That moment when you physically hurt your ear by mashing your cellphone up against it in a futile bid to hear the person on the other end. That’s the very moment that RIM ‘s gunning to make history with its latest patent, which was filed way back in November of 2007 but just granted today. The BlackBerry-maker’s patent describes an adjustable acoustic speaker output “based on an estimated degree of seal of an ear about a speaker port” — effectively a system where the volume can automatically increase if a handset jostles further from your ear.
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RIM’s latest patent details automatic volume adjustments based on handset placement
If you hadn’t heard, there are two rival nano-SIM designs going around, but only room for one of them to become an industry standard. Nokia, Motorola and RIM sit together in one corner, and we’ve already covered why they think their design is superior. On the other side of the ring sits Apple, which has its own tactics for bringing ETSI, the European Telecoms Standards Institute, over to its way of thinking
It’s telling, perhaps, when a VP for your company uses the word “finally” while discussing plans to release test models for your upcoming mobile operating system — but it’s certainly a pretty accurate sentiment when dealing BlackBerry 10 . Talking up RIM’s plans to release up to 2,000 prototypes running the OS at the BlackBerry Jam conference in May, executive Alec Saunders had this to say: “It’s tangible evidence of the company making progress to finally shipping the device.” Barring any further setbacks , the operating system formerly known as BBX is set to hit before year’s end. 
Heads up, RIM . 
RIM’s handsets won’t be getting BlackBerry 10 until later this year , but once they do, the PlayBook will be next in line. That’s according to Rob Orr, RIM’s VP of product management, who confirmed the news to TechRadar . 
If the engineers in Waterloo have their way, your future mobile handset may be able to recharge itself on-the-go with the help of fuel cells . A new patent from RIM describes a method of manufacture that sandwiches a fuel cell assembly between the keyboard and printed circuit board, wherein the fuel cell ventilates through the keyboard (and likely, channels in the keys themselves). The claims describe the PCB as being formed on the fuel cell — perhaps in effort to reduce size — to which a fuel tank is then located beneath the printed circuit board
RIM has been promising an HSPA+ capable BlackBerry Playbook for over a year , and it looks like it’s now one step closer to actually being released. A tablet from Research in Motion recently made its way through the FCC’s approval process and, if the test reports are any indication, it’s a tablet with built-in HSPA+ connectivity. Unfortunately, the FCC hasn’t revealed much else just yet, but earlier rumors have suggested that the new tablet will also see speed bump of another sort: an upgrade to a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, as well as the addition of NFC
Oh, ComScore . Every month you come out with a new market share report for smartphones, and every month it seems to offer the same theme: Android and iOS go up, RIM and Microsoft go down. The latest report, which details the three-month period ending in January, shows an increase in Google’s mobile OS of 2.3 percent while Apple jumped 1.4; conversely, RIM dropped 2 percent while Microsoft (which likely encompasses WinMo and Windows Phone) went down a percentage point. 
We loved the original Pacemaker , and were sad to hear of its eventual discontinuation. News just in this morning, however, is that the DJ tool is back as a PlayBook app thanks to an exclusive collaboration with the tablet’s maker
