Tank Recon 3D now available for BlackBerry Bold 9900/9930 and Torch 9810/9850/9860

Tank Recon 3D first popped up over a year ago for the BlackBerry Storm2 and after a long overdue update is now available for the BlackBerry Bold 9900/9930, Torch 9810 and Torch 9850/9860. This first person tank shooter features real-time 3D graphics that make it one of the most fun games on the platform.

Piloting your new advanced tank, code named Alpha, you will be shooting it out with various units such as tanks, planes, AT guns and more. Fire your main cannon and watch as the enemy explodes into pieces. Use your guided missiles to bring down enemy planes or anything else that needs blowing up!

Tank Recon 3D allows you to choose between Mission and Survival mode. Jump right into the action with Survival mode and see how long you can survive. The longer you last the harder the enemy units become. When you're done, submit your high score to the Internet for bragging rights.

Play Story Mode to go on various missions that will ultimately decide whether you defeat the Evil Hepion forces or explode trying. Playing through the missions takes time and is no easy task but fortunately the game supports saving your progress at any point. If you do manage to complete the missions, try them again but this time choose Hard or even Mental!

I've been rocking Tank Recon 3D on my Bold 9930 for a few days now and I absolutely love it. The touchscreen controls are easy and super responsive and the game features loads of replay value. A new version for the BlackBerry Playbook should be on the way very soon as well. Hit the link below for more info.

More information/download of Tank Recon 3D

RIM shows off the BlackBerry Torch 9850 and 9860 in new commercial

RIM has posted up their latest commercial, this time showing off the BlackBerry Torch 9850/9860. The theme of the ad is "Break Free" and shows off some BlackBerry use to get away. This is the first ad we've seen dedicated solely to the all-touch device but most likely not the last. While it's been a bit overshadowed by the BlackBerry Bold 9990, this is a good reminder that the 9850 and 9860 are still out there :-)

BlackBerry J-Series Extra Battery Charger Bundle for Bold 9930 / 9900 and Torch 9850 / 9860

When I was using older devices I was always happy to have an extra battery at the ready thanks to my external charger. While the Bold 9780 didn't really need a spare battery given the great battery life, the BlackBerry Bold 9930 and Bold 9900 don't share the same luxury. There are plenty of ways to increase your battery life, but sometimes even that's not enough. Thankfully the BlackBerry J-Series Extra Battery Charger Bundle came to the rescue. This setup allows you to charge a spare battery at the same time you charge your device so you can always have a spare ready to go. 

The BlackBerry J-Series Extra Battery Charger Bundle for the BlackBerry Bold 9930 / 9900 and Torch 9850 / 9860 comes with everything you need to get rolling. Included is the external charger, microUSB splitter and spare JM-1 battery. The spplitter plugs into your current wall charger that came with your device so you can charge both your phone and the battery at the same time. You won't have to fumble for an extra outlet to charge this guy up so you'll save both time and effort. Drop the battery in the charger, plug it in and wait for the green light -- that's it! The battery charges up in about the same time as your phone (unless you use the PlayBook charger) and when it's done, just pull it off, stick it in your pocket, purse or briefcase and you'll have a fully charged spare battery ready to go. 

The BlackBerry J-Series Extra Battery Charger Bundle retails for $79.99 but you can get it for less at ShopCrackBerry.com. We're also giving away one battery charger bundle (details below). Keep reading for more images and info on this bundle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To me this set is a must have if you are a power user on the go. While the battery life on the Bold 9930 / 9900 and Torch 9850 / 9860 doesn't quite stack up to previous devices, you don't have to be left in the dark. Add this charger to your daily routine and you'll always have a spare battery on the go. You can even grab an extra extra battery and stay up and running even longer. 

 

To win a BlackBerry J-Series Extra Battery Charger Bundle of your own, just leave a single comment on this post letting us know how this bundle will help you day to day. Contest ends this Sunday at midnight PST.

 

Replacement Battery for BlackBerry Bold 9930 / 9900 and Torch 9860 / 9850

Hopefully thanks to our Ten Tips and Tricks to Extend Your BlackBerry's Battery Life article you're finding yourself able to get through the day on your new BlackBerry Bold 9930/9900 or Torch 9850/9860 with juice to spare.

