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!

The BlackBerry® Curve™ series of smartphones have always been fun and easy-to-use, with great attributes that distinguish the line in a sea of entry-level handsets. Today, we are excited to announce the latest addition to our Curve family, the new all-touch BlackBerry Curve 9380 smartphone!

Our BlackBerry® 7 OS devices have been getting great buzz since we first announced the BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900 and 9930 smartphones, the BlackBerry® Torch™ 9810 smartphone, the BlackBerry® Torch™ 9850 and 9860 smartphones, and the BlackBerry® Curve™ 9350, 9360 and 9370 smartphones. Later this month, the new BlackBerry Curve 9380 smartphone running BlackBerry 7 will be making its way to carriers and retail locations around the world. So, we thought it would be a good time to get Product Manager Mark to share three key things you need to know about this new BlackBerry Curve 9380 smartphone. Take it away, Mark!

1. All the great attributes of a BlackBerry Curve in a sleek all-touch design

First off, the new all-touch BlackBerry Curve 9380 is the first BlackBerry Curve smartphone that sports a touch screen, offering a full-sized touch display at that. It maintains the great attributes and fun and approachable features that distinguish the BlackBerry Curve family, adds some really cool new technology such as NFC and Augmented Reality, while offering users a responsive all-touch screen interface.

Like existing BlackBerry Curve models, the BlackBerry Curve 9380 is light in weight and has a sleek and stylish design. The beautifully crafted handset fits easily into your holster, feels great in your hand, and looks good no matter where you go.

The 3.2” all-touchscreen is packed full of pixels for a crisp picture, which makes it ideal for quickly scanning and scrolling through messages, zooming in on your friends’ newest Facebook® pics or streaming YouTube® videos on the go.

2. The BlackBerry Curve 9380 keeps you socially connected

The BlackBerry Curve 9380 smartphone is jam packed with features. From the basics like phone functionality, SMS and email, to a great web browsing experience and cool apps that take full advantage of the smartphone. It also makes it easy to interact with your social network, because the new BlackBerry Curve 9380 delivers an amazing social experience!

Your social life can be fully integrated through BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™) driven by BBM 6, and great new BBM-connected applications which, for example, allow you to connect with your friends through BBM while playing a game or listening to (and sharing) tunes with BBM™ Music.

The new BlackBerry Curve 9380 smartphone also features our Social Feeds application, which ties all of your social networks together into one place. With Social Feeds you can update each of your social networks at once, and new messages from your friends pop up at the top of the screen so you can check them quickly and easily.

Oh, and we can’t forget the 5 megapixel camera! You can take a photo or a video of whatever you want, whenever you want. The camera allows you to take that snapshot quickly and then upload it to share on Facebook or Twitter®.

3. NFC and Augmented Reality – Some cool technology in the new all-touch BlackBerry Curve 9380

As we mentioned earlier, there’s some really cool new technology in the BlackBerry Curve 9380 smartphone too: NFC (Near Field Communications) and Augmented Reality (driven by the digital compass). NFC technology will allow you to interact with your surroundings in a whole new way. You can read and create smart tags, tap to connect with posters to access content, or sync up with NFC-enabled accessories. The recent announcement about BlackBerry® Tag coming in a future release of BlackBerry 7 will apply to this model and we’re working with MasterCard® to bring their MasterCard® PayPass™ mobile payment certification to this handset as well.

If you haven’t yet, you have to check out Augmented Reality technology, starting with the Wikitude app. This app allows you to hold up your device and, using the camera, explore the world around you. Standing in front of an important landmark? Just point your BlackBerry Curve 9380 at it and let Wikitude tell you all about it. It is even designed to work with BBM in virtually real-time to let you see where your BBM friends are in a crowd! These new experiences will blow you away, and we really encourage you to check them out yourself on the BlackBerry Curve 9380 smartphone.

You’ll be amazed with how easy and intuitive the BlackBerry Curve 9380 is to use. The responsive all-touch screen, optical trackpad, navigation keys and virtual keyboard make using the BlackBerry Curve 9380 effortless. Another bonus is that the smartphone’s features are well laid out, accessible, and you’ll really appreciate having all that screen real estate for watching YouTube® videos or viewing pictures. We’re incredibly excited about adding the BlackBerry Curve 9380 to our lineup and can’t wait to hear what you think!

Check out our BlackBerry Curve 9380 Where to Buy page for more details. Availability dates for specific devices from specific carriers will be announced in coordination with Research In Motion® (RIM®) partners. For more information on pricing and availability, contact your local carrier.

Make sure to post a comment below and let us know what you think!