When it comes to apps there is one thing that really floats my boat and that's a simple application that does what it says on the tin. Level Camera is just that. It is solely designed for making sure that when hanging pictures on a wall you get the picture/frame straight.

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BlackBerry has announced that the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, the largest department in the nation, is currently deploying BlackBerry 10 devices and BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10.  The LASD is already and existing BlackBerry customer and will now be moving to BlackBerry 10 to increase the capabilities of their on-the-go devices. Coupling new BlackBerry 10 devices with BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 will give the LASD the security they need while still allowing users to get things done.

Press Release

ORLANDO, FLORIDA--(Marketwired - May 15, 2013) - BlackBerry Live 2013 - BlackBerry® (NASDAQ: BBRY)(TSX: BB) today announced that the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) is currently deploying BlackBerry® 10 and BlackBerry® Enterprise Service 10.

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Need advice on how to solve your BlackBerry woes? Dear Berry is here to save the day.

Hello again readers! Dear Berry is here once again with a mailbag full of BlackBerry questions and woes. This week's question comes from a reader who asks:

Dear Berry - 

I hope you can help answer a question for me. I just picked up my Z10 and I see how when answering an incoming call, all I have to do is swipe down. What I would like to know is how do I ignore an incoming call? On my Bold 9900 I would just press the end key. Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

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It's no secret that BlackBerry 10 users are dying to have apps with the ability to run in the background. As it stands now, BlackBerry 10 apps need to be open (or in Active Frames) to perform any sort of background task. Which, as you can imagine, can be pretty annoying at times.

While looking over the BlackBerry Developer Blog today, I came across this new post regarding some sessions that will be happening next week at BlackBerry Jam Americas in Orlando. What caught my eye was session JAM47 which is described as:

JAM47 – Background Services – Event Driven Processing for your Application

The session will discuss the brand new Background Services framework which allows developers to bundle a separate process with their application to run in the background without a UI. Learn the basics of how this framework works, learn some guidelines about when to use it and when not to, and learn about the experiences of existing app partners that successfully deployed a background service and lessons learned from their projects.

So what does that mean?

Well we've heard the term “headless” app before, which is what this would appear to be. In more simple terms what it means is that apps will no longer require an Active Frame to be open in order to function. Now keep in mind much of what I'm saying is my own speculation based on information we have already seen that I've tried to piece together.

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FREE Must Have BlackBerry 10 App!

When the BlackBerry Z10 was launched, we released Spark Me to the masses and now that the BlackBerry Q10 has finally arrived, it's time to update Spark Me for it as well. If you're not familiar with Spark Me, it's a free app built by CrackBerry and it allows you to place the popular BlackBerry "Spark" notification icon or CrackBerry logo onto any image you choose from your BlackBerry 10 smartphone. You can also take a new photo directly within Spark Me and apply the Spark or CrackBerry badge to it.

Additionally, there is also an assortment of frames to choose from so you can give your photo some extra love and share it with the world. The images make great avatars on social sites like twitter, and at 500x500 pixels are an ideal size for using as your profile image on CrackBerry.com!

Download Spark Me for FREE today!

For Lime, the launch of the BlackBerry Z10 has been pretty spectacular. The company kicked things off in Jamaica with a live launch held on Facebook and right now, they're running a contest for their customers offering them a chance to see Alicia Keys live in concert. Aside from all of that though, they've been bringing a touch of class to the mix as noted on their Facebook page. Customers who have preordered a BlackBerry Z10 are getting their device hand delivered to them complete with some BlackBerry branding on car the lovely ladies show up in. Needless to say, it looks BlackBerry advertising in the Barbados and surrounding areas is going strong.  Thanks, Mario!

Discuss in the CrackBerry forums

Right then, here we go again. After having saw the device leak out in white, then red we now have a more visually pleasing black version to look at. Yes, the BlackBerry R10 as its known, has popped up once again and this time it has some specs to go along with it. They're certainly not on the same level as the BlackBerry Q10 or the BlackBerry Z10 but that's been pretty much known for a while now and was expected. Here's what's been tossed around for specs:

• 3.1-inch display, 720 x 720 resolution
• 5MP rear camera, front camera
• Support to shoot up to 2560 x 1920 resolution photos
• 2GB of RAM
• 8GB internal storage
• 1800 mAh non-removable Battery
• BlackBerry 10.1 OS

Many folks had questions about the red version because there were some obvious errors but as these images clearly show, the device is live and not just a dummy unit. You can jump below to see some more images in the gallery but do keep in mind we still don't know when this device will get an official unveiling, pricing or what markets it is even intended to be released to.

