The BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 is the first clamshell BlackBerry from RIM and it’s a sleek departure from the bulky business wide look of the BlackBerry lineup. It uses the Tron UI and the latest BlackBerry OS and although the screen is smaller and lacks the horsepower, the translation goes pretty well but marred with performance issues.

Features include OVGA 2.4 inch 320×240 screen supporting 65K colors, media capabilities, 2 megapixel camera and video recording, html rendering, stereo bluetooth support, external microSD memory card slot and full fledged BlackBerry apps such as email, Flickr and Facebook.
Connectivity support includes Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE/WiFi network as well as support for international roaming.

T-Mobile is currently the exclusive telecommunications courier for the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220.

11 more pics of the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8820 after the jump.

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Charlie Miller, a veteran security researcher/hacker discovered a security hole in the T-Mobile G1 phone that runs Google Android Software. The hack which allowed a redirect of the G1’s web browser to a malicious web site was notified to Google.

Google was aware of the problem but clarified that the security features of the phone would limit the extent of damage that hackers could do.

T-Mobile issued a statement regarding the security flaw:
“Google is working on a browser software patch for Android. We are coordinating with Google on a plan to soon deliver this update over-the-air to customers’ G1 devices. For people currently using the phone, we do not believe this matter will negatively impact their experience with the device.”

Google’s statement:
“We treat all security matters seriously and will carefully work with our partners to investigate and update devices periodically to reduce our users’ exposure. We are working with T-Mobile to include a fix for the browser exploit, which will soon be delivered over the air to all devices, and have addressed this in the Android open source platform. The security and privacy of our users is of primary importance to the Android Open Source Project – we do not believe this matter will negatively impact them.”

Via: VentureBeat

Official press release from AT&T reads a release date on November 4 for RIM’s BlackBerry Bold for $299.99 on a two year contract. Good news for those waiting for the BlackBerry Bold to be launched with AT&T.

The BlackBerry Bold is the first BlackBerry smartphone to support tri-band HSDPA high speed network. Features include a HVGA (480 x 320 resolution at 217 ppi) color LCD, 2 megapixel camera with video recording, multimidia capabilities, 128MB Flash memory plus 1GB on-board storage memory, microSD/SDHC memory card slot.

Via: Engadget

Research In Motion is launching the on-device BlackBerry Application Center and online BlackBerry Application Storefront on a planned launched date of March 2009 in an attempt to fend off the smart phone app market against iPhone’s App Store and Android App Market.

Developers would be able to set their own prices for their applications and the revenue share is 80 percent of the proceeds to the developers and the 20 percent goes to RIM and the carriers. For comparison, Apple takes a 30 percent cut from apps that are sold while Google does not take any of the revenue when the apps are sold in the Android Market. Application submissions for the App Center will start to be accepted by RIM in December.

Users would be able to download applications from the carrier controlled store on their phone and applications such as AOL, Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, Gmail, and Windows Live are among those that will be soon available.

Take a look at how the App Center looks on the BlackBerry with 1 pic after the jump.

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An interesting article from Mobile Mentalism that reviews on what Bob Cringlely has to say about the Windows Mobile OS as well as his take on the overall market share of smartphone OS platforms in the future.

Android, iPhone, RIM, Symbian, Windows Mobile - there’s not enough room for everyone and in smartphones, the future’s paved for RIM, iPhone or Android. Windows Mobile days will be numbered soon enough if there are no major updates to Microsoft’s mobile operating system.

Read On: Mobile Mentalism

Marketed as the world’s slimmest full touch 8.0 megapixel camera phone, the Samsung M8800 Pixon measures 13.8mm thin with a 3.2 inch touchscreen at 240 x 400 resolution boasting WQVGA TFT LCD.

The camera has a 16x digital zoom, auto-focus, face detection, geotagging and even a dedicated photo browser to view and share the photos. Video can be captured at 30fps (720 x 480) resolution or 120fps (QVGA) and file formats include MPEG4, WMV, DivX and Xvid.

As a 3G handset, connectivity options include GSM, GPRS, EDGE and HSPDA at 7.2 Mbps. The Samsung M8800 Pixon has an internal memory of 200MB and a microSD card slot and plays music file in MP3, AAC, e-AAC+ and WMA format. It also features the TouchWiz user interface and uses the Samsung SRS Virtual Surround often found on the company’s television sets.

Via: DialPhone UK

The BlackBerry Storm is RIM’s answer to the iPhone with its all-touchscreen keyboard smart phone and it was just announced for Verizon Wireless. Specs include 480-360 screen 184 pixel per inch, comes with 8GB microSD card, supports stereo Bluetooth and runs on Verizon’s EV-DO 3G Network. It still retains its BlackBerry application features such as Office document editing, full email search and Exchange support.

The BlackBerry Storm is a beautiful consumer oriented device of the BlackBerry series, check out 5 more pics of the BlackBerry Storm after the jump.

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Sprint CEO Dan Hesse told the National Press Club in Washington DC that the Android platform is ‘not good enough to put the Sprint brand on it’ so don’t expect to see any Sprint Android phone in the near future.

Hesse however does promise that we will see an Android powered phone on Sprint eventually but he’s not saying when. When other telecommunications company embrace Android readily, I do believe Sprint will be compelled to follow suit.

Via: Mobile Burn

Android powered T-mobile G1 lacks a virtual keyboard on the screen where one do not have to slide open the G1 to enter some data. The Android roadmap currently sees a release date of Q1 2009 for a virtual keyboard. From the Android development site itself reads -

Q1 2009

Input method framework (IMF)

This feature will enable support for input methods other than physical keyboards, for example soft keyboards. IMF will also enable application developers to provide IME (see below) applications based on the framework.

Input method engines (IME)

IME will support soft keyboards, a dictionary of suggestions, and a suggestion algorithm. The Android platform may contain few reference IMEs, and developers can provide IME applications through the Android Market.

Via: IntoMobile

An interesting article by Maria Mihale of Cameraphones Plaza that takes a look at what a girl wants in a futuristic phone. From the Bracelet concept phone, clamshell concept phone to pink themed gadgets, there’s a phone for any lady to be excited about.

Read On: Cameraphones Plaza