BlackBerry Bold 9900 Reviewed

Research in Motion (RIM), the maker of BlackBerry has been under adverse market pressure for a while now and one of its key strategies to turn things around was to speed up its release cycle. The RIM head honchos in Waterloo, Canada have probably heard enough ranting about BlackBerry smartphones featuring fairly dated processors and a visibly aging OS.

And of course, nothing makes things crystal clear to head honchos as a dip in market share, which is exactly what RIM has been witnessing globally. Even as I write this, Gartner’s latest data shows that RIM’s market share in mobile phones has fallen from 3.2 percent in Q2 2010 to 3 percent in Q2 2011, while Apple’s has nearly doubled. Of course the once mighty mobile phone leader Nokia has crashed in a far more spectacular fashion, and seeing Nokia’s fate and its own crashing stock price must be making the once-upon-a-time smartphone leader RIM quite wary.

RIM’s response: A whole new series of smartphones with mouth-watering specs have been announced and are being launched in the next few days and weeks. This is the biggest launch in RIM’s history—never before has the smartphone maker launched so many devices in so short a time, but I guess tough times demand drastic, out-of-comfort-zone measures. And the first in the pack is the BlackBerry Bold 9900.

Check out our quick video review below -

Blackberry 9900

Form Factor
At first glance the Bold 9900 reminded me of the Bold 9000, the first BlackBerry to feature the ‘Bold’ brand and which brings back great memories for a BlackBerry regular like me. Trawl any BlackBerry-related forum and you’ll see many users wistfully remembering the Bold 9000 despite two more great Bold smartphones (the 9700 and the 9780) being released in later years.But that’s where the similarity ends. The Bold 9900 may look like the Bold 9000 from the front, but is thinner, slightly smaller and if you compare what’s inside the difference would be as stark as comparing the insides of a Toyota commuter car with a Porsche.

Very elegant design

Touted as the thinnest BlackBerry yet (115 x 66 x 10.5 mm), I think the Bold 9900 looks great—very businesslike and is built like a tank. I don’t like bling and the brushed metal rim with a thin polished edge is the very opposite of bling, as it gently whispers class. The rear battery isn’t faux leather as in the 9780, and is smooth as they come, and with good reason. Under the rear cover is the Near Field Communication (NFC) antenna, so the rear had to be smooth carbon fibre so there would be no signal disruptions. Fortunately, thanks to the gentle protrusion at the rear which is rubberised, the device won’t slip from your hands. Brilliant design!

Weighing in at 130 gms, the Bold 9900 is heavier and bigger than its immediate predecessor. RIM is swimming against the usual flow here, but I think it’s a great decision — I loved the feel of the 9900 in my hands. Incidentally, some informal dipstick surveys I did revealed that the fairer sex may find it a tad too large. Button positioning is a bit different from the standard BlackBerry style. On the right of the 9900 there are now four buttons, as opposed to the usual three. Three are media buttons with a welcome pause button in the middle and the bottom one is a convenience key you can customize as per your liking.

The slimmest Bold yet

Unfortunately, there's no convenience key on the left, a glaring omission I didn't like one bit. There's a micro USB port for charging and sync and a standard 3.5mm audio out slot with a nice contoured design. On the top there's a single lock button which is placed bang in the centre and far easier to click than the top lock button on some earlier BlackBerry smartphones.

The 9900 boasts of a 2.8-inch, 640 x 480 pixel capacitive touchscreen that is incredibly sharp thanks to BlackBerry 7 OS' Liquid Graphics technology. This is the best BlackBerry display yet. The touchscreen is very precise and responsive and the trackpad plus touchscreen combo works great. Even though I prefer QWERTY over touchscreens any day, I found myself intuitively using the touchscreen often. 
I'm usually not the betting kind, but in this case, I’ll bet large amounts that the QWERTY keyboard on the Bold 9900 is the best on any smartphone. Period. In my opinion, the erstwhile Bold 9000had the best QWERTY keyboard till date, but that great keyboard has finally been dethroned by one that's even more silky soft, slightly larger and is all-in-all, jaw-dropping amazing. Not one wrong keystroke from the get go - it's that good.

