BB Geeks

BlackBerry App World needs fixing

Joe — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:30:30 +0000

As we’ve noted before, BlackBerry App World is far from perfect. It has some neat applications, though it’s no BBGeeks App Store. RIM could be onto something here, but they’re going to give the application a facelift and a tune-up if it wants to in any way compete with other mobile app stores. The inimitable Al Sacco of CIO Magazine notes nine fixes for RIM to take care of in the next App World update. Much ground as Sacco covers, they still probably need to do more.

The basics are all there. Sacco leads off with the issue that has many turning away from App World immediately: memory usage. The thing is just a blob of memory waste. It makes everything on the Berry run slower, and it makes scrolling within the application a chore. I couldn’t agree more on this one.

The other major improvement would be the addition of credit card payments. PayPal is fine…for some. Others don’t prefer to use that particular broker. Why limit them. There are many valid forms of payment, and RIM will have to expand that in order to get App World to an acceptable usage level.

Sacco also touches on issues like sorting paid vs. free apps, PC backups, and MY World issues. If you’re frustrated with App World it’s a welcome read. Feel free to leave your own gripes in the comments.

This post originated at BBGeeks.com - home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about Verizon BlackBerry.

BlackBerry App World needs fixing

This post originated at BBGeeks.com - home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about Verizon BlackBerry.

BlackBerry App World needs fixing

BBGeekcast: July 2, 2009 - Episode 71

Joe — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:03:21 +0000

The Tour! After waiting months to hear about it, we got official announcements a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, pricing and release dates were missing. That changed this week, as both Verizon and Sprint announced that they will release the device on July 12 for $199.99, after a mail-in rebate. There’s plenty to say about the Tour, so listen on.

So click on over here to hear the BBGeekcast (10 min, 41 sec)

And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast so you won’t miss future episodes!

You can also subscribe to the BBGeekcast in iTunes.

Highlights include:

We’ve got it all on the Tour. When it’s coming out, which carriers will have it — including the Canadian ones and an unexpected one in America — and what it’ll cost. There are a few other tidbits too, like a camera-less version for enterprise customers. I’m sure they’ll appreciate it.

While we riff on the Tour for the most part, there’s also an update on the BlackBerry Gemini. You can check out a review if you’re curious.

This post originated at BBGeeks.com - home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about Verizon BlackBerry.

BBGeekcast: July 2, 2009 - Episode 71

This post originated at BBGeeks.com - home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about Verizon BlackBerry.

BBGeekcast: July 2, 2009 - Episode 71

How to delete applications on your BlackBerry

Joe — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:30:58 +0000

Every so often here, we go over BlackBerry quick tips, little tidbits that can make your BlackBerry life easier. Some of these are more advanced, but we also like to go over the basics. Today is one of those instances. In searching through the site yesterday, I realized we didn’t have a bit on how to delete applications from your BlackBerry. So after the jump we’ll go through the basic process.

First, go to Options.

Then, go to Advanced Options.

Finally, click on Applications.

You’ll see a notice that your BlackBerry is building an applications list. On the other end you’ll see a big huge list, containing core applications and some things you might not recognize. It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway: if you do not know what it is, do not delete it.

Scroll down to find the application you’d like to delete. Once it’s highlighted, hit the Menu key. You’ll see a number of options, but all we’re interested in now is the obvious one: Delete. Click it, and you’ll get confirmation. Click Yes, and it will delete the application.

Afterward you’ll be prompted to reset your BlackBerry. If you plan to delete multiple applications, say no. Say yes after the last application you’re going to delete. A reset clears the application out of device memory.

This post originated at BBGeeks.com - home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about Verizon BlackBerry.

How to delete applications on your BlackBerry

This post originated at BBGeeks.com - home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about Verizon BlackBerry.

How to delete applications on your BlackBerry

Theme Review Wednesdays: Sunny Days, Rocker Chic, BB Pre

Joe — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:00:58 +0000

Last time we met for our bi-weekly theme review, we covered a number of Storm themes. Those tend to get neglected, so the post dedicated to just Storm themes made sense. To balance things a bit we’re going with some Curve themes this week, for all of you OS 4.5ers out there. Next time we’ll hit some Curve 8900 and Bold themes. The Tour should be out around then, and you can bet we’ll do up a bunch of themes for that, too. We should also probably work on some reviews for Pearl themes. After Storm users, I think they’re the most neglected of the BlackBerry users.

