It’s a bit mysterious to know exactly what RIM and T-Mobile are up to here.  According to TmoNews who received the leaked invite image, the event will feature “sneak preview of Blackberry’s latest and upcoming technology.”  At the same time, we see a BlackBerry 7 logo on the invitation which throws us off a bit.  Will we be seeing more BlackBerry 7 devices or is this for BlackBerry 10 smartphones?!

BlackBerry 7 and 7.1 OS Achieve FIPS 140-2 Certification

Waterloo, ON – Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today announced that BlackBerry® smartphones running on the powerful new BlackBerry® 7 and BlackBerry® 7.1 Operating Systems (OS) have been awarded FIPS 140-2 certification by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC). FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standard) 140-2 is recognized by the U.S. and Canadian governments and is required under the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA).

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So RIM does not exactly have the BlackBerry Theme Builder updated for OS 7 just yet.  Instead, they are encouraging the unofficial hack for Theme Studio which theme builders have been using for a few months now to get themes running on OS 7 devices.  You can see a whole section now available in BlackBerry App World.  Some are familiar as we’ve let you know on their releases in the past.  The P’9981 theme even got approved!

BlackBerry 7 users have been left out of themes since launch.  Apparently there were issues building themes and releasing an appropriate theme builder for the operating system.  Shortly folks found a way around it and have released a few themes for OS 7 devices.  RIM stated on Twitter yesterday that they will be making announcements this month on themes for BlackBerry 7 devices.  We’re coming along towards the end of the month now, so we should be seeing announcements made anytime soon.

Magmic has done it again and launched another theme compatible with BlackBerry 7 smartphones.  If you feel left out in the theme department, check this new one out.  Cosmos is a outer space style theme with home screen icons offered diagonally and all your notifications on the left side of the screen.  Might not be the exact theme you’re looking for but it’s still a nice face lift for your BlackBerry.  Check it out and download it for free at BlackBerry App World.

Download Cosmos >>

Thanks ecivon for the tip!

RIM has anounced five new BlackBerry 7 smartphones in Philippines this week.  Those devices are the BlackBerry Bold 9790, Curve 9380, Torch 9810, Torch 9860, and the white Bold 9900.  Devices will be available today in stores of the region.  Below is the full press release from RIM.

 

BlackBerry Bold 9790, BlackBerry Curve 9380, BlackBerry Torch 9810, BlackBerry Torch 9860 and Pure White BlackBerry Bold 9900 available in stores January 13

Manila, the Philippines – Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today announced the launch of five new BlackBerry® smartphone models based on the BlackBerry® 7 Operating System (OS) in the Philippines. The latest additions to the BlackBerry 7 product lineup are BlackBerry® Bold™ 9790, BlackBerry® Curve™ 9380, BlackBerry® Torch™ 9810, BlackBerry® Torch™ 9860 and BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900 in Pure White. The five new smartphone models are expected to be available from carriers and authorized retail channels in the Philippines on January 13.

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NFC-enabled smartphones from Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, and Research In Motion approved for use with Visa payWave, Visa’s mobile application for payments at the point-of-sale

SAN FRANCISCO, January 10, 2011 — Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) and Visa Europe today announced that NFC-enabled smartphones from Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Research In Motion (RIM) have been certified for use with Visa’s mobile application for payments at the point-of-sale, Visa payWave. The Samsung Galaxy SII, LG Optimus NET NFC, BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900, BlackBerry Bold 9790, BlackBerry® Curve™ 9360 and BlackBerry Curve 9380 have been added to the list of Visa compliant payment products available for commercial deployment by financial institutions.

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Managing your panels is definitely an awesome feature in BlackBerry 7 OS.  OS 6 was great, but the downfall was that you had panels which you might not of wanted to be there.  Some users prefer to be classic with just one single panel.  Either way, it’s quite simple to do and here’s how.

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Last week CarrierIQ was definitely among one of the bigger trending topics when it comes to the mobile industry.  CarrierIQ was claimed to be existent in all mobile devices where carriers would be able to snoop messages sent received for their customers.  BlackBerry smartphones were accused to have CarrierIQ software, but RIM suggested that they do not install any of that on their smartphones.

TmoNews published a document today showing that CarrierIQ software is installed on the BlackBerry Curve 9360, Bold 9900, and Torch 9810.  But T-Mobile claims it is not snooping on what you’re doing.  This is what’s mentioned in the document:

• Battery performance: If a customer’s device battery appears not to be holding a charge, T-Mobile can determine if the issue is the battery, charger or device
• Dropped calls: If a customer attempts to make a call and the call fails, T-Mobile can determine whether the cause was the handset or the network
• Application failures: If a customer uses an application, preinstalled or downloaded from a third-party marketplace, and the app fails, T-Mobile will be able to troubleshoot that app failure, which may be perceived by the customer to be the device freezing/crashing

Does the info drive you away from T-Mobile or not concern you at all as a customer?

BlackBerry Protect just got an update to version 1.1.1.50 today.  The update is for BlackBerry 7 OS devices only!  Unfortunately there is no change log- all we see is the message that reads “BlackBerry Protect version 1.1.1.50 is an update for BlackBerry 7 devices only.” If you spot anything new here, let us know!  It looks like the new version is not listed in BlackBerry App World web store but if you head over to App World from your BlackBerry and refresh, you should see it roll out.