BlackBerry Unlock Codes

I was wrong. There, I said it. When we took a look at Phone Assistant back in April, I mentioned that this application acts as, well, your personal assistant (coincidence? I think not). Personal Assistant keeps you in the loop for a variety of important issues throughout the day. From this application, you can keep an eye on your travel itinerary, bill management (with mobile minute tracker), banking, portfolio and credit card management. Your information is laid out in front of you in amazing detail. This makes it easy to get updated at a glance, which allows you to focus on making the most of your day to day.

So what was I wrong about? Well I was wrong in saying that it didn’t suck up to you (the boss). Why do I say that? Just check out what’s available in the latest update made back in May to Personal Assistant 3.0; from their product description:

• Integration with your calendar, all upcoming events, including bill due dates and upcoming itineraries will automatically be added to the calendar.
• The application is running in the background and as a result is now super fast, over 1000% performance improvement from previous versions.
• The Enhanced Notification feature was already introduced in version 2.5 and now has enhanced capabilities with more alerts, such as APR change to your credit card and more. Also, all alerts are shown aggregated in a new alert tab.
• More readable account information screens and ability to refresh all accounts at once (refresh all available only for the premium version).

Still no word of when it will be able to get you your coffee or not, though you could call and order it yourself. Personal Assistant comes in a free and premium version, both of which are available in BlackBerry App World. I’m not sure why Pageonce sent an email to subscribers almost 3 months after it was updated, claiming it was “new” and “now available”. It even caught me off guard. Thanks to those who pointed it out to me.

• Pick up Personal Assistant for BlackBerry Smartphones >>
• Pick up Personal Assistant Premium for BlackBerry Smartphones >>

We got word last week that BlackBerry Desktop Manager 6 was being made available for a select few in the Beta Zone and already it has made its way out into the open. The beta version has been leaked and is available for download, but be sure to use extreme caution when installing since this is in no way an official release. The Windows software is sporting a total redesign and features a better layout as well as some new media options. I’m sure it will pop up in the offical sense in the very near future, but if you’re up to the task download from the link below and give it a go. Be sure to drop a comment and let us know how it’s working for you.

• Download leaked BlackBerry Desktop Manager 6 >>

Source: Driphter.com

I don’t remember the last time I was chatting online though instant messaging. Really, I would say most of my conversations happen with my Blackberry used as a medium. What about you? Think about it. What better way is there to keep all of your friends, family and other contact all in one place? Here you have all of these apps installed, and all of them are ready to keep you connected. You have one for Twitter, another for Skype, another for Facebook and another for… hmm well that’s not very efficient is it? I mean, here I have all of these applications ready to help me commence in my rants and ramblings, but I don’t think my thumbs can take the typing AND navigating. Not to mention my poor BlackBerry is running low on memory. Perhaps I should cut back a little. Nah! Maybe I should find one app to cover my social networks!

That’s where an application like IM+ comes into play. This application becomes the hub to your online life (or in some cases your ONLY life). You can easily manage your accounts with some of the major players of the social networking game. Twitter, Google Talk, Jabber, you name it. Set your status to busy and have a look.

About IM+

IM + was developed by SHAPE Services. The app catalogue for the company also includes; GPSed and the Mobiola lineup. IM+ is currently in version 8.5 and has a file size of 1.4MB (which is what an app that covers one social network typically is). Your BlackBerry must be running OS 4.2 or higher, but the advanced options are available with 4.6 and higher. The advanced options include BlackBerry inbox integration and speech recognition.

manage your accounts

many different networks and chat clients to choose from

IM+ is able to connect users to Google Talk, Twitter, Facebook, Jabber, Skype, ICQ, MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, MySpaceIM and AIM/iCHAT. The application makes it quite easy to set up each account that you want to have access to. Depending on your security settings, you may get blocked from accessing your accounts from the application, as I was with my Facebook account. This was because it appeared as though I was logging in from another Country.

main menu

The main menu houses all of the accounts you have signed into. Each account entry will display your online status and current avatar. IM+ allows you to change your status for each individual account - even using custom stats messages. You can also manage them all at once using the Global Status feature to use one single status for all. Below your list of accounts is another list of options. These options vary, depending on the type of account. To give a couple of examples, the Twitter options include @Replies, Direct Messages, Favourites and Friends Timelines. For Google Talk, you will see a list of contacts and if they are online or offline.
Read more… »

Blackberry app for twitter - Tweet My Location

Tweet My Location

Do people call you several times a day asking “Where are you?” Ask them to follow you on twitter and keep tweeting your location using “Tweet My Location”!

