ICQ for BlackBerry - November gift for MTS users

    Hurrah! We did this - we released an ICQ client for BlackBerry smartphones. In Russia, so far for subscribers of only one operator, MTS, but the dashing trouble has begun.
    I’ll be honest, the client isn’t very cool. "ICQ" for BlackBerry has standard functions: sends and receives messages, photos, changes statuses and so on. However, the non-standard platform more than compensates for the standard functionality of our product. And in order to better explain all its dissimilarity to others, I'll start with a brief digression into the history of the creation of BlackBerry.

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    A small device that captured the world of
    Alistair Sweeny

    The BlackBerry smartphone is not just a cult device from the Canadian company Research In Motion (RIM). In the age of high technology, this device has captured the minds and souls of millions of people on Earth, so a manufacturing company may well fall under an article for organizing a sect and introducing idolatry. However, the minds and souls are given to BlackBerry completely voluntarily, consciously and for a lot of money. Why do they love BlackBerry?

    The “berry” name of the smartphone did not appear by chance. Initially, the device wanted to call LeapFrog - a hint of a technological leap into the future. But later, RIM chose another option from Lexicon Branding Inc. - The company that gave the names to products such as Intel Pentium and PowerBook. One Lexicon employee noticed that the small buttons on RIM's devices looked like “small strawberry seeds.” However, it was decided that the straw sounds too sluggish, viscous. But the proposal from another company employee - to name the device blackberry ("blackberry") - RIM found it more suitable. By the way, the plural of the word “BlackBerry” sounds like “BlackBerries”.

    The past and present of this miraculous device is described in detail by Canadian historian Alistair Sweeny in the book BlackBerry Planet: A History of Research In Motion and a Small Device That Captured the World. In it, the author tracks the evolution of the company itself, the main ideologist of Mike Lazaridis and the BlackBerry device from wooly times to the present. For those who have not read this book and are not going to, I will give a brief summary.

    The history of the “blackberry” began in 1997, when the Inter @ ctive Pager was launched on the market - a pager with a large screen, the main function was the possibility of corporate communication. The first model of the BlackBerry communicator under the code 850 was introduced in 1999. In addition to the instant messaging function, it was attended by an organizer, calendar and wireless Internet. It's funny that the 850 model, having the ability to work with wireless networks, was powered by 2 finger batteries and did not have a built-in microphone and speaker. Communication was possible only with a headset. Nevertheless, in 2005, PCWorld magazine included it in the TOP 50 of the best devices of the 20th century.

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    In the following years, the design and filling of the BlackBerry underwent a significant upgrade: the display size increased by 2 times (from 6–8 line and 16–20 line), a rechargeable Li-On battery appeared, and the flash memory increased from 4Mb to 8Mb, and the amount of SRAM-memory - from 512Kb to 1Mb. The number of mailboxes that could be added to the communicator was also increased - up to 10 different email addresses. However, to imagine the appearance of the “blackberry” of the last decade, just look at the current model: design is one of the constant “chips” of this smartphone.

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    The early models - the 5000th and 6000th (the beginning of the 2000s) - worked under the Intel 80386 processor and were typical for the GSM market. With the growth of CDMA networks in the United States, RIM has released the BlackBerry 6750 with support for third-generation communications standards. In later models, RIM used 312 MHz processors from Intel PXA901, 64 MB flash memory and 16 MB RAM. And in modern models, an ARM 7 or 9 generation processor is used.

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    A characteristic feature of all BlackBerry models is the QWERTY keyboard. At one time, RIM, in an attempt to gain the loyalty of fans of the “flip”, tried to change the familiar QWERTY to a small-format “clave”. In 2004, the company released the 7100t, a feature that became a keyboard with two letters or symbols on each button. This significantly reduced the size of the phone just to convenient pocket size.

    The new keyboard is named SureType. But she did not last long on products from RIM, which sought not to cut the keyboard, but to make it more ergonomic. So, the later BlackBerry Pearl model had a convenient trackball instead of a lateral “jack dile”, which quickly came to the taste of BlackBerry fans because of the ability to control with one hand.

    And a little about the evolution of BlackBerry. So, the first model with a color screen was the 7200th, the 7250th device received Bluetooth, and the 7270th model turned out to be a WLAN device: it supported VoIP (Voice over IP) calls (Internet telephony).

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    The 8000 series - before Pearl - for many was a discovery, if only because it had a Wi-Fi module. In addition, RIM within the 8700th series released three types of smartphone: for working in GSM networks with EDGE support, for GSM without EDGE support and for CDMA networks.

