Omio News Blog

Blackberry Makes Headway In Consumer Market

Good news for Blackberry, their assault on the casual buyer market is actually working! Sales of handsets handsets to consumers (as opposed to Johnny Salaryman) have soared to 40% globally, up from 29% a year ago. Also, they state that 60% of their sales between April and June have been to the ‘casual’ user.

RIM began this shift by offering funky new colours for the appealing Blackberry Pearl, and has continued apace by positioning the Bold/9000 and upcoming Storm as multimedia devices rather than the virtual shackles to the office they became famous for…

Managing to make the Blackberry enticing to anyone beyond the tech geek and city boy is not to be sniffed at, and expanding their consumer market share to 3% from almost zero in a mere nine months is a sign that changing their doctrine to preach to the masses was definitely a Good Thing.

Judging by the amount of showoffs with the Bold on the town this weekend, their share of the market can only get bigger!

Source: Mobile Today

iPhone 3G vs. Blackberry Bold – Web Browser Battle!

Welcome to a new head-to-head, pitting the iPhone 3G‘s web browsing capabilities against the snazzy new Blackberry Bold. The results are pretty damning, with the iPhone 3G rendering the pants of the Bold, which showing sites really prettily but really slowly.

Performed by Mobile Computer Mag, they race through a few of the usual test sites like the BBC News site to see if Safari really is that fast. Which it is.

RIM lovers avert your eyes for the Slashdot page loading comparison, the results are pretty graphic.

Only problem,  it seems like the Bold was hamstrung by being on 3G/Edge a bit whilst the iPhone is flying the Wi-Fi skies…hardly fair now, is it? They do prove at the end that it was on Wi-Fi, but the difference is so much we find it hard to believe. We’re conducting our own highly scientific tests here, the results of which will be up pretty sharpish…
Source: Gizmodo

EISA Awards, Gongs For HTC And Sony Ericsson

A European Imaging and Sound Association Award is recognised amongst the mobile phone community as an impressive plaudit, recognising those handsets which break new ground in the field of multimedia functionality. This year was no different with very deserving winners, although not necessarily those one might expect…

The best music phone went to the Sony Ericsson W980, a justifiable winner through being the perfect combination of looks, functionality and audio support. 8GB of storage with that Walkman touch that Sony gives the W-series phone makes for a handset offering a better aural experience than even the iPhone 3G.

Read more…

Blackberry Bold On Orange From Saturday!

Despite all the noise surrounding T-Mobile and their September launch of the Blackberry Bold, The Inquirer has announced that Orange will in fact be bringing the new multimedia handset from RIM as early as the 16th of August, which is this weekend!

With the phone coming for free, and the tariffs starting at a competitive £45 per month on consumer as well as business deals, Orange are aiming straight for the people who might have otherwise been distracted by the iPhone 3G…

The Carphone Warehouse may not have been as quick to bring the phone to market, but they certainly know how to put up a good offer with a free Bold on a £40 month tariff, plus unlimited data from the 21st of August.

The first 3G handset from Blackberry is sure to sell like hotcakes, and they have been very clever to try and stem the tide of businessfolk turning to other phones, as well as bring new fans in with the increased media functionality.

What have the other networks got in store for the Bold? Well, despite all three having shown off the phone in various forms, they all seem strangely quiet with regards to a release date…

Review coming soon…

Blackberry Javelin Details Leak Whilst Thunder Book Reveals Release Date?

Another leaky day for the Blackberry umbrella, as info floods in regarding upcoming handsets from Canadian smartphone maker RIM.

An upgrade seems in order for the popular Blackberry Curve, as the new Javelin (piccy above) is set to carry the torch for 2009 sporting a 480×360 screen, Wi-Fi, GPS and a 3.2 megapixel camera. However, Electric Pig is underwhelmed by the retread of familiar Blackberry Bold territory in terms of software, albeit without the 3G whizzyness that we all seem to desperately need these days.

However the Blackberry Thunder seems to be materialising a lot quicker than expected, with a guidebook ‘For Dummies’ going up on the Barnes and Noble online bookstore. It is a tome from Robert Kao, a man with experience in writing a number of similar guides, and has been given an October 27th release date, suggesting an ’08 release perhaps? Despite the placeholder ‘Blackberry X’ text and images on the site, the book seems to be about the right phone, highlightng “taking full advantage of the multimedia features.”

That certainly isn’t about any existing Blackberry, with the video and music functionality being really focussed on with the Bold and Thunder. Let’s hope these come sooner rather than later, as word in the London Apple Store is they are seeing quite a few suits succumb to the charms of the sleek and sexy iPhone 3G.

T-Mobile Announces Blackberry Bold Launch Date

The most likely challenger to the iPhone is also the most dissimilar, as the Blackberry Bold launch date is announced by the first network as being September 2008.

