You can even unlock the car right from your phone, although you should probably wait until you’re within eyesight to do so. The app can also contract roadside assistance or emergency services if you run out of gas or get into an accident. But there’s a catch; it’s not included in the price of the car.

Well, the first six months are free, but after that it costs $280 per year. The service is currently only available on certain new Benz models, but older models can be retrofitted for the service.

It seems that the service can even be ported to different vehicles with a bit of work. Hopefully Mercedes-Benz is just the first manufacturer to offer this service.

RIM’s newest release brings us BlackBerry OS v5. It has all of the standard features you’ve come to know and love, email, SMS, IM, web browsing, etc. The Bold takes all of that and serves it too you on a 624MHz processor. i would say the only weak spot is the web browser.

The Bold is 4.29″ x 2.36″ x 0.56″ and weighs in at 4.3 ounces. Size wise, it feels about the same as any other BlackBerry, but it was much lighter than I expected. The back has this interesting faux-leather cover for those of you who want to feel like you really got your money’s worth.

The control surface proved a nice improvement. RIM replaced the traditional trackball with an optical trackpad. Personally, I like this interface much better. It feel much smoother and more precise than a ball. The trackpad sits flush with the body of the phone, so it won’t get damaged or worn out nearly as often. The keyboard proved to be easy to type on as well. The keys themselves are a little small, but the sculpted edges prevent you from slipping. Other dedicated buttons include a keypad lock key and a mute key on the top, voice dialing on the left side, and a volume rocker and programmable button on the right (default to opening the camera).

The display is something to behold. Not only can you watch streaming video with the new and improved JavaScript and streaming protocol support, but it all looks absolutely beautiful. The quality of pictures and video playback is pretty damn good. The camera itself isn’t too shabby either. 3.2 Megapixels with image stabilization, a 2x digital zoom, and flash. The onboard mic for video recording isn’t the greatest, but that’s to be expected.

In terms of connecting to the outside world, the Bold has not only 3G and Wi-Fi capability, but UMA support. Meaning you can make calls over a wireless network, without using your plan minutes.

T-Mobile hasn’t given us a firm release date. But you can expect it in time for the holidays for $199.99 with a two-year contract.

Technical Specs

• Memory: 256MB of internal flash memory, with a microSD card slot
• Battery Life: Talktime – 6 hours     Standby Time – 19 days
• Display: 480 x 360 color display, TFT LCD
• Camera: 3.2 MP camera with 2X zoom, flash, and video
• Optical Trackpad
• Keyboard: Full QWERTY keyboard, backlit
• Bluetooth: v2.1
• Headset Jack: 3.5mm stereo headset
• Media Player Supported Audio: 3GP, MP3, WMA9/WMA9 Pro/WMA 10, MIDI, AMR-NB, AAC/AAC+/eAAC+
• Supported Video: DivX 4, DivX 5/6 partially supported, XviD partially supported, H.263, H.264, WMV3, MPEG4, Sorenson Spark and On2 VP6 (Flash support)
• Wi-Fi: 802.11 b/g (w/ UMA support)
• GPS: photo geotagging capability
• BlackBerry OS: v5.0

Alright, BlackBerry owners, don’t rush all at once. I know you probably wanna get in on the Redfly mobile companion game but we need to remember to act civilized. It’s understandable that you’re excited that Redfly can now kick it with BlackBerrys along with Winmo phones, but don’t flood the servers all at one time.

The latest Redfly update isn’t really a surprise. The company announced BlackBerry support was coming, but we just didn’t know when. But with the update, the Redfly C8N and C7 can now extend the desktop of the BlackBerry Bold 9000, Curve 8900, and Tour 9630 to the Redfly’s 800×480 resolution display. Oh, and the update is free. Just don’t push and shove to get it.

The BlackBerry Bold 9700 has finally been announced. Details have been leaking in about the “Onyx” for months and most of the seem to be true in hindsight. The BlackBerry Bold 9000 successor rocks a Tour-like keyboard but ditches the trackball in favor of a little trackpad like in the Curve 8520. The camera has been upped to 3.2MP and the screen is now a 480 x 320 display. Just like the Storm 2, the 9700 runs BlackBerry OS 5.0 and all the goodies are included like threaded messaging, updated BB Messenger, and BlackBerry Maps.

Best of all RIM is launching the phone to nearly every GSM carrier in North America and Europe in November although International carrier-specific pricing is hard to come by right now. That will probably change in a day or two though.

AT&T has announced that it will sell the phone for $199 after a $100 mail-in rebate, and T-Mobile is expected to follow suit although it’s press release doesn’t mention a price. What it does mention however is that the phone will be able to make unlimited calls off of WiFi for $10 per month, which is something AT&T is slowly accepting too although it seems that AT&T’s flavor will lack that ability.

The Storm 2 is sort-of on VerizonWireless.com right now in fact. The phone doesn’t have a product page yet, but someone found the phone’s 3D demo page. So have it. Click over to VZW.com and give the phone a spin. You really don’t need to see a product page anyway, it’s not like you plan on buying the second incarnation of the worst phone ever made when the totally sick Motorola Droid will be available around the same time. At least I hope not.

