What is Blackberry? BlackBerry mobile phones: reviews, prices. BlackBerry: only smart technology
We are used to separating work and personal life. We try not to let our personal experiences interfere with our work and “don’t take work home.” But sometimes it’s impossible to separate the two sides of life.
I remembered a case when, at work, I had to send my boss a photo of a layout for one project from a smartphone (at that time more iPhone 4s). The day was terrible and stressful, I sent photos on the go, as I was in a hurry to go to evening driving school. And in a hurry, instead of the required photo of the layout, I sent the photo next to the gallery from the weekend, where I was sitting in the pool at a friend’s dacha, wrapped in a towel, like a Roman patrician. Everything would not have been so terrible if my boss had not been a woman over 40... It was terribly embarrassing, but in the end everything ended well.
No one is immune from such situations. It could be worse: what if you accidentally send a confidential work document to the wrong person? Carrying two phones – work and personal – is not particularly convenient. But now this is not necessary. Service BlackBerry Balance For corporate clients divides two spaces of one phone into personal and work. How? Read on...
Who is BlackBerry Balance for?
BlackBerry has always taken one of its most valuable customers seriously: the business sector. If this client never complained about data security, then in terms of the convenience of the services provided, various wishes were received. And with the release of the BlackBerry 10 operating system and several of its updates, the BlackBerry Balance split-screen service became available to the corporate sector. Connecting to the service allows you to switch between two “profiles” with personal and work information.
This is the case when convenience adds security to corporate communications. After all, the main function of BlackBerry Balance is to prevent leaks. The service is activated by IT managers for devices already connected to corporate system BES.
How does BlackBerry Balance work?
BlackBerry Balance operates on the “split screen” principle. Although in fact it is better to call it “space sharing”. This is somewhat similar to creating two user profiles on a computer in Windows system. But if profiles can separate shared files and have access to the same information, then Balance does not allow this. Therefore, it is better to compare the principle of operation of the service with two operating systems on one computer. Everything that happens in one space is in no way connected with another. Essentially, it's like having two identical BlackBerrys - one for work and one for yourself.
It's not just the files that don't get mixed up. The smartphone will have two phone books and two sets of applications. Even text selected and copied in the workspace cannot be pasted in the personal space. In the work “account” it will be possible to install only those applications that are authorized by the company’s IT manager, and it will be possible to download those that are required for all users of the company’s BES. Some applications will be duplicated, but work as separate ones, and will need to be configured separately. We are talking primarily about Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Thus, in your personal space you can use your personal Twitter account, and in the work area you can write short messages from a work or official account.
Of course it’s worth mentioning calendars and mail. They also do not depend on each other. Calendar and BlackBerry Hub will be one in two spaces. In Hub, you will see from your personal screen that a letter has been sent to your work email, but you can open it only after switching to work mode. This is also very convenient with event planning: if there were two calendars, there would be a risk of scheduling a personal and business meeting on the same day and at the same time. But with BlackBerry Balance, you can see that certain hours are already taken, and it's impossible to schedule something for the same time. As you may have guessed, to find out what exactly is planned there, you need to switch to another mode.
The browser in each space stores a separate history and bookmarks. Transfer any contacts from working area will require confirmation in person.
When it comes to customization, some companies prefer to send mandatory settings to BES-connected BlackBerrys along with required corporate applications. Such settings will affect only the workspace; on the personal “half” of the smartphone, all freedom in setting belongs to the owner.
What's the result?
BlackBerry has found an elegant and functional solution for the corporate sector. BlackBerry Balance is not only convenient in terms of information management, but also secure. Due to the fact that the two spaces do not intersect in any way, data leakage and the appearance of malicious software are reduced to zero.
Finally, I would like to say that it would be great to see a “popular”, even if simplified, version of BlackBerry Balance for all users. That is, without connecting to BES. I don't think I'll be the first to express this idea. And the Canadians at BlackBerry often listen to their customers (just remember the Classic!), and it is quite possible that in the future one of the large-scale updates to the BlackBerry 10 OS will bring us the ability to divide the smartphone into two parts.
In the West, BlackBerry is considered almost the No. 1 smartphone for business, but it is almost unknown in our country.
The reason is that BlackBerry is not only a dialer, but a whole combination of services and hardware for secure real-time synchronization of personal or corporate data.
BlackBerry has high level security “out of the box” and the corresponding global infrastructure integrated with the cellular operator’s network.
Details under the cut.
Excursion into history
The hardware and software are made by Research in Motion, a large telecommunications company from Canada. It was founded in 1984 by Mike Lazaridis. Mike first experimented for several years with in different directions, and then concentrated only on mobile data technologies. In 1999, the first BlackBerry appeared, which at first was just a beautiful pager, and then became a modern business smartphone.The history of BlackBerry in Russia begins in 2005, when the first ideas about launching the service were announced. They, however, could not be implemented due to lack of agreement from the outside law enforcement. Only in 2008 did Beeline launch a service that met the requirements of regulatory authorities and customer wishes. Work is currently underway to expand the functionality available in the Russian Federation.
