[09-28-2004] Cingular and RIM release the 7290 -
09-28-2004, 08:06 PM
Quote:
Cingular's First Quad-Band Handheld Extends The BlackBerry Experience To GSM/GPRS Markets Worldwide
Atlanta, GA and Waterloo, Ontario - Cingular Wireless and Research In Motion (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX: RIM) announced today the newest member of the BlackBerry® family, the BlackBerry 7290 Wireless Handheld™. It is Cingular's first quad-band, Bluetooth enabled product offering designed especially for business customers who want to stay connected while traveling internationally.
The Java™-based BlackBerry 7290™, currently exclusive to Cingular within the United States, combines phone, email, Short Messaging Services (SMS), organizer, Web browsing and corporate data access capabilities in a single handheld. The 7290 operates on the GSM/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900 MHz frequencies, which enables both domestic and international roaming in practically any GSM market worldwide.*
"International roaming for voice and data is the next horizon for mobile professionals," said Jim Ryan, vice president of data product management and business marketing, Cingular Wireless. "With the BlackBerry 7290, Cingular customers can take advantage of our substantial international capabilities today and enjoy even greater coverage in the future as our footprint grows."
"The BlackBerry 7290 provides a smooth blend of powerful features for the mobile professional that wants a best-in-class mobile solution. It is a robust addition to Cingular's portfolio of BlackBerry devices," said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO at Research In Motion. "BlackBerry continues to stand out with customers because it excels in the areas that matter most - usability on the front-end and integration on the back-end."
Can you verify that the 7290 will be running the 4.0 OS? I read on this board that it was expected to be 3.8.
Also, do you know whether the 7290 and the 4.0 OS will make it unnecessary to subscribe to a 3d party BES/MDS solution, such as Reqwireless and Mail Street, for full html web browsing, and will these 3d parties still offer advantages to the basic 7290/4.0/Cingular package?
Can you verify that the 7290 will be running the 4.0 OS? I read on this board that it was expected to be 3.8.
Also, do you know whether the 7290 and the 4.0 OS will make it unnecessary to subscribe to a 3d party BES/MDS solution, such as Reqwireless and Mail Street, for full html web browsing, and will these 3d parties still offer advantages to the basic 7290/4.0/Cingular package?
I was judging by the picture viewer app and help app. But that doesn't look like my BB browser icon, and there's no network listed and it's got a full signal...
From the icons of this BlackBerry, I can confirm it is BlackBerryOS 4.0 as far as I can tell. The Picture icon looks exactly the same as 4.0.0.100 or later, and the new Help icon too.
They would have to rename a version of 4.0 down to 3.8 for the 3.8 claim to be true for the 7290. In my opinion, this is unlikely to happen.
As far as I know, 7100 is running 3.8 and the 7290 is running 4.0. This is my best guess.
As of the moment, the new BlackberryOS 4.0.0.124 is getting close to production quality, so it's not unrealistic to expect that 7290 will have 4.0 preinstalled, IMHO...
However, they may have used a mockup screenshot and this thing is relaly running 3.7.1.141 :D
Ignoring the fact that the picture is a mockup anyway (no carrier and yet it has gprs), it is quite likely that the software is 3.8 since it has a stricter release date than 4.0 does and it couldn't be held up by any possible problems with the whole 4.0 system.
Realisitcally, 3.8 on both 7100 and 7290 will be fairly close to 4.0 given their release dates, while removing any dependancy on things like a 4.0 bes.
[09-28-2004] Cingular and RIM release the 7290 -
09-28-2004, 08:06 PM
