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BlackBerry 6: Where’s the “Wow” factor?
Bop It Bounce hands on: Old school bat and ball gets a digital makeover
Samsung PL90 compact camera packs a pop out USB
Live Nokia Q&A hits the Twittersphere tomorrow!
Dyson: UK award winner gets £10k
Sharp to launch 3D smartphone, pips Nintendo 3DS to the post
BlackBerry Torch 9800: Orange confirms UK sales
HTC Desire Froyo update: Vodafone firmware leaves Android fans fuming
BlackBerry Pearl 3G: 10 things you never knew
iPhone jailbreak: you need this app

Posted: 04 Aug 2010 10:20 AM PDT

I had a chance to play with BlackBerry 6 on the new Torch 9800 slider yesterday. It’s a big step forward for sure, and the phone itself is solidly built and surprisingly slim. But from what I’ve seen so far, I’m a tad concerned at RIM’s focus on keeping things “familiar” in BlackBerry 6, as executives were keen to emphasise at launch events in New York and London yesterday. Where’s the Wow factor that’ll keep me paying for BlackBerry email on top of my monthly contract?

Now don’t get me wrong. I think it’s fantastic that RIM is planning on bringing BlackBerry 6 to some of its blowers already on sale – if only because I can’t wait for honest to goodness tabbed browsing on my BlackBerry Bold 9700. About damn time. Wi-Fi media syncing too sounds like a nice touch on paper, especially when even now you need to jailbreak an iPhone to do the same thing (I wasn’t able to test this feature), though I’ve no idea how much I’d actually use it.

But playing with the Blackberry 6 on the Torch, I was struck by how similar it felt to BlackBerry OS on the nearly a year old Storm 2. The iconography, the general navigation, and sadly the resolution – you’ll be right at home with BlackBerry 6 if you’ve ever used one of the Canadian company’s phones before. But I was hoping to be left a bit more shocked, confused by it even, given RIM’s decision to change the nomenclature of its operating system.

BlackBerry Torch 9800 official: BlackBerry 6 is go!

Look at every other smartphone platform in favour right now. Every one now has something that helps it stand out from the crowd. iOS for the iPhone has a stunning amount of apps, and by far the best games catalogue of any platform. Android 2.2 has all sorts of goodies like Wi-Fi hotspot skills natively built in and Flash support. Even Symbian S60 on Nokia phones now comes with free satnav out of the box. BlackBerry 6 is missing that one core, cutting edge feature (No, BlackBerry Messenger is not cutting edge) that helps it stand out.

That’s a far cry from the launch of several other recent smartphone platforms. Take the webOS unveiling at Palm’s CES 2009 press conference. While in hindsight Palm probably never stood a chance going it alone with its own platform, it was, and is, a truly radical rethink of how smartphone software should work, with its multitasking, card style paradigm, and I for one can’t wait to see it on HP iPad rivals.

Or Windows Phone 7, revealed at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Amongst the smartphone savvy at least, “Windows Mobile” is a euphemism for a joke so bad that it actually hurts your internal organs. Microsoft finally got the message and rebooted its mobile OS rather than bothering to merely update it, with a ground up redesign and a focus on hubs, and it looks more than a little promising.

From what I’ve seen so far, BlackBerry 6 should be enough to keep true BlackBerry email addicts hooked. That’ll be plenty for RIM for the foreseeable future, a company which already possesses a massive chunk of the smartphone marketshare (A third, according to this week’s Nielsen figures, in fact).

But further down the road, I’m worried the company could start to coast on its user base and savvy marketing alone, without paying heed to the software. The same Nielsen report found that just 42 percent of BlackBerry owners plan to stay with the brand, compared to 89 percent for iPhone and 71 percent for Android.

If RIM’s at all bothered about changing those figures, and even converting those iPhone devotees in future, it needs to start throwing lots more features into BlackBerry 6. Free BlackBerry Maps Navigation, anyone?

What do you think? Is Blackberry 6 enough to keep up? Does it beat the competition or is it already an also ran? Let us know in the comments below!