If you're not finding that to be doable, you basically have two alternatives: re-charge part way through the day, or swap in a spare replacement battery. And as you might guess from the topic of this article, here we're talking about the latter, which is necessary if you're an always on the go type person.

The BlackBerry J-M1 battery is the standard battery that ships in the new BlackBerry Bold 9930/9900 and Torch 9850/9860. It's a super slim battery, allowing the new Bold to acheive the status of thinnest BlackBerry to date. That thinness comes with a cost though. Compared to the 1500mAH battery in the previous generation BlackBerry Bold 9780/9700, this battery clocks in at 1230mAH, which immediately means that all things being equal, you have 18% less power to work with.

The BlackBerry JM-1 Battery has a list price of $49.99, but you can get it for less at ShopCrackBerry.com. We're even giving away a chance for you to win one for free JM-1 battery (details below). Keep reading for more photos and info on this battery.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm obviously a BlackBerry power user and need to stay up and running all day, every day. Having an extra battery with me, especially when I'm traveling and tend to use my phone even more, makes that much easier and I don't have to worry about my device dying when I need it most. For the price it's really worth it to me to be able to stay charged that much longer and not have to search for somewhere to plug my device in. 

 

Want a chance to win a replacement battery for your BlackBerry Bold 9930/9900 or Torch 9850/9860? All you need to do is leave a comment to this blog post with your review feedback or letting us know how an extra battery would help you stay charged. Contest entry closes Sunday, September 11th at midnight PT. Please leave only one comment.

And the winner of a BlackBerry Smartphone of choice in our Twitter Contest is..

OK @crackberrykevin twitter followers.... the moment you've been waiting for is here. And the WINNER of a new BlackBerry 7 Smartphone of their choosing is......

CONGRATS Spencer! And big thanks to everybody who's followed and retweeted. I use a paid service to track the contest and pick the random winner. We had awesome up take on this one, so keep on following @crackberrykevin and @crackberry for more chances to win stuff.

And don't forget, you still have until the end of this month to leave a comment on our BlackBerry 7 Smartphone Contest. Go to that post now! Thanks again for participating in this one, and good luck!

 

Official OS 7.0.0.261 for the BlackBerry Torch 9850 available from US Cellular

 

Do you like having the latest (and possibly greatest) OS for your BlackBerry Smartphone, but hate the hassles involved with a leaked Operating System? Also, do you have a BlackBerry Torch 9850? Then you're in luck! US Cellular has released OS 7.0.0.261 as an official update for the smartphone. Remember that if US Cellular is not your wireless provider, you'll need to delete the Vendor.xml file before installing. As always, use caution when installing any OS on your device. If you need a bit more help, we have you covered.

Download this Official OS for the BlackBerry Torch 9850



Discuss more in the forums 

CrackBerry Contest: Win your choice of FREE BlackBerry 7 Smartphone!

The reviews are in, and it's unanimous... the new BlackBerry 7 Smartphones are the SWEETEST BlackBerry phones yet! So following up our reviews of the BlackBerry Bold 9900, BlackBerry Bold 9930, BlackBerry Torch 9860, BlackBerry Torch 9850 and BlackBerry Torch 9810 we're giving a lucky CrackBerry reader the chance to win one, free of charge.

HOW TO ENTER:  Just login to CrackBerry and leave us a comment to this post! In your comment, be sure to tell us which BlackBerry 7 Smartphone you want and why! 

Other Details: Contest is open worldwide. Entry deadline is Midnight ET on August 31st, 2011. Please leave only one comment to this post. We'll announce the winner September 1st here on the blogs.  Good Luck!

This contest is sponsored by ShopCrackBerry.com - the #1 for store for BlackBerry Accessories!

CrackBerry Poll: Which newly-announced BlackBerry 7 Smartphone are you most interested in?

As the Crack Team gets into review mode working on this wave of new BlackBerry 7 Smartphones hitting the market, I figured the timing made sense to get some feedback from CrackBerry Nation on where our priorities should lie. Obviously we're going to tackle every new BlackBerry with CrackBerry gusto, but we want to know - of the new BlackBerry 7 Smartphones announced, which one are you most interested in? 

Are you a keyboard kind of person so you're all about the new Bold? Or do you want to go full touchscreen and are most excited for the Torch 9850/9860? Or maybe you're a huge fan of the Torch 9800's sliding form factor, so are all about the 9810? Whichever one you're most interested in, cast your vote for it on the poll above and sound off in the comments with your reasoning.

