BlackBerry Applications and News

It is no longer a rumor. As of midnight the Storm 2 is now on Verizon Wireless’ site as a BOGO. Get on that train before they run out! Choo Choo!

NiceOffice is a free BlackBerry app that can be obtained from app world and its completely free.  It’s a nice little application to stay up to date with your busy schedule,  it allows you to merge device email and personal email to wirelessly sync calendar appointments, tasks, journals, and contacts.  This application also allows you to update or set the appointments via your BlackBerry. Downside to the journal feature is that it is more of an activity log then a journal. Users also have the ability to go online to www.niceoffice.com and log in from the computer to their online account and use the same tools.

Rumor mills come and go. One such that has stuck is claiming to have a first glimpse at what is touted to be a Blackberry Bluetooth watch. The “inPulse” is making claims of the abilities to link to your ‘Berry and make phone calls, link to applications and other key functions so you can keep the BB holstered.

Strange days. Almost makes one feel like Bond, James Bond.

AT&T is releasing a camera-less Bold today. Should be nice to those not wanting that pesky button to accidentally press while thumbing through the phone. Can be somewhat irritating at times.

T-Mobile available date is looking towards November 11. Canadian company Rogers is getting on October 26. Get ready!

We all know that the current president, Obama, is a Blackberry lover/addict. Here is a quote that reportedly comes from the man himself while at an awards banquet.

He (Obama) told about how, as president, he’s had to engage in “some of the toughest diplomacy of his life” in order to keep his Blackberry.

Glad to know some of us aren’t alone. Surely the resistance came from his wife and not to government. Hah! But seriously, the power of this little device is quite amazing. To have the leader of our nation contacted in a moment’s notice. The staff has always been one way to get that done, but a direct link to the guy has got to be worth its weight in not gold, but platinum.

Blackberry’s creator RIM has announced (about two weeks ago) that they will be sponsoring U2’s new tour. There is a small issue though, Bono, who helped with the deal, is the partner in a company that has deals through Palm. What a twisted web. Not a bad idea though, RIM has reportedly offered a large sum to sponsor the deal. Could we possibly now see a U2 branded BB? Now that would be neat.

WordPress last night released an updated version of their BlackBerry application.

UI:

• Gravatar support
• Ability to open the URL of the author into the BB browser
• A reply to comment feature, so you can moderate and respond all from the mobile device.

On the Post and Page screens:

• The ability to open the comment list for a specific post
• Support for the post excerpt field
• Support for custom fields

Internationalization:

• Added French support
• Added Italian support

You can download the new version here: Download

There is a tentative release date for the charger to clean the clutter on your desktop. October 15th has a resonating sound on the internet as the date we might see it on the open market.

The Powermat is a charging device that touts itself as the one charger for everything. Your Blackberry, NintendoDS, Gameboy, MP3 player, even that dreaded iPhone.

Bolt Browser has just released a new version; v1.5. The update boasts a couple key features that were frustrating in the previous release:

- Ability to play any length videos through the browser.
- Volume control while in the browser playing videos.
- Dedicated search bar.

Seems like a worthwhile piece of software. Will keep everyone posted as to how it seems to function on the low end BB spectrum.

The Bold 9700 has a buzz about it. The buzz says October 21st could see as the release date for the updated Bold. Could this be renamed Bold 2, or just keep the Bold 9700 title? Time shall tell.

Though rumored for quite sometime, and the ability for people to do their own customization for a while as well, RIM has officially released the Bold and the Curve 8520 in white. This offer is currently only available through AT&T and T-Mobile though. Heres to hoping it sees an offer from other carriers soon.

RIM has officially released a development simulator for OS 5.0.0.252 for the BB Storm 9550. We know you want it to setup some new programs, eh? Eh?

The simulator is coupled with a “Widget Kit” to allow coders to make software coded with HTML, CSS and Javascript. Coolness!

Linkage.

In a few short days we should hopefully see the release of the new BB messenger, labeled as 5.0.

Here’s a look at features:

BlackBerry® Messenger 5.0

Launch Date: Global – October 7, 2009

BlackBerry® Messenger is an instant messaging application that allows BlackBerry Smartphone users to send and receive instant messages with other BlackBerry Smartphone users.

BlackBerry Messenger 5.0 is the latest release.

