Review: Addictive Tower Defense
Rating: 10 out of 10 stars
Cost:

Since I installed Addictive Tower Defense on my Bold 9700 over a week ago I have been hooked. Don’t get me wrong I suck at the game but I played the game for over 2 hours while waiting in line at the DMV. Read on to learn why Addictive Tower Defense won our Editors Choice Award!

In case you are not familiar with Tower Defense game the concept is to stop the invading forces from getting from their starting point to their end point. You do this by erecting barriers, guns, rocket launchers, and more to stop them in their tracks and annihilate the enemy! I find it reminds me of a mash-up of Lemmings & Worms from back in the day.

The graphics in the game are not 3D but they are very impressive and the gameplay is super smooth. My favorite part is that you can pause and save the game at any point making it really easy to pick up and put down between meetings. I truly cant say much more about this game other than it is truly VERY addictive.

In short I HIGHLY recommend Addictive Tower Defense if you are getting tired of playing BrickBreaker. That is high praise coming from a man that finds faults in everything. The only two faults I could find with the game is that it does not have a free trial and that the registration code is tied to your PIN so you need to get it updated when you switch devices.

You can find the game for $4.99 in the store at this link

PS: Sorry I had to use the product description screenshots but BlackBerry Messenger bricked my 9700 yesterday and it is still recovering…

If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:

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Posted by Ronen Halevy for ©BerryReview, November 19, 2009, 3:00 pm. | Review: Addictive Tower Defense Game – Editors Choice Winner! | One comment |

Once again, the folks over at OtterBox have done it. They have made give out yet another perfect score. I went over this case with a fine toothed comb and couldn’t find one fault. The design, fit, attention to detail and overall build quality is flawless.

Some weeks ago, OtterBox sent this case out for me to review. I have been putting this review off partly because of an extremely busy work schedule and partly because I have a deep and meaningful love affair with my, OtterBox clad, Bold 9000 at the moment. I didn’t want to give the Bold up. It was robust, reliable (mostly) and, well, it’s just my favorite child right now. I’ve had the Curve 8520 sitting in the cupboard since a few weeks before release date and a brand new OtterBox sitting along side it… waiting… Waiting until I screwed up. Well it happened. Friday night the Bold gave it’s last flicker of life and succumbed to a lifetime of abuse, overuse and 300+ emails a day.

One excuse is as good as another so I swapped devices and cracked the packaging on the Curve 8520 and matching OtterBox Defender.

I was not disappointed. Overall built quality on the OtterBox Defender case fantastic. It doesn’t matter how hard I try, I just can’t find a fault with this case.

Fitting is easy (when compared to the OtterBox Defender case for the Curve 8900). Again, the manufactures have used a hard membrane over the screen so when you fit the case, no annoying bubbles are formed between the screen and membrane. The keyboard is protected by a form fitted clear membrane. The only part of the BlackBerry Curve 8520 that is left un-protected is the trackpad. (A small hint, the edge of the membrane surrounding the trackpad will settle back onto the underlying button after a day or two. I thought this was going to be an issue at the start as a small but noticeable lip had formed surrounding the trackpad but it settled down 24 hours or so later).

There is a total of eight dedicated locator pins/lugs around the other edge to hold the silicon skin in place. This aids in holding the very outside layer of protection in place like no other Defender Case that I have previously reviewed.

The charge and earpiece port is covered with a two stage removable plug. This allows you to uncover just the earpiece port whilst keeping dust and dirt out of your charge port at the same time. All outside buttons are catered for, including the three media keys on top of the device making every function of your BlackBerry Curve 8520 operable whilst in the case.

Previous OtterBox Defender cases occasionally caused a ‘flashback’ effect that would render flash photography from your device virtually impossible. As the Curve 8520 has no flash, this is not a problem with this OtterBox Defender.

Sound quality from the Curve 8520 is, well lets be truthful here, CRAP at the best of times. Putting it in this case doesn’t make any difference. It still sounds like crap… I haven’t had any complaints about voice quality and have taken quite a number of calls over the weekend so that factor seems to be fine too.

The first thing you will notice about the holster is the activation magnet is offset slightly to one side. But apart from that, everything is as it should be. The twenty four position belt clip is as strong as always and the device clips into the holster firmly with a positive lock-down in the final ten millimeters or so.

Pros:

• OtterBox’s famous 3 layers of protection.
• Easier to fit than any other OtterBox Defender to date.
• Access to all buttons from outside the case.
• Firm fit on the silicon outer skin.
• Two stage plug cover for earpiece/charger port.
• Moulded keyboard cover.
• Sturdy and robust holster.

Cons:

• The old Henry Ford philosophy… Any color as long as its Black…

Conclusion:

Simply put, OtterBox have got it all together when they designed and constructed the OtterBox Defender of the BlackBerry Curve 8520. I know this device is a budget line for RIM but these days, every cent counts right… For $49.95* you can essentially purchase an insurance policy against dropping and damage that we all incur on a day to day basis.

My BlackBerry Bold 9000 has been in an OtterBox Defender case since the day I got it. When I removed it the other day, the device did not have single scratch or blemish anywhere. It was just as if it was brand new. (Except the now black trackball that started life as a white one). I work in a construction environment on a day to day basis and if this is no testament to the protection OtterBox offers then I don’t know what is.

My only gripe is the lack of color range. Come on OtterBox, at the very least bring back the yellow option. (Although, I think a drab olive green or camo would be a superb look…)

If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:

• OtterBox Defender Case; Nearly 6 month update…
• Review: OtterBox Defender Case for BlackBerry Storm
• OtterBox Releases BlackBerry 8520 Curve Cases
• Review: OtterBox Defender for BlackBerry 8900 Curve
• OtterBox Defender for BlackBerry Bold: Pre-Order Now.

Posted by Greg for ©BerryReview, November 10, 2009, 2:00 pm. | Review: OtterBox Defender Case for BlackBerry Curve 8520 | 2 comments |

I have never given a perfect score before so this is a truly auspicious occasion. The design team over at OtterBox have finally done it. They have cracked what is, in my opinion, the perfect BlackBerry case. Now I know some of the ’suit and tie’ type readers will argue that OtterBox cases make their devices too bulky and cumbersome for day to day use but the Coloradans have given this Defender case the full weight loss treatment including liposuction around the belly to make it a true pleasure to use (and abuse).

OtterBox have still maintained their traditional trademark ‘3 Layers of Protection’ (I’ve made the joke of ‘To be sure, To be sure, To be sure’ before so will refrain at this point… ) whilst keeping the overall size to a minimum. The first layer is a thermally formed protective clear PVC membrane that covers the keypad and a clear PC sheet that covers the screen. This sheet is a hard polycarbonate the eliminates the need to painstakingly remove those annoying bubbles that would form between the screen and plastic on previous models. Next layer is a high impact polycarbonate shell that protects your ‘precious’ (Say ‘precious’ like in the movie ‘Lord of the Rings’….) from high impact collisions with inanimate objects and the like. Lastly, is the silicon skin that adds that extra protection and makes grip a whole lot easier in slippery situations. Otterbox also provide a holster (included) for your new OtterBox. The clip is extremely strong and large enough to clip snugly onto military/police/work style belts. The clip also has an adjustable angle ratchet (any soldier who has warn webbing would be able to tell you how handy that feature is) with up to 24 different positions. The holster has a small magnet installed so your BlackBerry will behave like it’s in a standard issue case from RIM themselves.

All of your outer buttons are still 100% (including the 2 top-side buttons)usable and all ports are still accessible whilst your device remains protected inside the Defender case. I actually found less accidental presses of the lock button on the top of my device after installing it in the OtterBox. The camera and flash in the rear of your BlackBerry have the same type Polycarbonate cover as your screen and I have had no problems with flashback into the lens that I have had with previous models.

Fitting this case is a lot easier than with previous models. The keypad PVC membrane is a lot easier to fit and has full wrap around straps to make interlocking a cinch. The screen cover is straight forward and about the only thing you have to be wary of here is ‘make sure your screen is clean before installing. The rest of the fitting process is straight forward.

Pros:

• Slimmer and  sleeker than previous Defender models.
• Hard Polycarbonate cover over the screen.
• Access to all ports and buttons.
• No interference from flash from the camera cover.
• Easy fitting.
• Provides better grip on your device.
• That Bullet-Proof feel that you only get with OtterBox.
• Full ‘military’ grade holster.

Cons:

• Color range limited. Black Only (Come on OtterBox. Drab Olive, Yellow and Pink would be a worthy addition)

Conclusion:

I don’t think I have to spell it out any further… The OtterBox Defender for the BlackBerry 8900 Curve is the best case I have seen for the 8900 and one of the best cases ever produced by OtterBox.  You can get more information and specifications here: http://www.otterbox.com/pdfs/blackberry-curve-8900-data.pdf .

I would like to thank OtterBox for sending me out the sample for review and Val for clicking the picture you see above. (It will be the last ones of my Jeep as it’s up for sale. New project underway ATM). Lastly, and most importantly, I would like to thank the readers as without you, BerryReview would just be a bunch of words in cyberspace with no-one to read.

If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:

• Review: OtterBox Defender Case for BlackBerry Curve 8520
• Review & A Chance to win a Free Otterbox 8900 Defender Series Case
• Review: OtterBox Defender Case for BlackBerry Storm
• OtterBox Releases BlackBerry Curve 8900 Series Defender Case
• Review: OtterBox, the formidable BB defender

Posted by Greg for ©BerryReview, July 13, 2009, 8:00 am. | Review: OtterBox Defender for BlackBerry 8900 Curve | 12 comments |

As our regular readers will know, it was my 4oth Birthday last Tuesday. Unbeknown to me, my wife Val had been planning an absolutely awesome surprise party for me and it all came together yesterday. The icing on the cake, (pardon the pun), was this unbelievable BlackBerry Bold complete with yellow Otterbox cake. My wife Val, her friend Sandy with technical support from my kids (and budding CrackBerry addict) Aymz and Chris, have put hours of painstaking effort into this and I would like to thank them all from the bottom of my heart.

Val, I love you sweetheart. Thank you so much for everything.

Always and Forever, Greg. XXXXX

If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:

• Introducing the BlackBerry Cake – Eat It Up!
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• 8900 Otterbox giveaway contest winner
• Todays Southeast Outage Now Over
• Happy Birthday to Greg!

