[travaz]

I spent the whole night with one. Then I woke up! Umm thats the phone BTW

[abass]

i totally KNOW this story is BS.....I was the guy with the phone. It was a droid pro and this person was drunk and could barely walk....I let them play with it and they could believe how fast the browser was.....LOL....alcohol is a b**ch sometimes!!!

ROFL!

that 3.5mm headphone jack came in handy huh?

ROFL!!

I hate you guys, end of story hahahaha

[qbnkelt]

This story could be true and it might be a fabrication.
I find it ironic that the person to discount it has told tales of anonymous source at VZ. So....it's been noted that it's in testing, some have reported seeing it in the wild. Someone famously left his iP4 in a bar, so handsets do get tested in the wild.
What would make this story so unbelievable?!? Nothing more than a wounded ego, it would seem, at not being the first to hold it.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Skeevecr]

This story is perfectly believable even if it isn't true, as the new devices get closer to release it is inevitable that Rim will want as many people as possible within their company using these devices to ensure the beta software get as much testing time as possible and while they would obviously be told not to show them off, I'm sure plenty of them wouldn't mind letting somebody look at one providing it didn't lead to pics on here, bgr etc.

[Dapper37]

I am waiting for any good news release from RIM. Good or bad I hope RIM updates us on Monday so sometimes next week. This is a weekend now so, I don't expect any good valid news on 9900 until Monday.

I see a QNX update coming soon, next week maybe but no other big news until June 16. when they release their quarterly results. Thats not that far off now!

[xanadome]

Sorry, I am a relative newbie on BB (last 6 mo. on 9780) and no offence to BB veterans.
But I really do not understand the big hype on QNX, which was never really explained well by RIM.
Sure, it is used for controlling industrial plants and automobiles etc, but how it's implemented in palm sized device is not quite clear yet (at least to me). PB showed something but mostly the better rendition of web pages etc and it is also helped by faster CPU.
RIM's half-CEO announced recently that 9900 will come with OS7, not 6.5. I believe it is critical for them to release the hardware with whatever is available now and update it later when they are ready, despite the debacle with the PB.
I am perfectly fine with 6.5 to start with. I suspect there won't be much difference between 6.5 & 7 anyway.
Also, when RIM have finally succeeded to implement QNX in smaller devices such as handhelds, I am afraid that we may not see any sea changes from the current OS. RIM might probably use the QNX as a core and piggy back the same old BB OS as an UI. I found that BB OS is really bloated out over the years and countless number of revisions and updates are always floating around, mostly as "leak". This look very unusual and weird to me, coming from iOS whose execution is always timely and clean. For OS 6 alone, it is something like 500 updates, and when they fix something, something else is always broken, thus the vicious endless update cycles continue.
I hope RIM would finally do away with this bad cycle.

So, for now, I hope that they will stop meddling with the OS now, shut up and deliver what they have.
Things are becoming too competitive as days go by.

[bighap]

Sorry, I am a relative newbie on BB (last 6 mo. on 9780) and no offence to BB veterans.
But I really do not understand the big hype on QNX, which was never really explained well by RIM.
Sure, it is used for controlling industrial plants and automobiles etc, but how it's implemented in palm sized device is not quite clear yet (at least to me). PB showed something but mostly the better rendition of web pages etc and it is also helped by faster CPU.
RIM's half-CEO announced recently that 9900 will come with OS7, not 6.5. I believe it is critical for them to release the hardware with whatever is available now and update it later when they are ready, despite the debacle with the PB.
I am perfectly fine with 6.5 to start with. I suspect there won't be much difference between 6.5 & 7 anyway.
Also, when RIM have finally succeeded to implement QNX in smaller devices such as handhelds, I am afraid that we may not see any sea changes from the current OS. RIM might probably use the QNX as a core and piggy back the same old BB OS as an UI. I found that BB OS is really bloated out over the years and countless number of revisions and updates are always floating around, mostly as "leak". This look very unusual and weird to me, coming from iOS whose execution is always timely and clean. For OS 6 alone, it is something like 500 updates, and when they fix something, something else is always broken, thus the vicious endless update cycles continue.
I hope RIM would finally do away with this bad cycle.

So, for now, I hope that they will stop meddling with the OS now, shut up and deliver what they have.
Things are becoming too competitive as days go by.

I think you are a bit confused. The new devices were to come with 6.1 and now it will be 7. Really just a re-naming. There was never a 6.5 and 7 is not QNX.

[sleepngbear]

Sorry, I am a relative newbie on BB (last 6 mo. on 9780) and no offence to BB veterans.
But I really do not understand the big hype on QNX, which was never really explained well by RIM.
Sure, it is used for controlling industrial plants and automobiles etc, but how it's implemented in palm sized device is not quite clear yet (at least to me). PB showed something but mostly the better rendition of web pages etc and it is also helped by faster CPU.
RIM's half-CEO announced recently that 9900 will come with OS7, not 6.5. I believe it is critical for them to release the hardware with whatever is available now and update it later when they are ready, despite the debacle with the PB.
I am perfectly fine with 6.5 to start with. I suspect there won't be much difference between 6.5 & 7 anyway.
Also, when RIM have finally succeeded to implement QNX in smaller devices such as handhelds, I am afraid that we may not see any sea changes from the current OS. RIM might probably use the QNX as a core and piggy back the same old BB OS as an UI. I found that BB OS is really bloated out over the years and countless number of revisions and updates are always floating around, mostly as "leak". This look very unusual and weird to me, coming from iOS whose execution is always timely and clean. For OS 6 alone, it is something like 500 updates, and when they fix something, something else is always broken, thus the vicious endless update cycles continue.
I hope RIM would finally do away with this bad cycle.