Features & Performance
As mentioned earlier, what’s inside this baby is very different from your standard BlackBerry. For years, RIM used a processor clocked at 624MHz across 3 generations of Bold devices and finally (yes, F-I-N-A-L-L-Y!), the new Bold 9900 is powered by a swift 1.2 GHz processor backed by 768 MB RAM and 8 GB of onboard memory. If you consider that its predecessor (the Bold 9780) had just 2 GB on onboard memory, you’d realise this is a drastic change for RIM, and a welcome change at that. There’s also support for up to 32GB more via micro SD. Unfortunately the card is not hot swappable, which is a step backwards for the 9900 over its predecessor.

Thanks to the snappy processor, this BlackBerry was a dream to use. Quick and responsive. Even reboots were no longer a pain in the you-know-where.

Office features for the business-person on the go

Some thanks for the boost in performance must also go to the new BlackBerry OS 7, but only some. This was originally codenamed as OS 6.1 and frankly, that’s what it is and RIM should have left it at that, but perhaps RIM marketing felt otherwise. While a definite and welcome improvement over OS 6, this is the best BlackBerry OS yet, but still has some way to go before the iOS and Android fan boys will be amazed, and that way is the QNX way, which is now on the BlackBerry PlayBook and which is expected to be the next big thing from RIM. But till then we’ll live with OS 7.

As on OS 6, you get application icon views or drawers that can be swiped vertically as well as horizontally through categories like All, Favourites, Media, Downloads and Frequent. My greatest joy is that horizontal swiping can be disabled--I found it annoying since I would keep swiping to the next category accidentally. There's also the familiar drop down notification view, which is now much faster. And of course there's Universal Search that has now been upgraded to being voice-enabled. A few updated icons are also thrown in and there's now some more choice in the Settings menu. All welcome changes, but despite these and upgraded apps I still feel giving the OS a whole new number series is a bit much. Speaking of apps, Documents to Go Premium edition now comes preloaded and there's a new BlackBerry Balance feature for business users where you can automatically separate management of work and personal data. Corporate data can be managed and wiped by BES admins, but personal data is kept separate.

Excellent audio quality

However, OS 7 definitely seems to have some issues when it comes to backward compatibility of apps. My favourite Social app, SocialScope Lite refused to run. Even apps downloaded from the BlackBerry App World available on the 9900 (Burrp! for instance) refused to run and worse, even froze up the smartphone. I believe all apps need to be recertified for OS 7, which is not a great thing. RIM certainly needs to sort out this issue and quickly. It reminds me of the BlackBerry PlayBook application disaster that RIM has still not fixed, though this is of a much lesser intensity considering I faced this problem with only around 4-5 of the 25-plus apps on my BlackBerry. Also, disclosure must be made that I used a pre-release device—commercially available devices may not face this problem.

The 9900 also features an Orientation Sensor (Accelerometer), Digital Compass (Magnetometer) and a Proximity Sensor, which should help it take advantage of BlackBerry 7 OS support for augmented reality apps.

Media
Audio on the Bold 9900 is absolutely awesome with exquisitely clear tones and a heavy bass line without a hint of jarring and well-balanced higher and mid level tones. You’ll notice some layers you never thought existed in your favourite music. Audio Boost certainly helps with output and so do the EQ presets. However, we don't recommend peaking the volume, not that you'll ever need to. At 75 percent, the decibel level is high enough to drown out the outside world.

Liquid Graphics make for clear and easy viewing of videos

We also tested it with various video formats. MP4, AVI, 3GP, MOV and WMV formats worked well and it plays up to 720p. 1080p is not supported. However, the 9900 doesn't read MKV or FLV formats.

