Items tagged with BlackBerry
If you want to be stealthy, perhaps not wearing a hot pink suit is a good choice. When it comes to cybersecurity, avoiding computer languages that people have come to know and recognize is a good idea as well. Threat actors have seemingly figured out the latter as some malware has now been built using “exotic” programming languages to better avoid security protections, analysis, and slow the reverse engineering process. As Eric Milam, VP of Threat Research at BlackBerry, explains, “Malware authors are known for their ability to adapt and modify their skills and behaviors to take advantage of newer technologies.” This includes adapting to “less prolific programming...
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It isn’t often that you can bring something back from dead, moreover, multiple times. For BlackBerry, though, this isn’t the case. BlackBerry is partnering with OnwardMobility and FIH Mobile Limited (a Foxconn brand) as they plan to make a comeback with 5G capable device that features a physical keyboard in 2021. Earlier this year, TCL and Blackberry parted ways after a deal was struck in 2016 between the two companies. The devices that were produced in that agreement, though, just couldn’t compete with the likes of Samsung, Huawei, and OnePlus to name a few. The events of 2020 and COVID-19 could not be foreseen, and now, business professionals are looking for devices they can...
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It looks as though it's the end of the line for BlackBerry smartphones, as the company’s existing licensing deal with TCL Communications is coming to an end on August 31st 2020. TCL first entered into to an agreement in December 2016 to license the BlackBerry name for a family of smartphones in the KEY Series. Since that initial agreement, TCL has produced the BlackBerry KEYone, Motion, KEY2 and KEY2 LE. However, in a smartphone market that is dominated by the likes of Samsung, Apple, Huawei and Xiaomi, what was once the go-to choice for consumers and professionals in the early smartphone days is now just a faint memory to most. pic.twitter.com/jhcfVHjVqL— BlackBerry...
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Is your Bluetooth connection secure? Researchers recently discovered a Bluetooth vulnerability that could allow hackers to intercept and manipulate a user’s communications. The researchers tested and found seventeen vulnerable Bluetooth chips in devices from companies such as Intel, Apple, Lenovo, and Qualcomm. The findings were presented at the USENIX Security Symposium by researchers from the Center for IT-Security, Privacy and Accountability (CISPA). The vulnerability has been nicknamed “Key Negotiation Of Bluetooth” or “KNOB”. Every time two Bluetooth devices establish a connection, they also create a new encryption key. Unfortunately, not every device has a...
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Fans of the defunct Blackberry Passport who fancy the idea of a similar device that runs Android will want to check out the new device from a company called Unihertz. The smartphone is the Unihertz Titan, and it looks almost just like the classic Passport device. Unihertz is billing the smartphone as "unbreakable" and is aiming it at working pros, outdoor enthusiasts, and physical keyboard fans. The device is going to head to Kickstarter, meaning there is no guarantee it will ever be made. Unihertz has shared some details on the device, like its 4.5-inch 1440x1440 IPS LCD and its giant 6,000 mAh battery. The smartphone also has a dual-SIM slot and global LTE support along with wireless charging....
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When it comes to smartphones, it seems as though the downfall of the [mobile] physical keyboard was inevitable with the arrival of the original iPhone in 2007. However, 11 years later, BlackBerry is still producing smartphones with a physical keyboard, the latest of which is the Key2. The Key2 is the successor to the KEYone, and features a slimmer top bezel and keys that are marginally larger for an improved typing experience. The overall physical dimensions are smaller than the KEYone and it takes on a more refined, svelte appearance. Given that the keyboard is not moveable (like the Priv) you won't find a massive screen on the Key2. Instead, you'll have to make do with a 4.5-inch display...
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BlackBerry has seen better days, but it is trying to prove that it still has some life left in it by suing one of the biggest names in tech: Facebook. BlackBerry alleges that Facebook is infringing on its patents relating to BlackBerry Messenger (BBM). According to the Canadian company, it has been in talks with Facebook for several years over coming to an agreement on the use of the patented technology, however, BlackBerry feels that it has come to an impasse. BBM was an early way for BlackBerry users to send text messages (including images) to other BlackBerry uses while bypassing carrier fees. BBM originated at a time when carriers were still charging customers on a per-message basis, or bundled...
