Porsche Design BlackBerry Making October 27 Debut

Back in early September, right when we were still in the middle of the recent onslaught of BlackBerryOS 7 devices arriving, a decidedly odd-looking BlackBerry model surfaced in a few pics, supposedly the BlackBerry 9980. Just a few days later, some video of the handset arrived, along with word that it was going by the code name Knight and would feature Porsche branding. Now, notice has gone out from Porsche Design that it plans to unveil its latest efforts with RIM on October 27, and unless it has other models it's secretly been working on, we're almost certainly talking about the debut of the 9980.

When we showed you the 9980 last month, your opinions on the phone were mixed, though definitely leaning towards the negative. After all, the 9980 is a striking departure from RIM-designedBlackBerry models. Instead of smooth lines and soft, rounded features, the Porsche phone has an aggressive metallic facade and harsh angles. Those choices don't appear to resonate with many BlackBerry fans, but if you're looking for a unique phone that will get you noticed, this might be one smartphone worth considering.

We've seen the 9980 running BlackBerry OS 7, and it certainly seems like it should be based on 9900 hardware, but we've yet to get any confirmation of its specs. Hopefully, we'll get the full picture of the handset in a week's time. 

How To Keep Siri From Becoming a Security Issue

We've seen how useful Siri can be (and a few waysto have some fun with it), but should you also be worried about it? It seems that, when not properly configured, Siri has the potential to open up your iPhone to a lockscreen vulnerability, potentially giving an unauthorized user the ability to accessyour phone.

Even if you protect your lockscreen with a passcode, it's possible to interact with Siri without needing to enter in the code. While that may not give someone looking to cause trouble with your phone quite the same level of access to the OS as the right code would, Siri is powerful enough that there's still plenty someone could manage to do without your permission.

We can understand why you might want immediate access to Siri from the lockscreen, explaining why this functionality is present, but it seems to defeat the point of setting a code in the first place. The good news that it's a snap to disable; just turn Siri off from your lockscreen preferences. You give up a little convenience in the process, but you'd be keeping your phone that much more secure. 

Andy Rubin Doesn't Believe Your Phone Should Be An Assistant

Apple managed to really stir things up with its Siri voice-enabled personal assistant on the iPhone 4Sand, after Microsoft's Andy Lees find the service "not super useful", it's Andy Rubin's time to not be overwhelmed by Siri.

The Android Chief doesn't believe "that your phoneshould be an assistant" and said in an interview that "your phone is a tool for communicating. You shouldn't be communicating with the phone; you should be communicating with somebody on the other side of the phone".

Siri is most definitely one of the main selling points of the new iPhone 4S (aside from the new cameraand chip) but Rubin thinks a phone should be used to talk to other people rather than talking to the device itself. "We’ll see how pervasive it gets". 

Nokia Sabre Windows Phone Spotted? (Photo)

The phone in this image is allegedly a prototype of the upcoming Nokia Sabre Windows Phone we've been hearing about straight from Microsoft's mouth. After recently seeing the Nokia 800 (SeaRay) press renders, the anticipation is building up around Espoo and the Windows Phones it will launch next week.

According to the source, Sabre features a 1.4GHz processor much like recent wave-two devices, 1GB of RAM, a 3.5-inch WVGA screen, five-megapixelcamera and a price tag of around 300-350 EU (around $410-$480). It most definitely should sport the compulsory Back, Home and Search WindowsPhone buttons but due to Mr. Blurrycam, the image is burned out. Together with the 800, it will likely be unveiled by Nokia at the upcoming World event, a gathering where Steve Ballmer has tipped "a bunch" of Windows Phones and Andy Lees is building up the buzz for "a wide range" of Nokia devices.

Facebook Outs Messenger App For BlackBerry

After Facebook recently launched its Messenger application for iOS and Android devices, bringing a separate way to chat with your Friends from yourphone, the social network is now launching the BlackBerry counterpart of the software.

The application brings the same features available on iOS and Android to BlackBerry. This means that you will be able to see who's online and who's on mobile as well as know when the other person is typing. It's also easier to send messages to the people you message most. Of course, group features are also in so you might want to head over to the source link and grab the app for your RIM-phone if it pleases you to have a separate Facebook application dedicated to messaging-only. After Facebook recently launched its Messenger application for iOS and Android devices, bringing a separate way to chat with your Friends from yourphone, the social network is now launching the BlackBerry counterpart of the software. 

The application brings the same features available on iOS and Android to BlackBerry. This means that you will be able to see who's online and who's on mobile as well as know when the other person is typing. It's also easier to send messages to the people you message most. Of course, group features are also in so you might want to head over to the source link and grab the app for your RIM-phone if it pleases you to have a separate Facebook application dedicated to messaging-only.