BlackBerry today announced at their annual Live conference the next update to the Z10, OS version 10.1.

New BlackBerry 10.1 Features include:

• BlackBerry Hub: The BlackBerry Hub lets you access all your messages and notifications in one place. With BlackBerry 10.1 support for PIN to PIN messages for direct communication between BlackBerry smartphones has been added to the BlackBerry Hub. Plus, improved attachment support in the BlackBerry Hub makes it easier to view emails which have been sent as attachments to other messages.
• Notifications: With BlackBerry 10.1 you can personalize the notifications for your accounts and contacts so you always know what is happening around you. Customize ringtones, vibration and the LED light by contact or by account for more personalized notifications.
• Fine Cursor Control: BlackBerry 10.1 makes it easier and more accurate to pinpoint exactly where you want to type. Tap once to bring up the cursor. Grab the blue circle and drag it around to place it exactly where you need it. Tap either side of the circle to move left or right by just one character. It’s easy to move around with speed and precision.
• Camera: BlackBerry 10 lets you create the perfect shot by moving parts of your picture backwards and forwards in time with Time Shift mode. BlackBerry 10.1 adds an HDR shooting mode for beautiful images in tricky lighting conditions. A standard image takes a picture at one exposure level. Where you have high contrast between light and dark areas of the photo, fine details can be lost. High Dynamic Range (HDR) mode takes multiple pictures at different exposure levels and layers them automatically to produce a single photo that combines the best of the dark and light areas.
• Instant Actions – a set of predefined and expandable “action” shortcuts within the Universal Search interface
• Keyboard Shortcuts – the Q10 shortcuts will work on the Z10′s virtual keyboard
• Landscape orientation support in the calendar
• Click to call any phone number mentioned in an email or message

Best of all, starting today, Skype will be available to all BlackBerry Z10 users who update their phones to the latest BlackBerry 10.1 OS.

The update should start seeding to most devices this week.

If you don’t have an update notification already, you can check manually for software updates via the software updates section in your phone’s Settings or get it via BlackBerry Link.

Blackberry has just taken the covers off their latest model, the Q5. It will come packed with a 1.2Ghz dual core processor, 2GB of RAM, 8GB of on-board memory, a 3.1” 720x720 LCD screen, a non-removable 2100MAh battery, a Micro-SD slot (up to 32GB), it will be running on the latest version of Blackberry OS 10.1 and it will be available in Black, White, Red and Pink.

The new BlackBerry Q5 smartphone will be available in selected markets in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia (including the Asia Pacific region), and Latin America, with availability beginning in July.

How to transfer your information from your iPhone to a Blackberry 10 device.

Transferring Music from iTunes to Blackberry 10 devices

1. Open iTunes and sync your iPhone with iTunes
2. Using a USB cable, connect your Blackberry 10 device to a PC
3. Select iTunes as your Blackberry Link source
4. Open Blackberry Link, navigate to the Music content and then drag and drop music from the Desktop to the Blackberry tab while your Blackberry Z10 is connected

Transferring Pictures and Videos – Windows

1. Using a USB cable, connect your Blackberry 10 device to a PC
2. Open Blackberry Link and select the Desktop Tab
3. Navigate to your Pictures and Video contents view and add the folders that store all your content.
4. From the Desktop tab, navigate to your Pictures and Video content and drag and drop your Photos and Video onto your Blackberry tab with your Blackberry 10 device connected.

Transferring Pictures and Video – Mac

1. Using a USB cable, connect your Blackberry 10 device to a PC
2. Open Blackberry Link and click on the Desktop Tab
3. The Blackberry Link software will source content from your iTunes and iPhoto apps automatically
4. From the Desktop tab, navigate to your Pictures and Video content and drag and drop your Photos and Video onto your Blackberry tab with your Blackberry 10 device connected.

Setting up Email, Calendar and Contacts

1. On your Blackberry 10 device go to settings and click Accounts
2. Click Add Account and enter your email address and password
3. Your Blackberry 10 device will now start syncing with your email account and will start pulling down your emails

BT Wholesale has signed a 10 year deal with O2 (Telefonica UK) to support the operator’s forthcoming launch of 4G mobile network services. The deal is said to be worth around £500m over the next decade.

Both BT and O2 succesfully bid on frequencies in January’s 4G auction, although surprise was noted when O2 did not get any of the higher 2.6GHz frequency, despite getting two sets of 10MHz within the 800MHz range. By contrast, Vodafone UK got the same amount in 800Mhz and also two sets of the 20MHz and one of the 25MHz frequencies. BT on the other hand did get some of the frequency. The new deal will see BT Wholesale build a high capacity transmission network to help O2 cope with the stress of data-intensive 4G services.

