Verizon BlackBerry owners will be able to get updates to their BlackBerry smartphones over-the-air (OTA) today, starting at 6 pm (EDT) for the BlackBerry Bold 9650, BlackBerry Tour 9630 and Blackberry Curve 8530.
The BlackBerry Bold 9650 update includes improvements to Push-to-Talk, text messaging, video/audio playback, global connectivity, resetting and powering-off. The BlackBerry Tour update includes many improvements to Push-to-Talk, minor glitch fixes, improved video/audio playback and support for Japanese voice activation. The BlackBerry Curve update includes improvements to visual voice mail, maps, 3G connections, international text messages, faster encryption, video streaming and WMV file support. Lists of all the update features follow.
Verizon and RIM encourage users to download the updates today. There are
three ways to download the software upgrade for personal email users
for BlackBerry - from an update notification, checking from the
BlackBerry and downloading from the web on a computer.
It will
take approximately 25 to 45 minutes to download the software, After you
download the software, the next step is to install it onto the
BlackBerry. Installation should take up to two additional hours. You
can't make or receive calls during the update.
For OTA updates,
from the main menu select the Options icon, select Advanced Options,
select Wireless Upgrade, read prompts and click on next buttons. You may
see an icon notifying of an update; select the Wireless Update icon;
then click "next" and follow the prompts.
For web downloading, go to www.blackberry.com/updates.
Here's a list of BlackBerry Bold 9650 (BlackBerry 5.0.0 Release 1242 - Platform 5.0.0.732) Update enhancements:
- Better group Push-to-Talk functionality, contacts, and audio performance.
- Improved SMS: View text-messaging threads and a more
responsive text-message icon that will disappear once you've read a
message. - Enhanced playback for picture and video
messages with audio - If you receive a text message while listening to
an audio message, for example, the text alert sound will not affect the
audio attachment's playback. - Stable global capability, so the Bold will connect and stay connected to 3G
network in global mode, where available. - When the "End" key is used to
turn it off, the Bold will now display a confirmation
prompt. - From now on, the Bold will only reset when prompted by
the user.
BlackBerry Tour (BlackBerry 5.0.0 Release 1242) update features:
- Improved audio when accepting a Push-to-Talk call from a mobile contact.
- Placing the speaker volume on silent will no longer affect the earpiece volume when placing a Push-to-Talk call.
- Updating your device software will no longer disable Push-to-Talk.
- Device enhancements made when switching from a CDMA to GSM network.
- Trackball response is no longer affected by launching Push-to-Talk while web browsing.
- Setting a contact alert in the sound profiles application now only requires one click to save.
- Open voice-mail messages from the text message application with no issues.
- GlobalAccess Connect support.? for international Internet access, you can tether your smartphone to a notebook.
- Push-to-Talk alert tone responds faster.
- Push-to-Talk answering capabilities have been improved.
- The Push-to-Talk key now responds when receiving Push-to-Talk calls.
- Video-message audio and video playback has been improved.
- Improvements to audio when placing a phone call while using a headset.
- The Voice Activated Dialing functionality now recognizes Japanese.
BlackBerry Curve 8530 update features:
- Improved Visual Voice Mail app.
- Updated satellite fixes for BlackBerry maps.
- Improvements made to allow faster, easier connection to 3G and data services.
- Create and send international SMS messages using different international prefixes.
- Utilize content protection and media-file encryption without compromising speed.
- Review SMS messages with audio attachments before you send them.
- Stream videos using the V CAST video-on-demand (VOD) application without interruption.
- Support and play WMV files.