NOTE: Yes, I realize I could have added other options to this poll like the upcoming Curve 9350/60/70 or an option that says I'm most interested in BlackBerry QNX Phones (I think we're all interested in that!), but I wanted to keep things limited here to the newly announced devices, as those are the phones we have/will have in our hands to play with over the days and weeks ahead.

Friday Fun: BlackBerry 7 Smartphone NickNames... We dub thee Bold 9900/Bold 9930 the Gretzky!

We recorded a CrackBerry Podcast earlier today, talking about all of the newly-announced BlackBerry 7 Smartphones. It's a fun show, so be sure to listen. But by the end of it, we realized we NEEDED to come up with some shorter nicknames for this next generation of BlackBerry Smartphones. Ater sixty minutes of CrackBerry talk tossing back names like Bold 9900, Bold 9930, Torch 9850, Torch 9860 and Torch 9810 we were getting tongue tied and parched lips. Back in June I wrote a ranty editorial titled Can we just call it the BlackBerry Bold Touch already? This Bold 9900 / Bold 9930 thing is driving me crazy! which highlighed my annoyance that in order to address the new Bolds in a technically correct way, I could never just say Bold 9900 (as that ignores it's CDMA counterpart the 9930). Oh if only there were a unique way to identify both devices in one sentence, life would be grand.

With the Bold Touch or Touch Bold sounding a bit too much like a bad porno, I've tried to let that name slip from my vocabulary. But on today's podcast we managed to wrangle up a fitting name for the Bold 9900 / Bold 9930... the GRETZKY! Think about it. Gretzy was #99 (9900), Canadian (BlackBerry is from Canada), RIM loves hockey (remember Jim Balsillie wanted to buy an NHL team) and Gretzky is the Great One, just as the Bold 9900/9930 is the greatest of the traditional BlackBerrys to date. So there ya have it... if you want a good, short and fitting nickname that encompasses the Bold 9900 and Bold 9930, just refer to the new Bolds as the Gretzky.

As for the new Torches, here's where we're at. Since the Torch 9800 was the first Torch, it's still the Torch to us. So we're calling the new Torches by their last two digits.  So we got the ten (Torch 9810), the fiddy (Torch 9850) and the sixty (Torch 9860).  And if you want to refer to both the Torch 9850 and Torch 9860 together, just call it the fiddy sixty, which is super fun to say.

So if you're going to hit the bar this weekend and the topic of RIM's new BlackBerry Smartphones comes up, make things easy and talk about the Gretzky, the ten, and the fiddy sixty. Have any better nicknames for these new BBs? Drop em in the comments!

The calm before the CrackBerry storm... get ready for it!

Enjoy the calm while it lasts... Things are about to get CRAZY CRACKY around here.

If you're a long time reader of CrackBerry.com you know what happens when a new BlackBerry Smartphone hits the market... we go nuts! And to think we're on the verge of a wave of new BlackBerry 7 Smartphones getting announced and hitting the market after jonesing so long I have a feeling things are going to get really cracky around here, really soon. Don't forget, there's a BlackBerry 7 fan night coming up tomorrow and knowing RIM's habits we can fully expect they'll officially announce anything new that may get shown off at the events prior to them getting underway.

With August here I'm so relieved the wait is *almost* over. Seriously, the last BlackBerry Smartphone review I posted was of the Bold 9780 and that was back in December 2010. Talk about new BlackBerry withdrawal! And while the BlackBerry Bold 9900's unveiling at BlackBerry World helped to satisfy my cravings for a few days, my thumbs have been twitching for months now in anticipation of getting a hold of some new BBs to call my own. And I can only imagine so many of you reading this feel the same way. But instead of feeling impatient and mad at RIM for taking so long, it's time to start enjoying the last few weeks on whatever BlackBerry you own now as you get ready to say farewell to it and upgrade to a BlackBerry 7 device.

We've got a TON of stuff planned for the upcoming weeks to ring in what really is the new BlackBerry Smartphone Year, so be sure to enjoy this last bit of calm before the BlackBerry storm rolls into town (no, not that Storm!). Before you know it, it's going to be raining new phones around here!

