You can see RIM’s determination with the message contained in these BlackBerry commercials, and we’ve embedded two of their recent ads below this article. One explains that BlackBerry “mean business” and their users need tools rather than toys, although the other video pushes reasons “to be Bold“. After watching the reactions to both these videos it seems the message is not working with Android and iPhone users, which is seen with comments like “I’ve never been more proud to own an iPhone“. We’ve also seen Android users explain that their phone is “just as good for business as any BlackBerry“.

You got to give it to RIM’s CEO, he’s taking action – if you don’t change then nothing in a business can change and this is something we see missing from many failing businesses. After RIM reported a $125 million loss last week and sales heading one way, this seems just the right time for RIM’s new CEO to take major action to try and turn things around. There are a lot of rumors pointing to big names leaving RIM, these include senior executives, and you can see more details on this in this article.

It’s a good idea to change people not innovating in the correct ways, but if RIM bring in new talent they got to make sure these people can create new innovation for BlackBerry that not only keeps up with the likes of Apple/Android, but also does it a different way. The last thing we need is another copycat brand.

If positive results are to come it will not be anytime soon – it’s worth pointing out that you can expect to see bad results for a couple of quarters yet, although the stern changes being made now are needed if anything is to improve. The real challenge will be to connect with millions of phone users jumping on the iPhone and Android bandwagon.

Have a watch of the BlackBerry Bold ads below and let us know if you think they could save RIM? Could you imagine a world without BlackBerry, especially in the business world? The real challenge now for RIM and BlackBerry is the ability to innovate, and this is needed to turn things around. What would you like to see from BlackBerry over the next 12 months?

The BlackBerry Bold 9790 should be an ideal upgrade to anyone who owned a Curve or Bold 9700 in the past, it is not quite as impressive as the Bold 9900, in fact you would find it pretty hard to tell the 9700 and 9790 apart in terms of aesthetics, but ‘beneath the hood’ there’s lots of reasons why the 9790 is a worthy upgrade – most noticeably this shiny new BlackBerry runs OS 7, which is snappier and far more intuitive than previous versions.

In terms of technical specifications there’s a 1 GHz Marvel processor, a physical QWERTY keyboard, 768MB RAM, a 5 megapixel camera, 8GB of internal storage, a microSD memory card which supports cards of 32GB, a 2.45-inch touchscreen display which outputs at 360 x 480, WiFi b/g/n, NFC and Bluetooth connectivity – you can see a full breakdown of tech specs and features here. As for size it measures in at 110 x 60 x 11.4 mm and weighs 107 grams.

So how much will Three charge you for this smartphone? Well as usual you can buy it outright and opt for a pay as you go deal, but this will mean you pay £319.99 for the handset. Alternatively there’s a few different 24-month deals to check out, all of which ensure that you get the Bold 9790 for free as part of the agreement.

You can see full pricing details over at Three’s website, we’ve embedded an image below which pretty much summarizes the options available:

As you can see there’s options to suit most people. Personally I would opt for the Text 500 All-you-can-eat tariff, paying £31 for all-you-can-eat data is something I’d be interested in and 5,000 texts is a lot, also as I don’t talk a lot on the phone 500 minutes should be adequate.

My only issue is that the price tag does seem a little high, the Lumia 710 is a lot cheaper than this and Windows Phone 7.5 is arguably superior to BlackBerry OS 7 (not in regards to enterprise usage), make you mind up and tell us what you decided to buy!

As previously stated the Bold 9900 will be available from T-Mobile USA on the last day of August, as you probably guessed it does not come cheaply in fact even after a $50 mail-in rebate it will cost you $299.99 as part of a two-year deal. T-Mobile does not mention NFC anywhere in the press release, which suggests that a software block is currently hampering this neat new feature (you can read more about this here), perhaps a future software update will change this..

After checking out T-Mobile USA’s current list of smartphone offerings we have to say that the $299.99 price tag seems very high, perhaps this price will receive an online discount as we would prefer to save $100 and buy the HTC Sensation 4G or the myTouch 4G Slide instead – that said we love the Bold 9900, but its price could be its downfall.

