David Flynn06 November 2007, 2:55 AM
The next update to the BlackBerry OS will let you shoot videos on your BB Curve and record voice notes on your Pearl. Plus: the latest goss on the Pearl 2, which the tipsters expect something this month.
While rumours of the Pearl 2 (aka model 8130, codename Komet) continue to swirl around the Internet, BlackBerry parent company RIM is readying an update which will enhance the multimedia capabilities of the current 8100 Pearl and the 8300 Curve.
 L is for 'elegant': the new Dimension L theme from BlackBerry OS 4.3.1 |
Expected to see daylight by the end of this month, the BlackBerry OS 4.3.1 update lets the Curve record video onto a MiniSD card, with the Curve's digital camera flash toggled on to act as a bright light during the video recording session. The device's multimedia menu option also gains a new Voice Notes feature for recording random (or highly organised) thoughts.
The Pearl misses out on video recording but gets voice recording. We're not sure what affect the 4.3.1 update has on other models such as the 8700 and 8800 series, but they should at least be able to use the new BlackBerry ‘Dimension L' theme which places a row of shortcut icons along the bottom of the screen as well as up the left-hand side.
 Ooops: the BlackBerry Desktop Manager 4.3, leaked over the weekend from Vodafone's US Web site |
This update will be accompanied by version 4.3 of the BlackBerry Desktop Manager 4.3, which was accidentally leaked from Vodafone's Web site over the weekend -- click
here to download it, assuming it's still up by the time you read this (in which case it may also be being hammered by eager-beaver BlackBerry fans, so be patient, young Jedi).
We expect the Pearl 2, which US pundits say will launch this month, will ship with both the OS 4.3.1 and Desktop Manger 4.3 out of the box.
Rumours on the successor to the much-loved Pearl include Wi-Fi, a 3.2 megapixel camera, externally accessible MicroSD card slot and standard 3.5mm audio headphone jack -- all packed into a slightly smaller and sleeker shape that will hopefully ship in several colours apart the current black and white models. We're hearing red and blue, for starters. But as we said, those are the rumours: we'll share the facts as soon as we get ‘em.