Posted by Greg for ©BerryReview, June 28, 2009, 1:12 am. | The Icing on the Cake. | 12 comments |

1. MobiPocket eBook Reader – OTA link – Top notch eBook reader/creator for your BlackBerry
2. Viigo RSS Reader – OTA link – Where do you think I find all my news?
3. Google Talk – OTA link – Chat all you want with instant notifications
4. Google Maps – OTA link – Find your friends with latitude and GPS maps
5. Facebook for BlackBerry – OTA link – This app is the only reason I signed up for Facebook in the first place
6. MidpSSH Custom Build – OTA link – Opensource SSH client that works now that Rove Mobile SSH is gone
7. Amazon.com App – OTA link – I live off Amazon Prime. I even order toilet paper from them…
8. BBTetris/BlockBerry – OTA link – Awesome Tetris game that only gets better
9. BBWeather – OTA link – Simple and neat forecasts with an interactive homescreen icon
10. BBFileScout – OTA link – The file manager that RIM should have given us in the first place

Post your own top 10 below in a comment so that we can duke it out for the best of the best. Let me know if I missed anything. Enjoy!

If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:

• BerryReview’s Top FREE Back to School Applications for BlackBerry!
• Google Services Pack Now Available – Install All 4 Free Google Applications On Your BlackBerry
• Top 10 Applications Installed On My BlackBerry
• Barnes & Noble Brings Free eBook Reader using eReader
• eReader Beta – Free eBook Reader For BlackBerry (Storm Compatible)

Posted by Ronen Halevy for ©BerryReview, May 11, 2009, 4:00 pm. | Top 10 Free Applications on my BlackBerry – What About You? | 40 comments |

This has got to be one of the coolest devices that I have been fortunate enough to review. I will never leave home without it! This will prevent you from being in a situation where you need to make an important phone call, but the “battery too low for radio use” message just popped up.

When JavoEdge sent me their Portable Pocket Battery charger, I will admit that I was skeptical. Anything that sounds too good to be true usually is. I wasnt sure if this was actually going to charge my battery or if it would just allow it to run for a little while while plugged in. And while there are a couple of things about this device that can be a little bit annoying (more on that later) this is by far the “best in class”.

The Kit that i was sent was the Pocket Portable Battery Home Starter kit. Inside the package was a bunch of goodies. The first was the Pocket Portable Battery itself, a USB charging cable, a Wall Charger, a Retractable Cable, and a travel-size carrying case. Everything, aside from maybe the plain old usb cable, is incredibly high quality. With the Home Starter Kit, they include one of their retractable cables ($14.95 value).

The unit itself is very self explanatory. On the bottom of the portable battery, there is an “in” and an “out”. To charge the portable battery itself, plug the mini-usb cable into the “in” port on the battery and connect the usb cable to either your computer or the included wall charger. The battery will let you know that it is charging by lighting up a little red dot. When it has fully charged the light will change to blue. You are ready to charge baby!

Now is the time that you toss this into your briefcase, purse, backpack, desk drawer, glovebox or wherever you will likely have it on hand and forget about it. The next time you are out and about and your blackberry battery starts blinking and beeping at you, pull the pocket charger out, and connect it to the retractable cable (or any usb cable for your device) and the other end into your Berry, push the button and let it do its magic.

I have to mention the retractable cables separately. They are an editor’s choice all on their own. I have seen these several places before and thought that they were kind of hokey, but I was shocked. I ordered a couple more for my family, and even one for my iPod touch (yea yea I know flames are coming in the comments) So even if you have no need for the rechargeable battery, check out these little cables. They are less than 15 bucks and come in black and silver. It should be noted that the cables from JavoEdge are not the same poor quality as the retractable cables you have seen for 1.50 on ebay. Trust me.

I did some bench tests on this unit to see what kind of numbers I could realistically expect in the wild. It took about 3 hours to charge the portable battery from the wall unit from completely dead. This was a little bit longer than I had hoped for, but still less than the 5 hours that they had projected on their instruction sheet. I drained a spare 8800 to completely dead and plugged it in. The 8800 was 100% charged in 1 hour and 22 minutes. I drained the battery on the berry again and plugged it back in. It charged it to 85% before the portable battery was drained. So I got more than a charge and a half to my device off of one full charge. Pretty impressive!

Pros:

• Tiny. This thing is smaller and thinner than my blackberry. I could easily slip this into my breast pocket and not know it was there.
• Diverse. You can use this to charge practically anything you have with a battery, I will be using it to charge my Jawbone, Supertooth, iPod, BlackBerry and my digital camera.
• Affordable. The units start off at $39.99 for the basic kit, which comes with the battery, case, and USB charger. I strongly reccommend bumping up to the $49.99 set which comes with the wall charger, retractable cable, and all of the charging interfaces you could possibly need. For only 10 bucks more you are getting about 25 dollars worth of extra stuff.

Cons:

• Took a little bit longer to charge the battery than I would have liked. I would have been thrilled to see this down to an hour or hour and a half.

Summary

Buy this. Seriously buy it. Charge it up and put it away. You WILL need it and you will be happy that you decided to make an investment in it. You can use it for practically anything you own that charges. And you don’t have to worry about it becoming obsolete. There are so many uses for this device and it is worth every penny.

If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:

• PowerPak – Wall Charger With Built in Battery
• Review: Duracell Rechargeable USB Charger
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• Review: Naztech 3-in-1 Charger
• Mobile 4-Port USB Hub With Battery & Solar Charger

Posted by Nate for ©BerryReview, March 30, 2009, 1:05 pm. | Review: JavoEdge Pocket Battery Charger – Never Let It Die! | 4 comments |

Review: OtterBox 1937-20 for BlackBerry Bold

Rating: 9.5 out of 10 stars

Link: BlackBerry Bold

Price: $49.95 (+postage)

Colors: Black or Yellow

I know I’m running late with the review on this case but life has been quite hectic lately. I received one of these cases for my new BlackBerry Bold a couple of days after the official release. My Bold has been wrapped up in the aforementioned ’3 Layers’ of protection ever since.

For those of you who haven’t seen or read my previous articles on OtterBox products for Blackberry here’s the low-down- OtterBox offer 3 layers of physical protection for your device. The first (inner) layer is a clear, heat form fitted membrane that keeps out the fine dust and moisture. The second layer is a high impact polycarbonate shell and last of all is an outer silicon skin for that one final protection factor. I suppose the Irish saying of “To be sure, to be sure, to be sure” might come into play here somewhere but I think that saying was from a joke involving 3 condoms so I wont go there… (NB; The Defender series is NOT waterproof so if you submerge your nice new Bold into liquid to test this bad boy out then, well, all I can say is you’ll be upgrading handsets sooner rather than later )

From the Box:

Ok, so what do you get for your $50 bucks…

• Heat formed membrane.
• Hight Impact polycarbonate shell.
• Silicon outer skin.
• Holster cover that the whole lot clicks into.
• Fitting instructions. (If you haven’t fitted an OtterBox before then this is recommended reading)
• Screen fitting card. (For getting rid of those annoying bubbles when fitting the membrane)
• Sticker and other advertising paraphernalia.

Their new case for the Bold is much along the same lines as their case for the Curve… Great ergonomic design, durable, snug fit and rugged protection.

I have made it no secret that my BlackBerry Bold is not my favorite device that has ever come out of the RIM factory. (I’ve had a bit of flak from this point of view on the forums). Mix that in with a ‘little bit of a temper tantrum’ sometimes and there is a good point of putting an OtterBox Defender on my Bold. I tend to get the sh##s with it quite often and it usually gets thrown across the room. If it was not for the OtterBox then I would be back on my trusty old Curve a fair while ago. Although I would never recommend a full blooded, wind-up, pitch strength throw, it will take a fair beating. RIM should probably include one of these cases as standard equipment for the Bold if they don’t start fixing some of the devices larring issues … it would save a lot of warranty claims. (Now I’m just getting downright nasty…Sorry… )

Overall:

OtterBox have again done a fantastic job with this case for the BlackBerry Bold.

They have made a couple of changes from the Curve case. One of which is the hard plastic cover across the camera and flash on the back of the device. Granted this is a better option than the same soft plastic membrane OtterBox uses for the keyboard (as used on their Defender case for the Curve) but does have one distinctive draw-back. If you take a picture using the LED flash, the light refracts back into the camera lens hence making the picture blurred. If you take a fair few pictures on your Bold at night time then this could really get on your nerves.

The case has speaker ports so you can still here your ringtone/music/videos playing. The status LED also has a port so you can tell if you have a received message, etc. Just about all of the external openings have a small particle filter covering the actual hole so dust ingress is kept to a minimum. Actually instead of me going through everything OtterBox has remembered to include, I will just tell you what they haven’t; a port for the Micro-SD card slot in the side. Now this didn’t really worry me too much. The card is hard enough to get out of the Bold when it’s not in a case anyway and I’m not really one for changing SD cards every day anyway, but I thought I would mention it for those of you who do swap out your media card frequently.

The holster is very durable and the spring clip is very strong. (A little too strong straight out of the box, but that will change in time). A magnet is in-built into the holster so your ‘in-case’ settings will act the same as if you had the device in the factory sleeve.

Pros:

• Looks Great.
• Ridged Plastic Camera/Flash Protection.
• Same Bullet Proof feel as the previous OtterBox Defender cases for Blackberry.
• Snug fit plug over the charge/headphone ports.
• Belt clip seems even sturdier than previous models (which was great to start with).
• Filter over ear piece.
• Magnet for sensor in the holster to keep the ‘factory’ type behavior happening.

Cons:

• Makes the Bold feel larger than it already is.
• The flash reflection conflicts with the camera operation.
• No SD card port opening.

If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:

• Review: OtterBox Defender for BlackBerry Bold
• Review: OtterBox Defender Case for BlackBerry Curve 8520
• Review: OtterBox Defender for BlackBerry 8900 Curve
• Otterbox review by JohnnyB
• OtterBox Defender for BlackBerry Bold: Pre-Order Now.

Posted by Greg for ©BerryReview, November 24, 2008, 8:00 am. | Review: OtterBox For BlackBerry Bold 1937-20 | 4 comments |

The greatest belt case I have ever seen or had the privilege to review.

