Blackberry patents: Angled Slider and RIM Multi Touch technology


“The information that Blackberry 9000/9100/9900 devices are coming is old news, as well as the speculation that RIM is working on the next generation of consumer friendly Blackberries.The rumors that RIM Blackberry may soon have it’s own touchscreen interface must be true also. After the iPhone, everyone is working on a some kind of touch interface based device, and RIM would be stupid not to do so as well. Especially for the consumer market, where RIM wants to increase Blackberry presence.However there’s no solid information about new 9000/9100 line Blackberries available yet. And we wanted to get at least some hints on what RIM is up to. So we checked with the US Patent Office, looking for clues. And we found some.The first one, related to some usability improvements for your good old Blackberry, is called “Handheld mobile communication device with movable display/cover member“. It introduces us to an interesting angled Blackberry slider configuration, that may come in handy while typing messages and watching video/TV.The idea here is to be able to use the Blackberry both in standard and angled slider modes, as needed.And in a closed position it could be operated via the touchscreen interface. Which brings us to the second RIM patent application, called “System and method of integrating a touchscreen within an LCD“.It indicates, that RIM may be working on it’s own Multi-touch touchscreen technology.The technology itself is different from capacitive touch used in Apple’s iPhones, and somewhat similar to the touchscreens described in Nokia S60 Touch patents.” Read more here:

Camera free variant of Nokia E51 announced


“Nokia has announced a camera-free variant of the Nokia E51. The E51 is impressively small at 61cc, but still has a full feature set including quad-band GSM with GPRS and EDGE, WCDMA with HSDPA (850 and 2100Mhz), and WiFi. There is also a FM Radio, 2.5mm audio jack and IrDA, USB and Bluetooth for local connectivity. The camera free variant of the E51 will be available in the next few weeks and costs approximately €250 before taxes and subsidies. Read on for more.The camera free variant is clearly aimed at customers who work in industries where there are security regulations banning cameras. This sector may not be as big a market as it once was (cameraphones have become so ubiquitous business rarely ban them unless they really need to), but it still significant.The cost of the original E51, when announced, was 350 Euro before taxes and subsidies. Thus the camera free variant is 100 Euro less at launch (reflecting the lack of the camera and the usual price fall after a product has been on the market for a few months). This makes it one of the cheapest S60 / Symbian phones you can buy. We consider it to be excellent value given the specifications and, assuming you can live without the multimedia software and hardware (as found in Nseries devices), comes highly recommended.The E51 has the usual Eseries support for push email (Mail for Exchange, Nokia Intellisync etc.) and comes with a variety of business software bundled together under the Nokia Office Tools 2.0 branding. They include Nokia Team Suite, In-device Search, Quickoffice, Macromedia PDF reader, Zip manager, File manager and Active Notes.

“From powerful voice capability, such as long battery life (13 days standby) to 3G, WLAN and HSDPA connectivity ensuring quick access to emails and web content, the Nokia E51 has all the features you would expect from an impressive business device. It is simple to use with one-touch keys taking the user directly to, ‘contacts’, ‘email’, ‘calendar’ or ‘home’ – one short press accesses the function and one long press on the key creates a new contact, email or appointment. In addition, the camera-free Nokia E51 features integration with a wide range of business email solutions, including Nokia Intellisync Wireless Email and Mail for Exchange to communicate with Microsoft Exchange Server, and consumer email, all for a streamlined email reading experience with easy access to attachments.” via allaboutsymbian.com

GSM Palm Centro Comes to Europe!

“Palm Europe have announced an unlocked GSM Palm Centro for most European markets. The Centro is currently being shown in black with a note that says it will be available on the 14th of February. It will be sold online for 199 Pound un the UK and 299 Euro (including VAT) in other countries. The Palm Centro runs Palm OS Garnet v5.4.9. It has a 320×320 pixel touchscreen display, Bluetooth v1.2, a 1.3 megapixel digital camera with video capture and 64MB of memory. For memory expansion it has a microSD slot. It has dimensions of 4.22″ (L) x 2.11″ (W) x 0.73″ (D) (107 x 54 x 18.5 mm) and weighs in at 4.2 oz (119g). “We are excited about bringing Centro to Europe. Its small size, which incorporates a full keyboard, making text and email easy, is just one of the reasons that traditional mobile phone users are being persuaded to move to smartphones,” said Roy Bedlow, vice president, Palm EMEA. “People want more functionality from their phones, and Centro delivers all the vital communication and organisation needs without compromising on design.” ” via palminfocenter.com