BerryReview’s Top FREE Back to School Applications for BlackBerry!
RIM sent me an email yesterday detailing a few free applications that they recommend for everybody heading back to school. Personally I think the list could use some modifications (which you can see in my list below) but I think it goes to show who they are targeting with the cheap 8520 Curve. This new device is essentially RIM’s version of the Palm Centro. Just enough to get the job done and look good while doing it.
Here are my top FREE application recommendations for BlackBerry apps for those of you heading back to school:
- MobiPocket - The top choice for reading books on your BlackBerry is NOT Wattpad but rather Mobipocket. Mobipocket is a free reader (owned by Amazon) with TONS of books available for purchase and a free tool to covert any digital document into your own book. Its kind of wild that RIM is pushing Wattpad after yanking it when it launched.
- BBWeather - I really wish RIM would just recommend the free, more powerful, and advertising free BBWeather instead of pushing the bloated WeatherEye or WeatherBug.
- Google Voice App – Need I say more than free SMS?
- Google Maps – Google Maps is a must! I am not sure what the love hate relationship is between Google & RIM but RIM will NEVER promote a Google developed application… I have asked a hundred times why but I have yet to get a satisfactory answer since nobody seems to be allowed to talk about it.
- gCalc & Other gWhiz apps – Who could forgot to mention that there is a FREE graphing calculator for BlackBerrys! The only downside is that the free version has ads. Still it is free…
- IM, MySpace, & Facebook – RIM got the right idea by pushing Facebook and the IM clients but they totally missed MySpace. Last time I checked it was still pretty popular at schools.
- Viigo RSS Reader – Viigo RSS Reader is where I find all my news… Why limit yourself to CBS?
- Twitter Clients – Any One Of The Many Twitter clients which are free. Now if only RIM would release their own Twitter client…
- Streaming Radio – There is a big world beyond Slacker though RIM seems stuck in their relationship with Slacker. What about Pandora, Nobex, Flycast, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, and SomaFM?
- BBTetris/BlockBerry – BBTetris/BlockBerry is an awesome Tetris game that only gets better and will definitely help pass the time.
- (Donationware) BBFileScout – I know this is number 11 but I could not leave it off the list. BBFileScout is the file manager that RIM should have given us in the first place. It helps you use your BlackBerry as a USB drive to store and manage your files. (Technically BBFileScout is donation-ware but I am sure the developer would understand if you cannot donate much on a students budget)
RIM recommended the following applications for those heading back to school:
- WeatherEye
- CBS News
- Slacker Personal Radio
- Wattpad
- AOL/ICQ, Yahoo! IM, GoogleTalk, Windows Live Messenger and BlackBerry Messenger
- Poynt
Who do you think has a better list? 
Let me know if I missed anything!
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