Readers Beware

It appears once again some sites are posting the wrong date on their news to look good. For some reason they believe credibility is built upon mass. On the contrary credibility is built and maintained upon quality. So while certain sites go out and hire as many people as they can to write massive amounts of stuff, we here at Big Berries bka BigBerries aka el Grande Cojones of digital, style and whatever else we decide, won’t be trying to keep up with the Joneses. As it appears the Joneses are trying to keep up with us. So go ahead do your thing. While we sleep, eat, drink and be merry.

While we’re on the subject of overworked and underpaid writers: Are the horrible working conditions in which you work eating at your soul? Do you think that if you were in control of the content you could do better? Is the fun of writing leaving you because of deadlines and naggy, whiny, editors with too much caffeine in their systems? Do you feel a wrenching in the pit of your stomach everytime you find a good news story but can’t use the actual source and are instructed to lie or use another “friendly” source? Life can get better. We can help you, we feel your pain. BigBerries can help restore your confidence and enthusiasm. So get the fun back, the passion and the good stuff that you have been missing. Contact us

- The Grand Poobah

This PSA has been brought to you by the good people at Big Berries

Sidekick

Finally it’s official. The T-Mobile Sidekick 3 is officially announced and literally just days away. Slightly smaller than the Sidekick II and features EDGE, Bluetooth, a MiniSD card slot, a 1.3 megapixel camera and music player.

If you are a current T-Mobile subscriber you can purchase the Danger device starting June 28th. The common folks without T-Mobile service will be able to grab the the 3rd generation Sidekick starting July 10th. In fact that is when T-mobile is having its’ Block Party.

We’ve covered most of the changes during the months of leaked info. If there is something we missed, well it’s missed. Battery is said to be longer with this device and after few months live in the field, you’ll definitely tell us otherwise. Recap below.

Quick Specs

1.3 Megapixel camera
EDGE
Bluetooth
Instant Messaging (AIM, Yahoo!, MSN)
MP3 player
MiniSD card Slot
Trackball

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PressRelease

Motorola, NEC, NTT DoCoMo, Panasonic, Samsung and Vodafone have joined hands and declared that they intend to establish a linux-based global standard for mobile devices. The group expects that this will improve development and reduce costs associated with creating cutting edge devices. The newly formed group also announced intentions to form an independent foundation.

The foundation will aim to develop a platform with every participating company making significant contributions through joint development and transparency between partner companies. Members of the group are expected to collaborate with Linux developers, be fair and balanced with contributions, coordinate with existing industry groups and seek participation with interested companies (from development to software vendors and third party developers).

My Perspective

I knew Motorola was going to be smart about this, there was too much talk about open-source. You could feel the tention. What they go and do? Form a group, now companies not operating within the foundation will look like they are not playing with the “team”. Excellent strategy.

- BigBerries

Source: AustralianIT

I was meaning to write this before as it was one of the reasons behind (Why not US?). NTT DoCoMo from Japan understands the concept of connecting the global community through mobility and will make a concerted effort to bring all devices created by the company into GSM standards within 2 years. They will be the first mobile company from Japan to do so. Awesome! This will make NTT DoCoMo handsets usable in over 130 countries. In addition to making calls users of DoCoMo phones will be able to use i-mode internet services in over 50 countries as well.

Hopefully all the new customers and money NTT DoCoMo makes will spur every handset manufacturer into a global acceptance frenzy, then maybe the US will start getting some of those ridiculously cool phones too.

- BigBerries

I was going to post the delayed entry for the Sony Ericsson 850i but you’re getting this first. Sometimes there are phones we skip over here at BigBerries and I notice a few other sites skip phones as well. Not because they aren’t good but because they are so good they won’t be shipping to the US. To be honest the trend is getting really tiresome.

I know on the flip side there are phones available to the US that other regions can’t get and I’m sure that irks them too. The thing that gets me is provided the spectrum / frequency differences are the only thing that seperates devices, I still for the life of me can’t figure why the phones can’t be made to work globally.

This is done rarely and when they do it’s never the best phones. Really the thing is in regards to the phones being released, frequency has nothing to do with the number of megapixels in the camera, the amount of hard drive space, Bluetooth and other functions and features that are often provided elsewhere and in better quality.

So really it’s not even about GSM or UMTS or anything similar it just seems the US market is second rate to manufacturers. I mean Korea has like the best phones available on the market, Japan too. Can somebody please tell me what gives?

Remember, I just said Ericsson seems to be the only manufacturer making major strides in entertainment. Well, here the company is doing it again. Ericsson this time signed a managed services agreement with PTC (Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa sp. z o.o). Ericsson has a white label music service which is branded Strefa Muzyki which can and will deliver music from all major record labels and quite a few independants as well.

