Research In Motion announced at Lotusphere 2008 some of the previously reported features in the forthcoming BlackBerry Enterprise Server 4.1 Service Pack 5, including Document Downloading and Editing, Remote Search and Retrieval, Free / Busy Calendar Lookup, and HTML email. The previous official roadmap from Research In Motion delivered these new feature enhancements coinciding with the release of device OS 4.3.x and above. According to the press release from RIM today, it seems these features have been delayed to the previously unknown OS 4.5. This OS has been confirmed for release for the entire 8000 series family, including the 8700 series, although it does not currently have support for the unreleased BlackBerry 9000 as far as we can tell.

To say the feature exclusion for the unreleased OS version 4.3.x, which is supposed to be out in the next couple months, is quite disappointing is an understatement. No word on release dates for OS 4.3.1 or OS 4.5.0 or OS 5.0.0, although we have heard that OS 4.3.1 has since been delayed at least one or two months from the previously rumored February release date. We’ve even obtained beta releases of OS 4.3.1 as recent as two weeks ago, but we’re not sure on the fate of this OS release. Honestly, with the new press release from RIM uncovering this new OS 4.5, we have to wonder exactly when we’ll have the ability to use these new features we’ve been foaming over for a few months now. Research In Motion has now officially become Readily Involving Molasses.

[Via Boy Genius Report]

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Yep, pretty much everything we’d heard about the upcoming M930 from ASUS has turned out to be the real deal, making the brick-like device nearly a dead ringer for Nokia’s E90 communicator with Windows Mobile doing the dirty work in place of S60. The exterior nets you a traditional QVGA display and numeric keypad, while unfolding the beast yields a slightly larger 400 x 240 display along with a full QWERTY board. Internal storage clocks in at 256MB with 64MB of RAM, there’s a 2 megapixel autofocus cam around back, and you get the usual microSD expansion, WiFi, and Bluetooth. Oddly, the whole package runs Windows Mobile 6 Smartphone — not Professional — so you can just put away any hopes and dreams of touching the display with a stylus. Look for a public reveal at CeBIT in March, so retail availability isn’t expected before that.

[Via Engadget Mobile]

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So let’s just boil down the newly-available firmware 1.1.3 to the nitty gritty, shall we? Here’s what Apple’s latest juicy morsel is going to do to your iPhone (or iPod touch, if that’s how you roll and you have $19.99 to spare) once you can finally reliably get it from iTunes:

• Maps: New hybrid view, same as Google Maps. Satellite imagery and street mapping available on a single view.
• Maps: Location triangulation. Uses nearby WiFi access points and GSM towers (on the iPhone, anyway) to roughly guesstimate your current location.
• Web Clips: Web bookmarks can now be saved as home screen icons, including zoom and location information.
• Home screen: Icons on the home screen can now be rearranged.
• Home screen: Up to 9 home screens can now be created and “flicked” between.
• SMS: A single text message can now be sent to multiple recipients; groups can be recalled for future use.
• iTunes: Movie rentals are now supported.
• iTunes: Support for lyrics.

Additionally, the iPod touch now features Mail, Maps, Stocks, Weather, and Notes, all of which were previously exclusive to the iPhone. Cheers!

Via [Engadget Mobile]

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Launch your iTunes, because the new Apple iPhone January Firmware update (aka 1.1.3) is now available. Just remember that if you have a software unlock or third-party applications installed, this update will 99.99%-probably break them, so don’t update.

Via [Gizmodo]

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Palm Infocenter is reporting that the codename being thrown around internally in reference it its Linux based next-gen operating system is “Nova.” The phrase “no va” in Spanish literally translates to “not going,” but wait — it gets better: we’re also hearing that Nova is being tested on the Zeppelin device, a type of airship with a reputation for crashing and burning back in the day. Now look, we’d love to see Palm pull out of its tailspin just as much as the next guy and wow us with some hot, new software on top of hot, new hardware, but this naming convention isn’t doing it any favors, now is it?

[Via Engadget Mobile]

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SlingPlayer Mobile for BlackBerry was finally announced formally prior to CES after having been passed around the rumor mill since September. Add the BB version to their already existing support for Windows Mobile, Palm OS and Symbian and they have all the bases covered, right? Ahhh, that’s right; OS X mobile. An iPhone / iPod Touch app has also been rumored to be in Sling Media’s pipeline for quite some time. It looks like the rumors can almost be elevated to “confirmed” status as ElectricPig.tv is claiming to have spoken to a higher-up at Sling Media. They quote their source as recently stating, “iPhone and iPod touch are OS X devices, and we can write OS X apps with our eyes closed. It’s coming.” Further support comes from the report that Sling Media is among the developers in receipt of an early iPhone SDK tasting from Apple. Lack of 3G support on the iPhone will be a limitation of course, but iPhone 1 compatibility will mean a much shorter wait for iPhone 2 compatibility. Here’s the thing though…we’re pretty positive Sling Media did not in fact get an early look at the Apple iPhone SDK, and after talking to one of our sources at Sling, they’re just “poking around with the idea.”

[Via Boy Genius Report]

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The digital audio player market is….crowded, but what’s one more feature rich entry? Samsung has packed the YP-P2 with just about every feature imaginable. The biggest draw on this device is its creative implementation of Bluetooth. Using the player’s on board radio, users are able to interact with Bluetooth headsets, speakers, computers, and cell phones. If your phone has the correct Bluetooth profile you can even dial out and use the YP-P2 as a glorified address book and caller ID screen. Nice! Touch screen response is quick, and the video is nice, if a bit limited by the small 3″ screen. It supports a wide variety of audio and video codecs, and with 35 hours of audio playback you should be set for quite some time. It feels good in-hand, and is slim enough to slip into any pocket you can find. It’s available now in 4 and 8 GB versions, with a 16 GB version coming soon.

[Via Boy Genius Report]

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We had the opportunity to spend a bit of quality time with LG’s new Viewty handset today at CES. After a bit of menu and feature exploration, we can say that this is a pretty nice high-end feature phone. The Viewty’s biggest claim to fame is it’s optical lense and imaging features, which allow for 5 megapixel shots, 120 frames-per-second video capture, auto and manual focus, an 800 ISO mode, and onboard image stabilization. We don’t have any hard data to prove this, but image quality felt on-par (or perhaps even a bit better than) the camera on the Nokia N95. The menu system is classic LG: simple and straightforward. Haptics feedback provides ample tactile response from the touchscreen, and everything felt nice and quick. Overall, it gets our stamp of approval. Hit the gallery, guys!

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Looks like the folks at Samsung woke up on the right side of the bed this morning, and decided to gift us all with the SGH-F490. This handsome prada-esque set features full screen browsing on its 3.2 inch screen in both landscape and portrait mode, 5 mega pixel camera, 3.5 mm audio jack, 130 MB of internal storage, and memory expansion via microSD. The disappointing bit is that we’re only getting tri-band GSM / EDGE and HSDPA in the European 2100 MHz band. Price is set for for about €530 (roughly $780) and is expected to ship in February.

[Via Engadget Mobile]

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