Sunny Days

Whenever I do a theme review, I always head over to Themes4bb. They’ve got a great collection of themes from all different platforms. Not only that, but they also always seem to feature new themes, so I’m not going over the same themes twice. This time, the Sunny Days theme caught me eye right off the bat. After a rainy month in New York, the sight of blue skies and vibrant flowers is a welcome one. Pastels are normally eye-catching, and this theme is no exception.

It’s not perfect, though. While I enjoy the pastel colors and the flowers in the wallpaper, they don’t lend themselves well to contrast. The icons, which are enjoyably original, get hiddien among the whites and yellows of the flowers which line the bottom of the screen. The text indicator for applications on the Home Screen is a bit blended with the background too, but that’s nothing more than a nitpick. One real problem I have with the theme, though, is the font. Again, I like my fonts straight forward. The Sunny Days font gets a little cute, making it a bit harder to read for hardcore BlackBerry users.

You can get the Sunny Days theme from Themes4BB for $5.99. That’s a link to the TodayPlus version. You can find the simple Bottom Dock version here.

Rocker Chic

For our second theme this week, we’re going with yet another one which stands out visually. It’s called Rocker Chic, and it’s from the folks at Cocky Culture. Strange to the eye at first, it quickly becomes apparent that Rocker Chic is an aesthetically pleasing, easy to navigate Bottom Dock theme. In fact, the visuals are handled so well that the theme looks just as smooth as some of the more traditional themes.

The Home Screen features a typical rocket image: a heart with a skull on one side, surrounded by angel wings. It’s like the logos for every rock band in existence rolled into one. It even has an alternate wallpaper, for those who don’t dig the skulls (count me as one who does). Below the image is a simple Bottom Dock. The best part about the icons here and in the Applications menu is that they’re surrounded by a black outline, so they’re easy to pick up. The icons are intuitive, too. The font is basic, matching up white on red and black on red when appropriate.

You can get the Rocker chic theme at the BBGeeks Store for just $3.95.

BB Pre

With the Palm Pre having been released recently, it was inevitable that someone would develop a BlackBerry theme which mimics the Pre’s style. After all, it worked well enough for the iPhone, which remains our best-selling BlackBerry theme. This one comes courtesy of VistoThemes, and despite the fact that it’s modeled after a BlackBerry competitor, it’s actually a pretty neat theme.

The icons, of course, match those of the Pre. That seems to be the calling card of these emulation themes. While it’s difficult, if not impossible, to capture the nature of the UI, the icons are one area which theme developers can duplicate. These are easy to recognize icons. The text is sleek, and the menus are basically the same. The default wallpaper is the same as the Pre snapshots we’ve seen, but like the Pre it’s just as easy to change your wallpaper.

You can get the BB Pre theme for $7. It’s quickly moving up our best seller list.

This post originated at BBGeeks.com - home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about Verizon BlackBerry.

Theme Review Wednesdays: Sunny Days, Rocker Chic, BB Pre

This post originated at BBGeeks.com - home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about Verizon BlackBerry.

Theme Review Wednesdays: Sunny Days, Rocker Chic, BB Pre

YouMail fixes Visual Voicemail Plus application

Joe — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:30:04 +0000

Wow. It’s been over a year since we first reviewed YouMail, a free visual voicemail service. A lot has happened since then, and we’ve reviewed plenty more in that time. Earlier this year the company released a BlackBerry application, but it wasn’t met with positive reviews. In fact, many die-hard users recommended VyMail for YouMail usage. YouMail then updated their client, and all seemed right with the visual voicemail world. Yet there was still an issue or two to work out. YouMail has now addressed and corrected one of them involving the greetings feature.

The problem, as described by YouMail, is that using the greetings feature can cause the app to hang, leaving users unable to retrieve their voicemails. That’s no fun. The greetings feature is actually pretty cool: it’s like a status message for voicemail. I’ve wanted this for a long time, actually. If I’m headed down into the subway, for instance, I can set my greeting to say so. Ditto if I’m working on an intense project.

