Cool Blackberry apps

[Doozer]

I just picked up a new Blackberry Curve on the weekend (8330), and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for some of the cooler/interesting/useful apps for it. Maybe good online resources for them?

I'm a software professional so I'm comfortable playing around with it. But this is the first berry that I've owned so I really only have the vaguest idea of what it can do, and I'm sure there's a lot of cool stuff out there that it would take me months to figure out on my own.

[ronaldo]

Opera Mini and Weather Eye are two of my favorites

[spike98]

^Agreed

Jivetalk or IM+ for MSN or other IMing

[Doozer]

Originally posted by ronaldo
Opera Mini and Weather Eye are two of my favorites I assume Opera Mini is a mini version of the browser, and Weather Eye is a program that shows the local weather?

[ronaldo]

yup:thumbsup:

viigo is a cool newsreader as well

[spyce]

viigo is awesome for a rss news feed
googlemaps is better than the blackberry maps imo

[syeve]

rad...weather eye and viigo is so good.

[Kona9]

www.crackberry.com

info on all Blackberry's with add ons etc.

[CLiVE]

gpsed - free download and gpsed.com

It is a gps distance tracker that tells speed, distance, time travelled. Great for running/hiking, etc. to tell distance travelled. You can then upload your tracks to the gpsed website and show them on google maps. Very cool. For example here's a short jog from the other day. (yellow line). Blue line is part of my commute to work.

[Doozer]

Originally posted by Kona9
www.crackberry.com

info on all Blackberry's with add ons etc.

Originally posted by CLiVE
gpsed - free download and gpsed.com

It is a gps distance tracker that tells speed, distance, time travelled. Great for running/hiking, etc. to tell distance travelled. You can then upload your tracks to the gpsed website and show them on google maps. Now we're talking! I'll definitely be checking those out.

I knew that there were free GPS packages out there that I could use with the built-in GPS on the berry, without having to subscribe to the blackberry service....

[CLiVE]

For turn-by-turn GPS navigation try Mapquest navigator rather than blackberry maps or telenav

https://mapquestdtc.telmap.com/

Cost is ~$4.00/month, but better than telenav and cheaper.

[rawsensation]

blackberry tracker is a good one if you ever lose your blackberry

[anarchy]

Yeah I use Crackberry as well, pretty decent forums.

As for MSN, you should be able to get Live Messenger on your blackberry now for free without having to pay for IM+. I have it.

Just download it here:
http://www.blackberry.com/devicesoft....do?code=wlm20

I have Opera Mini, WeatherEye, Google Maps, MyAlarm (6 custom alarms) and JapBLite (budget manager).

Plus a bunch of games.

I have Windows Live Search as well but it stopped working for me and I can't get it work lol.

There's also pinstack.com that has some decent stuff.

[Commanderwiggin]

A little off topic but I've been able to check my hotmail on the blackberry browser since I got it and now today all of a sudden it doesn't work. Says I need a mobile phone with WAP 2.0 and I'm pretty sure mine does. WTF Over?:dunno:

[Doozer]

^^ I know that my email was set up last Sunday, when I got the unit, and it worked for a couple days then quit. I called the person I bought it from, and it turns out Telus has been having some email/text issues. They reset something, and now my email's working again. I also couldn't log into the biz website to check anything myself.

On a related note, I tried to download the Weather Eye app from their address:
http://weyebb.pelmorex.com/BlackBerry/

I can get to it on the PC just fine, but for some reason, when I try to get to it through the Blackberry browser, I get an access-denied MIME error. Anyone have any thoughts? It seems like a security setting that needs to be changed, but I've gone through all the settings I can find and can't seem to see anything to change.

[adidas]

In for later

[The Cosworth]

I have used pinstack.com for a few themes (which I need to learn to remove if someone can help me out)

I have Vlingo, Opera Mini, weathereye and the legend of zelda.

I want a few more games.

[anarchy]

Originally posted by The Cosworth
I have used pinstack.com for a few themes (which I need to learn to remove if someone can help me out)

I have Vlingo, Opera Mini, weathereye and the legend of zelda.

I want a few more games.

The way I remove themes (or any other apps for that matter) is just go to options/advanced/applications
then find your theme/app in the list and just delete.

I think you can also do it through desktop manager, similar to the way you install a program but instead you uncheck the box beside your theme/app and that'll remove it as well.


