Top Blackberry NewsKeeping you up to date with all the latest Blackberry News!

After months of waiting, rumored dates, delays, and more dates, it looks like we finally have a hard date for the release of the ATT BlackBerry Bold. ATT says they will release the BlackBerry Bold on November 4, 2008. The BB Bold will set you back 299 with a two year contract. That’s 100 more than the iPhone and the G1. …

Al @ CIO did a review of a cool new tool that I heard about a week ago. BoxTone has beefed up its MyBoxTone Insight application to be more of an enterprise troubleshooting tool. It lets mobile users troubleshoot their own devices with a proactive monitor of their BlackBerry. It also lets users send screenshots and diagnostic information to their helpdesk whether they are on BIS or BES. The solution is set to go on sale on November 10th for $2,000 for 200 seats with extra 100 seat bundles for $1,000 each. The only small catch is that the screenshot functionality requires OS 4.3+ but everything else is fine with OS 4.2+.

Al did a pretty good preview on CIO.com if you want to read more about the solution. We will let you know when it launches.

Verizon threw a launch party for the Storm yesterday out in LA. Nothing really interesting since it was more of a concert with the Foo Fighters and Queens of the Stone Age. The VIP guests had more Storms to play with but the regular Joe’s just had a few on the main floor. It seems like more people were there for a free concert rather than a launch. Especially considering the fact that the phone did not actually launch at the event and unlike AT&T events the attendees did not get a free device or even a promise of a free device.

What I really can’t get over is why RIM insists on having BlackBerry themed drinks at all of these events. When I went to the 8800 launch party the blue drink made me want to hurl.

Check out the details at The BoyGenius or BlackBerryNews 

Thanks everybody for sending this one in!

Fabian again hooked us up with a great coupon (200 uses) for SaveNumberAs. You may remember this application since it spawned from one of our successful DreamBerrys. It allows you to simply save a number from your phone log to a field other than the work field. SaveNumberAs is a simple and now cheap fix for this annoying oversight by RIM. For today (10/30/2008) only the first 200 people who purchase SaveNumberAs from the store using the instructions below will get it for only $0.95. That is a steal compared to the regular $2.95 price.

NOTE: The coupon is limited to the first 200 people who use it today so act fast!

You can pick up SaveNumberAs for 95 Cents today by following these instructions:

• Go to the SaveNumberAs product page in the store
• Add SaveNumberAs to your cart
• Click the checkout button on the top right of the page
• Enter in the promotion code savenow and you will see the discounted price
• Complete the checkout and you are done!

Thanks Fabian for making this all possible. Check out Fabians other great applications at this link.

From the description:

SaveNumberAs is an application that adds a simple feature to your device:
Normally, when you receive a call from a number you don’t have in your Contacts-List and want to add it to your Addressbook then you select the entry in the Call Log, click Menu and then click ‘Add to Contacts’. Then the number will be added to your Addressbook but it is initially set as a Work-Number. Not all the calls you get are from Work-Numbers.

Now you have the ability to add it to and number of the contact. This application adds an own Menu Item to the Call Log named ‘Save Number as…’. When you click that Menu you are prompted which field you want to save the number to (Work, Home, Mobile).

It is a tiny utility that makes the use of your favourite device even better. It does not have an Icon and only takes 4kb of RAM.

Eric sent over this press release from Vlingo announcing the launch of version 2.0 of their product. I have not had a chance to try it myself but this newer version look extremely promising! The new 2.0 version adds the ability to speak Facebook and Twitter status updates, support for 10 new applications, full-text message read-back, “tell-a-friend” and SureType support.

The new version of vlingo includes the following additions:

• Voice updates to Facebook & Twitter status updates
• Full keyboard support including SureType
• Read-back of the full text or email message that was spoken
• Tell A Friend about Vlingo
• The ability to launch built-in programs:
• Address Book, Alarm, BrickBreaker, Calculator, Calendar, Camera, Maps, Media, MemoPad, Messages, Options, Tasks, & Web browser
• The ability to launch third party programs:
• Facebook, Google Maps, & Opera

Vlingo is available for the 8100, 8300, & 8800 series at this link for OTA install www.vlingo.com/v2 or you can head to www.vlingo.com from your desktop.

