhone uses an on-screen keyboard, while the BlackBerry (except the touch-screen Storm model) uses a tactile QWERTY keyboard. As expected, the switchers had trouble using the iPhone keyboard–especially for the first few days. But after about a week, most people in the group had adjusted well to the on-screen keys and the iPhone’s auto-correct feature that fixes mistakes as long as you keep typing rather than stopping to fix an error. One person said, “I was a skeptic, and didn’t think the typing would work for me at all, but it actually hasn’t been too bad.”

Another said typing can be a real challenge at first, but that this could be overcome with a bit of practice.

Several people said they were still able to use their thumbs for iPhone typing as they did on the BlackBerry, though most preferred turning the screen horizontally to do this with slightly larger keys. Some said that they weren’t typing quite as fast as with the BlackBerry’s QWERTY keys but that they weren’t too far off.

The BlackBerry keyboard’s static position below its screen means all letters, numbers and symbols must come solely from pressing those keys; this is done by pressing ALT or Shift keys for numbers and symbols. Some switchers noted that pressing a button to change the iPhone’s on-screen keyboard from letters to capital letters or numbers took a bit longer than on the BlackBerry.

My switchers were ecstatic about using the iPhone’s Safari Web browser. They enthusiastically said searching, browsing and reading were all made much better and more visually pleasing compared with their experiences on the BlackBerry browser.

If you are a BlackBerry user, you know that all received and sent emails are listed on the same screen. The iPhone behaves more like a computer, storing sent emails in a special folder you must back up to open. This takes a little while to get used to.

Some switchers said they wished the iPhone had something like BlackBerry Messenger, the always-on messaging system that works to allow communication between all BlackBerrys.

The iPhone automatically changes its time when you enter a new time zone. BlackBerrys remain set to their home time zone for time stamping all emails with that time–unless you change the time in settings.

RIM prides itself on being able to run multiple applications at once; the iPhone allows this with its own preloaded programs like Mail and Safari, but not with other apps.

One switcher, for example, was frustrated that Pandora, a radio-like app that plays music according to user likes and dislikes, turned off when he opened Mail to read emails while listening to songs.

The BlackBerry’s AC adaptor takes up two power outlet spots, while the small, square iPhone plug occupies only one outlet, making it more versatile and able to charge in more locations.

The iPhone only works on one cellular service: AT&T (T). The BlackBerry is available from Verizon (VZ), AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint (S) and other carriers. My group used T-Mobile before changing to the iPhone’s AT&T service.

There will always be something on someone else’s device that looks more appealing than the one in your hand.

But the experience of using apps on the iPhone–and the huge selection of apps in the App Store–significantly enhance Apple’s device.

RIM is continually improving its own store, but it needs to move quickly to keep its loyal users contented.

By Katherine Boehret – via solution.allthingsd.com

A snooping application, called PhoneSnoop, allows an attacker to remotely activate a BlackBerry microphone and listen in on surrounding conversations.
A new proof-of-concept (PoC) application enables an attacker to remotely activate a BlackBerry microphone and listen in on surrounding sounds and conversations. The application, called PhoneSnoop, was released last week on the blog of security researcher Sheran Gunasekera. To download and install the application, an attacker would need physical access to a BlackBerry device and to know a PIN, if the owner uses one to lock his or her device. After PhoneSnoop is installed on a device, when a call is received from a preconfigured number, the BlackBerry automatically answers the phone, allowing an attacker to listen in, Marc Fossi, senior researcher at Symantec Security Response told SCMagazineUS.com on Thursday. Once the call is connected, the BlackBerry is set to speakerphone, increasing the microphone’s sensitivity to pick up sound from far distances. “First and foremost, the most important thing about this is it’s a proof of concept, Fossi said. “It’s not something you need to worry about right now.” There are a few tipoffs that the application was not designed with malicious intent but as a means to illustrate that an attack of this nature is possible, he said. For one, the program makes no attempts to hide from the user – the application would be listed under the user’s installed programs and a small icon for the application would be visible on the BlackBerry. “It’s not like if you had some trojan running on your computer in the background and you couldn’t see it,” Fossi said. Also, the attack would be fairly obvious to the user, he added. To launch the attack, a call would have to come in, and the phone would indicate a call was in progress. So, to launch a successful attack, users would have to not notice the incoming call or the fact that a call was in session on their phone.There are a number of built-in security features available to BlackBerry users that can help protect against malicious applications, Scott Totzke, vice president of the smartphone maker’s security group, told SCMagazineUS.com in an email Thursday. “BlackBerry smartphones include a firewall that can be set to prevent an application from making external connections,” Totzke said. “Passwords can be used for not only unlocking the device. They can also be required to authorize downloading an application to the device.” On Tuesday, US-CERT issued an advisory about the application, urging BlackBerry users to only download trusted applications and to password-protect their devices. via inform.com

via blackberryblog.com- The guys at Skylab Mobilesystems have done it again: they keep creating these applications that I can’t imagine living without. The latest is called Mobile Tracker and is described in their press release like this:

