First, yes, I bought a brand spankin’ new Bold. I may even give you a review of it once I’ve put it through all of its paces. While shopping, I played with a ton of touch screen phones and realized I don’t like ’em. So I have no Storm jealousy. But obviously plenty of people love touchscreens, so the Storm may be for you (but not for me).
Either way, it’s time for me to share a few of my favorite non-Google BlackBerry apps I use almost daily. Oh yeah, they’re all free too, hopefully you don’t mind.
BlackBerry Messenger
https://www.blackberry.com/messenger
This SHOULD be installed on your ‘Berry, but I’ve run into a few people who either don’t have it (some older models) or have no clue what it is. Ever seen the option for PIN Messaging? Every BB has a PIN that is a unique identifier. It’s not a text message and it’s not an email (and doesn’t go through your email server). BB Messenger just turns your PIN messages into an IM-like conversation. Mine is 249E0101, feel free to hit me up, just make sure your name is setup correctly so I know who you are.
Opera Mini (https://m.opera.com) – Yes, the browser in the latest software version is great, but sometimes you need a little extra oomph. Opera is a full-fledged desktop browser and the (free) mini version ports it over to pretty much any cell phone. It’s a must-have for when those certain touchy sites won’t load on the build in browser or for those of you with older models that won’t support the 4.5+ BB OS.
TwitterBerry
https://orangatame.com/ota/twitterberry/
Yes, there’s also TinyTwitter, but I really like TwitterBerry more, so that’s my recommendation. If you haven’t heard of Twitter….ah, nevermind. Just get it, set it up, choose your auto-updates AND edit your profile so your phone doesn’t go off EVERY time the stream is updated 🙂
Vlingo
https://www.vlingo.com/vlingo/blackberry.jsp – NOT a BB browser link
Voice activate web searches, sending text messages/emails, updating your Facebook/Twitter, creating tasks, dialing contacts or open applications. It works incredibly well, just get it.
https://www.blackberry.com/facebook
It’s Facebook. On your BlackBerry. Make sure your FB email gets forwarded to your BB for the best experience. It also allows you to direct upload images to FB right from the camera.
iSkoot
https://www.iskoot.com/register.php – NOT a BB browser link
Skype on your BlackBerry. Not just chat, but SkypeOut calling too! So I can call you using iSkoot on my BB and it will look like I’m calling from my Skype number, not my cell number.
Flickr
https://www.facebook.com/flickr
Yup, you guessed it, it allows you to directly upload to your Flickr account from your BB.
Qik
https://qik.com/sign_up – NOT a BB browser link
Not all BB’s are supported, but I think all of the 3G versions are. Basically allows for streaming video direct from your ‘Berry which can then be posted to a variety of sites automatically.
(Sorry, no graphics from me today, the $5 for a week hotel WiFi is a perfect example of getting what I pay for. The 48 minute expected time to upload a 2k file is brutal!)
