The BBM^TM Music app is out of beta and will be available beginning later today* for BlackBerry® smartphone users** to download from BlackBerry App World^TM. BBM Music is a BBM-connected music service that enables viral music discovery and social interaction, allowing music fans to connect on a whole new level.

BBM Music is a cloud-based service that allows users to enjoy an evolving, community-based music library together with their BBM Music friends. The size of a user’s music library continues to grow as they invite friends to join their community. Each user can select music from a catalog of millions of songs from Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, EMI, IODA: Independent Online Distribution Alliance, VidZone Digital Media and The Orchard.

 Here’s how it works:

• Download  BBM Music from BlackBerry App World, and select 50 songs that will automatically be shared with your BBM Music friends
• The songs that your friends select (as well as the songs you selected) become part of your BBM Music library, thereby significantly increasing the number of songs you can listen to. For example: if you have 25 BBM Music friends, and each has 50 songs, your library could increase to 1,300 songs!
• You can create music playlists comprised of any number of songs from your BBM Music library
• Easily discover music that your BBM Music friends are listening to, and comment on your friends’ songs and playlists
• Songs can be cached, so you can listen to music even when out of wireless coverage, such as when you are on the subway or on a flight
• Each month, you can swap out up to half of the 50 songs you personally selected to explore new music

RIM is releasing BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) v6.0.1.  This new version makes it easier than ever for users to discover and share BBM-connected apps from within BBM.  With BlackBerry Messenger’s active user base now over 50 million, there are even more users to discover and experience BBM-connected apps.

BBM 6.0.1 Key Features:

• Explore BBM-connected Apps – BBM users will now be able to pull up “Explore BBM-connected Apps” from a menu in the BBM Contacts screen, which starts a BlackBerry App World storefront search for “BBM” by redirecting users to a list of up to 25 of the most popular BBM-connected apps available.
• Sharing App Content with Your BBM Contacts is Easier – Users can share app-specific content with BBM contacts regardless of whether the contact has the app installed.
• Include BBM v5.0 users in application invites – Now users can now invite BBM v5.0 & BBM v6.0 contacts to join in the fun and share BBM-connected app experiences.

RIM is pleased to announce an update for Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones. Available today in BlackBerry Beta Zone is Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones v2.1.

Twitter updates include:

-       Additional Profile Functions – The ‘My Profile’ will have two new icons: Edit Profile and Switch Accounts. Now users can use the Edit Profile icon right from the Profile screen to change a picture or update personal information.

-       Multi-Account Support - The new Multiple Account Support feature allows users to have up to five accounts on their Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones app. When logged into multiple accounts, the current user name will appear in the upper-left corner of the header bar and the user picture will appear in the My Profile icon. Users can switch between accounts by using the Switch Account function, accessible from My Profile or via the Menu. Users can also cross-post Tweets and Retweets from one account to another without switching the current account view.

You look at the two comparisons here of the 9980 and 9900 and you may either love the design of the 9980 or hate it.  I would love to hear your thoughts below.

<image via pocketberry>

It's been a long time since I have had a BlackBerry in my hand that I really liked. I felt like all of the ones that were released here recently from RIM have been straight old and outdated regardless of their release date.  So now RIM has dropped three new ones on us with the highly touted BlackBerry OS 7. I played with the BlackBerry 9930 for Verizon Wireless. So did this new BlackBerry excite me? Is it worth me using as my everyday device?  Let's see.

Simply put yes! And a big one!  This device looks and feels beautiful.  Now, I have to use this disclaimer. I had been fed up with my Thunderbolt I was using. The battery life was driving me crazy and costing me money, so the timing for this new BlackBerry could not have been better.  I was searching for alternatives.

So I pull this beauty out of the box, and I was impressed from jump street. 

This is a nice step up from some of the older devices. It looks the same as their other devices, so don't look for that to be different.  However, the speed is definitely what you will notice. The 9930 packs a 1.2 GHz, single core (hi T-Mobile) processor, 768 MB of RAM, 8GB of onboard storage, Bluetooth and WiFi. 

The screen is quite impressive with a crystal clear 640 x 480 LCD display with a 2.8 inch screen. That was a huge question for me.  I was at a 4.3 screen with the Thunderbolt, so could I take the huge drop down to 2.8? So far it hasn't bothered me especially using my Playbook for most of my apps anyway.

The speed of the device is almost shocking. I fly through the screens with no lag. In fact, I have been looking for lag and have yet to find it. 

