On start of march Amazon announced availability of Kindle client for Blackberry smart phones. Initially Kindle for Blackberry is only available to U.S. customers, which comes as a surprise, as Kindle itself is now available globally…  So, if you are from US, you can download Kindle for BB directly here: www.amazon.com/kindlebb, but if you are OUTSIDE US – follow the steps below:

So how to download Kindle for Blackberry outside USA? Don’t worry. It is simple and won’t take more than 5 minutes.

1. Download the Kindle application here. If the link is no longer working try our own mirror here.

2. Since application you just downloaded comes in .COD file form, you need a way to install (push) it to your blackberry device. Download and install free windows utility BBSAK (Blackberry Swiss Army Knife - you can download it from RIMGeeks.com).

3. Connect your Blackberry to the PC via cable, run the BBSAK (optionally you will be prompted for a password).

4. Select “Install COD”, and point to the (previously unzipped from Kindle.zip) kindle.cod file.

After approximately half a minute, BBSAK will report success, and you will be able to find your Kindle for Blackberry app on your Blackberry in your Download folder. You can run it, enter your amazon’s username + pass, and voila! Application works, and it will show all the e-books in your kindle account. You can also buy additional e-books, or …

How to import other e-books to Kindle for Blackberry?

If you don’t want to buy e-books, feel free to download free ebooks here (click on 11,000 free eBooks tab).

Alternatively you can visit www.freekindlebooks.org to download 1000s of free, classic books.

With e-books downloaded from both sources (.mobi ebooks work on Kindle for Blackberry), save them to Blackberry’s memory card in the /kindle/eBooks/ folder. Open the Kindle app (Close & reopen if it's already running) and you should see all your books + new ones.

This will in no way void your Amazon’s account, as you can still purchase books from Amazon through the Kindle for Blackberry as well. Also, you can still sign in to download any books that you've previously purchased for the Kindle.

How to buy cheap e-books limited to Amazon’s U.S. audience from anywhere in the world?

And a little advice for non-US book lovers… Go to your amazon’s profile, and change your country to US (any state). Kindle store will now give you access to New York Times bestsellers for $9.99, months ahead of their international availability (at higher price)… I guess as long as we buy and pay, nobody cares for digital migrations… Happy reading!

UPDATE: Since Blackberry for Kindle is only available to US, you do not have to change your Country in account profile to access New York Times Bestsellers in kindle store! So, now we know why app is limited to US. Probably they need few more weeks to release extended app, that will show/hide certain modules in regard to user’s home country…

Ahh, last week I finally got the Bold 9700! And while I want to play around with it a bit before posting review, checking the new OS5 features we already mentioned… Anyhow, before I used Desktop Manager to “change device” to new Bold, I wanted to make a full backup of my Bold 9000 in case I needed to go back/just to have a full backup handy. Normally when you do a backup all the data is backed, but this is not the case with 3rd party applications…

So, if you are like me, you probably have many 3rd party applications installed, and it is a few hours work to find/reinstall them again (especially if you bought some of them, in which case, you have to first find that email with user data/serial/download link etc)… Anyhow, a full backup with all 3rd party apps is the solutions. But how to do it?

Well, it is simple. First make sure you have the latest Desktop Manager installed, as this method only works with Desktop manager 4.7 and higher. Besides – if you have Desktop manager prior to 5.x you are missing out, as Desktop manager 5 is faster!

1) Plug in device>Open Desktop Manager>Device Switch Wizard

2) Device Switch Wizard>BlackBerry devices

3) Make sure ONLY 3rd Party Applications is checked>Select Next

4) Desktop Manager will back up 3rd party apps, when finished DO NOT select Next or Cancel!!!

5) Search your computer Files & Folders and DEFINITELY make sure to search HIDDEN FILES & FOLDERS for a folder with the same name as your PIN and a .alx file.

6) Move both the folder and .alx file to an easy a accessible place you remember.

7) Go back to the Desktop Manager and cancel the process.

More on How to do a complete backup of blackberry with all the applications and stuff?

It is no secret that RIM is working on a new browser. Although current RIM browser (that is with us since Bold OS v4 release) is way faster compared to older version, but still leaves a lot to be desired, when comparing to competing browsers like Opera Mini…

We just heard from our RIM source, that next browser in blackberry phones (OS 5) will be extremely advanced compared to current one. Among new features the main attraction will be – guess what – full support for Adobe Flash and Microsoft Silverlight. This means that (if not delayed) RIM’s browser will be first mobile phone browser to support adobe’s full version of flash (it is not flash light). Importance of Silverlight is still marginal, as user base is not big, but it is growing, and we expect MS will push in with Win7 so it is no harm to have it in our browsers on Blackberrys. Among other improvements will be speed, as RIM promises we should see at least 2x improvement on average page loading time.

