The new BlackBerry Storm OS 4.7.0.148 has made some long awaited improvements. RIM and Verizon Wireless have done a good job of meeting many consumer demands. Although the update has been leaked for some time, it is now official and fully tested. You will now find your BlackBerry to be faster, more responsive and the camera has a neat update.
The new selection tool that we found in OS 4.7.0.132 is still around and makes the copy and paste system much easier. When selecting text, you get a little box that can be slid either way to adjust your selection. Before this update, it was very difficult to select text because it was hidden beneath your fingers. Now you can select text accurately. Continue reading about the new BlackBerry Storm
As we enter into summer and all start gearing up for vacations, I wanted to point out some helpful BlackBerry apps for the summer traveler. These applications are all available in BlackBerry App World.
Trapster
One of my favorite things to do in the summer is drive with all the windows down and enjoy the breeze. Trapster notifies you when you’re approaching speed traps, red light cameras and speed cameras, so you can drive worry-free.
Transclick provides a translation service to help you with any language barriers you may come across. There are also several dictionaries to choose from on App World, once you get a hang of the local language.
WorldMate can help you stay organized and connected so that you’ll save your business money as well as keep you focused on the important things while leaving the legwork to WorldMate.
Travel Genius pro-sumer app that functions as an LBS search tool. Travel Genius helps you quickly find and get to the places or services you need when you are out and about.
Purchase Travel Genius on App World for $2.99.
Comment and let us know if you’ve tried any apps that would be good for a summer traveler.
MobiMouse allows you to turn your BlackBerry into a wired or wireless mouse and keyboard. With support for USB, Bluetooth, WiFi and mobile, there are a variety of ways to connect. With MobiMouse, you can launch and control Windows Media Player, iTunes, PowerPoint, or even a DVR application right from your BlackBerry. You can also assign shortcuts to close an application, open the default Browser, Task Manger, and more.
The installation was a breeze, and didn’t even require a reset on my BlackBerry. Now, you have to make sure that you download the file onto your computer, too, as you have to install a small application on any computer you want to use with MobiMouse. From there, it’s a piece of cake. Click through to read how to control your computer and media with MobiMouse
I have been lucky enough to be using the BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0 software for the past few months. It introduces several new improvements to the architecture of the BlackBerry domain, the most sought after being support for out of the box high availability. It was code named Argon, a stable gas, due to its promised reliability and solid performance. Below are some thoughts and findings that I made during my use of the software within my test environment. Screenshots are available towards the bottom.
A big thanks to Lee Williams from Gen-i for giving me the time and resources to familiarize myself with BES 5.0, enabling me to complete this article.
If you have any questions please let me know in the comments and I will get back to you promptly.
1. New Improvements and Features
The first change you will notice is the introduction BlackBerry Administration service. It replaces BlackBerry manager and is completely web based. It takes a while to get used to for every day tasks. It can feel a little cramped when attempting to select multiple users who don’t share the same group, IT policy, software configuration or otherwise. Yet after working with the interface for some time you do get used to it.
There is an API available for developers to write plugins for the BlackBerry Administration Service, so it will be relatively easy to introduce new functionality into the environment. Continue reading regarding impressions of BES 5 features
Mycaption is a wonderful app for those on the go or who don’t care to type. I love the voice to text features of this app, and it works remarkably well. Salespeople, Doctors, Lawyers, anyone who would rather speak than type, slow typists, or those who don’t have the time to type will find this a great product to use. Make sure to enunciate very clearly. I found my first few messages to contain some errors, but after a few uses the errors on subsequent messages were either one or none. Click through to read more about this great software
Before you say, “Hey, didn’t he already review a file manager?” I will correct you that this is the first time I am reviewing a GOOD file manager. While I might have been a little harsh in my review of Bilby File, it was because I knew there had to be something better… And I found that better something with File Manager Pro by Terra Mobility.
One of the first things I appreciated was the quick “tutorial” the application runs through the first time you open it. I really dislike opening a new application (especially one with as much depth as this one) and hitting every combination of keys trying to figure out the fastest way to complete a task, but this app has you covered from the beginning.
Now let’s hit the feature list and go over the high points:
• Support For The Storm — Provides double tap and multi-touch selections, and swiping for fast file list scrolling. No compatibility mode needed!
• All Standard File Operations — Copy, Move, Rename, Delete, New Folder and Send as Email. In addition, recursive Copy, Move and Delete operations are supported.
• Manage Your Zip Archives — Open and browse Zip archives the same as folders. Extract all of the contents or just a subset. Create new archives or add to existing ones.
• Select Multiple Files And Folders — Select a range of items, an arbitrary set, or any combination of both. Do any file operation on the selected items, including compressing them into a Zip archive.
• Search For Files And Folders — Search in a single folder or across multiple folders, even recursively. Specify whole words only or to use case sensitivity. Select search result items and perform any file operation.
• Fast Access With The Favorites List — Avoid tedious folder navigation and jump directly to frequently used files or deeply nested folders with a single click.
• Sort And View Files Your Way — Sort files by Name, Size, Type or Date, in Ascending or Descending order. Specify the display of file information, and control the viewing of hidden files.
• Launch Files In Documents to Go — Click on a Word, Excel or PowerPoint file and have it opened in Docs-to-Go. Click on media files — audio, video or image — and have it launched in your media application. (requires OS 4.5 or higher)
• Modify File Attributes — View properties on files and folders, and assign the Read-Only and Hidden attributes.
• Integrated Text Viewer — Built-in text file viewer that includes a Find feature for text searches.
• Unsurpassed Performance — Open and browse folders containing 1000’s of files with virtually no performance penalty.
The first thing we’ll take a look at is the options, most of which pretty much just cover how items are displayed. As you can see below, you can also choose your level of compression when creating zip files. Continue reading about File Manager Pro by Terra
I love productivity and system apps for my BlackBerry. I think there are a few that should be built into BlackBerry devices by default, such as Aerize Alerts (pop-up notifications of incoming mail/SMS/calls), QuickPull (restart your BB with a click), and QuickLaunch (shortcut links on any screen).
I recently tried another app that should come preloaded on the BlackBerry. AutoStandby, from makers, Steelthorn Software (also makers of QuickPull,) is a simple app that RIM should definitely put on all their devices.
Putting your phone in standby mode saves quite a bit of battery life as well as prevents accidental key presses. AutoStandby does this automatically, as the name would suggest, so you never forget. Installation is as you would expect. There is a lengthy EULA you’re made to read, but that’s about it. To save space, AutoStandby doesn’t have an icon. You can access the options via the BlackBerry options. I actually appreciate this as I find “system” program icons can become a little cluttered and I generally hide them anyway. There are a few options available for you as well:
* Disable if connected to PC.
* Disable if externally powered.
* Enable third-party interactions. This is useful for often used programs like Viigo and BeeJive.
* Seconds to wait after screen blanks.
Aerize Alerts is now automatically supported by AutoStandby as well so you know your notifications will still get through. When used in combination with the other system programs I mentioned, you can make your BlackBerry the device it was always meant to be.
It only took me a few minutes to find this app to be a great “must-have” and after seeing by battery life get boosted by at least 30%, I can easily recommend it to everyone.
The blinking LED on our Berrys is great—letting us know when we have a new email / SMS / missed call / whatever. But the actual notification itself stops there. This is where Message Peek comes in. Rather than just getting a blinking LED, when you receive an Email or SMS, Message Peek pops up with a (beautiful) notification. Here, in big, readable font, you get the ‘From’ and “subject’ of the email, in addition to the entirety of the email below. You can then choose from the options at the tope to Close, Reply, Reply All, Forward, Mark as Read or Go to your Inbox. It’s as simple as that, but much like BerryBuzz, it’s a program that you won’t realize how much you need until you’ve had it for a few days.
I do not know about you, but I am at a point in my life that remembering something is a near impossibility. Try as I may, my memory is constantly failing me. If it were not for checklists, I would never get anything done. Suffice it to say, organization is not my strongest attribute; however, I am never without my BlackBerry.
Having a checklist app in my pocket all day, every day, is the only way I can remain productive. Knowing what you have to do, and where to go to get that information is absolutely essential in today’s high demand work force, unless you are blessed with an eidetic memory.
I remember when I first give up my RAZR and monochrome two-way RIM pager for a blackberry, my first whine was “WHAT?!? I have ONE alarm?” Of course, you can always add reoccurring calendar items, but if you’re a professional who actually uses their calendar for business, this can become cluttered and annoying. Fortunately, Adorno! MultiAlarm Pro from Adorno has the solution. It has such a simple and intuitive interface, you have to wonder why the built in alarm application isn’t a little more like this.
Creating alarms is an easy process, even given the many options at your disposal.
You first option is frequecy, which to be honest, has more options than I think any one person will need:
• Fixed Date – Choose one date and time for an alarm.
• Weekly – Choose the days of the week you want the alarm on and the time on those days.
• Once – Choose a one time alarm. (This is the alarm type set by a Quick Alarm.)
• Daily – Choose a time for an alarm to go off each day.
• Hourly – Choose a minute for an alarm to go off each hour. (I’m sure this one must serve SOME sort of medical purpose, as I can think of no other reason to annoy people THAT often.) Click through to read more about Adorno MultiAlarm Pro