Are you in a city that you don’t know much? You can tell your friends automatically, what place you are visiting right now. Traveling is fun with “Tweet My Location”. Amaze your friends with the frequency with which you can tweet about your current location.

Or are you simply addicted to twitter? Now you can post your current location to twitter automatically using your GPS or network location. Simply setup the app and let it do the rest! Your location will be calculated using your GPS and network coordinates and a human readable address will be posted onto twitter.

Here is a typical walk through of the app
• Run the application
• Give your Twitter User-name and Password
• Give an automatic time interval, for example 5 minutes
• Enable the service

Make sure you allow all permissions to this app right after installation. You can give permissions by going to Options—Applications—Tweet My Location – Edit Permissions and allow all the permissions in case your app isn’t working.

Now your phone will tweet your location after every five minutes.

Afraid of auto tweet? Don’t worry! You can disable the auto tweet feature and can manually tweet your location description whenever you feel like it. The application runs in the background and does not bother you while you use your phone.

Trillian has been quite a popular instant messaging application on many platforms. Mac, PC and Linux all have desktop versions. The only mobile implementation so far has been on the iPhone. That is, until now. Trillian has announced they are going to be bringing a full blown multi platform instant messaging client to BlackBerry. It’s not released as of yet but, you can sign up to be notified when it does indeed become available. Looks pretty impressive from the screenshots they have displayed. Shout out to dumb4ever for letting us know about it in the CrackBerry forums.

• Sign Up To Be Notified Of Release Over At The Trillian Website>>

When we released our top BlackBerry apps list a few weeks ago, we named a number of applications that we haven’t gotten to featuring on the site. That’s going to happen with a list that prolific. One of those applications, Poynt, just got an upgrade, so it seems like as good a time as any to feature it. Poynt is an excellent tool for any BlackBerry user. It taps the power of location, using GPS or cell tower data to search local businesses, restaurants, and more. It takes this a few steps further, too.

You can use Poynt to search for information about any kind of local business. Looking for a store, an office site, a vendor? Just search through Poynt and you can find a phone number, their website, and even turn-by-turn directions.

If you’re looking to book a night out, Poynt can help with that, too. You can find local movie times and even buy tickets right through the application. You can also find restaurants and use the application to make a reservation. Adding to the social nature of the application, you can invite friends as well.

For your personal use, you can add business information to your address book, add events to your calendar, or broadcast listings using BlackBerry Messenger.

The best part about Poynt is that it’s free. You can get it at App World. It has been reviewed over 4,000 times, and comes away with a 4.5 star rating. That’s no small feat in such a large sampling.

Use Poynt to find people, businesses, movie theatres, retailers and restaurants near you. Poynt uses GPS or cell-site locations to pinpoint you and quickly deliver the information you need whenever and wherever you need it.
- Find phone numbers and connect with one click, browse websites and map directions
- Plan a night out - book movie tickets and dinner reservations, add it to your calendar and invite your friends
- Add listings to your BlackBerry® Address Book, add movie and restaurant events to your BlackBerry® Calendar, share listings using BlackBerry® Messages
- Poynt is free and available in Canada, the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, and now in France, Italy and Spain

Discover why Poynt won the 2008 BlackBerry Developer s Challenge Grand Prize and was recognized as the Most Innovative Consumer Application in GSMA s Mobile Innovation Grand Prix, EMEA Tournament

Read more… »

Make your friends surprised by putting fancy characters in EMAIL, SMS (GSM only), IM and PIN messages and status!

*** Make sure you have a valid BB PIN specified in your Mobihand account since activation code is dependent on it! ***

FAQ:
Q: It inserts ‘?’ instead of characters to the SMS
A: Go to options-sms and change encoding from 7bit to SC2. Unless you’re on CDMA version. CDMA SMS is very limited and does not support unicode unfortunately though email/pin and other will work.

