Where will the BlackBerry Niagara land?

AT&T and T-Mobile customers have gotten their fix of BlackBerry goodness with the BlackBerry Bold and BlackBerry Curve 8900, respectively, but Verizon Wireless and Sprint subscribers are wondering when they'll get that same kind of QWERTY love. Well, we can't say when it'll happen but it looks like the love will come in the form of the RIM BlackBerry 9630 aka BlackBerry Niagara.

The Boy Genius Report managed to snag an early (not final) version of the dual-mode (CDMA/GSM) BlackBerry 9630 and posted some initial thoughts about the smartphone. In the report, BGR states that it's "probably the best phone we've ever used" in terms of call quality. He also likens the BlackBerry hardware to the BlackBerry Curve 8900 and BlackBerry Bold, with a high-resolution display (480 x 360 pixels) and a QWERTY keyboard that's "just right." The big disappointment? No Wi-Fi.
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Nokia invests in mobile-payment company

Nokia, the world's largest maker of handsets, supports the idea of turning cell phones into credit cards and is putting its money where its mouth is.

On Wednesday, the company announced its minority stake in Obopay, a mobile-payment company that enables people to pay for items from Obopay accounts tied to their mobile phones.

Mobile-banking services are expected to grow quickly over the next few years, especially in the developing world, where many people live in places without adequate access to banks or credit.
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More SmartQ 5 MID details

Last week, we told you about the SmartQ 5 MID (Mobile Internet Device). Few details were available aside from the fact that it will run on the Ubuntu Linux distribution on an ARM processor, has an 800 x 480-pixel touchscreen display and comes with an SD card slot.

Today, we got hold of the full specifications hot off the China-based manufacturer. Here are some key details:

• 1GB storage, 256MB available to user
• 667MHz ARM11 processor
• SD expansion slot (up to 32GB)
• 2,000mAh battery
• 4.3-inch WVGA (800 x 480) display
• USB On-The-Go (OTG)
• Bluetooth 2.0
• 120 x 74 x 14mm; about 160g

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Bsquare bringing Flash to Android phones

Adobe is working on a version of Flash for Google's Android mobile phone operating system, but it turns out it's not the only one.

On Wednesday, embedded software specialist Bsquare plans to detail its work in the area. "Bsquare has been tapped by a global tier 1 carrier to port the Adobe Flash player to the Android platform on more than 100 embedded devices," according to a message sent to reporters about the news.

Flash is a software foundation that's popular for games, video streaming, and other more sophisticated Web site features, but it's mostly a fixture on PCs rather than mobile devices. Apple's iPhone, the technological leader among smartphones by many accounts, doesn't support Flash.

Google Android leader Andy Rubin demonstrated Flash on the T-Mobile G1 Android phone at an Adobe conference in November.

Via CNET News

Apple activates Genius feature for iTunes videos

Apple has switched on its Genius recommendation engine for videos, two weeks after releasing the latest version of iTunes (download for Windows and Mac) without the promised feature.

iLounge spotted the new Genius feature, which recommends movies or television shows you might be interested in purchasing from the iTunes Store based on your current video library. Apple unveiled a similar feature for music last year, but one notable difference with the video version is that it only seems to work with videos that have been purchased from Apple, according to iLounge's early testing.

When iTunes 8.1 shipped earlier this month, the company initially said the video Genius feature would be available in the release notes for that software, but it was not active. At the time, an Apple representative promised the company would activate the feature "in the coming days."

Via CNET News

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