A look at BlackBerry Tag - Now available on OS 7.1 devices

By Adam Zeis on 12 Jan 2012 10:47 am

[ youtube video link for mobile viewing ]

BlackBerry Tag was announced back in October but we haven't really seen much of it in action since. However with the rollout of BlackBerry OS 7.1 to carriers, more users will be able to take advantage of this cool NFC feature on their devices. BlackBerry Messenger 6.1 includes the ability to add contacts via BlackBerry Tag, and you'll be able to do things like send photos, videos, contacts, browser URLs and more via other BlackBerry Tag enabled apps. Check out the video above for a quick walkthrough and to see BlackBerry Tag in action.

Topics: NFC BlackBerry Tag OS 7.1 CES2012 News & Rumors

Adam Zeis 3031 (articles) 2790 (forum posts)

41 comments

porkchopian Jan 12, 2012 at 10:53 am

My 1st 1st! LOL! Can't wait to get this function on my Bold 9900!!

ryanlrobinson Jan 12, 2012 at 11:03 am

Telus updated 7.0 for the Bold 9900 today. I was really hoping when I saw an update available that it would be 7.1. More likely we will get the update about when BlackBerry 10 launches.

highos Jan 12, 2012 at 12:07 pm

Nice! I haven't seen anyone report this yet. I also wish they had officially released 7.1 but now I can finally get rid of that awful .261 build on our corporate devices.

I just run the 7.1 leak on Telus on my personal device, but for everyone else like me that is stuck playing by the rules, this is sad situation. Sounds like AT&T is acting similar as well.

mssca Jan 12, 2012 at 2:32 pm

Telus had OS 7.0 already on ALL Bold 9900 since it came out. They just updated to 7.0.0.585 from 7.0.0.261. I have been using the very first OS 7.1 leak and everything is great. The battery life is much better with great wifi hotspot use at no additional charge.

You can install the latest OS 7.1 leak and don't have to wait for Telus to release it.

mssca Jan 12, 2012 at 2:33 pm

Deleted... from some reason, this site posted the same comment two times.

ugahairydawgs Jan 12, 2012 at 11:08 am

Having to get carrier certification for their OS updates will always be an achilles heel for RIM.

ClassyBOLD Jan 12, 2012 at 11:39 am

Yea I know how you feel...I have AT&T which is as slow as molasses with releasing OS updates. I have the Torch 9810 which AT&T just pushed a 7.0 update for, bad sign that they won't release 7.1 anytime soon :(

The problem is that carriers need to certify the network radio stack. Since BBOS incorporates the network radio stack with the rest of the OS, there's no way for RIM to release OS updates without carrier approval of the entire OS. If the the network stack could be isolated, RIM could push updates without carrier approval and then only seek carrier approval for the network stack.

There was some previous discussion that BBX will resolve this issue since the network stack can be isolated. :)

Another reason why BBX can't come soon enough.

highos Jan 12, 2012 at 12:04 pm

What you describe is right about BBOS, but at the same time realistically I can't see a reason why it couldn't be separated. Just makes think of all the Hybrids back when I used an Storm 9530, a lot of times everyone used an old radio but we'd take all the Java files from newer Storm builds or even other devices and incorporate them all together.

Just saying that even thought BBOS was never really designed for incremental updates-it could be totally possible when you consider that all that stuff is stored in individual cod's that could be updated-just like how key apps like BBM get updated now.

It's probably just more the fact that it has always been done this way with Carrier approvals. Just thinking out loud here!

oneday116 Jan 12, 2012 at 11:30 am

I have Tmobile : (

seemsixty7 Jan 12, 2012 at 11:55 am

Same here. Come on T-Mobile, send it out for us!

ComfortablyNumb8 Jan 12, 2012 at 11:32 am

Agree, phoned my carrier (o2 UK) yesterday asking when they would release 7.1 and according to the agent they hadn't heard of it. It wasn't showing on the system and the latest bundle my phone should have was 2290. They were a bit perplexed when I said well I've gone back to bundle 1465 as the update 2406 (via desktop manager) was just a battery drainer and I'd not seen 2290. Maybe Blackberry should just roll this out via the desktop manager regardless as like rapsball I somehow think it could be Christmas by the time o2 roll out 7.1.

PC_v1 Jan 12, 2012 at 11:36 am

Good god, that Crackberry.com intro to the video is enough to give people seizures. Awful and loud.

