blackberry

commentary RIM's Blackberry PlayBook tablet is now on sale for $199 at Best Buy. A price it should have had all along.

Like Hewlett-Packard's ill-fated TouchPad, which stalled at $499 but became an instant hit at $99, the PlayBook is now seeing newfound popularity at $199 (16GB), discounted from $499.

In fact, the $199 BlackBerry tablet is now listed as "unavailable" at most Best Buy stores in the U.S. For example, a Best Buy in suburban Los Angeles said it had sold out of the $199 PlayBook "a couple of days ago," according … Read more

Research In Motion rolled out two more BlackBerrys today.

The BlackBerry Bold 9790 looks like a compact version of RIM's flagship Bold 9900 phone, while the all-touch-screen Curve 9380 looks like a slightly smaller version of the all-touch-screen Torch, and shares similarities with the original--and glitch-plagued--Storm.

CNET Asia was on the scene at the launch event in Jakarta, and got their hands on the new devices.… Read more

Now you won't have to check into places before you can see their awesome discounts and specials.

Foursquare is a fun mobile game to play, with special deals used as incentives to visit businesses. Unfortunately, you might be missing out on some excellent deals at local places due to the lack of a directory of such deals--until now! Here's how to get a list of deals in your area:

Step 1: Head to http://poorsquare.us/

Step 2: Select your city and state from the drop-down menu.Selecting your ZIP code isn't required, but if you … Read more

The newly released AT&T Call International for Android, BlackBerry, and iPhone might be an awesome VoIP app for making calls overseas. Note the word "might."

According to AT&T, the Call International app lets you use a Wi-Fi connection to place international phone calls from their supported AT&T phones, to anywhere and from anywhere in the world--for a fee, of course. Just sign up for a Call International account, download the app from the provided link, and make your calls. Your credit card will be billed on a monthly basis, and you'll … Read more

It may be a few months late to the BlackBerry Torch party, but T-Mobile announced today that it's finally getting its own BlackBerry Torch 9810.

We first saw this updated vertical slider model this past summer for AT&T. The BlackBerry smartphone runs BlackBerry OS 7, and hooks into T-Mobile's "4G" HSPA+ network.… Read more

After making the rounds to other carriers, the BlackBerry Bold 9900, BlackBerry Torch 9860, and BlackBerry Curve 9360 will finally make their way to AT&T in the coming days.

AT&T announced today that the Bold 9900 and Torch 9860 will be available starting November 6, and the good news is that the smartphones are priced more reasonably than their counterparts on competing providers. The Bold is priced at $199.99 with a two-year contract, and the Torch 9860 is set to go at $99.99 on contract. Meanwhile, the Curve 9360 goes on sale November 20 … Read more

While the RIM BlackBerry Curve 9360 is a decidedly lower-end phone than RIM's Bolds and Torches, we think it's a great option for those still loyal to the BlackBerry brand.

It comes with the company's latest mobile operating system, BlackBerry 7 OS; it has a decent physical keyboard; and it's definitely an improvement over the previous Curves with its faster processor and better feature set. It even has support for NFC and for T-Mobile's UMA-based Wi-Fi calling service. For only $79.99 after a new two-year service agreement, the Curve 9360 is good entry-level smartphone for those wanting to give BlackBerry 7 OS a shot.… Read more

The spotlight is shining on Microsoft's Windows Phone platform with the recent launch of its Mango update and the new Nokia Lumia series of devices. But new hardware is still weeks, if not months, away in the United States. So what's an American consumer to do?

In this edition of Ask Maggie, I offer advice to one reader who is considering buying Nokia's Lumia 800 unlocked and using it on a U.S. carrier. I also offer some guidance to a longtime BlackBerry user about deciding between a new BlackBerry and the iPhone 4S.

Ask Maggie is … Read more

In the tech news this week, Stephen and Brian bust me for buying an iPhone 4 on eBay to tide me over until there's a phone I really want--or until my Verizon contract is up. Nicole Lee joins us to talk about Nokia and Microsoft's new baby, the Lumia 800, and Sony's plans to get serious about making smart phones. Plus, stock advice from the gang, the coming nightmare that is the Stop Internet Piracy Act, and Computer Love.