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TeleNav coming to Telecom Italia and Rogers Wireless soon
Telecom Italia -- aka TIM -- is going to have TeleNav's mobile GPS navigation solution inside some of its handsets soon, according to an announcement that TeleNav, Softec and Telecom Italia at 3GSM today. First off will be TeleNav's solution on RIM Blackberry handsets, which will receive TeleNav's GPS Navigator software. It's all nice to have, say, turn-by-turn voice and on-screen driving directions and addresses -- because the roads and streets of Italy are beautiful but scary to the uninitiated. Canada's Rogers Wireless gets the TeleNav love also, which is good for those up North from where we are at the moment. As soon as it is humanly possible, dealers of TIM (no, that's not an indie movie) and will begin the all-out effort to promote TeleNav GPS Navigator. Softec will provide in-the-field sales support and will ensure anyone who have those pesky in-depth navigation questions sits down to get load of answers from TeleNav's solution. TIM customers using the Blackberry 8707, 8700, 7130 and the Pearl can download the TeleNav software as of now according to TIM, and Rogers customers can get the app directly from Rogers starting March 6th. One caveat -- a Bluetooth GPS receiver will be a requirement for non-GPS enabled RIM handsets, though.Read - Telecom ItaliaRead - Rogers
RIM's new Blackberry 8800 gets worked over
The nasty details on the newer Blackberry 8800 are in the form of a review. Is it a sports car or a gussied-up luxury SUV, though? LAPTOP Review sides with the latter, as RIM's latest offering sports onboard GPS (we knew that) and TeleNav software built right in for an extra $10 per month charge. While you won't mistake this for a Motorola Q or even a Blackberry Pearl, the 8800's 2.4 inch screen, large-capacity battery and looks-to-be-quite-useful QWERTY keyboard are the highlights according to the review -- all of which make the 8800 rather wide -- but still holdable. Just like most of you, we're kinda partial to wider screens instead of taller screens -- that is, unless you read your emails in "portrait" fashion. One downer? The voice quality was a little fuzzy on the incoming side according to the review. Price? $299 from Cingular for this EDGE (but not HSDPA) beauty with a 2 year contract for one of RIM's newest with a feature list as long as your arm.
RIM wins patent battle in Britain
RIM's recent past has been littered with lawsuits from here to, well, there -- all of which have threatened to shut off RIM's proprietary wireless email system for all those crackberry addicts who can't live without it now. It seems that a London Court of Appeals has ruled that RIM has not -- repeat, not -- infringed on an InPro based on how portable computers surf the Internet. That rather vague piece of information on the lawsuit sounds a bit odd to us, but we'll move on. What did the court actually say, you may ask? Well, it concluded that those cherished Blackberry devices were, well, more than just "portable computers that surf the Internet." Duh. Next, please.
RIM's Blackberry 8800c due Feb. 20th from Cingular
Well, we've got it good on a rumor about the impending release of the RIM Blackberry 8800c in a few weeks, and the carrier who'll be pushing and shoving this baby out the door will be none other than Cingular. Are you waiting on that new Blackberry sportin' built-in GPS, microSD, advanced voice activation and a Pearl-like trackball instead of a scrollwheel? A launch party event on February 20th with RIM and Cingular tells us that an official launch is imminent, and the event may clear the air for once in the 8800c rumor mill. We're thinking GPRS and EDGE in this one...and UMA if rumors hold true (even for Cingular, but we're not holding our breath). One last thing to note though -- from initial images, this unit has the retro-smooth rectangle look we are really liking.[Thanks, Sam K.]
Apple and RIM in a fruity collaboration?
Here's another one from the grapevine: an analyst is predicting (read: guessing) that Apple may be partnering with RIM to create some sort of "AppleBerry". The analyst behind this rumor is none other than Peter Misek, who correctly predicted that Intel and RIM would form a partnership last year. Paul Miller over at TUAW's sibling Engadget squeezes the substance out of the rumor: "with the tight control both RIM and Apple keep on their hardware and software, we can't really imagine this as the happiest of unions." Judging by past hardware collaborations (the not-quite-rocking ROKR being the primary example), we have to agree with this sentiment.[Via Engadget]
