It's a bit of a slow news day in the world of BlackBerry (other than @BlackBerry announcing Desktop Manager for Mac was available today, which was a mistake and in fact is not... d'oh!) and it has been a while since we've ran a post in our Berry-Free Talk blog post category, so I thought we'd bring you a look at the newest smartphone to be making a splash on the interwebs - the Palm Pixi Phone.

The Palm Pixi follows up the release of the Palm Pre, with the Pixi slotting in as the Centro of the new Palm and their line of next-gen devices that run the Palm Web OS. It's small, features a full front facing keyboard and is slated to come to Sprint (likely in time for the holidays). Dieter was on location to cover the event yesterday, and has a ton of info up at PreCentral.net if you're interested in learning more. The video above goes through the hardware, and you can follow the links below to see, read and learn more.

In terms of where this stacks up to BlackBerry smartphones, I'd think of this as the head to head phone with the BlackBerry Curve 8530, when that rolls out to CDMA carriers. A little more entry level that makes some comprises, but a nice tight package overall. So what do you think? Does Palm have something here with the Pixi that appeals to you, or is it a thanks but no thanks type offering?

• Palm Announces the Pixi Phone >>
• Pixi Ups the Game with Customizable Covers >>
• Palm Pixi Hardware Demo >> 
• Palm Pixi Photo Gallery >>
• Palm Pixi Specs >>
• Palm Pixi First Impressions and Hands-On Video >>
• Palm Pixi Features, Apps, Facebook & Memory Limitations in Video >>

Hey all you CrackBerry fans! Show your support for CrackBerry.com by adding a Twibbon to your Twitter avatar. The Twibbon will simply add a small CrackBerry logo to the upper right corner of your avatar. If at anytime you change your avatar, you'll have to add the Twibbon again. If for some strange reason you don't want the Twibbon after a while, all you have to do is update your avatar on your Twitter page and it will be replaced. Let's see how many supporters CrackBerry can get! 

While you're at it, make sure you follow the CrackBerry Team:

Kevin Michaluk - Founder/Fearless Leader
Adam Zeis - Editor/Forums Manager
Bla1ze - Editor/Forums Manager
David Boyd - Blogger/Forums Moderator

For those of you not following Kevin, don't forget about this awesome Twitter contest he is running. There have been several winners already!

Knowledge is power. That's why from time to time we like to run non-BlackBerry content here on the CrackBerry blogs... so when you're sitting at the bar chatting smartphones you can woo your friends not only with your know-how of BlackBerry, but all things related.

That said, it's a big week for iPhone owners. The iPhone 3G S goes on sale this Friday, and today (rumors suggest 1pm EDT, though it could be anytime), Apple will release its iPhone 3.0 software. This software update fills in a lot of the functionality gaps iPhone owners have faced since its launch. 

Rene over at our sibling site TheiPhoneblog put together a CrackBerry-style walk through of the iPhone 3.0 software (over 7,000 words.. sniff sniff.. I'm soo proud!), which I'd encourage you browse through if you want to stay on top of your smartphone game. Take a peek! And now I'm curious too... anybody reading this thinking about picking up a 3G S when it hits?

• Read TiPb's iPhone 3.0 Software Walk Through >>

Every now and then we are forced to realize that are more devices in the world other than our beloved BlackBerry.  If you didn't know already, WWDC has come and gone, and there was a load of iPhone goodness to be had.  Our sister site The iPhone Blog had as much coverage as any Apple lover could handle, so in case you missed any of it, you can check out a roundup of all the news links after the jump.

The embargoes have lifted and the first reviews of the Palm Pre are alreading filling up the internet. Smartphone Experts' Editor-in-Chief, Dieter Bohn, has already spent a ton of time on the device, and I highly recommend anyone who is interested in learning more about Palm's entry back into the smartphone market to check out his Palm Pre Review. The video above will give you a great overview of the device in just under tens minutes, while the full review gets into the nitty gritty. 

All in all, I think the Palm Pre is a welcome entry into the smartphone game. In some areas it raises the stakes by bringing some very original thoughts to the table, while other facets of the Web OS platform will take some time refine and improve. We've already seen quite a lot of Palm Pre chatter in the CrackBerry forums, so in honor of the Palm Pre's launch we've created a new Palm Pre forum to accompany our existing Apple iPhone 3G forum and Other Smartphones forum. There's no better way to be a knowledgable CrackBerry Addict than to also know about the competition, right?

