DALLAS, USA - The long-awaited BlackBerry Slider that is a combination of Bold and Storm has appeared in photographs at BerryTimes. This device is the culmination of years of effort on RIM’s part to effectively answer the Droid and iPhone.

The operating system is the new and long overdue OS 6.0, offering a lot of features that have been available on the other devices for months, such as pinch-to-zoom.

The 9800 will be the flagship device for BlackBerry through the rest of this year. It is scheduled to launch on AT&T in July, for six months of exclusivity. Then it will roll out to other carriers. Loaded with the latest OS, large (512MB) memory capacity, the new trackpad, touchscreen and a full QWERTY Keyboard, a 5 megapixel camera, support for the new 32GB microSD memory card, and a new processor, this is the device to acquire for true BlackBerry aficionados and heavy users.

Notably absent is a front-facing camera for video calls. Many of the devices shown at the CES and CTIA shows from LG, Samsung, Nokia, and HTC had this feature.

BlackBerry watchers are also interested in the acceptance of the device to the general public, whether it can compete with the iPhone and Droid are the big questions.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa

The reason mobile phone manufacturers release handsets with 12 megapixel camera sensors is that there is demand. Users are becoming fond of cameras, wanting to explore more, take pictures while being to tweak every setting, but the mobile phone still does not replace the digital camera. There is a lack of accessories and lenses, but that's where accessory companies step up.

MobileFun has introduced its Mobile Phone Tripod Holder, a universal tripod which comes in very handy for impromptu videos or family shots. It's light, affordable, and effectively replaces those from Nokia and Sony Ericsson.

There has to be fair balance in terms of weight and rigidity. Users don't want a portable accessory to become heavy, or a tripod that easily breaks. Plastic seems to be the material with which it was built, therefore the tripod may not be able to support the heavier devices, although it behaved decently on our tests with the Nokia N95 and Sony Ericsson Xperia X10.

The accessory is quite flexible, like a normal tripod, allowing the change of angle and direction, thanks to its moving head.

A removable head would be an advantage, as it could be used by photographers to place a mobile phone on a professional tripod. MobileFun should take a note of this and include it as a feature on its next tripod. Regular amateur photographers will not miss this as the tripod has a decent, expandable height.

Besides videos and family shots, the tripod can be useful for time-lapse videos, a feature built-in on certain devices. For Nokia phones, read this how-to on creating time-lapse videos with a mobile phone. Our simple time-lapse with a Nokia N95 can be viewed below.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y__LhNTAaVY

Regardless of the phone's size, the mobile phone tripod is able to expand both vertically and horizontally, supporting everything from the smallest to the biggest handsets.

MobileFun's Mobile Phone Tripod Holder is a recommended buy for any phone owner who wishes they have an extra hand, or just to explore the phone's photographic capabilities. It may be purchased from here.

Advantages: Portable, light, affordable, as well as flexible.

Disadvantages: Lacks rigidity, therefore not optimal for heavier devices.

Rating: 7.9/10

ROME

The Storm2 also has the new SurePress technology for the touchscreen, an improvement over the original Storm’s touchscreen.

Wind is offering the Storm2 for 499€ (US$747), plus the subscription fee for the data plan at an additional 12€ (US$18) per month.

Vodafone Italia is offering the Storm 2 also at 499€ (US$747); however, there are discount plans and other variations to the monthly subscription fees that are available at its website.

Expect more launches in the near future; the Storm2 is RIM’s answer to the iPhone, and the competition is heating up.

[EUR 1 = US$1.49777]

There is no dock, no top menu, and no room for a custom wallpaper. Instead, the theme utilizes a circular rotation menu. On the front menu, 11 (yes 11, though it would make more sense if it were 12) icons surround a middle blue orb that shows the time and date. The theme is customizable as these icons are the first 11 apps and folders listed in the main menu. When selected, the icons aren't necessarily highlighted, but get a blue orb over them. This isn't exactly an attractive way of doing things, but it works.

The main menu is made completely of gray with a cracked concrete texture. This is the biggest negative of the theme. So much blends together and becomes difficult to recognize.

The theme fits together well, but that doesn't necessarily mean all parts work well; there is one other odd problem: with every menu and screen, it seems that there is at least one of these weird blue meter things. They don't change, and don't actually do anything. They're just there. They seem to be a style choice, but aren't particularly good-looking, stylish, or anything for that matter. They're just simply there.

Still, random fake meters aside, the theme is a fairly effective and good looking one. Indigo can be downloaded for free at eveek.

TAIPEI, Taiwan

Acer made its debut into the smartphone market at this year's Mobile World Congress, after buying smartphone manufacturer E-Ten. The company then announced that it will focus on Windows Mobile and Google Android smartphones; although innovative in design, its Windows Mobile devices did not capture the market's attention, but the recently-announced Google Android-based A1 Liquid has generated much of the hype Acer will need to be successful in this sector.

The Acer A1 Liquid runs on the impressive 1GHz Snapdragon processor by Qualcomm, it features a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and geo-tagging, GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and has a touchscreen display with 800x480 pixels in resolution. The smartphone will be based on Google Android 1.6 (Donut) with a customized user interface by Acer.

An early price listing at eXpansys puts the handset at €379.99 (US$567.48), with its release date on the 28th November 2009.

Acer also placed three of its Windows Mobile handsets in the new beTouch series: the E100 and E101 candybar handsets, and the E200 slider. Both devices run on Windows Mobile 6.5, adding to the already-announced Acer neoTouch S200.

The company plans to ship 400 000 to 500 000 smartphones by the end of this year, and by 2010 it believes it could hit 1.5m to 2m shipments, according to industry sources.

[€1 = US$1.49341]

The much-awaited BlackBerry Storm2 has been leaked several times throughout the internet, but the announcement was delayed most likely to make use of the beneficial hype.

