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Review: Free TV Guide Application For BlackBerry

by the BerryReview Team on Apr 2nd, 2008 at 1:19 pm EST
25 Comments »
 

Copy of handmarktvguide2[14]Review: Free TV Guide Application For BlackBerry
Rating: ★★★★★★★½☆☆ 7.5/10
Link: tvguide.handmark.com
OTA: tvguide.handmark.com
Cost: Free!!!

Handmark decided to flip pricing models on this one. Their TV Guide application is now free and supported by advertisements in the application. Personally I think that is how it should have been for the get go. The information and options in the application are great but it has one fundamental flaw. It is slow as all hell. The process involves. Start the application, wait for download, click, wait for download, scroll, wait for download, select… you get the idea. Just to see the current listing can take over a minute.

I will describe some of the pictures below so you can get an idea of the capabilities of the application. As I said the functionality is there but the speed is horrendous. Handmark needs to work on optimizing the data flow. If Handmark fixed the speed/data issues they would have a solid 9 rating for this application. Thanks to Josep for pointing out the post on Geek.com about the free version release.

Forgive me, this post started as a news article and after I got down to writing it I decided to make it into a review.

You will need to fill out a bit of a registration form when you start the application for the first time. You have to give them your name, phone number, birth date, zip code, and your cable / satellite / broadcast carrier in your neighborhood.

First the application has the most annoying loading screen I have seen to date. You have to stare at this picture for upwards of 20 seconds while it tries to give you a seizure. The little gray boxes just flicker on and off constantly. After that you get a pretty straight forward menu.

Handmarktvguide2[14]Handmarktvguide2[9]

You click on listings and wait again for it to load. Get used to it. There are a bunch of sub-categories that you can filter by. As I said the content is great but speed… Also notice the bottom ad. You can say thank you to Dish Networks for the application.

Handmarktvguide2[3]Handmarktvguide2[8]

If you click on a show you get the following description and two options. The application can remind you to watch the show or you can forward the show to a friend. You can also add the channel to your favorites list.

Handmarktvguide2[4]Handmarktvguide2[5]

There is a good set of configuration options such as setting reminder lengths and favorite channels.

Handmarktvguide2[18]Handmarktvguide2[12]

You can also read news and see what is hot on tv that day.

Handmarktvguide2[15]Handmarktvguide2[17]

Pros:

  • Free
  • Great information
  • Lots of customization options
  • Cool interface

Cons:

  • Lots of data usage
  • Slow application

Conclusion: All in all a well rounded application but the data usage would do some serious damage on a limited data plan. The application has a ton of potential but needs some work on the execution.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008 and is filed under Free Software, Reviews, Utilities.
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25 Comments to “Review: Free TV Guide Application For BlackBerry”

  1. Posted by: Matt
    April 2, 2008 at 7:15 pm EST

    I loaded this program on my Pearl 8100. After download and install, it was a snap, No speed issues. Seems to be running fine and haven’t noticed any memory issues. I think I’ll keep it cause the newspaper quit printing the TV listings. thumbs up!

  2. Posted by: Ronen Halevy
    April 2, 2008 at 7:22 pm EST

    Thats surprising Matt. What carrier do you have.

    I tried it on an AT&T 8310 and a Sprint 8830. Both had serious lag issues. Just starting the application took 20+ seconds. I would be curious to see what is different.

  3. Posted by: Nikolaus
    April 2, 2008 at 10:06 pm EST

    App load is also a big slow on my 8320. I find Wifi faster than EDGE and even on Wifi it was a bit of a wait. Still I will use this rather then my TVGuide bookmark in the BB browser, because it is great you can select your favorite channels only, and get reminders of when your show is going to start.

  4. Posted by: John Greer
    April 3, 2008 at 8:21 am EST

    I loaded it on my AT&T 8820 and nothing happens when I click on the icon. I see the hourglass for a few seconds, then nothing.

  5. Posted by: Ronen Halevy
    April 3, 2008 at 7:57 pm EST

    Sorry to hear that John. The app did work on my 8310 but was slow as all hell when it came to loading

  6. Posted by: CJ
    April 3, 2008 at 10:12 pm EST

    The app worked on my 8310 and I agree, loading time is a problem. I asked it to remind me of episodes of Top Chef, which was a big mistake cause it texted me reminders for every single episode of Top Chef, even reruns. Can you just imaging how many texts I got? And I don’t even have a text plan, so those babies are costing me 15 cents each. It’s a good tool to have, but you have to be really careful about the reminders.

