If you though RIM was done with the mediocre Storm line of all touch phones, you’d be wrong. BGR has a new leak that purportedly shows the upcoming BlackBerry Storm 3. The leak includes both images, and a spec sheet. The device design is not a radical departure from what you may remember from the previous Storm devices. The touch screen has been bumped up to 3.7-inches and 800×480 resolution. It is listed in the docs as being capacitive only. It is unclear if the SurePress screen is gone, or this is just an omission.

The other specs of the device are actually rather encouraging. RIM will be using a 1.2GHz CPU of unknown make, a 5MP camera with 720p recording. 8GB of internal storage, 512MB of RAM, 2.4 b/g/n and 5GHz a/n Wi-Fi, and BlackBerry OS 6.1. The device is also listed as being HSPA/GSM, which would mean a departure from Verizon’s CDMA network. The exact frequencies were not available. 

BGR expects the Storm 3 to hit stores later next summer. But at that rate, other smartphones will be brushing our teeth for us. Do you think RIM has a shot with this one?

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Today at CES we got our first look at Blackberry’s Playbook Tablet, and color us impressed (the “screensaver” mode, in particular, looks amazing).  Don’t take our word for it though, check out this awesome device in action in the video below! 

Click here for more news and videos about CES 2011, the biggest event in consumer electronics!

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Ruh roh, Shaggy. If what we’re hearing from news and rumor site Fudzilla turns out to be true, Research In Motion’s upcoming PlayBook tablet could have a tough time taking on the iPad, Galaxy Tab, and every other slate. According to Fudzilla, battery life woes are proving to be a thorn in RIM’s side.

“Apparently, the issue stems from the adapted QNX OS that powers the new PlayBook tablet along with the fact that the OS was never really optimized for battery life,” Fudzilla explains. “To address this issue the engineers at RIM have had to adapt, refine and build new routines at low levels to allow the OS to only sip the battery power to extend battery life. Optimizing battery life isn’t an easy thing to do and takes significant time and work.”

This isn’t a death knell for the PlayBook, and most agree the device holds a lot of promise. But don’t rule out a delay, either. The last thing RIM wants to do is push out a half-baked tablet to go up against competing slates boasting 6-10+ hours of battery life.

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You might not have heard of the Astonishing Tribe (TAT). But if you carry an Android phone, you are enjoying their work. TAT designed the pull down notification bar that makes Android notifications so efficient. TAT has developed user interface paradigms for numerous companies, but now they will be lending their expertise to a single company: RIM. That’s right, the BlackBerry UI might be getting a lot more awesome now that RIM has acquired TAT.

On the RIM company blog, the company CTO David Yach said he was “excited” to have TAT joining RIM to work on both the BalckBerry Playbook and smartphones. This is great news for fans of the Canadian smartphone maker. While their business functionality has always been solid, a dated UI and lack of consumer features would be liabilities going forward. 

This does, however, mean that Android will have to soldier on without TAT’s UI prowess. How do you think this will affect the BlackBerry interface going forward?

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We can think of several items that should be included in the ultimate spy kit, most of them fake, but totally awesome gadgets conceived by Hollywood. Out in the real world, however, it’s those pesky BlackBerry devices that hav the United Arab Emirates in a tizzy.

Starting October 11, the UAE will block all BlackBerry email, messaging, and Web services so long as authorities are unable to access the encrypted data. Doing so will effectively hamstring about 500,000 local subscribers and have BlackBerry toting tourists thinking twice about their travel destination.

The reason for the hard stance has to do with concerns over espionage and fear of information sharing. Dubai’s police chief, Lt. Gen. Dahi Kahlfan Tamim said the restrictions are also “meant to control false rumors and defamation of public figures due to the absence of surveillance.”

The UEA isn’t alone here. India has given RIM 60 days to allow authorities to monitor BlackBerry traffic, while Saudi Arabia has concerns of its own, though did allow services to continue last month following “positive developments” in talks with RIM.

Image Credit: blackberrycool.com

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Early estimates of sales of RIM’s new Blackberry Torch are in, and could spell bad news for the company. Both RBC Capital Markets and Stifel Nicolaus have said AT&T only moved 150,000 units during launch weekend. Certainly it’s better than nothing, but RIM was in need of a hit, and this is looking like just another Blackberry launch. 

We’ve gotten used to a new phone being in short supply at launch; think iPhone 4 or Droid X. RIM may have been seeking that sort of impact by hosting a press conference with AT&T prior to the phone’s release. Reviews of the QWERTY slider have been tepid so far, with many complaining that the new Blackberry OS6 feels poorly implemented. 

With options like the iPhone and Samsung Captivate on AT&T, consumers might be walking right past the Torch. Have you laid hands on a Torch? How do you feel about it?

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One of the Blackberry’s number one selling features has just turned into a major negative, at least if the trend overseas continues. The hallmark of RIM’s success has always been its push notification and messaging services that are unmatched in the wireless industry, unfortunately, RIM also put itself in a position where it was handling all of the messaging traffic going across the network. This allowed them to offer unmatched end to end encryption, but has also now become a tempting target for governments wishing to snoop on the private data of its citizens, and RIM is co-operating.

According to notes obtained by the Wall Street Journal, negotiations between Research in Motion and India on July 26 set the framework for unfettered access to all messaging services, including those offered by third parties such as Gmail. RIM issued a statement on Thursday in an attempt to reassure its customers that it was negotiating with foreign governments “in the spirit of supporting legal and national security requirements, while also preserving the lawful needs of citizens and corporations.” It is unclear if RIM is still willing to relocate servers to government run facilities upon request, but it seems they are willing to do whatever it takes to avoid getting shut down.

Either way it appears as though governments will soon have the right to eavesdrop on secure communications sent over a Blackberry, let’s just hope it doesn’t open the floodgates.  

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