The Storm2 will not first debut in the U.S. and then around the world unlike its predecessor - it will launch in Europe and South Africa; a North American launch should also follow in the same time period.

Vodafone has gained exclusive rights to the phone for Germany, the Netherlands and Spain, while in South Africa both MTN and Vodacom will retail the smartphone.

The new BlackBerry Storm2 features a 3.25" touchscreen display with 360x480 pixels in resolution. The display is equipped with an improved SurePress technology which provides users with tactile feedback upon presses. This technology had been criticized positively and negatively by users of the first-generation Storm, but according to a statement by RIM, SurePress has been tweaked in such a manner that the user may type faster: users can now type with one thumb, and rest the other on the screen, which may prove useful for multi-key actions.

The device also has HSPA support, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, a 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus and flash, 2GB of internal memory with support for microSD memory cards, GPS, a 3.5mm audio jack, and a 1400mAh battery.

The Storm2 will come with the new BlackBerry OS 5 pre-installed, which should bring improvements in user interface, in order to rival market competitors.

ESPOO, Finland

According to a post at the Vodafone Ireland forum by a moderator, the network would not be carrying the actual Nokia N97, but rather a smaller, more competitively-priced version of the device, dubbed N97 Mini. This will be the first time Nokia has released a second version of a flagship with features removed, rather than added; the Nokia N93 was upgraded to the N93i, which was slimmer and sleeker, and had certain aesthetic alterations; the N95 was upgraded to the N95 8GB, which had a larger display, and built-in memory of 8GB.

The N97 Mini is smaller than the N97 (hence its name), the display is also smaller, the camera has lost its lens cover, and there is no d-pad on the QWERTY keyboard.

If this new variant of the N97 were to be released, it would either lose few of the features that turn the N97 into a high-end phone, or it would simply have a big drop in price.

Users with plans with a carrier in one of the countries of the EU will not be charged data, text, or voice roaming charges when travelling to other EU countries. 

Viviane Reding, Telecoms Commisionate for the EU, said that SMS text messages could drop in price by 60%.

For the users and subsribers who travel inside the EU, this law is good news, but there is a fear that carriers will answer to this law by raising the domestic prices of plans, in order to counterbalance the lost roaming charges. 

[via Engadget Mobile]

The reason why someone would buy an old phone that was no more than €100 when it first launched, for €25,000 is still a complete mystery; however, there are some clues pointing to illegal bank transfer and other bank related frauds, only allowed by the units fabricated in Nokia's former Bochum factory, in Germany.

According to Ultrascan Advanced Global Investigations, the Nokia 1100 can be programmed to use persons' phone numbers and steal their mTAN (mobile Transaction Authentication Number) to then plunder these persons' bank acounts. Nokia states that the Nokia 1100 is not flawed at all, and they do not believe that the assumptions are completely true.

Amid the mistery, a Finish citizen has volunteered to send her own Nokia 1100 to Ultrascan so that they can uncover the problem: whether  the 1100 can be programed to use other persons' phone numbers, or not.

Why some Nokia's 1100 are being sold at €25,000 is still a mystery, there seems no logical reason and apparently the mystery is not getting solved, at least for now.

[via PC World]

The most notable feature of this E-series device is the double keyboard: a numeric keyboard for numbers and T9 input, and a QWERTY slide-out keyboard which best suits messaging functions.

The E75 is the first Nokia handset that comes with Nokia Messaging preloaded, which provides a richer email experience allowing for Gmail, Yahoo Mail and Windows Live Mail accounts to be opened with this service; as well as HTML-formatted emails which is a major breakthrough in Nokia devices.

The Nokia E75 was presented at MWC in Barcelona on February 2009 and it has received good reviews from several portals, including PhoneReport. The E75 comes in three different colors: red, black and copper; and follows the same concept that was established last year with the E71 and the E66.

With the release of the E75, Nokia is taking advantage of the great success that the E71 had by widening the range of devices with similar features that end-users seem to love, such as email, fast processors, sleek designs and thousands of available applications that improve the functionality of the smartphone.

The price of the E75 should decrease in a few months and it is available for pre-sale on the Nokia UK Store, or you can visit Nokia flagship stores and be lucky enough for them to have it in stock.

Press release after the break

Email the way you want it - Nokia E75 begins shipping
April 06, 2009

Espoo, Finland - The Nokia E75 has arrived in stores, bringing the company's best efficiency and productivity solution to the market. The new arrival is the first device to ship with the new email user interface, offering full desktop email functionality, and complete integration of Nokia's email and messaging services.

Made from the quality materials one expects from Nokia Eseries, the Nokia E75 has a slide out QWERTY keyboard and efficient three-step email setup. This simplicity is achieved with the integration of Nokia Messaging, which ships with a device for the first time in the Nokia E75. Nokia Messaging is a service that opens up the world's leading consumer email accounts - including Yahoo! Mail®, Gmail and Windows Live Hotmail - and is joined by Nokia's corporate email clients, Mail for Exchange and IBM Lotus Notes Traveler, which provide direct access to over 90 percent of the world's corporate inboxes as well.

The richer email experience in the Nokia E75 brings all of the owner's accounts into one simple to access and easy to use UI, which supports the most common features for desktop email including expanding views, one click reply and sub-folder and HTML support. Added to the enhanced email functionality, upgraded personal information management features such as the ability to create and respond to meeting requests, and contacts lookup and auto-complete, also make their debut in the Nokia E75.

The Nokia E75 also integrates tightly to other Ovi services and ships with Ovi Files, for storing files online, Nokia Maps, which works with the onboard A-GPS, and Nokia's games service N-Gage which is supported for the first time in a Nokia Eseries device.