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MyPoynt Beta – Free All In One Search Tool

by Luis Merlos on Jun 12th, 2008 at 11:00 am EST
15 Comments »
 

Here is a cool app that has just been release for all of us blackberry lovers. I am really liking this application it works faster than live search and has great navigation. The application takes advantage of the GPS equipped blackberry to give you information and click to call map and view. From your BlackBerry web browser, go to http://m.mypoynt.com.

Video walkthrough:

From the description:

Poynt, a free, all-in-one local search tool, connects consumers to retailers and theaters at the moment they want to buy or acquire products or services. By entering search terms, the consumer is able to find businesses and movies near their location, get phone and address information as well as enhanced data such as interactive maps and movie reviews and the ability to purchase movie tickets.

“We’ve received an overwhelming response from everyone we’ve demonstrated the application to,” said John Lowe, CEO, Multiplied Media. “The application is far more intuitive than using a web browser on a mobile device.”

Poynt’s BlackBerry application takes advantage of the smart phone’s robust capabilities including locates by GPS and IP detection, click-to-call, click-to-map and click-to-view-website functions.

The beta application is currently available in North America with commercial deployment expected to follow once appropriate distribution agreements have been entered into.

Agreements signed with t-info and Infobel in Europe include distribution of their local search data via the BlackBerry. As such, the application is expected to be available in Europe during the fall of 2008 once integration of their data is complete.

To download the beta version of Poynt, visit http://m.mypoynt.com from your BlackBerry browser.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, June 12th, 2008 and is filed under Free Software, News, Utilities.
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15 Comments to “MyPoynt Beta – Free All In One Search Tool”

  1. Posted by: Randy R.
    June 12, 2008 at 1:38 pm EST

    I dont have GPS on my phone so that takes the fun out of the application

  2. Posted by: Nikolaus
    June 12, 2008 at 3:42 pm EST

    Randy: I totally agree. Didn’t we read recently that Google Maps was opening up the “MyLocation” triangulation thingy to other applications?

  3. Posted by: Nikolaus
    June 12, 2008 at 3:45 pm EST

    Woah!! Randy listen up. I just downloaded it and in a few seconds it actually told me where I was, in the GPS field, even though I’m using a 8320 (and on UMA right now). How else would it automatically know where I am that fast without any installed GPS?

  4. Posted by: Randy R.
    June 12, 2008 at 3:48 pm EST

    Lol, you got me Nikolaus Im going to give it a download right now.

  5. Posted by: Nikolaus
    June 12, 2008 at 3:53 pm EST

    Sorry for my 3rd post in less than 10 minutes. I tried to use the maps and it gave me an error looking for BlackBerry Maps. I uninstalled BlackBerry Maps from my 8320 because I prefered Google Maps, and wanted to save memory. If Poynt REQUIRES BlackBerry maps to be installed then that blows, because then I’d have to re-install BlackBerry maps just to be able to use all of Poynt’s features. Other apps can show you a map without having to have BlackBerry Maps installed, like InfoSpace Find It! (old but still a good app to have).

  6. Posted by: Randy R.
    June 12, 2008 at 3:57 pm EST

    Well Its a really nice app if I know where I live, Thank God I know new york inside out :-X well sort of, it picked up my location in Astoria and I live in Jamaica, well for those who dont know thats kind of far from each other, I entered my own location though and its not bad at all if you know where you are you can enter it and it will map the basics really nice app but I still wish I had the GPS, I also had the UMA on with wifi didnt pick it up.

  7. Posted by: Nikolaus
    June 12, 2008 at 5:06 pm EST

    Ok I just had to know. I re-installed BlackBerry Maps, then went to try Poynt and it all seems to work. No error message. Big draw back is that that bloats Poynt to closer to a 1.5-2MB install since I have to also install BlackBerry Maps. Why can’t Poynt which doesn’t have it’s own maps just utilize Google Maps rather than BlackBerry Maps? Since Poynt is in Beta maybe we’ll see that. Either than or Google will incorporate all the Poynt features into a future version of Google Maps.

  8. Posted by: Danny
    June 12, 2008 at 9:31 pm EST

    I have ATT, so no blackberry maps, no directions function :(

  9. Posted by: Randy R.
    June 12, 2008 at 11:42 pm EST

    The reason why I now like this app is simple for the movie and directory feature works really fast in my opinion when I need it, used it like 10 times today to look up a store here and there.

    @ Nikolaus – I used the mapping feature and it worked great, but google should take over this app but keep the features first app Ive used that works fast without a lag when scrolling.

    @ Danny – Doesnt ATT come with built in GPS for the blackberries?

  10. Posted by: Peter
    June 13, 2008 at 2:07 pm EST

    Hi everyone,

    I’m the developer that wrote Poynt. Here are some answers to the good questions people have been asking:

    1. Mapping
    We are looking into other mapping applications for use with Poynt. We would include them as options that the user can switch between when mapping. To my knowledge, there is currently no publicly available way for 3rd party applications such as Poynt to plug into google maps mobile…. yet :)

    2. Cell site locates
    This is in response to Nikolaus about triangulation. Although Poynt currently does not use cell towers to achieve GPS locates, we are investigating the best approach to give users a good experience, so users may see this feature in the final product.

    3. Manually setting your location
    To eliminate any confusion, you can manually set your location by clicking on the top bar and selecting new search location. From there, enter a city, zip code address or landmark and then you can set your search location to one of the results.

    4. Location confusion
    We added a feature called IP to location, which essentially takes the IP address of your connection and translates it into a location when you first start the application. This is why Nikolaus was able to get his location so fast.

    The problem with this approach is that phones don’t have their own IPs; they are assigned to them when and where the connection goes out on the wire. In Randy’s case, his connection went out on the wire in Astoria, even though he was searching from Jamaica.

    We have completely removed this feature from the application. It was originally intended only for wifi and BES users, but even then confusion can arise.

    Thanks for all your feedback. The more feedback we get during the beta period, the better the final product will be.

  11. Posted by: Nikolaus
    June 13, 2008 at 5:20 pm EST

    Peter: Glad to know the developer was reading our rants. I be fair I am still using Poynt and do like it. I also installed it on my wife’s BB and she says she really likes it. The IP to location feature was interesting. Maybe keep it as an option the user can enable. I’m looking forward to your release version.

  12. Posted by: Peter
    June 13, 2008 at 7:25 pm EST

    Hi everyone!

    Thanks to all the feedback we received, I dropped in a couple more features:

    1. Ability to switch between km and mi – Click the menu button and click options and settings.
    2. Change the font size of list items – ” ”
    3. Add listings to your address book – Click on the listing and click add to address book
    4. Fixed a few bugs here and there, you probably won’t notice :)
    5. Sorry no other mapping options yet, but we’re working on it!

    Until our mobile versioning system is in place, automatic updates are turned off so you can manually go to m.mypoynt.com and re-download it. Automatic updates will work as soon as we turn that feature on from our end.

    Also your browser might have a problem with caching. If when you click on the link it says the version is 0.7.8, hit refresh and it will update to 0.8.0.

    For all new users this won’t be an issue.

  13. Posted by: Danny
    June 14, 2008 at 10:54 pm EST

    Once the mapping option is in place, i have a feeling this will be my new goto application.

  14. Posted by: Peter
    June 27, 2008 at 6:13 pm EST

    New release:

    0.8.3
    - added favorites
    - added full integration with address book (search from a contact with poynt)
    - add a listing to the address book
    - manage your favorite locations
    - clear your search history (in options and settings)
    - manually change connection type (in options and settings)
    - bug fixes

    Download: http://m.mypoynt.com