Sometimes it is unusual to find an accessory manufacturer that has been around to stand the test of time. Nutshell, a New Zealand company, has been hand making genuine leather cases since 1997. As most of you know, I am a belt case fanatic, and this case sets the bar very high for future cases!

The case arrived in packaging from New Zealand, which is always kind of fun to receive something from another country. But the true test was yet to come. The case that Nutshell sent to me had a few upgrades. Mine has the magnetic flap closure, rather than Velcro, it also has the belt clip and this particular case is tan colored.

The case is truly rugged! The clip is by far the sturdiest metal clip that I have ever seen on a BlackBerry case, it even has a metal loop for people that choose to connect a lanyard or decorative attachment. The magnetic flap that holds the case shut is strong enough to keep everything in place, yet loose enough to easily retrieve my BlackBerry. The flap itself is a little bit thin where it folds over the Berry, it could have been a little bit thicker in my opinion.

The logo is branded into the back of the case instead of plastered all over the front of the case. This actually speaks volumes about the company, they are confident enough in their product to place a small unobtrusive logo where very few people will see it.

The form of the case is rivaled by it’s function. The case sits close to the hip making it barely noticeable from a distance. The case includes a magnet built in to serve as the proximity sensor (a must have for me). There is a little hole on the very bottom of the case that I cant really figure out what it does. This case was hand made for the 8830, and there is no mic in that area…

Pros

• Stylish
• Compact
• Incredibly durable
• Quality materials

Cons

• Slightly expensive
• Unusual hole on the bottom
• Flap could be a little bit thicker

Summary

I love this case, I have been rotating between this case and my Fortte case because I cannot decide which one that I like better. This case has quickly become my “manual labor” case. I can clip it on to my belt and never have to worry about it falling off my belt, or breaking out of the clip. The price after customizing it is a little bit high, but you pay for what you get! There is nothing better than a quality hand made leather case that perfectly fuses practicality and beauty.

If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:

• 20% Off Coupon For NutShell Cases Until December 10th
• Review: Krusell Horizon With MultiAdapt
• Review: GizmoSkin Black Lambskin Leather Blackberry 8800 / 8830 Pouch
• Review: Sena Classic Flipdown Case
• Review: Fortte BlackBerry 8800 / 8830 Lateral Pouch Case

Posted by Nate for ©BerryReview, October 29, 2008, 12:12 pm. | Review: Protect Your NutShell | 11 comments |

Some of you who may frequent BerryReview.com might have noticed that I am a bit of a case junkie. I am constantly searching for cases and accessories that make my BlackBerry’s life better. I have found my favorite case to date in Fortte’s Vertical Pouch. If you think you have one that can top it let me know!

The Review Unit:

The unit that Fortte sent me to review is the Vertical Pouch in the Brandy Saddle color with the Removable Low Profile Ratchet Clip. One of the best parts about the Fortte company is the ability to customize your order. They have 32 color combinations available, more than enough to  make the choice difficult. They also have 7 clip/strap choices as well as the option to have the product embossed with your own logo. It should be noted that anything other than the basic selections will alter the price of the case.

When I first spoke with the people at Fortte they let me know that since the cases are made to order, the delivery time could be as long as three weeks. This kind of bummed me out a little bit at first, but then I realized that there is no way they could stock every single color for every device that they sell cases for. In the end, it ended up being about 2 weeks before I had the case at my door.

Read more on this case after the jump!

I opened up the package and I could immediately smell quality leather. The feel of this case is outstanding. In many ways, it is similar to the OEM pouch that came with my 8830. This case however has worked much better for me than the RIM case did. The front of the case is made of leather that has a very nice feel to it, it is kind of rough. The back of this two toned color scheme is a smooth leather which is a little bit darker in color. The strap that closes the case is that same smooth leather.

I like to show a sense of style in the way that I present myself, and this case is definitely stylish! The front of the case is actually a little bit padded which adds a lot in terms of how the case feels. It is much softer than most leather goods. The inside of the case is a nice, soft no scratch material providing an excellent home for any screen. The case also features a proximity sensor in the back which is powerful enough to put your Berry into sleep mode no matter which way you prefer to carry it.

The leather strap with the magnetic closure is also a very nice feature. I like the snap feeling that the case presents, unlike just the magnet that holds the OEM case shut. This gives you audible and physical feedback so you can rest assured that your Berry wont be falling out! The logo and name of the company sits on the front of the case and is actually very classy. If you choose to customize your case, you can choose the color of the emblem or choose not to have it at all. Although I think that it would look a little plain without the cool little chess piece.

The clip that I chose is the low profile ratchet clip. I really like the fact that when disconnected from the clip, you can barely feel the little clip attachment on the back of the case. After using this case for a while, I think that I should have picked a different clip, as I have rarely found myself removing the case from the clip.

Pros:

• Gorgeous design and materials
• Proximity sensor
• USB charging port is not blocked

Cons:

• Might be a little expensive by the time you have fully tricked it out
• 3 week wait is a long time (but worth it!)

Summary:

This case is amazing. I will continue to use it (unless I am testing out other cases!) for a long time to come. I would and already have recommend it to anyone. I don’t think however that I would recommend the low profile ratcheting belt clip on this particular case. I think the standard fixed clip would have worked just fine, but that was my own fault!

Fortte also has a whole slew of cases for just about any device you can think of at their website. Unfortunatly at this time, Fortte’s products are not available at the BerryReview Store.

If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:

• Review: Fortte BlackBerry 8800 / 8830 STiL Vertical Pouch
• Review: Fortte BlackBerry 8800 / 8830 Lateral Pouch Case
• Review: SENA Vertical Pouch For BlackBerry 8300 Curve
• Reminder: Givaway Thursday Ends Soon! – Win A Fortte 8800 / 8830 Vertical Pouch
• Fortte Leather Cases

Posted by Nate for ©BerryReview, September 17, 2008, 1:00 pm. | Review: Fortte Vertical Pouch-88XX | One comment |

Review:

I did a review on the JAVOedge Leater Side Pouch before, and I promised that there would be a review on the Leather Case for the Curve to come! So for your consideration I present this review to you.

JAVOedge has really out done themselves with their latest line of products. This beautiful leather case for the BlackBerry Curve is no exception. The product itself, as usual from JAVOedge, is an incredible deal at $19.95 plus shipping. You can’t beat 20 bucks for a great leather case.

The case features premium black leather, form fitted to hold your Curve perfectly. Unlike the side holster, this case is not universal (sorry 88XX guys!). The case features full cutouts for the screen, keyboard, camera and all the ports on the device. There is no plastic cover for the screen, so I would recommend picking up a screen protector if you decide to go with this case. JAVOedge also sells these, as well as a slew of other companies.

The great thing about this case is that the belt clip is removable. The case initially comes with a screw in the back. and the belt clip in a separate baggy. Simply unscrew the screw, and twist on the clip adapter and you are good to go.

This case is great for protecting your Curve against scrapes and bumps. I know quite a few people who have had issues with the rubber molding coming off of the sides of their Curve, and this case will definitely help prevent that.

Your BlackBerry slides into the case, and a snap button strap holds it securely in place. It really does feel as if there is nothing added to the device once you get used to it. The leather, once broken in, feels great in your hands.

I also really like the material on the back of the case, its kind of a mesh like feel. It looks amazing and feels neat too! As with all real leather products, this case does take a couple of days to break in, so if you are not happy with the feel immediately, remember that it will soften/loosen up dramatically in a short amount of time!

Pros:

• Great price & quality
• Feels great in your hand
• Optional belt clip

Cons:

• None!

Summary: This is a super product. If you don’t need the functionality of a proximity sensor, I would say its a great pick! Especially considering the price. If this is something that you are interested in, head on over to JAVOedge and pick one up!

If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:

• Review: JAVOedge Leather Side Pouch
• Review: Speck’s SeeThru Hard Shell Case & Holster for BlackBerry Curve
• Review: JavoEdge Skin Case and JavoScreen 2.0 for Bold
• Review: Sena Classic Flipdown Case
• Review: Prima Black Crystal Lucite Hard Shell Case W/ Belt Clip

Posted by Nate for ©BerryReview, September 4, 2008, 3:00 pm. | Review: JAVOedge-Leather Case for Curve | 3 comments |

Well it may seem to some of you that frequent BerryReview that I just throw out Editor’s Choice awards at the drop of a hat. This is NOT true! I have just been lucky enough lately to have awesome products to take a look at. I swear!

I wrote a review about the Jabra SP5050 that was published about a couple of weeks ago. If you read it, you know that I was very disappointed in a couple of key areas, primarily call volume. Well, let us rejoice! I have found a product that is far superior to the SP5050 in almost every way, shape and form.

The BlueAnt Supertooth 3 is the big brother to the famous Supertooth Light, long touted to be the best Bluetooth speakerphone on the market. Well, not anymore since the Supertooth 3 has hit the arena. This product is a great alternative to a Bluetooth Headset, especially for people who don’t care for having something implanted in their ear for their entire drive. Because let’s face it, if you are constantly putting in and taking out your headset, your attention is not where it should be.

When the package arrived at my door, I was pleased with its initial appearance. The box was colorful and slick looking, including a metal cap and bottom. Inside the box was really everything that I need: User’s Manual, Quick Start Guide, an AC charger, a car charger, and 2 magnetic sun visor clips (perfect for me considering I am in multiple vehicles throughout the week). The speakerphone itself is a beautiful glossy black, with backlit buttons.

The visor clip is actually fairly ingenious yet simple at the same time. Both sides contain grooves for the speakerphone to sit snugly, so it’s incredibly easy to move the device from the front of your visor to the other side depending on whether or not you have the visor down.

After charging the Supertooth, I ran to my truck to try it out. It is important to note that the Supertooth is incredibly versatile, for our foreign readers. You can choose from 6 different languages (British English, American English, French, Italian, Spanish and German). The Supertooth is definitely not as slim as the Jabra SP5050 was, but it removes for safe storage much easier. Pairing of the device was very easy, my 8830 found it right away. One of my favorite features of this device is that it can be paired to multiple devices at one time! This is a necessity for me, having multiple phones for work and play!