Services
At the moment there are two main types of services: BIS (personal) and BES (only for corporate use).BlackBerry Internet Service- BIS is a solution aimed primarily at individuals. These are realtime-push synchronization, traffic compression and confidentiality. Some corporate users also liked it for its simplicity. It will work perfectly with any corporate mail server that has the ability to work with external clients using standard mail protocols. In the case of Exchange, BIS can be integrated through the OWA interface. When connecting Google and Yahoo mailboxes, additional synchronization functionality appears address book and calendar.
Beeline provides two types of BIS services: regular, which includes only unlimited mail traffic, and “all-inclusive” (more expensive), which also includes BIS-browsing.
Blackberry Enterprise Server- BES - designed for centralized secure connection between a corporate mail server, wireless network telecom operator and Blackberry smartphones. It should be noted that BlackBerry was primarily created and developed to work with corporate users, and in the process of its evolution, it was optimized specifically for business needs. BES provides secure and easy access to corporate information and applications. It also contains a set of tools that provide IT department employees with the ability to centralize and convenient control Blackberry solution. Integrates with MS Exchange and IBM Lotus Domino mail servers.
BES is:
- Wireless email synchronization,
- Wireless synchronization of the organizer (contacts, calendar, tasks, etc.),
- Search in the corporate address book,
- Access to corporate data (Intranet, File Sharing),
- Advanced security settings,
- Opportunity wireless application IT policy for smartphones,
- Organization remote access from smartphones to various corporate applications (CRM, SFA, ERP and others),
- Easy to install and administer (the server is deployed by a partner company, the work usually takes about 3 hours).
BES and BESx are the names of the server software. The service implies the presence of a server part on the client’s site: both versions of BES are supplied by us in the form of a software and hardware complex. To reduce capital costs, three types of complexes were created, differing in the content of the hardware component. The first is a completely ready-made solution that includes physical server, conforming to a specific specification, special hardware and software, operating system, BES software. The second is a solution for clients who have free server capacity; such clients are supplied only with BES software and special software Hardware. The third is created for clients whose IT infrastructure uses virtualization (Hyper-V or VMware).
Depending on the type of BES and the selected complex, the cost of supplying the service varies. So, 1+BES is the most expensive, 3+BESx is the most economical.
Hosted Blackberry Enterprise Service- Hosted BES - a solution for clients who do not want to install and administer a BES server within the corporate infrastructure. The server is located remotely on the Beeline site and is administered by our IT specialists. This option has a number of specific advantages:
- Full access to the functionality of the Blackberry corporate solution, as if it were physically implemented in the company,
- Outsourcing (no need to allocate an IT administrator),
- Minimum cost and implementation time,
- Direct integration of the hosting solution with the company’s existing infrastructure.
You can compare different solutions.
How it works
BlackBerry is a comprehensive service solution. Without a special communication service from a mobile operator, a smartphone simply will not be able to work normally, since it will not have the ability to interact with the global BB infrastructure. The presence of this service makes it possible for the device to participate in the provisioning process. This is the process of determining the permissions of a Blackberry device to access certain services. During the provisioning process, activation, modification, control and blocking can be performed.This can be expressed in tasks such as activation specific device BlackBerry, assigning a specific set of parameters for subsequent standard activations, updating information in the RIM billing system.
The diagram below shows the BlackBerry Provisioning System nodes and the interactions between them. The key node is the BlackBerry Infrastructure (BBI), which interacts with devices directly and through other nodes in the system.
One of the main goals of provisioning is to ensure the normal operation of the smartphone. Roughly speaking, all BB devices are the same right out of the box. They are endowed with a certain set of functions only after successful registration on the network, interaction with the provisioning system and receipt of the necessary set of service books.
Service book – configuration file, which is sent to the device and contains information regarding a specific service or function. For example, the service book “BlackBerry Internet Browsing Service" contains information about the Internet Browser application, including access point settings, home page, default bookmarks.
The provisioning process always occurs when: a device is registered on a wireless network for the first time, a new SIM card, in the device settings, select the “register now” option (parameter settings - advanced parameters - node routing table), update, rollback or reinstall the device firmware.
Let's look at an example of a new connection. The user bought a device and a SIM card to which one or another BlackBerry service was connected. By connecting the service on the SIM card, the device is able to build a packet connection through the blackberry.net access point (for almost all BB smartphones it is the default access point). All traffic from this access point is routed by the operator towards BBI. In parallel with this, a command is sent from the telecom operator’s billing system to the provisioning system, with information about what specific communication service was connected to the user, and what set of BB functions should correspond to it. Meanwhile, the smartphone has already built an active connection through blackberry.net and sends a request to BBI about what set of services is available to it. In the provisioning system, this device is identified in connection with the telecom operator and the connected service, and through the Service Book Pushing node, required packages settings that correspond to the selected type of service.
The device reports the successful establishment of a connection to the BBI with a special indication of the registration icon in the mobile operator’s network ( capital letters EDGE/GPRS or “berry” icon near 3G).
Infrastructure
Now consider the scenario of sending an email message from user A of company A to user B of company B. In this scenario, email synchronization occurs when purchasing a BES solution (BESx). Other solutions work similarly.