Bop It Bounce hands on: Old school bat and ball gets a digital makeover

Posted: 04 Aug 2010 09:25 AM PDT

Bop It Bounce isn’t like any of the previous frantic Bop It games you might have played, with their colour coordinated, button slapping shenanigans. Instead it’s a digital take on one of the oldest past times of all: the good ol’ bat and ball. No, really. We got to test out the silly stocking filler at Hasbro’s Christmas gift showcase today, so check it out here in our hands on photos.

Remember way back when, even before the advent of the Game Boy, when kids had to make do with little more than a bat and ball, and if he was lucky, one brick of Lego? The Bop It Bounce brings the traditional keepie uppie game back into vogue for today’s ADD generation.

The aim is simple: bounce the ball for as long as you can. The Bop it Bounce spares you the mental arithmetic though, by counting how many you manage before things come crashing to a halt, and offers a couple of extra games, including one in which you must get the most bounces in 30 seconds. It’s also pressure sensitive, so there are several games which challenge you to bounce the ball the highest, or at the heights it shouts out to you.

Have a look at electricpig head honcho James flailing around with the Bop It Bounce in our hands on gallery right here. Will you be buying one as a stocking filler, or will the eight year olds in your life have to make do with a battered old ping pong paddle when their Nintendo DS dies?

Out Autumn | £TBC | Hasbro

Samsung PL90 compact camera packs a pop out USB

Posted: 04 Aug 2010 08:58 AM PDT

The Samsung PL90 is a brand new compact camera from the South Korean giant with a twist: it’s got a USB connector built in, just like a Flip video cam, so you can upload pics straight to your PC, sans cables. Did Sammy miss the memo about Eye-Fi cards?

It’s been a while since we’ve seen a bonkers compact camera idea from Samsung (Remember its daft twin screen shooter from this time last year?), but now it’s back with the Samsung PL90 and an unusual USP to help it stand out from the pack. The Samsung PL90 doesn’t boast the biggest resolution sensor (12.2 megapixels, if you’re asking), longest optical zoom (4x), biggest LCD panel (2.7-inches) or try to impress in the ISO arms race.

Instead, the Samsung PL90 boasts a USB plug that pops out at right angles from the camera body to plug into your PC for easy offloading of snaps. Yup, it’s just like a Flip cam USB port, and yep, if you use a laptop rather than a desktop machine, the thickness of the camera itself could mean some acrobatics are required to get it to stay in. We’d prefer the convenience of an Eye-Fi card, which dumps your pictures on your PC or even in the cloud when in a recognised Wi-Fi network, but at least it allows you to charge the camera through it too.

And hey, when you get VGA video thrown in for £129.99, the Samsung PL90 doesn’t strike us as such a bad deal for fuss free imaging. You’ll be able to buy the Samsung PL90 from next month.

Out September | £129.99 | Samsung

Live Nokia Q&A hits the Twittersphere tomorrow!

Posted: 04 Aug 2010 08:36 AM PDT

The new head of sales and marketing at Nokia is throwing himself in at the deep end and subjecting himself to the Twittersphere tomorrow evening. Niklas Savander will be taking questions from 6pm-7pm tomorrow, from the account @NiklasatNokia.

Niklas is a "long-time Nokia veteran", and has worked in various roles, and previous to this spent a decade at HP.

To save Niklas some time, Nokia has put it out there that his favourite film is Animal House (GSOH), and the first album he ever bought was Slade (unique fashion sense), which leaves us wondering whether he's looking for companionship and maybe something more, or whether he likes city breaks or long walks on the beach…

Dyson: UK award winner gets £10k

Posted: 04 Aug 2010 07:48 AM PDT

Dyson has announced the UK winner of the Dyson Award, who picks up £10k and will be going up against inventions from around the world. Timothy Whitehead will be moving on to the next stage in the annual Dyson Award, an X Factor equivalent for inventors and engineers, only with James Dyson instead of Cheryl Cole.

The Dyson Award UK winner is Timothy Whitehead, who invented a water purification system, which uses UV light to sterilise water. The water purification bottle he's invented is called Pure, and can purify water in two minutes, rather than the half an hour wait when using chlorine and iodine tablets.

