It has been an amazing year so far here at BlackBerry App World HQ. Twenty-five million of you have downloaded BlackBerry App World and are experiencing some of the great apps available for your BlackBerry smartphones. There are some really popular apps out there, and judging by the response to our blog posts, Inside BlackBerry readers are also really excited about the Twitter® for BlackBerry smartphones beta currently in BlackBerry App World Test Center.

We’ve been hard at work getting ready to bring some great new features to BlackBerry App World and today we’re excited to share them with you.

Top 25 Themes and Top 25 Apps

Let’s get started! You’ve asked and we’ve listened – you enjoy your BlackBerry smartphone themes, but you want to see them listed by themselves. You also asked to see what’s new and what’s been updated recently in BlackBerry App World, and we’re happy to deliver.

In our new “Top 25” screen, you can see the Newest apps, Recently Updated apps, Top 25 Free Apps, Top 25 Paid Apps, and Top 25 Themes. These lists update every 24 hours, and are based on a combination of number of downloads and user ratings.

BlackBerry App World Barcode Scanning

Another cool feature we’re adding is the ability for our developers to use a QR barcode to promote their apps. BlackBerry App World 2.0 will have a new menu option called “Scan a Barcode” – which works just like scanning a barcode for a new contact or group in BlackBerry® Messenger 5.0. Just point the camera of your BlackBerry smartphone at a QR barcode and the details page for the app you’re scanning pop right up!

More Billing Options

In addition to the ability to purchase apps with a PayPal® account, we’re adding support for two new billing methods to BlackBerry App World. To access these new billing options, you will be able to simply log in and choose ‘Payment Options’ from the menu.

Credit Cards

We know that many of you will be happy to hear that you will soon be able to use a major credit card (cards vary by region) to purchase apps. If BlackBerry App World credit card payments are available in your country, you’ll see the new “Credit Card” option where you can securely enter and save your credit card information for all your App World purchases.

Carrier Billing

We’re also excited to tell you that we’re working on integrated billing with various carriers to enable carrier billing as a payment option in BlackBerry App World.

PayPal

If you prefer the simplicity of paying with PayPal, then just choose the PayPal option. You’ll be asked for your PayPal account email and password once, and then all your purchases can be made using your PayPal account.

Introducing BlackBerry® ID

We’re also proud to introduce the new BlackBerry® ID, a device-independent user identification. With your BlackBerry® ID, you can easily download and purchase apps, then manage them in My World. Also, if you ever need to switch to a new BlackBerry smartphone, logging in with your BlackBerry ID will bring all your apps to your new BlackBerry smartphone so you can always have the apps you need, when you need them!

We’ll have more information on how you can be one of the first people on your block to try the BlackBerry App World 2.0 beta, so stay tuned!

 

Today Motorola announced its latest phone for Boost Mobile, the Rambler. The Rambler is a feature phone that sports a full QWERTY keyboard, a 1.3 megapixel camera, and support for email and instant messaging. The device also offers Bluetooth connectivity as well as GPS support, and offers some standard features such as a speakerphone and voice recognition support.

 

The Rambler will be available on August 11th on Boost Mobile's website for $99.99 before taxes, with free shipping. It also be sold through Best Buy retail stores and dealers, as well as in Best Buy.

 

We all know that the Droid 2 is coming. And, we are all pretty much certain that the Droid 2 is coming next month. And it looks like folks at Best Buy may be under the same impression.

Though, we're curious if someone, somewhere, who has anything to do with the merchandise being placed out there, has any idea (officially) when the Droid 2 will actually get released. We'd like very much to talk to that person, or persons.

In any event, as you can see from the image, that's clearly a case for the Droid 2. Even if you can't tell from the aesthetics, there's a big label at the bottom of the box that says what phone it's for. Doesn't get much clearer than that, we imagine. Then again, someone could have marked all of the boxes incorrectly, but that's not likely. So, at this point, considering we already have the user manual, and now some cases, let's go ahead and say that Verizon needs to come forward and announce this handset already. We're waiting!

 

The new Android Racer from ZTE is now officially launched exclusively with 3. The handset will be available on prepay for less than 100 pound. 

The prototype of the Android Racer was revealed back in April of this year, and is the first ZTE handset operating with Android that is under £100. It will retail to the public at £99.99. 

It seems to have come as a bit of a surprise to the industry, as reported on the Mobile Choice Today website, that the new handset is running on Android 2.1. Éclair. What this means to the user is that they have the pleasure of enjoying multi-touch capability, as well as the capacity of voice-to-text in all text fields. There is also a 3D photo gallery and live wallpapers. 

The basic handset boasts a 2.8-inch resistive QVGA touchscreen, and a very respectable 3.2MP camera. There is 256MB of internal memory, and it incorporates Bluetooth and 7.2Mbps HSDPA capabilities. 

As the Android Racer is a Google Android phone, users can choose from a range of apps from the Android market. Users can access a range of social networking sites, such as Facebook, Spotify and Twitter and have access to a load of games and navigational aids. 

It was first thought back in April that the Chinese manufacturer would be using Android 1.6 as the operating system, given the low entry level price of the new handset but the company has surprised the market. The ZTE Android Racer is expected to become available at the end of July and will be exclusive to 3. 

The BlackBerry 6 operating system has been further revealed, offering video sharing, improved photo organisation, and even a podcasts app. 

BlackBerry owners are well aware that multimedia has not been one of the strongest features on the devices. However, with its new BlackBerry 6 OS, Research In Motion (RIM) is expecting the functional aspect of the devices to change.  

Before the system is launched officially, the company has showcased the operating system\'s capabilities. This includes new features for music, as well as for video uploads. According to a news report from Mobile Choice UK, album art has been added to the music player, and the OS also has the capacity to search through users\' audio libraries in search of tunes. 

Pictures are also targeted, with the capacity to group photographs by date or event, rather than simply being bundled together. RIM also now offers the option of a picture slideshow, as well as pinch-to-zoom touchscreen control and inbuilt picture editing functions. 

A new YouTube video uploader will allow for easy sharing, but if users simply want to view video clips, then they can do so with either original size or full screen with OS 6. A new universal search feature also enables internet video searching of a variety of sites, not just YouTube. 

The BlackBerry podcasts app allows new podcasts to be downloaded on the go without having to use a personal computer. Finally, the new BlackBerry 6 OS offers an easy way of finding multimedia apps via a direct link to the BlackBerry App World storefront. 

 

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