Q: Can I have more symbols
A: You have to install “East Asian Language and Input Support” in bb desktop manager.
Those Asian fonts have all unicode characters required. This applies to 5.0 OS mostly. Older devices may lack some symbols.

Q: Why cannot I see colored smiles introduced in v2.0
A: Those colored smiles works exclusively in BlackBerry Messenger 5.0.0.57 so make sure you update your BBM first if needed.

Features:

• Integrates to any application
• Several categorized tabs for easy characters access
• 250+ Colored Smiles (BBM5)
• 200+ Country Flags support (BBM5)

Minimum Requirements:

• OS 4.2.1

Display Dimensions
240×240, 240×260, 240×320, 320×240, 360×480, 480×320, 480×360
Operating System
4.2, 4.3, 4.5, 4.6, 4.7 Non-Touch, 4.7 Touch Screen, 5.0 Non-Touch, 5.0 Touch Screen

BlackBerry: 8100 (Pearl), 8110 (Pearl), 8120 (Pearl), 8130 (Pearl), 8220 (Pearl Flip), 8230 (Pearl Flip), 8300 (Curve), 8310 (Curve), 8320 (Curve), 8330 (Curve), 8350i (Curve), 8520 (Curve), 8530 (Curve), 8700, 8700c, 8700f, 8700g, 8700r, 8700v, 8703e, 8705g, 8707g, 8707h, 8707v, 8800, 8820, 8830, 8900 (Curve), 8930 (Curve), 9000 (Bold), 9100 (Pearl), 9500 (Storm), 9530/9530T (Storm), 9550/9520 (Storm2), 9630/9650 (Tour), 9700 (Bold)

If you’re at all a fan of Minesweeper (and who isn’t?) then this one is for you. BeeSweeper is Minesweeper for BlackBerry, and its very addicting. The rules are the same, and there are three different levels of play. You can post your results online and compete against other players to see who will be the BeeSweeper champion. There is an “auto-flag” feature for faster gameplay and you can also save your game to return at a later time. BeeSweeper is available for all devices is $2.99 until tomorrow (regularly $3.99/free trial available). We have 50 copies of BeeSweeper to give away. Just leave a single comment on this post and we’ll pick the winners at random. Contest ends this Sunday at midnight PDT.

• More information and download of BeeSweeper >>

Let’s see, we’re nearly five months into this year. How are you doing with your resolutions? Particularly the one you made to start saving money. Have…

Let’s see, we’re nearly five months into this year. How are you doing with your resolutions? Particularly the one you made to start saving money. Have you been managing your finances more efficiently? Or have you been spending so much money that your debit or credit card is starting to melt? We all know it’s always best to make a budget, but it may be difficult to adhere to it. Your grocery budget may dwindle more quickly, as you find yourself dining out or hitting the drive thru more frequently. When a new BlackBerry comes out, will you have money set aside for it, or will you dip into your hydro bill budget? Well, at least you can use a flashlight app on your new BlackBerry to illuminate your place after your electricity gets cut off…until your battery runs out.

Do yourself a favour: put the hammer down and step away from your child’s piggy bank. I’m pretty sure that you would rather try and find alterative means to fix your financial follies, than to explain to your son or daughter why you’re taking their birthday money. Why not check out these applications plucked from a slew of money applications available for your BlackBerry.

There were so many applications to go through, so I tried to cover the basics that you should look out for. It takes money to make money, or in this case – save money as well. Keep this in mind when having a look at these applications - they may not be what you are looking for, or they may be the perfect fit. If you use anything that is not listed here, let everyone know and leave a comment.

Mobile Money Mover

Your money is easily carried and easily spent, but not necessarily easily made. Though not the greatest tool for a shopaholic to have, it would be convenient if you could manage your cash flow on your BlackBerry – regardless if it happens to be flowing in or out.

Two great options are the PayPal and Zoompass applications. Both of these applications allow you to send or receive money while on the go; you can even use Zoompass to request money (Mom? I need some gas money…). You can quickly and easily see your transactions, balance and more. You are also able to make payments to people already in your BlackBerry Address book. Both PayPal and Zoompass are free (Zoompass is only available in Canada).

