So click on over here to hear the BBGeekcast (6 min, 37 sec)

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

Highlights include:

July 25 looks like the date the Bold will hit Rogers. It’s just a week after the last release party, so everything is seeming to line up. AT&T, where art thou?

Looking for the Bold on T-Mobile after AT&T’s exclusive period expires? Don’t get your hopes up. It looks like the Javelin will hit T-Mo. This, by all appearances, is the EDGE version of the Bold, which would fit with T-Mo, which still doesn’t have a nationwide 3G network.

Another iDEN BlackBerry? We haven’t seen one in a while, but it looks like RIM is working on a new one for Nextel.

A couple of Google updates for BlackBerry: enhanced search results. This looks like a response to Yahoo!’s oneSearch. Also, voice controls for Google Maps. Not bad.

This post originated at BBGeeks.com, home to all things BlackBerry including in-depth reviews of BlackBerry software, providers and more.

This is a 100 percent free IM client, which makes it appealing right from the start. Add in the ability to send voice and picture IMs, and you have to wonder just how they’re able to offer this without charging. That’s what we’re out to discover.

Setup and registration

To get this for your BlackBerry, just head to the website, palringo.com, and

You’ll then have to set up your IM accounts. You do this right through the BlackBerry interface — there is no place on the website to do this, or at least any that I could find after a considerable time clicking around. When in the main screen, hit the menu button, and scroll down to “Services.” Scroll to the right, and click on “Add Service.”

You’ll get a choice of their supported IM hosts: MSN Messenger, AIM, Yahoo! Messenger, ICQ, XMPP/GTalk/Jabber, and Gadu Gadu. Click on the service of your choice, and you’ll be brought to a screen asking for your information. Complaint: The password fields are not encrypted. Yeah, it might not be a huge deal, but I always feel better when those asterisks pop up when I enter my passwords. (Hint here: Under “server” with GTalk, use “gmail.com”.)

Further hint: Because your BlackBerry automatically capitalizes the first letter of a string, you might run into some issues with case sensitivity. I had problems with having the first letter capital, whether in the username or password field. Everyone has their little trick to get around this. I just type the first letter twice and delete the upper case one. But to each his or her own.

After you fill out the fields (correctly), you’ll be kicked back to the main screen, where Palringo will log you into your account.

Playing with my IM accounts

I went ahead and set up accounts for GTalk, AIM, and MSN. From the main screen, I can click the trackball to the right and view all of my contacts. When signed into more than one service, the list gets quite large, and there doesn’t appear to be a way to jump down a full page (spacebar, alas, does nothing). That can be remedied by signing in and out of individual services, which can be done quite easily. Just click in the trackball when the account is highlighted.

Clicking in the trackball when the service is highlighted also gives you a few more options. You can set your status to “away” or “busy,” sign on and off the service, add a contact, or remove the service.

Pressing the menu button on the main screen will bring up a different menu, which will allow you to sign in and out of Palringo altogether and manage your chats. This is where you can add services, contacts, and groups. A general settings tab appears, too, where you can set your status across all services. You can also edit your nickname or change the settings. These settings allow you to login automatically, have the program beep when you get new messages, and set the font size.

When clicking the trackball when a contact is highlighted, you can view that contact’s properties, which include the nickname, status message, service, and email if applicable. This is also where you initiate a “private chat,” which is your basic IM.

Once you get to the IM screen, you’ll notice a number of options. The first is the basic text, which needs no explanation. The next is voice. Here you can click the trackball to begin recording a voice message. Click the trackball when you’re done again, and it will upload your audio and send the link to your buddy. He or she can then click the link to hear the audio. The final option, images, is not available on BlackBerry devices without a camera (obviously), but camera devices should be able to pick images out of their library, or take photos instantly to send.

Positives

I’m able to use nearly all the major instant messaging clients with ease. The integration is smooth, so it’s like I’ve got all my contacts on one service. There were very few bumps in the road when testing Palringo (though there were a few, which I will get to later.)