    Next was Curve and the 9,000th series with 3G standards and GPS navigation. The Storm model received a touch screen, the Bold 9700, along with increased battery power and HSDPA support, changed the trackball to a touchpad, and the Torch 9800 surprised with the new BlackBerry OS 6.0 operating system.

    But RIM presented the main gift to fans of their products in 2009, when she finally installed a camera on her smartphone. Yes, the company “slightly” delayed this innovation, but did it on purpose. The fact is that employees of some professions in the USA are strictly forbidden to have a camera phone (for example, judges). In addition, some corporate rules impose restrictions on the use of devices with photo shooting. But the release of the Bold 9780 model with a 5-megapixel camera allowed the “blackberry” to overtake the “apple” in terms of sales in the US in 2010.

    The latest BlackBerry product was the PlayBook tablet on the QNX platform. And in 2011, RIM announced a new version of the BlackBerry BBX operating system. Both smartphones and tablets will be able to work under her control (previously, RIM released two separate operating systems for its devices). In addition, there is information about RIM patents for slider devices, touchscreens and a “corner” keyboard. This suggests that RIM is planning a new product line.

    Now BlackBerry accounts for more than 9.4% of its key US market. Perhaps the “blackberry” from the berry for the business segment will become “tasty” for ordinary users.

    How to cook a “blackberry” filling?
    In principle, everything is simple. We take an ARM processor, BES and BIS technologies, mix it with AES encryption standard and season with GPRS, CDMA or GSM, Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, QWERTY or Touch Pad to taste. This dish is best combined with ties. Serve to middle managers.

    But seriously, the BlackBerry filling has a fundamental difference from the same Windows Mobile, Symbian Android or iOS. First of all, thanks to its target audience, 99% consisting of corporate clients. This feature determined the unique characteristics of the platform - the very BES and BIS.

    BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) is a special server installed in a company that wants to issue BlackBerry to its employees. The pleasure is not cheap: the cost of BES is about $ 10,000, and each device connected to it must be licensed. Of course, not for free.

    BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) - equipment that is installed with mobile providers.

    As a result of the interaction between BES and BIS, the BlackBerry has the following features: the BlackBerry mail network, where all data is instantly and automatically synchronized, and a kind of BlackBerry Messenger corporate chat for fast and secure communication.

    The operation pattern of BlackBerry mail networks is intuitive: after registering the communicator on a BlackBerry-covered network, the system recognizes each device by its unique identification number (PIN). The presence of a unique number allows the device to send messages via a peer-to-peer system. The BlackBerry Messenger application also uses a peer-to-peer data transfer system, but the algorithm of the application resembles the principle of the operation of Internet messengers, for example, ICQ. In order to save Internet traffic and instant data transfer, data compression algorithms are used. All transmitted information is encrypted with a 256-bit key with the AES / 3DES algorithm.

    The convenience of such a scheme is that BlackBerry does not require manual synchronization of the smartphone and the mail server. And if the device is in the network coverage area, it automatically sends and receives all e-mails. Among other things, this system provides additional control over personnel: the head in real time can track the delivery and reading of any mail messages.

    The user also has the right to use traditional e-mail accounts with access via POP3 or IMAP protocols. True, in this case letters will arrive with a slight delay, and confirmation of delivery status will be unavailable.

    It is worth noting that the free email client for Blackberry, called LogicMail, does not know how to send letters with headers in Russian. And to "teach" him how to do it is not yet possible. In addition, this client is not accustomed to send and receive mail attachments (unlike the already built-in Attachment Service, which can convert attached files in formats from Word to PDF and transfer them to a portable device).

    An alternative to LogicMail is the paid program Tiggit Mail, which correctly handles encodings and can save (but not view) attachments. There are applications for already saved files. For BlackBerry, this is a “to Go” package that even understands MS Office formats. Also in the “blackberry” there is the possibility of receiving, saving, editing and sending attachments in the formats: PDF, WordPerfect, ASCII text, HTML and ZIP, as well as JPG, BMP, GIF, PNG, TIFF.

    In addition to email, BlackBerry smartphones support SMS and MMS services, come with a good browser that can view many formats, including HTML, XHTML, WML, SVG and many types of image files.

    Blackberry devices are distinguished by very convenient organizers, which include a calendar, address book, to-do list, notebook and calculator. The whole “trick” is that the organizer is integrated with a browser and an email client. Therefore, it is enough to click on the link in any program and, depending on its type, a number will be dialed or a message creation window will open, or a transition to the site will be performed. BlackBerry also has a convenient service for organizing meetings and conferences. A message about them is transmitted to a group of colleagues, who, in turn, can accept the invitation or refuse, commenting on the reason. BlackBerry smartphones are also good because they work offline for at least a week.