3 already mentioned their allegiances, and now T-Mobile have announced the launch window, but have few further details beyond the phone being available to Business 1-Plan customers. The Bold is set to be the biggest ever handset from makers RIM, who specialise in the smartphone market but have finally come with a phone to appeal to suits and social butterflies alike.

The first Blackberry with 3G support also has a high resolution screen for video playback and great image quality, as well as all the e-mail support they have become famous for. It’s hardly a powerhouse in terms of memory with just 1GB of internal storage, but that can be topped up with micro SD cards.

Prices and all that are sure to come later, but the news of an imminent launch is enough to restore faith to those who held out from buying anything less…but those who didn’t have a few reservations.

Blackberry’s Answer To iTunes Gets Official Release

The Vivaldi is finally off the gramophone and into the suit pocket of Blackberry users, with the release of some new software making music management quick and painless. Just like a corporate merger.

Luckily the rumours and leaks were true, and RIM have released a free download to allow iTunes to hook up and fool around with the businessman’s favourite phone. With Blackberry Media Sync, the music stored in your iTunes playlists can be manipulated and added to the device each time it is linked to a PC or Mac.

As the excruciatingly happy woman above is illustrating, all non-DRM tunes can be synced onto a device and taken to your place of business whether it’s the boardroom, the bank or the bingo hall.

As a rule of thumb, if your Blackberry also has a name rather than just an issue number, the more likely it is to be compatible. Congrats if you are thought-showering with a Curve, a Pearl, or are holding out for the Bold and Thunder. If you still possess a relic of the old guard, time to step up and face the music.

iPhone 3G vs. Blackberry Bold : Fight Of The Century

Finally, it’s here. The battle that eveyone wanted to see. The match up that we have all been waiting for. We all have our tickets for a ringside seat, to witness a breakdown and straight comparison of the only phones that matter to many.

From celebs to CEOs, everyone wants to know which comes out on top. And yes, that last link is to a site for celebrity Blackberry sightings. More than you’d think… Anyway, Boy Genius Report has done the honourable thing and delivered the first head-to-head comparison.

Looking at the Omio Compare, you would think this was a clear cut victory for the iPhone, but the proof of the pudding is in the 3G connectivity, e-mail functionality and corporate security, and the Blackberry has it in spades.

Yes, the iPhone 3G has made steps towards addressing this, but BGR mention the issues with MobileMe being slightly less mobile, and taking up to 15 minutes to sync data is unacceptable. Combine that with the lack of a tactile iPhone keyboard and the lovely screen on the Bold, it seems like the iPhone is on the ropes…

But wait! The iPhone returns with a barrage of impressive features. The build quality is far more robust than the Bold’s cheap plastic, the user interface on the iPhone is a revelation and a joy to use, and the ease and speed with which new applications can be developed means that the iPhone will stay current, and tailored to the owner’s personal preferences for a long time.

The iPhone is a more casual affair, dividing itself between being an entertainment device and a robust organiser/PDA. Even seeing someone with a Blackberry screams “I am important, and that profit forecast or spam I received about cheap pills or the I.T. mail about scheduled downtime cannot wait.” The truth is, it just integrates far more easily into the corporate world than the iPhone, but does not fare well as an all-round device.

Our take? The ‘new mail’ light. That’s all the iPhone needed to win this fight hands down. People are inquisitive, and when that Blackberry light starts to flash, you just have to check it.

BLACKBERRY UPDATE : As we suspected, the new touchscreen Blackberry Thunder was torn off eXpansys pre-order shelves due to manufacturer pressure, and their blog reflects this. Overzealous…and looks like it’s not out till much later this year. Shame.

BlackBerry Bold Bad Battery Delays?

On the one hand, BlackBerry have recently released a new video showcasing how pretty the new user interface for their great white phone, the Bold, was going to be. Little did we know that they were just sweetening people up for the sucker punch that it isn’t coming out in the US until mid-August. August. Meaning we Brits will be deep in our cold, cold graves before it sees the light of day on our fair continent.

AT&T, the service provider that will be handling the BlackBerry Bold, has been said to have put the brakes on the smartphone‘s July release, citing battery life issues. Oh, and that it has a tendency to overheat. And the software is currently unreliable. Many think it due to the new 3G capabilities proving difficult to integrate without a knock to performance.

With a handset that was close to launch, the news obviously hasn’t gone down well with legions of loyal fans and shareholders alike. With their earning report being downscaled accordingly, it seems like this rumour from Boy Genius Report has some weight to it.

Oddly enough, the Bold isn’t too hot or malfunctioning to meet the July release date in Canada, the home of makers RIM. It isn’t like the iPhone 3G needed less competition ahead of launch, and now giving Apple a one month head start in the lucrative business sector could prove disastrous.

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