It didn’t crash my BlackBerry, which shouldn’t exactly be a positive, but since so many other IM clients do, this is definitely a good thing for Palringo. The ability to send different types of instant messages is a plus, especially when you’re on the go. Sometimes it’s just easier to speak my message and send it then take the time to type it out.

Negatives

Their website interface isn’t very helpful. The only support they offer is via an email form, which obviously doesn’t provide immediate answers to questions. Even an FAQ section would be useful. They do have forums, but many questions are never answered by Palringo staff, and on the ones that are, the answers are very general and not helpful with specific problems.

The service disconnected a number of times, which has been a widely mentioned problem in the forums. They say they’re working on it, so we’ll see if it will improve. Their server had problems while I was testing this, and my fellow IMers weren’t able to receive my voice chats for a period.

Finally, the Web interface didn’t update my contacts after I added the services. I’m not sure if this is just a delay issue and they’ll show up eventually, but this takes away from the attractive feature of creating groups from the Web interface, rather than the phone itself.

Final thoughts

It’s tough to complain about a free service that doesn’t crash my BlackBerry. As noted above, there are a number of negatives which detract from this service, but not enough to render it unusable. If you’re still searching for that elusive all-in-one IM client, give Palringo a shot. It’s not like there are many risks involved.

This post originated at BBGeeks.com, home to all things BlackBerry including in-depth reviews of BlackBerry software, providers and more.

This post originated at BBGeeks.com, home to all things BlackBerry including in-depth reviews of BlackBerry software, providers and more.

The clear winner in our testing was in fact the Viigo RSS Reader. With it’s ease of use, slick look and feel, comprehensive feature set, simple navigation and great content freshness, Viigo came out head and shoulders above the rest of the pack.

While on our trip to the CTIA conference in Las Vegas earlier this year, the BBGeeks team had the opportunity to meet with and build the beginning of a great relationship with the Viigo squad. They were extremely knowledgeable about the feed reader culture (which is growing every day) and were more than glad to start the ball rolling on some pretty cool partnership ideas that we think will be great for both BBGeeks and Viigo alike.

Our first foray into the partnership with Viigo comes in the form of a co-branded RSS reader which, along with looking pretty darn slick, offers you, our loyal readers, the opportunity to show your support for the site and keep up on all the latest news, videos, podcasts, contests and breaking stories that we aim to bring you each and every day.

In an effort to encourage downloads of our new co-branded Viigo reader, we hereby present to you the latest how-to guide from BBGeeks.com.

How to install and use the BBGeeks co-branded Viigo RSS reader

First things first, you will have to head on over to the official BBGeeks/Viigo landing page and click on the direct download link which is on the right side of the page. If you wish to have the download link sent directly to your BlackBerry, simply enter in the email address which is associated with your device and click the submit button.

Once you have either downloaded the files to your desktop or had them sent OTA to your email address, you are ready to complete the installation. Simply click the link in your email to enable the install, or use the BlackBerry Desktop Manager to load the required .alx file onto your device.

Upon installation of the co-branded Viigo reader you will be prompted to set up an online account with Viigo. While you can access most of the functionality of the application while browsing as a guest, it is suggested that you sign up for an account. When you have an account with Viigo, your data, preferences and feed subscriptions will all be maintained independently of your BlackBerry device. This not only means you will have access to all of your subscriptions through a web interface (manipulating data on nice large monitors is so much easier), but also that you will be able to swap devices at your leisure, knowing that your settings and preferences have not been altered and will not require a new configuration.

Extended Feature Set for the BBGeeks/Viigo co-branded RSS Reader

Automatic subscription to all relevant BBGeeks.com RSS feeds
When you download the co-branded BBGeeks/Viigo reader you will automatically be subscribed to all of our daily feeds. These include: The regular BBGeeks news feed which contains all of the BlackBerry news updated consistently, and the BBGeeks Store feed which contains the latest and greatest applications, games and accessories that are currently available for purchase in our online store. Also included in the list, but not available until the official release of the co-branded Tango reader, is our podcast feed which will make every one of our BBGeekCasts available to you for listening at times that are convenient for you.