Chet Patel, managing director for BT Wholesale Markets, said:

“Our network solution will help O2 deliver a next generation mobile experience to customers to fully exploit the exciting possibilities of 4G technologies.”

Adrian Di Meo, O2 UK’s chief technology officer was quoted as saying:

“With the UK’s 4G spectrum auction complete, UK mobile data traffic is set to grow by more than 400 per cent by 2016. This is a huge opportunity for us, as well as a technical challenge. But through our partnership with BT Wholesale, customers of O2 will be backed by a high-performance mobile internet network which we believe will release the potential of 4G services and result in unrivalled mobile phone and internet browsing experiences.”

The Pentagon has cleared BlackBerry 10 connected via BES 10 and Samsung Android devices connected via Samsung’s Android Knox, for use within the Department of Defense (DoD).

With a very large percentage of BlackBerry devices already being used within the Pentagon (470,000 out of 600,000), the role of BlackBerry including devices and BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 continues to be important and relevant for security conscious organisations.

The approval allows all DoD customers to use the BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10 smartphones, and BlackBerry PlayBook tablets on DoD networks.

It’s always recommended to Backup as often as possible to safeguard your data. On this note, both iTunes and iCloud can back up the data on your iPhone and iPad.

Follow these steps to back up your previous device and then restore the backup to your newly purchased device. Your saved messages, email accounts, photos, notes, and other personal settings will be transferred to your new device.

Use the iCloud steps below if both your devices use iOS 5 or later and you have an iCloud account. If one or both devices use an earlier version of iOS or if you don’t have an iCloud account, follow the iTunes steps, below

iTunes – How to backup

iTunes can create backups of both your iPhone and iPad when you Sync with iTunes:

- Connect your iPhone or iPad to a computer with the latest version of iTunes installed
- Select your iPhone or iPad in iTunes under ‘devices’
- Right click the device and select ‘Backup’.

iTunes – How to restore from a backup

- Connect your device to the computer which you normally sync with.
- Right click the device and choose ‘Restore from Backup’.
- If it’s a new phone, connect to iTunes and you’ll be prompted to restore from backup.

iCloud – How to Backup

iCloud automatically backs up the data on your iOS 5/6 device. Enable the backup on the device under ‘Settings > iCloud > Backup & Storage”. It will continue to run on a daily basis under the following conditions:
- Connected to the internet over Wi-Fi
- Connected to a power source
- Screen is locked

You can also backup manually whenever connected to the internet over Wi-Fi by going to:
- Settings
- iCloud
- Storage & Backup
- Backup now

iCloud – How to restore from Backup

If you go through the setup assistance on any new iOS device (iPhone or iPad), choose ‘Restore from iCloud Backup’ and enter your Apple username and password. You can choose from your 3 most recent iCloud backups.

Select the one you want to restore.

There have been a number of stories in the press recently that highlight an issue where children in particular have inadvertently generated high bills through Apple’s iTunes store whilst playing games on iPads or iPhones.

If you are concerned about your children making in-app purchases, then here is how to stop them.

1. Select the Settings icon from the home screen and then select the General option
2. Scroll down and select Restrictions
3. Type in a four digit code. This code will now be needed to make changes to the Restrictions settings
4. Scroll down to the Allowed Content section within the Restriction screen.
5. You then have two options 1. you can turn off all In-App Purchases by moving the slider next to In-App Purchases to the off position (this will not allow anyone to buy anything from the App Store) or 2. leave In-App purchases turned on and change the Required Password to Immediately. This means that every time someone tries to purchase an App within the App store they will need to enter your iTunes password.
6. Once you have set up your ‘Allowed Content’ settings push the home button to finish

For obvious reasons, you should keep both the four digit code and the iTunes password confidential.

If you’re considering making the jump from Android to BlackBerry 10, here’s how to transfer all your information.

Transferring files – Windows

1. Connect your phone to your PC
2. Open Windows Explorer by clicking Start > Accessories > Windows Explorer
3. Create a folder on your desktop and drag and drop the files on your PC into this folder
4. Plug your Blackberry 10 device to your PC with a USB cable and start up Blackberry Link
5. Drag and drop files from the Desktop tab on to the Blackberry tab while the Blackberry 10 device is connected.

Transferring files – Mac

1. Connect your Blackberry 10 device to your Mac
2. If prompted down and install Blackberry Link
3. When Blackberry Link is installed you will see two new folders on your Mac’s desktop (Removable_SDCARD and Media)
4. Click on your phone and drag and drop files into the Removable_SDCARD and Media folders on your desktop.