“By taking advantage of the already built-in GPS receiver of the BlackBerry 8800 series, MobileTracker is able to record tracklogs. Those tracklogs are saved on the BlackBerry’s internal micro SD-Card and can be viewed directly in Google Earth once you have the BlackBerry connected to your desktop and click on the tracklog file. To provide more flexibility it is possible to configure the delay between position recordings. So if you are on a ship crossing the Atlantic you can also set the delay to 5 minutes. MobileTracker works everywhere on the world, even without network coverage.”

So now when my kid turns 16 and wants to drive the car around, I just stick my BlackBerry in the car and have it pump out updates to a website that understands the tracklog file (I don’t believe it can do this now but my kid is only 2.5 years old so they’ve got 13.5 years to get their act together). Does anyone believe this isn’t going to happen in 5 years? Kids everywhere are going to be devastated. When is the first transmission blocking phone going to come online?

Anyway, you can read more about MobileTracker and check out a cool demo on YouTube.com.

MobileTracker is available for $24.99.

Properly replacing one of the most popular, recognizable BlackBerrys ever made is no easy task for RIM, but it looks like they’ve done a respectable job in officially announcing the Bold 9700, a device we’ve seen rumored as the “Onyx” through much of 2009. The new model gently massages the original Bold’s time-tested formula by moving the camera up to 3.2 megapixels, giving the screen another 40 lines of vertical resolution (480 x 360, up from 480 x 320), and shipping with the brand new BlackBerry OS 5.0 out of the gate. Also notable is that the 9700 replaces the trackball with an optical trackpad –continuing a trend started by the Curve 8520 — and will ship in both 900 / 1700 / 2100 and 800 / 850 / 1900 / 2100MHz 3G varieties, making the phone a perfect fit for AT&T, T-Mobile, and a multitude of networks in Canada and Europe. RIM isn’t announcing specific carrier availability, but they’re teasing that it’ll be coming on “carriers around the world” starting in November. Follow the break for a quick teaser video from the boys and girls up in Waterloo.

Update: Engadget Germany is at the launch event with RIM’s co-CEO Mike Lazaridis. We’ll be back shortly with a hands-on.

Update 2: T-Mobile just announced its flavor of the Bold 9700 for the US which it says will be the first BlackBerry that allows voice calling over WiFi.

Update 3: And here comes AT&T, which says the 9700 will be out in the “coming weeks” for $199 after $100 mail-in rebate.
via engadget.com – by Chris Jiegler

The BlackBerry Bold 9700 is expected to hit in early October.The phone will sport a traditional full QWERTY keyboard, a new optical trackpad, AWS 3G, WiFi and GPS.

The most noticeable difference is the smartphone’s size. The Bold now measures 4.29 inches tall by 2.36 inches wide by 0.56 inch thick and weighs 4.3 ounces compared with the original Bold’s 4.48 inches high by 2.6 inches wide by 0.59 inch deep and 4.8 ounces. It’s comparable in size to the BlackBerry Tour 9630, and in fact, the two share the same 2.44-inch HVGA (480×360) display and have similar 35-key QWERTY keyboards.

However, the BlackBerry Bold 9700 replaces the trackball navigator with the touch-sensitive trackpad, which was first introduced on the BlackBerry Curve 8520. For those who fear change, you should rest easy knowing that we found transition from trackball to trackpad to be quite smooth, since the latter is extremely responsive.

The Bold 9700 is equipped with a 3.5mm headphone jack and features a slightly revamped leatherette back. Overall, RIM is hoping the sleeker design will appeal to both men and women, since the BlackBerry Bold skewed a bit more to the masculine side.

The BlackBerry Bold 9700 offers more than cosmetic changes, however. The smartphone is equipped with a next-generation 624MHz processor and has double the Flash memory at 256MB (expandable up to 32GB via the microSD slot). Like the recently announced BlackBerry Storm2, the Bold will run BlackBerry OS 5.0, which brings such improvements as threaded text messaging and a faster browser and BlackBerry Maps application. The camera has also been upgraded from 2 megapixels to 3.2 megapixels.