Connectivity
Browser
I'd agree with RIM's claims that this is the best browser yet on a BlackBerry. It's not very far from the best browsers in the market, and a larger screen size might have really, really brought it very close indeed, but that's out of the realm of possibility, so let's focus on the possible. There are definite performance gains in terms of web page rendering and pinch and zoom thanks to Liquid Graphics. The excellent resolution makes web pages look great. But when I zoomed in and swiped down, rendering took some time. And there's still no Flash support and that's why I'm not so gaga over some of RIM's improved browsing claims.

Pinch to zoom now avilable for web browsing

NFC
I’ve mentioned NFC capabilities earlier, but if you’re wondering what this is all about—NFC or Near Field Communication makes possible transactions, data exchange, and connections with a mere touch. So, you can purchase products and transfer secure information by simply touching devices. For instance, if you're in Mumbai and the Mumbai Metro finally becomes reality before the world comes to an end, you could simply take your BlackBerry close to a reader to pay for the ticket from your mobile wallet. Besides electronic money, other possibilities include file sharing, mobile gaming and more. RIM is one of the first major vendors to actually go beyond talking to deploying NFC on devices and must be commended for that.

Camera The camera is the same 5 MP (fixed focus) one with an LED used on the 9780—the only new feature is that OS 7 now supports up to 1280 x 720 video recording. Do remember though that at those specs a 21 second video I recorded gobbled up 35 MB of storage space on my media card. Outdoor images look ok but colors aren't retained too well Photographs clicked in good light were decent and colours were fairly well reproduced, though it wasn’t anything to write home about. Surely RIM could have provided a camera with a higher rating on its top-of-the-line smartphone rather than use yesterday’s camera that was also available on the BlackBerry 9780. Indoor pictures in slightly low lit conditions are grainy Battery This is another grouse. There’s nothing really wrong with the thin 1230 mAh battery, but in my opinion RIM should have gone for a thicker 1500 mAh battery like the one on the 9780 rather than sacrifice capacity in the quest for the thinnest Blackberry yet. But that’s my personal opinion. RIM claims OS 7 results in lower battery drain as compared to older OS’ despite the faster processor and the touchscreen. We put the device through our tech2 battery loop test where the first loop consisted of 1.5 hours calling, 2 hours of video, 2 hours of music playback and 2 hours of audio streaming via WiFi. At the end of this tough regimen, the battery still had enough juice to go on standby for 6.5 hours before it finally went dead. I used the 9900 over BES and as my primary calling device, and it lasted me around a day. We reckon it should last around 24 hours with full usage that would include BIS or BES (push e-mail), BBM use, social networking and web access with a little music thrown in. That’s definitely not bad at all. But imagine what a 1500 mAh battery would do? That’s my only grouse. The Bottom Line Yes, this is the best BlackBerry out there and finally something that puts RIM’s offering on par with the best when it comes to a simple spec-to-spec shootout. Of course, BlackBerry fans know specs are not everything—there’s the legendary messaging capabilities, the fearsome security that has governments across the world trying to arm-twist RIM to give them access to the otherwise unbreakable encryption, the unmatched data optimisation and compression strengths (which is why if you receive the same e-mail messages and surf the same websites, your data bill will be lower if you use a BlackBerry as compared to other devices). Sophisticated and ready for work or play So, when you put together the looks, the specs, the performance and the price of Rs 32,490 (MRP), you have a great combination. Yes, there are niggles like the dated camera and my wish for a 1500 mAh battery, but when compared with the whole package, they seem small. The Bold 9900 is the top-of-the-line BlackBerry and overall, it lives up to the iconic Bold brand. I expect to see this smartphone flying off the shelves. If you’re in the market for a top-end smartphone, do give this one a good look and if you’re a BlackBerry fan, well, you’d go buy it anyway because there’s no other BlackBerry better than this one.

BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900 To Be Launched In India

Research In Motion (RIM) has not given up yet despite the recent setbacks. It is going to launch seven smartphones in India very soon.  The BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900 smartphone, which is the thinnest smartphone from RIM yet, is one of them and getting ready for a launch in the second week of August. It seems that the company is trying to reassure that it is still in the game.

