First it was a BlackBerry Bold purchased on eBay way before it was even launched and now someone is going to grab a BlackBerry Kickstart Pearl 8220. RIM’s first flip BlackBerry is currently listed on eBay for around $700 USD with just a little over two days to go. If you look at the pictures close enough you will notice its not a english version as the Suretype keyboard reads AZERTY, which is the french version of QWERTY. Anyways surprising enough RIM hasn’t had this auction pulled yet.

Check it out at eBay >>

Thanks Dee for sending this in!

So I know I’m not the first person to think about this but I change my BlackBerry about every 3-6 months. I also have come to get a lot of contacts on my BB Messenger. The biggest pain about changing BlackBerries is that everytime I do a backup/restore or switch device wizard my BB messenger contacts get all messed up.

Wouldn’t it be so much better if RIM designed BlackBerry Messenger to auto-sign into an account when your device is turned on, similar to RIM’s MSN, AIM, Yahoo!, or Google Talk applications. One PIN for life would be amazing!! Anyways its very rare I write little blurps like these on the site but I just think it would be such a great idea.

Anybody else agree?

Update: Looks like everything has been fixed up between Howard and MobiTV. MobiTV claims they never had intentions to try and shut down HowardForums, they simply just wanted to protect their product.

Do you experiance these Phantom Vibrates? We want to hear about it on the forums.  

NEW YORK (AP) — If your hipbone is connected to your BlackBerry or your thighbone is connected to your cell phone, those vibrations you're feeling in the car, in your pajamas, in the shower, may be coming from your headbone.

Cell phone users are reporting feeling vibrations even when their phones aren't ringing.

Many mobile phone addicts and BlackBerry junkies report feeling vibrations when there are none, or feeling as if they're wearing a cell phone when they're not.

The first time it happened to Jonathan Zaback, a manager at the public relations company Burson-Marsteller, he was out with friends and showing off his new BlackBerry Curve.

"While they were looking at it, I felt this vibration on my side. I reached down to grab it and realized there was no BlackBerry there."

Zaback, who said he keeps his BlackBerry by his bed while he sleeps, checks it if he gets up in the middle of the night and wakes to an alarm on the BlackBerry each day, said this didn't worry him.

"As long as it doesn't mean a tumor is growing on my leg because of my BlackBerry, I'm fine with it," he said. "Some people have biological clocks, I might have a biological BlackBerry."

Some users compare the feeling to a phantom limb, which Merriam-Webster's medical dictionary defines as "an often painful sensation of the presence of a limb that has been amputated."

"Even when I don't have the BlackBerry physically on my person, I do find myself adjusting my posture when I sit to accommodate it," said Dawn Mena, an independent technology consultant based in Thousand oaks, California "I also laugh at myself as I reach to unclip it (I swear it's there) and find out I don't even have it on."

Research in the area is scant, but theories abound about the phenomenon, which has been termed "ringxiety" or "fauxcellarm."

Anecdotal evidence suggests "people feel the phone is part of them" and "they're not whole" without their phones, since the phones connect them to the world, said B.J. Fogg, director of research and design at Stanford University's Persuasive Technology Lab.

"As human beings, we're so tapped into our community, responsiveness to what's going on, we're so attuned to the threat of isolation and rejection, we'd rather make a mistake than miss a call," he said. "Our brain is going to be scanning and scanning and scanning to see if we have to respond socially to someone."

In certain circles, phantom vibrations are a point of pride.

"Of course I get them," said Fred Wilson, a managing partner of Union Square Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm based in New York. "I've been getting them for over 10 years since I started with the pager-style BlackBerry."

For others, it's one more tech irritation.

Jeff Posner, president and owner of e-ventsreg.com in New Jersey, which allows users to register and check in for trade shows and other events, stopped wearing his BlackBerry on his belt because of regular false alarms. He put it in the chest pocket of his shirt but found that was worse, because now his phone dials automatically, which has created a new annoyance: It always calls the same person, he said.

"Phones have favorite friends," he said. "It's like your phones have a thing for each other. Of course, it's a female friend, so my wife is like, 'You're calling her all the time."'

Complicating things further, his own phone is his sales manager's favorite friend.

"Her phone calls me all the time," he said. "I'll get a call and hear whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. It's her, walking."

"Dilbert" cartoonist Scott Adams wrote on his blog, dilbert.org, that he feels the phantom vibrations, "about 10 times per day" and thinks "'Ooh, it's an e-mail with good news!' So far, the only good news is that my pocket is vibrating, and that's OK because it gives me hope that the condition might spread to the rest of my pants."

Jake Ward, a former press secretary for Sen. Olympia Snowe and current director of Qorvis Communications Inc., a public relations company in Washington, D.C., said he switched his BlackBerry from his hip to his jacket pocket six months ago, but still feels it there.

"Aftershocks," he said.

He also claims to "pre-feel" a new message or call. "I'll feel it, look at it. It's not vibrating. Then it starts vibrating," he said. "I am one with my BlackBerry."