  7. Posted by: Phreqd
    April 4, 2008 at 12:17 am EST

    I have a 8800 with AT&T and am happy with the application. It has about a 10 second loading delay but I can browse the channels rather quickly. It’s about a 1-2 second delay before they load, but that doesn’t want me to remove the program from the phone. I like it.

  8. Posted by: Luciano ES
    April 5, 2008 at 11:17 pm EST

    I installed this program in the name of science. I don’t even live in America. My experience was exactly the same as that of Phreqd. I had delays, but very short ones. I found the program to be very usable. I just didn’t like scrolling through lists. It’s “hard”, jerky.

  9. Posted by: CSimon
    May 12, 2008 at 11:21 am EST

    How do you remove reminders?

  10. Posted by: Ronen Halevy
    May 12, 2008 at 12:17 pm EST

    You have to remove them from within the application

  11. Posted by: Csimon
    May 12, 2008 at 1:52 pm EST

    I’ve looked throughout the app and cannot find a way to remove them, only to set them

  12. Posted by: John Greer
    May 12, 2008 at 3:41 pm EST

    You cancel a reminder the same way you initiate one.
    It’s a toggle.
    Look inside the show you like, press enter to remind, enter again to cancel, on, off, on, off, etc.

  13. Posted by: mrmako777
    June 18, 2008 at 11:26 pm EST

    same thing happens with mine as it did john. whats wrong with this app?

  14. Posted by: Kim Davenport
    June 23, 2008 at 10:36 pm EST

    Just loaded on a Curve 8330 and unfortunately getting “connection error Please try again”. Never been able to get further than that. Anyone have any clues?

  15. Posted by: Amy
    July 30, 2008 at 9:47 pm EST

    I downloaded the app and it worked for a for a while. Now when I tried to look at tomorrow’s listing it got stuck on “loading”. it has been like that for 4 hours now. Tried to uninstall and it won’t go away! I want to unistall and try again. Any thoughts? Thanks!

    • Posted by: Chris Arney
      January 25, 2009 at 9:57 pm EST

      I’m also having issues uninstalling it. When using the desktop manager, I uncheck the box next to it, and it rechecks itself!!! Don’t download this piece of junk!

    • Posted by: anon
      May 19, 2009 at 8:31 pm EST

      You can uninstall it by going into options, then advanced options, then applications. Find TV Guide, hit the applications / menu button on your phone, then delete. You’ll have to restart, but it will delete it. I had the same problem when I was trying to delete it.

  16. Posted by: Amy
    July 30, 2008 at 9:48 pm EST

    Kim…did you restart? I did that once I downoaded and it worked fine.

  17. Posted by: James
    September 26, 2008 at 2:15 pm EST

    I think this is a handy little app. I don’t always have a TV listing at hand. Speed of download is about what I expected for Tmo EDGE: not too bad. Definitely like the favorite channel option as it keeps my most watched channels up front. All in all, it’s a good FREE app !

  18. Posted by: michael
    January 11, 2009 at 1:05 pm EST

    Is this application compatable with the new Bold 9000?

  19. Posted by: Cindy
    February 14, 2009 at 6:10 pm EST

    I downloaded this app for my BB8330. It doesn’t work. When I try to open it, the screen says”connection error. Please try again”. I’ve deleted the app and reloaded to no avail.

  20. Posted by: meighan
    April 12, 2009 at 10:40 pm EST

    I have Curve 8330 on sprint and this app is always freezing up while loading;-(
    I have installed this application 4 different times and am hoping this last time works…if not i will go back to just flipping channels!

  21. Posted by: Cindy
    April 12, 2009 at 11:02 pm EST

    I like the app and am keeping it on my 8330. It takes about 20 seconds to load and I hate how hard it is to get out of it, but other wise it’s great.

  22. Posted by: James
    April 22, 2009 at 5:04 pm EST

    Anyone tried this on the Blackberry 8900?