Powered by the latest version of its OS, BlackBerry OS 7, this smartphone comes with a 2.8" VGA capacitive touchscreen. It features enhanced voice-enabled Universal Search, to make handsfree search easier. Also present isNear Field Communication (NFC), although it is going to take some time for this technology to be implemented in our country. It sports a 1.2 GHz processor, 5 MP camera, 8 GB internal memory and supports up to 32 GB SDHC memory cards.

RIM plans to sell the device with a 1.5 year warranty at under Rs 32,500, which is still a stiff price to pay. It seems that the BB Bold Touch 9900 is a good candidate to grab a sizeable customer base, due to reports praising its quick and speedy touchscreen response. We will find out if this is really true when the phone is available off the shelves.

Facebook 2.0 App for BlackBerrys, PlayBook, Out Now!

It’s official now. Facebook 2.0 for BlackBerry smartphones and the PlayBook, has been launched today. Available for download at BlackBerry App World, the Facebook app has undergone a facelift, with a new user interface and other additions to its features, which are apparently suggestions from their customers. The new app, according to BlackBerry comes with an improved Facebook chat, which makes it an important feature to look out for, in addition to integration with BlackBerry’s own apps. 

Facebook for BlackBerry

Keeping in mind their new tablet, PlayBook, BlackBerry has optimized the social networking platform for usage, especially for it making it a tablet-optimized application. BlackBerry claims that those using the Facebook app on their PlayBook tablet will be able to avail features like Facebook chat, video uploading and Facebook Places and view ‘Likes’ among others. Another interesting addition is the inclusion of Privacy control feature on status updates, wherein a user can control the number of people who can view their status updates. 

Facebook for PlayBook

Other features include:

Facebook Places – where a user can share their location, and other details of their activities with their Facebook contacts. It is also possible to get direction details from Facebook Places by simply clicking on the location, which will then open onto Bing! Maps. 
Facebook Events – users can view details of events like birthdays, and other notifications. It is also possible for users to RSVP.
View Likes – it is possible to view the likes the user has got on a particular post, and by clicking on their names it is also possible to get into the profiles of the users.

Is BlackBerry Working on a Media Box?

The Canadian mobile phone manufacturer known the world over for their business smartphones is rumored to be releasing a media box similar to that of an Apple TV. According to a report by NERDBERRY, this media player is said to be codenamed ‘BlackBerry Cyclone.’

BlackBerry Cyclone coming later this year? (Image credit: N4BB)

According to the report, the BlackBerry Cyclone will connect to a TV via an HDMI cable and will be Wi-Fi enabled. Other features of the media player are said to include YouTube and the ability to access media devices through Wi-Fi. No other information about the Cyclone is available as of now. The Cyclone is said to look like a larger version of the BlackBerry Presenter and the expected release date of this product will be later this year. 

Do let us know what you think about this rumoured offering from BlackBerry in the comments section below.

Jabra Rolls Out STONE2, Voice-Powered Bluetooth Headset in India

Popular headset manufacturing brand, Jabra from GN Netcom has rolled out the latest addition to their STONE series of Bluetooth headsets in the country. Launching the Jabra STONE2, the brand claims that it literally works on the power of voice! The headset, according to Jabra comes enabled with an array of voice-based applications. Hard-hitter! With the Jabra STONE2, users can use voice commands (accurate function-based commands) to make, answer, end, redial, ignore, and reject a call, also to call back. In addition to the voice commands, the Bluetooth headset also provides voice-based guidance to the users. If the user gets a call whilst the headset is plugged on, then he would get to hear the name of the caller as it is stored on the phone. If the call is from an unknown number, then the headset plainly calls out the number. Additionally, Jabra claims that the headset gives out pairing with mobile instructions, and also notifies when it is low on battery. Stylish.. Among the applications that have been made available via the Jabra World of Apps portal, are those for games and entertainment, voice dialing and translation, GPS services. The headset, when placed on the portable charger, switches off automatically, adds Jabra. The Jabra STONE2 is now available across all major stores in the country in black (leather finish), and white (with a gloss finish) colors, for a price tag of Rs. 7,999.