So, for now, I hope that they will stop meddling with the OS now, shut up and deliver what they have.
Things are becoming too competitive as days go by.

As for updates to OS6, I haven't found them to be a 'vicious cycle' at all. On my Torch, with just one exception every update has been an improvement over the earlier version.

The new OS was actually going to be called 6.1, and they recently changed it to OS7. Aside from the name, it's the same thing (i.e., not QNX). OS7 will probably look very similar to OS6, with a few tweaks to modernize and performance enhancements to further take advantage of the faster hardware. A lot of what RIM is doing for OS7 is being built to be reusable in QNX, and that's actually part of the reason it's taking so long to get it out the door.

Yes, the landscape is getting increasingly competitive, and yes, I also wish they'd get these new devices out quicker than they are. On the other hand, I'd rather see them get out good, solid devices with the traditionally intuitive BlackBerry UI than they can carry over to future generations of phones. Just don't take too long to do it.

[xanadome]

I think you are a bit confused. The new devices were to come with 6.1 and now it will be 7. Really just a re-naming. There was never a 6.5 and 7 is not QNX.

I perfectly understand this and that's what I was saying. Balsamic suddenly renamed it from 6.1 (thought 6.5) to 7 without much explanation, except it implied that there might be enough change to rename 6.1 to 7.

The new OS was actually going to be called 6.1, and they recently changed it to OS7. Aside from the name, it's the same thing (i.e., not QNX). OS7 will probably look very similar to OS6, with a few tweaks to modernize and performance enhancements to further take advantage of the faster hardware. A lot of what RIM is doing for OS7 is being built to be reusable in QNX, and that's actually part of the reason it's taking so long to get it out the door.

One thing I am not sure is if the OS7 is a precursor to the QNX. QNX requires a dual core for one thing, as I understand it. But if the OS7 is going to run on the QNX device, that's exactly was my concern, i.e, the OS7 is merely an UI piggybacked on the QNX, and there really is nothing revolutionary about running the QNX itself. All we see is the same old BB OS and a bit of improvement thereof. I do see a nature of the problem with the old BB OS, the multilayer hierarchical menu system (nothing wrong with it if well executed. I actually like this). But it is also a source of bloated software, prone to conflicts, freezes (i.e., battery pulls :-) etc.

Re "vicious cycle (or circle)" part, what I meant is that, watching the constant "leaks" of OS6 (for example (could be 5), it seems that RM fixes something but breaks something along the way, and try to fix it and the next leak shows something else is not working etc.

If this assumption is correct, I thought they should have pushed the 9900 out earlier without waiting for the OS7. QNX is touted as if it is a free standing separate UI too, which I do not think is not.

That was my point.

[zurch]

Balsamic? Ha very funny ! Can I have some olive oil too? I'm making a salad

[anon(823957)]

This story is perfectly believable even if it isn't true, as the new devices get closer to release it is inevitable that Rim will want as many people as possible within their company using these devices to ensure the beta software get as much testing time as possible and while they would obviously be told not to show them off, I'm sure plenty of them wouldn't mind letting somebody look at one providing it didn't lead to pics on here, bgr etc.

Oh believe me, I'd be skeptical of a story as short as mine too, but unfortunately what you read in the OP is exactly what happened, almost in perfect timing too.

We all wish we could see these devices when we go out or are walking down the street, its the most exciting part of an unreleased device, just seeing the damn thing.

I remember seeing the Torch at the mall before it came out, I saw a 9900 a few months ago, using a PlayBook months before release, and I even had the 8900 a month before it was released, its just a perk of living in otherwise boring Waterloo.

Like I said, I posted the story for you all to appreciate because this could very well be a game changer for RIM. I've never felt a BlackBerry like it, just holding it in my hand made it that much better than any other BlackBerry I've ever used.

[greggebhardt]

I see a QNX update coming soon, next week maybe but no other big news until June 16. when they release their quarterly results. Thats not that far off now!

Please tell me you are kidding. If this is not sarcasm, it is sad

Not sure if I ever want to see QNX on any RIM phone after playing with the PlayBook. I returned mine in less than 24 hour and will wait for RIM to fix it in a couple of years. What a waste of RIM resources when they could have been making PHONES!

[ibcop]

Well, it seems some replies are disappearing.....smh.....

[qbnkelt]

Some posts were removed last night. I saw yours, which I appreciated. You're an officer and a gentleman....literally!!!!

[qbnkelt]

living next to blackberry hq certainly has its advantages.