You will also note that our reader has both the BBGeeks.com logo and the Viigo logo at the top of the reader screen. While this does not offer anything in the ways of “features”, it does make it possible for you to show your support for BBGeeks.com by letting the world (or anybody that happens to be looking over your shoulder) know that you visit the site regularly and that we provide top notch information to those involved in our community.

Traditional Feature Set for the BBGeeks/Viigo co-branded RSS Reader

The outstanding Viigo Channel library
Having the co-branded reader installed on your BlackBerry means that in addition to the pre selected BBGeeks feeds, you will have the ability to subscribe to more than 5000 additional channels of information.

Feel like catching up on your entertainment news? no problem, you can add channels from up to 14 available entertainment categories. These include comics, Bollywood, fashion, music and movies among others.

To add a new channel to your pre populated list, simply click your trackwheel while browsing your feed list. In the menu display you will see the option to “Add Channel”. Click the add channel link and then navigate first to the type of channel you want, then drill down further until you have found what you are looking for.

You can subscribe to as many of the Viigo channels as you like and if your specific need is not reflected in the list the you have the option of entering in a URL to subscribe to the exact feed content you desire.

Keyword Alerts
For each channel you are subscribed to, you can set up keyword alerts to notify you of a particular topic being discussed. For instance, let us say you are interested in more news on the BlackBerry Bold and its pending release in Canada. If you wanted to know when BBGeeks.com mentions the Bold, but don’t have time to scan all of our feed posts, all you have to do is set up a keyword alert.

Setting up a keyword alert is quick and easy. When browsing your subscribed channels, highlight the channel you would like to set up an alert for. With the channel highlighted, click the trackwheel and choose “set Channel Alert”. You will be taken to a new dialog box which has the channel name and a place where you can enter keywords to tell Viigo to watch for.

From now on, anytime your keyword is mentioned you will see an indicator next to your selected channel to let you know that your keyword has been mentioned. These items will also appear under the “My Alerts” section at the bottom of your channel list.

Support for various web reader synchronization
There are more than a few major web readers that have made an impact online. Of these readers, Viigo offers integration support for three of the big ones. These include Google Reader, My Yahoo! and Bloglines.

Getting access to your online reader accounts via the co-branded Viigo reader is as easy as logging into your “My Viigo” account and choosing the appropriate web reader from the list that runs down the right side of your screen. Once you have selected a web reader to integrate into your Viigo results you will have to enter the URL for your specific feed and a username and password if applicable.

When the process is complete you will see that your web reader content is now visible right there on your BlackBerry.

Sharing news items with friends
Sharing news items with friends is as easy as you would think. Whenever you are reading a news item in any of your feeds, whether it is an abstract or the full article, click the trackwheel. From the displayed menu choose send via email. Clicking this option will display a list of all your BlackBerry contacts. Choose the appropriate contact from your list and click the trackwheel once again. You will now have the option of sending via email or straight to their BlackBerry messenger if there is available contact information.

The Future of the Co-Branded BBGeeks/Viigo RSS Reader

Many of you who are reading this have already downloaded the Viigo 3.0 Beta. While we realize that it might be a little much to ask you to take a step back in functionality just to get some BBGeeks branding onto your Viigo display, we would like to give you the heads up on what is coming down the pipe as far as our co-branded reader is concerned.

When the offical release of Tango is made public you can rest assured fellow BBGeeks that your currently installed co-branded BBGeeks/Viigo reader will automatically upgrade to the latest and greatest RSS reader available!

Please head over to the RSS reader download page and show BBGeeks.com some love. We look forward to bringing you many more custom applications in the future and we appreciate you helping us spread the word.

This post originated at BBGeeks.com, home to all things BlackBerry including in-depth reviews of BlackBerry software, providers and more.

This post originated at BBGeeks.com, home to all things BlackBerry including in-depth reviews of BlackBerry software, providers and more.