The fix can be found on BlackBerry App World. YouMail users are encouraged to delete the application, then reinstall by downloading it from BlackBerry App World. That, they say, will fix the greetings issue. The program might take a bit longer to load now, because messages and greetings will be downloaded beforehand, but the wait should be worth it.

This post originated at BBGeeks.com - home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about Verizon BlackBerry.

YouMail fixes Visual Voicemail Plus application

This post originated at BBGeeks.com - home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about Verizon BlackBerry.

YouMail fixes Visual Voicemail Plus application

Top 5 Curve accessories for the BlackBerry Geek

Joe — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:00:28 +0000

For the past nine months, I’ve been a BlackBerry Curve evangelist. This isn’t out of duty to the website. In fact, I was a bit underwhelmed with my first two BlackBerry models, a second-hand 8700 and then the 8830 World Edition. Not that they weren’t good devices; they got the job done better than any device I’d used to that point. When I got the Curve, though, I had a completely different view of the BlackBerry. It appears other share my enthusiasm, since the Curve was the best-selling smartphone in the first quarter of this year. Today I’m going to share my top five accessories, just for the other BlackBerry Curve geeks out there.

BodyGuardz

A few months ago, Cooper sent me a package of BodyGuardz. The idea, I thought, was great. It’s essentially a clear plastic film which covers your BlackBerry, protecting it from the nicks, scratches, and bumps which frustrate us all. A complete BodyGuardz skin covers nearly every inch of the BlackBerry device, save for the keyboard. This includes the screen, which would have been awesome for me had I not already severely scratched mine. Still, I was eager to prevent further scrapes.

It was a bit intimidating at first. The instructions talked about how the BodyGuardz skin is permanent, and knowing my own clumsy ways I feared for my poor little Curve. Once I got into it, though, there was no problem. Installation can go from the simple — i.e., the screen and battery cover, which are the spots of most damage — to the complex, which includes the surface around the keys and screen, plus the top. It’s been an excellent addition to my Berry.

The reason BodyGuardz rocks so much is that it provides a level of protection without adding to the device’s bulk. OtterBox cases might provide heavy-duty protection, but they also come with heavy-duty bulk. BodyGuardz allows you to enjoy screen protection while still allowing your Berry to fit in your pocket.

You can get two BodyGuardz skins at the BBGeeks Store for $24.95. The two skins part is nice. It gives you a reprieve if you mess up. If you don’t, you can always give one to a friend.

Seidio Extended Battery

With moderate use, a new BlackBerry battery can usually last about two days. When I first got my Curve it would last about that long, give or take. Even though I took proper care of the battery, it still started losing capacity recently. Hey, no one’s perfect, and I’ve let the battery run down to the orange low-battery indicator a few too many times*. Eventually it became a choice: charge the Berry every night or get a new one. Since I occasionally come down with a bout of wanderlust, a new battery made a world of sense.

* I can’t tell you how many people tell me that it’s best to let the battery discharge completely, and then charge it all the way back up. With nickel-cadmium batteries, this was the case. With modern lithium-ion batteries, such as the ones you find in your BlackBerrys, laptops, etc., it’s best to charge them at around 50 percent, letting the battery get to the “low-battery” point about once every 30 charges. Case in point for this: at a conference this winter, a colleague noticed that I left my laptop plugged in all day. He told me that was bad for the battery. I asked him how long his two-year-old battery held a charge for. About an hour, he said. My two-year-old battery still held a charge for nearly three hours. Just to illustrate the point.

An extended-life battery can be of use in many areas. If you’re out at a conference, like I was at CTIA earlier this year, and are constantly using your BlackBerry, an extended-life battery can be a savior. It’s also good if you’re away from home and use streaming audio services. With MLB Gameday Audio and Pandora on my BlackBerry, streaming audio can decimate the battery. An extended-life battery has become a necessity lately.

You can get the Seido Extended Battery for $49.95. That’s the 2600mAh version, which provides 140 percent more power than your original. For five dollars less, you can get the 1500mAh, which provides 35 percent more battery life.

Motorola Wireless Travel Stereo Speaker

While an extended-life battery might be of use to someone who uses streaming audio services, there is something of perhaps even greater utility. The Motorola EQ5 travel stereo system can be a boon to those who want to listen to the game, or just listen some tunes, when there is no better alternative available. This Bluetooth-powered device provides stereo sound for both audio and for speakerphone. Best of all, it can fit in your pocket.