So, user A creates a letter on the device. Before sending a message to the network, the device encrypts and compresses the message. The mobile operator routes this message towards the BBI, and there, in turn, it is determined that this particular device belongs to a specific BES server. The BES server of company A takes the mail message, decrypts and decompresses it, and through the privileged user postal system(with send as rights) sends on behalf of user A. Next, mail server A sends a letter to user B of company B. BES server of company B (through a privileged user in the mail system with access rights to user B’s mailbox) picks up this message from the mailbox mailbox, encrypts and compresses it and sends it towards BBI. From there, this message is pushed to user B’s device, where it is decompressed and decrypted, and then displayed on the smartphone display.
Russian realities
Separately, I would like to discuss the most pressing issue of implementing this functionality in Russia. Over the many years of life and development of its product, RIM has built a well-deserved reputation around it as a highly secure solution. Repeatedly, the company had to be a participant in showdowns around this decision at the level of state security services. However, the company has never given its customers any reason to doubt the security of BlackBerry services. But in Russia this reputation played a cruel joke on RIM.Attention, paranoids! It's no secret that we are all under surveillance and constant control, in some countries more, in others less. But this control does not go beyond the laws - there are many regulations, the requirements of which we, as a telecom operator, must comply with. For this reason, a product that is supplied in one form throughout the world, in Russia is supplied with additional solution, providing the possibility of control by state security officers. For this reason, we are forced to additionally supply special software and hardware for each server. For this reason, the BESx server, distributed worldwide free of charge, is sold by us. For the same reason, we cannot connect the service to our SIM cards if the devices are planned to be connected to a BES located abroad. For this reason, smartphones officially imported into the Russian Federation are still deprived of some functions, and so on.
With all this, it also remains a mystery to me why many people express concern that his mail can be read by state security agencies, but at the same time, much fewer people are worried that the same “men in uniform” can listen to their telephone conversations. Firstly, no one constantly reads or listens to anything, but only has a set of technical means to do this in the event of, for example, a terrorist threat. Secondly, these same technical means are applied only in accordance with the law, that is, it implies the presence of special grounds and permissions (for example, a court decision). Thirdly, the system provides a very high level of protection against competitive intelligence, which, in theory, can only be provided by our own expensive IT solutions (which will still need to be certified and also provide them with the ability to be monitored - otherwise this will be an article).
Anticipating most of the readers' questions, I want to say that before launching the service in Russia, we had two options: to do as much as possible and constantly improve the solution, or not to do anything at all. In the second case, our users would never have been able to take advantage of the capabilities of the solution, which has firmly won its place in the sun all over the world.
Total
BlackBerry is better than a spherical phone in a vacuum in that it has normally configured protection out of the box, plus it is, again, ready to work with corporate services. In terms of security, it provides one of the best levels of privacy in the industry.Gadget manufacturers
BlackBerry Company widely known as a manufacturer of business-class smartphones. In fact, its merits also lie in the fact that it provides reliable and secure software for industrial applications and mobile device management. And most importantly: this company produces telecommunications and wireless equipment. Its hardware and software products are used by various government agencies around the world, and are also actively used by industrial enterprises and automobile manufacturers. In other words, much of the activity remains unknown to the general public.The firm was founded by Waterloo student and Istanbul native Mike Lazaridis in 1984. Initially, it was called Research In Motion (RIM), and it was she who was destined to develop and release the BlackBerry device. However, this was still a long way off.
The future founder of the company, university rector and officer was born into a family of ethnic Pontian Greeks, and at the age of five he moved with them to Canada. As a teenager, he showed an unusual interest in science and technology. At the age of twelve, Lazaridis received a prize from the public library in Windsor for having read all of its scientific books.
Having matured, Mike entered the University of Waterloo to study computer science and electrical engineering. In a few years he will take over the company's project General Motors, thanks to which he will earn $500 thousand. This will be followed by the conclusion of a contract and a small grant from the government. In 1984, the company Research In Motion was founded together with University of Windsor engineering student Douglas Fregin.
The company's early years were funded by Canadian institutional and venture capital investors in 1995. The first venture capital investment was intended to complete the development of Research In Motion's two-way paging hardware and software system.
Before the company's initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange, it raised just $30 million. RIM worked with Ericsson and RAM Mobile Data on the Mobitex wireless network, which would enable bidirectional data transfer, and on a wireless email network.
In the summer of 1998, the Inter@ctive Pager 950 went on sale.
It was the size of a point-and-shoot camera, but compared to SkyTel from . Using it, it was possible to type and send messages to other similar devices. Externally, the device resembled a pager. He had a big screen and main function was corporate communication.
In 1999, Research In Motion introduced a device called the BlackBerry 850 pager. It was named so because one of the engineers drew a parallel between the tiny lacquered keys and blackberries. The developers liked the name and decided to use it in the future.
Thanks to its own additional server software, the device could receive push notifications from the Microsoft server. This invention laid the foundation for future products companies. At the same time, work began on creating the first mobile device.
In the spring of 2000, the BlackBerry 957 appeared - the company's first smartphone. It ran on the BlackBerry OS platform and was actively used in business and government agencies.
That same year, Lazaridis received an honorary doctorate in engineering from the University of Waterloo. Three years will pass, and he will be able to receive the position of rector, and after a few years he will become an officer of the Canadian Order and the Order of Ontario.