The Bold 9700 is a quad-band GSM phone that also integrated Wi-Fi with UMA support, Bluetooth, GPS/A-GPS, and 3G support (UMTS/HSDPA 800/850/1900/2100; UMTS/HSDPA 900/1700/2100). Given the supported bands, we know you’re already thinking about possible carriers and availability, so here’s the dish.
BlackBerry Bold 9700 Features:

• BlackBerry OS 5.0
• 624MHz CPU
• 256MB flash memory and support for microSD cards up to 32GB
• Quad-band UMTS/HSDPA (800/850/1900/2100 MHz) or tri-band UMTS/HSDPA (900/1700/2100 MHz)
• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g with UMA support (carrier dependent)
• A-GPS
• 2.44″ HVGA+ display
• 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus and LED flash
• Optical trackpad
• Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP/AVCRP
• 1500 mAh battery
• 6 hours of talk time and 17 days of standby (3G)
• 109mm x 60mm x 14.1mm, 122g

Blackberry Bold 9700 Onyx Design, Camera, Keyboard, Trackball,

Ok, so lets start with the design. First thing that caught my eyes were the lack of silver chrome band around the Bold 9700 Onyx. This band is found on its siblings, the Blackberry Bold 9000 and Blackberry Curve 8900. And let me tell you a secret: I don’t really like the chrome stuff on the Curve and Bold 9000…Which makes the looks of the Bold 9700 Onyx is more elegant. The Bold 9700 Onyx is pretty slim (it’s a bit slimmer than the Curve 8900) and the comfort is pretty good also. So the Onyx has an elegant design, pretty slim and comfortable.

Blackberry Bold 9700 Onyx uses 3.2 megapixel camera, which is the same camera that Blackberry Curve 8900 use. So you can guess now that the quality of the image taken by the Blackberry Bold 9700 Onyx will be decent enough for a business phone. As you might’ve known, the Curve 8900 is able to take some great shots with its camera.

The keyboard is pretty much alike the sibling, the Blackberry Tour 9630 with a slight difference in the bottom row of keyboard. But overall the Blackberry Bold 9700 Onyx’s keyboard is pretty nice and I assume that most people will have no problem with the keyboard. The trackball of the Onyx still uses the old trackball navigation, but since it is still a review based on a pre-released device, lets just hope that RIM will be generous enough to add an optical trackball to the Bold 9700 Onyx…via mobilestopic.com and bestblackberry.com

Wi-Fi is widely considered a must for smartphones, as 3G is still not as fast as a good hotspot. Hotspots are not all free to use, though, so services like Boingo can be leveraged to tap into Wi-Fi on the run. Boingo is available on a number of phone platforms, but notably missing on the list is the BlackBerry. No more, as Boingo has announced their mobile app is now available for that platform in a public beta to provide one-touch access to the large network of hotspots they cover.

The beta application will initially be available for the BlackBerry Curve 8900, BlackBerry Curve 8320 and BlackBerry Bold smartphones, with plans to add other handsets in the future. You will need a Boingo mobile account to take advantage of the hotspots on your BlackBerry.via jkontherun.com-by James Kandrick

Overview

BBSmart Alarms Pro is the most visually stunning, fully-featured, and powerful multi-alarm application available for the BlackBerry® today. Set alarms on your BlackBerry®, any time, all the time, with confidence in BBSmart Alarms Pro!

BBSmart Alarms Pro was designed with usability in mind; which means that it is simple, quick, and easy to use without getting in your way and it does all this with style!

Key Features

No limits! Create as many alarms as you want!

Choose from four cool built-in alarm sounds or pick your own mp3′s to wake up to!

Set snooze times for 1, 2, 5 minutes all the way up to an hour

Easily set quick alarms – perfect for alarms to grab the washing (30 minutes from now), or just to grab a quick power nap (wake me up in 15 minutes!)

Friendly, easy to use software designed by people for people (big buttons easy to read in the morning with sleepy eyes)

Create alarm templates so setting new alarms with your favorite preferences is a breeze!

Requirements

BlackBerry® Operating System (OS) v4.2 or higher

Compatible Devices

8700, 8703e, 8707v, 8100 (Pearl), 8300 (Curve), 8310 (Curve), 8320 (Curve), 8330 (Curve), 8350i (Curve), 8800, 8820, 8830, 8110 (Pearl 2), 8120 (Pearl 2), 8130 (Pearl 2)

Bold (9000), Storm (9500, 9530), 8900 (Curve), 9630 (Tour)

via blackberrysmart.com