The biggest question remains – when will we see this extended browser? From what we’ve been told, this might take a while, as flash/silverlight processing requires a lot of computing power, and higher bandwidth. So it is safe to say that while sufficient computational power will be present in upcoming blackberry models (9700 etc), the data throughput of HSPA and HSDPA might just not be enough. Maybe in Europe where 3G and 3.5G networks are more frequent, but in States… well, we remain skeptical.

Our best guess – next summer…

In related news, Opera Mini 5 beta was released today, and this is a major news, because this is first time, that Opera produced a native version for Blackberry. Opera, which is leading mobile browser (it has over 25,4% of global mobile browser market share), wishes to give Blackberry users even better experience, including better integration with mail and copy-paste functions. Opera 5 Mini also brings concept of tabs to mobiles, and it really looks great, and is fast as lightning! Browser looks and feels less a mobile browser and more desktop computer browser! Speed of loading pages is on the level of Opera 4 Mini – with minor improvements. This still means 3-5 times (!!) faster than RIM browser.

Few days ago I was upgrading my Bold's firmware to latest version and while I was preparing for upgrade, I noticed that RIM's Desktop Manager was also updated to next major version - v5.

As you might remember, there were times (with Desktop Manager 3.x) when synchronizing with Outlook (calendar, contacts, tasks) was fast. Oh yes, fast! My first contact with desktop manager and blackberry (after i was using Sony-Ericsson's P900 for few years and syncing data with outlook there), was: "WHOA- something is not working, this was done too fast"…

Then RIM managed to reaaaaaallly slow down the sync process in Desktop Manager 4.x, but guess what surprise RIM had in store for its Desktop Manager 5 users? Outlook synchronization is FAST again. Now it is done within 20 seconds (vs. v4 which stumbled for more than 1,5 minutes with my 1200 contacts, and 100+ calendar dates, and many tasks…)… Good work RIM! Now please just repeat this pleasant surprise with OS5 firmware for our blackberries…

Btw… i just read that RIM finally announced to release MAC version of Desktop Manager software suite in Q3 this year! Hooray!

Yes, we all had our Blackberry’s die out on us. Specifically, radio turned off due to low battery. What to do? Run home and find a charger. Or better – if you are luck owner of Bold and older models of Blackberry’s which had regular USB port, you can find any computer/laptop and chances are there will also be a standard USB cable, and you can charge your BB there. It still requires a trick to charge blackberry without installing desktop manager and driver suite… But sometimes you are away from computers and civilization, but you need to make one important call. I know I had gone ballistics from time to time, when I just needed ten seconds of phone conversation but my Blackberry denied that to me… But don’t fear, we have a solution how to force turn on blackberry’s radio even when low battery disables it…

Read more on the subject here, where we also mention a program that can help you force turning on the radio… And enjoy our demo video below…

More on Call friends on your Blackberry even when radio turns off due to low battery

In the United States Blackberry Curve had a really successful quarter. Research firm NPD reports that  in the first quarter of 2009 RIM managed to sell more BlackBerry Curve phones, than Apple sold its famous iPhone.

BlackBerry’s are highly prevalent smartphone player in the North American market. Among the five best-selling smartphones are three BlackBerry models. Curve is in number one position, followed by Storm on third and Pearl on fourth!

The Curve's reason for the winning campaign is attributed to selling by big operators like Verizon Wireless (owned by Verizon Communications) and by Vodafone Group. With this, the BlackBerry Curve is available at the subsidized price by four large U.S. operators, while Apple's iPhone is only sold by AT & T.

Blackberry market share thus increased by 15 per cent, while share of iPhone has fallen by 10 percent.  The war in the market of smart phones is far from resolved. Apple is rumored to be preparing a new generation of iPhone, due to release in the coming months. But so is RIM with its new Blackberry smartphone Storm 2…

More on BlackBerry Curve outsells iPhone

The most anticipated blackberry phone of the 2009 was the new Blackberry Storm.  Although the first response was a mixture of positive and negative reviews, we will need to wait a bit more to see whether Storm would stand tall with all the hype surrounding it.  The one drawback when it comes to the new Blackberry Storm is the fact that it does not have the Wi-Fi or even the tri-band HSDPA.  But although phone without Wi-Fi can be accepted, phone without the tri-band is really unacceptable. Or better said – one would work without the other, but both missing? Hmm.  Even without Wi-Fi it can be best managed with the solid data network that it comes along with, and as EDGE is its max data speed, that is just not enough.

