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    Report: BlackBerry lays off a third of its Waterloo staff (Updated)

    Citing multiple sources, Mobile Syrup reported Friday that BlackBerry has laid off roughly 35 percent of its workforce in Waterloo, Canada -- where the company is headquartered. That translates into about 1000 people losing their jobs. According to Mobilesyrup, the BB10 and Devices divisions suffered the deepest cuts with 150 members of the latter team getting sacked. A small number of workers from BlackBerry's Sunrise, Florida office were also let go.

    Andrew Tarantola
    02.05.2016

  • BlackBerry Leap review: an old phone with a fresh face

    Two years ago, BlackBerry finally broke free of the monotonous cycle it had entrenched itself in by launching its first all-touchscreen device, the Z10. Despite it being a costly flop, the company formerly known as RIM has continued to explore touchscreen territory with the help of its poke-friendly BB10 OS. BlackBerry is no longer a stranger to the form factor: It quickly followed up the Z10 with the Z30, and now the new BlackBerry Leap. There's little that separates BlackBerry's three main touchscreen devices as far as internals are concerned, and therein lies the main problem with the Leap. Instead of trying something different, BlackBerry has kept well within its comfort zone and pushed out another mid-range, touchscreen handset that's marginally divergent from its predecessors. Don't get me wrong: If a Leap lands on your desk to replace an old work phone, you'll no doubt get on with it just fine. But, if your own money is on the table, you're probably going to want to take it elsewhere.

    Jamie Rigg
    05.11.2015

  • BlackBerry aims at young professionals with the low-cost Leap

    We're here at BlackBerry's cozy MWC press event waiting anxiously for CEO John Chen (or anyone, for that matter) to pull back the curtain on the oft-rumored BlackBerry Leap. So far, all we've gotten is a recap of progress to date and some security-minded endeavors, but surprise, surprise -- the $275 Leap just popped up on BlackBerry's global devices site for all to see.

    Chris Velazco
    03.03.2015

  • This isn't the last we've heard of Samsung buying BlackBerry

    How does that old song go? Everything old is new again? I'm reminded of it every time Samsung and BlackBerry get wrapped up in some will-they-won't-they acquisition intrigue like they did on Wednesday. In case you somehow missed all the fun, Reuters reported that Samsung offered a cool $7.5 billion to BlackBerry as part of a potential buyout deal. In the hours that followed, BlackBerry balked, Samsung shot the notion down and investor hope -- seen in the form of surging BBRY stock prices -- all but evaporated.

    Chris Velazco
    01.16.2015

  • BlackBerry's Classic throwback isn't just a gimmick

    BlackBerry's "Classic" phone is a curious bit of fan-service, a seemingly conciliatory blend of old and new designed to appeal to Waterloo's die-hards. It might seem a little odd that the company would choose to go all retro on us in 2014, but there's no denying the formula still has some appeal. Read on for our first impressions.

    Chris Velazco
    12.17.2014

  • BlackBerry's $450 'Classic' phone aims to bridge the past and present

    It's been nearly 10 months since the folks in Waterloo announced the throwback BlackBerry Classic, but today's the day the thing officially breaks cover. Hooray? If it wasn't immediately obvious, the "Classic" moniker refers to the fact that the device is a proper sequel to the BlackBerry Bold 9900, complete with the traditional trackpad and navigation keys that people still apparently swoon over. Oh, and BrickBreaker is back too! We've seen the Classic's spec sheet in great detail over the past few months, but let's recap: It's working with a 3.5-inch square touchscreen running at 720 x 720, an 8-megapixel camera and a dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm processor. Combine those old-school physical attributes with the generally pleasing punchiness of the BlackBerry 10.3.1, and you're left with a device that aims to straddle the fence between past and present. The question is, will anyone bite?

    Chris Velazco
    12.17.2014

  • I typed my entire BlackBerry Passport review on the phone's tiny keyboard

    Apparently I'm a masochist. That's an odd way to begin a review. But to give BlackBerry's latest handset, the Passport, as thorough a review as possible, I decided to type the entire thing from the phone itself. My twisted idea came from a realization that this (mostly) square oddity is the first phone with a physical keyboard that I've used since the Motorola Droid 4 in 2012 or the BlackBerry Q10 in 2013. It's not even a normal keyboard by modern smartphone standards -- it's a flattened, hybrid setup with both physical and virtual elements and a curiously placed space bar. Needless to say, it's an odd device, one that truly deserves the ultimate test: Can I use it to crank out several thousand words of text? Of course, there's more to the Passport than just its odd shape and the company's desire to resurrect a now-antiquated smartphone feature. I'm going to dive into what sets this phone apart from the hundreds of others already on the market -- that is, if my thumbs hold up through the experience.