Halifax Guy Jan 12, 2012 at 12:04 pm

I thought almost the same thing. It's very annoying and poorly done.

lorax1284 Jan 12, 2012 at 12:46 pm

It struck me as too long and too busy... part of branding is knowing when you are inadvertently pushing the brand too hard and obscuring the content (that makes the CrackBerry.com brand valuable) in the process. Guys, just stick with the old one.

thecsman Jan 12, 2012 at 9:52 pm

CB should start a contest for a new intro to their presentations. Kevin?

I would like to see the glorious red light matched with heartbeat sounds, the more lights the more heartbeats, bringing the WE over the iSomething. Just an idea. =)

ugotme Jan 12, 2012 at 11:36 am

I dont see NFC on the 9850. Am I missing something or does it not have it.

Innerchild Jan 12, 2012 at 11:47 am

It is my understanding that the 9850 does not have NFC. I think that's a big oversight by RIM because NFC is going to be a major feature for smartphones. It would be nice if that capability is there for future activation but not holding out hope! It makes 9850 (and I have one) even more of a minor player in a very competitive market.

ugotme Jan 12, 2012 at 2:17 pm

Thanks for the information. Guess I will have to live without it then.

mssca Jan 12, 2012 at 5:17 pm

RIM always come up with phones BEFORE they plan the future expansions. One more reason why we need a new management at RIM. If they want to go big on NFC features, they should have included NFC on ALL new devices, not just some.

Betmen Jan 12, 2012 at 11:46 am

Kevin why don't you ask one of these many RIM
people if there is any word on the fix for the 99xx.
I know there is a time and place but when someone is talking about updates I think this would be a good time Thanks

Nathan0329 Jan 12, 2012 at 11:57 am

I love this. I have the 7.1 on my 9930 and the new updated bbm and didn't even no i had this!! Haha awesome just hope some of my friends would get rid of the junkroids and iphone toys and get a real phone. Who needs a bunch of useless apps when you have a blackberry. Fan for life, they had me at hello, lmao.

thurask Jan 12, 2012 at 12:05 pm

I need any carrier to release this; deleting vendor.xml FTW.

infinus Jan 12, 2012 at 12:16 pm

any CDMA 9930 owner tried it yet...???
so exited to see in 9900 and exchanging data with my friends.....
with ofcourse magic...

mozzamay Jan 12, 2012 at 12:20 pm

Orange UK will be releasing 7.1 in February. Thank god. Ive misssed having UMA for the past 3 months :)

mozzamay Jan 12, 2012 at 12:20 pm

Orange UK will be releasing 7.1 in February. Thank god. Ive misssed having UMA for the past 3 months :)

Mail4dez27 Jan 12, 2012 at 12:27 pm

I have T-Mobile, wich is pissing me off because NFC Technology was one of the reasons I got my 9900!

DarshOne Jan 12, 2012 at 12:50 pm

def dont get this option or see it anywhere in my vzw 9930 running 7.1. not that id use it anyway since i know like 3 people that are still stuck with blackberries

daniel-martinez-95 Jan 12, 2012 at 12:54 pm

I have understood that if my BB is T Mobile this function can not, because it has no NFC technology, but would like to know if there is no way of putting this technology. and I've seen that sell "to the 9900 NFC antenna" I would love to have this technology in my BB, very bad move by T-Mobile to remove this great technology!

chuckkdaduck Jan 12, 2012 at 12:57 pm

If only RIM knew that they should have put NFC on all blackberry 7 devices...honestly what were they thinking not putting them on some phones???

Skeevecr Jan 12, 2012 at 3:33 pm

It probably came down to the original timing of projects, the 9810 was reusing quite a lot of the 9800's design and it would have required a fair amount of changes to add nfc which was and still is a minor feature really. As far as the 9860, the earliest leaks of an os7 device were of the storm 3, so that would tend to imply it was another one that was due sooner than it arrived and the nfc chipsets may not have been ready for it. The main issue for Rim is that due to delays you had all these os7 devices showing up at once so the absence of nfc from the torches seems weird.

The odds are that unless we see some really cheap models to suit the payg markets (the 9360 and 9380 have both come in a fair bit dearer than 9300 in the uk for example), all subsequent blackberries will include nfc.

The Consigliere Jan 12, 2012 at 1:01 pm

Please Crackberry get rid of THAT INTRO! It seriously is terrible. The simple crackberry dot com was SO much better. I fell like my speakers & or eardrums are gonna bust no matter what the volume level is. Other than that this technology looks pretty cool, it's a shame I'll have to wait who knows how long until AT&T releases it tho.