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The phone formerly known as Krypton has not officially launched as the BlackBerry Motion. Though you will not find any reference to the new handset on BlackBerry's website, the company announced its newest smartphone at GITEX Technology Week, with a shout out to TCL Communications, its manufacturing partner. BlackBerry also confirmed that its Motion handset wields a capacious 4,000 mAh battery. By tasking TCL with manufacturing chores, BlackBerry frees itself to focus on software and enterprise-level security features. The side effect is that BlackBerry might not be able to supply as many handsets as it wants, at least initially.Image Source: CrackBerry via BlackBerry "The launch of BlackBerry...
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The company that once upon a time was known as Research in Motion (RIM) is getting ready to release a new smartphone, the BlackBerry Motion. Known internally as Krypton, what looks to be an official press rendering of the new handset has found its way to the web, courtesy of Evan Blass (who else?), otherwise popularly known on Twitter as @evleaks. In an exchange on Twitter that follows his post, Evan alludes to the BlackBerry Motion not being a flagship handset. Previously leaked specs back the assertion—the BlackBerry Motion is said to feature an all-touch front display with a Full HD 1080p (1920x1080) resolution powered by a mid-range Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 or newer 626 processor and 4GB of...
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We have not heard a whole lot from BlackBerry lately, but if you're rooting for the Canadian smartphone maker, you'll be happy to know that it has not thrown in the towel. Just the opposite, it prepping the release of another smartphone with a physical QWERTY keyboard. Called the KEYone (previously known as Mercury), it will officially be on sale in Canada next month at Bell, Bell MTS, Rogers, SaskTel, and TELUS Business starting at $199 CAD on a two-year term, manufacturer TCL announced today. "After all the anticipation and positive response received from the BlackBerry community on the BlackBerry KEYone, it’s an honor to offer this all-new Android-powered BlackBerry smartphone to customers...
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It has been quite the tumultuous journey for BlackBerry, the company formerly known as Research In Motion (RIM). After a series of failed attempts to claw its way back into relevance through various hardware releases and software strategies, BlackBerry sort of faded from view, at least in the media. What actually happened is that it pivoted to software almost exclusively, and found a potentially winning strategy in the process. BlackBerry's latest financial results are promising. In the company's fourth quarter of fiscal 2017, it raked in $297 million, racing past the average estimate by analysts of $289.3 million. Of that tally, $193 million came from its software and services business. With...
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BlackBerry isn’t ready to completely throw in the towel on the smartphone market just yet. Even though its market share has fallen to below one percent in recent years, BlackBerry is still soldiering forward with a new Android-based smartphone. First officially unveiled in prototype form at this year’s CES (and leaked weeks prior), BlackBerry confirmed this week that the ‘Mercury’ will launch on February 25th at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Those of you expecting a flagship-level smartphone may be disappointed. The Mercury is rumored to ship with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor, 3GB of RAM, 3,400 mAh battery and will feature a 4.5-inch display. When it comes to cameras,...
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If you’ve been longing for an Android smartphone that has a built-in QWERTY keyboard, but weren’t too impressed with BlackBerry’s Priv, the Canadian company is apparently back at it again with a new QWERTY model. But unlike the Priv, whose slider keyboard could be stowed when not in use, the new Mercury smartphone has a fixed keyboard directly below the display. Unfortunately, we don’t have much to go on other than the two images below of the device that showed up on Weibo over the weekend. You can take this news with a grain of salt for now, but it does at least seem to confirm Blackberry CEO John Chen’s comments that his company was developing another in-house smartphone with a keyboard....
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BlackBerry is no longer designing and manufacturing its own smartphones, which means that we’ll no longer see daring designs like the Priv or Passport. What this does mean, however, is that those that are still firmly in the BlackBerry smartphone camp will instead get “new” devices that are essentially recycled designs from other OEMs. In this case, BlackBerry’s newest DTEK60 flagship is manufactured by Chinese OEM TCL and bares more than a passing resemblance to the Alcatel Idol 4S. The DTEK60 is by no means a slouch in the specs department, as it features a 5.5-inch QHD (2560 x 1440) display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor with 4GB RAM, and 32GB of internal storage. If 32GB isn’t enough...
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If you liked recent, unique smartphone designs like the Passport and the Priv, you won’t be seeing anything like them in the future from BlackBerry. Buried in the company’s fiscal Q2 2017 earnings report is news that BlackBerry is exiting the hardware business and will instead “outsource that function to partners”. This should come as a surprise to no one that has followed BlackBerry since John Chen took the helm. In early April, Chen boldly stated that he would sever BlackBerry’s hardware division if it wasn’t profitable by September. Given that BlackBerry has less than 1 percent of the global smartphone market according to recent estimates (with shipments quickly dwindling), it was a foregone...
