As you know, the BlackBerry PlayBook is exhibiting as we speak at CES 2011 in Vegas.  RIM has made it possible for folks to touch and experience the device for a real hands-on experience, not like what we had at DEVCON 2010.  So it looks like sites who have reviewed and gotten a chance to experience the PlayBook have more positive things to say, as any complaints really exist only because the tablets are still in beta.  So here’s a quick round up of reviews and hands-on experiences for those of you interested in seeing what people think of the BlackBerry PlayBook.

• BlackBerry PlayBook hands on! | BGR
• CES: BlackBerry PlayBook (hands-on) | CNet
• CrackBerry’s BlackBerry PlayBook Review
• Gizmodo’s BlackBerry PlayBook Preview: The First Great 7-inch Tablet?
• RIM’s BlackBerry Playbook 4G Tablet at CES 2011: Hands On | PCMag

Although the BlackBerry Pearl 3G was originally announced at WES earlier this year, it only recently came to AT&T in the United States.  I won’t speak for everyone, but I was very excited to see a new generation Pearl launch with enhanced specs, and as we now know – supporting BlackBerry 6 OS.  I spent the last month testing the BlackBerry Pearl 3G 9100 full time, just to see how it suits me as I have become used to the Torch for a little while now.  Hit the jump for our full review.

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So there wasn’t much hype at all for the BlackBerry Curve 3G since it was looked upon as a fresher version of the 8500 series Curve which is not entirely false.  It is indeed a fresher version, but along with it comes a few goodies.  We see enhanced memory in the Curve 3G 9330 along with a new face lift – but keeping the same form factor and overall design.  So over the last few days, I used the BlackBerry Curve 3G 9330 full time seeing how the experience would be from entry level point of view.  Hit the jump for our full review.

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We’ve been waiting to get our hands on the BlackBerry Curve 9330, to see how much better it is than the previous BlackBerry Curve 8530.  So this morning we got a unit in and of course we’re jumping right into hands on experiences and reviews.  Over the last few days, we got a little buzz on the email from users asking what the big differences are between the two devices and I strongly believe many others are wondering as well.  So we’re going to get into it more  like a comparison to the 8530 and how it has evolved from it since that’s what many want to see. My first impressions on the device are going to be with the out of box OS which of course is 5.0.  We’ll round more up later with BlackBerry 6 so don’t worry folks! In any case, we just got the device and as we always do, we’ll be giving you the first impressions.  For a basic Berry, so far so good.  I’m liking it and will be using it over the next few days full time.  Hit the jump for thoughts on the look and feel.

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Over the past few days, we’ve been having quite some fun testing out the 2011 Ford Fiesta and seeing what its technology capabilities are.  So you’re asking why a BlackBerry oriented website is reviewing an automobile?  Well, we see a lot of cars these days communicating well with mobile phones, so Ford gave us this car to review.  At the moment Ford is very famous for its Microsoft SYNC system, which allows the vehicle’s head unit to communicate very well with media filled flash drives, MP3 players, and of course mobile phones.  Here of course we are completely focused on the BlackBerry.  Given that the BlackBerry Torch 9800 is the latest of the greatest from RIM, we decided to use it for this review as BlackBerry 6 is the next operating system and it would just seem “obsolete” to do it with OS 5.0.  Our adventures with the car were really fun, and it made us realize how much you can still enjoy your BlackBerry smartphone without physically holding it in your hand.  Continue reading for our full review.

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It’s been a really fun week testing out the BlackBerry Torch 9800.  Reviewing this device was unlike any other as everything from the hardware to the actual OS was all new to us, providing a different experience we haven’t had before.  For the past year, I had switched into a BlackBerry Storm 2 quite a few times just because it felt nice to have a touch screen BlackBerry.  Then there were other times where I quickly ran back to my Bold 9700 missing the feel of an actual keyboard.  Overall, the BlackBerry Torch 9800 is an excellent device for those who favor both touch screen and physical QWERTY along with a trackpad.  Here we give you a review of the device and our full yet realistic experience.

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The Application Management on BlackBerry 6 is awesome.  Finally RIM has added a live CPU monitor allowing you to trigger down what could be slowing your device down when experiencing issues.  It allows you to check out stats for that live moment, a day before, or for the full week.  But that’s not all.  You can swipe back and forth between different fields including CPU, Memory, Usage, Application Storage, and Applications.  You can change the time frame for all five of these and it’s just interesting to see even if you’re not having memory or lag issues.

So how is this menu accessed? Hit Options, then go to Device and there you will see Application Management.  Alternative? While you’re on the home screen, type in the all-in-one search “application management” and it will come up.  You don’t even have to complete the words since it will come up as you are typing.  In the search results you’ll see Options (1) come up.  Just click that and you’re ready to go.

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The all new Notifications page on BlackBerry 6 is definitely one of the best features I like about the OS and particularly on the Torch 9800 itself with the large screen display.  The Notifications page allows you to see everything going on all on one page.  Firstly, let me explain how easy it is to access at any time.  While on your home screen, simply click where your new alerted notification indicators are, and then the Notifications page rolls down smoothly (lagged a few times but it seems to be tip top now).  So what’s Notifications include? As you can see it includes calendar, messages, BBM, all your social feeds, and call log.  Having the large display allows you to see it all one one page while scrolling a bit up and down between different sections.  Each item can be clicked to view the full message or event.

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Just yesterday we finally go our BlackBerry Torch 9800 review unit shipped, only a few days before launch date.  Typically all over the web you’re seeing reviews that just seems so repetitive.  With that said, we decided to bring back what we did earlier in the year when we reviewed the Verizon BlackBerry Curve 8530 and posted up bits and pieces of different experiences and of course summed it all up in the end.  That way many of you aren’t easily bored by reading the same old over and over.

The “Day 1″ experience will be based off my experience yesterday as that was the first day.  Feel of the device was very exciting but we did get to play with it last week at the Torch event in NYC.  Having in your hand with all your own apps and data is a whole other ballpark.  So how can I sum up the full first day? It’s been pretty good so far.  Hit the jump for more.

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As the BlackBerry Curve 8530 is allegedly a basic model, it’s got some features that all the new and upcoming devices from RIM have.  One of which is the all new rubberized convenience and volume keys.  If you ask me, these rubberized keys look a lot sleeker than the cheap chrome buttons that wobble all over the place.  As Mac spent the past week using the device, I had to put some input of my own as I have an 8530 myself (was fortunate enough not to have it in purple).  The convenience keys don’t make loud noise or make it hard to press at all.  As seen in the picture, they are simple oval shaped wedges that pop out of the rubber all on the same surface.  The other side gets another convenience key as well.  This side seen shows two volume keys along with a convenience key underneath.

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