The over 9 million subscribers to the service will have access to ringtones, real tones, mobile graphics, artist news, music videos and full-length tracks.

From the press release: Klaus Tebbe, Director of Strategy, Marketing and Sales at PTC says: “PTC aims to become a music operator, as music is common and universal to customers. Strefa Muzyki brings us closer to our target by creating unique services on the Polish market: Granie na Czekanie and mp3 Omnix.”

I wonder if many carriers are thinking this way. I mean here we have PTC which controls 35% of the mobile market in their area stating not do thay simply want to expand into offering better access to music to its subscribers but stating they wish to become a music operator. This is a big statement and if other telecommunications providers start aiming this direction it is going to have a significant impact.

Another thing that stood out to me from the press release was this “Ericsson’s personalized music service is live with more mobile operators than any other in the world.”

Strefa Muzyki is available at Era Omnix portal. (Non-English site)

- BigBerries

Ericsson seems to be the one manufacturer making strides with making relationships with content makers, however the lack of major involvement with Sony BME is really intriguing. I know they do have agreements and work together but at times it almost seems as if the companies are just waiting to separate. Sony Ericsson in my humble opinion really has the potential to be a force in the media. Notice I said media not just phones. Maybe because Sony is so all over the place, Sony Ericsson can’t get it together to reach the full potential. Anyway with all that said Ericsson recently signed a deal with Pocket Group (I thought this happened already maybe I’m day-dreaming). Now Ericsson can give providers content from artists like Prodigy, Fat Boy Slim and Basement Jaxx.

Another thing I find interesting is the manufacturers and not the cariers are always the ones making the announcements in regards to reaching agreements with content providers, which totally sucks. To me it seems the carriers shoiuld be securing the content and the manufacturers developing the means to transmit the content in the best way possible. I wouldn’t be surprised if sometime during the next generation of mobile that a manufacturer completely bypasses the existing methods and creates its own carrier as it stands right now, many manufacturers are developing the pipelines, the netwroks and almost all of the technology for some carriers who essentially are just rebranding a particular manufacturers product.

Well along with this ramble the new Ericsson agreement allows operators to provide full-track downloads, ringtones, ringback tones and video tones from artists on the Pock Group roster. Press release in the forums
- BigBerries

Well they say it’s for business, but this really just shapes up to be a slim entry level candy bar shaped mobile phone. Maybe I never climbed high enough up the ladder where they said you can’t have cameras or music on your phone. As far as I’ve gone there seemed to be less concern about cameras and music and more concern for connectivity, with more memory being a plus. For the most part you get a Blackberry, a phone with Windows Mobile or some sort of Nextel.

Needless to say with company laptops and remote-network access, what risk does external memory on a phone pose when most office computers don’t even have SD cards? Let alone most offices according to Microsoft’s advertising campaign suggest businesses have yet to even upgrade from Microsoft Office 97 or 2000.

Quick Specs
NO Camera
NO External memory
NO Music features
Bluetooth
Speakerphone
Quad-band

Available in the US through Cingular’s B2B Sales starting at $116.99 with 2-year contract $206.99 without.

- BigBerries

Sony Ericsson is getting chewed out left and right. It seems no one is buying into the W700i. Trusted Reviews asks the question “what do you get when you spray paint an existing model and half the size of the bundled memory card?”

Comments on almost every tech board, gadget blog, phone website and all points in-between from engadget to the smallest blip in Blogville are loaded with bitter comments about the W700i announcement.

BigBerries also covered the Sony Ericsson W700i, but we’re crazy for phones with cameras boasting more than 1.3 megapixels, so don’t expect any harsh commentary.

I must admit it really was a shock to see the device announced during CTIA. Some are speculating that Sony Ericsson could be sending the message that the US is an after-thought when it comes to providing the latest technologies for phones.

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Man, I’m sitting here reading and reviewing a few sites, pondering over sneakers and some other projects…and lo and behold I skip past an article about BootCamp!

Duh. I clearly forgot. You see, I was in the middle of confirming my download and I paused it to venture elsewhere. Tabbed browsing does that to you.

Hey, I know I’m not the only one with six browsers open with 40 plus tabs on each. BigBerries says it’s ok, you can admit to it too.

If you have no idea what i’m talking about; Apple has released a Public Beta called BootCamp which allows you to choose between Apple’s latest OS and Windows XP for your operating system, fully allowing you to run Microsoft natively on a MAC, to some it is truly a dream come true, to others it’s a nightmare of the worst kind.

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