BlackBerry functions as a personal digital assistant with address book, calendar, memopad, and task list capabilities. It also functions as a portable media player with support for music and video playback and camera and video capabilities. BlackBerry is primarily known for its ability to send and receive (push) Internet e-mail wherever mobile network service coverage is present, or through Wi-Fi connectivity. BlackBerry phones possess a large array of messaging features, including auto-text, auto-correct, text prediction, support for many languages, keyboard shortcuts, text emoticons, and push notifications for many systems including email, Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, and Ebay; push instant messaging viaBlackBerry Messenger, Google Talk, ICQ, Windows Live Messenger, AOL Instant Messanger and Yahoo Messenger; threaded text messaging and a customizable indicator light near the top right of all BlackBerry devices. All notifications and conversations from applications are shown in a unified messaging application which third party applications can access. All data on the phone is compressed through BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS).
BlackBerry commands a 14.8% share of worldwide smartphone sales, making it the fifth most popular device manufacturer after Nokia, Samsung, LG, and Apple.[4] The consumer BlackBerry Internet Service is available in 91 countries worldwide on over 500 mobile service operators using various mobile technologies.[5]
Modern GSM-based BlackBerry handhelds incorporate an ARM 7, 9 or ARM 11 processor,[6] while older BlackBerry 950 and 957 handhelds used Mudit 80386 processors. The latest GSM BlackBerry models (8100, 8300 and 8700 series) have an Intel PXA930624 MHz processor, 256 MB (or 4 GB in case of the Torch 9800) flash memory and 265 MBSDRAM.[7] CDMA BlackBerry smartphones are based on Qualcomm MSM6x00 chipsets which also include the ARM 9-based processor and GSM 900/1800 roaming (as the case with the 8830 and 9500) and include up to 256MB flash memory.[8][9] The CDMA Bold 9650 is the first to have 512MB flash memory for applications. All currently manufactured BlackBerrys support up to 32GB microSD cards.
The operating system used by BlackBerry devices is a proprietary multitasking environment developed by RIM. The operating system is designed for use of input devices such as the track wheel, track ball, and track pad. The OS provides support for Java MIDP 1.0 and WAP 1.2. Previous versions allowed wireless synchronization with Microsoft Exchange Server e-mail and calendar, as well as with Lotus Domino e-mail. The current OS 5.0 provides a subset of MIDP 2.0, and allows complete wireless activation and synchronization with Exchange e-mail, calendar, tasks, notes and contacts, and adds support for Novell GroupWise and Lotus Notes. Blackberry Torch features Blackberry 6.
Third-party developers can write software using these APIs, and proprietary BlackBerry APIs as well. Any application that makes use of certain restricted functionality must be digitally signed so that it can be associated to a developer account at RIM. This signing procedure guarantees the authorship of an application but does not guarantee the quality or security of the code. RIM provides tools for developing applications and themes for BlackBerry. Applications and themes can be loaded onto BlackBerry devices through BlackBerry App World, Over The Air (OTA) through the BlackBerry mobile browser, or through BlackBerry Desktop Manager.
[edit]CPU
Early BlackBerry devices used Intel-80386-based processors.[10] BlackBerry 8000 series smartphones, such as the 8700 and the Pearl, are based on the 312 MHz ARM XScale ARMv5TE PXA900. An exception to this is the BlackBerry 8707 which is based on the 80 MHz Qualcomm 3250 chipset; this was due to the PXA900 chipset not supporting 3G networks. The 80 MHz processor in the BlackBerry 8707 meant the device was often slower to download and render web pages over 3G than the 8700 was over EDGE networks. In May 2008 RIM introduced the BlackBerry 9000 series which are equipped with XScale 624 MHz processors.[11]The BlackBerry Curve 8520 features a 512 MHz processor, while the Bold 9700 features a newer version of the Bold 9000's processor, but is clocked at the same speed.
