As we all know by now, RIM is giving out a limited number of BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha Developer phones to attendees of the BlackBerry 10 JAM this week. We’ve seen tons of photos of the device in the past few days, so now we’re going to take a look at the actual device specs and content.

The Dev Alpha looks exactly like a mini-PlayBook tablet. It has the same feel as the PlayBook but with a slightly different configuration. The Dev Alpha’s cameras have been shifted so that the device functions primarily in portrait mode. The device is running the core OS of BlackBerry 10, meaning the speed, functionality, and usability of BlackBerry 10 is all there. The one thing you’ll notice; however, is that the Dev Alpha OS doesn’t look like what we saw Thorsten Heins present at the keynote. That’s because this unit is running BlackBerry 10 skinned over with the PlayBook UI. Head past the break for more on the Dev Alpha, including the full specs.

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[To view this video on your BlackBerry, Click Here]

RIM CEO Thorsten Heins just showed off an amazing video preview of the coming BlackBerry 10 phones. Even if you weren’t at BlackBerry World 2012, you too can now check out this awesome video. Just hit play or click the link above to check it out!

RIM has made the first Beta version of Cascades for BlackBerry 10 OS available. The Cascades site, which is linked to below, offers application samples, code framework examples, and downloads of the Cascades SDK. If you’re a developer working towards BlackBerry 10, this is one SDK you MUST have. Grab it at the link below and get started developing today!

• Download the Cascades SDK for BlackBerry 10

Here’s the first image of the new BlackBerry 10 User Interface. The keynote is happening now so there is more to come! This new UI is absolutely beautiful and is going to revolutionize the mobile space!

RIM has officially released the first BlackBerry 10 Native Development Kit to developers. Here’s the press release:

Press Release

Developers get powerful tools in advance to build apps that deliver highly engaging mobile experiences for users

BlackBerry World 2012 / BlackBerry 10 Jam – Orlando, FL – - Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today unveiled its vision for the BlackBerry® 10 platform at the BlackBerry World™ conference in Orlando, Florida and released the initial developer toolkit for native and HTML5 software development. The toolkit is available in beta as a free download from http://developer.blackberry.com.

“BlackBerry 10 builds upon the core values and exceptional user experiences that have attracted more than 77 million BlackBerry customers around the world today,” said Alec Saunders, Vice President, Developer Relations and Ecosystems Development. “Developers building for BlackBerry 10 will be able to easily create the kind of cutting-edge apps that deliver truly engaging experiences and ‘wow’ customers, whether through integration with native features and other apps like BBM or by leveraging the new signature design elements of this new and powerful mobile computing platform.”

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RIM is set to introduce a product tonight in preparation for BlackBerry World 2012. The product they are introducing is called the BlackBerry Music Gateway and it’ll be officially unveiled tonight at the BlackBerry Solutions Showcase. This product is a totally redesigned version of the currently available BlackBerry Remote Stereo Gateway. The new Music Gateway will work with your BlackBerry Smartphone, PlayBook, and even your other Bluetooth-enabled devices. Here are the features:

• Connections Made Simple – Using NFC, simply tap your NFC enabled BlackBerry to connect to the BlackBerry Music Gateway**, or connect via standard Bluetooth for universal connectivity of any Bluetooth enabled device such as smartphones, tablets and computers
• Enjoy Wireless Freedom - Stream music from your BlackBerry smartphone, BlackBerry PlayBook, or any other Bluetooth enabled device. BlackBerry Music Gateway connects to any existing home stereo equipment or car stereo using the RCA or 3.5mm cables included in the box
• Wireless Remote Control – Use your device as the remote for complete control of playback, track changes, and volume.
• Multitasking – Access other applications or surf the web while playing music. Music automatically pauses when an incoming phone call is received and continues when the call is ended without skipping a beat.

This accessory will go on sale in June and will retail for $49.99. This is just the first of many announcements that will be coming from this year’s BlackBerry World, so keep your browsers here at TheBerryFix for all the latest announcements. You can check out some more photos of the gateway past the break.

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RIM announced today that they will be hosting a Blackberry 10 Jam from May 1^st to 3^rd concurrent with BlackBerry World™, the largest annual gathering for the BlackBerry® ecosystem.

RIM has set up Blackberry 10 Jam as a venue for developers to explore the advantages and opportunities of the new Blackberry platform.  Developers will also be able to gain insight into building applications and other goodies for the new Blackberry 10 launch later this year. Developers will be able to take part in instructor led labs, information sessions and more. Sessions and labs will be dedicated to:

• BlackBerry® Native SDK – a C/C++ environment with support for open source libraries
• HTML5+BlackBerry® WebWorks™ – HTML5 tools with an added layer for app enhancement through BlackBerry WebWorks
• Adobe® Flash® – The AIR® SDK for BlackBerry allows developers to build apps with Flash+AIR tools
• Android – the Android runtime will run applications that have been packaged from APK files to BAR files and submitted to BlackBerry App World™

The Blackberry 10 Jam conference will be held in Orlando, Florida at the Hilton Bonnet Creek, you can visit the website via the link below. The conference is limited to developers only; however, it will be running simultaneously along with Blackberry World 2012.