Soon, the future Blackberry company (at that time still RIM) began developing mobile devices aimed at the consumer market. The first smartphone of the new model was the BlackBerry Pearl 8100. It was equipped with multimedia functions, including a camera. The Pearl series turned out to be quite successful. The number of BlackBerry users has been growing around the world.
In 2004, a mobile device with a color display was released, which was called the BlackBerry 7210. It was this model that opened the 7000 series. Most devices in this series have Bluetooth support.
At the same time, the company is releasing a device without a QWERTY keyboard. The 8700 series will be noteworthy in that the devices will be equipped with increased memory, chat, a camera and a better screen. In 2007, the company began producing communicators.
Interesting fact: During his election campaign in 2007-2008, Barack Obama constantly used a BlackBerry communicator, and since then this device has become an integral part of the image of the future president.
By the way, according to the law, American presidents are prohibited from using personal communications devices, and therefore immediately after taking office he had to abandon the device. Later, a loophole in the law was found, and Obama was still able to win the right to use his personal BlackBerry smartphone.
This was argued by the fact that in the event of legal proceedings in which the head of state is involved, his personal correspondence cannot be used, and therefore he has the right to use his own email account.
The first iPhone was released in 2007.
This was accompanied by great excitement, and it was assumed that the Apple smartphone would be a serious competitor to BlackBerry. The iPhone turned out to have a powerful mobile platform, a new touch interface and huge multimedia capabilities.
One way or another, he was called the "BlackBerry killer" by the media. This was the impetus for Research In Motion to create their first touch-screen smartphone. It was BlackBerry Storm. This smartphone sold well, but there were many bad reviews about it.
In addition, the company faced criticism from the media, accusing it that the operating system it used was outdated and would not be able to withstand competition. Be that as it may, in the fall of 2010, the BlackBerry user base in the United States reached 21 million people.
The main competitors remained devices Google Android and iPhone as they also continued their accelerated growth. The BlackBerry line was still successful, but it didn't make much of a splash in the international market. All this forced its creators to turn to new platforms.
Among the new competitors was the Windows Phone OS.
For several years, BlackBerry remained the dominant smartphone in many markets, especially in the United States. The advent of iOS and Android greatly slowed BlackBerry's growth rate and had a negative impact on sales. Increasingly, the media referred to this device as uncompetitive.
They also noted that RIM was unable to continue its successful operations as a separate company. Fortunately, BlackBerry was able to retain some of its positions, backed by its established user base and cost-effective plans. Additionally, the smartphone market has continued to grow across the globe.
While Research In Motion's secure networks remained attractive to enterprise customers, their phones were less attractive to ordinary consumer. All this caused mass layoffs of employees in 2011. In addition, in September of the same year, another unpleasant event occurred: the BlackBerry Internet server suffered from extensive outages.
This event (simultaneously with the announcement of the iPhone 4S) led to a massive outflow of users. However, RIM responded quickly. In October, it introduced a new BBX platform, which would run future BlackBerry smartphones. This was followed by accusations trademark in borrowing the name BBX. That is why the platform was renamed BlackBerry 10.
In September, the company announced the release of the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, which was surrounded by many rumors. It was the first device to run the QNX platform, also known as BlackBerry Tablet OS. In 2011, the tablet was officially presented to American and Canadian customers.
Unfortunately, it was criticized for coming to market unfinished. The tablet sold poorly. All this prompted the company to reduce its cost.
In early 2012, Mike Lazaris and Jim Balsillie resigned from their positions general directors, handing over the reins to CEO Torsten Heyns. RIM soon suffered heavy losses, and Haynes decided to restructure. He fired many employees and replaced some executives, and also delayed the release of the BlackBerry 10 platform.
After much criticism, the company officially announced a new operating system and two smartphones running it – BlackBerry Z10 and Q10. This happened at the beginning of 2013. The BlackBerry Z10 smartphone was first introduced in January 2013 and went on sale in the UK to begin with.
It was equipped with a high-resolution display and a dual-core processor. Following this, its presentation took place in the USA. The company sought to become No. 1, using its own developments in the process of creating its own operating system (rather than adapting its devices to other platforms). They should be given credit for this.
During the launch of BlackBerry 10 there was another an important event: The company formerly known as Research In Motion became the BlackBerry Company. All this allowed us to create our own brand and attract attention to smartphones. Moreover, most customers already called the manufacturer of their devices nothing other than BlackBerry.
In the fall of 2013, the company is engaged in direct sales in the United States. Unlocked Q10 and Z10 smartphones are sold directly from the BlackBerry website. Both devices ran BlackBerry 10 OS.
The Z10 smartphone was also equipped with a QWERTY keyboard.
The company strives to survive and remain a reputable and reliable brand. In May 2013, the US Department of Defense approved mobile devices running BlackBerry 10 OS for corporate use by its employees.
In May 2014, Blackberry introduced Z3 smartphones at a reduced cost to the Indonesian market, where the brand was particularly popular. The device was created jointly with Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn (they were responsible for its design and distribution). Unfortunately, it was still more expensive than most Android models.