[Verizon via BGR]

Almost 40% of the BlackBerry Tour users who participated in our quick poll voted that they have returned a BlackBerry Tour because of trackball problems. That’s a clear indication of a problem. The dude in this video is on his sixth BlackBerry Tour and shows the difference between the two. [via CrackBerry]

The company also expects to support upcoming RIM devices as they are released. But where is the love for the Blackberry Storm? The phone might not be the greatest, but it sold well. Maybe Redfly didn’t that that people that were suckered into buying the phone is its target customer base. But some support is better than none at all. The Redfly seems like a solid companion to a smartphone but so is a netbook and teathering…

Celio Announces BlackBerry Support for the REDFLY Mobile Companion

Mid-Q4, RIM customers will be able to use their BlackBerrys with a larger screen and keyboard; boosting productivity and efficiency

ShowStoppers for the Digital Holidays
SALT LAKE CITY–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Celio Corp, maker of the REDFLY Mobile Companion, has announced support for BlackBerry; giving RIM customers the ability to get the most out of their smartphones with a larger screen and keyboard. The BlackBerry solution will be available in mid-Q4 2009. The BlackBerry solution is offered free-of-charge for existing and new REDFLY Mobile Companion C8N and C7 owners.

At launch, the REDFLY will be compatible with the BlackBerry Bold 9000, BlackBerry Curve 8900 and BlackBerry Tour 9630, with plans to support additional phones as they are released by RIM.

“The trend in enterprise right now is for more people to carry their laptop less and their BlackBerry more,” said Andrew Seybold, CEO and Principal Analyst, Andrew Seybold, Inc. “What Celio is doing will give BlackBerry users a significant productivity boost and businesses a solution they can leverage for their employees. With the Celio REDFLY, you don’t have to carry a laptop at all. Given a choice between a netbook or the REDFLY, I would take the REDFLY hands down.”

The REDFLY Mobile Companion comes in two models – the C8N and C7 – and has a large screen, full QWERTY keyboard, touchpad, up to 8-hour battery, and USB, VGA and media ports, enabling people to get the most from their BlackBerry handhelds. The REDFLY is not a computer. It has no OS, storage or processor, but uses the smartphone’s computing power to give users the ability to interact with the smartphone’s familiar user interface on an 800×480 resolution display. The REDFLY is currently compatible with more than 70 Windows Mobile devices. As Celio adds BlackBerry compatibility, it demonstrates that the Celio REDFLY technology will be implemented on multiple platforms to the benefit of smartphone users.

“Adding BlackBerry support for REDFLY is a logical next step due to RIM’s overwhelming acceptance in the enterprise market. BlackBerry compatibility also answers the call from our community and customers to give them the REDFLY experience on RIM devices,” said Kirt Bailey, president and CEO of Celio Corp. “We’re confident BlackBerry users will enjoy having a larger screen and keyboard for typing e-mails and editing documents, and become more productive and efficient.”

Celio Corp will demonstrate its BlackBerry solution at the ShowStoppers for the Digital Holidays event in New York City on Wednesday, September 16, 2009.

For more information about the REDFLY Mobile Companion, visit www.celiocorp.com.

File this one under: What took so long? Sprint is finally offereing the Blackberry Tour without a camera. Why you ask? Well, some jobs do not allow cameras in the workplaces and so employees need such a phone. The cameraless option carries the same price of $199 with a 2-year agreement. It’s just strange that it took Sprint so long to offer this model as Verizon’s had both options available since launch.

While I sincerely doubt that anyone is “furious” over this latest kerfuffle, it’s certainly worth a mention. A picture (that one) has been ricocheting around the Internet this week showing a bunch of Connecticut politicians playing solitaire and reading ESPN.com instead of, you know, legislating. (Come on, guys, you’re elected officials, not college freshman combing Ustream for Champions League streams!) So, after a few days of “outrage,” a politician has called for an outright ban on the use of laptops and BlackBerries during legislative meetings.

Is it an opportunistic? Yes. Is it grandstanding? Absolutely. But even if the guy, one Tom Foley, is able to get some cheap heat for calling for the ban, that doesn’t mean he’s wrong. Would you want your representative fiddling with his iPhone, say, pushing a button, every two minutes instead of paying attention to the matters at hand? No! It’s like, what if you, instead of working on the latest TPS Report, were sitting at your desk playing BrickBreaker? Odds are your boss wouldn’t like that very much.

Said Mr. Foley:

It’s bad enough that taxes and spending are going up. Foley said in a letter, which he also posted on his campaign Web site. It’s even worse to think that our elected representatives would rather play computer games than listen to arguments against their reckless tax-and-spend philosophy.

Nonsense about “reckless tax-and-spend” policy aside, the man has a point: keep the electronic tiddlywinks away from official business.

Since it is a leaked beta, and not an official release, so it’s probably going to have some issues. I’d suggest holding off on installing it unless you’re supremely confident in your ability to restore a backup, since such an early beta could cause all kinds of issues, but at least this means that an official version can’t be far behind.

So if you are feeling brave, you can get the beta from here. But since the rumor is that the real release will be sometime this month, it might be worth it to wait.

[via IntoMobile]