It's a 5-megapixel camera capable of 720p  HD video capture. It's not great by any means but does the job. The shots aren't horrible but in comparison to my Thunderbolt it does fall short.

After using this for a few days, I have to say that I'm not as impressed with battery life as I should be. The old BlackBerry devices had some pretty lengthy life, so I was a little surprised I could not get more out of this. I am a power user and it did last about a day, but even still I really can't complain. My Thunderbolt got me till about 2:00 pm, and then it would need a charge. Not a good business phone.

Pros

1. Great email and notification system. This is a no-brainer here because that's what BlackBerry is known for.  
2. Speed — This bad boy flies
3. The look. This is an impressive looking device that doesn't look or feel cheap.

Cons

1. Battery life is ok. Not great. Sure this is an upgrade from my HTC Thunderbolt but everything would be. 
2. Call quality is not so great at least on my device. Clients and friends are telling me that I sound very static like. Not good for a business phone but I will get a Bluetooth to try this.
3. OS 7 doesn't do much for me but it's fine until QNX based phones.

Definitely, a good phone for the BlackBerry enthusiasts but may not be enough to woo new customers.

·         BlackBerry Bold 9900 Series: The Bold 9900 and 9930 are the thinnest BlackBerry smartphones ever, and the first Bold devices to combine the iconic BlackBerry QWERTY keyboard with a brilliant touch display, as well as the first BlackBerry smartphones to include built-in support for NFC.

·         BlackBerry Torch 9810: The faster and more fluid new BlackBerry Torch 9810 builds on the popular design of the BlackBerry Torch 9800, featuring a large 3.2”, high resolution touch display and a distinctive BlackBerry slide-out keyboard.

·         BlackBerry Torch 9850 and 9860: The new all-touch BlackBerry Torch 9850 and 9860 features a 3.7” display, the largest ever on a BlackBerry smartphone, making it fully optimized for displaying photos, videos, and powerful gaming experiences.

Find Out Great Offers for BlackBerry® PlayBook™!

 No wonder that the demand for BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet still continue to rise! With its multifunction features and ultra portable high end design, it provides great consumer satisfaction. Meanwhile, RIM has no plans on discontinuing it (despite the rumors on QNX smartphones overthrowing the 7-inch BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet development). On its first quarter of release, it already sold half million units (half sold to end users and half in distribution channels), which is on top of analyst’s expectation range of only 450-500 thousand units.

There are more than (20) twenty thousand retail outlets in the US and Canada, and more launching every week in new countries. If you still do not have one, you may grab some of the great deals offered online, with their stocks availability is really thinning. Take a look and compare between the gathered prices and seller rating data between stores below:

.  

 A fast and fun way to handle missed calls is through YouMail, another must have app for your BlackBerry!

Youmail is a Visual Voicemail that is fast and time saver with its point click and play or delete function. It automatically greets callers by name and you can see  caller names with photos (not just their number). It is very social since you can post it to your facebook and twitter accounts too. It is a free application especially for the curve, bold or torch BlackBerry.

For the BlackBerry client, YouMail has been quietly updated several times. The version 2.3.4  offers mobile access to number search and greetings to extend YouMail BlackBerry user experience to a higher level.  These 2 features lets the Blackberry users  to “caller search” menu option to search more info and the in-app community greetings with to let you know family and friends you’re at.

While the latest release last July 4, 2011, the YouMail Visual Voicemail Plus version 2.4.11 is still to free to download. When you download it, you get access to http: http://www.youmail.com and there you can set up personal greetings that will only be heard by specific persons in your contacts like specific family, friends or workmates, play and use prerecorded greetings from other YouMailers; block specific contacts; connect to your social networking sites so that your friend’s photo shows up when they leave messages or comments.

YouMail is free and ad supported. If you do not want to see ads, there are paying versions. It works by replacing your wireless carrier’s existing voicemail service, and takes only few minutes to sign up and configure. YouMail requires 4.2.0 or higher device software, US is yet the only supported country with carriers like AT&T, AllTel, Nextel,RIM, Sprint,T-Mobile, USCC, and Verizon Wireless.

YouMail for BlackBerry

BlackBerry Travel 1.1 has been released today in BlackBerry App World, introducing global rental car booking, and a world clock feature allowing users to track the time across multiple locations and time zones. BlackBerry Travel now also supports hotel and rental car booking in over 20 currencies.