Blackberry Q5 goes up for pre-order on Orange and T-Mobile (Inquirer)
UK mobile operators Orange and T-Mobile have started selling the Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) Q5 ahead of its release in mid-July. The Blackberry Q5 was unveiled last month as a midrange alternative to the Blackberry Z10 and Q10 smartphones. The handset features the firm’s Blackberry 10 operating system, along with a 3.1in HD touchscreen, a physical QWERTY keypad and a dual-core 1.2GHz processor. There’s also 2GB of RAM, 5MP and 2MP cameras, 8GB of internal storage expandable to 32GB and a 2,180mAh battery. Both Orange and T-Mobile are clearly looking to win over buyers with the Blackberry Q5, and are offering a free handset to the first 5,000 people who order the phone, waiving the £49 upfront cost.
Along with Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) Playbook OS v2 arrived support for the library of Android applications with one fairly major limitation; they had to be specifically packaged for ‘Gingerbread’. An upcoming BlackBerry OS update, 10.2, will finally provide support for ‘Jelly Bean’. The runtime, which was released today, now contains support for Fragments, hardware acceleration, plenty more animation capabilities, new controls and layout types, App Stack Navigation, and a whole lot more supported since Gingerbread! It was thought Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) would phase out Android applications for those natively written in C++, HTML 5, or Adobe AIR. At this stage, where BlackBerry still lacks support behind Android and iOS, it’s important for the company to support Android and bolster its catalogue.
BlackBerry updates BBM Channels beta with search, channel content reposting, animated GIFs, and more (The Next Web)
Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) rolled out a new beta version of BBM Channels, its upcoming social platform aimed at high-profile brands and celebrities, with a ton of new features today that should improve the general user experience on BlackBerry 10. Search is the most notable addition, as it introduces a new ‘Browse Channels’ tab to help users discover additional accounts to follow. It’s not a game-changer by any means, but will enable users to look up some of their favorite companies and start following them from the outset. Individual BBM Channels are also being updated with clickable PINs. These essentially work in the same way as a handle does on Twitter – users can share them through Facebook or Twitter and if someone else taps on it, they’ll be taken to the appropriate channel in the BBM app.
Keyboard Loyalists to the Rescue! Q10 Sales Boost BlackBerry. (All Things Digital)
Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) CEO Thorsten Heins’s prediction earlier this year that the company is going to sell a ton of its new Qwerty-keyboard-equipped Q10 smartphone was an aggressive one, but perhaps prescient, as well. A handful of recent analyst notes suggest that the handset is selling better than expected. Today comes more good news: Wells Fargo analyst Maynard Um has issued a positive note on Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY), observing that Q10 sales may help the company beat expectations for its fiscal first quarter. Um says his channel checks in the U.S. reveal that the Q10 is off to a good start. “[There has been] Good Q10 customer interest and demand,” Um said.
BlackBerry patches BYOD, Adobe Flash flaws for Z10 and Playbook (Infosecurity Magazine)
Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) released two security bulletins this week, one of which addresses Adobe Flash flaws in the software for the Blackberry Playbook tablet and Blackberry Z10 touchscreen smartphone. The BSRT-2013-005 patch addresses