One of the key features of the Supertooth is the TTS ability (text to speech). This is one of the coolest features about the device, making it truly handsfree. The Supertooth allows you to import your contact list (I loaded over 200 in less than 5 minutes) so that whenever someone in your address book calls, the speakerphone will actually tell you “Call From Nathan”. You can then either push the answer button or say “Answer” and the Supertooth will answer the call.

There are 4 physical buttons on the Supertooth: an answer button, an end button and volume up/down. All of these are placed in the perfect location. The volume of the Supertooth is amazing! I have been told that I am hard of hearing, and with the volume set at its maximum, it’s far too loud for me! Even with the windows down on the interstate, I can hear callers and they can hear me. With the windows up, people on the other end of the line say that they cannot tell that I am using a speakerphone.

Talk time on this particular unit is about 8 hours (way longer than any phone that I know of) and standby time is over 200 hours.

The price of this unit varies quite a bit depending on where you are looking to buy it from. I would recommend getting it from a well known retailer because I wonder sometimes how some of these online stores sell products for as cheap as they do.

As for the technical information:

Bluetooth v2.0
TTS Text to Speech – a voice announces incoming ‘caller’s’ name or Caller ID
Announces device status, call status and setup instructions for use
Voice Answer: answer calls with your voice, no button press needed
Automatic vibration sensor reconnection
Full DSP noise cancellation/echo cancellation
Full duplex high performance speaker
Automatic connection and reconnection with notification
Digital volume control
Can also be charged directly from a PC via USB cable (not included)
Fix to the sun-visor via a two sided magnetic clip – no installation costs
Supports voice dial activation, redial and call reject
Pairs with up to 8 Bluetooth devices
Includes 1 x AC travel charger
Includes 1 x car charger
2-year replacement warranty

Pros:

• Incredible voice quality on both ends
• TTS makes it the safest unit on the market
• Loud enough for ANYONE
• Beautiful & elegant
• Stored phonebook

Cons:

• The woman’s voice for American English can be a tad annoying
• A little thicker than other units

Summary: This is the best speakerphone that I have ever used hands down. I will never make a road trip without the Supertooth to accompany me. The fact that it is truly handsfree is impressive. I feel much safer on the road using this product. I wish that it were just a little bit more compact, but for the features and quality, I cannot complain. BlueAnt has set the bar high with this one. For further information, head on over to BlueAnt’s website. They have many other great products.

If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:

• Review BlueAnt Z9i Bluetooth Headset
• Review: Jabra SP5050 Speakerphone
• Review: BlackBerry Visor Mount Bluetooth Speakerphone – VM-605
• Review: BlueAnt V1 Voice Controlled Bluetooth Headset
• Review: BlueAnt M1 Bluetooth Speakers

Posted by Nate for ©BerryReview, August 27, 2008, 3:00 pm. | Review: BlueAnt Supertooth 3 | 3 comments |

Review:

Attention- If you live in a hole, and never worry about getting your blackberry wet, you need not read further.

This has got to be one of the coolest products I have seen in a long time. No longer do you have to be worried if you need/want to take your BlackBerry down to the pool, the beach, into the bathroom while taking a bath or with you when you go boating. With the Aquapac, you can rest assured that your better half will be safe and dry.

When I first saw this product I remember thinking “Huh… 25 bucks for a glorified ziplock bag? You’ve got to be kidding me” But the Aquapac is so much more. The container itself is not your ordinary plastic. The Aquapac is constructed with high grade Thermo Poly Urethane (or TPU). TPU is 100% PVC free, meaning it is much more malleable and better suited for extreme cold. The material is also UV Stabilized, meaning it will not yellow or dry out due to prolonged exposure to the sun. The case itself will remain flexible to -40 degrees F, however even I would subjugate my Berry to that kind of cold! The designers have even added their optically clear LEZFLEX to the back window, allowing you to take clear pictures with your Berry, even underwater.

The case’s magic comes from the method in which it is sealed. The Aquaclip is a patented mechanism that seals the bag with just a twist of two levers. This keeps water sand, dirt and humidity out.

While this Aquapac is not specifically designed for the BlackBerry, it encloses it perfectly, even with my trusty OtterBox. This specific design may be a little bit big if you are using a Pearl, but no problem. Aquapac sells dozens of different sizes. You will be able to find an Aquapac for just about anything you wish to keep dry. They even have some neat underwater cases for cameras.

The Aquapac comes with; the case itself, an adjustable lanyard, detailed instructions, and a 3 year Global Warranty. The instructions do say that you should avoid submerging your device into hot water (above 105 degrees) due to the fact that the plastic could break down at that temperature. That being said, I decided to push the limits (as usual) and took my Berry into the tub, no problems whatsoever. Take that for what you will.

If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:

• Review: Otterbox – The Mom’s Point of View!
• Review: OtterBox for BlackBerry 8800 Defender Series
• Review – Speck Products Storm Cases
• Review: Case-Mate Privacy Screen – Shield Your Berry From Unwanted Eyes
• Review: Beyza Adds Style and Class to BlackBerry Devices

Posted by Nate for ©BerryReview, August 18, 2008, 10:25 am. | Review: Aquapac – Take Your Berry in the Bathtub or the Lake | 10 comments |

The folks over at NLU Products sent me a set of the protective skins for my 8830 to try out. I will admit that I was skeptical when I first saw this product, how can such a thin membrane protect my precious BlackBerry? Nevertheless I stripped my BlackBerry down for the good of the BerryReview Community. You all had better appreciate this!

The Un-Boxing

When the box came in the mail, immediately I was impressed with the packaging. The box was professional and pictured the product very well. The package contained; 2 full sets of the BodyGuardz Skins, custom die cut for my 8830, a squeegee, a bottle of application spray (water and baby shampoo) and a set of very detailed directions. I have learned over the years that no matter how “macho” I am feeling, it is always best to read the instructions before doing anything (trust me guys, this has saved me countless hours). After reading the instructions, I realized the application of this product would be slightly more difficult than I had imagined. Luckily they pointed me in the direction of a video, detailing the application process. While the video is for a Pearl, it was a very similar process for my 8830.

Application

I did have a few difficulties getting the membrane to wrap around the edges of my device, it probably didn’t help that I decided to put it on after driving for about 6 hours… But after about 20 minutes I had it applied to a satisfactory level. The corners were a little bit tricky, but as the directions stated, I let them sit for a couple of minutes and waited for it to become tacky, and like magic it worked! The device looked a bit hazy for about 12 hours or so, but not to the point that things were illegible.

After the curing process had completed, I could barely tell that there was anything on the BlackBerry at all. The skin actually helped hide some of my surface scratches, an extra bonus. I just wish I would have known about this product from the day that I purchased my BlackBerry, it would look much less abused!

The Trial Period

So now the BodyGuardz has been on my phone for a little over a week and I must say that I love the product. I do prefer a thicker case with a belt clip, but I know that many of you do not want a large case covering your beautiful devices. I have thrown my Berry in my pocket with keys, my knife and my trusty lighter, and there has not been a single scratch on the device what so ever! I really don’t know why they include 2 skins in each kit as I don’t see the need to replace it anytime soon. But it is nice to know that if you need an extra, its there waiting for you. If anyone wants to take a look at a pretty cool video of the BodyGuardz in action, follow the link.

A quick note, the BodyGuardz come in a couple of different options. You can pick up the whole phone protection, or just a screen protector. This is perfect for those who just need a little extra protection for their screen! BodyGuardz are also available for a whole slew of other devices including; laptops, iPods and much more.

Pros:

• Virtually invisible
• Incredibly strong
• 2 kits included

Cons:

• A little difficult to apply, however the full coverage is worth it.
• Doesn’t cover the keyboard

Summary: This product is perfect for anyone who just needs scratch protection. BodyGuardz will not add any water resistance or drop protection like some of the other cases on the market will. That being said, this case does what it is designed to do perfectly. Your expensive phone is protected from scratches and scrapes while still boasting its beauty, without adding extra bulk.

–The BerryReview Store currently only sells the BodyGuardz for the 8830, please see their site for their entire product line.

If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:

• Review: OtterBox for BlackBerry 8800 Defender Series
• Review: Zagg InvisibleShield for the BlackBerry Curve 8900
• Review: Speck’s SeeThru Hard Shell Case & Holster for BlackBerry Curve
• Review: JAVOedge Leather Side Pouch
• Review: Seidio Super Slim Hybrid Hard Case For BlackBerry 8300 Curve

Posted by Nate for ©BerryReview, August 14, 2008, 7:30 am. | Review: BodyGuardz- Save Your Device Without the Bulk! | 6 comments |

I recently had the chance to play around with Pop Cap Game’s Chuzzle, from bplay. This game is made by the same people that brought you Bejewled and Zuma. Let me first start off by saying that this has got to be the best game I have ever played on my BlackBerry! This game has won a slew of awards, including, “Casual Game of the Year!” (2003 Digital Entertainment & Media Excellence Awards) it even ranks as bplay’s all time number 6 purchased game. And now, a BerryReview Editor’s Choice Award!

“Chuzzles are googly-eyed little balls of fur that giggle, squeak, and sneeze as you poke and push them across the board”. The game is fairly simple, match up 3 or more of the same colored Chuzzles to make them disappear. Earn bonus points for: popping 3 or more at a time, popping a Mega Chuzzle, popping a locked Chuzzle and completing a level. Sounds pretty simple, huh? Well, add in Mega Chuzzles, locked Chuzzles and hard to come by rainbow Chuzzles and you have yourself a great game!

Moving takes place a row at a time, either up and down or side to side. If there is a single locked Chuzzle in the row, moving of that row cannot take place. Also, if a row contains a Mega Chuzzle, both rows will move and the rows will not wrap around to the other side (it’s actually quite amusing to watch the Chuzzles bump the wall!) Run out of moves and the game will scramble the Chuzzles for you, but watch out, you are only given a limited number of scrambles and then it’s GAME OVER.

This game is not one that you will soon grow tired of. With 4 different game choices: Classic, MindBender, Expert and Zen. Classic is the starting point for the game, with tons of available moves, fewer locks and more scrambles. Classic will certainly get you hooked and allow you to learn the game. Expert is the same as classic, except much harder! Expert will certainly get your mind thinking, and keep you hooked. Zen is probably my favorite mode of the game, Zen games never end. You can keep going as long as you want to. Mindbender is a variation of the game all together, almost the Rubix Cube of Chuzzle. Align the Chuzzles to match the picture to pass the level.