Lightly guarded India temple holds $22B treasures

NEW DELHI (AP) — A vast treasure trove of gold coins, jewels and precious stones unearthed at a lightly guarded Hindu temple in India was expected to grow further in value Monday as the last two secret vaults sealed for nearly 150 years are opened.

The government has increased security since the treasure's discovery in recent days, which has instantly turned the 16th-century Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple into one of the wealthiest religious institutions in the country.
Four vaults recently opened at the temple in Trivandrum, the capital of the southern state of Kerala, held a vast bounty that unofficial estimates peg at $22 billion.
The treasures unearthed so far include statues of gods and goddesses made of solid gold and studded with diamonds, rubies, emeralds and other precious stones, crowns and necklaces, all given as gifts to the temple over the centuries.
The volume of gold and silver coins was so enormous that the investigators weighed the coins by the sackful, rather than counting them, officials said.
The temple, built by the maharajas who ruled the then-kingdom of Travancore, remained under the control of the erstwhile royal family after India's independence in 1947.
India's Supreme Court ordered the inspection of the vaults after a lawyer petitioned a local court asking the state government to take over the temple, citing inadequate security. The current Maharaja of Travancore had appealed to the Supreme Court against the petition.
The inventory began last week and the final vaults were to be unlocked Monday afternoon. The public knew the temple had treasures but not the quantum.
Before the trove was uncovered, there was almost no visible security at the temple, save for a few local security guards patrolling the complex with batons, mainly for crowd control.
Kerala's police chief, Jacob Punnoose, said he sent extra police officers to guard the temple and is planning a high-tech security system to protect the treasure.
"We plan to enhance security in a manner which will not interfere with the activities of the temple or devotees," Punnoose said.
The security plans include the installation of digital electronic networks, closed circuit cameras and metal detectors at the entrance and exits of the temple.
Manoj Abraham, city police commissioner, said two battalions of special armed police would provide security outside the temple complex.
"Later, we will discuss with temple authorities and members of the former royal family what kind of permanent security system should be put in place," Abraham said.
Every year, devout Hindus donate millions of rupees worth of cash, gold and silver to temples. Some temples in India are so wealthy, they have formed trusts which run schools, colleges and hospitals that offer free treatment to the poor.
The discovery has sparked a debate over the future of the treasure trove.
Vellappally Nateshan, a Hindu leader, said the wealth should remain with the temple authorities.
Some social activists in Kerala have demanded the treasure be handed to a national trust to help the poor.
Kerala's top elected official, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, however, assured the people that the wealth would remain with the temple.
"It is the property of the temple. The government will protect the wealth at the temple."
Chandy said the government would bear the cost of stepping up security at the temple and ensure that worshippers were not inconvenienced.

BlackBerry PlayBook Unboxed

It has been a long wait, but it’s finally here. BlackBerry’s spanking new tablet marks RIMs official entry into the tablet rat race. We had reported earlier about the arrival of the PlayBook on June 22, 2011 and so far that seems to be on track. We’ve managed to get our hands on a retail version of the PlayBook and put together a little unboxing video for you, feast your eyes on it -

Unboxing the Blackberry Playbook

If that doesn't do it for you, then head on over to our gallery section for some prime pictures of the Playbook.

