UPDATE This contest has been extended till tomorrow night, November 1st at 11:59PM. *

Although fairly new in the world of BlackBerry theme development, Cocky Culture has made their mark with their artistic and unique BlackBerry theme designs. As part of the BBRocks! birthday celebration, Tony from Cocky Culture has provided me with 40 free copies of his latest m[i]Berry BlackBerry theme.

Do you like the iPhone layout but don’t want your BlackBerry to look like an iPhone? This is the theme for you! This exciting theme has a lot of the sleek goodness of the iPhone/iPod layout but uses custom icons and additional aesthetic tweaks to set your BlackBerry apart!

Features:

• Custom “iPhone style” icons!
• Wallpaper Friendly
• Slide Screen (one to show off your Wallpaper and one with 12 customizable icons) not available for the Curve 83xx
• Customizable Homescreen icon layout
• OS .151+ compatible (Storm)
• Battery Pull Required

m[i]Berry is available in the store for $4.95 for various BlackBerry devices.

CONTEST: For a chance to win 1 of 40 free copies of the m[i]Berry BlackBerry theme leave a comment on this post using a valid email address. Only leave one comment, duplicates will be ignored and will not increase your chances of winning. This contest will end at 12AM EST on Sunday, November 1st. Comments left after this time will not be considered. *

Note: You can find, purchase and download thousands of BlackBerry themes (including Cocky Culture themes) in the BBRocks! Mobile App Store, downloadable at bbappstore.com.

Earlier this morning Vodafone and RIM announced the availability of the BlackBerry Storm2. Vodafone UK has updated their site to allow pre-ordering of the Storm2. Those who pre-order the Storm can expect to receive theirs on October 26th.

According to an article by guardian.co.uk, the Storm2 will be exclusively available through Vodafone for only a few weeks.

Vodafone will have the handset as an exclusive in the UK, but only for a few weeks. RIM is understood to have demanded that the device be available to other operators after Vodafone joined Orange in successfully ending O2’s exclusive two-year deal with Apple for the iPhone in the UK.

It is unclear whether any of the other UK operators will be stocking the Storm 2 in time for Christmas, but by the start of next year – when Vodafone will finally be able to start shipping the iPhone – it is expected to be available on at least one other network, most probably Orange, which will also start selling the iPhone within the next few weeks.

The Storm 2 will be launched by Vodafone in Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain, the UK, France, Italy and South Africa, and Canadian handset maker RIM is hoping that it will get a more positive critical reaction than the first version, which went on sale last November.

If you’d like to pre-order the Storm2 you can find it on Vodafone UK’s site, or for more info check out the press release that was posted earlier today. The Storm2 features and specifications can also be found here.

Just got some fresh photos of a Verizon BlackBerry Storm2 dummy unit thanks to @Ackee_!

A few days ago I posted some promo flyers showing the Storm2 as being part of a buy-one-get-one free deal. At that time I said “I wouldn’t be surprised if it launched within a few days,” and it looks like I may have been onto something because, according to an article by the New York Times, Verizon and RIM might be launching the Storm2 this week!

This week, Verizon and R.I.M. are trying again with a Storm do-over, the Storm 2. Among its many improvements, the new phone gives the user the sensation of pushing a physical button when pressing a number on the glass touch screen.

Lowell C. McAdam, the chief executive of Verizon Wireless, has been carrying the revamped device for a few weeks, looking for any evidence that this time it will catch on. Mr. McAdam said that while he was recently visiting the Verizon store in New York’s SoHo district, he started talking to a couple of students from New York University who were shopping for cellphones.

“I let them play with the second-generation Storm device,” he said. “They came back and said ‘Oh, my gosh.’ They were very excited. This is what they hoped the original Storm should be.”

Vodafone Germany has the Storm 9520 listed as coming soon and Vodafone UK might also be launching the Storm2 this week, and since  Best Buy is already getting accessories for it, a launch some time this week is definitely a possibility! Let’s not hold our breath though…

I’ve included a shot of the Storm2 dummy unit from behind after the jump. Let me know what you think in the comments!

CONTINUE READING »

For those of you wondering how BlackBerry is doing in the handset race against the iPhone, here are some statistics to wrap your head around:

It’s not all about the iPhone, at least within one of the world’s fastest growing mobile consumer markets, Indonesia. Today, InMobi, the largest mobile ad network in Asia, Africa and Indonesia, released data showing that RIM’s Blackberry device may be leading the handset race in Indonesia. From January 2009 to June 2009, mobile ad requests on Blackberry phones increased by 842%, compared to mobile ad requests on Indonesia iPhones, which increased only by 205%*.

You’re probably saying to yourself “Why does it matter how BlackBerry is doing in Indonesia?”. In case you don’t already know, Indonesia’s mobile market is pretty big.

Indonesia is predicted to be the third largest mobile market after China and India by 2010 according to the ROA Group. Already, mobile users in Indonesia far outnumber active Internet users by 5 to 1, and the country boasts a 56.8% mobile penetration rate verses a 10.4% according to Internet World Stats.

As if we needed proof that BlackBerry rocks . For more info about InMobi’s data check out the press release after the jump.