A few tidbits for you. Did you know?

• The BlackBerry platform has become one of the most profitable platforms for mobile developers
• BlackBerry App World has more paid downloads per month than the Android market. (Yankee Research Group)
• In Q2 2011, BlackBerry App World generated 43% more average daily downloads per app than App Store (research2guidance)
• 13% of BlackBerry developers have made more than $100,000 from their apps on BlackBerry App World, considerably more than Android or Apple developers (Evans Data Corp)
• Carrier Billing, which has proven to dramatically increase paid downloads, is available with 40 carriers in 36 countries. No one else can boast those numbers.
• BlackBerry App World is the premier channel for app distribution for BlackBerry devices
• More than two billion apps have been downloaded from App World alone. The first billion were downloaded in just over two years, the second billion were downloaded in the last seven months
• More than six million apps are downloaded every day from App World alone
• App World is available in an industry-leading 164 countries and territories

• Learn more about the BlackBerry 10 Jam Here

While at BlackBerry World 2011 I was able to try out the NFC function that will come on all new BlackBerry Smartphones, and its pretty awesome. In the video above we had a poster that RIM equipped with a NFC chip and when you place your BlackBerry on the logo a pop-up appeared on your BlackBerry asking if you wanted to go to the website linked to the NFC chip.

Now this is just one use case for NFC, but the possibilities are truly endless with things like mobile payments and Bluetooth pairing all available through Near Field Communications technology. I’m excited for mobile payments but sound off in the comments on what you want to see equipped with NFC technology.

With the announcement of the new BlackBerry bold RIM has also announced the availability of the new Java SDK to support the BLackBerry 7 environment. The new SDK will give you access to the new OpenGL chip that is powering the graphics on the new Bold 9900/9930, digital compass, NFC technology and a whole lot more. RIM intends to make the SDK available sometime this month. The full details can be found after the break.

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During the BlackBerry World 2011 conference Andrew Bocking gave us a quick look at the native e-mail clients for the BlackBerry PlayBook, something that PlayBook users have held against RIM since launch.

Duglas Soltys Blog Manager at Research In Motion took the time to sit down with Andrew Bocking one or RIM’s VP of product development and go in-depth on the new native email client that will be making it’s way onto the BlackBerry PlayBook. The noticeable thing is that RIM has really tried to keep the look and feel of the native clients on the PlayBook similar to the BlackBerry smartphone. I really feel that RIM should have used TAT to build the UI for the native and bridge apps giving us the nice visually appealing UI seen in the calculator app, but maybe that’s already in the works.

Consumers are demanding high quality music and video media on their PlayBooks and while we already have the 7Digital music store and the BlackBerry Podcast player, we really don’t have a decent way to play HD music videos.

Yesterday RIM and Vevo (an online source for HD quality music videos) announced that they will be brining their popular tablet optimized application to the BlackBerry PlayBook. Vevo streams thousands of music videos right onto mobile devices and through their YouTube channel, but now you can get the best quality right onto your PlayBook. Though there is no official word on when the app will be available for download it’s safe to say we should see it in the coming weeks.

Just a few days ago RIM announced the finalists for the wireless achievement awards, there were some pretty impressive apps. Probably my most favourite app would have to be the Sherwin-Williams app, and yes I’m quite aware it’s a painting app but it’s still cool because essentially what the app lets you do is take a photo of something and then have some paint created to match the image…cool I know!

So today at BlackBerry World 2011 RIM has announced the winners, and the company that will take home the highly coveted BlackBerry World attendees choice award is Delta mobile app an application that makes flying a little less stressful. The full list of winners and the press release can be found after the break.

Press Release

RIM Announces Wireless Achievement Award Recipients

Waterloo, ON - Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today announced the recipients of this year’s Wireless Achievement Awards at BlackBerry® World™ 2011.

The Wireless Achievement Awards are presented to customers who are doing business in new and innovative ways with BlackBerry products and services. These customers have mobilized corporate systems to help increase performance, impact the bottom line and simplify life for their employees.

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If you’ve been thinking that the PlayBook is lacking in the games department then you may want to think again as RIM and Unity have announced they will bring 4 games to the PlayBook this year. During the keynote at BlackBerry World 2011 we got a glimpse of a game that will be making it’s way into app world soon. Samurai II VENGEANCE, a bloody action game for PlayBook. Check out the video and chime off in the comments below.

We’ve had our fair share of hands on time with the new BlackBerry Bold 9900 and took a few snapshots of it to share. I’ve said it once and I” say it again, I’m truly in love with this device it has that distinctive BlackBerry look and feel. But I’ll stop chatting and continue on after the break for more photos of the Bold 9900 alongside the Bold 9780.

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During the keynote at BlackBerry World 2011 Mike Lazaridis brought Steve Ballmer from Microsoft onto the stage to talk about Bing and the BlackBerry Platform. Bing for BlackBerry will tied to everything from Maps to search and as far as location based detection, also Bing will be the defualt search on Blackberry from now on. Check out the video after the break of a use case scenario for Bing on BlackBerry.

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