Hi, I’m Ryan. I’m a Hardware Engineering Technician in the Hardware Support Lab at Research In Motion® (RIM®). Today, I’m going to give you an inside look at the testing we do during the development of your BlackBerry® smartphone to help ensure it lives up to the high standards that BlackBerry is known for. Our team works to make sure that your BlackBerry smartphone is both durable and reliable – which basically means we try to break them so that you, #TeamBlackBerry, would be hard pressed to do the same. =D

Your BlackBerry smartphone is your connection to your friends and family. It is your lifeline, and we want it to always stay in operating condition so that you can stay in contact with the important people in your life. So when you accidentally drop your BlackBerry smartphone, or sit on it, or spill your morning coffee on it, we want it to keep working.

So how do we work to ensure that your BlackBerry smartphone will keep working? Well, we drop them, bend them, shock them, soak them and zap them…a lot. We also do some nerdy things like reading digital signals to make sure everything is speaking the right language – they look like this:

Cool, eh? Yeah…not really, but it is helpful for our team. This video is a bit cooler:

[YouTube link for mobile viewing]
*Filmed using my BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet

You’re probably wondering why we dropped that BlackBerry® Curve™ 9360 smartphone in a bucket. It’s called a “Moisture Ingress Test” and it’s one of the many important tests that we perform on your BlackBerry smartphone to make sure that it lasts. The water contains a dye so that we know where water can enter a BlackBerry smartphone; with this info, we can improve the device’s water seal.

Allow me to run through a few of the other durability tests we perform on BlackBerry smartphones:

[YouTube link for mobile viewing]

BlackBerry Smartphone Drop Testing

Dropping your BlackBerry smartphone is one of the toughest things you can do to it. It’s also one of the most common mishaps that we all make (sometimes I wonder if there’s butter on my fingers!). Just like you, we drop our BlackBerry smartphones…only we do it intentionally.

Every BlackBerry smartphone model gets dropped hundreds of times before the hardware is deemed strong enough for mass production and consumer use. When dropped, the BlackBerry smartphone is filmed using high-speed cameras for review and analysis that could lead to revisions in hardware design to make the device stronger and more durable. Every design revision is then tested to make sure it can endure consumer use – whether that’s on a construction site, in the boardroom, or downtown with your friends.

In the video above, you’ll notice a BlackBerry® Curve™ smartphone being dropped. We recorded this with our high-speed camera at 2000 frames per second! You may have noticed the wave that the impact sent up the casing on the side of the device. Did you know that the BlackBerry smartphones are designed to do that? By allowing the device to bend, we are able to absorb the shock from the concrete into the plastic… just like a shock absorber on a car!

BlackBerry Smartphone Bend Testing

[YouTube link for mobile viewing]
*Filmed using my BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet

Not only do we drop BlackBerry smartphones, we bend them too! Check out this video of my co-worker bend testing a BlackBerry smartphone. Why are we bending this poor smartphone? Well, many people like to keep their smartphones in their back pocket and sometimes, unfortunately, they sit on them. This test makes sure your BlackBerry smartphone can withstand the pressure of your posterior.

More BlackBerry Smartphone Tests

Do you love the keypad on your BlackBerry smartphone? We push the keys on BlackBerry smartphones literally millions of times to sure they click with the right pressure and can withstand all the e-mails, BBM™ messages and tweets that you type. Have you ever been shocked by a door handle? Your BlackBerry smartphone has been too! We zap them with what is called an Electrostatic Discharge, or ESD, to make sure that the sensitive internal components are protected.

I hope you all see how committed RIM is to making your BlackBerry smartphone the strongest and most reliable smartphone available. We definitely enjoy what we do in the Hardware Support Lab, but we also enjoy hearing how what we do is making your BlackBerry experience better. Tell us your BlackBerry smartphone durability stories in the comments below!

I’m happy to announce three new members to the BlackBerry® 7 OS smartphone family today, the BlackBerry® Curve™ 9350, 9360 and 9370 smartphones. The new BlackBerry Curve smartphones will be available in Canada this month and via carriers in selected countries around the world beginning in September. For more details on pricing and international availability, make sure to check out our BlackBerry Curve product page or contact your local carrier.

As someone who used the first BlackBerry Curve (the BlackBerry® Curve™ 8300 smartphone), I’m pretty excited to see this popular smartphone family get the powerful BlackBerry 7 infused update. I tapped Product Managers Soniya and Pankaj to tell you the three things you need to know about the new BlackBerry Curve 9350, 9360 and 9370 smartphones. Let’s get started!