There's the old BlackBerry Logo

For those still living under a rock, here’s a little glimpse at some of the highlights of the Playbook -

• 7-inch LCD, 1024 x 600 (WSVGA), capacitive touch screen with full multi-touch and gesture support
• Wi-Fi ‘n’ with support for tethering to your phone
• Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR with A2DP
• 5 MP camera with autofocus, 3MP front facing camera
• 3.5mm audio jack
• Internal 16/32/64 GB storage, no expandable memory option

The tablet packs in a 1GHz dual core processor which lets it handle full HD content with ease. That goes for video recording as well. The rear 5MP cam is capable of 1080p video recording. It also has full support for Flash 10.2 and HTML 5 for a desktop like browsing experience. There are a whole bunch of apps developed specially for the PlayBook which include most popular ones like Facebook, YouTube, Skype, Twitter, among others. Finally, if you have a BlackBerry phone, you can easily sync your data between the two devices through BlackBerry Bridge. Be sure to catch our in-depth review of the PlayBook, very soon.

Update: BlackBerry Playbook Most Likely to Hit Indian Shelves By June 22

The BlackBerry Playbook page is back up with the option to pre-register for the tablet. Advanced booking of the Playbook begins today where one can visit a BlackBerry retailer and fill out the registration form. Also those who purchase the Playbook between the 23rd to the 30th of June, 2011 are eligible to receive a free HDMI cable and a leather case.

For all you BlackBerry aficionados out there, this will be some interesting piece of information for you. The BlackBerry Playbook is likely to come to India by the 22nd of June. The business oriented tablet which was initially supposed to be launched across the world by the end of last year, with the Indian launch touted to be in May will finally make its way here.

BlackBerry Playbook coming to India!

Our sources reveal that this information is true with further confirmation coming in the form of an advertisement on the first page of the Mumbai edition of the Times of India. The advertisement states that one can pre-order the tablet before June 22nd and will be available to get premium accessories which are a leather case and a HDMI cable free.

A brief view on the specifications of the BlackBerry Playbook:

• 7-inch LCD, 1024 x 600, WSVGA, capacitive touch screen with full multi-touch and gesture support
• BlackBerry Tablet OS with support for symmetric multiprocessing
• 1 GHz dual-core processor
• 1 GB RAM
• Dual HD cameras (3 MP front facing, 5 MP rear facing), supports 1080p HD video recording
• Video playback: 1080p HD Video, H.264, MPEG, DivX, WMV
• Audio playback: MP3, AAC, WMA
• HDMI video output
• Wi-Fi - 802.11 a/b/g/n
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
• Connectors: micro HDMI, micro USB, charging contacts
• Open, flexible application platform with support for WebKit/HTML-5, Adobe Flash Player 10.1, Adobe Mobile AIR, Adobe Reader, POSIX, OpenGL, Java
• Ultra thin and portable:
• Measures 5.1”x7.6”x0.4” (130mm x 193mm x 10mm)
• Weighs less than a pound (approximately 0.9 lb or 400g)

To get more information and to pre-order the Blackberry Playbook visit http://in.blackberry.com/playbook. To find the nearest retailer in your area, you can send an SMS by typing “PLAYBOOK <pincode> to 56070.”  We tried logging onto this page, however we got a 404 error saying, “Sorry. The page you requested has been moved or no longer exists.”  We will keep you informed on the status of the upcoming tablet from BlackBerry.

BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300: 8520 with Some Extra Toppings review

The BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300 is an upgrade to the popular BlackBerry Curve 8520. In a line, what's new is a few minor aesthetic touches, a faster processor, double the RAM which makes the device OS 6 capable, support for Wi-Fi 802.11n and of course the big extras--GPS and 3G.

Form Factor
Chrome is in and the 9300 flaunts it too and as a result the 9300 looks far better than the staid 8520. Another welcome change is the ribbed back that ensures better grip on q smartphone. The sad part is that the resolution specs are the same as on the 8520--320x240.

No Dimension changes really

The keyboard is the same unit that the 8520 sports and in true BlackBerry style is great to use. Media keys continue on the top, making it easier to access media, and besides the 3.5mm earphone socket on the side, other keys on the sides include volume/zoom keys, and customisable shortcut keys. There's a microUSB slot for the charger and PC connectivity. The hot swap slot for the microSD card is under the rear panel. Nothing the 8520 doesn't have. The sales unit contains a 2GB microSD card though we didn't see an earphone unit.