The ATM Adventure

I don’t know how often this happens in this day of age, but I’m sure some people still have difficulty finding an ATM once in a while. You may find yourself in a strange place, where banks aren’t as abundant and stores do not have their own little ATM. Hey it could happen…

Enter the ATM Hunter. This application helps you locate the nearest ATMs to you. You can either make use of your GPS location, or enter in an address. You can then see ATMs and learn of where they are located, whether it is in a store, gas station or in a bank. Additionally, ATMs can be filtered out based on specifics, including; drive-thru locations and deposit capabilities. ATM Hunter is free.

Stock Talk

From the experienced to the down right clueless, everyone agrees that you need to keep on top of the stock market and other investing opportunities if you truly want to profit. Now I’m not talking about jumping down to the trading floor to slug it out, but rather bring pertinent information to you when you need it.

iStockManager is a fantastic trading application, regardless if you have a TD Ameritrade account or not. Equity trading, balances, positions, market data and more will be presented to you quite clearly. Your orders can be made right from the application as well. iStockManager is free.

Another option is the Stock Icons application, which provides stock information similar to the native stock app along with some other great tools. Imagine being alerted if a particular stock reaches your ideal price, or having a watch list updated for you or even colour coding to separate multiple stocks. Stock Icons costs $2.99.

Mortgage Madness

Just when you think you’ve finally purchased a house and have escaped paying rent ever again, the dreaded mortgage looms overhead. Ah well, at least one day you’ll finish paying it off and enjoy your home stress free, until you get moved into an old age home.

You can easily figure out your mortgage payments with Look Great – Mortgage Payment Calculator. It’s a quick way to work out payments, based on factors that include; interest rate, insurance, taxes and duration. Now you can see if you can afford your dream home AND the white picket fence to go around it. Looks Great – Mortgage Payment Calculator is available for $2.99.

Watching the Cash Flow

When the pay check arrives, doesn’t it seem as though it disappears just as quickly? Wouldn’t it be nice to see where it is actually going? It may be difficult to come up with some sort of budget, without having a look at the big picture. Of course you can check out your bank account online, but where’s the fun in that?

Mobile Checkbook is one of my favourites. With the ability to record and reconcile transactions when you want to, you’ll find yourself in control of your money. You can track what is being withdrawn, what’s being deposited and what’s being transferred, without breaking a sweat. The application also includes support for recurring transactions. You can also export your transaction lists for multiple accounts in an email as a QIF or XLS attachment. Mobile Checkbook is available for $7.99 until April 30th.

A heavy hitter, like Ascendo Money, is a robust way to gain full financial fortitude. At your fingertips you have access to various graphs, future account balance forecasts, budgets vs. actual balance views and account/statement reconciliation. For more features, there is an option to sync this mobile application with a desktop version. The Ascendo Money mobile and desktop bundle is available for $29.95.

I could go on and on (and on and on) blasting out financial applications, but I thought that these would be a great starting point. Are you using another cash controlling application? Put your money where your mouth is and let us know what you’re using and how it works for you.

The team at Bellshare let me know that BerryPopup has been updated to version 1.5. If you haven’t heard of it before, BerryPopup is a neat app that allows you to preview incoming email and SMS messages on your device without having to jump into the specific message. If you have a ton of emails coming in constantly (like most of us do) the app lets you preview the message without having to stop what your doing -be it browsing the web, playing a game or using another application. When the popup shows, you can quickly check it out and choose to reply, forward, mark as read or delete the message right in the preview box. One of the cool features about BerryPopup is that it reformats both Bellshare and CrackBerry forums emails for easier reading (as seen in the screencap above) in the preview. Other updates include:

• Option to automatically delete forum notification e-mails
  
• Added ‘No Buttons’ layout mode
  
• Added backup/restore to memory card
  
• E-Mails deleted by BerryMail will no longer show
  
• Complete rework of settings user interface, now with tabbed user interface
  
• Improved compatability with OS 5.0
  
• Many bug fixes
  

BerryPopup is on sale in the CrackBerry App Store through Sunday for $4.99 and a free trial is available. Hit the link below for more info.