The UK Dyson Award winner works via two chambers. The outer chamber is filled with dirty water, and an inner chamber is pushed through the outer chamber, filtering the water. Once the water is clear of sediment, it is sterilised for 90 seconds using a wind-up ultra violet bulb. It's not the sort of thing you'd want to go wrong – Tim tested a prototype using sewer water, and luckily it sterilised 99.9% of bacteria and viruses.

Last year's runner up is now employed by Dyson, and with Dyson doubling his stock of engineers from 350 to 700, it looks like this year's competition winners could be in with a good chance as well.

What would you invent for Dyson? Drop us a line in the comments!

Sharp to launch 3D smartphone, pips Nintendo 3DS to the post

Posted: 04 Aug 2010 07:06 AM PDT

Sharp is following in the footsteps of the Nintendo 3DS and rolling out glasses-less 3D technology. Sharp’s 3D smartphone though, is set to be released in time for Christmas, pipping the 3DS to the post in portable 3D technology.

Details are scant, but the device will be arriving in October, and will carry a camera with 3D image capture, presumably much like the 3D camera on the Nintendo 3DS, which works via two separate cameras placed a similar distance apart as your eyes, to grab two images, then magic them together to make a 3D image. If all goes to plan, it'll be hitting the shelves before the Nintendo 3DS.

However, Sharp are underdogs in the smartphone market, and have had a bad run of it recently, with devastatingly poor Kin sales forcing the device to be pulled.

On the other hand, Sharp is at the forefront of 3D technology though, and is getting itself to the market early, launching a 3D TV towards the end of the year, which we'll be getting our hands on at IFA in September.

Expect to see more device manufacturers getting in on the game with 3D smartphones though in the not too distant future. Nokia are already reportedly doing some research into a 3D tablet.

Would you ever go for a Sharp smartphone? Will this tempt you away from a Nintendo 3DS? Let us know!

BlackBerry Torch 9800: Orange confirms UK sales

Posted: 04 Aug 2010 06:38 AM PDT

The BlackBerry Torch 9800 has already found a home at Vodafone in the UK, and now we hear from Orange it’ll be on sale through their network too. A spokesman told us “The new BlackBerry Torch 9800 smartphone with BlackBerry 6 will be coming soon from Orange UK. We will keep you posted with more details as we get closer to availability.”

That just leaves O2 and T-Mobile lacking an official position, and since O2 SIMs were in all the preview models we saw yesterday, we’d expect it to show up for pre-order very soon.

TBC | £TBC | BlackBerry, Orange

HTC Desire Froyo update: Vodafone firmware leaves Android fans fuming

Posted: 04 Aug 2010 06:05 AM PDT

The HTC Desire Froyo update train hasn't reached Vodafone yet but the arrival of a hefty download today got owners hopes up. Rather than an early Android 2.2-shaped present, it was a Vodafone firmware update with customisation from the network, bookmarks and several new apps. Cue furious HTC Desire owners…

Vodafone customers who'd been eagerly awaiting the HTC Desire Froyo update have taken to the network's forums to slam the firmware as "bloatware". It includes a new Vodafone branded splash screen, changes the homepage to Vodafone 360 and installs new bookmarks including one for dating site Match.com.

The Vodafone update also adds the People, My Web and Vodafone 360 Shop apps to the HTC Desire as well as other Vodafone 360 features that can't be removed by the user.

The arrival of the sizeable download as they wait for the HTC Desire Froyo update hasn't gone down well with many Vodafone customers. ??NickMark on the Vodafone forums says: "It's pretty ironic that quite a few of us are running low on space and waiting for Froyo to help alleviate that and Vodafone push out branding and additional apps that take up more precious memory."

Vodafone has responded to the complaints. It says: "We customise phone software to optimise customers' experience of the device on the Vodafone network and to enable access to our services…in other instances our customisation is more extensive such as preloading of services."

While the HTC Desire Froyo update has arrived on Three and unlocked phones, Vodafone has not announced a time frame for its rollout yet. For a rundown of what the update delivers, try our rundown of the HTC Desire Froyo update secret features.