For me it would be brutal...I'd be getting arrested all the time, trying to look in their windows!!!!

[pmccartney]

There is nothing unusual or hard to believe about the OP's story.
My neighbour always has one or more unreleased device with him. He had the Torch early last summer and the PB (2 actually) in February. He shows me these things all the time but would never let me use them. He did let me try the PB immediately after it was launched.
I don't know what division he works in now a days. Years ago he had something to do with the native phone app but not any more.
When I ask him when something is going to be released or receive an update he doesn't make asinine assumptions either. He tells me he has nothing to do with those decisions, as he should.
The fact that there isn't a constant string of member reports (on CrackBerry) of unreleased BB's 'in the wild' is the average Joe wouldn't know they are looking at something unreleased if it was staring them straight in the face. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of RIM employees field testing these devices. It should be no surprise at all to see an unreleased device in the Waterloo area.

[lnichols]

Sorry, I am a relative newbie on BB (last 6 mo. on 9780) and no offence to BB veterans.
But I really do not understand the big hype on QNX, which was never really explained well by RIM.

Basically the BBOS just can't be grown much more than it is now. QNX's RTOS Secure Kernel should allow RIM to deliver great apps, media and UI experience like Android and iOS have now, but still be able to provide business and Government the security and certifications for that security that BBOS is known for. Playbook was a way to do the R&D on the tablet OS and give RIM some wiggle. IMHO I think it is the best UI out there at the moment. Unfortunately the management at RIM has poorly executed the Playbook and OS6.1/7 phone rollout in that they didn't grow the company enough peoplewise to support all the projects, or they have enough and can't manage them. This is obvious.

[J_R_TheMotorMan]

@kb2755 U lucky *******. @ this point, that's like seeing a Unicorn. U should have taken a picture!!!!! =)

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[anthonybaker]

@kb2755 U lucky *******. @ this point, that's like seeing a Unicorn. U should have taken a picture!!!!! =)

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

i saw a unicorn once, he was using the wifi hotspot on his bold 9900 to update his playbook to the verison with the native PIM lol

[simsim]

At the bar last night, I spotted a guy using a BlackBerry with a lit up trackpad. So I go over and ask what he had. Hesitant at first, he shows me his 9900 in a silicone skin.
Even more reluctantly, he let's me play with it. The phone's build quality is spectacular. Think iPhone construction but in a BlackBerry. It's thin but feels solid in the hand. Definitely not the plasticky nature of RIM's past devices. The touch screen was flawless and reminded me of the responsiveness of my PlayBook.
Then he quickly grabbed it away from me because the poor schmuck was terrified of being caught showing it off.
Anyways, that was my first encounter with it and it left an incredible first impression. I was on the fence seeing as I just came from a Torch and got a 9780, but now I can't wait for it.

Just a quick question.

I was really looking forward to this phone (still am) for the fact that it revived the great 9000 form factor and made it thinner.

But just the other day in a phone store I handled the Samsung Galaxy Pro. This has the same width and thickness as the upcoming 9900, but felt all wrong.

I don't know if it is possible to be TOO thin, but that's how it felt. Not substantial enough. Too much like an old-school calculator and not enough gravitas.

I know the Galaxy Pro is shorter than the 9900 but it just felt light-weight, wafer thin and wafer cheap!

The original Bold... now... there was a phone you KNEW you were carrying, can use to hold the elevator door open while you unloaded your luggage, and could even fight off intruders with!

So my question (sorry about the ramble) is; did it feel too thin/insubstantial or did it feel good in the hand?

[anon(823957)]

Just a quick question.

I was really looking forward to this phone (still am) for the fact that it revived the great 9000 form factor and made it thinner.

But just the other day in a phone store I handled the Samsung Galaxy Pro. This has the same width and thickness as the upcoming 9900, but felt all wrong.

I don't know if it is possible to be TOO thin, but that's how it felt. Not substantial enough. Too much like an old-school calculator and not enough gravitas.

I know the Galaxy Pro is shorter than the 9900 but it just felt light-weight, wafer thin and wafer cheap!

The original Bold... now... there was a phone you KNEW you were carrying, can use to hold the elevator door open while you unloaded your luggage, and could even fight off intruders with!

So my question (sorry about the ramble) is; did it feel too thin/insubstantial or did it feel good in the hand?

No this was a phone that while thin, kept a very nice weight to it. The brushed aluminum trim and the carbon fiber backing really felt great in the hand and, at least to me, had a perfect weight. I actually preferred the weight of the Torch while I had it, but the thing was so plasticky. This phone has that nice weight but feels like a much higher quality device.

[ibcop]

Some posts were removed last night. I saw yours, which I appreciated. You're an officer and a gentleman....literally!!!!

Censorship prevails, I guess. And no worries.....I have your back!

[sleepngbear]

Censorship prevails, I guess. And no worries.....I have your back!

Think of it more as a stupidity filter. And it's going to be in desperate need of a change the way today is going.

[m.seif]

Anyone knows for sure if it has a virtual KB at this screen size ?

[anon(823957)]

Didn't get to see whether it did or not, sorry.