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Simon Sage’s education largely surrounded writing, technology and online community, leading him to begin his blogging career at www.BlackBerryCool.com and to quickly discover a vibrant and active community surrounding BlackBerry and mobile technology. In exploring RIM’s platform, he has learned what enterprises are looking for in mobility as well as what makes the innocuous BlackBerry so appealing to them. Recently Simon’s been covering RIM’s gradual move into an already-crowded consumer market, and the impact of burgeoning challengers, such as the iPhone, as well as long-time leaders, like Nokia, on BlackBerry’s advancement. With plenty of content under his belt, Simon will be branching off a bit to see what other smartphone manufacturers are working on while still using BlackBerry as a barometer. At IntoMobile, you can count on his posts being even-handed, well-informed and thought-out.

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Posts by Simon Sage

Scrapbook for BlackBerry PlayBook adds content packs

RIM’s Swedish arm, better known as The Astonishing Tribe, has updated Scrapbook for the BlackBerry PlayBook with in-app downloads. These new content packs add a whole bunch of new stickers and backgrounds to create your virtual postcards. The packs cover themes like Christmas, the 50s, and travel. The 2.0 update also lets you upload the final creations to Facebook even if you’re just paired to a BlackBerry smartphone over Bluetooth, without a Wi-Fi hotspot in sight. Scrapbook is pretty basic, but still a ton of fun to use. It taps into the locally-stored … Read more

IMG_00000173 1 years ago

Simon Sage

Dual SIM Samsung Galaxy Y Duos and Pro Duos announced

After a brief glimpse last week, Samsung has officially announced the Galaxy Y Duos and Galaxy Y Duos Pro. The Android 2.3 Gingerbread handsets look pretty much identical to some devices Samsung had announced over the summer, except these ones have a second SIM card slot in them. Otherwise, the devices are still fairly entry-level; the all-touch Duos has a 3.14-inch 240 x 320 touchscreen, 832 MHz processor, and 3 megapixel camera, while the QWERTY keyboard-bearing Pro Duos has a smaller 2.6-inch screen. I’m a fan of Samsung’s new naming … Read more

Samsung-duos 1 years ago

Simon Sage

Siri: The iPhone Movie pits man against machine

Although Siri isn’t technically that much better than what had been previously available, it certainly has made a better case for everyday voice recognition on smartphones. Of course, the “talking to your computer” scenario has a distinctly Space Odyssey feel to it, which is helped in no small part by some of the more… quirky responses Siri has been known to give. Based on that tone, the fine folks at Rooster Teeth have cooked up this movie trailer. A bunch of friends get an iPhone 4S for Christmas, but things … Read more

iPhone-evilsiri 1 years ago

Simon Sage

Angry Birds finally comes to the BlackBerry PlayBook

After a brief mention back in the spring, Angry Birds is now available on the BlackBerry PlayBook. The quintessential mobile game has you slingshot various kinds of birds into shoddy structures, which in turn collapse onto the lazy, stupid, thieving pigs within. The absence of Angry Birds on any BlackBerry has even spawned a shameless “homage”, called Angry Farm, which I suspect will quickly disappear now that the real deal is in town. Call me a gaming snob, but I’m really not a huge fan of Angry Birds. Although I’d … Read more

BlackBerry-Angrybirds 1 years ago

Simon Sage

Spotify for BlackBerry exits beta with limited device compatibility

After a short beta period, Spotify is finally ready for BlackBerry handsets. Be warned though, compatibility is currently limited to the Bold 9780, Bold 9700, Curve 9300, Bold 900, and Curve 8520. No love for CDMA phones nor the Torch 9800 yet. Those are all relatively older devices… Where’s the OS 7 compatibility? Spotify faces some well-entrenched competition, particularly with Slacker Radio, which has been enjoying a preload on many RIM devices. For $10, Spotify offers you access to millions of tracks streaming to your phone, and plugged into your … Read more

BlackBerry-Spotify 1 years ago

Simon Sage

GetGlue for iOS updated with guides and multiple conversations

GetGlue has just updated their iOS app to include multiple conversation streams and guides – a feature that you would typically only find through their desktop website. Conversations was something GetGlue introduced to iOS for the first time in September, but now you can flip between live comment streams with a simple swipe. Guides are brand new to mobile, and should be a helpful source when trying to figure out what to watch. They’re generated based on stuff you’ve checked into in the past, as well as what you’ve marked … Read more

iOS-GetGlue 1 years ago

Simon Sage

Study shows texting makes for easier lying

The Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia just wrapped up a study with 170 students. They set up a mock stock market, where one group was set up as stock brokers, and others as stock buyers. The brokers were offered a cash incentive to sell their stock, even though some were informed that the stock would bomb. The buyers were informed that their stock would lose half its value after they bought it, but how did the brokers sell it? The liars were 95% more likely to … Read more

pinochio 1 years ago

Simon Sage

Foursquare for BlackBerry updated with Lists

The Foursquare check-in app for BlackBerry has been updated to version 3.5 to include Lists. Foursquare introduced these awhile back on Android as a way for you to organize a series of spots surrounding a particular theme. This is good for when you’re getting your tourism on, but also a good way to organize and share some of your favourite haunts if you get around your hometown a lot. Within the app, you’ll be able to find nearby Lists, and follow them for future reference. As an added bonus to … Read more

BlackBerry-Foursquare-lists 1 years ago

Simon Sage

Facebook 2.1 for BlackBerry PlayBook adds groups functions

The Facebook application for the BlackBerry PlayBook has been bumped up to version 2.1 today, and includes the ability to interact with groups, including posting on the wall, uploading pictures, and viewing members. This is a great addition, considering the BlackBerry smartphone Facebook app still doesn’t do that. Viewing pictures posted by friends has also been tweaked, but really, the big thing is groups. The last big update was over the summer, which included place check-ins and events. Facebook on the PlayBook was a bit of a big deal when … Read more

facebook-for-playbook-1 1 years ago

Simon Sage

Ninjas return to battle over Nexus unboxing

When the Nexus name first appeared, it called together the disparate ninja clans to perform The Great Unboxing, unified as an unstoppable kung fu force. It didn’t take long for the tentative alliance to devolve into bickering, and finally brazen treachery for the launch of the Samsung Nexus S. Today, the furious Red Ninja takes the battle to the desktop, bending the very fabric of time in the process. For the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, you take control of the Red Ninja to unleash flying kicks upon the … Read more

NexusNinja 1 years ago

Simon Sage

BBM Music 1.1 Beta offers Canadians subscription gifting

The open beta for BBM Music is being extended a bit past January for Americans, but up in Canada, we now have the option to check out a beta for the next version with a smattering of new features. The gifting mechanism recently launched in BlackBerry App World is now available for BBM Music, so you can beg for BBM Music subscriptions from BlackBerry Messenger contacts. BBM Music will also shoot out a notification for when your free trial is about to expire, so you can cancel before being charged. … Read more

BlackBerry-BBM-music 1 years ago

Simon Sage