1. The new BlackBerry Curve smartphones are sleek

People familiar with the BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900 and 9930 smartphones and the all-touch BlackBerry® Torch™ 9850 and 9860 smartphones we introduced earlier this month have heard us talk about the sleek and trim design of the new BlackBerry 7 smartphones, and the BlackBerry Curve 9350, 9360 and 9370 smartphones are no exception. Our intention was to craft the most stylish BlackBerry Curve smartphones yet, while still maintaining that classic ‘just right’ Curve feel.

We wanted to provide you a balance of ergonomics and style through a combination of key design decisions. For example, the BlackBerry Curve 9350, 9360 and 9370 smartphones feature a “Waterfall” design similar to that of the new all-touch BlackBerry Torch, curving both front and back surfaces together for a smooth fit in your hand. We paired this design with a flowing soft-touch band around the circumference of the device, which is both durable and makes the new BlackBerry Curve smartphones comfortable to hold. The soft-touch band also seamlessly integrates functional features like the volume, mute and convenience keys. And we think you’ll love knowing that the BlackBerry Curve 9350, 9360 and 9370 smartphones are also some of the lightest BlackBerry smartphones ever, weighing in at only 99 grams –including battery – making portability one less thing you need to worry about.

2. The BlackBerry 7 OS powers the new BlackBerry Curve smartphones

The slim and sleek BlackBerry Curve 9350, 9360 and 9370 smartphones have been paired with the fast and powerful new BlackBerry 7 OS. We know that BlackBerry Curve smartphone users love to browse the web, and the next-generation BlackBerry Browser is a perfect example of the performance improvements offered by BlackBerry 7. The BlackBerry 7 Browser features a significantly faster web experience, as well as optimized HTML 5 support for things like web-based games and videos. BlackBerry 7 ensures that BlackBerry smartphone users will receive a fast and fluid experience on the new BlackBerry Curve smartphones, with crisp graphics that take advantage of the new devices’ HVGA+ (480×360) display.

BlackBerry 7 also features another improvement upon the BlackBerry 6 OS: voice-activated Universal Search. Voice-activated Universal Search makes it even easier to find the files, messages and contacts stored on your BlackBerry Curve smartphone. You can also use Universal Search to scour the mobile web and supported 3rd party applications to find the information you need – hands free!

(YouTube link for easy mobile viewing)

The BlackBerry Curve 9350, 9360 and 9370 smartphones are also the second series of BlackBerry smartphones to feature Near Field Communications (NFC), after the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones. NFC is a technology that allows BlackBerry smartphone users to just tap to connect, get information, and link up with other NFC-enabled devices or authentic BlackBerry accessories. For more information about what NFC means for BlackBerry smartphone users, please watch this interview with Andrew Bocking, VP of Handheld Software Product Management.

3. The new BlackBerry Curve smartphones deeply integrate social

On top of the new functionality provided by the BlackBerry 7 OS, the BlackBerry Curve 9350, 9360 and 9370 smartphones feature a variety of applications that make them some of the most social BlackBerry smartphones ever. In addition to the latest versions of Twitter® for BlackBerry smartphones and Facebook® for BlackBerry smartphones, the new BlackBerry Curve smartphones feature a brand new version of the popular Social Feeds application, which integrates your Facebook®, Twitter® and BBM feeds into one convenient location. Social Feeds 2.0 contains new features such as Universal Search integration, and the ability to create custom views for your social feeds. My favorite new Social Feeds 2.0 feature may just be the ability to flag items for viewing at a later date, which ensures I don’t have to miss out on any important updates or news items when I’m on the go. Social Feeds is a great application for any BlackBerry smartphone user who can’t choose just one social network, or is looking for an easy way to stay connect to everyone and everything that matters to them (stay tuned for a future post covering Social Feeds 2.0 in more depth – Ed.).

(YouTube link for easy mobile viewing)

Of course, our product team’s favorite social application on the BlackBerry Curve 9350, 9360 and 9370 smartphones has to be the new BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™) 6. BBM 6 allows for 3rd party applications (or “BBM-connected” apps) to incorporate your favorite aspects of BBM into their apps, from status updates and sharing to BBM chats. While there are many BBM-connected apps available, my personal favorite has to be foursquare, because I love sharing (and bragging about) new badges I’ve unlocked with friends. Make sure to read the Inside BlackBerry BBM 6: Apps Made Social post to find the BBM connected app that’s the perfect fit for your new BlackBerry Curve smartphone.

The BlackBerry Curve product team is very excited to bring these two new additions to the BlackBerry Curve smartphone family. Please post a comment and tell us what you think of the BlackBerry Curve 9350, 9360 and 9370 smartphones.