BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300 gets Official OS 6 from Mobilicity:
As expected, OS 6 for the BlackBerry
Curve 3G 9300
has been released, but not by Telus – rather, regional no-contract
carrier Mobilicity is the first one out of the gate with the upgrade.
OS
6 offers a lot of upgrades to the entry-level BlackBerry, like
universal search which helps you find stuff online and on your phone
just by typing from the home screen, a new WebKit browser for more
refined web page rendering, and a whole bunch of UI updates that makes
getting around a bit more enjoyable. As for the device, the Curve 3G
isn’t much to look at, but it does provide all of the core functions
you’d expect from a BlackBerry: Wi-Fi, 3G, GPS, a fixed-focus 2
megapixel (no flash), 2.4-inch QVGA display, 624 MHz processor, and 256
MB of RAM. It’s mostly just an iterative upgrade on the old
8500-series, but this OS upgrade will give it something the 8520 and
8530 doesn’t have.
The 9300 was announced with OS 6 compatibility
in mind, which lucky for 9300 owners wasn’t too long ago. Other
BlackBerry handsets have been getting their OS updates lately, like the
Bold 9650 and 9700,
leaving only the Curve 9100 unattended (though given the current pace
of updates, I don’t expect it’ll take too long for carriers to push out
OS 6 for it).
To get upgrading, you can download OS 6 for the BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300, and with a bit of fenagling, get it to work on your phone even if it’s not from Mobilicity. The CDMA version, the Curve 9330, was updated awhile back.
BlackBerry knocked out of Top-5 sellers by China' ZTE
China's ZTE Corp. has
replaced BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) among the world's
top five mobile phone sellers.
According to a
report released Friday by tech research company IDC, the low-priced
cellphone maker ZTE also pushed Apple to the last spot on the Top-5
list on the back its surging sales.
The report
"Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker'' said Apple was pushed from
the fourth slot to the last position despite shipping a record number
of iPhones during the fourth quarter.
BlackBerry had made to the IDC's Top-5 list only last April.
According to figures, Nokia remained the No. 1 mobile phone seller,
shipping 123.7 million units during the quarter even though its sales
declined 2.4 percent since last year.
However, Nokia still commands about 31 percent of the global smart phone market.
Shipping 80.7 million units during the period, Samsung was at the
second spot, with 20.1 percent share of the global market.
At 30.6 million units, LG Electronics also posted 9.7 decline in its sales since last year.
Riding on zooming sales of its low-priced mobile phones, China's ZTE
Corp. grabbed the fourth spot from Apple by shipping 16.8 million units
during the quarterly period.
With 16.2 million iPhone units shipped during the period, Apple came last on the Top-5 list.
However, with an annual growth rate of 86 percent, Apple continued its
hold over developed markets in North America and Europe, the IDC report
said.
Though Blackberry posted growth of 35 percent over the previous year, it was knocked off the Top-5 list.
"Change-up among the number four and five vendors could be a regular
occurrence this year. Motorola, Research In Motion, and Sony
Ericsson-all vendors with a tight focus on the fast-growing smartphone
market who had ranked among the top five worldwide vendors during
2010--are well within striking distance to move back into the top five
list," said Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobile
Devices Technology and Trends team, in a statement.
The IDC was bullish on both RIM and Apple in big markets like India,
China, and the Middle East. According to the report, 1.39 billion
mobile phones were shipped during the year ending Dec 31, 2010 - up
from 1.17 billion sold in 2009.