The funny thing about Instagram is that a lot of folks post things to it without giving it a second thought really. If you go looking, you'll find all sorts of things that people most likely should have kept to themselves instead of broadcasting. Such is the case with this unannounced BlackBerry 10 device more commonly known as the R10 or R-Series.

We've seen it before a few times now but it's always nice seeing unreleased devices pop up. Perhaps, the interesting thing here though isn't really the device, it's what was said about it when the poster was asked about its possible availability. "Scheduled Q3, but it's a mid tier... Plastic and all.. Nice though" Interesting. I like that red though. Also of note, there's a white one sitting in the back there and they both appear to be dummy units.

Discuss more in the CrackBerry Forums

Gameloft has been a roll lately with their releases for the BlackBerry platform and it looks as though they're hosting a pretty big sale right now. If you open up BlackBerry World and head to the Gameloft listing, you should see a bunch of titles have either been reduced in price or have gone outright free. The sale isn't held just to any one specific device either, BlackBerry OS, BlackBerry PlayBook and BlackBerry 10 titles are all sharing the price drop. If you're looking to load up on some great games, it looks like now is a prime opportunity to do so. Here's some of the listings we're seeing:

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BlackBerry announced that they have teamed up with ISEC7 to offer BlackBerry Readiness Services to customers for BlackBerry 10. ISEC7 will offer various services including Change Management and Planning with Migration Services, Change Management and Planning with Remote Installation, and BlackBerry 10 Application Development Services. 

The services are geared toward helping organizations make a smooth transition from an older BES to BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10. With BES 10, companies can support not only BlackBerry devices but also iOS and Android. 

Press Release

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Well, not quite. But close. The illustrious Rene Ritchie, Editor in Chief or our iOS sibling site iMore, pointed out this morning that if you visit Apple's Youtube channel, there are Verizon BlackBerry 10 ads running on it.

Sure enough, I clicked over to Apple's Introducing iPhone 5 video, and upon hitting play was greeted by this Verizon BlackBerry 10 ad. This is pretty funny (to me at least), especially considering Apple is the biggest tech company out there. You'd think for the couple thousand dollars in ad revenue Apple will make off of a video like this one, they would rather just hit the disable ads button on the youtube backend to ensure they save themselves from an embarrassing moment like this one. 

Seeing smartphone manufacturers target competitors' platforms online isn't new. For example, right at home here on CrackBerry we've seen plenty of ads for Android phones over the years. In that case though we're a third party site, and a company like BlackBerry can just as easily target their ads here as a company like Samsung or HTC can. A manufacturer allowing it to happen on their own channel is a different story though. That's just a sloppy oversight. 

Makes for a fun post here on CrackBerry though! :)

We had a crazy week at our temporary NYC HQ office doing a bunch of prep work for #TM13 (more on that in my next From the Editor's Desk post).

After going day and night for five days straight, we finished the work week off Friday afternoon with a portrait session for everybody from the team who was on location. Above is one of the photos taken, featuring what I refer to as my Future Member of the BlackBerry Board of Directors look. I also think of it as clean cut Kevin.

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One more for the road today courtesy of lbfe in the forums. Dev Alpha C owners can get in on the action as well with a fresh new leak of OS 10.1.0.1483. We saw this one drop for most Z10's already and it seems pretty smooth so far. 

As a friendly reminder, you can of course screw up your device when installing a leaked OS so use extreme caution. Always perform a full backup first and don't yell at us if you break anything. You'll also need a Windows PC to run the autoloader.

If you have a Dev C in hand and are ready to take the plunge, hit the link below to download then jump to the forums for all the details.