The unit is powered by SRS Labs Wow HDTM technology. You can read up abit about SRS Wow here. I met up with Alan Kraemer, chief technology officer of SRS, during CTIA to discuss some of the company’s developments. It turned into a 30-minute shop talk session, mainly about SRS’s theories of audio delivery. They use software to enhance the aural experience, rather than expensive hardware. In fact, Kraemer has written about software surround sound’s superiority to the multi-speaker setup we’ve grown used to.

You can get the Motorola EQ5 wireless travel speakers for $99.95, down from $119.95. If you’re using this to enhance your streaming audio, an extended-life battery is a near-necessary complement. The use of streaming audio and Bluetooth will kill a standard battery in no time.

16 GB media card

Does anyone these days run a BlackBerry without a memory card for expanded memory? With so many BlackBerry applications and multimedia functions, it’s become a near-necessity. The best part is that memory cards are rapidly expanding in capacity. So while it wasn’t long ago that 4 gigabytes was the biggest microSD card available, now they’re up to 32 GB for the BlackBerry — and growing.

Of course, just because a 32 GB microSD card can work on a BlackBerry doesn’t mean it can work in any BlackBerry. For Curve users, it appears we’re topped out at 16 GB, as the 32 GB card will only work with OS 4.6 and above. If you haven’t yet upgraded to OS 4.5, you can check out the upgrade process here. If you’re not one for upgrades, you can check out which memory card is compatible with your BlackBerry. Once you’ve determined which memory card to purchase, you can check out our guide to installing a memory card.

You can get a 16GB microSD card at the BBGeeks Store for $69.95. Just as the Bluetooth speaker system goes perfectly with the extended-life battery, so the 16GB microSD card goes perfectly with the Bluetooth speaker system.

Battery cover

As I’ve professed in the past, I’m a function over form guy. Give me something that works well and I don’t really care what it looks like. However, when I get something that has excellent function but poor form, and there’s a way to upgrade that form, I’m not going to ignore it. Not that I think the Curve form is poor — I quite like it, actually. Some people like to customize their devices, and that’s where battery covers come in. Short of a complete paint job, a new battery cover is the best way to change the look of your BlackBerry.

Of course, that can be functional, too. Everyone drops their BlackBerry from time to time, so a new battery cover could be in order for functionality’s sake. There’s even more room for function, too, as Seidio makes a rubberized battery door. While this purportedly enhances the speaker function of the phone, the main selling point is the rubberized nature of it, so that it prevents scratches. No one likes a scratched battery door.

You can get a standard battery cover at the BBGeeks Store for $14.95. They come in silver, red, gold, titanium, pink, black, and amethyst. You can get the Seidio rubberized battery cover for the same price.

This post originated at BBGeeks.com - home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about Verizon BlackBerry.

Top 5 Curve accessories for the BlackBerry Geek

This post originated at BBGeeks.com - home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about Verizon BlackBerry.

Top 5 Curve accessories for the BlackBerry Geek

BOLT browser adds new features with Beta3

Joe — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:30:17 +0000

Last time we checked in on the BOLT browser, we saw a few upgrades, mostly in the way of streamlining device function. As many noted upon the first private release, scrolling was way, way too slow. Not only did Bitstream, developers of BOLT, address this immediately, but they’ve seemingly made improvements in all subsequent updates. This is true, though to a lesser extent, of their latest release, Beta3. It’s available now. After the jump, we’ll go over the upgrades.

In terms of a faster, smoother browsing experience, Bitstream has enhanced the rendering of complex web pages, and has made rendering a faster process in general. Speed is great, and it’s nice to see the constant attention to this aspect in each incremental upgrade in BOLT.

In addition, Bitstream has added the following features:

Copy and paste text
Enter and edit text directly within online text boxes
Upload files such as videos to YouTube or pictures to Photobucket
Order favorites and arrange them into custom folders
Toggle between viewing websites with or without images displayed
Rendering bold, italics, superscript and other rich text styles

And there you have it. If you’re already a BOLT user, it’s time to upgrade (though you’ve probably already been prompted to do so). If you’re interested in checking out the browser, you can download it at boltbrowser.com/download.html.