CONTINUE READING »

mSpot has launched a new Mobile Movies site where users will be able to buy and stream movies directly to their BlackBerry (and other smartphones).

mSpot Mobile Movies lets you watch a movie on your cell phone instantly when you want, where you want! We partner with major Hollywood studios to bring movie hits to your phone for a premium, on-demand mobile experience.

• Mobile Movies works on 30+ different phones (incl. iPhone, Blackberry, Android and more)
• Watch movie trailers for free
• Rent single full-length movies for only $4.99
• Up to 4 movies for $9.99 when you join the Movie Club
• Not all movies are available in the Movie Club.

To watch mSpot Mobile Movies on your BlackBerry visit m.mspot.com through your BlackBerry Browser. Once there you can use a credit card to watch individual movies or join the Movie Club for their subscription service. Rental time ranges from 24 hours to 5 days depending on the movie, which is pretty standard for movie rentals. For more info visit mSpot.com.

If you try this out let me know what you think about the overall quality of the movies and service in the comments!

via TechCrunch

@salomondrin has put together yet another video of the BlackBerry Storm 2 (9520), this time showing us that he can supposedly shut off the clicking noise to “make it look like an iPhone”.

The last video @salomondrin made (which has now been removed) showed the Storm 2 with the clicking enabled, and at the time it was very distinct.

So the question is…feature or bug? If it happens to be a bug, would you like the option to turn off the clicking sound as a feature? Let me know in the comments!

Over the weekend @salomondrin made a video of the BlackBerry Storm 9550 where he goes over the hardware.

Here is what is covered in this video:

• BlackBerry Storm 2 compared to the Storm 1
• Button comparison
• Touchscreen comparison
• Storm 2 coming in 2 versions:
  • CDMA (Verizon)
  • GSM (AT&T)
• The Storm 2 is the 9520 (GSM version)
• Storm 2 will have WiFi
• Biggest improvement is the screen
• Explanation of Storm screen technology compared to iPhone
• Screen becomes solid while off, allowing to movement (Piezo technology)
• Storm 2 screen technology has huge advatage over the iPhone’s screen technology
• Storm 2 has multi-touch
• Explanation of Piezo technology
  • No electricity = solid screen, not usable
  • Electricity = usable screen
• Storm 2 is better than iPhone for texting/typing

Great video and extremely detailed. Let me know what you think in the comments!

This one totally snuck by me last week.

CrackBerry Kevin let us know about a video evaluation put together by equity analyst Chris Umiastowski in regards to how BlackBerry is doing compared to Apple with its core features. Here are some things from the video that Kevin pointed out:

• RIM acknowledges it needs to improve panning and zooming within the web browser and that the issue is an on-device one – it has nothing to do with connecting through the NOC. The key issue is memory management (not enough device RAM). RIM says it’s a fixable problem and expects to have a browser on par with the iPhone’s Safari browser by next summer.
• Javascript support will be enabled by default within the web browser this fall. Currently it ships with the JS support setting disabled (enabling JS support tends to slow things down… remember my Bold’s Buggered browsers post which was written nearly a year ago?).
• And very interestingly, RIM gave a reason as to why WiFi on a BlackBerry can often be very slow (not any quicker than using Edge/3G). Apparently RIM has diagnosed the culprit and it has to do with being too conservative on BlackBerry battery management in that the device puts the WiFi radio to sleep too often. Not many details are given here (other than devices being released in upcoming launches should hopefully have much faster WiFi transfer rates) but it’s quite possible that if you’re using your WiFi browser at the same time that you’re connected to Edge/3G but your device doesn’t seem to be browsing any faster than if WiFi was turned off, that well, WiFi may actually be asleep and you are actually on Edge/3G.

I think RIM is definitely making some smart moves with its BlackBerry development. What do you guys think?

via TD Securities & CrackBerry

Artem from Gemblock is at it again with his great iBerry themes, this time for the BlackBerry Tour 9630!

The iBerry themes help give your BlackBerry an iPhone-like look. In the Today plus version the Messages and Calendar items are fixed, but the bottom docks are customizable in both.

• Download/Info:
  • Free iBerry Bottom Dock Theme – BlackBerry Tour 96xx
  • Free iBerry Today Plus Theme – BlackBerry Tour 96xx
• How To: Install applications and themes via OTA with or without using data

A few weeks ago I posted about the Hybrid Pro theme being available for the BlackBerry Storm. @Zachriel360 was nice enough to create a Curve 8900 version, available exclusively through BlackBerry Rocks!

This theme is called Hybrid Pro because it incorporates iPhone-esque icons, Android meters, and the HTC clock all with the power of the BlackBerry behind it . In addition, the Curve 8900 version has an animated homescreen where the bottom dock auto hides/unhides when scrolling over it, and the homescreen icons are customizable.

In this theme, the first row in the applications screen is your bottom dock in the homescreen, and the first two icons from the second row are the top two icons in the homescreen.

To download this theme to your Curve 8900 click here from your BlackBerry Browser. Thanks again @Zachriel360!

Note: By default this theme does not come with a background because, besides saving on memory, almost any will look great with it. Check out the Storm version for some examples.