While playing the different games, you will hit milestones that the game has been programmed to recognize. As you reach these milestones, you receive trophies. There are 22 trophies in all. These range from simple (playing an entire game without using hints) to near impossible (a million Chuzzles popped!) The last trophy is earned when you have received the other 21 trophies. Although I can’t imagine anyone doing this!

Pros:

• Addictive!
• Very amusing
• Tons of features
• Colorful and well written

Cons:

• None (other than the fact that you might never see your family or friends again…)

If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:

• Review Update: Chuzzle continues its adventures on Bold
• Mega Man III For BlackBerry – All Hail The Classics!
• Review: Duckshot – By Magmic Games
• Review: Aces Mahjong for Bold
• Review: Guitar Hero Mobile For BlackBerry

Posted by Nate for ©BerryReview, August 7, 2008, 7:45 am. | Review: Chuzzle- Stay Entertained For Hours | 8 comments |

Review: BBSmart Shortcuts
Rating: 9 out of 10 stars 9/10
Link: www.blackberrysmart.com
Cost: $8.95 @ BerryReview Store

I have been waiting to write this review since BlackBerry Smart released their newest version. Recently, it was announced that version 1.4 is available, so I figured I was safe to review.

Shortcuts is a very simple application that provides quick access to the most commonly used features on your Blackberry. This program allows you to click your side convenience button and easily access all your native Blackberry applications as well as a slew of 3rd party programs. Of course, this is not where the functionality of this program ends. Almost every aspect of this program is customizable, making it invaluable.

Setup for this application is easy. After purchasing or downloading the trial, install the program and set your convenience key to BBSmart Shortcuts. Now save changes and you’re ready to customize. The initial screen doesn’t look like much, just a few common icons on the toolbar and the rest is blank.

There are a few different parts to the application, and I think that it is only fair to go over each one individually. Inside this nifty program there is the main toolbar, the email shortcuts, messaging shortcuts, phone shortcuts and Web shortcuts.

Toolbar Shortcuts

Toolbar shortcuts sit at the top of the screen and are the ones that I use the most. My biggest gripe with version 1.3 is that among all the applications that you were able to put on your toolbar, Blackberry Messenger, the one I use the most, was not an option. Of course, I am a happy camper now that this has been resolved. The toolbar can be rearranged and customized to your heart’s content.

Unless you are completely happy with the current toolbar, I would recommend deleting every icon and starting from scratch. You can do this by pressing the menu key and going down to delete, or use the handy keyboard shortcuts. Select the icon you wish to delete and simply press the “D” key on your keyboard.

Now it’s time to add your favorite applications to the toolbar. The order in which you add them doesn’t really matter as you can move them around freely after they are in place. You can have a lot of shortcuts on your toolbar, however the most that will fit on the screen without scrolling over is 8, so I stick with 8. Press the menu key, click on “New Shortcut” and then on “Toolbar”. Or avoid all this button pushing by pressing the “T” key on your keyboard. You will notice all the keyboard shortcuts are displayed next to the corresponding option in the menu. Now you will see a list of all the possible applications you can add to your toolbar.

I believe most of the pre-installed RIM applications are included: Address Book, Browser, Calculator, Calendar, MemoPad, Messages, Phone, Alarm, Blackberry Messenger, BrickBreaker, Manage Connections, Options, Password Keeper, Profiles, Search, Setup Wizard, Voice Dialing, and even Wireless Upgrade. Now with the new version, even many of my favorite 3rd party applications are available to the toolbar: GoogleTalk, Opera, BBSmart Alarm Pro, my RSS reader and practically everything I need.

Once you have customized your toolbar, it’s time to move on with the rest of the application.

Email Shortcuts

This part of the application gives you quick and easy access to the people that you email most. Adding your contacts’ email addresses is pretty simple since BBSmart has integrated shortcuts with your address book. Hit the “E” key to add a new email shortcut, start typing the contact’s name and the program immediately starts searching your address book for names that match. Select their name, and then if you already have an email address stored in your contacts, select the appropriate address (my fiancée has 3 email addresses, but I only email 1 regularly). No email address entered in your contact list? No problem type in any address you wish. Hit “OK” and your contact appears under the email list. To compose an email to a person on your quick list, scroll down to their name and click your trackwheel or trackbutton and the email program opens with that address already entered.

Messaging Shortcuts

Basically, this is the same as the email shortcuts. However, instead of email, this option composes a text message.

Phone

Add contacts here to quickly place a call to your most frequently used numbers. This has been the one that I have used the most, and I wish I could reorganize the order of the categories to make this one on top.

Web

Here you can enter your favorite Web sites. This ends up being even faster than using the bookmarks in your browser. Anything that makes my life easier is great in my book! While this doesn’t integrate with your bookmarks for easy entry, you can paste an address from your clipboard!

Pros

• Makes my life simpler
• Great easy to use interface
• Integrates with all of my most used applications
• Affordable price

Cons

• Does not integrate with browser favorites
• Can’t reorganize categories

Conclusion

This program is amazing, it has taken much of the monotony out of my life and simplified many of my day-to-day tasks. Good for BBSmart for seeing a way to make people’s life easier and acting on it! I would recommend this program to anyone whether for work or for play.

Here is a sample of my screen. I have eliminated a lot of my shortcuts so you can see an overview of all the shortcut categories, when in reality I have at least 5-10 entries in each category!

If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:

• BBSmart Shortcuts v1.4.1 Officially Released
• BBSmart Shortcuts – Awesome Launcher Application
• BBSmart Shortcuts Updated To Version 1.5 – Change Log
• BBSmart Shortcuts v1.4 Public Beta
• BBSmart Shortcuts Now Only $4.95

Posted by Nate for ©BerryReview, July 14, 2008, 8:00 am. | Review: BBSmart Shortcuts – How Smart Is It? | 4 comments |

Alarms Pro is another piece of software that should have been part of the operating system on all BlackBerrys. BBSmarts Alarms Pro is a great replacement for your original alarm. Not only does this software enable you to have multiple alarms, it also allows you to customize a multitude of settings for each alarm. No longer are we tied to the; weekdays, on and off, options. For those who work a different schedule every week, or may work a non-traditional schedule this program is an absolute necessity. Best of all each alarm can be disabled if you don’t need it at the time.

When its time for your alarm to go off, a clean looking screen appears along with your selected alarm sound. Everything is in large easy to read font sizes, perfect for those of us who don’t have perfect eyesight. From the “Alarm List” screen you can quickly see which alarms are enabled: Enabled=Green and Disabled=Red

Alarms Pro allows you to set two different kinds of alarms; “Regular Alarm” and “Quick Alarm”

Regular Alarm-

The regular alarm is similar to the kind of alarm you can set with the “Alarm” program that comes standard with all BlackBerrys, except on steroids. You can set an unlimited number of regular alarms, all customized to fit your personality and schedule. You start by naming your alarm, setting the desired alarm time, whether or not it is a recurring alarm and if it is, the days which you would like the alarm to go off. I often work four ten hour days so this has been a blessing; no more worrying about turning the alarm off Thursday night before I go to bed. If you are happy with the rest of the default settings, hit the back button and relax. Your alarm will go off without a hitch.

If you like to customize everything to its fullest extent, there are more options you can set. You can change the alarm sound, choose the number of occurrences of this alarm you wish to have, ranging from “1″ to “forever” and adjust the desired volume from 0-100. There is a nice little button that plays for you exactly what your alarm will sound like. Finally there are a couple of general alarm settings; whether or not you want your Berry to vibrate with the alarm, silence the alarm when it is unholstered, and set the snooze length.

Quick Alarm-

The Quick Alarm is more like a timer than an alarm. When adding a Quick Alarm, you are only prompted to enter the amount of time until you would like your alarm to go off; all the other settings revert to the default. This has really come in handy when cooking; I can set a quick alarm for my desired time, and never have to worry about not hearing the stove beeping if I’m across the house. Other uses I have found include: reminding me to move my sprinklers, call people back, I’ve even used it as a power-nap alarm! If you need to customize the alarm you can edit your quick alarm from the “Alarm List” screen.

Want More?-Of course you do! The last bit of customization Alarms Pro allows you to do is to edit the default alarm settings. If you always want your quick alarm to play your favorite song or set every regular alarm to have a 5 minute snooze time, this is the place to do it. Simply hit the “options” button of your BlackBerry while in the Alarms Pro application, scroll down to the options button, and choose whether you want to edit the “regular” or “quick” alarm defaults.

Pros

• Unlimited Alarms
• Tons of Options
• Very Affordable
• All Around Wonderful Application

Cons

• Only comes with 3 Alarms
• No Escalating Volume
• Doesnt come with BlackBerry! (although this is absolutly no fault of BBSmart)

If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:

• BBSmart Alarms Pro Version 1.1 Released – Multiple Alarms
• BBSmart Alarms Pro 50% Off Today Only – $2.49
• BBSmart Alarms Pro Updated – Now Supports OS 4.6 & 4.7
• BBSmart Releases Alarms Pro Update
• BBSmart Alarms Pro v1.24 – Quick Fix Update

Posted by Nate for ©BerryReview, July 3, 2008, 8:00 am. | Review: BBSmart Alarms Pro | 7 comments |

I know that this application has been mentioned before, but I just got it yesterday and I had to talk about it in greater detail!

Anyone who uses their BlackBerry on an Enterprise Server, should seriously consider this application. Empower BES MailBox has been a career saver for me. Those of you on a BES know that your Desktop messages populate into the handy “Messages” folder… as do ALL of your other messages from your various associated email accounts you have set up through BIS. The work around for this is often setting up a custom search for Desktop messages, and saving the search to a shortcut key, but that only helps so much. You are still tied to remembering to execute the search.

Que BES MailBox- Basically what the program does, is it creates a saved search and ties it to an icon on your homescreen. The icon functions much in the same way as a typical mailbox icon, including a distinct notification icon when you have an unread message. The program also lets you create a separate notification alerts when setting up your profiles (the BIG winner in my book). Another feature which I haven’t had too much time to play with is the Folder Based Alerts, which lets you set the notification to alert you when messages arrive in certain folders of your BES account.