• More information and download of BerryPopup >>

When on the go we all want to have an edge. FlightView is there to help for busy travelers who need to stay in the loop. The app lets you track flights in real-time, get information on upcoming and active flights and receive notifications for flight status. Knowing the status of your flight can be an invaluable tool, and having that information right on your device makes things that much easier. FlightView even integrates with your device calendar to help keep things organized. The current version only works for flights in North America or with one end point in North America. FlightView is available for $4.99 in the CrackBerry App Store.

• More information and download of FlightView >>

I remember way back when I had one of my first PCs and I discovered Dragon Dictate. I was amazed that I could just speak and the PC would recognize (mostly) what I said and put it into text. Well I’ve been wowed again with the release of Dragon for Email. Never has it been easier to speak your emails to your BlackBerry. Just talk away and Dragon for Email will transcribe your speech into a text email on your device. The app integrates directly with the native email client, and you can speak names for the address line, subjects and email body. You can also reply and forward emails using the app. Dragon for Email is available in the US free for a limited time. You can download it directly from BlackBerry App World.

• More information and download of Dragon for Email >>

While our BlackBerrys afford us the ability to work while out of the office, many of us still sit in front of our desks most of the day. This means having the BlackBerry nearby, but seldom used. It might ring every once in a while, or you might get a text message — or even an email from a personal account you don’t check regularly from your work computer. For me, at least, this can sometimes be a problem. I’ll often step out of the office without my BlackBerry and upon my return will not check for text messages or missed calls — my work email is open all the time, so why bother? The guys at BBLeaks reviewed an app that would help me out, and I thought I’d share it with everyone. It’s called Blurts, and if you have Bluetooth on your computer it can be of use to you.

We’ve seen other applications that allow you to control your BlackBerry from your PC, but this one is a bit different in that, as mentioned above, it connects via Bluetooth. That rules out a decent number of desktops, of course, and it also rules out Mac, which is a shame because Mac has a nifty built-in Bluetooth that I often use for transferring files.

Blurts lets you control calls, emails, and SMS from your computer. When you receive a phone call you’ll see a prompt with a caller ID. You can then answer or ignore the call right from your computer. You can also place calls from your computer — the app can switch on your Berry’s speakerphone. Same for SMS. That’s one of the main features of the application, really. It essentially turns SMS into email. It’s also nice for those who have a personal email hooked up to their BlackBerry but which they don’t, or can’t, check at work. You can see alerts and compose replies right from the app.

It also has a few advanced features, like SMS threading (though that’s available on OS 5.0), splitting messages larger than 160 message into multiple message, and capturing screen shots.

The full-feature version costs $5.99. You can get Blurts Pro here. There is also a basic version, which will display caller ID and email alerts for one email address. That is free, and you can get it here.

I’m sure you all remember the Facebook announcement from Research In Motion announcing the cool things coming for BlackBerry Messenger. Well, here is one of the things they had planned for those upcoming days and weeks.

You can now add your BlackBerry Messenger barcode to your Facebook profile using the new Barcode generator app on Facebook. While it’s not likely what we were all hoping for, it’s kinda cool to play around with. You can add your PIN, change your barcode colors and background. One more pic after the jump of some of it in action, although..at the moment the Facebook app seems to be having some troubles.

Source: Facebook

The folks over at ÜberTwitter have been hard at workon their latest version of the popular Twitter client for BlackBerry. Today, CodeWarden has made version 0.970 available for download via the ÜberTwitter website. Those of you running version 0.963 or lower are encouraged to upgrade and check out the latest version. Many bug fixes are include in this release, all of which CodeWarden has outlined on the site. Be sure to check the site for the full details.

• View The ÜberTwitter version 0.970 Full Changelog Via Their Website>>
• Download ÜberTwitter version 0.970 Direct To Your BlackBerry OTA>>

Yesterday Kevin posted a video from the Skype booth and couldn’t get a definite answer as to when exactly a Skype client for BlackBerry was coming. Well just one day later, Verizon has announced that it has partnered with Skype and will be bringing a client to a number of its smartphones in March. It appears that the app will work on Big Red’s 3G smartphones with data plans, and will include the Storm, Storm2, 8330, 8530, 8830 and Tour 9630. Features include:

• Make and receive unlimited Skype-to-Skype voice calls to any Skype user around the globe on America’s most reliable wireless network;
  
• Call international phone numbers at competitive Skype Out calling rates;
  
• Send and receive instant messages to other Skype users; and
  
• Remain always connected with the ability to see friends’ online presence.

