Aloqa, is a location based service that integrates content from 15 publishers including Yelp, Eventful and Craigslist. The beta, originally available for Android, is now available for for the BlackBerry Curve 8900 and the Bold 9000.
The app helps BlackBerry users in that it takes away the need to find information via the browser and it proactively pushes out recommendations about social network friends nearby and interesting local opportunities to users on the go. These are all qualities of a good LBS app.
Their are also some bright minds behind this app. The company is headed by CEO Sanjeev Agrawal, former Global Head of Google Product Marketing and subsequently VP Products at TellMe Networks (acquired by Microsoft).
Conquest is a theme for the Tour, Bold, Curve, 8800 and 8700 model BlackBerry devices. It was originally designed for the Storm, and it has been ported over for trackball devices. Currently, the theme is on sale and will continue to be 50% off through Friday, August 21st.
The Conquest theme features:
An edgy, progressive design.
Original visuals, icons, and buttons.
Hidden homepage menu that fades in and out.
Vivid colors
Hotspots for Application Menu, Clock Profiles, and Messages (Storm only)
Unsynced is a BlackBerry music manager that is currently in a free beta. It’s a slick looking app that is available for the BlackBerry Bold and the BlackBerry Curve 8900.
The latest beta updates include the addition of album art, as well as more efficient scanning and playlist creation.
Unsynced features include:
Painstaking care has been taken to ensure Unsynced Music is efficient and predictable.
The Unsync button will capture song information. Unsynced does a search on their end and e-mail you the most relevant results so that you won’t forget to “purchase” it when you get home.
Use any PC to drag and drop music into folders on your BlackBerry using Mass Storage Mode. Listen to your newly added songs through Browse Files, or quickly create new playlists through Create/Modify Playlists, giving you the freedom to add to your music experience not just at home, but wherever you go.
Progress indicators for those long podcasts.
Customizable color themes to match your style.
Send song info to friends to share your tastes.
Get it now because the beta may not be free forever!
Wal-Mart has a large list of BlackBerry devices that they’re offering for free with service plan conditions. While the retail giant doesn’t supply some of the high end devices such as the Bold and Storm, it does supply every device that would be in the lower to mid range of BlackBerry devices. These devices include the Pearl, Pearl Flip, Curve 83xx, Curve 8900 and the latest Curve 8520.
A big caveat with these deals is that they almost all involve signing up for 2 years worth of services that will cost you at least $125 per month. With some smart BlackBerry usage, you can generally bring your data and voice costs down to under $100 per month. This figure is easily attainable by watching over your voice minutes carefully, and leveraging SMS and email services for communication.
That means that you are committing to a $25 premium on your contract that will need to be paid over the course of 2 years (or 24 months). By those numbers, you are getting your free device at $600, when you could have it for around $200 with a contract. Like a credit card, you are paying an incredible premium for short term benefits.
This week is off to a great start with some OS leaks for your BlackBerry. The move coveted of the 2 leaks is for Bold and Curve 8900 users: OS 5.0.0.13. Don’t get too excited though, like all the OS 5.0 leaks we’ve seen, the build does not come with the latest BlackBerry Messenger, and it will make App World buggy.
BlackBerry Storm 9500 users will appreciate the OS 4.7.0.164 update as it helps make the Storm experience a little smoother. While the Storm started off on a bad foot, RIM has done a great job of releasing OS updates to improve the experience. So if you’re frustrated with your device, at the very least you should be getting official updates the moment they’re available.
Personally, I don’t recommend downloading these OS leaks, but I’m posting for the die-hards who absolutely must try them out. Make sure to back everything up!
[ED NOTE: The following was submitted to tips [at] blackberrycool [dot] com. Send us info any time.]
First of all, I just wanted to say sorry for the bad picture. I was allowed to play around with the device as much as I wanted but my “friend” wouldn’t let me take any pictures. Eventually he turned his back and this is the best I could do with my 8900’s camera.
This is the BlackBerry Onyx but it doesn’t have the trackpad. This is a prerelease device and I’ve heard that the Onyx will ship with a trackpad, as per RIM’s latest initiative on nixing the trackball entirely. There are also rumors that the trackpad may just be carrier specific.
I have to say, I LOVE this device. To put it simply, it’s the BlackBerry Curve 8900 (Javelin) with 3G and a Bold keyboard.
This is the next device I’m going to buy. The Bold is, IMHO, the best BlackBerry that RIM has ever made. It is the flagship device and this model packs everything that the Bold has, but in a smaller form factor that fits nicely into your pocket.
The battery is the same as the Bold, again this seems to be the Bold with a Curve 8900 form factor. The display is really nice and I believe it’s 480×360.
Overall, this is going to be an amazing device for RIM. The hardware combines the best of both the Bold and 8900 worlds. There isn’t much else to say about the device, except that the battery cover has changed AGAIN! It seems RIM keeps changing the cover each time they launch a device. While I’m not sure if the battery cover I was looking at will ship with the device, it’s not nearly as good as the Bold. I’m begging you RIM, bring back my Bold cover! The custom jobs you can do with it are simply the best.
This video isn’t the most definitive comparison of the speakers on the most recent BlackBerry devices, but it does give you an idea of the subtle differences between them.
The Bold seems to have the best sound, while the 8900 seemed the loudest. The Storm seemed to be very treble-intensive, but it is a YouTube video which tends to distort sound considerably.
The Tour’s speakers gave the music a deeper, more bass-heavy sound, comparable to that of the Bold. Overall, I would give the Bold the best rating, with the Tour a close second. After that the 8900 and then the Storm.
Stitcher is a free media/podcast player is currently available on App World. The app is available to AT&T and T-Mobile customers and they’ve just made it available for the BlackBerry Curve 8900.
I’m looking forward to the next update for Stitcher, version 1.2, which is set to launch in early July. This update includes; full seek functionality, improved handling of longer shows and support for Bluetooth streaming.
This theme looks fairly nice in that the icons are all 3D and the theme generally looks pretty clean. I also appreciate the circular battery and signal meter icons.
In order to create the 3D icons, the developer had each modeled and rendered in its own scene to give a true 3D feel to the theme. Some of the modern rendering techniques used feature caustics, global illumination and HDRI lighting.
