Not surprising today that during an online chat, Globe and Mail technology reporter Simon Avery was asked whether he thought BlackBerry would introduce a camera phone. After all, Research In Motion is part of Simon's beat, and his newspaper is the second-largest in RIM's home nation of Canada.

The question was posed by Matt Zwick from Edmonton.

"I think a lot of people are wondering the same thing, Matt. RIM is pretty coy about its plans for adding cameras, music players and other multi media features to the BlackBerry," Simon says (you knew I was going to say that, right?-Russ). "The idea of a separate 'fun' model for the consumer makes some sense, but I think RIM really wants to fold the new features smartly into existing business models because they don't want executive users moving to other devices on the weekends and after hours."

So in other words, Simon believes that BlackBerry doesn't want to cannibalize sales of their other devices.

"They (RIM) want the BlackBerry to be the single, must-have device," he adds. "The challenge is how to add these rich features without disrupting the efficiency of RIM's model, which uses low bandwidth and power. "

Then, Ken Humphlett from Gainesville, Fla., asked Simon about camera and memory card slots in future BlackBerrys.

"It's going to be hard for RIM to avoid camera and memory slots," said Simon, "when Motorola, Palm and others include them as standard. "

this was posted on bbhub.com...RIM is definitely not looking to alienate the business market but come fall youll see expandable memory and smaller better design and some other cool stuff i cant talk a bout

I hate when you say that, lol. One question though, can we see the features noted here in the upcoming Verizon model or will that come much later?

How do you know this, do you work in RIM RnD? lol. I dont suppose you can give any more insight than already around these forums. Or atleast a time scale for when the info will be released about any of this?

since i dont have ten post this forum doesnt let me post links...

Can you give me hope about the upcoming SPRINT?VERIZON cdma BB... InPocket and I need to know

i can almost guarentee you that boy genius is one of the few people that you should trust on this forum ;)

By smaller better design do you mean flip?

Yes blackberry flip phone...Something called blackberry connect was introduced a little while ago, there are some flip phones with blackberry in it...

I love that answer.

BG, does this mean that you are like me and hate flip phones? And before people start flaming me, that's just my opinion.

HOWEVER, RIM not making their handheld into a flip phone does offer them a nice advantage...distinction...or at least more distinction than a regular flip phone. With a few exceptions (RAZR) I can't tell you who makes a specific flip phone when I see one...but I can tell a BB from a regular candybar formfactor..and generally even easily distinguish it from a Treo/Q/Outter Space Alien Communications Device .

Just taking a look at a bit of history, RIM has usually jumpped into many things late in the game...and usually when they do, it's at a time when their last incarnation was solid and on target. If the rumors are true about cameras, media, and/or SD in a BlackBerry, then we can probably safely assume that any plans for a flip-BlackBerry won't be rumored until after those features are as solid on a BB as the email is.

Just my $0.02 worth, and is based on my personal dislike of the flip phone.

Zro

I wouldn't mind a flip phone blackberry, I dont think that will happen soon but in terms of functionality if it had a full QWERTY keyboard and clamshell design, I would mess with it.

I had in my hot little hand a few minutes ago the sweetest little BB I have ever seen. Was on Tmobile a beta it had no wheel it was about the size of a ipod nano. The screen was absolutley amazing. The guy had a 1 gig card in it and i was watching jack jack from the incredibles on it. The thing was super fast and the screen was amazing. He wouldnt let me take any pictures of it since it was a beta phone. He said Tmobile was supposed to release in septemeber. Then cingular would have it after that. Has a small full qwerty keyboard. and the camera was amazing it took better pitures than my samsung digital it has a five level zoom.

I may have to go back to a BB for this jewel.

Hey Dawg,

Now that you have me in a tither- If it's the size of a nano and has a full QWERTY keyboard, are the keys teeny-tiny or does the design get around that? VERY curious. Thanks for the info, btw!!

Daledo

Check out Mobiledia dot com to see Samsung's version of their blackberry connect flip phone. I believe it's due out for T-Mobile Q3 of this year.

It has a 1.3 megapixel camera, removable memory, speech recognition, QWERTY keyboard, the list goes on and on. Samsung makes a great product to begin with, now that it has blackberry connect, it will be hard to beat. Look for it to be reasonably priced as well.

I agree, my T900 pager had a nice design as far as keyboard goes. It was LED so the screen was no in this legue...

See link:

http://www.blackberryforums.com/rumor-mill/39591-bb-memory-expansion-mp3-camera-etc.html

How can a device the size of the Nano have a full QWERTY keyboard? Does the keyboard open up from the sides?