    Brad Molen
    10.30.2014

  • BlackBerry's Passport is a square in looks, but not personality

    For the first time in ages, I'm intrigued by a BlackBerry device. That's rather unusual these days, but it wasn't always this way. I remember when I first saw the Pearl eight years ago; it was one of the most beautiful devices I'd ever seen. The Curve and Bold series didn't disappoint either. But the magic has been missing from the Canadian phone maker for a long time, evidenced by its struggling sales. Only one in a hundred smartphone owners use a BlackBerry, and the company's older-generation hardware is still outselling current BlackBerry 10 handsets. Now it's putting much of its hope in a unique-looking squarish device called the Passport, which launches today in five countries (with 30 total by the end of the year). The $599 off-contract/$249 on-contract device ($699 in Canada and £529 in the UK, off-contract) is designed to appeal to fans of physical keyboards and large displays. It may not restore the magic BlackBerry's lost in recent years, but my initial experience with the Passport has been more positive than I expected. At least that's a start, right?

    Brad Molen
    09.24.2014

  • BlackBerry's latest Porsche Design smartphone is real, ridiculous

    Well folks, the rumors and leaks were true (as usual): the heated BlackBerry/Porsche Design love affair has once again borne fruit, this in time in the form of the new Porsche Design P'9983. At its core, we're looking at a device running BlackBerry 10.3 along with a few Porsche-produced bits like a custom wallpaper and watchface, but you're not going to buy this thing just for BBMing your dearest pals (did we mention you get a specific BBM PIN perfect for remote flaunting?). No, if anything, you'd buy this thing for its peculiar (some would say silly and overwrought) sense of style.

    Chris Velazco
    09.17.2014

  • BlackBerry announces virtual assistant to take on Siri and Cortana

    Apple has Siri, Microsoft has Cortana, Google's got Now voice search and BlackBerry... doesn't have a virtual assistant of any kind. This morning, however, the Canadian smartphone maker confirmed that it has one in the works and will be showing up on the company's next major release. Known aptly as BlackBerry Assistant, the new program is a part of OS 10.3 and will be available on the upcoming Passport phone. Assistant is voice-activated and comes with quite a few of the standard features we've come to expect on the other mobile platforms, such as the ability to open apps, send messages and tweets, set reminders and change settings. It also is smart enough to learn and adapt to your needs, so it theoretically should become more useful over time as it gets to know you. BlackBerry isn't revealing all that Assistant can do yet, and it hasn't offered a firm timeframe for availability aside from the fact that it'll be part of the Passport, but so far we haven't seen much to set it apart from the competition. It's at least a good sign that the company is trying remain competitive, however.

    Brad Molen
    07.16.2014

  • BlackBerry loses its bread and butter as Bold and Curve sales finally collapse

    In commercial terms, BlackBerry's much-hyped BB10 phones barely made a dent. The manufacturer's financial health has actually been propped up this whole time by sales of its older classics, Bolds and Curves running on BB7. It's pretty incredible how long those models have lasted, but BlackBerry's latest earnings report reminds us that nothing lasts forever: BB7 sales have fallen 50 percent year-over-year to 2.3 million units, which is double BlackBerry 10 sales, but not nearly enough to help the company stay in the black. Of course, the collapse of legacy hardware isn't news to the CEO, John Chen, who has promised to support BB7 devices "for as long as there's demand," but who has also set about rebuilding BlackBerry as fast as he possibly can.

    Matt Brian
    03.28.2014

  • BlackBerry CEO promises legal action against product leakers

    Leaks are par for the course when you're a huge company working on a new product, but one BlackBerry leaker seems to have gone too far. At least, CEO John Chen thinks so: today he penned a post on the official Inside BlackBerry blog promising legal action against a leaker who "falsely posed as an employee of one of [BlackBerry's] carrier partners to obtain access to secured networks." Ouch.

