RIM announced today its latest BlackBerry 9000, also known as the BlackBerry Bold. Due to its black color enclosed in a chrome border, it’s hard not to notice the similarity between it and the iPhone.

The BlackBerry Bold is not putting up a fight without being well-prepared. It has 3.5G HSDPA support, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, 480×320 resolution screen (twice the resolution of the most recent BlackBerry Curve), physical QWERTY keyboard, trackball located under the screen, full-featured desktop-style web browser, 2MP camera with video recording capabilities, built-in camera flash, and 5x digital zoom. Definitely a worthy competitor to the iphone.

Unfortunately for RIM, the BlackBerry Bold has yet to have an official launch date. The iPhone will be upgraded with new features very soon, and we don’t know how shiny the Bold would look by then.

Apple has signed deals with four major telecommunication companies in four countries to help the company surpass its iPhone sales goal of 10 million units by the end of 2008.

Singapore’s SingTel, India’s Bharti Airtel, Phillipines’ Globe Telecom, and Australia’s Optus, will begin carrying the iPhone “later this year.” A specific date has yet to be announced.

And it is safe to assume that the model would be a new 3G-enabled one, since 3G is the industry standard for this part of the world.

Good news for you patient ones still waiting for its official launch. Bad news for my soon-to-be-unexclusive iPhone.

In response to Apple announcing the iPhone being launched in Canada, the SmashOurStuff team assassinated an iPhone on the main stage (just prior to the 420 countdown) at the Toronto Freedom Festival/Global Marijuana March.

The fans were so hyped that somebody actually threw their iPod onto the stage to be destroyed as well!

The Glo Pillow is an alarm pillow that wakes you up gently with a gradually intensifying light. No more screaming alarm clocks! The LED light gradually increases in intensity for 40 minutes, simulating a real sunrise.

And when you lift your head off the pillow, it displays the current time in easy-to-read dot matrix fonts.

The pillow is still in prototype stage.

To stay loyal to the Apple gods means you have to live with the non-removable batteries on your iPods and iPhones. Bringing the USB cable along with you everywhere is good if you expect to have computer access to get some charge from its USB port, but not too helpful if you are out, let’s say, on a safari. In that case, the RichardSolo Smart Backup Battery is an indispensable accessory.

Features

• Made for iPod licensed 30-pin connector
• Compatible with iPod touch and all other iPod devices except for the iPod shuffle
• Gives you up to double the battery time
• Small and lightweight for pocket, purse or briefcase
• High-quality aluminum case virtually scratch-proof
• Snaps on to iPod instantly — no bulky cable
• Begins to charge your Apple device immediately
• Battery pack includes both AC adapter [110-240V] wall charger and USB retractable charging cable
• USB retractable cable connects Smart Backup Battery directly to computer’s USB port or AC wall adapter for convenient charging
• Charge the Smart Backup Battery and iPod together [the iPod will charge first and then the backup battery — the next morning both are completely charged]
• Lithium-ion technology does not develop “memory” so you can charge often
• Smart, automatic on/off charging technology protects the battery from overcharging
• Advanced circuitry keeps battery cool to touch
• Blue, green, red LEDs indicate charging status
• 90-day warranty from RichardSolo.com

Test Results

From a fully charged RichardSolo battery, it took about 1hr 18min to finish transferring all its power to the iPhone. Not too shabby in my opinion, as its compact size allows you to plug it in and put your gadget aside. And the charge brought the iPhone from about 5% of battery life to about 60%. Not as much as advertised, but useful enough.

Conclusion

So now, I have more battery life on my iPhone than before, allowing me to watch more YouTube videos and surf the internet for longer hours. I find it particularly useful for watching videos, as we tend to forget about the battery life as our eyeballs get glued to the videos, and you may run into the problem of a flat iPhone/iPod unintentionally. With the battery, you get an emergency reservoir of power to tap into.

For sale online at US$49.95.

Unlike the N9x series cellphones which are designed for multimedia of all sorts, the new Nokia N81 is focused on music. It does not have any fancy Carl Zeiss lens or GPS, but it does sport really loud stereo speakers, 3.5mm headphone jack, 8GB of internal memory for all your tunes, 3G, and WiFi.

