Personal communications

BlackBerry gets full-fledged Google Apps support

In a bid to make its online Google Apps more appealing to corporate customers, Google plans to release software in July to make its e-mail and calendar services work well on BlackBerry mobile phones.

Today, corporate users can set up BlackBerry devices to check mail from Google's Gmail service, a part of Google Apps, but it works only in relatively rudimentary form. With a new product called--brace yourself--Google Apps Connector for Blackberry Enterprise Server, the company is adding much tighter integration with Research in Motion's BlackBerry technology.

Specifically, it synchronizes mail so a message marked as read on … Read more

HP to BlackBerry businesses: Let us help you

Hewlett-Packard and Research In Motion announced on Monday a partnership for enterprise clients that incorporates the newly released BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0 software and a print service.

HP CloudPrint for BlackBerry Smartphones, a Web-based technology slated to be shown at this week's Wireless Enterprise Symposium in Orlando, Fla., lets users print e-mails, photos, documents, and Web pages from their BlackBerrys to the nearest printer, regardless of the printer manufacturer, HP said in a statement: "The service is printer-agnostic and driverless, and requires simple Internet access."

HP Operations Manager for BlackBerry Enterprise Server, also released Monday, is … Read more

BlackBerry Curve outsells the iPhone 3G

The smartphone sales race may be closer than expected.

Research In Motion's BlackBerry Curve overtook Apple's iPhone to become the top-selling consumer smartphone in the United States during the first quarter of 2009, according to research published by NPD Group on Monday.

NPD's monthly "Smartphone Market Update" report, based on online surveys of consumers, now ranks the best-selling consumer smartphones in the U.S. as follows:

RIM BlackBerry Curve (all 83XX models) Apple iPhone 3G (all models) RIM BlackBerry Storm RIM BlackBerry Pearl (all models, except flip) T-Mobile G1

NPD attributed the recent BlackBerry sales … Read more

Rumor: Motorola readying first Android phone

Motorola might be getting ready to pick itself up off the canvas and rejoin the smartphone fight.

The Boy Genius Report got its hands on some information and photos of Motorola's supposed first Android phone, code-named Calgary. If the information is correct, it's a slider phone with a QWERTY keyboard that will appear on Verizon's network at some point later this year.

Motorola has been essentially sitting out the last year or so of the smartphone market as the company tries to figure out whether or not it actually wants to be in that business. But the … Read more

U.S. carriers not keen on Nokia's Ovi Store

Nokia has run into yet another potential hurdle in trying to crack the U.S. market.

The company revealed on Wednesday that its Ovi Store will not have the billing support of U.S. carriers when it launches next month, according to Reuters. Nokia's take on the modern mobile-application store will have the support of carriers in eight countries at launch, but executives had hoped to add the U.S. to that list earlier this year.

Therefore, Nokia users who want to purchase applications from the Ovi Store will have to use a credit card. That's theoretically not … Read more

Report: Verizon, Microsoft working on 'Pink' phone

Updated 12:40 p.m. PDT with Microsoft comment.

Verizon executives sure seem busy this week: in addition to reported discussions with Apple over next-generation mobile devices, they're also supposedly talking to Microsoft about a smartphone.

The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Microsoft and Verizon are talking about launching "a touch-screen multimedia cell phone on the carrier's network early next year." The phone is supposedly based on the "Pink" software that had been rumored earlier this year as a combination of Windows Mobile and Zune software. Microsoft would likely get somebody else (HTC … Read more

Truphone 3.0 improves call quality, unifies IM

A new version of popular voice over IP app Truphone just hit the App Store, offering better call quality, single-screen instant messaging, and various interface improvements.

In case you're unfamiliar with it, Truphone leverages Wi-Fi networks to provide free voice calls--worldwide--to other Truphone users and to your Google Talk and Skype contacts. In other words, if you're in range of a hotspot, you can gab all you want without spending a penny.

Truphone also lets you call landlines and cell phones at low rates--great if you routinely burn through your allotted AT&T minutes and don't … Read more

How I got my BlackBerry Bold for $30

I'm now the proud owner of a BlackBerry Bold.

For a while, I was trying to decide if I wanted to ditch my iPhone 3G for the Bold. After some research and hands-on time with Research In Motion's beauty, I decided that it was in my best interest to escape from Apple's grips.

But there was a problem: the BlackBerry Bold is expensive. If you're not eligible for a two-year upgrade, the Bold will set you back $550 at the AT&T store. If you're new to AT&T or eligible for the upgrade price, you pay $399.99.

I didn't want to spend that much on a mobile phone that replaced another expensive gadget. Plus, I wasn't eligible for an upgrade. So I decided to head down to the AT&T store to talk with a representative to figure it all out. And much to my surprise, he and I determined that I would end up paying just $30 for the Bold.

Here's how it worked:… Read more

Google releases programming tools for Android 1.5

Meeting its own deadline, Google on Monday released the final version of software to create programs for a forthcoming update to the company's Android mobile phone operating system.

Xavier Ducrohet announced the Android 1.5 software development kit (SDK) on the Android developer blog.

The Android 1.5 SDK release notes include details programmers might be interested in, such as improvements in emulating multiple Android devices and gauging performance issues.

And for comic relief, Google added, "We regret to inform developers that Android 1.5 will not include support for the Zilog Z80 processor architecture," an 8-bit … Read more