The only negative things that I can possibly think of, are that underneath it all, its still a search. If you clear messages from the “messages” folder, you will clear all your messages, including BES messages. Also, when you are in your BES folder, and hit the back button, it takes you to your “Messages” folder instead of the homescreen. Kind of a bummer, but no biggie.

So if you are having similar problems with your corporate email getting lost in a sea of email, head over to the BerryReview Store and pick up this program for a mere $19.99-practically nothing compared to a lost email from a boss who needs something done in 10 minutes. Or if you want to try it out first hit up this link for the OTA Trial Download. There is basically no set-up for this application, install it and it does the rest.

Pros:

• No complicated setup
• Visual new message indicator
• Folder based alerts

Cons:

• Back button does not take you to homescreen
• Bit pricy

If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:

• BES-Mailbox Version 1.0 Released – Folder Based Alerts
• Empower BES Mailbox 4.0 Released – Bold & Storm Support
• Empower BES-Mailbox Discount – 30% Off ($7) – Until Monday
• Empower BES MailBox – Seperate Work (BES) and Personal (BIS) Emails!!!
• Empower BES MailBox v3.0 Released – Now Supports OS 4.3

Posted by Nate for ©BerryReview, June 26, 2008, 5:00 am. | Review: Empower BES Mailbox – Helps You Not Get Fired | 6 comments |

Review: JL_Cmder
Rating: 10 out of 10 stars
Link:

This one is an oldie but goodie. I found myself fighting with BlackBerry Unite over the weekend and decided it was time to remove it instead of struggling. But wait, how the hell do you uninstall this thing? Turns out the only sure way to free yourself from Unite’s grasp is to set your BlackBerry back to out-of-the-box state. No I don’t mean a simple security wipe it (tried that 4 times) I mean COMPLETELY reinstall the OS. Oh what fun huh? Well with this nifty piece of freeware I found, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. JL-Cmder to the rescue!

This multipurpose application was created by d_fisher @ Blackberry Forums to completely wipe your device of the OS. It’s not pretty but it sure gets the job done. A couple keyboard strokes and you have yourself a completely clean BlackBerry. Once your device is “wiped” you are free to reinstall your OS (or install that nifty version of 4.5 you downloaded )

Aside from wiping the device, the program also provides a quick and easy way to; export basic device info to a .txt file, take screenshots, view your event log, or even provide commands to manipulate your device via command line. Five stars, A+, two thumbs up, 10 out of 10! Proof that an application doesn’t need to be stylish to be effective.

Download the Application here. (http://www.blackberryforums.com/general-blackberry-discussion/18789-jl_cmder.html#post122727) Registration at BlackBerryForums.com is required for download. A nice set of thorough instructions can be found there as well.

Pros:

• Easily wipe your device
• Free software
• Works on OS 4.0.2+

Cons:

• None

Conclusion: JL_Cmder won our Editors Choice Award due to the fact that it is an essential application for all BlackBerry users. It simplifies the command line to a nice and easy interface. It is also the simplest way to restore your BlackBerry if it becomes FUBAR. Nice work Doug!

If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:

• BBSAK: BlackBerry Swiss Army Knife – Free GUI Alternative to JL_Cmder
• BlackBerry Swiss Army Knife (BSAK) updated to version v1.5
• FAQ: How Can I Wipe My BlackBerry With A Broken Keyboard
• BlackBerry Swiss Army Knife (BBSAK) 1.7 Released
• Advanced: JL_Cmder 1.9.1 Released – Small Update

Posted by Nate for ©BerryReview, June 23, 2008, 1:26 pm. | Review: JL_Cmder – BlackBerry Swiss Army Knife | 10 comments |

If you’re looking for a mobile website that that is easy to use and has a lot of function then PhoneFavs is a good choice. PhoneFavs.com – http://phonefavs.com gives you access to a whole load of interesting and fun mobile sites.

It also allows you to “view and use your bookmarks on your mobile device in small screen format. You can store, organize and share your bookmarks and access them on any device, anywhere. You can even import your existing bookmarks from Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari and del.icio.us. PhoneFavs also provides a mobile web directory, a mobile software store, and a mobile web transcoder that “mobilizes” large web pages, for better viewing on a small screen device.”

I’m still learning about how to use PhoneFavs to its fullest – but in the meantime, I sure am having fun!

For more info visit: http://phonefavs.com/about/

If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:

• KeyToss Personalized Mobile Portal Gets Updated
• mDog.com…This mobile web portal is the DOG!
• KeyToss Mobile Version 2 Beta – Personalized Portal
• KeyToss Beta Adds New Functionality To Mobile Portal
• Foxmarks Mobile Website: Access Your Bookmarks

Posted by Vicky for ©BerryReview, April 28, 2008, 10:36 am. | PhoneFavs mobile portal | Leave a comment |

I recently came across this interesting mobile weather website and when I showed my husband, it was the first time he was actually impressed with my Blackberry (usually he’s telling me to get off the darn thing!) There’s something about men and their need to keep up on the current weather.

Anyway, http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/data/paw/ is a website you can view from your Blackberry browser that allows you to view current weather from all over the place in real-time animated view. To quote the site’s own description:

“PAW is a PDA friendly weather web site that contains real-time images, graphics and text formated for display on PDA devices equiped with high resolution color displays. Content, including composite weather radar and satellite images with graphical overlay of observed and predicted data, can be viewed and controlled using web micro-browsers standard on these units. Users select from predefined geographical regions and control data type, animation, zoom and roam. National Weather Service Zone Forecast Products and Model Output Statistics are available for selected cities.”

So if you’re the kind of person that likes to keep an eye on the weather, (and I mean really keep an eye on it) even when you’re out and about, this website is for you.

If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:

• Foreca.mobi – Great Mobile Weather Website!
• FREE Weather App At GetJar By Gergely Gati
• Weather Eye – Free Weather Application By The Weather Network
• HomeWeather: Weather Forecast as Your BlackBerry Background (Storm Only)
• Premium, Animated ‘Underwater’ theme from Hedone Design

Posted by Vicky for ©BerryReview, April 28, 2008, 10:05 am. | PDA Animated Weather | Leave a comment |

Making software for the competitive mobile device market is not easy, but those folks at SHAPE Services are not complaining. Instead, they’re keeping up with the times and defending the relevance of their products. SHAPE Services is the company that makes VR+, a voice recorder for the Blackberry, among a few other programs for many platforms, like IM+ for Skype, reviewed here last Friday. VR+ has been getting better and better and it just got even better. Now it can transcribe voice notes… sort of. That is great news, and since VR+ is one of my favorite Blackberry applications and since this is BerryReview.com, why not write a review about VR+? Read on…

Trivia: This is the first application to ever receive a full 10/10 rating on BerryReview

It was a dark and stormy night…

I still remember the most exciting and the most disappointing moments I had during my honeymoon over the next few days after I bought my first Blackberry. One of the biggest disappointing moments was when I realized the Blackberry’s native “voice recorder” I had gawked at when examining the phone in the store was in fact one of the lamest applications I had seen in my whole life (it’s called Send Voice Note in the 2006/2007 Blackberry models). It recorded at very low volume, barely audible, and it couldn’t save any sound file. The only option was to send the recording via MMS. An insult. I could only hope there were decent aftermarket voice recorders in a good software store. And there certainly were.

The first thing I bought was vNotes, which is cheaper and very competent and served me well for some time. But until then I was just looking for a voice memo application. As soon as I had the voice memo application, I realized it would be great if I could send voice messages over e-mail. That would be even better than a QWERTY keyboard, I wouldn’t have to type! That feature is present in vNotes, but I wasn’t very happy about the file formats. WAV is too big and AMR is a format that most people can’t play in a Windows machine without downloading a special codec and I’ve never been able to play on Linux at all. VR+ already offered the ability to e-mail the voice notes in the MP3 format, the only really sane format for something like that. So I bit the bullet, paid $29.95 for VR+ and now it is one of my favorite Blackberry applications. Just take a gander at the top of the article and see how many stars I gave it.

It’s review time!

VR+ is extremely useful, but it doesn’t have that many features. So it is very easy to master and use.

As soon as the program launches, you can press the Space key to start recording. Or you can configure VR+ to start recording automatically whenever it’s launched. If you press Space again, the recording is paused. Yes, you can pause and resume. You can also send VR+ to the background and use another application. VR+ will keep recording in background. If you press the Blackberry Escape key, the recording stops. Every new recording is added to a list (shown in the screenshot above). In that list, you can play a recording with the trackball or send the recording to the cloud. You can send it through e-mail or upload it to a remote storage account. Let’s analyze each one of these two options separately.

E-mail

This is by far the most interesting feature. Every Blackberry or Treo user knows how much better it is to type short messages with a full QWERTY keyboard. But sometimes you may have a bit too much to say and you don’t want to be the subject of one of those endless slow-news-day articles about people getting BlackBerry Thumb Syndrome. This is what VR+ is great for: just dictate your message and send it through e-mail! Unlike the native Send Voice Note application I mentioned in the beginning of this article, VR+ sends the AMR file to an intermediary server run by SHAPE Services that will convert the file into MP3, a truly popular format. You can decide if the recipient should receive the MP3 file as an attachment, just a link to a Web page where they can download the file, or both. Some people spend the entire day behind corporate firewalls that might prevent them from receiving MP3 attachments. Others have download size restrictions. Others are not allowed to browse the Web and download files. The two options provided by VR+ should take care of most if not all of these situations.

When it’s time to select the e-mail recipient’s name and address, you have access to your address book, of course. So it’s just a matter of browsing and clicking. But you can also launch VR+ from within the Blackberry mail application. VR+ installs three new entries in the native mail app’s menu:

As soon as you create a new message, it is automatically filled in with a template message. You can customize that template in the configuration section. There is a screenshot of the template editing window at the end of this review. If the template is not appropriate in any given situation, just delete it or edit it like any other e-mail message.