For some, it's a matter of projecting hope onto their wireless device. Don Katz said he came out of retirement to work as director of wireline product management at SpinVox Inc. because he was so impressed with the company's voicemail product. He worked on its recent launch at SaskTel, the telecom company in Saskatchewan, Canada. That may be why, on a recent train trip to New York, he kept checking his phone, because he said he was sure it was vibrating.

"It's like, my phone should be ringing," he said. "It's anticipatory vibrations."

How many BlackBerries does one person need? Well Washington, DC mayor Adrian Fenty has three devices on him. Fenty is known to be a BlackBerry addict, recently he was spotted sporting the three devices (a 8800, Curve and 8700). You may wonder why he has so many devices? Well Fenty has one for his mayoral duties, one for personal stuff and one for the city's Police Chief to get in direct contact with him. What a popular guy.

Via CrackBerry 

• 59% of Americans check their email in bed
• 53% of Americans have checked their email in the bathroom
• 37% of Americans check their email while they drive
• 43% check email first thing in the morning
• 83% check email while on vacation
• Average users check their email at least 5 times a day

Oh and the top ten cities in the United States who are addicted to email most are:

1. Washington, D.C.
2. Atlanta, GA
3. New York, NY (Sorry, BG)
4. San Francisco, CA
5. Houston, TX
6. Los Angeles, CA
7. Seattle, WA
8. Orlando, FL
9. Denver, CO
10. Miami, FL

It seems that all accounts we’re upgraded to BlackBerry Internet Service 2.3 yesterday. We have confirmed via Telus Mobility that RIM upgraded to BIS 2.3 and now supports new features. New features included:

• Added support for Gmail and Yahoo! mail accounts - Two-way, synchronization of deletes to and from the Yahoo! Mail® inbox, as well as two-way, virtual real-time, synchronization of message status (read/unread), Virtual real-time delivery of Gmail messages.
• Auto fowarding - Copies of email messages that are sent to a clients’ TELUS BlackBerry email address (i.e. username@telus.blackberry.net ) can be automatically forwarded to another third-party web mail account (such s Yahoo! Mail or Google Mail).
• Attachment viewing - View popular attachment formats on the move, including JPEG, BMP, TIFF, RTF, Microsoft® Word, Excel and PowerPoint®, Corel WordPerfect and Adobe PDF. PowerPoint presentations and PDFs can be viewed in a convenient slideshow format.

From the Telus internal memo:

How to get it

a) New BlackBerry devices
Starting June 2, 2007 all new BlackBerry devices will come with BIS v2.3 features.

b) Upgrading existing clients from BIS 2.1 clients to BIS 2.3
If a client is on BIS 2.1 they will automatically be upgraded to BIS 2.3 on June 2 – no
action is required.

c) Upgrading existing clients from BIS 1.8 clients to BIS 2.3
If a client is on BIS 1.8 they need to log onto their BIS account by visiting
www.telusmobility.com/blackberryemail and accept the invitation to upgrade to BIS

Note: Clients can check what version of BIS they have by logging onto the BIS site.
If they are on 1.8 there will be a message asking them to upgrade to 2.3. If they are
in 2.1 or 2.3 there won’t be any message.

Palm is reporting that they will be announcing a new mobile device tomorrow (May 30th). Palm will announce the device at the D: All Things Digital conference in Carlsbad, California.

Stay tuned to see what it is…

The CrackBerry team has reviewed a very neat case for the BlackBerry. The OutterBOX BlackBerry cases are available for both the 8700 and 7200 series models. It encases your device making it dust, drop and crush proof in a polycarbonate/ABS body. The best part is you can still do everything with your device such as send/receive calls, write messages and charge it.

The “stylish” OutterBOX case will cost you a whooping $129.99 USD however it’s a great idea for protection in heavy duty environments. Check out OutterBOX.com for details and other cases for iPods and Treo’s just to name a few.

RIM has uploaded their latest version of BlackBerry Desktop Software (4.2). The new desktop software version 4.2 allows you to use BlackBerry® Desktop Media Manager for your multimedia enabled BlackBerry device such as Pearl, Curve, 8800, 8830, etc.

Download it here

BlackBerry Desktop Software lets you:

• Synchronize your email and organizer information (calendar, contacts, memos and tasks) between your BlackBerry smartphone and your PC
• Load new applications and upgrades from your PC to the BlackBerry smartphone
• Back up any important information from the smartphone to your PC or restore previously-saved files back to your BlackBerry smartphone
• Transfer files between your computer and your BlackBerry smartphone’s internal memory or optional media card external memory (when you’re running BlackBerry Desktop Software v4.2 and BlackBerry® Device Software v4.2)
  • Now with Desktop Software v4.2 SP2, you can use the BlackBerry® Desktop Media Manager that comes with your smartphone for quick CD ripping, converting and transferring your music and video files to your smartphone. Learn more about the BlackBerry Desktop Media Manager.
• Migrate data from a BlackBerry smartphone, Palm ® Treo or Windows Mobileâ„¢-based device to a new BlackBerry smartphone (when you’re running BlackBerry Desktop Software v4.2.)