The general consensus following the release of the BlackBerry Torch in the tech journalism sphere was that RIM had failed to put out a competitor to the iPhone and Android smartphones, and had therefore failed. Since we’re never really about swimming with the other salmon here on Techi, I decided to hold a very unscientific poll of a few friends and colleagues who were already BlackBerry users to see if they agreed with the pundits. BlackBerry Users Are Loyal Overwhelmingly, they did not. Out of about six people, only one definitively stated that they would be switching to an iPhone. The rest were…

Let’s face it – your phone’s camera sucks. I don’t care if you’ve got a fancy-assed iBerry Droidstorm Triple X Premium. Its camera sucks. Phone cameras just suck. That said, we need our phone’s camera. Y’know, for taking pictures of stuff (I sure can’t afford a Nikon). But that doesn’t make them suck any less. What are we to do? Do the opposite of fret, of course. The photophiles over at Photojojo have decided to entreat the lesser photographer to a set of lenses that help your camera phone become the faux DSLR you never wanted to pay for. And you’ll never have to, because these little guys are not only…

After an unusual amount of buildup, Research in Motion finally revealed its latest Blackberry this week. The Torch, as it has been named, is a touchscreen-keyboard combo that also ships with Blackberry’s new OS 6. In many ways, it represents a significant move forward for the Blackberry, and in certain areas – social integration, universal search, a webkit-based browser – the Torch on par with the other two players, the iPhone and Android. But, for good reason, the response from the tech press has thus far been lukewarm. Many reviews have called the phone out for lacking any imagination, not to…

The first smartphone choice of the business world just got a little sexier with the new design of the BlackBerry Torch. Besides a capacitive touchscreen, the Torch also features a slideout QWERTY keyboard for the best of both worlds. It also comes with the BlackBerry App World preinstalled, making it easy for customers to download apps to make their lives easier or just have fun. Other inclusions, from the official press release: BlackBerry 6 – Featuring: -Context-sensitive pop-up menus for more relevant options -A new WebKit browser for faster and more robust performance -Integrated social…

Blackberry is hoping to get all up in the iPad’s business with a new tablet device being released in November, claim a fuzzy source of “two people familiar with RIM’s plans”. The device will be roughly the same dimensions as the current iPad. The name of the device will be Blackpad, and will feature a full touchscreen and a slideout QWERTY keyboard for typing e-mails, which, let’s face it, would be a nice addition to the current iPad. The Blackpad is just one of many tablet devices slated for later this year and in early 2011 to try to grab some of the market share away from Apple’s iPad….

Apple is a company under siege right now. They’re backed into a corner, and they’re coming out fighting. Software updates, press conferences, and no doubt soon a letter from Steve Jobs himself titled “Thoughts On Innovative But Ultimately Flawed Smart Phone Antenna Designs”. One aspect of Apple’s carefully assembled defense wasn’t fully appreciated by the other company involved though. Blackberry maker RIM apparently wasn’t too thrilled that Apple demonstrated to the world that their phones are just as susceptible to antenna issues as the iPhone 4. Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, co-CEOs…

Say what you will about the evils of the free market – you commie pig – but competition in the world of smartphones is definitely having a good effect. Case in point: the latest look we’ve gotten at Blackberry’s forthcoming new OS6 looks pretty impressive – good enough, even, to make Blackberry a compelling alternative to the aesthetic niceties of iOS or Android. Among the many features shown in the short clip are: An updated web browser that features multitouch gestures The ability to post to multiple social networks at once, in addition to social feeds An improved media player (finally!) Universal…

Yahoo has bought a new social network for mobile users called Koprol. This network allows people to make friends, share photos, and find nearby locations all from their phone. When accessing Koprol from your mobile device, you can see what friends are doing and where/when they are hanging out. You can find neighborhood restaurants, stores and other businesses, then rate your favorites for all to see. There is also a discussion feature where you can start and invite friends into conversations. If you are wondering why you have not heard of this community-based information network, it’s because…

Google’s Android and Apple’s iPhone are rapidly snatching smartphone share as the race to ascendancy sees the competition sent to casualty. The latest Gartner figures today tell us Android and iPhones are gobbling up the space. Between them they now account for 25 percent of the smartphone market (in Q1), up from 12 percent last year. The iPhone took 15.4 percent of the whole thing (up 5 points). Android is up 8 points to 9.6 per cent. What’s critical here is that all other smartphones lost relative share, though unit sales climbed. Android is now the fourth largest operating system, displacing…

Standard Chartered bankers are now being given a choice in which smartphone they would like to use. The moneylender is giving its corporate BlackBerry users the choice to switch over to the iPhone for their business dealings; this could be bad news for BlackBerry. “If more companies switch to the iPhone, this is of course bad news for [Research in Motion],” said Lu Chialin, an IT industry analyst at Macquarie Securities in Taipei. “However, it will take a long time for companies to do their own internal testing before deciding to change, so it will be a while before it has any effect on RIM.” The BlackBerry…