Although the start price was $495 with some contract put forth by Vodafone, price is now dropping sharply. Some mobile operators in Europe started to offer Storm as a Blackberry for the young, forming new cheap fixed flat rate monthly packages to accompany it.

But now as Storm arrived to market, and everyone interested got to see it, hype is shifting to new interesting model – Niagara or Blackberry 9630. Although Niagara will not be touch screen, it is a mixture between Bold and Curve. It is smaller than Bold (size and design of Curve) but has all the advanced features of Bold (including 3G, WiFi, better camera)… From first reports we can deduct that build quality will be superb and that 9630 will have the best screen so far in Blackberries (reports talk of great glassy screen that does not look plastic at all). Also keyboard is great and something that is first in blackberry – a great stereo speakers! So playing music while jogging, with gps tracking your path is something that Niagara will offer at last… Niagara is expected to hit the market before summer time (q1/q2)!

More on Blackberry Storm is here, Hype shifts to Niagara 9630

  Could the newest US President Barack Obama be the first to have approved direct access to mobile technology? This is something that is currently discussed regarding Obama’s self-confessed addiction to his own Blackberry. According to Obama, securities of White House will be “prying it out of his hands,” not only as a rule that is applied to all presidents of the United States but also for security reasons.

The reason for President Obama wanting to keep his Blackberry is to keep in touch with the “outside world” that is not part of his presidential business but of his personal life, like those who became part of his life before presidency including colleagues and former students during his days as a professor of law. The Blackberry has GPS features that can track the President’s location from just a few feet away that can also be hacked.

Because of President Obama’s desire to stay in touch with his old-friends, the National Security Agency has just approved a customized smart phone especially made for the President. This smart phone is worth $3,350 and was later called the “Barackberry.” Manufactured by General Dynamics, the smartphone has an exclusive Sectera Edge that is capable of storing top secret conversations and covering assorted documents. Continue reading to see video of Barackberry in action!

More on Obama’s Secure Blackberry Replacement

Company Mformation, which deals with software for managing the mobile devices, has filed a court action against the RIM. The charge states that RIM’s BlackBerry devices infringe two of their patent. Mformation has not reveal the amount for damages…

Research in Motion (RIM) was sued because their BlackBerry devices infringe U.S. patents 6,970,917 and 7,343,408, owned by the Mformation. These patents cover wide aspects of management on mobile devices. RIM has not yet answered on these allegations, but we all remember court action from NTP in 2006, which even jeopardized the sale of BlackBerry devices at that time. At early 2007 RIM ended the agony with settlement of 612,5 million USD. Is RIM in front of new expenses. Will these threaten RIM’s operations in these hard times?

Twitter is one of the most popular online services, and recent traffic boom (just recently twitter reached digg’s market share) proves that. But what option do we have to Twitt on Blackberry?

Some fast googline for “twitter” and “blackberry” reveals TwitterBerry as the most popular choice. TwitterBerry is free, easy mobile aplication for any BlackBerry (it works on most RIM devices from 7000, 8000 series, to Bold and even brand new Storm).

What is really good, is that TwitterBerry allows you to psot updates and follow your friends thru dta network, supporting BlackBerry Internet Browsing Service (BIS-B or BIBS), BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) and even direct TCP data connection (which means it will use WiFi when you are in coverage and connected to SSID), meaning you can stop spending your money on SMSs to update yourself…

TwitterBerry works on BlackBerry OS 4.1.0+ (but if you want TwitPic support, you better update to BlackBerry OS 4.2 and newer). It is a lightweight application, which you can install over the air (OTA), by following instructions on web page of producer, Orangatame Software.

TwitterBerry allows you to update your status, upload picture to TwitPic (just open media viewer, select the picture, and while in full scren mode, select “Send to TwitterBerry”. When TwitterBerry opens, just write the comment under the picture and submit – and you are done!).

With a single click from the BlackBerry home screen, you can input Twitter updates, follow and answer replies… Great feature is a timeline, that lets you view your latest posts and the last public posts of friends you are following.

More on Twitter on Blackberry