Features and Performance
Interface
Sadly, though RIM has said the 9300 will feature the much talked about OS 6 and delivered on that promise in 2010, the unit we got came with the old OS 5. In fact, the first official version of OS 6 was available from Singapore's StarHub way back in December 2010! It's shocking that over four months later RIM India still doesn't ship the 9300 with OS 6 though many other global operators have released official versions of OS 6 for the 9300.

Still a comfy trackpad and QWERTY keypad

If you wonder why that's important, do look here [http://us.blackberry.com/apps-software/blackberry6/] for what's new on OS 6. In a nutshell, I'll say you'll be stuck for a while with a lousy browser on OS 5, a creaky interface, and you'll also be missing cool features like Universal Search and a superior multimedia experience.

The heart of the 9300 is a Marvell PXA930 processor running at 624 MHz, up from the 512 MHz one powering the 8520. The 9300 has the same processor that powers the Bold 9780 and even the ancient Bold 9000, released way back in 2008. But I think you shouldn't pay too much attention to that fact--while other smartphone makers have long breached the 1 GHz barrier, BlackBerry devices are no slouches when it comes to operating speed--which is clear proof that comparing CPU clock rates is the wrong thing to be doing when buying a smartphone.

Media There's really nothing to write home about in the media department. As with the 8520 audio quality is good and in true BlackBerry fashion the 9300 also supports most standard video formats so you can watch videos without going through the bother of conversion. And no, there's no FM radio yet. Are the extra fetaures really worth so much of extra money? Connectivity This is where this baby rocks. With 3G and built-in GPS, in addition to Wi-Fi 802.11 n support, the 9300 is far ahead of the 8520 in this department--the 8520 was missing 3G and GPS and only supported Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g. But a word on 3G. It's not exactly cheap in India, thanks to the humungous amounts of moolah the operators have shelled out for 3G spectrum, which they will now recover from you. Secondly, if you're on a cheaper BlackBerry plan that offers just e-mail and BlackBerry Messenger with perhaps Facebook access, 3G won't make too much of a difference to you. Camera The 9300 features the same 2 megapixel camera that the 8520 boasts about. Features are quite standard and nothing to write home about. Images come out quite decent, as on the 8520. No real improvment over the 8520 Battery The battery is the same 1150 mAh unit featured on the 8520, which wouldn't last a full day for a road warrior on BES with a lot of phone calls. But then, do remember that the 8520 and the 9300 are at the lowest to mid-range when it comes to BlackBerry, and if you want top of the line battery performance, you'd need to almost shell out double the money for a Bold 9780. That said, despite a faster processor, this unit met my expectations--around a full day of use. But if you're a road warrior, do invest in a car charger. Bottom Line With the 8520 now retailing for Rs 9,990, the 9300 retails for Rs 14,700. That's a difference of close to Rs 5,000. Would I pay Rs 5,000 more for GPS and 3G and the promise of OS 6? I guess I would if it actually came with OS 6. But without that, the 8520 still seems like an awesome deal that's only grown sweeter with time since it features most of what the 9300 comes with.

Live Images of the BlackBerry Torch 2 Running OS 7 Leak

RIM is back in the spotlight this week with their handset being caught on pictures and a video. Those of you following BlackBerry news might have already been used to the pre-release images of their smartphones. Anyway, coming to the pictures, the Torch 2 has been caught on some really clear pictures this time.

The sensor is NOT a camera

From what sources say, the handset will be running on BlackBerry OS 7, although about a month back the Torch 2 was said to be running OS 6.1, but let’s leave that for RIM to decide. The device uses both touch and a QWERTY keyboard as input interface. Check out the images of the Torch 2.

Slide out QWERTY keyboard

Apart from the pictures there’s a video as well, but somehow it's acting pretty funny. You can still have a look at the video from this link. Also, from what these guys say, the Torch 2 apparently has a sensor in the front and that shouldn’t be mistaken for a front facing camera.