Im a big guy and I had no issues with the keyboard to be honest. I say nano but its actually probally a tad bigger but still smaller than the 7100. The joystick is in the center of the device above the keyboard. on the home screen they have a place to add your most favorite six ppls picture and you can dial them from the home screen. i just couldnt get over how clear the screen was even in the 102 degree sunshine. I am supposed to get a beta unit in september so we will certainly see.

i don't care if it has a fleep, personaly i like BB with out one, but i do really want to see mem card slot, and the ability to view videos, as well as mp3's for ringtones. I also wouldn't mind a camera. Its funny how palm has all of it, and BB still doesn't.

xplod i guess you didnt read what i just wrote a few post above yours i had my hands on one yesterday that had all of these items and more

Go Vols! Got October 7th on your calendar?

Oops, sorry, wrong forum.

COUGH - GO GATORS

Hey Dawg!! Did you said that Cingular would get it "after" TMO... Any idea how long after??

Don't these exclusives normally go for 6 months or so?

Not sure if I see him today I will ask him. He said there are so many new things coming out it made his head spin.

Hes on the tmobile side so I am not sure he will know alot about the cingular side but i will certainly ask.

it had a button on the side that was specific to a function but dont recall what it was for.

I wish I would had more than 5 minutes to play with it I would have loved to make a phone call on it or type a message. I played with the video and camera and mp3 players since those are the items I hadnt seen before. I will say the edge was creamin

round september on t-mo, so prolly jus in time for them to release the one after it by th time i upgrade my contract.

also he mentioned something about turn by turn directions he said you place a puck on the dash board and it gives turn by turn directions he didnt have that with him si he couldnt demonstrate

Hey Dawg, your quoted on Rimarkable and BBHUB...Congrats amigo.

www.rimarkable.com
www.bbhub.com

This is hilarious -
People on T-Mo are buying Cingular branded 7130c's to get the latest and greatest...

...and come September, Cingular customers will be buying unlocked T-Mo xxxx model's to get the latest and greatest!

Let the petpetual cycle of GSM envy begin!

*perpetual

Sorry, posting from a TabletPC

Just held one today at lunch ... it is one sweet device and Dawg's assessment of the size are pretty darn close. To me it felt like holding a Razr that is closes and just a hair thicker

LMAO thats funny

Yeah that would be a fair assement

Yo Dawg or Tamon....

What was the keyboard like? Raised keys like 8700 or flush like Tmo 7100/5?
What is the color scheme and build quality like?

How was navigation without the wheel? (I love the wheel, will I miss it?)

I honestly can say I haven't been this excited about a new consumer product since the first time I saw the 1st gen TiBook. Please give us some more deets, if you don't mind.

Was this a real RIM BlackBerry, or a phone from another vendor with BlackBerry connect capability? Camera, removable memory, multimedia, and most importantly NO trackwheel? Color me skeptical about such a beast directly from RIM themselves, but guess we'll know for sure in a couple months.

was the real deal. I liked the no wheel but it will take some getting used to. it was a shiny grey black color scheme. I really didnt pay that much attention to raised or smooth to be honest i was more concerned with the individual functions.

I dont blame you for being skeptical. Especially since i have no pictures or anything. I am a nextel guy so I have nothing to gain from this phone so I have nothing to lie about either. So just wait and see is all I can say.

I will be in that community again today so maybe I can play with it some more and get more detail.

Funny. Quite a few people on this forum are clearly under non-disclosure agreements and in some combination want/need to protect their jobs so won't (quite rightly) reveal what they should not on a public forum. They have inside knowledge and see stuff early as they in some combination work for:

- One of the operators
- Major/close/trusted customers of the operators
- RIM
- RIM developers
- RIM suppliers

theregister.co.uk doesn't call RIM 'Lawsuits In Motion' for nothing And for all of us who want to see RIM succeed, I'm for one happy to let RIM have their moment of glory when they formally announce their new product(s). I'd be sad to see that compromised here, and wouldn't consider I earned any qdos for being one who did that... (and no, I don't work for RIM)

Just to clarify, I sure didn't mean at all to accuse you of lying. Just sounds like such a total and complete departure of what makes a Blackberry a Blackberry, hard not to be a little skeptical. As you say, will be interesting to see what transpires over the next 60-90 days.

And annihilated the last time they faced the HUSKERS in the 1996 Fiesta Bowl, 62-24! GO HUSKERS!

Even a blind squirel...

Could the BB Dawg had the pleasure of playing around with be the "Stealth" that boygenius was refering to in June?

Has anyone heard more on the BlackBerry Stealth? | RIMarkable | The official, unofficial BlackBerry Weblog

hey dawg, maybe your reffering to samsung's black, slim, with qwerty keyboard and camera? i was walking around the Avenues of the america between 57th to 62nd in manhattan and i was able to talked to some guys holding this phone and actually held one too. oh the phone is connected tmo.