Among the most notable smartphones of 2014 is the BlackBerry Passport with a QWERTY keyboard and a square touchscreen display. This device ran BlackBerry OS version 10.3. In just the first six hours after the start of its sales, over 200 thousand smartphones were sold.
Another excellent invention of the company of the same year was completely touch smartphone BlackBerry Rio. It had no hardware buttons at all.
What will happen to the company next? In June 2014, CNN published an article in which it was named one of the disappearing brands in the United States. Even heading into 2015, as BlackBerry continues to grow globally, investors and the media are deeply concerned about whether it can compete with mobile platforms like Android.
One way or another, it still remains a large and well-known telecommunications company, as well as a manufacturer of communicators that have managed to carve out their own niche in the market. Modern smartphone BlackBerry has the ability to surf the web and work with by email. In addition, it interacts with other remote services.
What is so remarkable about BlackBerry business smartphones? Many of them are equipped with a full-format QWERTY keyboard, and therefore it is very convenient for their owners to work with texts and enter data. Smartphones are also reliably protected thanks to the built-in message protection system.
A modern BlackBerry is a smartphone that has the ability to work with email, SMS, which allows you to browse the Internet quite conveniently, and also works with other remote services.
Story
The history of BlackBerry devices begins in 1984 with the founding of Research In Motion in Canada.
Since its founding, the company has specialized in the production of devices for wireless transmission data. The devices made it possible to type and send any text to other similar devices. Outwardly they resembled pagers.
In 1997, one of the engineers working for the company suggested using a new name Blackberry (blackberry). The tiny lacquered buttons on the QWERTY keyboard reminded him of this berry. The management liked the name and after a while the first devices appeared under BlackBerry brand.
In 1999, work was underway to create the first mobile phone.
In 2000, the 957 Proton phone appears.
At the same time, the company is experimenting and releasing a BlackBerry without a QWERTY keyboard.
With the advent of the 8700 series models, BlackBerry begins to expand its range of consumers. To achieve this, new devices are equipped with a higher-quality display, expanded memory, a camera, chat and applications.
At the end of September 2016, Blackberry announced that it no longer plans to produce smartphones. It is reported that the company will focus on software development, while its Chinese partners will manufacture smartphones.
- BlackBerry 8820 with built-in Wi-Fi module (designed for corporate users);
- Blackberry 8830 World Edition stands out for its versatility - it supports both CDMA2000 and GSM.
On April 1, the official launch of BlackBerry World took place - an online store of mobile software for smartphones.
- BlackBerry Curve 8900 (updated model)
- BlackBerry Bold 9000 (9000 series supports standard and adds GPS navigation function)
- BlackBerry Storm 9500 (touchscreen input)
- BlackBerry Bold 9700 (battery power has been increased, a touchpad has been used instead of a trackball, supports HSDPA networks)
- BlackBerry Torch 9800 ( touchscreen and hardware keyboard, new version of BlackBerry OS 6.0)
- BlackBerry Bold 9780 (QWERTY keyboard, 5 MP camera, 512 MB of internal memory, new version of BlackBerry OS 6.0)
- BlackBerry Storm2 9520 (touch display, chrome inserts in the body, BlackBerry OS 5.0)
In September, the company announced the release of a tablet computer called PlayBook.
- BlackBerry Torch 9860 (touch display, new version of BlackBerry OS 7.0)
- Blackberry Bold 9900 (touch display and hardware keyboard, new version of BlackBerry OS 7.0)
- BlackBerry PlayBook 16/32/64 Gb - tablet PC based on the QNX real-time operating system
- BlackBerry P"9981 - a smartphone released jointly with the German company Porsche Design
- BlackBerry Z3 (full touch, no hardware buttons, new version of BlackBerry OS 10)
- BlackBerry Z10
- BlackBerry Z30 (full touch, no hardware buttons, new version of BlackBerry OS 10)
- BlackBerry Q5
- BlackBerry Q10 (touch display, QWERTY keyboard, new version of BlackBerry OS 10)
- BlackBerry Classic (Q20) (touch display, QWERTY keyboard, new version of BlackBerry OS 10, return of the classic phone shell - navigation buttons)
A distinctive feature of smartphones is the use special server(Blackberry Enterprise Server, BES) and AES encryption capabilities to protect messages from interception.
The operating principle of BlackBerry email networks is based on the fact that after registering a communicator on a network that has BlackBerry coverage, the system registers and then recognizes each individual BlackBerry communicator using an individual identification number (PIN). A unique number available for each device allows for the transmission of PIN messages (peer-to-peer system). Such messages arrive from the sending device to the receiving device instantly, and in addition, the system writes a report on the delivery of such messages. In addition, the device automatically highlights the header of PIN messages in red. The BlackBerry Messenger application also uses peer-to-peer technology, but the application's operating algorithm resembles that of well-known Internet instant messengers such as ICQ or AOL.
The intermediaries between the sender and the recipient are the RIM network operations center, where the servers are installed, and the mobile operator. In this case, manual synchronization of the smartphone and the mail server is not required. In order to save Internet traffic and achieve “instantaneous” data transfer, the company uses data compression algorithms.
