+101 - Vote for the best Blackberry Applications

Endgadget have a great preview of the new Blackberry playbook: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/06/blackberry-playbook-preview/

It’s looking very good indeed, the screen is crystal clear, smooth transistions and a great look and feel to the UI. Only the camera is a slight disappointment…

There’s not much more we can add, so head over there and take a look. In summary though:

If you can’t tell, we’re very impressed. Overall the device is blazingly fast, comfortable to hold, and intuitive to use.

Are you as excited by this as we are?

Thanks to the recent surge in demand for smartphones and the increasing popularity of the Blackberry, Research in Motion has, for the first time, broken into the top five phone mobile phone companies worldwide in sales.

RIM replaced Motorola in the Top 5 chart and tied with Sony Ericsson for the No. 4 position. RIM shipped 10.6 million phones in the first quarter, while Motorola, which had been a fixture in the top-five ranking since 2004, shipped 8.5 million phones.

Nokia held on to its No. 1 position worldwide, shipping an incredible 107.8 million phones in the first quarter of the year – up 16 percent from the same quarter year before.

The latest Blackberry phones and increase in demand for smartphones and access to email and other online features has helped push the Blackberry maker into the top 5.

RIM have just announced the new Blackberry operating system will be available and updated in the next quarter of the year. Blackberry 6 is designed to work with existing and future hardware with emphasis on improving speed and graphics.

Mike Lazaridis, Research in Motion (RIM) co-chief, said:

“We have completely redesigned the home screen. You can search from the home screen for information on the device and the internet. We’ve redesigned all the core applications: messages, calendar, contacts — and we have great new multimedia apps and a new application for managing and viewing social networks.”

The new OS is reportedly closer to that of other leading smartphones like the iPhone and Android operating systems. We’re not sure how this will affect existing Blackberry applications but I’m sure the new OS will allow plenty of oppotunities to try new features and new ideas to the apps market.

Initially Blackberry 6 will be available on new handsets and then ported across to existing phones, in the same way that Blackberry 5 was released.