Let us know: does network branding on your phone bother you? Gnashing of teeth and venting of frustration is positively encouraged in the comments section below…

Out now | £free | Vodafone

BlackBerry Pearl 3G: 10 things you never knew

Posted: 04 Aug 2010 06:00 AM PDT

The BlackBerry Pearl 3G has a wealth of talents encompassing music, mapping, messaging and more. But there’s still plenty more things you need to know about it. Read on for ten things you might not have known about BlackBerry Pearl 3G.

Slim Jim
Did you know that the BlackBerry Pearl 3G is one of the slimmest BlackBerry devices ever. It’s just 500mm wide and has a depth of just 13.3mm making it handy for stashing away on your pocket unnoticed while jiving away to your favourite festival beats.

Stray away from your Wi-fi and still be connected
BlackBerry Pearl 3G has 3.6Mbps HSDPA and n-class Wi-Fi on board. Pair it with an n-class router and you can be as far as 100m away from it before your Wi-Fi connection fades out.

Read about more BlackBerry web browser skills

Marathon music skills
Did you know you can listen to music on the BlackBerry Pearl 3G for up to 30 hours off a single charge? You can.

Read about BlackBerry Pearl 3G’s music talents

You won’t miss the scroll ball
If you thought the BlackBerry Pearl 3G would suffer without a trackball you’d be wrong. The optical trackpad is super-responsive to even the slightest touch.

Read about more BlackBerry Pearl 3G shortcuts

SureType? Sure!
Rather than just tote T9 predictive text messaging the Pearl 3G comes equipped with SureType to almost second guess each word you type quicker than traditional predictive texting.

Read more about SureType

Free mapping
Pair the BlackBerry Pearl 3G’s A-GPS skills with BlackBerry Maps for free mapping you don’t have to pay a penny extra for.

Read more about how to tell your mates your location using BlackBerry Maps

Rearrange meet-ups with BlackBerry Messenger
If you’ve arranged to meet up with your friends only to have some pull out, you can quickly rearrange a new time or date while keeping them in the loop simultaneously thanks to BlackBerry Messenger. It works just like a group conversation, saving you time from calling everyone up individually.

Read more BlackBerry Messenger tips

Improved browser
Like top-end BlackBerry smartphones the BlackBerry Pearl 3G uses BlackBerry OS 5as its operating system. But did you know it has an improved web browser at no extra cost.

Read more about the BlackBerry Pearl 3G browser

Alternative music controls
The optical trackpad makes scrolling through your music a swift process, but to switch tracks even quicker tapping 4 and 6 will switch between previous and upcoming tracks even faster.

Read more about the BlackBerry Pearl 3G’s shortcuts

Scan in your friends
You can add new contacts to BlackBerry Messenger by scanning codes. QR code connect lets you display a barcode for friends to scan to to add you, or vice versa.

Check out more BlackBerry Pearl 3G hints and tips.

iPhone jailbreak: you need this app

Posted: 04 Aug 2010 05:57 AM PDT

Attention all you jailbreakers! The iPhone jailbreak available through Jailbreakme.com, accesses a jailbreak through a gaping PDF security hole Apple left. Which means that until iOS4.1 arrives, that security hole is still there, for all iPhones. If you did jailbreak though, Cydia has a solution.

The hole that the jailbreak uses is in the safari browser, allowing PDF downloads to access the root file system of the iPhones running iOS 4.0 and iOS 4.0.1. One way of avoiding the now very well publicised hole is to get PDF Loader Warning from Cydia, which notifies you every time you're going to open a PDF.

PDF Loader Warning carries no icon, and is free from BigBoss through Cydia. There's reports of a minor glitch with the Cydia app though, namely that it can get stuck in a short notification loop when viewing the clock. We found that six clicks was enough to clear it.

Apart from this though, it's a good way to add an extra level of security to your jailbroken iPhone, as many commenters on forums are pointing out, Jailbreakme.com highlighted a major hole in iPhone security, and whilst it allowed for a jailbreak, it also points out the flaw to evil hackers.

Will you get the app with you iPhone jailbreak, or are you waiting for a proper security patch?