Remote storage

After you send the message, the recipient will receive your recording as an attachment or download link or both. That’s because every owner of a VR+ license is entitled to a free remote storage account. It’s not a subscription service, it’s part of your license when you buy VR+, at no additional cost. Every time you record a new piece, you can upload it to your remote account. It is very easy to retrieve the recording’s remote URL right from VR+ so you can send that URL to someone later, so long as you don’t delete the sound file from your phone. If you delete it, then you will have to log in to your account on your desktop machine and check your list of saved recordings. If you click here, you can see one of these pages and listen to a message I have recorded and made available especially for you, BerryReview readers.

Of course, you don’t have to reveal those addresses to anyone if you don’t want to share any particular recording, so that remote account also serves as a remote backup stash. There is one big problem with that solution, though: security by obscurity. Just check the link I just mentioned and note that the file hides behind a very long numeric key. Change that key and you might end up finding someone else’s page, with who knows what kind of dirty secrets. It is very difficult, the hash is pretty long, I have tried brute forcing it with dozens of random number sequences and never found any other valid address with someone else’s recordings, but that doesn’t mean it is impossible. I really think we should be able to lock those storage lots with passwords.

Rise of the dictatorships

We’ve seen some interesting and more or less related offerings pop up around here lately. There is Vlingo & Yahoo. There is Nuance. There is Winscribe. Why not mention TeleNav just to increase the list. And the most relevant one: Jott. Where did so many voice-operated applications come from this sudden? And how does that affect VR+? It affects plenty!

A few months ago, RIM announced a new Blackberry OS (4.5) with several improvements, including an all-new voice recorder. Around the date of the announcement, I had just bought my copy of VR+ and thought that maybe I had foolishly spent my hard earned money on something I would soon have for free. I was wrong. First, the new OS with the new voice recorder still isn’t available after several months. Second, people who have tested the new 4.5 OS describe RIM’s new voice recorder as something quite limited. It can only store the recordings in the phone or media card, and it can only e-mail the recordings in its native (but exotic) AMR format. VR+ already had the ability to send the recordings through e-mail in the MP3 format. But SHAPE Services immediately improved the VR+ experience even further with an online account where the recordings can be stored permanently. Thus VR+ was relevant again and well worth the price of admission.

Jott can actually be in competition with VR+. It is an automated transcription service. You dictate your musings into the Jott application, send it to your account and get a transcription over e-mail. In theory, it’s not just as useful as a voice message application like VR+. It can be more useful. It relieves you from the trouble of typing long messages just like VR+, and the ability to transform dictation into text that can be copied and pasted could have many interesting and rather valuable applications other than plain simple instant communication.

Except for a few minor issues. First off, Jott is only available to U.S. and Canada residents, go figure why. VR+ is available worldwide or something very close to that (the usual trade embargo countries are probably excluded). Second, Jott probably supports nothing but English and they can’t add that many languages on short notice. VR+, however, supports whatever language or dialect both you and your recipient speak. Even Klingon! Third, Jott apparently uses some machine-based speech recognition system. How accurate can it be? Not 100%, that’s for sure. Especially if you speak with some exotic accent. When you use VR+, you’re not talking to a machine. You’re probably talking to someone you already know and is familiar enough with your distinctive speech or at least can rely on to-this-day unmatched human intelligence and lifelong training to do a very good job of understanding what you say.

But the thing is: voice recognition seems to be all the rage now, and SHAPE Services once again have shown that they are in sync with the Zeitgeist. The new version 2.3 of VR+, released just a few days ago, can upload your voice messages to iDictate, a pay-as-you-go transcription service that could be looking at a lawsuit from Apple sooner than later. I don’t know how accurate their service is, but the realistic prices and turnaround times suggest that they employ human beings to perform the transcription, not speech recognition software. The service is not cheap, which is very bad if you’re a cheapskate, but is probably very good if you expect professional grade quality. At this point, I must apologize to our readers. I’d love to test and evaluate the transcription services offered by iDictate, but their pay-as-you-go model require that I submit all my credit card information beforehand and let them charge my usage from it at their discretion, something I will do immediately as soon as hell freezes over. I really do not trust my credit card with any company at all. I wish I could buy transcription credits with Paypal, just like Skype credits. That would be very nice. Meanwhile, let this paragraph be a micro review of iDictate’s service. My verdict: I don’t like it.

I don’t think I am the kind of person who is going to use transcription services, but I certainly admire what SHAPE Services are doing to VR+. They are constantly adding value to it and making it still very relevant and very useful in the face of new technologies and competitors. That alone made me want to write this review.

A warning to upgraders: I uninstalled my previous version before installing version 2.3, I don’t know if that was necessary, but I did it. Surprisingly, version 2.3 retained all my previous configuration. I wonder if they store configuration remotely like most RSS readers. That is very nice, but I had a glitch: my previous recordings are no longer recognized. My list was empty! The recordings are still there in my media card, but VR+ won’t list them anymore. And I have no means to convert that bunch of AMR files into MP3.

One last look

Last and least, at least for me, VR+ supports its own concept of “themes”. I don’t care much about that kind of thing, but I know that many people do. The version I have comes with just three of them. You’ve seen one in the beginning of this review. Here are the other two:

But if you google for “VR+” images, you might see other themes. I don’t know where they can be found. I wish that main pane were simply translucid and we could choose any background image we wanted. Dollars5 have done that to their media player and I think it looks great.

Now a good set of configuration screenshots should give you a good idea of all options available in adapting VR+ to your preferences.

Pros: you can record voice memos, send voice messages by e-mail in MP3, store them in a free remote account and share them; very simple and efficient program and interface.

Cons: I have a reputation to look after, so here is at least one flaw: Auto Text doesn’t work in the message’s Subject line.

My rating: 10.

If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:

• Pinger – Free Voice SMS Application
• VR+ Now Allows You To Upload Voice Recordings To Their Server
• Review: Voice on the Go – Listen to Your Email While You Drive
• Google Voice With You Number & Google Voice Voicemail
• YouMail…Cell Phone Voice Mail That’s Pretty Darn Cool

Posted by luc-mobile for ©BerryReview, April 8, 2008, 8:00 am. | Review: VR+ 2.3 – Voice Recorder Application | 5 comments |

Review: Guitar Hero Mobile by Magmic/Bplay

Bplay has done a wonderful job of recreating the Guitar Hero experience on the BlackBerry. I was forced to dock a whole point off the rating for one simple reason. The controls are a bit clumsy on the curve or 8800 series. On the other hand it works like a dream on the pearl! To understand what that means you will have to read the rest of the review.

All I can say is that if you enjoy Guitar Hero at all on your console you will love it on your BlackBerry. The songs are great and I had a blast playing the game. The controls are the only caveat and I really wish that in the next update Bplay will let us customise the controls to our own playing style.

Purchasing: The game can be purchased in two models. A one time purchase of $14.99 which allows for updated songs or a $4.49 a month subscription. 3 new songs will be released every month and you can update them easily from the application. At this time there are no updates other than the original 15 songs. I am not quite sure what the differences are between the two price models other than that but I will try to find out.

Installation: The install was pretty forward but the game is a whopping 1MB. I guess they needed room to store all of the songs. According to Bplay, Guitar Hero Mobile is compatible with the 7130/8100/8700/8300/8800 (and derivatives) except for the 8707as it does not support socket connections.

The Controls: This is the only caveat with the game. If you have a Pearl you are golden but with a Curve or 8800 you may have some issues. You can read below in the image how the controls work.

There are 3 frets in the game no matter if you are playing in the easy, medium, or hard modes. These frets are pressed by clicking the R, Y, and U keys or the keys below them. On the Pearl this is an easy feat because these are the three middle keys as shown below:

On the other hand with the curve you have a weird setup for the keys that make you sometimes push the wrong buttons.

Personally the way I would have set it up would be like this for two handed play

Now on to the actual game. Below you see the main screen and the next screen which allows you to easily set the sound.

You then enter in your nickname and on the next screen see the main menu.

You can then click “quick play” to start up a one time game. You start off with the opening licks which gives you 4 classic songs. BTW there are no more frets in the expert version compared to the easy version.

Some gameplay screenshots. Keep in mind I sucked because it is very hard to take screenshots while playing the game. I did run into some lags where incoming emails or calendar reminders would cause the flow of the game to pause and me to screw up. The have the same score board on the left and the rock meter on the right.

There is also a campaign mode where you can choose to be one of two characters.

There is also a choice between 4 guitars that you can unlock but you only start with 1. You can see two below…

There are also acievements to unlock for extra goodies…

After each set your score is uploaded or updated to Bplays servers allowing you to see where you stand in the rankings. Pretty HOT! I like where Bplay is going with this.

I tried clicking on the update tracks button on the main menu and got the message below. It seems like we will have to wait until next month for new tracks.

Pros:

• Classic Guitar Hero gameplay
• Great selection of songs
• Ability to post your score to the rankings online
• Unlockable extras
• Ability to download new tracks in the future

Cons:

• Key configuration on the Curve and 8800 series
• Gameplay stutters sometimes when messages or reminders come up

Conclusion:

All in all I think that Guitar Hero is now one of my favorite games for BlackBerry. It would be even better if Bplay updated the game to allow users to set their own keys. If you have a 8100 Pearl you will have no problem with the controls. I was playing on an 8310 and even with the odd key configuration the game is as addictive as the console version.

The price may be a bit high compared to Bplays other offerings but the game is worth it. I would stay away from the subscription since $4.49/month can add up quickly compared to $14.99 for a year. This is one quality offering from Bplay. Hopefully the next revision will win it the Editors Choice award.

So what are you waiting for? Pick up your copy from Bplay

If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:

• Bplay Adds 3 New Songs To Guitar Hero Mobile III
• TheStreet.com Posts Video Of Guitar Hero Mobile Gameplay
• GUITAR HERO For BLACKBERRY Available Now!!!
• Guitar Hero 4 World Tour Now Available With Multiplayer & Online Rankings
• Bplay Releases Guitar Hero III Backstage Pass Game

Posted by Ronen Halevy for ©BerryReview, April 1, 2008, 5:00 pm. | Review: Guitar Hero Mobile For BlackBerry | 10 comments |

This app was announced a while ago. I wanted to write about it then, but didn’t have the time. I have a little time now.