There may be restrictions on the use of BlackBerry. It is for these reasons, as well as due to the high cost of services, that BlackBerry is not very widespread in the world. BlackBerry smartphones have not been officially sold in Russia for a long time. VimpelCom was the first to decide and began to connect BlackBerry in Russia via a VPN channel from corporate network to the operator's site.
BlackBerry for Business
However, the use of BlackBerry in Russia is associated with a number of restrictions; for example, Blackberry Messenger is disabled in all models sold by telecom operators in the Russian Federation.
BlackBerry Security
From time to time, Research In Motion finds itself at the center of a scandal surrounding encryption keys. Thus, French officials actively used the communicators of this company, including for transmitting secret data, but the company’s servers are located in England and the USA.
- In the TV series Sherlock (BBC), the main character used a BlackBerry Bold 9700.
- In the series House of Cards, the main character used a BlackBerry Bold 9780.
- In the series "White Collar" the main characters use BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10.
- In the series "Joe" the main characters use the BlackBerry Z10, BlackBerry Q10 and BlackBerry Playbook, as well as the BlackBerry Torch 9800.
- In the TV series Supernatural, in the first episodes Sam Winchester has a BlackBerry Bold 9000.
- In the film "Butt End" by Peter Hyman ( Robert Downey Jr) BlackBerry Bold 9000.
- In the film "Headhunters" by Claes Graaf ( Nikolaj Coster-Waldau).
- In the book “50 Shades of Gray” the main character uses a phone of this brand.
- In the movie "The Judge", the main character uses a BlackBerry Porsche Design P'9981.
- Sarah Jessica Parker admitted in an interview with Vogue that she loves the BlackBerry brand.
- In the series Gossip Girl, the main characters use a BlackBerry.
- This company’s phone is also featured in the Live-Action series based on the GTO manga.
- In the Korean TV series "Vampire Prosecutor" almost all the characters use Blackberry phones
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Links
- - BlackBerry official website
Notes
Excerpt describing BlackBerry
At the beginning of July, more and more alarming rumors about the progress of the war were spreading in Moscow: they were talking about the sovereign’s appeal to the people, about the arrival of the sovereign himself from the army to Moscow. And since the manifesto and appeal were not received before July 11, exaggerated rumors circulated about them and about the situation in Russia. They said that the sovereign was leaving because the army was in danger, they said that Smolensk had been surrendered, that Napoleon had a million troops and that only a miracle could save Russia.On the 11th of July, Saturday, the manifesto was received, but not yet printed; and Pierre, who was visiting the Rostovs, promised to come for dinner the next day, Sunday, and bring a manifesto and an appeal, which he would get from Count Rastopchin.
This Sunday, the Rostovs, as usual, went to mass at the Razumovskys’ home church. It was a hot July day. Already at ten o'clock, when the Rostovs got out of the carriage in front of the church, in the hot air, in the shouts of the peddlers, in the bright and light summer dresses of the crowd, in the dusty leaves of the trees of the boulevard, in the sounds of music and the white trousers of the battalion marching on the march, in the thunder of the pavement and in the bright shine of the hot sun there was that summer languor, contentment and dissatisfaction with the present, which is felt especially sharply on a clear hot day in the city. In the Razumovsky church there were all the Moscow nobility, all the acquaintances of the Rostovs (this year, as if expecting something, a lot of rich families, usually traveling to the villages, remained in the city). Passing behind the livery footman, who was parting the crowd near her mother, Natasha heard the voice of a young man speaking about her in a too loud whisper:
- This is Rostova, the same...
- She’s lost so much weight, but she’s still good!
She heard, or it seemed to her, that the names of Kuragin and Bolkonsky were mentioned. However, it always seemed that way to her. It always seemed to her that everyone, looking at her, only thought about what happened to her. Suffering and fading in her soul, as always in a crowd, Natasha walked in her purple silk dress with black lace the way women can walk - the calmer and more majestic the more painful and ashamed she was in her soul. She knew and was not mistaken that she was good, but this did not please her now as before. On the contrary, this was what tormented her most recently, and especially on this bright, hot summer day in the city. “Another Sunday, another week,” she said to herself, remembering how she was here on that Sunday, “and still the same life without life, and all the same conditions in which it was so easy to live before. She’s good, she’s young, and I know that now I’m good, before I was bad, but now I’m good, I know,” she thought, “and so the best years pass in vain, for no one.” She stood next to her mother and exchanged words with nearby acquaintances. Natasha, out of habit, examined the ladies’ dresses, condemned the tenue [demeanor] and the indecent way of crossing herself with her hand in the small space of one lady standing nearby, again thought with annoyance that she was being judged, that she too was judging, and suddenly, hearing the sounds of the service, she was horrified by her abomination, horrified that her former purity had again been lost.
The handsome, quiet old man served with that gentle solemnity that has such a majestic, calming effect on the souls of those praying. The royal doors closed, the curtain slowly closed; a mysterious quiet voice said something from there. Tears, incomprehensible to her, stood in Natasha’s chest, and a joyful and painful feeling worried her.
“Teach me what I should do, how I can improve forever, forever, what I should do with my life...” she thought.