Before we begin the review, let’s go over the features Vlingo advertises. We’re looking at the service in terms of voice dialing, text messaging, email, application launching, Web search, and note to self.

Installation and setup

Like most BlackBerry applications, download was a cinch. Just head to Vlingo.com, and right on the main page there’s a form which, once filled out, will send the download link to your BlackBerry. From there, it’s a standard install process.

The first time you run Vlingo, you will have to allow the program to access most parts of your phone. You’ll be prompted to allow Vlingo to do this, which will bring up a long list of connections and interactions. You’ll have to allow it to access such aspects of your phone as USB, Bluetooth, the phone itself, GPS, user data, and your carrier Internet service. Once you look that over, click in the track ball, and save the changes.

You’ll then hit the back button, which will bring you to the Vlingo terms and conditions. After that, it’s onto the setup wizard. First, you have to set the convenience keys through your options. The wizard takes you right there, where you’ll click “Screen/Keyboard.” Go down to “Convenience Key Opens” and select “Nothing.” (Thankfully, mine was already there, since I never use the native voice dialing client.) Back out and save.

After you back out, you’ll be prompted to click in the convenience key. Do that, and you’ll get a dialog box if successful. You then run a test, and Vlingo will finally run you through all that you can do with the service. At this point, I got really excited. If this does work as advertised, you really can do anything with your BlackBerry via voice. The final step is the syncing of your contacts, which takes just a few seconds.

So let’s dig in!

Voice dialing

As I mentioned, I don’t use the native voice dialing feature on my BlackBerry. I’m not sure why, but plenty of other people I’ve talked to have the same feeling. Maybe it’s because you have to set everything up manually. Maybe it’s because I’ve never really taken to voice dialing applications. However, this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t give Vlingo a shot.

While there might be nuanced flaws in the voice dialing system, I couldn’t find them. After you say “Call [Contact] [Home/Mobile/Work], it comes up with a list of contacts matching your voice search string. You can click “cancel” if it starts to dial the wrong number (say, you wanted to call home, but called work instead), and you can easily click over to the appropriate number.

As far as the voice recognition goes, there are no complaints on this end. I tend to enter in most of my friends with nicknames, and it had no problem picking up such contacts as “Snap Crackle” and “Rimster,” though it had problems with “Hizzle.” Not that I could reasonably expect a voice recognition program to pick up on such an uncommon nickname.

Text messaging

We’ve all had a case of BlackBerry thumb in the past. Normally, the warriors among us battle through it, continuing to type messages. Too bad it’s leading to more thumb surgeries. With Vlingo, this kind of strain isn’t necessary. You can use their voice activated text messaging feature to get that message out without killing your thumbs.

Click in the convenience key — heretofore known as the Vlingo Key — and say “send message,” followed by the recipient and then your message. You can say the word “Message” after you say the contact name, too, just to make sure the message is right. After you let go of the key, Vlingo transcribes the voice string and brings you to a text message page. The automated voice will confirm that you are sending a text message to the right contact. You can then edit the message in the message box, or just hit send. If you want to add more to the message, make sure the cursor is in the message box, click in the Vlingo Key, and add what you need to.

As far as transcription goes, I’m wholly impressed. I wonder if this is integrating with oneSearch, in terms of learning my voice. It got nearly every word right in my series of tests, only flubbing easy to misunderstand words, as well as words that I stumbled over. All in all, I’d rate this transcription somewhere right under GotVoice.

Email

On the road? Need to send an important email? Vlingo Key to the rescue? Just click it down and begin the email string. This is “Send email to [contact] subject [say your subject] message [your message].” Yes, it’s that simple to send your email through Vlingo. Let’s see how it tests.

The positives: The transcription is of the same quality as the text messages. I guess that’s to be expected. Vlingo also does a good job parsing the string, as it had no issues putting the recipient, the subject, and the body of the message in the correct place. So for the basics, it passes with flying colors.