Josep just let me know that Google has updated the Maps application to version 2.3.2 from the previous 2.3.1. The last version added street view so I wonder what came in this latest update.

Sadly there is no change log yet from Google but hopefully we will be able to spot the changes.

Pick up the latest version at www.google.com/gmm

The wait is over for those lucky 10 that are about to get their Berry’s unlocked for free thanks to a very generous Steve from www.horizonwirelessonline.com.

Why would you want to unlock your Blackberry, you may ask? By unlocking you BB, you can use any carrier that uses SIM or GSM technology, therefore your BB is not married to just one carrier. Or if you happen to travel, you can always purchase SIM cards or pay as you go while overseas, which is a lot less expensive. Most carriers don’t like to do this because it means one less grip they have on you, and if they do, some can take forever. So if you ever need to unlock your device, the guys at www.horizonwirelessonline.com will be glad to help you out.

Now for the 10 lucky participants that will get their phones unlocked, please step forward.

Raptor464, Ernie Higginson, Tashanna, Davy, Dave, Marc de Montigny, rNdy, Brant, Jeff Bishop, Nikolaus.

Congratulations to you all, and we will be contacting you by email and let you know how to claim your prize so you can jail break your Berries.

We have been mentioning a few tools for advanced users over the last few days. I think it is important to shine a light on these great applications that simplify tasks that used to be time consuming. We mentioned CrackMem before but never in its own post. It lets you choose what OS to install to your device while letting you completely customize the BlackBerry ALX file that you used to have to edit by hand.

CrackMem lets you easily:

• Remove the vendor.xml
• Remove the sample video and/or preloaded wallpapers
• Remove Voice Activated dialing
• Remove carrier themes
• Remove TTY
• Remove Yahoo, MSN, or AIM
• Remove MyFaves
• Remove Push To Talk

I wanted to thank Pete and his hard working team for all their hard work while creating and improving this app!

The best part is that it is completely free. Just check out its thread on CrackBerry or BBForums for more info.

The good guys at Viigo let me know that they have added NBA information to the sports section of Project Tango. It adds live scores, schedules, and standings for the upcoming season along with some good news sites. They even added a cool feature allowing you to add scheduled games to your calendar to remind you to watch them.

If you don’t already have it you can pick up the latest BerryReview Viigo Project Tango Edition at: Desktop Install | BlackBerry OTA Install

If you already have it just head to the sports button on the main screen and click the add button. You then select Basketball and then select the feeds you wish to subscribe to.

I came across this interesting knowledge base article RIM posted a bit back. In it somebody at RIM describes how to transcode video from an unsupported format to a format that will play on your BlackBerry. It is actually a pretty decent guide but one part of it really stuck out. Guess what software RIM recommends for transcoding video?

They recommend the very powerful opensource MediaCoder application. They also recommend that you use the free GSpot or Sherlock codec information applications to see what kind of file you are dealing with. They even recommend the free command line MEncoder application.

Kudos to RIM for being so open minded!

At the end of the knowledge base RIM’s lawyers have fun with some classic CYA:

Your use of third party software, hardware, products, and/or services (collectively, the “Third Party Information”) shall be governed by and subject to your agreement with the third party, including without limitation, your agreement to the terms of separate Third Party Information licenses, if any. Any Third Party Information that is provided with or without RIM’s products and/or services is provided “as is”. RIM makes no representation, warranty or guarantee whatsoever in relation to the Third Party Information and RIM assumes no liability whatsoever in relation to the Third Party Information even if RIM has been advised of the possibility of such damages or can anticipate such damages. The inclusion of Third-Party Information herein does not imply endorsement by RIM of the Third Party Information or the third party in any way. RIM does not control and is not responsible for any Third Party Information or the use of such Third Party Information, including without limitation, the content, accuracy, intellectual property issues, compatibility, performance, trustworthiness, legality, decency, links, or any other aspect of the Third Party Information.