    Chris Velazco
    03.26.2014

  • BlackBerry urges BB10 users to roll-back its glitchy Twitter app

    After loads of BB10 user complaints, BlackBerry is pulling the latest Twitter update from its app market. Should you still need your 140-character fix however, the beleaguered smartphone maker has a solution: roll back to the application's previous version -- 10.2.1 -- via the simple step-by-step instructions posted on its blog. First, delete Twitter from your device. Then, open BlackBerry World, refresh it and search for the micro-blogging service by name. Voila, a (hopefully) stable app should appear. If anything, this proves that the QWERTY king listens to more than just those in its boardroom. So, the next time that you notice an app go wonky, speak up -- it likely won't be in vain.

    Timothy J. Seppala
    12.28.2013

  • Evernote for BlackBerry 10 updated with sharing, offline notebooks and more

    Yearning for more from BlackBerry 10's Evernote experience? You got it. The service just updated its native BB10 app with improved performance, more security and a small collection of overdue features. Namely, Evernote has given users the ability to share notes from within the app, both to friends and with other apps installed on the device. The reverse works too: data from other Apps can be shared and saved to Evernote using BB10's regular share dialogue. Premium users can also save their notebooks for offline use, and the introduction of a new lock feature secures content with a four-digit passcode. Oh, and the team has enabled Universal Search too, which lets users search their Evernote account from anywhere on the device. Game changing features? Maybe not, but we won't scoff at the update. Check out the company's official blog for more details.

    Sean Buckley
    12.25.2013

  • BlackBerry bringing Channels and Voice Chat to BBM for Android and iOS next year

    Remember how excited you were for BBM to hit Android and iOS and then BlackBerry continued to fake us all out with imminent releases? Thankfully, that's now all in the past and BBM is a reality for those of us not on BB10 devices, but still its feature set leaves something to be desired. The good news is that BlackBerry intends to flesh out BBM in 2014, though not just for the app. So what's up ahead? Arguably, the most significant changes are coming to Android and iOS users in the form of BBM Voice and BBM Channels. Think of BBM Voice as you would Skype or Google Hangouts -- it's essentially a way for you to chat with your contacts without touching your allotment of minutes. And Channels, if you'll remember from our preview this past summer, is basically BlackBerry's spin on the social network. Both are already available for current BBM users running BB10, so this addition really just brings the rest of BBM's outsider base up to speed. BlackBerry's also looking to make sharing with BBM a less cumbersome process in the new year. Though the company hasn't elaborated fully on just how it intends to make photo and voice note sharing that much speedier, it seems as if the process will soon require less fussy UI interactions. Users will even be able to divulge their whereabouts with BBM, albeit on a temporary basis and make use of over 100 new emoticons. All of this is coming "in the next couple of months," so if you need something to sate your curiosity now, check out the video after the break.

    Joseph Volpe
    12.19.2013

  • BlackBerry Z30 hits Verizon on November 14th for $200 on-contract

    We knew the BlackBerry Z30 was headed to Verizon as a US-exclusive, but now we actually have a date for it: November 14th. Starting this Thursday, BlackBerry's 5-inch flagship will be made available to Big Red subscribers for $200 with a new two-year agreement, or for $23/month (for 24 months) on the operator's Edge upgrade plan. Regardless of the financing route you choose to take, that chunk of change will grant you access to BlackBerry's latest 10.2 update and all the "prosumer" perks it affords: in-app BBM messaging, notification previews, and the new BB Priority Hub. But with BlackBerry on the ever-increasing downturn, you'd be forgiven for passing this one up -- wireless charging, be damned.

    Joseph Volpe
    11.12.2013

  • BlackBerry Z30 hits Verizon in November for $200

    Verizon gave no details when it announced plans to offer the BlackBerry Z30, but it's finally narrowing things down... well, mostly. The 5-inch BB 10.2 flagship is now poised to reach Big Red sometime this November (the carrier isn't being more specific) for $200 on contract. It's billed as a US exclusive, although BlackBerry's Vivek Bhardwaj tells CNET that there's nothing precluding more deals. In other words, rival carriers just weren't eager to sell the Z30 -- possibly due to their challenges selling the Z10. While we'd prefer both an exact release date and more network choices, it's clear that Americans won't have to wait much longer if they want the most powerful BlackBerry possible.

    Jon Fingas
    10.28.2013

  • Weekly Roundup: Apple iMac review, BlackBerry Z30 review, Samsung's Galaxy Round and more!

    You might say the week is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workweek, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Weekly Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past seven days -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

    David Fishman
    10.13.2013

  • Daily Roundup: BlackBerry Z30 review, Steam Controller hands-on, Google's new policy turns you into an ad and more!

    You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

    David Fishman
    10.11.2013
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