Meet The Blackberry Classic

Although familiar in appearance, BlackBerry Classic upgrades the BlackBerry® Bold 9900 experience with:

·        Three times faster browser

·        60 percent more screen space

·        50 percent longer battery life

·        Greater variety of applications through BlackBerry World and the Amazon Appstore

Top features of the BlackBerry Classic that drive productivity, communications and collaboration include:

·        BlackBerry® Keyboard & Trackpad – The QWERTY keyboard has stood the test of time as the iconic BlackBerry feature that users know and trust. Crafted for optimal speed and accuracy, the BlackBerry Classic’s QWERTY keyboard gives users the control and confidence to communicate quickly and clearly using one hand with a trackpad and classic navigation keys.

·        BlackBerry® Browser – The BlackBerry 10 web browser is amazingly fast and astoundingly beautiful. That’s why HTML5TEST.com rates it amongst the top mobile browsers for web fidelity.* Access your favorite online content as it was meant to be seen, faster than ever before and with unlimited browser tabs.

·        Screen & Battery – The BlackBerry Classic offers a form factor optimized for power communicators with a 3.5-inch touch screen display, 294 dpi HD resolution and Corning® Gorilla® Glass 3 for greater durability. The BlackBerry Classic also offers a large battery capacity and state-of-the-art battery optimization software. With up to 22 hours of battery power, you can be confident that BlackBerry Classic will be ready to deliver results when you need it.**

·        Premium Components – The device is built with durable materials mixed with top-of-the-line technology. This includes a 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon Processor, 2GB RAM, 16GB of device storage (expandable by up to 128GB via uSD), and a 2MP front- and 8MP rear-facing camera with enhanced optics and upgraded imaging sensors.

·        BlackBerry® 10 OS 10.3.1 – The BlackBerry Classic comes preloaded with the BlackBerry 10.3.1 operating system, offering a fresh look that incorporates updated icons and an instant action bar so that each user’s most commonly accessed functions are in the center of their screen. With this new operating system, users gain access to powerful features, including:

o   BlackBerry® Blend – BlackBerry Blend brings messaging and content that is on your BlackBerry smartphone to your computer and tablet. Get instant message notifications, read and respond to your work and personal email, BBM™ and text messages, and access your documents, calendar, contacts and media in real time on whatever device you are on, powered by your BlackBerry.

o   BlackBerry® Assistant – The BlackBerry Assistant is BlackBerry’s first digital assistant and can be used with voice and text commands to help users manage work and personal email, contacts, calendar and other native BlackBerry 10 applications. It’s the only smartphone assistant on the market today that can access both personal and work content in your work perimeter. BlackBerry Assistant intelligently determines how to respond to you based on how you interact with it – if you type, it responds silently, if you speak, it speaks back and if you activate over Bluetooth, it speaks back with additional context because it assumes you might not have access to the screen.

o   Dual app storefronts for a wealth of professional and popular apps:

§  BlackBerry World – BlackBerry World showcases essential productivity apps for business professionals looking to drive efficient communications and collaboration.

§  Amazon Appstore – Preloaded on BlackBerry Classic, users can access popular Android apps and games through the Amazon Appstore including Candy Crush Saga, Pinterest, Kindle for Android and Cut the Rope 2. Users can also scan Android apps for malware and privacy issues prior to installation using BlackBerry Guardian.

·        BlackBerry® Hub – The one place to manage all your conversations – email, texts, BBM, phone calls, social media and more. You can even glance at what’s next in your calendar. It’s always available with a single swipe to help you stay organized, in control and on top of all your conversations.

BlackBerry Classic is built on BlackBerry’s renowned secure operating system, with built-in protection against viruses, tampering and data leaks. The BlackBerry Classic is private by default, protecting users with encrypted email, web browsing and BBM.

The Blackberry Classic is now available in South Africa. 

For more information, please visit http://www.BlackBerry.com/Classic.

Vodacom Business BYOD security solution - BBM Recruitment Competition

Vodacom Business launches BYOD security solution

Bring Your Own Device, or BYOD, is on the rise.  Employees are increasingly using their own smartphones, tablets, and other devices for work. It’s great for employees to be able to use the device that they prefer and can help companies increase productivity and reduce costs, but it can be a major challenge when it comes to managing company network security. Vodacom Business has now stepped in with a new solution which gives IT security managers the tools needed to safely bring BYOD under control.

Vodacom Secure Device Manager is a new Mobile Device Management (MDM) solution developed by Vodacom Business. This solution provides administration functionality for businesses to remotely manage mobile devices and enforce security policies, giving employees secure access to corporate data. The tool can be used for both company-owned and employee-owned devices across the business.

Chris Ross, Managing Executive of Products and Services at Vodacom Business said:

“With around 95% of employees stating that they use at least one personal device for work, BYOD is a reality that company IT security managers simply can’t ignore.

“Although the ability to allow staff to work at any time, from anywhere and on any device provides real business benefits, it also brings significant risks. To ensure that information does not end up in the wrong hands, it’s imperative that companies put security measures in place.”

Vodacom Secure Device Manager is a solution that enables companies to manage all devices using company resources through an internet-based console. Once devices have been added, companies can maintain the security of their data and applications, even if a device is lost or stolen. This is done by ensuring that only authorized and compliant devices have access to the company network, and by locking down and wiping the data from any lost or stolen devices. 

Vodacom Secure Device Manager also enables companies to remotely monitor the health of smart devices and run diagnostics to identify issues and fix problems as efficiently as possible. On top of this, the service allows the viewing of application inventory and data against thresholds in order to simplify the management mobile assets and inventory. Updating or adding new policies, settings, certificates, applications, and software can also all now be managed wirelessly via the internet using Vodacom Business’ MDM solution.

“The web-based console gives companies the ability to control who can access company information and applications via their own smart devices, thereby protecting vital information and helping companies to comply with regulations such as the impending POPI Act,” adds Ross.

Vodacom Secure Device Manager works across key platforms including iOS, Android and Windows Mobile devices. It’s a highly scalable solution designed to support as many or as few devices as needed, making it suitable for use by small businesses as well as large organisations and government departments.

“Companies will also have access to a dedicated Vodacom Business support team to provide the kind of round-the-clock support that our customers have come to expect from us,” adds Ross.

The Great South African BBM Recruitment Contest

Something exciting from BlackBerry just for you:

1.      The competition will run between January 30, 2015 and April 30, 2015.

2.      BBM users in South Africa – on BlackBerry, Android, iOS and Windows Phone – are eligible to participate.  However, participants must already be BBM users by January 30, 2015 in order to qualify to win. 

3.      Participants must recruit new BBM users and add them to their BBM contact list.

4.      Each new recruit must be new to BBM, have a minimum of ten contacts by the end of the contest and send messages regularly.  The 1,000 people who recruit the most new BBM users will receive 1,000.00 ZAR each of airtime credit applied to their mobile prepaid account.

For more info on BBM and The Great South African BBM Recruitment Contest, please visit http://www.bbm.com or http://www.bbm.com/contest/za

This edition by Fred Felton

Twitter @fredfelton