The negatives: It takes a while to work through and transcribe the message. This is because 1) the message itself is longer and 2) it has to parse out the recipient, subject, and body, which takes extra processing time. It also doesn’t use punctuation, capitalization, or any kind of line breaks. I even took deliberate pauses, hoping that a moment of silence would mean the insertion of a period. So, like text messaging, it’s best used for short emails and replies.

Application launching

Now here’s something I’m really looking forward to using. As a geek, I’ve got tons and tons of applications on my BlackBerry. To the point where I now have to delete one for every new application I add, obviously depending on the size of the added and deleted applications. It’s tough to say goodbye to apps, but it’s necessary, I suppose (considering you can’t launch apps from your memory card).

The keywords for launching applications are “Open” and “Start.” It just so happens that I wanted to launch the BBGeeks version of Viigo. Unfortunately, it wasn’t able to do this. So then I tried to have it open Brick Breaker. Still no go. So what gives?

Vlingo can only open certain applications on your BlackBerry. The following are valid: browser, memo pad, email, messages, task manager, voice dial, maps, calendar, and address book. Other than that, you’re pretty much out of luck. If there was one thing we’d want Vlingo to improve in its next release, it would be the ability to launch any application on our BlackBerry devices.

Web search

Web search with Vlingo rocks, if for no other reason than it doesn’t really require a prompt word. It recommends you say the words “Web search” before saying your search string, but I’ve found that isn’t necessary. Before you begin, you might want to check out the options menu, found when you click on the Vlingo icon on your applications menu. The fourth option down lets you set either Yahoo! or Google as your default Web search engine. Make sure to click the menu button and save your settings.

Once you depress the Vlingo Key and say your search string, you’ll be brought to something of a confirmation page. The voice will read back your string, and you just have to click in the trackball to approve it — which will then launch the browser. If you need to edit it, just slide the cursor into the search dialog box and re-enter the string. Additionally, there is a list of other searches below, so you might not even need to manually enter your search string.

I do wonder, though, if this will undercut Vlingo’s own work with Yahoo! oneSearch. Of course, some people prefer the way oneSearch handles results. Then again, why have both applications on your BlackBerry? Since Vlingo gives you the ability to search either Yahoo! or Google, it seems that Vlingo’s application could compete with it’s work on oneSearch.

Note to self

Before creating a note to yourself, you’ll want to head into the options screen again. Scroll down to the item that says “Note2Self Action.” You’ll have the option to add the note as a memo, as a task, or to have it sent to you via SMS or email. So select which works best for you, and then hit the menu button to save up.

The best part is that you can set the Note2Self to send to your email or SMS, and still be able to create new tasks and memos. Just say “New Task” or “New Memo,” and Vlingo will still save it to the appropriate application. However, if you want that SMS or email reminder, just say “Note to self,” and your memo will go to the pre-specified location. It will, as always, read back the message, and then it will fire away a text message when you hit “send.” And it’s pretty instantaneous, too.

Final thoughts

Pardon me for gushing, but I absolutely love Vlingo. While there are people who are having problems with it, I had none during my trial. The transcriptions were as accurate as reasonably expected, and the voice command rarely did something I didn’t want it to do. T-Mobile and Rogers customers, you will be mighty happy when the service is fixed and available to you.

Yet, I can’t help but notice the negative reviews out there. If you’ve had a bad experience with Vlingo, I ask that you leave a comment describing it. Just because I had a nearly flawless experience doesn’t mean that everyone will. It also doesn’t mean that everyone will like it as much as I did. So check it out, run your own trials, and let us know.

This post originated at BBGeeks.com, home to all things BlackBerry including in-depth reviews of BlackBerry software, providers and more.

This post originated at BBGeeks.com, home to all things BlackBerry including in-depth reviews of BlackBerry software, providers and more.

This post originated at BBGeeks.com, home to all things BlackBerry including in-depth reviews of BlackBerry software, providers and more.

This post originated at BBGeeks.com, home to all things BlackBerry including in-depth reviews of BlackBerry software, providers and more.

This post originated at BBGeeks.com, home to all things BlackBerry including in-depth reviews of BlackBerry software, providers and more.