As for games, I have tons. Medieval Kings Chess 2 is fun, so is Pacman, Lingo and Outbreak. I had Bomberman and Zelda but they were a bit hard to play and control so I got rid of them. They were all free.

[The Cosworth]

Originally posted by anarchy


As for games, I have tons. Medieval Kings Chess 2 is fun, so is Pacman, Lingo and Outbreak. I had Bomberman and Zelda but they were a bit hard to play and control so I got rid of them. They were all free.

where did you find them?

[Doozer]

Update:

I've spent a bit of time playing around, and I like that GPSed app. The only problem I've noticed is that it seems to have a hard time locking on to satellites lately. It worked fine the first few times, and now it still doesn't connect after 5 minutes of leaving it, so I haven't used it much beyond the first couple times, where it worked great.

WeatherEye ... can't get that thing to even install. It would be nice to have though.

Facebook app - gives me problems ... won't let me log in, tells me my "plan" does not support it, even though I have web access, and I can browse to the mobile.facebook.com website. Just the actual Facebook app won't connect, so the only way I can get there is to actually browse to the website.

I also found something cool ... automatically plugging in the entire Oilers schedule into the berry (I admit I'm an Oilers fan). You can download the whole schedule to Outlook, then sync it with your blackberry so you have all the games in there. It uses a tool called Infuzer, and it's super quick and easy. The Oilers version is here: http://oilers.nhl.com/schedule/schedule.htm , but I know there's a Flames one since it was a Flames fan who told me about it. (EDIT: here's the link to the Flames version; exactly like the Oilers one - http://flames.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NHLPage&id=17557)

Still haven't tried downloading any games, or played around with the music/videos yet.

[anarchy]

Originally posted by The Cosworth


where did you find them?

www.mobilerated.com

Also some free games on the blackberry site.

I think it's mobile.blackberry.com

[chengj]

Doozer,

Sounds to me like you have some carrier issues with Telus. If you can log into your BIS site: http://bis.na.blackberry.com/html?brand=telus
There is an option to resend "Service Books". It is usually the first thing to try, if miscellaneous services stop working (browsing, data, email, etc...)


Above suggestions are good. Also check out http://blackberryforums.com
http://berryreview.com
http://blackberrycool.com

You can find links to everything and probably the most comprehensive list of apps (minus games) here:
http://www.blackberryforums.com/aftermarket-software/61499-list-latest-versions-3rd-party-software-mini-version-tracker.html

On my device regularly I have installed:
- WeatherEye
- Beyond411
- Viigo
- Google Maps, Search, Docs, Mail (I'm using Google maps for directions).
- Facebook
- BeeJive (Formally JiveTalk; THE Best IM app, not up for discussion. :) Not free though.)
- bbtracker (Ugly, but effective. I used it skiing, to do some position and speed tracking. I may remove it if GPSed does what I want it to).
- GPSed
- KeePass
- AskMeNow
- Beiks Bible Reader
- Empower (HTML Email; will become mostly unecessary once OS4.5 goes live).
- Documents-To-Go (free with a 4.5 OS)
- Beta 4.5 OS :)

For true directions, turn-by-turn voice directions. I've tried most of the gps apps, and while I haven't forked out the money for it, I prefer TeleNav. There are at least 3 or 4 free options though. Google Maps is the cleanest I think.

[chengj]

Also, Doozer, if you still have issues with the data apps (anything that uses TCP; pretty much anything other than Browser and email), it's probably something on Telus' side. What plan are you using?

[Doozer]

Interesting ... the problem DOES seem to be plan-related, but the Telus helpdesk guy that I talked to had no clue. I think he got lost on his way to work at McDonald's that day.

I'm not 100% sure of my plan ... I have a friend who works at a communications company, who got me all set up in exchange for me doing some website work. I know that I don't technically have a data plan, but she said something about a Telus 3-month promo where I get data free for the first 3 months.

Now, regardless of the plan ... what I'm curious about is why the browsing would work, but not a specific app. That's why I keep thinking that it can't be the plan. But.. maybe? :dunno:

[chengj]

Originally posted by Doozer
...

Now, regardless of the plan ... what I'm curious about is why the browsing would work, but not a specific app. That's why I keep thinking that it can't be the plan. But.. maybe? :dunno: [/B]

That's partly what those "Service books" are. They're essentially instructions telling your device which services you are configured for. For example, each email address will have a service book, the internet browser another and the WAP browser, yet another.