The service will be available starting next month, and you can be sure Verizon users will be rejoicing. Do you think it will land on other carriers as well? Drop a comment and let us know. For more, check out verizonwireless.com/skypemobile. Full press release after the jump.

• More information on Skype Mobile >>

Continue reading article >>

Loopt has just released their most recent update to the popular location based service. The new update offers the ability to add “Tips” about the locations you share with the Loopt community. Leaving tips for others is a simple process, you just go to the Discover tab and select the place that you want to leave a tip for and enter the information which you can also then share on Twitter.

In addition to tips being added, Loopt has also included addressbook integration. So now you can launch Loopt directly from your contacts list which allows for faster access and easier lookup of all your friends. You will also notice maps now has it’s own tab, a feature which has been requested for a while now.

This latest update of Loopt for BlackBerry is available to U.S. users on the BlackBerry Curve 8520, 8530, 8900, BlackBerry Bold 9000, 9700, BlackBerry Tour 9630 and BlackBerry Storm 9530 & 9550. The previous version of Loopt is still available for legacy devices such as the 8330. To see if your device is supported and get Loopt, visit www.loopt.com using your BlackBerry browser.

If you’ve ever modified your BlackBerry OS a little as a moderate to advanced user of BlackBerry smartphones you might be familiar with BlackBerry Master Control Program. If not, it’s a great app for your computer that can help get at some of the inner workings of your BlackBerry OS to modify some stuff other apps simply cannot get at.

After having used the app myself for a while now, I’ve got to see it go through some growing stages and this time Darren, has released version 0.9.3.0 Beta 4 to the masses. The change log for BlackBerry Master Control is one that is always extensive, so hit up the site for downloads and more information on it’s release. And remember folks, be careful with this app if you have no idea what it does, probably best left alone.

• Click Here For Downloads And More Info On BlackBerry Master Control Program>>

Fresh into the tip line we have some good information about the upcoming Kindle app for BlackBerry. From the looks of it, the app will have plenty of features to keep both Kindle owners and new adopters happy. You’ll be able to access Kindle books even without your Kindle on hand, and automatically synchronize your last page read and annotations between devices. The Kindle app for BlackBerry won’t support newspapers, magazines or blogs, but you will be able to search for and purchase all the books from the Kindle library, as well as check out free book samples. Still no word on just when the app will hit or for what devices, but you can head over to this page and sign up to be notified when the app becomes available. Hit the jump for a few screenshots. Thanks to Jessica for sending this in!

• Sign up to be notified when the Kindle app is available >>

Kindle Home

Kindle Store

The best part of big family dinners is, of course, the food. Admit it or not, we like to see what everyone is bringing, and what to avoid like the plague. I can’t say much for myself; I’m hovering around below average for my cooking skills (my wife can attest to that). Despite the lack of knowledge in the kitchen, I do fully support her adventurous palate. When you are trying to focus on eating healthier, you may initially think that your choices are quite limited. It’s this mindset that may cause you to revert back to your poor eating habits; would you like fries with that? My wife and I started looking for ideas online, in a magazine, or even from peeking in Momma Blundell’s super secret recipe cards/book. That last one runs the risk of the perpetrator getting hit by a wooden spoon. A great source of fun, facts, frustration (still fun for us) and food, is the Food Network and Food Network Canada. Your brain will salivate as much as your mouth will, when you watch the various reality and cooking shows.

Canadians can take all of this information with them in a doggy bag with the Food Network Canada Mobile application. More after the chomp, I mean, jump.

Read Full Review >>

UPS announced today that they will be releasing a free mobile application in BlackBerry App World tomorrow. The app will allow users to track and create shipments, calculate time and in-transit and locate the nearest UPS locations. You will also be able to access your My UPS Address Book and create PDF labels which can be emailed and printed out for shipping. UPS Mobile does not require a login to track items, but when logged in you will be able to view history and creat nicknames for shipments. The app will run on the Storm, Bold, Curve 8900 and Tour upon release.

