Hey Guys,
Since I've
been on the forums quite a bit tonight, I figured I'd start this thread here vs. write a blog post (too tired to attempt writing a blog post right now!). You can read it and I'm sure word will spread to those interested. And you'll know where you read it first.
As you know, we always try to post stuff as soon as we have it, assuming it's coming from sources we think/know are reliable. We never post/talk about things at lip service, but at the same time if we know for fact our source is in the know then we put some trust into what we're hearing. So sometimes we get it right, sometimes we screw it up, and others time we land somewhere in the middle. Happens to everybody a bit. We're not really even in the rumor game, but when info comes to us we just try our best to get it out there, and I know you all always want to hear every bit of info, right?
Seems a good night to update a few past rumors/things:
Atomic Trackball: So we first mentioned this a LONGGGG time ago (I think on a crackberry podcast and it was another blog who listened to our podcast and actually got it up on the web). Was very early goings on of "trackball 2" rumor mill when we talked about it then. It's real, and it's coming on the Gemini first, but don't think atomic trackball (either that's what it was called back in the day or our source just heard the name wrong and it really perpetuated from there), but think OPTICAL trackball. I don't know if OPTICAL trackball is what it'll ultimately be called (RIM might give it some marketing name like SureTrack or something), but the important part of the matter is:
- IT HAS NO MOVABLE PARTS. There's no ball to scroll around and collect dust in or jam up. Think mini laptop trackpad. But more optical then physical touch/slide ya know. It has a little chrome band around the area, and then it's the pad. Very slick/modern looking. Can't comment on usage at this point (hopefully somebody reading this can). Pretty crazy - at some point in the future gone may be the days of the trackball I guess. Hopefully the implementation is smoooth to use. I have faith in RIM nailing it.
Gemini: From what I've seen so far (no, don't have one....yet, but have a much better impression of it these days than I did previously), it's actually a pretty nice looking device. Definitely better than what we've seen so far in terms of visuals that have surfaced. As for the interchangeable face plates rumor that we made mention of before (we had like three different sources send that), I don't think that's quite the full story. The front of the device sort of has more of a glassy piece surrounding the screen/buttons. In the leaked black/white photo before it definitely gave that appearance of being interchangeable (having heard that prior), but I'd say it doesn't look that way to me now. Also, it looks like the back of the phone has a more rubberized look/feel to it. I still think there's a bit more than meets the eye here, as we heard it from multiple sources up front, but it kinda to me looks not to the be case, so will leave it at that till more photos/images/hands-ons surface and we know for sure (hopefully sooner than later!). Also cool is that the top of the phone has dedicated media keys for play/pause/next/previous. Definitely media focused.
Other Fun: A fun past time of any website administrator is to check out what web browsers are visiting the site. I took a stroll through those stats earlier tonight, and among basically every known/for sale device browser being listed, were a couple of the rumored ones... BlackBerry 8520 and BlackBerryonyx. Image of partial browser list attached. I'm surprised how many 9630s are viewing this site now too... makes you wish they'd just announce the thing already... hard to believe RIM hasn't officially acknlowedged it yet.
OK, that's it. Had to go Go-Karting earlier tonight for a friend's bday and the two cans of red bull has me wired and rambling. Night All!
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Atomic/Optical Trackball, Gemini Stuff Cleared Up 
I plan on picking one up the day they release it. 
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