Features:

• Enhanced SMS -Allows for a conversational chat-like user experience with a single contact list for the most personal mobile-to-mobile communications
  • Note: BlackBerry® Device Software 5.0 and later is required for the SMS functionality.
• Avatars - Users can choose a picture from the BlackBerry Smartphone gallery and save it as their personal avatar, which will be seen by their contacts. They can also view other avatars in the contact list and zoom in on the avatars of contacts participating in a conversation by selecting “View participants.”
• Large Media File Transfer - Users can send/receive large file transfers up to 6 megabytes for pictures, files and audio.
  • Note: BlackBerry Device Software 5.0 is required to receive large media files.
• Enhanced Group Functionality - Allows for the ability to update, share & communicate with a subset community.
• Bar-code Identity - A user can add a contact to the BlackBerry Messenger contact list by displaying a 2-dimensional bar code that invitees can capture with their device cameras.
• Reliable Contact Backup and Restore - Contacts are backed-up on a server and do not require the need for BlackBerry® Desktop Manager.

Exciting news!

Have troubles finding enough storage on your mobile device? Difficulty finding a web storage facility that will cater to your mobile needs? Best Buy has an answer for those who share this affliction with the soon to be released mIQ service. On October 12th, Best Buy is set to roll out service, available to current customers of the Mobile Web-Connected Cloud Services for the low price of absolutely free. Current plans do not state an availability for non customers. Here is a snippet from the Best Buy site of what is exactly offered:

Key Features
• Data backup & management: Upgrading to a new phone used to be a hassle. With mIQ, all content that lives on the mobile device — contacts, text messages, calendar events, calls, photos, videos, and voicemail messages — is automatically uploaded and safely backed-up on a personal Web-based mIQ account making it easy to sync, search, interact with, share it or transfer it from one phone to another. Since the mobile phone is constantly connected to the Web, mIQ automatically syncs any changes from the Web to the mobile device and vice-versa, instantly.

• Contacts: mIQ helps users easily manage and track the communication with all their contacts. Contacts from Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, and other sources can be imported into the mIQ account and synchronized with the mobile phone. Users can then add, edit, or delete contacts from the personal mIQ account – the changes will be instantly pushed to the mobile phone and backed up on the web. Additionally, mIQ enables users to easily view text messages and calls associated with each contact.

• Social media connectivity: Social networking on mobile devices has taken connectivity to a whole new level. Updating friends on the latest happenings no longer requires a trip to the computer. mIQ features instant connectivity to popular social sites like Facebook, Flickr, FriendFeed and Twitter, helping users share their mobile experiences – status, photos and videos – directly from their smartphone, wherever they may be.

Wow, thats is quite the bundle! Get it at go-live time, never know how long an offer like that lasts.

Adobe Systems has recently, as in the past few hours, announced that they will support most every mobile phone out there. Every phone, except for the Apple iPhone. Oops.

Customers today in the United Arab Emirates who were running on Etisalat Wireless service lost connections for most of the day. The blackout, which is still wholly unexplained, lasted from approximately 8am until 2pm local time. While few were able to reach customer service representatives, most were unable to gain any amount of understanding due to clogged queues.

Service is now back to normal, while providers are trying to find the cause.

I am proud to introduce a new series of articles from Epic Applications around BlackBerry development. Whether you are trying to get started with BlackBerry development, or are just looking for some tips, you should find this series interesting.

In this first part, we will discuss the very basics of getting started and show you how to get Eclipse, the BlackBerry plug-in, and several simulators going.

Prerequisites

• Windows XP, Vista or 7
• Some programming experience
  • The BlackBerry platform uses Java 2 Micro Edition, which is a stripped down version of Java. If you have never programmed before, you likely won’t make it very far.

Continue reading Getting Started with BlackBerry Development – Part 1

Reports across the internet are out stating that Blackberry Internet Service (BIS) has been upgraded to 2.8 as of 0600 EDT. September carried the same claim to no avail. Today seems to be different. With claims of quicker and more reliable GMail/Hotmail sync being stated around the internet, time shall tell. Have you experienced stalling of service? Please share!

VeriSign, the security software business, recently released a new program which will assist in remote login encryption. The program VeriSign Identity Protection (VIP) will be used to add more security and allow a more solid remote login for those using company accounts from off-site locations.

VIP will allow a more streamlined access for those who need it for multiple sites across large networks. This process uses a one time download/activation process to install on the mobile device. Thusly eliminating the necessity for having those pesky screen “captcha” graphics clogging up the business network.

The software is available for remote devices, Blackberry of course included. Get it at BB AppWorld.