Useful Blackberry Apps
It feels like it is a bit of a necessity for every blog to post some lists of some sort. I’d love to say that we are different.
However, we are not (or at least I’m not).
The corporate world is flooded with Blackberries…in fact they rule that roost. However, over the past couple of years I have noticed that more of my personal friends have the privilege of carrying around the Blackberry ball and chain. This is either because they have bought one personally, or they are now in the ever lovely middle manager role.
What irks me somewhat is that the Blackberry can do so much more than just be a phone/email device. Like the iPhone, there are other apps that provide some utility. Granted, there are certainly not quite as many applications…but who needs 25 fart applications? So I assembled a list of FREE applications that I have found useful in my years of Blackberry use.
BUT, first and foremost I recommend that you upgrade your Blackberry to the latest Operating System. V4.5 is an especially BIG improvement for older devices (Curve, Pearl). Blackberry has an update page dedicated to updating your device (Internet Explorer required).
Viigo describes itself as a great way to “stay current with what’s going on in your world“. I couldn’t agree more. I would say this is my most used application and it still amazes me that is free. It allows users to read RSS news feeds, show the weather for multiple cities, track your flight itinerary including delays & flight times, sports scores for every sport you can think of, stock prices, and even movie times. What’s more is that it runs in the background so it pulls data throughout the day. I find that this app is especially useful when you do not have connectivity to the network (plane, elevator, bathroom).
This application is pretty self-explanatory. It allows you to keep up with your Facebook addiction while on your BB. The new version, v1.5, was released just yesterday and adds some new features. Events and birthdays sync into your Blackberry calendar, adding Facebook information to your contacts, and overall better integration. It still is not as good as the iPhone version, but 1.5 is a definite improvement.
I have used Google Maps on the Blackberry since it was first released. It is VERY similar to the full blown web version. However, the Blackberry version can use your cell signal to approximate your position on the map. This is a GREAT feature as it allows you to start directions to a new location without inputting your current locaton. A word of warning however, this is more accurate in more densely populated areas (more cell towers). Google Maps also may be able to use GPS on GPS-enabled BBs…it really depends on your provider (Verizon is notorious for neutering their devices and locking down features). You actually might have to enable it on some BBs.
Slacker is a service that streams music to your desktop or BB. There is a both a free and paid version of the actual service, but the BB app is free. To start listening to music you select an artist and create a channel based on that artist. Then music will play, and depending on your service level you get a certain amount of skips when a song is not to your liking. The beauty of the BB app is that you can cache stations when you sync to your computer so you do not need a cell signal to listen to tunes.
So have you decided to join the over-blown hype that is Twitter? Well, if so, you should probably have Twitterberry on your BB. It provides for the basic features that allow you to tweet and track your network’s tweets. However, if you decide to follow Oprah or Ashton Kutcher, please hit the back button and go back to the People magazine home page.
That should do it for now…there are ton more and if you have some good ones feel free to comment. At some point, I will also post the easy cheap way to make your Blackberry a decent MP3 player…but I really should go to work.
Kevin Heald
motorcitydan