Transferring Media Card Files (Music, Pictures and Video)

You may be able to transfer your files stored on your microSD card by removing it from your Android device and plugging it into your Blackberry 10 device, however if you are prompted to reformat your microSD card please follow the below steps:

1. Make sure that your media card is installed in your Android device.
2. Save any items that you want to transfer onto your PC by using iTunes, Windows Media Player, Windows Explorer or Finder on Mac.
3. Remove your microSD card from your Android device and insert it into your Blackberry 10 device.
4. Reformat your microSD card if prompted.
5. Using a USB cable, connect your Blackberry 10 device to a PC.
6. Open Blackberry Link and drag and drop your saved files onto the Desktop tab.

Setting up Email, Calendar and Contacts

1. On your Blackberry 10 device go to settings and click “Accounts”
2. Click “Add Account” and enter your email address and password
3. Your Blackberry 10 device will now start syncing with your email account and will start pulling down your emails

Ofcom has announced a proposal to change the way consumers are charged for calls to Freephone numbers, 08, 09 and 118 numbers, known as non-geographic customer service numbers. These numbers currently charge more if rung from a mobile line, compared to a landline. The variance in the costs to these numbers from different suppliers currently causes confusion to users.

Ofcom wish to standardise how these calls are priced in order to clear up the confusion. Ed Richards, Ofcom’s Chief Executive said:

“There is clear evidence of widespread uncertainty and confusion about the cost of calling these numbers”.

“Consumers need to have far more transparency about the price they are going to pay for calls so that they can make more informed choices and so competition can work more effectively”.

“Making 0800 free from a mobile and giving people clarity about what they are paying for 118 directory enquiry services will improve transparency, improve competition and enhance trust in these important services”

What Ofcom propose includes a restructuring along the lines of:

• Freephone (080 and 116 numbers) to be free from all telephones – including landlines and mobile phones
• Revenue sharing ranges (08, 09 and 118 numbers) to have a new, standardised structure making clear what the consumer will be charged by the phone company and the additional charges paid to the company being called 
• Clear the current confusion around the 0845/0870 numbers and reinforce the 03 range where the cost of calls are the same price as calling a geographic number (i.e. numbers staring in 01 or 02)

As the proposal is going to create fundamental changes to the current call charging structure, Ofcom are giving telecom comapnies 18 months to get the changes into effect.

With more than 60 battery saving improvements in the last update to BB10, users in various online forums have reported the Z10 battery life has improved quite a bit. As the battery life varies depending on how you use your BlackBerry 10 device, to help battery power last longer, try any or all of the following:

• Use the power-saving options in your device settings. To adjust the screen brightness or change the screen lock timeout, on the home screen, swipe down from the top of the screen. Tap  Settings > Display.

• Turn down the device volume with the volume keys on the right side of your device. To adjust other volume settings, on the home screen, swipe down from the top of the screen. Tap Settings > System Volume or Notifications.
• Close any apps or features that you are finished using so that they aren’t continuously running in the background. Not all Active Frames update in the background, but a lot of them do. Things like battery apps or weather apps will refresh on their own if you leave them open, and in turn eat up battery (although not a lot). So when you’re not using apps be sure to close out the Active Frames.

• If your device is out of a network coverage area, turn off the connection so that your device doesn’t continuously search for a network signal. To turn off or change network connections, on the home screen, swipe down from the top of the screen. Tap Settings > Network Connections.

• Use the latest version of BlackBerry Device Software. If a software update is available for your device, a notification appears in BlackBerry Hub. Alternatively, open Settings > Software Updates > Check for Updates. As a matter of fact, the latest OS update 10.0.10.90 did include many tweaks to improve battery life.
• Save data to a media card instead of your device storage. To do this, when you initially place the media card into a BB10 device, the user is prompted to save data to the media card, select Yes. You can also enable this function by going in to the camera feature, swiping down, select Settings and ensure ‘Save Pictures on Media Card’ is enabled.
• Turn Off the camera flash or set to Auto. To do this, go in to the Camera feature, tap on the 3 dots in the bottom right corner and amend the Flash option.
• Always use  an official BlackBerry charger, charge for an extended period of time when possible, avoid charging in small increments (i.e. less than 15 minutes), and do not your leave smartphone in direct sunlight (i.e. your vehicle’s dashboard) or in extremely cold temperatures.
• The Screen Lock Timeout controls how long your smartphone will wait before turning off the screen after being left idle. The less time that the screen is on, the more battery is conserved. To adjust this value, go to Settings > Display and change the Screen Lock Timeout.

• On top of  protecting your smartphone, using a case that turns off the display is a great way to save battery life.