BlackBerry announces roll-out of OS10.2

Exactly a week after officially launching it coinciding exclsusively with the Z30, BlackBerry has announced the official roll-out of their latest OS iteration, version 10.2.

The update will come through for users in Europe, Canada, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific, with other countries to follow and will be available for the BlackBerry Z10, Q10 and Q5.

New features included in OS10.2 include:

Priority Hub

BBM Video with Natural Sound

Instant Previews of BBM, SMS and Email from any app 

BlackBerry Keyboard

Copy and Paste Enhancements 

Faster, Easier Sharing 

Lock Screen Notifications

Reply Now 

and

Calendar Enhancements

We've been playing with 10.2 for a few weeks now and absolutely love it. Once you've updated, leave a comment below letting us know your thoughts!

[via BlackBerry Blog]

BlackBerry Messenger now available for iOS and Android, for real

#BBM4all is finally a reality, as anyone with an iPhone or an Android smartphone can head on to their respective app stores and download BlackBerry from BlackBerry Limited (don't be fooled by fake apps on Android, there are many). This is a big day for BlackBerry as it opens its free BBM platform to millions of users in competing platforms (although, no love for Windows Phone). For more info, head on to BBM.com

BlackBerry pens open letter to customers and fans

The past few weeks haven't been kind to BlackBerry whose new smartphone releases have been somewhat overshadowed by talks of acquisition, a delayed attempt at bringing BBM (BlackBerry Messenger) to Android and iOS as well as recent loss of nearly $1 billion due to poor selling Z10 smartphones and the most depressing news of all is that it has no recourse but to lay off 4,500 employees as part of its restructuring. Thorsten Heins and Co. have been rather quiet througout all this, even cancelling a regularly scheduled earnings conference call in order to deal with the issues facing the company. There's an open letter from BlackBerry that's expected to make the rounds in various newspapers today and this is the first time the company is opening up about the issues it faces.

“You can continue to count on BlackBerry,”  is the gist of the letter with BlackBerry pointing out the positives (cash on hand, debt free balance sheet and the aim to cut expensies by 5- per cent." The company says they may be down but they are definitely not out despite what various pundits are saying. Hit jump for the full letter.

Click to read more ...

Rogers announces plans to release the BlackBerry Z30

Sometimes the only thing a company can do is put their tale between their legs and make their clientele happy. Such is the case with the upcoming BlackBerry Z30. After initially declaring that they wouldn't carry it, Rogers has backtracked and announced today that they will indeed launch the device on October 15th coinciding with official Canadian launch (TELUS and Bell have already confirmed their plans to launch it). This comes after intense forum scrutiny from customers claiming Rogers "lacked Canadian pride" and "Didn't know what they customers want". Harsh.

The device is set to cost $699 outright. No word yet on 2-year termed pricing.

Stay tuned for our official review coming shortly.