The deacon went out to the pulpit, straightened his long hair from under his surplice, holding his thumb wide, and, placing a cross on his chest, loudly and solemnly began to read the words of the prayer:
- “Let us pray to the Lord in peace.”
“In peace - all together, without distinction of classes, without enmity, and united by brotherly love - let us pray,” thought Natasha.
- About the heavenly world and the salvation of our souls!
“For the peace of angels and the souls of all incorporeal creatures that live above us,” Natasha prayed.
When they prayed for the army, she remembered her brother and Denisov. When they prayed for those sailing and traveling, she remembered Prince Andrei and prayed for him, and prayed that God would forgive her for the evil that she had done to him. When they prayed for those who loved us, she prayed for her family, for her father, mother, Sonya, for the first time now understanding all her guilt before them and feeling all the strength of her love for them. When they prayed for those who hated us, she invented enemies and haters for herself in order to pray for them. She counted creditors and all those who dealt with her father among her enemies, and every time, when she thought about enemies and haters, she remembered Anatole, who had done her so much harm, and although he was not a hater, she joyfully prayed for him as for enemy. Only during prayer did she feel able to clearly and calmly remember both Prince Andrei and Anatol, as people for whom her feelings were destroyed in comparison with her feeling of fear and reverence for God. When they prayed for the royal family and for the Synod, she bowed especially low and crossed herself, telling herself that if she did not understand, she could not doubt and still loved the ruling Synod and prayed for it.
Having finished the litany, the deacon crossed the orarion around his chest and said:
- “We surrender ourselves and our lives to Christ God.”
“We will surrender ourselves to God,” Natasha repeated in her soul. “My God, I surrender myself to your will,” she thought. - I don’t want anything, I don’t desire anything; teach me what to do, where to use my will! Take me, take me! - Natasha said with tender impatience in her soul, without crossing herself, lowering her thin hands and as if expecting that an invisible force would take her and deliver her from herself, from her regrets, desires, reproaches, hopes and vices.
Several times during the service, the Countess looked back at the tender, sparkling-eyed face of her daughter and prayed to God to help her.
Unexpectedly, in the middle and not in the order of service, which Natasha knew well, the sexton brought out a stool, the same one on which kneeling prayers were read on Trinity Day, and placed it in front of the royal doors. The priest came out in his purple velvet skufia, straightened his hair and knelt down with an effort. Everyone did the same and looked at each other in bewilderment. It was a prayer just received from the Synod, a prayer for the salvation of Russia from enemy invasion.
“Lord God of hosts, God of our salvation,” the priest began in that clear, unpompous and meek voice, which is read only by spiritual Slavic readers and which has such an irresistible effect on the Russian heart. - Lord God of hosts, God of our salvation! Look now in mercy and generosity on your humble people, and kindly hear, and have mercy, and have mercy on us. Behold, the enemy has troubled your land and, although he has left the entire universe empty, has risen up against us; All these lawless people have gathered together to destroy your property, to destroy your honorable Jerusalem, your beloved Russia: desecrate your temples, dig up your altars and desecrate our shrine. How long, Lord, how long will sinners be praised? How long to use illegal power?
Lord God! Hear us praying to you: strengthen with your power the most pious, autocratic great sovereign of our Emperor Alexander Pavlovich; remember his righteousness and meekness, reward him according to his goodness, with which we, your beloved Israel, protect us. Bless his advice, undertakings and deeds; establish his kingdom with your almighty right hand and grant him victory over the enemy, as Moses did against Amalek, Gideon against Midian, and David against Goliath. Preserve his army; put the bow of the coppers on the armies that have taken up arms in your name, and gird them with strength for battle. Take a weapon and a shield, and rise up to help us, so that those who think evil against us will be ashamed and put to shame, may they be before the face of your faithful army, like dust before the face of the wind, and may your mighty angel insult and persecute them; let a net come to them that they do not know, and let their catch, having hidden it, embrace them; let them fall under the feet of your servants and be trampled underfoot by our howls. God! You will not fail to save in many and in small; You are God, let no man prevail against you.
God our father! Remember your generosity and mercies, which have existed since time immemorial: do not cast us away from your presence, abhor our unworthiness, but have mercy on us according to your great mercy and, according to the multitude of your generosity, despise our iniquities and sins. Create a pure heart in us, and renew a right spirit in our womb; Strengthen us all with faith in you, confirm us with hope, inspire us with true love for each other, arm us with unanimity for the righteous defense of possession, which you and our father gave to us, so that the rod of the wicked does not ascend to the lot of the sanctified.
Lord our God, we believe in Him and we trust in Him, do not disgrace us from the hope of your mercy and create a sign for good, so that those who hate us and our Orthodox faith will see, and be disgraced and perish; and let all countries know that your name is the Lord, and we are your people. Show us, Lord, now give us your mercy and your salvation; make the hearts of your servants glad because of your mercy; defeat our enemies, and crush them quickly under the feet of your faithful. For you are intercession, help and victory for those who trust in you, and we send glory to you, father and son and holy spirit, now and ever, and forever and ever. Amen".