• More information on UPS for BlackBerry>>

ContactOrder is a new application brought to you by mblware, the makers of applications such as BlackBook, mblVault, and mblStats. It allows you to customize your address book by placing your 30 most important contacts at the top of your BlackBerry’s address book, giving you quick easy access to the people you contact most. This is a great app for those who have large address books looking to have some better organization/access to those frequent contacts. ContactOrder is available in the CrackBerry AppStore for $2.99 and is compatible with devices running OS 4.3+

Contest: We have 100 free copies of ContactOrder to give away. Just leave a comment on this post to enter. Contest ends this Sunday at Midnight PST. Please only leave one comment - multiple entries wont count.

• More information and download of ContactOrder >>

It seems as though the need for availability and connectivity is becoming increasingly important. This is true in both personal and professional lives. How do you keep connected to the people you know? Are you constantly on Yahoo! Messenger? How about living on Facebook or MySpace? You’re probably chatting away on Google Talk or even using Skype. Whatever you decide to help you stay in touch and on top of the latest, you also want to try and keep things simple and organized. The last thing you want to do is find yourself tripping over multiple applications.

If you’re looking to incorporate a multi-community mobile social messenger into your communication carousel, Nimbuzz will help you stay in touch with everyone from one place. No switching between programs, no confusion as to who is using what. It’s simplified socializing by swiftly shootin’ the sh-um…poop in smartphone style (how’s that for alliteration?). The social butterfly in you is just dying to read more, isn’t it?

About Nimbuzz

The Nimbuzz BlackBerry application is available on a wide selection of models. Just viewing their compatibility page feels like a trip down memory lane. It appears as though they cover BlackBerrys from the 71xx and 72xx series all the way up to the Bold 9700 and Storm 2. The most recent version of the BlackBerry mobile application is 1.0.0, with a file size of 352KB. Besides BlackBerrys, Nimbuzz offers support for a huge list of mobile brands, including; Motorola, Apple, Nokia and LG (but we don’t care about those, do we?). Besides the mobility side, Nimbuzz also offers web chat services, as well as programs for Mac or PC. Nimbuzz allows you to install the application from your computer or OTA. The mobile app works over 2G, 3G and Wi-Fi.

choose your destiny

The Nimbuzz mobile application is fairly easy to set up. A list of supported social networks can be easily scrolled through until you find the ones you use. In most cases, all you need is your username and password. In other cases, additional verification is required. For example; when signing into Facebook, the application prompted for me to verify my date of birth. The following is a list of supported networks;

Windows Live Messenger, Skype, Yahoo!, Facebook, Google Talk/Orkut, AIM, MySpace, ICQ, studiVZ, schulerVZ, GaduGadu, Giovani, Hyves, Jabber, Gayet, Azbuz

The last three are actually marked as “currently not available”

I was pleased to see Google Talk, as well as Facebook - I do use those from time to time. I was, however, shocked to find my favourite social network absent from the list - Twitter! I haven’t even heard of some of these other networks, yet the one I personally use on a regular basis is excluded, at least on the BlackBerry application. I do know that, since December 10th, Symbian users have been reveling in a feature rich Twitter client. Hopefully we BlackBerry users will see support soon. After you have signed in to all of your accounts, you’ll notice that your contacts will be available from one list. This is a great idea, as you don’t have to worry about trying to find a particular contact (you might have forgotten which network they use). From the list, you can quickly see who’s online in real time, with no need to refresh your view. I went to say hi to my brother, but the bugger signed out.

your list of contacts

Depending on who you are talking to, messages come in quickly. When looking at a chat, each entry will display the time the message was sent or delivered, right after the actual message. If your contact types an URL for you to check out, you can click on it directly from the chat window, when you are then redirected to the browser. On the contact list page, current chats are transferred to a separate section, so as to easily identify which of your contacts you are having a conversation with. Those with a long list of contacts will be glad to hear that Nimbuzz has a Find option available. As you type the desired contact’s name, the application will begin to shorten the list based on your input.