It can be a decent gaming phone too, with its support for landscape orientation games and a D-pad suited for gaming.

Lastly, the Nokia N81 is configured to find and buy music and games from the Nokia Music Store and N-Gage games service. Sounds like a great integrated entertainment solution.

Price and Availability

US$499 for 2GB removable microSD memory model, US$599 for 8GB internal memory model. Fourth quarter of 2007.

Official Press Release

Nokia N81 and Nokia N81 8GB: Entertainment made simple
With dedicated music and gaming keys, 3.5 mm headphone connector and 3G and WLAN connectivity, the Nokia N81 multimedia computer is a true mobile entertainment powerhouse. With a sleek, polished surface and keys that light up when you activate them, accessing content on the 3D multimedia menu is fast and intuitive. Equally impressive, the Nokia N81 is configured to find, buy, manage and play music and games purchased from the Nokia Music Store and N-Gage games service. The estimated retail price of the Nokia N81 is 360 EUR before subsidies or taxes. The Nokia N81 8GB is expected to retail for 430 EUR before subsidies or taxes. Both versions are expected to begin shipping in the fourth quarter of 2007.

Nokia has announced a recall of 300 million of its batteries, which are manufactured by Matsushita between December 2005 and November 2006. This is due to over 100 overheating reports from around the world.

Fret not, HipTech readers never get cellphones exploding on them.

Affected model: Nokia BL-5C battery

This battery is used in the following Nokia handsets:

Nokia 1100, Nokia 1100c, Nokia 1101, Nokia 1108, Nokia 1110, Nokia 1112, Nokia 1255, Nokia 1315, Nokia 1600, Nokia 2112, Nokia 2118, Nokia 2255, Nokia 2272, Nokia 2275, Nokia 2300, Nokia 2300c, Nokia 2310, Nokia 2355, Nokia 2600, Nokia 2610, Nokia 2610b, Nokia 2626, Nokia 3100, Nokia 3105, Nokia 3120, Nokia 3125, Nokia 6030, Nokia 6085, Nokia 6086, Nokia 6108, Nokia 6175i, Nokia 6178i, Nokia 6230, Nokia 6230i, Nokia 6270, Nokia 6600, Nokia 6620, Nokia 6630, Nokia 6631, Nokia 6670, Nokia 6680, Nokia 6681, Nokia 6682, Nokia 6820, Nokia 6822, Nokia 7610, Nokia N70, Nokia N71, Nokia N72, Nokia N91, Nokia E50, Nokia E60

To verify if your particular unit is affected, check out Nokia’s Battery Replacement site.

O2 Cocoon is the latest on the growing list of designer cellphones. Phones that do not offer much in terms of feature, but sport really nice designs, such as the Nokia 8600 Luna, Nokia 8800, and the Vertu series. This one stands out from the crowd though, with its clean curves and attractive black-and-white color scheme. It’s hard not to like the looks of it!

Features:

• 2-megapixel camera with flash, digital zoom and auto-focus
• 2GB on-board memory
• 3G and videocalling
• MP3 player for up to 500 songs
• LED front display
• Docking station called the Nest
• External storage via microSD memory cards

Perhaps the most interesting feature of the phone is the hidden LED display on its outer shell. It displays “HELLO” when it starts up, shows who’s calling/texting, what music’s playing, or even the time. Neat!

Price from O2:

1. Free with £35/month, 18 month tariff
2. £159.99 with £25/month, 18 Month tariff
3. £299.99

Availability: Now

Features:
Network: UMTS / GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
Display: 2.2-inches 16M colors TFT (240 x 320 pixels)
Primary Camera: 3.2 megapixels (Carl Zeiss optics, auto-focus, video, flash)
Secondary Camera: QCIF (176 x 144) video-call camera
Dimensions: 96.5 x 46.5 x 16.4 mm
Weight: 125 g
External memory: microSD (TransFlash)
Internal memory: 20MB
Battery: Li-Ion (Stand-by time: 310hr, Talk time: 6hr)
Others: 3G, Bluetooth 2.0, microUSB, FM radio with RDS, TV-out

Price: ~US$370
Availability: 3rd Quarter 2007

Video review by PhoneScoop.com: