So Friday was apparently broken link day at BlackBerryCool. Both Mapquest 4 Mobile and Instafind were dead links and BBCool readers were not happy. My bad. My BlackBerry wasn’t working that day so I couldn’t check the links. I feel bad about the mess up so I’m running a giveaway contest in the hopes of making it up to the community.
Leave a comment about your latest BlackBerry frustration and win $50 to redeem at our store. The best comment will get a coupon emailed to them to be redeemed whenever you want.
UPDATE: Wow! Thanks so much for all your comments. It seems the BlackBerry Nation has a lot of frustration to vent and I wish I could give you all $50. I know it’s what everyone needs to feel better these days. I had to give the coupon to Matt for the following comment:
So I use my Blackberry for everything I do. I really mean that. Every single thing that I need to remember goes into my calendar. Some people say that thats not a good idea because then I will NEVER remember anything! Well…I guess they were right.
I have been dating the love of my life for 6 months now. She is everything to me. I even got her to buy an 8330 so we could BBM! Well, our six month anniversary was coming up and I think thats pretty big (as did she). I had it in my BB calendar to remind me 5 days before to go buy a gift and make a reservation for dinner. Well, it is midterms at school right now and I have been really busy! Lots of emails coming in and emails being sent. Lots of appointments being put into the calendar and well, I just became overwhelmed. This would not have been a problem if my calendar worked correctly but it seems as though my Blackberry started to leak memory. It got really low and started dumping appointments. (I think it does those before messages, right?) Yeah, you can see where this is going. (And yes, I DO backup to my Mac using PocketMac but I guess the appointment got deleted and overwrote the latest backup!)
I ended up ROYALLY screwing up and on the day of our anniversary, I had NOTHING. She got me an amazing watch and I was sitting there with nothing. Needless to say, she was really ticked off and I was in the dog house. I made it up to her though. I bought A LOT of flowers, a nice Tiffany’s necklace, and made reservations at the first place we ever had dinner as a couple. It was a very special night, but for the rest of our relationship, she is going to have the infamous “Blackberry memory leak” on me. I really want to say it was all my fault (I mean, I SHOULD remember that special day, right) but the Blackberry really should remind me, no? When I saw the look of sadness in Michelle’s eyes on our 6 month, it really stabbed my heart. I’m probably gonna have to also buy her a Niagara to make up for this!
That “Blackberry Frustration” could have cost me the love of my life…someone I want to spend forever with.
Pretty bad story, right?
I liked it for the following reasons:
-He relies on his BlackBerry for everything and he’s in trouble without it.
-His story touched me (I’m a sucker for romance).
-I want him to buy his gf something nice.
-The problem he describes seems fairly common yet avoidable.
Also, Mike Rubin, your comment really bummed me out.
Recently, there have been a lot of reports about the BlackBerry Bold in Japan experiencing “overheating.” NTT DoCoMo has stopped sales of the device after only 4,000 were sold. After having spent a long time working in South Korea and traveling in Japan, I got a strong feeling of consumer protectionism throughout both cultures. RIM only recently was able to export BlackBerry to South Korea because of isolationist trade policy.
Although Korea and Japan are very different cultures, who share some common foods and social norms due to colonization, their proclivity to purchase local products is obvious to anyone who has lived in either country.
The blogger in me believes that due to the recession and fall of the Japanese economy, NTT DoCoMo may be under pressure to give Japanese handset manufacturers an unfair advantage. Is it possible the Bold scared Japanese officials who want their businessmen using only Japanese-made smartphones? Or is their claim of overheating valid? Keep in mind that Japan is the only country reporting these problems.
What say you BlackBerry Cool readers?
Analysts are saying that region-specific software could be overclocking the device leading to overheating. If this were the case, do you not think we could have isolated said software by now?
If you know of someone in Japan (Japanese, not an expat) who owns a Bold, please comment!
We’ve launched a BlackBerry Cool software page to help you get quick access to the best software for your device. The page has the Top 10 apps as well as Special Software. Take a look and see if there is something you or a friend might like.
Sometimes you need to post a poorly researched rumor in order to get the real details. Recently, an engineer at Sprint confirmed the following details about the Sprint BlackBerry Niagara:
The BlackBerry Niagara is slated to launch in Q3 and will have the following specs:
EVDOrA
GSM 850, 900,1800,1900and UMTS 2100 (japan)
International Data will support GPRS, EDGE, UMTS & HSPA
3MP Camera
1400 MA Battery
Verizon will launch the device before Sprint because they are basically just paying for the Broadcom patent infringement to use the chipset in its existing form. Sprint wants the re-engineering effort to happen so they don’t have to pay the Broadcom fee so their launch will be a little later.
Thanks for the tip. Remember, send any rumors and tips to kyle (at) blackberrycool (dot) com.
UPDATE: Niagara closely follows the Javelin ID and styling. Most unique characteristic will be the battery cover with a gray/black dot matrixed print scheme with chrome accent “flying bb’s”. JavelinNiagara will simply be a CDMA version of the 8900.
The Weather Network official theme has been launched on Bplay. The theme works in tandem with The Weather Network’s WeatherEye mobile application to install a permanent icon on the theme background itself that displays the current weather conditions. No one has done anything like this before.
This is obviously a fan vid right? I doubt RIM has gone viral and started putting together ads with no branding or real marketing behind them. Cool idea though!
It seems like it’s free software Friday today! We have another deal for you today, Handango is giving away “Aces Texas Hold ‘Em – Limit” for BlackBerry all day long.
There are a ton of LBS apps coming out these days and it’s important for BBCool readers to sort through them. We need to find the best out there so let’s give this one a whirl and let people know. Interestingly enough, Instafind GPS also works on BB’s that don’t support GPS.
Instafind Mobile Services is FREE and packs all the essentials in one app
- 411 /Local search
- Map it
- Driving Direction
- One click call
- Movies showtimes
- Buy movie tickets from phone
- Weather (US and International)
- Flight Status
- Stock Quotes
- Book search (compare prices and read reviews)
- Lottery Results
- Nearest Gas Station
- News
DubMeNow is a free application for BlackBerry. The app allows you to use any mobile phone to exchange contact information instantly. The app will also allow you to make changes to your contact info, without waiting until you get back to your desk to connect or manually enter business cards.
1. Sign up for DUB and download DUB to your phone.
2. Send a DUB invite by text or email from your phone.
3. Your contact accepts the invite and your info loads directly into his or her mobile address book and syncs with Outlook.
4. You’re connected! Tag or add notes to your contact’s profile to remember context of your connection.
5. Change your profile – new job, new address, email, phone, etc. – and all your DUB contacts get your updates instantly. Any changes your DUB contacts make are automatically updated in your smart phone address book.
Soon, the service will allow you to connect via LinkedIn and Facebook.
If you’re looking for contact management software, this may be right for you. Try it out and let the community know what you think.
Everyone knows what a Podcast is right? It’s basically your own private radio show and it has a social component very much in the same way blogs do. Podcatcher is a download manager and player of Podcasts. A good Podcatcher should be totally transparent, and once you’ve subscribed to your Podcasts it should be automatically downloading new episodes in the background. This is what PodTrapper aims to provide for Blackberry.
Podtrapper will allow you to consolidate your podcast listening down to a single device. RIM is working hard to provide a good media experience on Blackberrys (I hope), but a solution for Podcasts was forcing me to carry around both my phone and my media player. Now, with PodTrapper, I get to leave the media player at home.
Features:
* Automatic downloading of new episodes via Wifi (and soon via desktop app)
* Automatic downloading of new episodes via Cell network (On most carriers)
* Downloads via desktop application for those without Wifi or with difficult carriers
* Keeps track of last played podcast
* Remembers where you left off in every episode
* Reliable pause and resume of downloads when connectivity changes
* Built in keylock to allow for control of audio in your pocket
