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A few days ago Blackberry Messenger 5.0 leaked. It is available through download and install via desktop manager. Thanks to @0mie BBM 5.0 is available for download on most Blackberries as an Over the Air (OTA) install straight from the Blackberry Browser. Make sure you read carefully and you backup all of your information (especially your Blackberry Messenger Contacts) before you start this process.

I was so excited for the news, I installed immediately on my phone (Sprint 8330/Curve) and it worked like a champ. I installed on my wife’s phone (Verizon 9530/Storm) and  it worked like a champ. Once I did this I told everybody I knew that had a Blackberry to install the new BBM 5.0 and gave them a link to @0mie’s site. Of course one of my BB peeps @daytripper67 and a co-worker, Jeannette, lost all of their contacts on their BBM and lost BBM all together. I know this was hard for you ladies and I apologize it happened. Now for my initial thoughts on BBM 5.0

My first thoughts on the BBM were “very cool”/ It looked a lot better right from the start. Things seemed larger and fairly easier to scroll through. I remembered reading you could customize your avatar and I immediately did that. The cool thing is it lets crop the pic and as of now if you set an avatar your other BBM contacts will see it. If you want to add me my pin is 31A65D47 and my shirt says “I’m a Little Beach”.

You now have a tab that comes up for recent updates. Anybody that has updated their status, or their saying, or picture will all be listed here. I really like that you can pretty easily set group chats and you can also set a subject to the chat. You can still send a picture, voicenote, and file as before. You know can also send your location to a contact and you can even set up a proximity sensor. I leave mine off because the element of surprise is important to me.

I think contacts are easier to add now. I can add by e-mail, PIN, or can scan a QR Code. I love the QR Code and it is quite easy to do the first time you do it. You just have to choose “Scan invitation barcode from another Blackberry”, it will trigger your camera, and the rest is history. You now have the ability to back up and restore contacts on your memory card or device memory.You can now Broadcast a Message to all or a select group of your contacts, which I love because sometimes I feel I copy and paste the same message to several contacts.

Overall I love the new BBM 5.0. It was a little wonky the first day or two, but that is because I think it was on different servers. My BBM 5.0 experience has been very pleasant since yesterday. Two things I recommend doing before making the BBM 5.0 dive; back up your whole device, and make sure you have the newest OS on your phone. I think this may have had something to do with the contacts being deleted on the other phones. As always if you have any questions contact us, e-mail alex@thephonestoreinc.com directly, or you can message @gizmoalex or @phonestore.

I am so happy. I have been following this device since it was codenamed the Niagara and now it has officially been announced. I have been a little bummed out because all the rumors led me to believe Verizon would get this device several months before Sprint. Thankfully Sprint surprised me and announced the Tour as well.

If you do not know what the tour is, it is RIM’s latest offering. Has a full HTML browser, 3.2 MP camera, DataViz (for Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and a slew of other features. It is a great looking device and is going to be a CDMA/GSM phone. Crackberry already has a review on the phone. So it was a hard 2 weeks knowing I had an upgrade and not knowing what to do with it. This announcement has helped me out, and I look forward to being the proud owner of a Blackberry Tour soon.

The official pricing should be $299 with $100 mail in rebate. Not too bad for what it is. If you have any questions contact us. You can always @reply me on Twitter @gizmoalex or @phonestore.

I came across this fun article and thought I would share some basic cell phone etiquette rules. We all have our personal pet peeves for cell phones and what people should do and should not do with them . It is really funny my father in law hated that I used my phone for e-mail, games, music, new, and so on. He had a really simple ATT phone, and now he has the pleasure of using his Verizon Blackberry with his new job. I think he has seen the light!!!

So anyways here are 6-10.

10. Location There are places where you should use your phone and should not. Of course the movies is one place you shouldn’t. It does not matter how important you are, you can run out and take the phone call.

9. Disturbing Performances I love going to comedy shows and I have on a few occasions seen a person take/make a call during the routine. It is rude, and gives the comedian an extra target to go after. Save yourself the embarrassment and send a text, or leave the room.

8. Ringtones This is a hard one to gauge because everybody has really different tastes and what I feel may be appropriate may not be for you. SO here are my general rules. Do not have a ringtone with curse words when children or elderly people may hear it. Make sure your ringtone is quiet or appropriate for the work environment if you are at work.  You are not at the club you are at your job, so maybe Lil’ Wayne is not he best choice.

7. Texing insignificant conversations I hate it when somebody texts me “Hey”, I reply “What’s going on?” and they say “Nothing”. That is the whole conversation, there is nothing else said, you just made me type on my phone twice for nothing. Give me something significant to reply to.

6. Writing a text or e-mail while somebody is talking to you This is a hard one for me. I have my Blackberry and with it I take pride in responding quickly to e-mails. This becomes a problem when I am visiting with an employee or a customers. I want to reply, but I do not want them to think I am ignoring them. So I go with my instinct and either excuse myself to briefly reply to an important e-mail, or silence my phone and continue my conversation.

So I will continue the list tomorrow and hopefully you are not guilty of the top 5. It is fun to see what we do and do not do.

Some of our friends at Sales By 5 (Nan, Kya, and Erik) have recently taught me finding what inspires you is the key to success and happiness. Makes a ton of sense, but it feels great to have that inspiration pointed out to you by somebody else. We have an awesome new employee named A’Laura and she reminded me of what our company is all about and what it means to people.