In the state of spiritual openness in which Natasha was, this prayer had a strong effect on her. She listened to every word about the victory of Moses against Amalek, and Gideon against Midian, and David against Goliath, and about the destruction of your Jerusalem, and asked God with that tenderness and softness with which her heart was filled; but she did not understand well what she was asking God for in this prayer. She participated with all her soul in asking for a right spirit, for the strengthening of the heart with faith, hope and for the inspiration of their love. But she could not pray to trample underfoot her enemies, when a few minutes before that she only wished to have more of them, to love them, to pray for them. But she also could not doubt the correctness of the kneeling prayer read. She felt in her soul a reverent and trembling horror of the punishment that befell people for their sins, and especially for her sins, and asked God to forgive them all and her and give them all and her peace and happiness in life . And it seemed to her that God heard her prayer.
The history of BlackBerry began in 1984. At that time, the company Research In Motion made communicators similar to a pager. They were designed only for text transmission. In 1997, the name "BlackBerry" was used for the first time. The device's buttons resembled blackberries, and that's how the name was coined. Communicators with a QWERTY keyboard, which was considered very convenient at that time, appeared in 2007.
BlackBerry smartphones are service devices. Their main feature is the security of data transmission according to the AES standard to protect against interception. Another development is responsible for this - Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES).
The solution is installed on the equipment of the cellular operator and the customer company. Each smartphone on the network has its own unique number, by which it is identified with the server. The intermediaries between the sender and the recipient are the company server and the mobile operator. Thus, the approach is relevant for paranoid corporations that would like to monitor the data on employees' devices.
Due to its secrecy, BlackBerrys were not officially sold in Russia for a long time - this was prevented by the ubiquitous secret services. Now Beeline is working with BlackBerry devices, but BlackBerryMessenger (a secure analogue of ICQ) is disabled on them. In Ukraine, he took up the implementation of the solution.
Today, BlackBerry has become even more irrelevant. Many smartphones can work with VPN - virtual private network, the encryption and protection of which you can configure yourself. In addition, there are a number of applications that can restrict access to data and its transfer - for example, Knox from Samsung.
Despite the upgrade in terms of working with text, multimedia, graphic files and improving the usability of smartphones, BlackBerry remains quite expensive. We practically didn’t deal with “blackberry” devices, but our Test Lab did get the latest model of the BlackBerry Z3 smartphone with the latest BlackBerry 10 OS update.
It is worth noting that the smartphone is truly typical for the business segment. Although this device is not the most expensive. Strict design and slightly heavy non-separable body.
The back is covered with textured plastic and prevents the smartphone from slipping out of your hands. There is also a speaker at the bottom, which, by the way, is very loud.
All buttons are on the left side. This is convenient, since you can press them with your thumb without unnecessary interceptions. There are also no hardware buttons here. Navigation through applications occurs thanks to a unified interface, and applications are closed by swiping from bottom to top.
The slots for the SIM card and MicroSD are on the right and are covered with a common plug. MicroUSB is used for connection and charging. Audio jack is on top.
Holding the middle button between volume up and down launches Intelligent Assistant. With its help, you can search on your smartphone, on the Internet, or perform quick operations (call, write SMS, etc.). In OS version 10.3.1, the assistant now has voice input. There is no support for Ukrainian and Russian languages.
Thanks to the new optimized firmware, the 2500 mAh battery lasts for several hours more than that of similar Android smartphones. With a moderate load - a couple of hours of Internet via Wi-Fi, SMS and a dozen calls - the smartphone works for almost two days.
The smartphone has dual core Qualcomm processor MSM8230 and 1.5 GB random access memory. Quite an old solution, but enough for the BlackBerry OS. There are no lags or brakes at all. Internal memory It has 8 GB, and memory cards up to 32 GB. True, we used the 64 GB version of the card, and it is supported without problems.
When connected to a computer, the smartphone automatically detects the operating system and offers to install BlackBerry Link from the company's website. Only after this the phone memory will be visible in the explorer. No drivers are needed for the memory card; it is immediately visible from the PC.
There are almost no programs from PlayMarket in the native BlackBerry World application store. But you can install third-party options that will allow you to use the usual Instagram, Forsquare, Dropbox, etc. Having studied the issue, we found information about what exactly is in latest version BlackBerry OS has been seriously redesigned to optimize their operation. Android applications take longer to launch than expected, but are more stable than on previous versions.
BlackBerry Z3 is considered a mid-price device. The price in Ukraine is approximately 5000 UAH. Apparently, the latest OS update and the Z3 model are attempts to regain user loyalty and gain new customers. Most likely, already for flagship devices. What remains for us to say is that the decision is not uninteresting, and the means of protection may become more relevant in view of the current situation of information confrontation.
BlackBerry Z3
OS: BlackBerry 10.3.1
Processor: Qualcomm MSM8230, 1.2 GHz
Screen: 5”, 540×960, AMOLED
RAM: 1.5 GB
Memory: 8 GB + MicroSD 32 GB
main 5 MP, autofocus, LED flash
front 1.1 MPix.
Communications: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS
Battery: 2500 mAh
Dimensions: 140×72.8×9.26 mm
Supplier: ASBIS-Ukraine
Grade:
Good performance
Optimization in the new OS
Autonomy
- no usual applications