I have to say, Verizon made my day/weekend with their official BlackBerry Storm 9530 OS 5.0.0.328 update. While I am not using the latest OS build on a Verizon 9530 (actually TELUS), installing it on any 9530 is very easy.
BerrySilent is a cool application that puts your BlackBerry Storm on silent once it’s flipped over. You can also set the profiles to be changed with a flip, or set it to silent with a convenience key. The device reverts to the standard profile once it’s flipped back.
7Digital have officially announced the launch of their BlackBerry app with access to over 7 million MP3s. The app allows users to download music over GPRS/EDGE/3G or WiFi, and build a library of DRM-free MP3s on their BlackBerry.
The app, developed in partnership with DevelopIQ, will also let users access purchased tracks on 7digital.com via the built-in digital locker. You will be able to listen to the tracks from an integrated media player, as well as stream them to your car or home via Bluetooth.
The 7digital app is available for the Bold, Curve 8900, Tour, 8520 and Storm.
BerryScroll has been updated to version 1.1 and they have some copies to give away to BlackBerry Cool readers. The app gives your BlackBerry Storm flick scrolling, a widely requested feature from the BlackBerry community.
The latest update to BerryScroll means that you don’t have to re-enable the app with every app launch. This makes the app much easier to use.
More new features that you will find in version 1.1:
The ‘Enable/Disable BerryScroll’ menu item now globally turns BerryScroll on/off.
Added click through support in lists while in scroll mode (no more double clicking necessary).
The above is a Zain network coverage map of Ghana. As you can see, major roads are the focus of coverage and BlackBerry devices will be a welcomed addition to the country’s infrastructure.
In a partnership with Zain and EMS, RIM have announced the availability of BlackBerry in Ghana, one of the most stable countries on the African continent.
The carrier Zain has a 3G network, which means that customers and government clients will be able to have access to enterprise-grade smartphones. The first devices to hit the market include the BlackBerry Storm, the Curve 8900, Bold 9000 and the Pearl Flip 8220.
The partnership brings together three crucial companies for helping to further expand the country’s infrastructure and better channel resources to the eradication of extreme poverty. Increasing productivity and transparency are two key elements of improving governmental and corporate affairs, and it’s the hope of BlackBerry Cool that RIM will be a significant player in this regard.
Imagine the following scenarios:
BES infrastructure is implemented in all major organizations to ensure communication is instant and efficient.
Government workers are able to send communications from the field directly to the departments responsible.
Small businesses are able to better serve their clients and be constantly available, regardless of whether or not they are in office.
Logistics for delivering food, materials and aid are all greatly improved by the BlackBerry solution.
This is surely going to have a positive impact on the economy.
The developer community around the iPhone is fairly different from that of the BlackBerry developer community in that iPhone developers have OpenGL at their disposal, allowing them to create visually rich applications, as well as as the marketplace and demographics are slightly different. While the BlackBerry Storm is capable of running OpenGL hardware-wise, we have yet to see the API’s unlocked.
Lets assume for a moment, and this might be a crazy assumption, that BlackBerry had OpenGL API’s (possibly with the Storm 2?), and that any iPhone app you see could be ported to BlackBerry. For this to be true, we would also need to see device memory increase, as well as perhaps a built-in compass.
With those assumptions, and there may be a few more, what applications have you seen for iPhone, that you would like for BlackBerry? Or rather, what are your favorite iPhone apps that aren’t available for BlackBerry?
Astraware have launched a collection of classic board games called Astraware Board Games. The board games pack is available for the Storm, Curve 8900, Tour and all trackball/touchscreen BlackBerry devices. It features chess, checkers, reversi, backgammon, Nine Men’s Morris, Snakes and Ladders, Tic Tac Toe and more.
Each board game has user-customizable rules and a range of difficulty levels. Some of the features you’ll find in this board game pack include:
8 classic boardgames in one easy-to-use pack.
User customizable rules so you can play it your way.
3 levels of difficulty, designed for casual players and non-experts.
Evokes the feel of classic boardgames played on wooden boards.
One of the greatest things about owning a BlackBerry is that if you’re ever feeling like the device lacks a particular feature, there is usually an application out there to help.
For users with a BlackBerry Storm, one of these features is “flick scrolling,” which is available on most touchscreen devices such as the iPhone.
BerryScroll gives you flick scrolling functionality for the BlackBerry Browser, contacts, phone and media application. While there is no free trial available, the app has gone through extensive beta testing.
Simon Sage was good enough to point out that around 6 months ago Mike Kirkup confirmed Flash would find its way to BlackBerry sooner or later and while it’s interesting that Silverlight will be part of the equation, the idea that Flash will come to BlackBerry in around a year can be easily deduced from simply keeping up with the industry.
The news is likely based on an inside tip relating to the known fact that RIM is planning on updating its BlackBerry Browser in order to be more competitive with the other smartphones in the market. This is common knowledge as anyone following the industry knows that BlackBerry gets a lot of criticism for not producing a browser experience on par with the likes of iPhone. If you hear the Internet complaining about a BlackBerry feature, rest assured the 10,000 employees at RIM have heard and are working on it.
While it’s nice to get affirmation that RIM is planning on updating its browser, the following could just as easily be deduced:
1. It’s pretty much confirmed that RIM will be launching a device with more than 1GB of on-board memory.
2. It’s pretty much confirmed that RIM is working on a new media player for future consumer devices.
3. It’s pretty much confirmed that the next generation BlackBerry processors will exceed 1GHz.
On a related note, Skyfire should be coming out with a beta before any of this can be confirmed. BlackBerry users should be able to enjoy Flash well before RIM updates the browser.
Regardless of how you may feel about the iPhone as a productivity or enterprise tool, it has done wonders for encouraging mobile software consumption and educating users about what is available to them.
Analysts are saying that the mobile games industry grew in North America by nearly 19 per cent in 2008, and PriceWaterhouseCoopers projects the market will grow from $858 million in 2008 to $1.3 billion in 2013.
Developers are having great success with mobile gaming in the App Store, but BlackBerry App World isn’t seeing the numbers just yet. Companies like Top Hat Monocle, are seeing excellent download rates in the App Store on their casual games such as Hopple, which has been downloaded more than 80,000 times.
