BlackBerry 10 touch and Qwerty phones will be 720p, RIM says

More » Latest from Crave » Car Tech News » Digital Camera News » Gadget News » Laptop News » Mobile phone News » Software News » Television News » CNET UK Podcast » Latest Reviews » Camera and Camcorder Reviews » Car Tech Reviews » Computer Reviews » Gadget and Gaming Reviews » Mobile Phone Reviews » MP3 and Audio Reviews » TV and Home Cinema Reviews » Site map

BlackBerry-maker RIM has revealed its new year's resolution -- which specifically involves the pixel-count of BlackBerry 10 smart phones that will be emerging at the start of next year.

In a blog post, the ailing firm has divulged the screen resolution of its first touch-only smart phone, as well as standardised screen resolutions for all BlackBerry 10 gadgets beyond that point.

The very first phone running the twice-delayed BlackBerry 10 software, rumoured to be the BlackBerry London, will have an impressively high 1,280x768 resolution -- the same number of pixels as the company's Dev Alpha device that was used to showcase the upcoming operating system earlier this year.

Phones sporting the businessman's choice BlackBerry Qwerty keyboard will have 720x720 displays, while touchscreen-only devices released after the first BlackBerry 10 phone will have 1,280x720 screens.

That means that the first touchscreen-only BlackBerry 10 phone will have a slightly higher resolution than any following gadgets. That might seem like an odd decision, but RIM is trying to make it easier for developers to build BlackBerry 10 apps, by not releasing a slew of phones with different resolutions, something that currently makes Android app development a bit tricky.

RIM even apologises for the higher resolution of the first device, saying that the introductory gadget "has been in the works for quite some time now with lots of supply chain management and manufacturing tooling to bring it to launch."

I'm happy to see that RIM at least has its priorities straight -- getting developers to make decent apps and games is absolutely necessary if BlackBerry 10 is going to compete with Android, iOS and Windows Phone 8 gadgets.

It'll also take great design and hardware of course, and even then the challenge of booting Apple and Google off the top spot may prove simply too massive.

Do you think BlackBerry 10 can possibly succeed? Or will RIM be forced to divide up the business, like a sad clown sharing out cake at a children's party? Let me know in the comments or on our Facebook wall.

More reviews »

Copyright © 2012 CBS Interactive, a CBS Company. All rights reserved.

View the original article here

A Polymer to Protect Phones From Impact

The super-shock-absorbent material called non-Newtonian polymer inspires a lot of don’t-try-this-at-home stunts, like getting whacked in the head with a shovel through a layer of the stuff.

But these materials are also used in protective clothing for skiers and motorcyclists, and – no surprise here – cases for phones.

A company called Tech21 from Britain has been producing protective cases using the polymer D30 for T-Mobile, but in May it spun off its own line.

These materials, also know generically as “rate-dependent materials,” work by having their molecules freeze in place when struck hard, but are pliant when moved gently — just like water, which is a rate-dependent material of a sort. If you lower yourself into a bath there is little resistance. But slap the water hard with the flat of your hand and it will leave your palm stinging.

Tech21 has put D30 in cases for a variety of phones including those from Apple, HTC, Samsung and RIM as well as some tablets and e-readers.

Most of the cases are like the bumpers you see on iPhones, a protective strip of material that surrounds the outer edges. The D30 shows as an orange stripe on the part of the case where the company says a phone is most likely to take a jolt. An upcoming case will also have a D30 pad in the back.

The phone cases range in price from $30 for the Impact Band to $136 for the underwater Submariner case.

When it comes to product stunts, though, you have to hand it to a company called G-Form, which also uses rate-dependent polymers in its products. It recently had B.A.S.E. jumpers drop an iPhone from 1,000 feet to demonstrate the effectiveness of its padding.

View the original article here