[ youtube link for mobile viewing ] On my last day at CES2012, I spied an advertisement while riding the monorail to the Las Vegas Convention Center. Pictured above the heads of my fellow riders was Dotz, so named for the small circular cord identifiers. My thoughts immediately went to the multitude of cables and chargers I have for my various mobile devices. As presented by the...
Matias knows its accessories. The Canadian company makes all sorts of accessories for Smartphones and tablets. At CES2012, CrackBerry got a hands-on look at the Matias One Keyboard for BlackBerry & PC as well as their Folding Keyboard for BlackBerry. Both products performed well; and both products included a free miniRizer to support your BlackBerry while using the keyboards....
[ youtube link for mobile viewing ] Imagine this scenario - it shouldn't be too difficult: you're using your desktop or laptop computer, typing away on your full-sized keyboard when some sort of BlackBerry communication comes through. It might be an email, a Tweet, or even a BBM. You pick up your BlackBerry Smartphone and type out a response on that great, but small keyboard....
In a darkened room at the South Hall of CES 2012, an image springs to life. Gracefully, a sea turtle swims across the wall. A cityscape slowly pans by. A volcano erupts. I'm watching the BlackBerry PlayBook's HD Demo video, but I'm not watching it on the PlayBook itself. Attached to the BlackBerry tablet is a pocket-sized pico projector, the WOWee ONE VUE. Don't let that "...
CES2012 was both exhilarating and exhausting. It was literally bursting with all sorts of new gadgets and gizmos that made my head spin. During the few moments I was able to wander around I stumbled upon a small little booth that turned out to be a whole new line of tablet holders for kids to make playing apps, watching videos, or carrying around their tablet both cute and ergonomic at...
CES 2012 in Las Vegas was great time for all of the Mobile Nations crew and we saw some awesome stuff on the way (or already here) from RIM and some third-party manufacturers. We got to check out loads of cool stuff coming in the PlayBook OS 2.0 update like BlackBerry Remote and native email, calendar and contacts, some sweet new games, spend some hands-on time with OS 7.1, BlackBerry...
[youtube link for mobile viewing] When has this happened to you: you're on vacation or out for the day when suddenly your device runs out of juice. Texting, twittering, and playing games can be a huge drain on your battery. I realized this when I was packing for CES2012 and made the unfortunate mistake of not including a spare battery for my Bold 9900. Call it a senior moment, but...
Going around the convention floor I've been seeing some awesome BlackBerry cases from different manufacturers. What struck my eye though was the unveiling of Trexta's new 2012 line of accessories for the new OS 7 devices and BlackBerry tablet. They are rolling out not one, not two, but five different types of cases for the new Bold 9900/30, Torch 9850/60, and Curve 9350/60/70. These...
Yale Locks and Hardware was on hand at CES to talk about their new series of Real Living Locks. They are available as deadbolts or lever locks, and use Z-Wave or ZigBee technology. Now this is nothing new to me, as I have been using a Schlage LiNK system for several years now. What did impress me quite a bit is that these locks are available with a standard keypad, or a new sleek...
[ youtube link for mobile viewing ] Ford has quite the presence at CES 2012. From the slick Evos concept car to the upcoming Focus Electric (with nice mobile app integration) and 2013 Ford Fusion, Ford has a strong showing (which is impressive, when you consider that the Detroit Auto Show is also this week). In addition to the mobile integration going with the Focus Electric, Ford's...
The bags were packed, hotel keycards dropped off in the lobby, and thousands of miles were flown as the CrackBerry crew - along with majority of our Mobile Nations team - returned home from the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show. The past six days have been great, but I think we're all at least a little glad that it's over. Nearly 2 million square feet and 3,100 exhibitors...
[ youtube link for mobile viewing ] The WOWee line of audio devices is one of those things you have to hear to believe. Even that video up there really doesn't do it justice. The WOWee folks have designed a small box - for lack of a better word - that makes great sounding music. Holding the WOWee in your hand, you don't experience the full joy that is the WOWee ONE. When it's...