We must admit we are quite surprised by the difference in price between the Bold 9900 and the Torch 9810, soon you will be able to buy the Torch 9810 from AT&T for just $50 as part of a two-year deal – in terms of tech specs the Torch 9810 has a larger touchscreen display than the Bold 9900 and it outputs at a higher resolution, you get the same 1.2GHz processor and 5 megapixel camera as the Bold 9990, which makes us wonder why the Bold 9900 is so much more expensive.

You can find out more about the upcoming release over at IntoMobile, we think that Marinperez’s comment sums things up “Beautiful device but too expensive” – do you agree?

There is not much difference between the 9900 and the 9930, as the 9900 is the model name for the GSM version, whilst the 9930 is still part of the same package, only it is the CDMA version. One positive that CDMA BlackBerry users can take from these leaked photos is that a release on Verizon, although the hardware itself is not branded with the Verizon logo, we are almost certain this is a legitimate image that could foretell what is in the pipeline.

The 9900 and 9930 are the first ever 4G devices to be released by Research in Motion, but can they stand up to most of the high end smartphones currently on offer today such as the Apple iPhone 4, Samsung Droid Charge, HTC ThunderBolt or Motorola Droid 3?

In theory, the 9900 and 9930 are majorly upgraded BlackBerry Bold 9700′s in very similar shells. You get a 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor, 768MB of RAM, 8GB of onboard memory, a 5 megapixel camera capable of recording HD video (720p), dual-band WiFi b/g/n and a 2.8-inch touchscreen display which features a resolution of 640 x 480 and a 287dpi pixel density. You can find more information regarding specs in our previous post.

Going back to our earlier argument, on whether or not it is a high end smartphone. In a way, yes it is. Everything under the hood is squeaky clean and about as high-end as you can imagine, but for some reason we still feel that RIM have a long way to go before it even starts to compete with the rest of the latest smartphones on offer. Therefore we are eager to see how much this smartphone will be priced at if an when it hits Verizon, surely it won’t be as expensive as top-end devices.

If Research in Motion completely change what they have, and make an iPhone or Android killer that is worthy of the name, then we could see RIM topping the phone charts once again, but a rebranded Bold just does not do it for many. The sooner QNX for BlackBerry comes out, the better.

What do you think about the BlackBerry 9900 and 9930? Do they get your stamp of approval or will you hold out for something better?

The update will bring your Bold 9650 to OS version OS 6.0.0.524, to carry out the update please ensure that you have the latest version of BlackBerry Desktop Manage installed (can be downloaded here), once you have done this head over to this page choose either “Personal” or “Corporate” email and then choose your model from the drop-down menu and a new page will then appear.

On this page you can either carry out a web-based update, if not simply scroll down a little enter your 10-digit Verizon Wireless number and choose which language you want and then download the update file and ensure that the BlackBerry Handheld Device software is closed. Once you have ensured this double click the executable file, follow the on-screen instructions and connect your BlackBerry to your computer via the USB data cable when prompted to, the update process will then start.

The whole process shouldn’t take much longer than 30 minutes if all goes to plan, we recommend backing up your BlackBerry beforehand just in case.

Did the update process go smoothly for you? If so, are you impressed by the changes which the update brings?

It is now becoming common knowledge that picking up a popular handset in white adds a few points to the style factor, mainly due to Apple’s never ending saga surrounding the white iPhone 4.

Where Apple has failed though, RIM has not, and the Pearl White version of the Bold 9780 is certainly an eye-raiser. The good guys over at BGR have managed to get their hands on a unbranded model, and they have uploaded a gallery of high resolution photos, as well as their first impressions on the new color.

If you have seen this on sale at T-Mobile in the US or on various carriers in the UK, you may want to spend a few minutes to look at BGR’s pictures so you know exactly what you are getting in the box. To view their gallery, click here. Let us know your thoughts on the white model, is it better than black or not?