• Read PreCentral's Palm Pre Review >>
• Visit the Palm Pre Forum @ CrackBerry Forums >>

BIG news coming out of WES 2009 last night (thanks to everyone who stopped me in person and relayed the news!) had NOTHING to do with BlackBerry smartphones, but rather, hockey! RIM's Co-CEO Jim Balsillie put in an offer to buy the bankrupt Phoenix Coyotes on condition of being able to relocate them to Southern Ontario. Of course I'd personally rather see the team hit Winnipeg (BRING BACK THE JETS!!!) but either way a new Canadian team would be cool and we all know Jim wants a hockey team bad.

The best thing us BlackBerry users can do is help make it happen. Think about it... it'll cost him a ton of money, so he'll need to make some more money, which will in turn kick things into overdrive even moreso at RIM which will just lead to more bigger and better products for us, the consumers (it's a theory anyways...maybe not a good one). 

To help promote the bid to make this Canada's seventh NHL Franchise, they've set up MakeItSeven.ca. If you want to support the cause, go sign up! Oh, and if it can't be the Jets, I vote the team should be called the "CrackBerrys". Who's with me? :p

• Visit MakeItSeven.ca >>
• Read the Press Release (.pdf) >>

There's no mention of BlackBerry smartphones in the video above and a Palm Pre is shown at the end, but no matter how you slice it this latest commercial from Sprint is pretty cool. Give it a watch for some geeky data stats that'll make you sound smart at the dinner table tonight!

[ Precentral.net ]

I know I know... we're a BlackBerry enthusiast website... what are we doing running a blog post with a walk through of Apple iPhone 3.0 software?!

The reason here is two-fold. For one, we've got this blog post category called "Berry-Free Talk" which doesn't get posted in that often... so we gotta put the occasional story in here to justify its ongoing existence. And the second, more important reason, is that I know how much some of you (me included) like to get into smartphone debates with our friends / family / colleagues / significant others / etc. and that one of the most popular topics to argue is that of BlackBerry vs. iPhone. From the stories I read in the CrackBerry forums and hear from readers, I think it's often the BlackBerry user who wins these arguments. And it seems the reason for that isn't just superior smartphone functionality, but because we're well informed to the pros and cons of each platform/device and don't just blindly drink the Kool Aid. Knowledge is power, right?

So in the spirt of continuing education, I think it's important that we all get a good look at what's coming to our favorite frenemy with the rollout of iPhone 3.0 software. The days of making fun of the iPhone's lack of cut and paste are coming to an end, but don't worry, there's still some fun to be had at the Ahh Frak Phone's expense. You can click the image above or follow the link below to jump over to TheiPhoneblog for an in-depth hands-on walkthrough.

• iPhone OS 3.0 Beta Walkthrough and Review >>

CRAZY. Just saw the video above and had to post. For all of you who love having a big display on your smartphone but hate the thought of fingerprint-smudged glass, you'll be glad to hear there is a company working on the solution to your problem... enter eyeSight.

The video above features Itay Katz, CEO of eyeSight, as he explains and demonstrates eyeSight's touch-free smartphone technology. Now all we need is a BlackBerry with a forward facing camera and to get these guys developing for the BB platform. RIM? BlackBerry Partners Fund? We reading this??! Let's get it done! :-)

[ Source ]

What?! A non-BlackBerry video unboxing at CrackBerry.com?! Yeah.. that's right. We do have a blog post category here called "Berry-Free Talk" that we post in from time to time and I thought this video would be a good fit for the CB blogs for a couple of reasons: one, we have a TON of members and readers who used to be Palm Treo owners (remember this article?) and two, it seems with the Treo Pro that Palm is taking some aim at the BlackBerry-using customer base. I'm really curious to know everyone's thoughts on the Palm Treo Pro - is it a "sweeet!" or "so what?!" or "thanks but no thanks" or "yawn" or "I'm leaving my BB and going back to Palm" or "Palm should just quit the slow death and die already" or ???????

You can click here for more Palm Treo Pro unboxing images and comparison shots. The Bold makes an appearance in the video above at 7m48s and you can also check out these BlackBerry Bold vs. Treo Pro pics to get a better idea of how the Pro and Bold compare head to head.

YES, I am a Photoshop Mock Up iSlider!