[ youtube video link for mobile viewing ] Following up our initial walk through of native email, calendar and contacts on BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2 earlier this week, we followed up with Michael Clewley from the PlayBook team to get some better insight and understanding of exactly how everything is working on PlayBook OS 2 to deliver an uncompromising experience. With native email on...
[ youtube video link for mobile viewing ] I'm seriously pi$$ed I spent $500 on that BlackBerry clock app yesterday as that money really needs to be going into my new car fund so I can pick up some new wheels when the QNX concepts being shown off at CES2012 hit the market. You'll want to definitely watch the video above as Mark from the QNX team walks me through all of the...
[ youtube video link for mobile viewing ] Hey guys, it's Ashley Esqueda, your Mobile Nations Monday Brief delegate. I took a tour of the RIM/BlackBerry booth this week at CES, and I've got some words to share about my experience there. As someone who's pretty skeptical of RIM, I feel oddly positive about 2012 for them. Check out the video so I can explain why!
[ youtube video link for mobile viewing ] The more time I spend at CES 2012 playing with PlayBook OS 2.0 and talking to others who have gone hands-on with it (and I'm talking people here who are not BlackBerry users and are walking away impressed), the more I'm getting really positive again about the future of BlackBerry. Between the awesome implementaton of native email and calendar...
[ youtube video link for mobile viewing ] No, it's not BlackBerry related but it's too freaking cool not to post it! Soon, we shall be living in the world of Minority Report, and this "Smart Window" technology Samsung has at CES 2012 is going to help us get there. Ashley Esqueda checks out what's happening over at the Samsung booth and gives a little demo of the window.
[ youtube video link for mobile viewing ] Everybody knows money goes fast in Vegas. Between the gambling, food, shopping, shows, clubs and more, Vegas will happily take whatever money you have and send you home with empty pockets. But with $500 in your pocket, you can still have a pretty good time in Vegas... or you can be dumb like me and blow that same money with the click of a...
On day 2 of CES2012, Kerri and I hit the convention center looking for some great stuff for you guys. One of those finds is the soon to be released (tentatively February / March 2012) latest generation portable bluetooth speaker by XMI. The X-mini KAI Capsule Speaker is a huge upgrade over prior models as it finally includes Bluetooth support. What caught my attention was the sound. We...
Let's just start this off by saying yes it is real, and no you can't just add it to any device. Now that we got that out of the way let's talk about the amazingness that HzO brought to us here at CES 2012. Walking around the tech floor I saw a display of some devices sitting underneath falling water like it was nothing, people were playing with the units, they were playing music and it...
Michelle let us all know about the update to one of our favorite apps, Poynt. For any that don’t know, Poynt is an all-in-one location-based search application and is one of the favorites for the majority of BlackBerry users. Here at CES, I got to sit down and chat with several members of the Poynt team including CEO Andrew Osis and Jeff Davison, VP Marketing and Communications. It was...
It's the end of Day 4 here at CES and the 1.86 million square feet of exhibit space has left the CrackBerry team exhausted. If the tired looks I saw tonight on the faces of our Mobile Nations family - Android Central, iMore, WebOS Nation, and WPCentral - are any barometer, they're pretty worn out as well. Most of us are leaving Vegas tomorrow for some much-needed rest (though,...
[ youtube video link for mobile viewing ] CES 2012 is quickly coming to a close and while we still have plenty more coverage to pull off of our computers, RIM took the time to go ahead and highlight some of what they feel were the biggest announcements for them during the event. There certainly was quite a few of them as highlighted in the video above and throughout our CES 2012...
I can be rough on my devices. There hasn't been one yet that I haven't dropped, banged, thrown, or smashed in the display with a nail (true story). So as the resident klutz at home I'm always making sure I have a case on hand in case I destroy one. Today going through the convention center at CES 2012, Kerri and I came across a brand new manufacturer of cases for the BlackBerry Bold...
[youtube link for mobile viewing] Alicia and I were in awe here at CES2012, this being our first one and all, and were a bit intimidated (it's not every day you get to meet big celebrities like CrackBerry Kevin). We decided to see if we could have a bit of fun with the folks over at BlackBerry by commandeering the BlackBerry Bold limo. Unbeknownst to our fellow BlackBerry users who...