    “Blackberry”, which is not surprising, also has the BlackBerry App World online store, which in the future will become part of the BlackBerry Application Center (global application catalog). This service is available to owners of devices running BlackBerry OS version 4.2 and higher that have a trackball or SurePress touchscreen.

    Initially, App World was developed only for users in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, and the list of supported languages ​​was limited to English. Today the store is available in 101 countries, including Russia. In addition to it, Azerbaijan, Latvia, Finland, Norway, Sweden, a number of countries of Eastern Europe and Africa are listed. As for the number of programs available in the catalog, now it exceeds 20,000 items.

    Interestingly, the BlackBerry App World has more stringent pricing rules than other online app stores. According to RIM, this should push developers to produce more expensive and complex applications. The rest of the BlackBerry App World is not much different from the similar store:
    - the store contains a selection of applications that can be ranked by rating, genres, and so on;
    - A list of available applications in the store is automatically generated based on the capabilities of a particular model;
    - There is a BlackBerry ID service that is not tied to a specific device, but is a client number. Thanks to the ID, purchases can be paid in various ways, and applications can be conveniently transferred from one device to another;
    - Desktop Storefront service allows you to search, download, buy and manage applications using a personal computer;
    - Users can give ratings to applications, as well as recommend them to other users by sending them links via SMS or BlackBerry Messenger, as well as through some social networks;
    - smartphone owners can scan the QR code of the application they like, and App World will find this application and automatically open the corresponding page;
    - In the store there is a special My World folder for storing a list of all applications ever downloaded by the user.

    One of the interesting features of the BlackBerry App World is that users have the ability to store archived copies of applications on microSD or using the built-in memory of their BlackBerry smartphone. However, at the same time, it is impossible to install and run applications from the memory card (this was done in order to combat piracy), and it is also impossible to transfer purchased applications to other devices.

    Blackberry in Russia

    As already mentioned, one of the main advantages of these devices is an exceptional encryption and data compression algorithm. It is because of this that BlackBerry devices have become the corporate standard for tens of thousands of companies around the world. And this particular feature has become the main obstacle to the emergence of smartphones in our country.

    The official version says that RIM refused to share encryption algorithms with domestic intelligence agencies. As a result, after quite lengthy negotiations, Blackberry smartphones reached our area with limited functionality - with BlackBerry Messenger and Wi-Fi disabled. In addition, BES servers, according to Russian laws, cannot be located in the company itself, but must be located on the sites of the mobile operator.

    Fortunately, now the situation around BlackBerry in Russia has become more favorable: in early 2011, the BlackBerry App World appeared in the country, BlackBerry Messenger was recently turned on, and just the other day MTS announced the opening of free Wi-Fi Internet access for its customers - users of BlackBerry smartphones.

    In fairness, it is worth noting that not only in Russia, RIM had encryption problems. So, French officials actively used BlackBerry devices, including for transferring secret data, without thinking that the company's servers are located in England and the USA. At one time, this epic-file caused a significant resonance in the French special services.

    However, the unpopularity of BlackBerry smartphones in our country is also caused by one more circumstance: if in the USA the telecommunication company AT&T distributes devices for $ 200 when signing a two-year contract, then we can have the same model for $ 600 or more. At the same time, it is worth recognizing that the BlackBerry hardware stuffing lags significantly behind similar products of the same price category.

    And finally - two true jokes about BlackBerry.
    One of the most successful unintentional blackberry PR campaigns was the 2008 US presidential election. Presidential candidate Barack Obama during his election campaign did not let go of the BlackBerry smartphone. The American media vividly discussed the fact that after taking office, the president will have to get rid of his beloved device, since the United States has a law prohibiting the head of the country from having personal means of communication. However, after the election, an amendment to the Constitution was found, which states that during the trial of the president his personal correspondence cannot be used as evidence of guilt. Thus, the head of the United States has the right to use a personal e-mail and a smartphone.

    Surprisingly, Blackberry devices are fraught with serious danger. American scientists have discovered a new disease called Blackberry Thumb ("blackberry finger"). This disease develops as a result of prolonged use of a smartphone and, in particular, a keyboard and is expressed in swelling of the tissues, pains and tingling in the fingers, joints. In fact, this is a mini version of the tunnel syndrome that affects people who spend too much time behind a computer keyboard and mouse. You can get rid of the “blackberry finger”. Guess how :-)

    You can download ICQ for BlackBerry at www.pda.mts.ru in the section "Entertainment and Information", subsection "Everything for the Phone". You need to go to the site using the device’s browser.

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