chat window

When viewing Facebook contacts, most of them display only their profile ID number, rather than their name. After some digging in the Nimbuzz forums, I discovered that this is an issue with the application, not the site. This makes it difficult to find specific people, unless you have an incredible memorization technique. For easier navigation, you can also choose to hide offline contacts.

the Settings menu

I was impressed to see the level of integration that is being offered. Nimbuzz will run in the background and will notify you of a new message. You can set a specific alert tone in the BlackBerry profile menu, view a blinking LED and even see a new message notification icon. For those who have read previous articles where they mentioned VoIP, you will notice there is a lack of VoIP support in the current version. Though there is Skype support, it’s only through messaging. My hopes of seeing this in the future have been crushed. According to Nimbuzz, this is a limitation of the BlackBerry itself. Apparently, they do not have enough power to support internet calling…

Change your status

Conclusion

Nimbuzz promised to bring all of my contacts together into one list for easy socializing. Even though I think this application is a great idea and it’s done well so far, I’m working on a wish list for the next version. The list includes being able to send and receive files (when using one of the IM accounts). You can pick up Nimbuzz for free from BlackBerry App World.

Pros

• Mash all of your contacts into one list
• BlackBerry integration, manage alert tones, see LED alerts and message notification icons
• See avatars and send emoticons

Cons

• Blackberry not “powerful” enough for VoIP

More Info

• Learn More & Learn more about Nimbuzz >>

Posted in BlackBerry Apps on 21 Jul 2009 12:05 by

Posted: 07 Oct 2009 06:26 PM PDT

BlackBerry Messenger 5.0 is available for download globally

BlackBerry, BlackBerry Messenger, 5.0, App World, Application, Download

RIM has finally released BlackBerry Messenger 5.0 in the BlackBerry App World -
Download BlackBerry Messenger 5.0 directly to your BlackBerry Device by visiting http://go.geekberry.net/index.php?id=82 from your BlackBerry Browser

Get into BlackBerry Messenger and express yourself – your way. Share your pin or unique barcode to connect with friends anywhere, anytime. Take comfort in knowing your friends are only a BlackBerry Messenger message away whether you want to make plans for the night or ask a quick question. Chat and share funny stories, pictures, videos and more with individual contacts or groups of friends instantly. Stay in touch like never before with BlackBerry Messenger!

As for what’s new in BlackBerry Messenger 5.0, here’s the quick summary:

Recap of New Features:
• Enhanced SMS -Allows for a conversational chat-like user experience with a single contact list for the most personal mobile-to-mobile communications
  • Note: BlackBerry Device Software 5.0 and later is required for the SMS functionality.
• Avatars – Users can choose a picture from the BlackBerry Smartphone gallery and save it as their personal avatar, which will be seen by their contacts. They can also view other avatars in the contact list and zoom in on the avatars of contacts participating in a conversation by selecting “View participants.”
• Large Media File Transfer – Users can send/receive large file transfers up to 6 megabytes for pictures, files and audio.
  • Note: BlackBerry Device Software 5.0 is required to receive large media files.
• Enhanced Group Functionality – Allows for the ability to update, share & communicate with a subset community.
• Bar-code Identity – A user can add a contact to the BlackBerry Messenger contact list by displaying a 2-dimensional bar code that invitees can capture with their device cameras.
• Reliable Contact Backup and Restore – Contacts are backed-up on a server and do not require the need for BlackBerry Desktop Manager.

* Note: While BBM 5.0 will definitely work on official releases of OS 5.0, we’re not sure yet as I post this if it will work on previously leaked versions of OS 5.0. Be sure to report back in the comments if you’re having success or not, and back up your BBM contacts before upgrading. *

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Posted: 03 Sep 2009 08:02 AM PDT

Check out the above leaked screengrab of Facebook 1.7 for BlackBerry. Rumored to hit in September, some of the new features and changes include:

• Faster page loading
• Ability to filter the news feed (Status updates, photos, links, etc.)
• A new view profile option
• More

We’re light on details and light on more screenshots, but hit the link below if you’d like to check it out for yourself.

[Read]

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• Facebook Application for BlackBerry Updated to 1.0.0.22
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Posted: 05 Apr 2009 04:14 AM PDT