Download OS 10.1.0.1483 for the Dev Alpha C
Discuss more in the CrackBerry forums

A nice update for those you out there making use of WordPress as your blogging platform of choice. The latest release of WordPress for BlackBerry 10 and BlackBerry PlayBook has now landed and while it remains and Android port, it adds plenty of welcomed changes to the mix including an updated UI. Realistically, it's the same update the Android version received not all that long ago minus some Holo love and well, that's not a bad thing as it shows WordPress is maintaining releases across the board.

• Action bar updated for easy action to common actions.
• Use the menu drawer to quickly navigate to other areas of the app. Just tap the arrow in the action bar or swipe to reveal the menu.
• Use the 'view site' feature to view and share content on your site.
• Wordpress.com users can view the web dashboard (wp-admin).
• The Wordpress.com reader now takes advantage of caching for faster loading.

I really do love the fact that WordPress is continuing to support BlackBerry but for the life of me, I can't understand why they don't just build a native app. It would be such an improved experience if they just went all in. In any case, the update is live in BlackBerry World right now and can be picked up by clicking the link below.   Download WordPress for BlackBerry  

Power user? Then you'll want to take advantage of the complete list of BlackBerry Q10 shortcuts. These keyboard shortcuts will help you use your new Q10 fast and efficiently!

When the announcement of the BlackBerry Q10 came long ago, one key question keyboard loving BlackBerry fans had was whether or not BlackBerry had included the classic keyboard shortcuts everyone had come to know and love. Those shortcuts, most would say, help make a BlackBerry a BlackBerry and removing them would disrupt the experience.

Luckily, we don't have to wonder what a QWERTY BlackBerry smartphone would be like without them because BlackBerry has maintained a lot of them.  While some have been removed because they're no longer relevant, over 200 keyboard shortcuts have made their way into BlackBerry 10 and ultimately the BlackBerry Q10 and we've got a growing list of them all.

To help keep things nice and neat we've pulled out the ones folks are most likely to use and outlined them below. As more are found through general use, we'll add them to the list as well.

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Love the iconic BlackBerry design? Check out this Blackberry Q10 Review! With big battery life, a vibrant display, solid camera and an amazing physical keyboard running on the new BlackBerry 10 OS, the BlackBerry Q10 is the keyboard BlackBerry you've been waiting for. Read our BlackBerry Q10 review and find out if it's the BlackBerry for you! It's upgrade time!

The BlackBerry Q10 is the first BlackBerry 10 phone with a physical keyboard. It stays true to the BlackBerry of years past and will attract BlackBerry fans all over who refuse to give up their real, physical keyboard. The Q10 combines the iconic form factor of older BlackBerry phones with a new, sleek design that is powered by the all-new BlackBerry 10 operating system.

The BlackBerry Z10 set the foundation for the BlackBerry software strategy for years to come, and the Q10 builds on it slightly with BlackBerry 10’s first significant update, OS 10.1. This operating system update features a number of enhancements specific to the physical keyboard design, including support for keyboard shortcuts. In addition to many of the legacy keyboard shortcuts being present, BlackBerry has also introduced Instant Action shortcuts to the homescreen experience, which compliment Universal Search results by allowing you to jump deeply into an application. Many of the native apps on the Q10 also take advantage of the new dark theme, which in addition to adding an extra touch of sex appeal to BlackBerry 10 also help maximize the Q10's battery life given its AMOLED display. A number of other updates further refine BlackBerry 10, including HDR mode in the camera and improvements to notifications.

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With the BlackBerry Z10 and Q10 winning us over at full force, the next round of BlackBerry 10 devices could soon hit the rumor mill. BlackBerry Live is right around the corner and we are hoping to hear plenty more on the BB10 front.

That being said, BlackBerry was just awarded a patent filed in December of 2011 for a portrait-style device with a slide out keyboard that could very well be the next BlackBerry 10 device. 

We've heard nothing on the slider front until now so take this for what it's worth, but it is definitely a viable option for BlackBerry to put out a Torch-successor for BlackBerry 10. From the image here, it looks like a good combination of the Z10 display with a slimmer Q10 keyboard.

Would you be interested in a BlackBerry 10 slider? Let us know in the comments!