She lives in Seguin, TX (Close to San Antonio) and she purchased her phone from us a little over a year ago. She actually lives on the outskirts of town from what I understand. Either way her dilemma was not knowing what cell phone provider would work at her home. Somebody from the store drove to her house with a T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon, and Helio phone to test out the signal. In her case Verizon worked the best.

So long story short, we really did what we could to take care of this person. I do not know if any other retailer would go through even half of the trouble. This is what our company is made of, people that are really willing to do what it takes to take care of our customers.That is also why I am proud to be part of this company. The owner of The Phone Store, Charlie Slaughter, has really spilled the belief of taking care of customers into the small and medium business world. We have displayed this with The Smartphone Challenge which is really a one stop shop for their communication needs, e-mail, voice, text, and data. So if you need help visit one of our retail stores or contact us. We really want to teach our customers how to buy wireless. If you have any additional questions you can e-mail me @ alex@thephonestoreinc.com.

I came into work this morning and I saw some newer and clearer pictures of the Blackberry Thunder. We originally posted this article when there was early whispers and some speculation of this device. Here we are a few weeks later and this new phone is looking awesome. I have heard this will be a Verizon exclusive device using both CDMA and GSM technologies to make it a World Phone.

Now one of the really cool things it is rumored it will have a glass screen. This may not sound like much, but when you see it on a phone it looks extremely classy. It is a really great looking phone and Research In Motion makes a fantastic product. There are other great manufacturers out there, but I would have to say RIM is the most consistent.

Now the pictures that have been leaked are of the Media Player and it looks crazy awesome! It looks to have a very clean interface and the icons remind me of the Blackberry Bold’s icons. Of course it looks like you could turn it sideways to take advantage of the 360×480 widescreen to watch videos. We will have to keep an eye out for this device. We hear iPhone Killer almost daily now with new touchscreen phones becoming a dime a dozen, but RIM does not disappoint and I predict this will be the new Gold Standard for Consumer and Business TouchScreen devices.

I grew up in El Paso, so naturally many of my friends and acquaintances live there. Well like many other people have done, I finally left the nest. I was so concerned to not lose my phone numbers I gave my wife the task of writing down all the numbers I had in my phone and her phone onto one big list. There has to be an easier way right? The good news is there is.

Depending on what phone and carrier you have you have a few options. Some of you that read this know I have a Blackberry with Exchange provided by Rackspace. Even though all my contacts stay in my Outlook, I like to back my data up using Desktop Mananger. This will keep all my contacts, games, ringers, and so on in a safe place. I also have Sprint which offers a wireless contact backup. When you enter a new contact into your phone it will synchronize with an online account you could retrieve later if needed. Verizon offers a version of it called Backup Assistant. ATT also offers their own flavor of the product.

So, I think doing this saves a lot of headaches and a lot of time. Not only that, but you have the peace of mind knowing your numbers will be there when you need them. It does not matter if you are a CEO of a huge business or my grandma this are useful services. So check it out and as always if you have any questions let us know.

Easy question, easy answer; you should use the carrier that is best for you. Now for some people that do not live in big cities like New York and Houston, your choice may have to be based on your coverage area. You could find coverage maps for Sprint, T-Mobile, ATT, Helio, and Verizon on their websites. We want you to sign up with a carrier that provides you with the great coverage you deserve.

Now for those of us that have more than one choice it starts coming down to pricing and features that work for us. When you look at the hour evening calling starts Sprint has the best option at 7:oo P.M. with most plans and gives an option to start at 6:oo P.M. If you are looking to use a lot of data either with your phone or an aircard Sprint and Verizon are my recommendations. They have a fast and reliable broadband network. ATT/Cingular is a good choice for some customers that go to rural areas often due to their wide roaming agreement they have with smaller GSM carriers. I think T-Mobile has the best pricing. Now Helio is a really cool carrier with great applications for MySpace and Youtube built into their phones. They have really awesome phones for the younger market.

So features and pricing is one facet to look at, another is what phones does the carrier have that would be good for you? We have business customers that need their Blackberry, and we have our average customers that just need a phone to make and receive calls. Whether you prefer a touchscreen or a full QWERTY keyboard most carriers can suit your needs. As always before any purchases there are a few things to consider. I personally read a few websites when reviewing phones; they are Gizmodo, Phonescoop, and Engadget Mobile.  When we set customers up we want them to be happy, we want to know your needs and give you the carrier that matches them the closest. So let us know what you are looking for and we will take care of you. Happy shopping!

I get asked a question that seems simple enough quite often, “Why can’t I use my (current carrier’s cell phone) with my new (cell phone carrier’s) account?” The answer is fairly simple; cell phone manufacturers make certain phones for certain carriers. Now that may sound strange, but most carriers use a different signal which means they need a different internal radio to pick up that signal.

There are a few other things some carriers do to prevent this from happening. One thins some carriers do is pay manufacturers a certain amount to money to have a specific phone exclusively. There are some phones that most carriers have like the Blackberry Pearl which not only have different radios, but have different software to create different user interfaces.

There is something you can do called unlocking a phone, which basically is when you a get a Verizon phone for example and reprogam it to work with Sprint. This in theory is a good idea and works really well for some, although there are a few issues with this method. The main issue may be losing the functionality of services the phone offers like GPS, Music Store, TV, and games. The reason you may not use them is because the Verizon software is designed to work with their applications and when you start using it on a different carrier you lose compatibility. So if you are in the market for a new phone, do your research and really find what you are looking for, or you could contact us and we will make a recommendation based on your needs.