I have to admit I am not familiar with paidContent. Apparently, it is a big site focused on business and with a lot of their own content. Maybe they wanted to make themselves better known by ignorant people like me who had never heard of them before, so they decided to have their own version of the Freerange RSS reader. If you already have a yearly subscription to Freerange, this article probably won’t interest you. If you don’t, cup your ears. This is a free ad-supported version of Freerange, with all of its features and a little extra. If the words “ad-supported” scare you, let’s have a look at those ads already and get past that, shall we? Click the images to see them in full size.

And that’s probably all the advertising you are going to see. Nothing but the usual Freerange opening screen with a big ad at the top. While it is big, it is only present in that one screen, not permanently visible as one might expect. It’s not obtrusive at all, and it is very effective. If you click it, you get a little presentation that hopes to get you interested and a very polite invitation to learn more. A very good solution indeed. You don’t have to click at all, and it is gone as soon as you open one of your channels or folders.

Well, there is some more advertising if you really want to be grumpy and call that “advertising”. You get 4 compulsory paidContent.org channels, i.e. they can’t be removed or even renamed. That does feel a little aggressive or obtrusive, but I got used to it quickly. Their content is not bad at all, I actually became a reader. That’s what they wanted all along, isn’t it? My only complaint about it is that each one of those channels is an individual folder in the opening screen, each one containing only one feed, which results a little messy as you can see in the screenshots. Why not have one single “paidContent feeds” folder?

From then on, it’s Freerange as usual. You can add your own feeds and yes, images are supported plenty! Almost everything you find in the old Freerange is supported, except for two things as far as I can remember:

• themes: you just get the paidContent red-and-gold theme, which I happen to like immensely;
• no Web-based back-end where we can manage our subscriptions, everything has to be done right on the device.

The absence of Web-based management is indeed a disadvantage. Although the usual Freerange catalogue of suggested feeds is there, most of my favorite feeds are not included in their catalogue so I spent quite some time copying and pasting feed addresses from an e-mail I sent myself. That was not fun at all. On the other hand, there is a new feature. My stock version of Freerange gives me 3 choices for opening links in the articles:

• Internal browser
• Phone’s browser
• Choose every time

This version brings two new options:

• Phone’s browser (Google)
• Phone’s browser (Skweezer)

These are especially converted versions of the intended page as offered by Google mobile reader or Skweezer. That is a very nice touch, although many pages are reported non-existing when I browse that way. And since I am in complaining mode, here is something that really bothers me. The “send article” feature has a very bad problem witn accented characters (very common in Portuguese). Look at these screenshots, they say it all:

Sent to myself:

The picture on the left is my Blackberry. The one on the right is Kmail on my desktop. Notice how accented letters (á, ê, õ, ç) get all mangled up. And that happens both in vanilla Freerange and the paidContent edition.

And I am pretty much done with my complaining. Everything else works fine and a bunch more of screenshots should be enough to wrap this up:

Pros: FREE fully-featured Freerange, excellent all-around RSS reader that renders articles and images like no other.

Cons: lack of Web-based feed management; problems with certain characters when sending/sharing articles; four compulsory channels that take up four compulsory folders in the opening screen.

Up to you whether these are pro or con: ad-supported; compulsory feeds.

My rating: 9. Loses one point due to the lack of Web management and the problem with characters.

If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:

• FreeRange – Another Free RSS Reader For BlackBerry
• FreeRange RSS Reader Version 2.2.8 Released
• Handmark Buys FreeRange – Wonder What Is Next…
• FierceWireless Releases Free Branded FreeRange Reader
• Wall Street Journal Gets Branded Version Of FreeRange

Posted by luc-mobile for ©BerryReview, March 13, 2008, 5:38 pm. | Review: Freerange, paidContent edition | One comment |

Ever since I have owned a smartphone, I have longed for a product that would allow me to keep track of my vehicle expenditure. Well, I’ve found one…And it has been worth the wait.

I am awarding this product an Editors Choice Award. It is, by far, one of the best purpose built applications I have ever used. If you don’t own a car, go out and buy one just so you can use this program… For the full review, just hit the JUMP…

TrackIT : Vehicle Edition has every foreseeable feature you could ever wish for in a Vehicle log program. You can even input multiple vehicles and have a separate log book for each. Setup is easy and details can be as vague or as detailed as you wish.

Features Include:

• 4 Main Criteria :
• Mileage
• Fuel
• Expenses
• Maintenance

• Vehicle Setup :
• Multiple Vehicle Entries
• Purchase Info
• Loan Info
• Insurance Info

• Features Setup :
• Reports and Graphs
• Export Data
• Color Schemes

Each time you fuel up, just input the information on your BlackBerry. (I find the easiest way is just staight off your receipt as they usually have all the quantity and pricing). Any other expenses such as servicing and maintenance can also be entered into their relevant sections. Any business related single trips can be inputted to their relevant section to create an entire vehicle database.

I find the secret with good book-keeping is to input the information as soon as you get it. Most of us will always have our BlackBerries with us whilst in the car so why not use it to collect and store all that trip information that is usually just scribbled in an old beaten up notebook.
Another great feature is the graphing utility. Each of the main criteria sections have a graph application which graphs all of your inputted information on a great little line graph. You also have a section with a summary of each of the main features as well. This includes helpful information such as over-all mileage, average fuel price and total cost. A great little application if you need to see your overall at a quick glance.

Conclusion :
I gave trackIT : Vehicle Edition 9 ½ stars because, well I don’t do perfect scores, and because of the price. It is a bit expensive but for what you are getting, it is well worth it.
And you can finally confirm what you already know, cars are getting more expersive to run !
They is a trial version available so what have you got to loose. Try before you buy is always helpful when reviewing as you are sort of backed up by the company and don’t have to worry about giving people the wrong impression…

If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:

• Review: Blinding Rain fōne book App for the BlackBerry Storm
• Review: PocketDay Personal / Professional Part I
• Review: REXwireless ToDoMatrix Task Management Application
• Review: BBBattery Watch From S4BB
• Review: BlueAnt Supertooth 3

Posted by Greg for ©BerryReview, March 13, 2008, 9:42 am. | Review : trackIT :Vehicle Edition. | One comment |

From the editor: Bookworm is the first BlackBerry game to ever receive an Editors Choice Award on BerryReview. After the stellar rating Greg gave Bookworm in November and based on the review by Luciano below I think the game more than deserves the award. Now back to the review.

The Blackberry is such a productive device that we often need to wind down a little. Magmic has a good collection of productivity reduction tools at very good prices (all under $10) and this is the second of a series of reviews we’ll be publishing here. As a writer, I love word games so I decided to start with Bookworm.

The creators of this game had a good idea indeed. Bookworm is a Scrabble-meets-Tetris game where you join, or rather select adjacent letter blocks to spell out the best words you can. Words can be spelled out in any direction: left, right, up, down, round in curves etc. so long as each letter is physically connected to the next one. Every time you spell a word, you score points and the blocks are removed from the board. New ones drop from the top à la Tetris and the game goes on.

In theory, it could go on forever. In practice, it doesn’t. After some time – quite some time, actually – “flaming” blocks begin to drop. They are dangerous: if you don’t get them out of the board, they will burn whatever block is sitting immediately underneath them. That will happen at every turn until they hit the bottom of the board. If you let that happen, they will set fire on the entire library and that’s how you get to lose the game. It soon becomes obvious that you had better get rid of these little arsonist buggers as soon as possible, even if that means sacrificing a more valuable spelling possibility.

You can select the letters with the trackball, but I had a much better time using the QWERTY keyboard. Words must be at least three-letter long. Longer words score more points, of course. Too many short words seem to be punishable with greater occurrence of flaming blocks. Also the letters have different values. I didn’t really pay attention to that, but the letters seem to carry more or less the same value they do in Scrabble. So if you find two possible words that will use up the same letters, you may want to check which word will score the more points before you confirm which one you want. Long words award you special colored blocks that multiply the value of the words that contain them, which is also very similar to Scrabble. The points are indicated on the left. That is the bookshelf and the… erm, librarian, I guess. As you build words and score your points, a row of books on the bookshelf indicate your progress in the current level. When the bookshelf is full, you go up one level.

I managed to play this game for almost one hour before losing in my very first attempt. Breaking the one-hour barrier then became trivial. That doesn’t mean the game is too easy therefore uninteresting. On the contrary, it is extremely addictive if you like word games. This is not an action game to be played in 5 minutes to kill some time. It is sort of a long game. You will likely want to stop during your game and resume it later quite often. The two motivations in this game simply seem to be outdo your own best score and forget your troubles while you look for all spelling possibilities, especially considering how difficult it is to spell out long and valuable words.

That part of the fun is often marred by what seems to be an oversight: the blocks are too random. So random it is often impossible to spell out anything longer than three letters. The game is aware of that. First, the player is allowed to shuffle the board most of the time. Second, there is no “Q” block. Instead, we get “Qu” blocks, because spelling anything with a Q without a U is well-nigh impossible. But we get no help whatsoever with the Zs or Xs, and the board can often be riddled with too many adjacent vowels or too many adjacent consonants. It can be very frustrating. It prevents the excitement of spotting at least a five-letter word way too often. I think that shuffling the board is no fun. Never mind the couple of flaming blocks that come with every shuffle, I think that shuffling breaks the flow of the game. Being unable to finish that six or seven-letter word I’ve been keeping an eye on because I’m up to my ears in vowels and restarting the entire board from scratch really gets under my skin. I think there should be a much better balance of vowels and consonants in the game’s algorithm. But maybe that’s just me.

Another complaint I could make of this game is that it failed to recognize a few words. I really should have written down a list, but off the cuff I can remember “Dane” and “Monday”. Another small flaw is that we can only save and resume one game at a time. I wish I could keep at least a couple of games rolling and “compete” with someone in my household.

Eventually, too many flaming blocks make getting rid of them an impossible task, but you do get a chance to postpone the mayhem over and over. It all depends a lot on how you play.

Pros: very nice concept; very addictive.

Cons: gameplay could be better, blocks are too random; only one game can be saved and resumed.

If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:

• Review: Bookworm – By Magmic
• Wordcaster – Another Word Munching Game
• Review: White House Rumble By Magmic
• Review: Duckshot – By Magmic Games
• Magmic Releases Basketball and Rummy Games

Posted by luc-mobile for ©BerryReview, February 7, 2008, 11:05 pm. | Review: Bookworm By Magmic | 2 comments |