The TCP/IP stack is handled independent from browser traffic. It seems odd, but it actually works fairly well. (This whole thing gets another layer of complication if you're connected via a corporate BES).

[Doozer]

Originally posted by chengj

The TCP/IP stack is handled independent from browser traffic. It seems odd, but it actually works fairly well. (This whole thing gets another layer of complication if you're connected via a corporate BES).
So the service books aren't actually information for me; they're merely a refresher to the device of what it's supposed to be doing?

Your TCP explanation might explain why the FB app is crapping out when the browser is working. The odd thing is that (and I've done this twice now)... after first installng the FB app, it works perfectly normally. I can update my status, etc. But then after X period of time (minutes/hours?) it stops. I'll go to update something later in the evening, and I can't log in, and I get the service error.

I'll do some more checking into my plan as well...

[chengj]

Correct, the service books are instructions for the device itself.

May be a silly question, but it's the first question a good carrier tech will ask too. :-) At the top right of your screen, you should see 1XEV (all caps)? If it's 1xev or just 1x. It's a connectivity thing. If you do have 1XEV, then it's probably a carrier thing (Unless of course you went around deleting random things and changing random settings. ;))

[CKY]

anybody know any good sports apps? or scoreboard apps? I know there thescore, espn, tsn and such, but does anyone have first hand experience on which one's better?

[chengj]

There is a version of Viigo (newsreader) in beta, called tango that will have a good section for sports:

http://viigo.com/tango

You can take it for a test drive now. You can also poke around mobile.blackberry.com, and I think they link to a few other apps. I haven't used any of them though.

[CKY]

Originally posted by anarchy
I have Opera Mini, WeatherEye, Google Maps, MyAlarm (6 custom alarms) and JapBLite (budget manager).

Plus a bunch of games.

I have Windows Live Search as well but it stopped working for me and I can't get it work lol.

There's also pinstack.com that has some decent stuff.

How is JapBLite?

I was going to download it but I've read that it crashes quite a bit and all data are lost

[signature7]

how do i get 4.5 os onto my pearl?

[chengj]

http://forums.beyond.ca/st/232008/how-to-install-os-4-5-new-bb-software-help/

[Doozer]

Originally posted by chengj
May be a silly question, but it's the first question a good carrier tech will ask too. :-) At the top right of your screen, you should see 1XEV (all caps)? Yup, it's all caps.

I've been doing a bunch of digging today, and I think a lot of the download issues are related to the fact that I'm using the Telus WAP Browser. Apparently this is shitty and I should switch to regular "Internet Browser" as the default. However, I don't have that option.

I've resent my service books, and made sure everything was checked in my general properties, but Telus WAP Browser is still the only option I have. I can't even download Opera Mini to fix the problem, because the problem is that I can't download anything OTA!

[chengj]

Ahh.. that would do it.

Browser -> Options -> Browser Config -> Browser

That dropdown should be right at the top. You should see at very least "WAP Browser" and "Internet Browser" in that list (you'd see others if you were connected to some corporate network). If you only see WAP, then you need to talk to Telus.

WAP would indeed limit your ability to download properly most of them time. Even if you got Opera on there, you might still have the same issues. However, most apps provide both a desktop and OTA download options. While you get stuff sorted out, you can use the desktop download, so you can at least play with some of these apps.

Good luck.

[Doozer]

Originally posted by chengj

Browser -> Options -> Browser Config -> Browser

That dropdown should be right at the top. You should see at very least "WAP Browser" and "Internet Browser" in that list Nope, Telus WAP is all I've got. :( And I've found about 3 different places to try changing it and they all only show the Telus WAP. I'll talk to Telus and see what they say. Thanks...

[Doozer]

Weird, Telus says I can't change the browser. I've got the 8330 Curve - can anyone else change theirs?

Edit: alright, got it sorted. Turns out that I had unlimited web for the first 3 months, but you actually need to have a data package ON TOP OF THAT in order to use it. So basically I could browse to some web pages, but as soon as I started doing anything significant, the lack of a data plan stopped me.

So after about an hour with the nice Telus agent, we added that, and then resent the books, restarted the unit, and then not only was "Internet Browser" an option, it also added a 3rd configuration menu item, which is "MDS browser" which I didn't have before.

Things seem to be running along smoothly now ... I've got Opera Mini downloaded, I'm about to start on WeatherEye, and hopefully some of the other goodies people have mentioned in this thread!