YouTube uploading capability is baked into BlackBerry 10

Honestly, I don't take a lot of videos on my BlackBerry Z10. I'm more of a picture taking person. For those of you out there though that do take a lot of videos, there's always the issue of what to do with your videos after you've taken them. You can save them to your computer by directly pulling them off or use BlackBerry Link to sync them but of course, you then have to decide what to do with them after that. If you're more of the sharing type, you'll likely opt to offload them directly to YouTube to share with friends and family. Luckily, BlackBerry 10 has that feature built right in and it's all very straight forward to use. Check out the video above to see exactly how it's all done or jump below for the steps.

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As BlackBerry Dev Alpha C devices were rolling out to developers not long ago, it was spotted in BlackBerry 10.1 that BlackBerry was exploring the idea of 'coupon codes' or promo codes as they're now described. As an example of their possible use, developers could give out special codes as part of a promotion so you can get their paid app for free or with an discount just by entering that code.

A new BlackBerry Knowledge Base article has been published that offers up some further details on the matter. More specifically the error codes that are possible in certain scenarios, which in turn offer up a look at how promo codes could be used once made available to everyone:

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Shadowgun, among other games, are headed to BlackBerry 10 thanks to Unity

Game developers got a taste of what the Unity 3D engine could do on BlackBerry 10 at GDC, and now they can start getting involved. Pre-registration recently opened up for the beta program, allowing developers to publish directly to BlackBerry World through the SDK. Keep in mind that this is still in a beta phase, so anything that's published will be watermarked, and there still isn't a full feature set available. Devs that want to publish commercially anyway will need to pay up as normal. 

There have already been a handful of games able to publish to BlackBerry World through the closed alpha of the Unity BlackBerry 10 project. Many I haven't heard of before, but there are some good looking ones in the batch, including Wizard Ops, Qbism, Hairy Tales, and, of course, Shadowgun.

Ultimately, more tools means more games means more fun on BlackBerry 10. Devs interested in getting involved can sign up over here. Any takers?

After having teased its arrival several times now, Gameloft has finally made The Dark Knight Rises for BlackBerry 10 available. As you may have guessed by the title, the game is entirely inspired by the movie itself and brings along with it a ton of action filled gameplay. If you're not familiar with the role you'll be playing, it's that of Bruce Wayne and you've given up crime fighting for the past eight years. Now, a lethal adversary on a crusade to tear apart Batman’s legacy piece by piece has arrived and you must return to action. Bane is waiting but you have plenty of allies to lend a helping hand, when it's really needed:

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Looking to talk politics, technology or Doctor Who? Maybe you just want to see some rather hilarious GIF's or some lolcats? If so, Reddit is the place to check out and perusing the front page of the internet as it's called, is simple with Snooby. Snooby is a native Reddit client built specifically for BlackBerry 10 and offers pretty much all that you will need to get your Reddit on. You can login to your account and get your mail, vote on posts, leave comments, browse all the default subreddits plus, unlike some clients out there, you can also access all your personalized subreddits. The app comes as a free download but that's not to say it's entirely free. It uses an in-app purchase called Snooby Gold:

Snooby Gold unlocks the full suite of features for Snooby. Non-Snooby Gold users are subjected to a 50 token rate limit and every action expires in 24 hours. Currenty, voting costs 1 token while commenting, costs 3 tokens.

With that mentioned, the upgrade to Snooby Gold costs $1.99 and can be purchased from right within the app. While I've not blown through my tokens yet through normal use, if you're a hardcore Reddit user you just might need the upgrade. The developer, Amos Chan, is quite active when it comes to updating Snooby so I'm sure he'd appreciate it if you purchased the upgrade.Plus, good developers deserve to be rewarded for their work. If you're in need of a Reddit client, hit the link below to check out Snooby.

Learn more / Download Snooby

Contact X from VietHop Software might just fix it for you

For as far back as I can remember, my contact list has always been a disaster. I've tried several times to get things back in order but it never really seems to work out so in the end, I just give up trying. As long as the contacts I need can be found I'm perfectly fine with that.  At this point, it's hard to say where the problem comes from because it's not 'just a BlackBerry thing' for me.

It happens across all platforms. That leads me to think it's Gmail but that's just a wild guess. In one last ditch effort to get things sorted out, I grabbed Contact X from BlackBerry World for my BlackBerry Z10 after reading about it in the CrackBerry Forums, to see if it would help in any sort of way. Much to my surprise, it cleaned up quite a few of my contacts and saved me a lot of hassle thanks to some superbly implemented features:

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Watch the first 20 minutes of our 60+ minute podcast above. We're going to sit down with Alec again just as soon as we can. Apologies!