This post originated at BBGeeks.com - home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about Verizon BlackBerry.

BOLT browser adds new features with Beta3

This post originated at BBGeeks.com - home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about Verizon BlackBerry.

BOLT browser adds new features with Beta3

Viigo releases Tango 9, version 3.1.330

Joe — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:30:31 +0000

Great news for Viigo users out there: the company has upgraded to Tango 9, which brings along a number of long-awaited upgrades. The new release furthers Viigo as the “everything” application for the BlackBerry. Where it was once an RSS reader, it is now an all-in-one source of information and entertainment. The new version brings an upgrade we’ve been clamoring for since WES 2008: Podcasts. Check out that, plus all of the other new features, after the jump.

First, there is social media integration, which will bring together your Twitter, Facebook, Friend Feed, and Identica accounts. I wonder if the Twitter layout will be quite as slick as UberTwitter, which I’ve grown more and more fond of with each passing day.

The weather function has been improved. That puts a damper on all the BlackBerry weather apps out there. Then again, Viigo puts a damper on a lot of information services.

They’ll also integrate a Deals module, which will aggregate sales and promotions. This will work well with another upgrade, My Accounts, which manages your important information. This includes credit cards, bank info, frequent flyer miles, and other stuff you want to have handy, but still keep safe. This one is a premium service.

As always, there are plenty of modules to play with. Included in the new version, as mentioned above, is one for podcasts. Make sure to check out the BBGeekcast through this.

Note that if you have a previous edition of Viigo installed from BlackBerry App World, you’ll have to uninstall and then reinstall. You can check out the latest BBGeeks version of Viigo too.

From CrackBerry.

This post originated at BBGeeks.com - home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about Verizon BlackBerry.

Viigo releases Tango 9, version 3.1.330

This post originated at BBGeeks.com - home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about Verizon BlackBerry.

Viigo releases Tango 9, version 3.1.330

BBGeekcast: June 26, 2009 - Episode 70

Joe — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:01:50 +0000

A couple of big smartphone releases took the spotlight over the past week: the Palm Pre and the Apple iPhone. That doesn’t mean we’re going to forget about BlackBerry, though. You might read in the media that the iPhone and Pre are going to do some damage, but just remember that the media feeds on narrative, and the narrative changes constantly.

So click on over here to hear the BBGeekcast (9 min, 25 sec)

And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast so you won’t miss future episodes!

You can also subscribe to the BBGeekcast in iTunes.

Highlights include:

The biggest story in the BlackBerry space this week is that RIM has broken the 50 percent barrier of consumer users. This means, I guess, that over 50 percent of users are on BIS. This has been a long time coming, but it might not be totally accurate. For instance, I use my BlackBerry for business, but don’t count as an enterprise user. So while the numbers reflect a greater consumer usage, they’re at least a bit skewed. Not that it matters much. RIM continues to sell millions of devices per quarter.

While the narrative lies with the flashy new iPhone and the Pre, BlackBerry will come to the fore again when the Tour hits in July. Then there’s the Onyx, the Gemini, and eventually the Storm 2. So RIM has little to worry about when it comes to hype and media coverage.

This post originated at BBGeeks.com - home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about Verizon BlackBerry.

BBGeekcast: June 26, 2009 - Episode 70

This post originated at BBGeeks.com - home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about Verizon BlackBerry.

BBGeekcast: June 26, 2009 - Episode 70

Use advanced features in standard Document To Go

Joe — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 12:30:06 +0000

Starting with OS 4.5, Documents To Go, a BlackBerry version of the Microsoft Office suite, has been standard on BlackBerry smartphones. They’re not just giving away the software, though. The standard version comes on the phone, while Documents To Go Premium Edition costs $69.99. This provides key features unavailable in the standard version, including the ability to create new documents and spreadsheets. Michael at BerryReview thinks that $70 is a bit much for an upgrade, and I agree. Thankfully, he also provides a workaround of sorts to access some advanced features. It’s not perfect, but it’s something to check out on a summer Friday.

This post originated at BBGeeks.com - home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about Verizon BlackBerry.

Use advanced features in standard Document To Go

This post originated at BBGeeks.com - home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about Verizon BlackBerry.

Use advanced features in standard Document To Go