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Last week we reported that Apple’s self-driving car project, code-named “Project Titan”, was experiencing a big shakeup. This week, however, it seems that Apple is trying to get the ball, or should we say tire rolling. Apple, has hired former QNX co-founder and chief executive officer Dan Dodge in order to further the project. Dodge is now part of a team headed by former Apple hardware chief Bob Mansfield. Dan Dodge at DevCon 2010Dodge co-founded QNX in 1980 as a student at the University of Waterloo in Canada. The company was sold to Harman International Industries Inc. in 2004 and then Blackberry in 2010. QNX makes connected-device systems for Volkswagen AG, Daimler AG, Ford Motor Company....
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Although BlackBerry has definitely seen better days, that isn’t stopping the company from pushing ahead with new Android-based smartphones following the late 2015 launch of its Priv flagship. We’ve known for quite some time that BlackBerry has three new Android devices in development, and the company today announced the first of those devices, the DTEK50, which will be available for $299 unlocked from both T-Mobile and AT&T beginning August 8th. DTEK50, which was previously known by its "Neon" codename, doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue like Neon. And BlackBerry fans looking for a high-octane, next gen flagship will have to wait a little longer, as the DTEK50 is firmly entrenched in the...
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Just before the holiday weekend started, there were some fireworks going off in BlackBerry land when word leaked out that U.S. Senate staffers would no longer have access to the company’s smartphones. It was reported that there were only 600 BlackBerry devices on hand, and once that inventory was depleted, staffers would have to choose from Android and iOS-based alternatives. Rather than let this report stew any further, BlackBerry took to its blog to help clear the air a bit regarding its smartphone production. While the original report indicated that Verizon and AT&T were suspending production of all BlackBerry OS 10 devices (Q10, Z10, Z30, Passport and Classic), BlackBerry has clarified...
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The reign of the Blackberry on Capitol Hill has come to an end. Blackberry phones had long been the phone of choice for members of Congress, but Blackberry recently informed Verizon and AT&T that production of all BlackBerry OS 10 devices has been discontinued. BlackBerry’s smartphone market share was below 1% this past year, and the company sold just 500,000 units by May 31st while Apple sold 51.2 million units through March 26th. Why then are Blackberry smartphones so popular among members of Congress and their staff? The long battery life, an email-heavy focus, and an easy to use interface appeals to Capitol Hill dwellers.As of early 2015, President Barack Obama was still using a BlackBerry....
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It hasn't been a rough stretch for BlackBerry over the past several years. The once dominant smartphone outfit has tried numerous strategies to claw its way back to relevance—a name change, new CEO, inevitable layoffs, and more recently going all-in with Android. Unfortunately, nothing seems to be working for BlackBerry, and its flagship Priv handset isn't the savior the company hoped it would be.An executive at AT&T who asked not to be blamed put it rather bluntly when speaking with CNET, saying the Priv is "really struggling." The executive noted also noted that AT&T is seeing more returns on the device than it anticipated. That's something BlackBerry should be worried about, especially...
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PayPal is making quite a few changes this June. Customers using older versions of the PayPal mobile app on Android and iOS will be required to upgrade to version 6.0 Starting on June 3rd through June 30th. They are also discontinuing PayPal app use for Windows Phone, Amazon Fire, and Blackberry. Joanna Lambert, PayPal Vice President of Global Consumer Product and Engineering, stated, “It was a difficult decision to no longer support the PayPal app on these mobile platforms, but we believe it’s the right thing to ensure we are investing our resources in creating the very best experiences for our customers. We remain committed to partnering with mobile device providers, and we apologize for...
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Apple has been in the spotlight for the past few months due to its defiance of FBI requests to unlock an iPhone 5c at the center of an ongoing investigation. The US Government contended that Apple should comply with a lawful request that was in the interest of national security, while Apple pushed back, stating that the order not only went against its ideals but would appall the Founding Fathers. The US Government eventually dropped its case against Apple the day before both were to appear in court after a third-party was able to assist in unlocking the iPhone 5c in question. Although this matter appears to be settled for now, the debate over complying with government requests still wages on....
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