The unthinkable happened. We screwed up. On Friday, April 12th, we recorded an awesome video podcast with a very special guest. BlackBerry's VP of Developer Relations and Ecosystem Development, Alec Saunders, joined myself, Chris Umiastowski and Rene Ritchie to talk all things BlackBerry 10 app related. 

We spoke for over an hour. All was great. We talked about his role and the structure of the Dev Rel team at BlackBerry. We talked about the upcoming BlackBerry Live and BlackBerry Jam Americas event coming up next Orlando in May. And from there, Alec fielded a bunch of questions that we asked on behalf of CrackBerry readers. 

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BlackBerry has reimagined their developer certification program in a new format called BlackBerry Builder. Developers can become certified for either web or native app development by completing an exam which ensures they're familiar with the documentation and know how to put those resources to good use.

What does anyone get out of this certification? For now, the only thing is access to an exclusive job board where employers can access pre-screened, certified BlackBerry developers, though more perks are being planned.  

One can expect that becoming a BlackBerry Builder will help getting Built for BlackBerry designation in BlackBerry World. 

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While AT&T has rolled out OS 10.0.10.822 (software version 10.0.10.116) officially, if you happen to have a Euro BlackBerry Z10 (STL100-2) you too can now have the update, provided you don't mind loading a leaked OS onto your device. Unfortunately, it will require a Windows PC to install but if you're willing to give it a go, you can hit the link below to grab the installer. If it goes downhill, remember you can always wipe and restore your device.

It's been suggested the file will work on other devices, such as the STL100-3 and STL100-4 but for now, if you decide to give that a go, you do so at your own risk. As always - use caution when installing a leaked OS like this and remember if you break your phone it's not our fault. Also, a good idea to make a backup because you're essentially performing a factory restore on your device. If you don't want to lose data, a backup is needed.

Download the leaked OS 10.0.10.822

The speculation is on about just what new features will be included in OS 10.1 upon release. We've already seen some of the updates geared toward the upcoming BlackBerry Q10, but aside from that don't know much else.

BBnews.pl has posted up some new info with a few features that could make their way into the OS update. Among them are an improved camera complete with HDR functions, PIN messaging and viewing files on a PC from your device using BlackBerry Link. Not a lot to go on for any of these but still very intriguing.

Now we can't say for certain if we'll see any or all of these features included in the update but it's a good possibility at this point.

You can expect many more features to sneak their way into 10.1 as well and we'll most certainly let you know if we find out more.

Lots of BlackBerry Z10 users here in the US are settling in nicely but are always on the lookout for an OS update. We just got word that AT&T is rolling out a new one today that should make for some happy Z10 owners. The update brings us up to OS version 10.0.10.822 (software release 10.0.10.116).

There are a few notes of what's changed such as battery life improvements and support for third-party apps. We can also hope that it fixes a few of the bigger issues like the random reboots that some users have been experiencing. 

If you're on AT&T you should see the update available, but if not go to Settings > Software Updates to check manually. No word on other carriers dropping this OS yet but if you see it pop up be sure to let us know in the comments and we'll update this post as we go.

Now get to it!!

Discuss more in the CrackBerry forums

One big item on my short list of gripes for BlackBerry 10 is the lack of alarm settings. On most devices I've used you have the option to set more than one alarm rather than just the one that is allowed on BlackBerry 10. I keep an odd schedule some days, so being able to set multiple alarms is a key feature to me - something that can't be achieved right now on BlackBerry 10 without a third-party app (or using the calendar).

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While we've already seen the BlackBerry R-Series device one before (albeit a bit blurry) a new image have surfaced that gives us a much better look at the unreleased device. The R-Series is said to be a mid-range device (a BlackBerry 10 Curve) that is rumored to be released later this year.

As you can see, the device carriers over the spaced out Curve-style buttons and has a screen size similar to that of the BlackBerry Q10. 

Not too many details to go along with this one, but we expect to see more in the months ahead as other BlackBerry 10 devices go into production. 

Hit the forums for more discussion.

Discuss more in the CrackBerry forums