BlackBerry Torch 9850 Spotted With Sprint Branding

Starting to see a trend here? We are seeing more and more of these unreleased and even unannounced BlackBerrys as they get closer to launch. The latest is a BlackBerry Torch 9850 sporting Sprint branding this time instead of the AT&T branding we saw earlier today courtesy of N4BB. Nothing much else to see here but we already knew Sprint was carrying the 9850 so will you be picking one up?

More on BerryReview

Leaked Documentation Shows New Sprint Release Dates for 9930 9850 & 9350

We know practically everything we want to know about the upcoming device portfolio from RIM except for one thing: Release dates. We have some more insight into Sprint’s release dates for some of these upcoming devices thanks to BriefMobile (spotted by CrackBerry) that show the BlackBerry Bold 9930, BlackBerry Torch 9850, and BlackBerry Curve 9350 launching on August 21st. We have seen rumored release dates from Sprint in the past but hopefully these ones pan out.

More on BerryReview

BlackBerry Bold 9900/9930 & Torch 9850/9860 OS 7.0.0.261 Found Online

Its a good day for leaks if you have an unreleased BlackBerry Bold 9900 / 9930 or a BlackBerry Torch 9850 / 9860. Thanks to N4BB we have OS 7.0.0.261 for both device lines. We have no idea what these new OS’s bring but usually in the 200s or 300s we see a device starting to launch with that OS build.

Warning: This OS will not install on any other BlackBerry besides the one mentioned above and is not an official release.If you do not know how to upgrade your BlackBerry OS please start by reading this step by step guide.Don’t forget to delete the vendor.xml file located in c:program files>common files>research in motion>apploader to install it on a different carriers device. Don’t forget our usual warnings: do not download and install these updates if you don’t know what you’re doing. Incorrect procedure or just bad luck could render your BlackBerry inoperative or unstable.

More on BerryReview

US Cellular Getting BlackBerry Torch 9850 & Curve 9350 Soon

We already saw some details on the upcoming lineup hitting US Cellular but now we have some more info. The latest leaked/rumored slides confirm the BlackBerry Torch 9850 and BlackBerry Curve 9350 will be coming to US Cellular. Now we also know that the Torch 9850 will be launching in August and the BlackBerry Curve 9350 is coming in October.

Also thanks to the leaked slides we now have more confirmation that the BlackBerry Torch 9850 will actually be branded a Torch.

Via AndroidCentral/CrackBerry

More on BerryReview

US Cellular Rebate Shows BlackBerry Torch 9850 and Curve 9350

To confirm that Torch name we are seeing the BlackBerry Torch 9850 and BlackBerry Curve 9350 showing up on a rebate form for US Cellular. Both of the devices have yet to even be confirmed from RIM but we know they are coming. Its nice to see some more confirmation though and the lack of carrier exclusives.

via BBNews.pl

More on BerryReview

All Touch BlackBerry 9850 & 9860 To Carry the Torch Name?

 

While RIM is showing off the BlackBerry Bold 9900 they have not said much about the BlackBerry Torch 9810 update or the even more interesting BlackBerry 9850 and 9860. The 9850 and 9860 are the all touch devices that kind of look like the previous Storm devices. We have been hearing rumors that they will be carrying the Torch name even though they don’t have slide out keyboards. Paul from UpdateYourBlackBerry emailed one of his contacts at RIM about the branding and they more or less confirmed that the devices will carry the Torch name even though they resemble the Storm line more. They just want to give it a fresh start.

What do you think they should be called? I want RIM to take on mythology and call it the BlackBerry Zeus or Mars. Who knows what RIM Marketing will do with the name but it looks like they will be called the Torch for now.

More on BerryReview

BlackBerry Bold 9930, BlackBerry Torch 9850 (monaco) both headed to Sprint!

Some nice info was just dropped on us today for all you Sprint users looking to get ahold of a new BlackBerry in the next little while. The above list, clearly shows the BlackBerry Bold 9930 and BlackBerry monaco 9850 will be launched on Sprint soon but possibly more importantly -- it also gives us the go-to-market name for the monaco. If all is correct here, the BlackBerry monaco 9850 will be placed under the BlackBerry Torch branding when released.

So when exactly are these devices expected to arrive? Well, if you jump on past the break you'll see the release date for the BlackBerry Bold 9930 is tentatively set for August 21 while the BlackBerry Torch 9850 is still stuck in that to-be-determined area.