A few readers sent in tips about a new app from RedLightOfLove which gives you easy access to the popular FAIL blog from your BlackBerry. It has some great content and comes from the I Can Haz Cheezburger network. The only downside is that it requires OS 5.0+.
Features include:
- Shows random images from each category available
- Simple to use, just click to go to the next image
- Pre-loads images ahead of time for a seamless experience
Marc Not Registered
Posted: July 28, 2010 at 2:53 PM EST
All in all, this app lives up to its name: “FAIL for Blackberry”.
Failed to mention it’s ad-supported. Failed to mention that it’s sluggish on th emain screen; and scrolling images is like watching a device designed to induce epilepsy thanks to the floating ad banner.
Controls sometimes stop working on the main screen, at which point the only thing you can do is back out and reload it.
“Simple to use- just click to load the next image” —
No clear way to load the next image.
Marc Not Registered
Posted: July 28, 2010 at 2:55 PM EST
Oops – typo at the end — “simple to use – click to load the next image” — great, when it works. Other times it just jumps around a bit on the screen when you click on it, which isn’t very helpful…
Ronen Halevy ( View Profile) Senior admin - Posts: 5449
Posted: July 28, 2010 at 3:06 PM EST from my BlackBerry 9700
Really that bad? I tried it and it was very simplistic but it worked… Btw love bbssh!
Marc Not Registered
Posted: July 28, 2010 at 3:10 PM EST from my BlackBerry 9700
Maybe it varies with device? I’m on a 9700, I suspect at least the “clkick for next” issue is better with touchscreen.
When “next” works, it works quickly — but out of ten clicks I got the next image twice; and launched the browser to view the current ad the other eight times.
Glad to hear about bbssh
The new release upcoming has some major enhancements that I’m pretty excited about. (Is that too nerdish…)
James Muir Not Registered
Posted: July 28, 2010 at 10:45 PM EST
Hi Marc,
So sorry about that! I did not have a change to physically test the app on a trackpad/trackball device (only on touchscreen). I have spent the evening focusing on the trackpad/trackball functionality and hopefully made some major improvements. Also thanks for posting this feedback, otherwise I might not have any idea of all the troubles people are having…huge FAIL on my part
Anyway, feel free to try the latest version 0.2.0.5 by downloading this version from the online store or just scroll to the bottom of the main app screen and click on the upgrade button.
Marc Not Registered
Posted: July 29, 2010 at 10:50 AM EST
Hi James, thanks for making the update — and taking my comments with a sense of humor. Since I’ve started doing BB dev, I’ve learned first-hand that can be a challenge especially in the face of comments like mine.
(In retrospect – I apologize for the FAIL comments… it’s just that I couldn’t resist the temptation, what with the name of the app
)
The major issue of not being able to click on the image is resolved with this update. However, the image still tends to get very “jumpy” when scrolling – it looks like it may be conflicting with the always-on-top ad banner in some way. When using the trackpad to scroll down any image that’s larger than the screen for the first time, then releasing the trackpad, the image will continue to jump up/down for a few seconds. After it happens once for an image, it does not appear to happen again.
(Of course… trying to reproduce this now… I was able to once, but for some reason images have stopped loading… )
Too, for some reason the main screen is still very slow when using the trackpad to change selections. Maybe … 200 ms between selection changes? Just enough to make it feel sluggish.
Marc Not Registered
Posted: July 29, 2010 at 10:57 AM EST
Actually… the image “jumping” isn’t just limited to when scrolling. After returnign to the main page and re-entering the “Fail Blog” selection, I had a couple of images which started with this behavior immediately after rendering, with no action on my part. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to find any consistent pattern to reproduce — in the latest update it’s changed in nature somewhat: it looks like the image is being rapidly scrolled up and down. (In the prior version it was scroll up/down combined with showing over/under the ad bar) even though I’m taking no action.
Feature request: “copy url” for the current fail (for some fails are worth sharing
)
sean Not Registered
Posted: July 28, 2010 at 8:01 PM EST from my BlackBerry 9000
I had the same results on my 9000…even after uninstall/reinstall. Fail. But the idea IS promising!
Juraj Not Registered
Posted: July 29, 2010 at 4:12 AM EST
Hi, would it be possible to publish OTA download link for us unlucky to have carrier that blocks App World?
Thanks.
James Muir Not Registered
Posted: July 29, 2010 at 8:27 AM EST
OTA Direct Download: http://redlightoflove.com/ota/fail/