Over at our sibling site TheiPhoneblog (affectionally referred to as TiPb, which fyi, tipb.com will direct you to the site as well), the word is that Steve Jobs is kicking around the idea of building an iPhone with a slide out keyboard. Here's the interesting part - more than just polling people on the idea, it seems there are actually a few prototype iSliders floating around:

What he is apparently doing is canvassing the idea with operators. “If you had a keyboard version, how many would you take?” And he has taken this beyond just chatting: actual prototypes - not just mockups - have been sent to senior executives at some operators. I’m not allowed to even hint which operators… but I can report that the keyboard has “issues” which are not yet resolved.

We know RIM will be invading Apple's touchscreen turf with the launch of the BlackBerry Thunder, so it sort of makes sense for Steve Jobs to fire back and explore ways to snatch a few % of the I-need-a-real-keyboard market out there.

Dieter live-blogged the long-awaited Apple iPhone SDK Launch Event over at PhoneDifferent.com earlier today. The big news to us BlackBerry users isn't the SDK; rather, it seems Apple has kicked off the event by announcing Microsoft Exchange / Active Sync Support and that they're coming after RIM in the Enterprise Market!

Check out his 12:07pm and 12:15pm and 2:23pm and 2:38pm updates specifically.

The 2:23 update sets the tone for the upcoming Enterprise battle, with the following Steve Job's quote coming out of Q&A...
Question: Business Apps are coming, Should RIM be worried?
Steve Jobs: Go Ask Them.

Dieter thinks a RIM-killer is in the works. I don't think RIM is going anywhere anytime soon. Let Dieter know what you think in the PhoneDifferent comments and don't forget to report back here with your thoughts!

• Go to the Phone Different Live Blog Now >> 

A couple weeks back I went off on a RANT about the web browser that ships standard on BlackBerrys, basically saying that it's nothing to brag about and that while there is a place for optimized web browsing (necessary for those who have limited data/speed) what the world now wants is full-web browsing on a smartphone. In that article I named the iPhone's Safari browser the best of class standard, with Opera Mini (which is available for use on the BlackBerry) as the next best thing.

Well, it looks like there may be a new KING in the mobile browser world - enter SkyFire. SkyFire is currently being developed for Windows Mobile and Symbian phones but *not* BlackBerrys, and will basically bring full Firefox web browsing to the palm of your hand... to quote the SkyFire team, "Our goal is that if Firefox can render it, then your Windows Mobile phone will render it the exact same way."

How will SkyFire accomplish this? By doing it all Server Side. Everything gets rendered on SkyFire's servers and pushed out to the phone. This takes care of the processor/speed limitations currently inherent to the smartphone category and provides support for higher end programming and plugins - Javascript, AJAX, FLASH, Quicktime, Windows Media... we're talking REAL web browsing here. Remember, even though the iPhone browser is the "new standard", it still has limitations like No Flash support. With SkyFire, there's no need to have a YouTube app - you'll be able to go to the real YouTube.com and use the site just as you would when visiting from a desktop computer (video demo after the jump). 

Here's a quick Round Up of some of the interesting headlines going on this week outside of the CrackBerry world:

Foleo Cancelled! -  looks like Palm is pulling the plug on this one for the time being so they can focus on their  smartphone platform. Dieter over at WMExperts.com just posted an excellent follow-up article this morning in the wake of the Foleo's demise. Read Foleo Cancelled, A Curious Absence?

iPhone is #1 Smartphone?! - Looks like th iPhone outsold every other smartphone in July and grabbed 1.8% of the entire U.S. phone market. The numbers don't surpise me - with all the hype initial sales were guaranteed to be huge. I'm more curious in the numbers 12 months from now. It looks like Apple is getting Aggressive! They have SLASHED the price on their 8gig phone by $200 and are dropping the 4gig model altogether. Get the Details.

Introducing the Google Phone - The GPhone (or is it Gphone or gPhone?!) rumors have been going on for a while now and the frenzy is going to pick up even more now that the Boston Globe published a story with juicy details.

Today we came across a cool site that is offering a truly unique service.

GrandCentral.com gives you one phone number that can ring on one or more of your phones. Want your home AND mobile number to ring when someone calls? Give them your GrandCentral number and that's exactly what will happen!

One of the huge benefits of this as I see it is you will NEVER miss a call again if all of your phones ring at the same time!

Some cool features offered from GrandCentral:

 - Forward calls to all of your phones at once
 - Share funny voicemails with friends via email
 - Allow people to call you from your website
 - Receive phone calls on your computer
 - Visual voicemail

Unfortunately, GrandCentral is only available in the US at the moment. I tried to sign up here in Canada and service up here is currently unavailable.

Give it a try and let me know what you think!

On the web: GrandCentral.com