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Elecite have a new theme out called Sentient. It looks pretty cool and features an animated shield with 6 customizable icons. It’s easy to use and the navigation is pretty user friendly. As with most Elecite themes, the icons could do with a little work.
Sentient is $6.99 and available for the Storm, 8900, 9700, Bold & 9600 (OS 4.7 & 5.0).
Bplay has launched a new line of city themes. They’re pretty basic themes with changing backgrounds and easy to read icons, but they do a good job of representing your favorite city.
Embrace Los Angeles
Embrace New York
Embrace Paris
Embrace London
Embrace Rome
Embrace Berlin
Embrace Vancouver
Embrace Tokyo
Embrace Beijing
Embrace Barcelona
Check out all of their featured cities here.
RIM announced that App World is now accepting theme submissions. The announcement was a little buried along with the announcement of the BlackBerry Theme Studio 5, which helps developers make more compelling themes for BlackBerry.
RIM have said that they are taking submissions now, and next month we will see an update to App World with a themes category. Presumably, the category will feature a wide range of themes for all the latest devices including the Storm2.
Stay tuned on BlackBerry Cool for more info.
I have loaded the official OS 5.0.0.328 on my BlackBerry Storm 9530 and my themes are broken. There has been some buzz about this in the forums and I’ve tested the theory using an Elecite theme on my Verizon 9530.
What happens when you load a theme with the latest official OS 5 build, is very worrying. If you go into landscape mode from the homepage, and scroll, you get the dragging window effect (see the above screenshot). Also, some of the buttons in my theme, such as the “media” button, no longer work.
The Verizon BlackBerry Storm 2 is shipping tomorrow with OS 5.0.0.320 (according to the device I’m holding in my hands now) and now I’m worried the whole themes business is crushed for Storm users.
Stay tuned as we test this themes bug on the Storm 2.
We’re getting tips that RIM is launching themes on BlackBerry App World November 9th. It’s still very early to tell whether RIM will hold to this date, but we do know that they’re aiming for it. A number of events could lead to a delay but all we can do is wait and see.
If you don’t believe us: good. It’s for the best that we aren’t labeled as a leak site so don’t pass this on to any other blogs.
Also, not to brag or anything, but we called the 9700.
It isn’t often we make predictions at BlackBerry Cool but when we do, they generally come true.
With the BlackBerry Storm2 on the way, we’ve been getting a lot of tips about content available for the device. It’s highly possible that the launch of themes in App World will coincide with the Storm2 launch, and users will be able to download a wide variety of themes, games and apps for the new device.
The reason for opening themes to App World is probably due to the fact that RIM is banking on the Storm2 being the ultimate consumer device and themes are the hottest item in the BlackBerry consumer market right now. You can’t launch the Storm2 without great consumer content so it just makes sense. In order to get that content out to Storm2 users, RIM would currently have to rely on third party vendors such as Mobihand, Bplay and Handango. Opening themes to App World therefore eats their lunch and helps App World sales.
Something that will inevitably disappoint about Storm2 content will be the lack of multi-touch games available on the device. Also, we have heard rumors that the Storm2 features support for OpenGL, but it’s not clear whether developers are taking advantage of the APIs. So while the Storm2 will, assuming we’re correct, feature themes and games, that content will simply be ported, with no specific attention given to the new hardware features of the device.
So if you’re a developer, get your hands on a Storm2 and start making some great Storm2 specific content. Storm users buy a disproportionate amount of software and they’re a great market for your applications.
The latest theme from Elecite is the Archaic theme. It slides horizontally between four pages giving you a customizable icon dock, calendar list, message list and media page. If you have a BlackBerry 8350, 8500, 8900 or 9000, you can change the wallpaper for further customization. This is a really clean theme and it will run smoothly on your device.
the Archaic theme is available from Elecite for $6.99.
HedoneDesign have a new theme and this one is called Simple Black & White. The theme is just what the title says: a simple theme that uses a black and white color scheme. The theme comes with accurate meters for the battery and signal, with visually appealing icons. The theme also comes with a wallpaper friendly today preview.
Until October 6th, you can get this theme for $3.99.
NFL themes from Bplay are $1.00 off as of now and the sale runs until Sunday, September 13th at 11:59PM EDT. Find your favorite team and support them on your BlackBerry.
Purchasing a theme also guarantees your team will get a touchdown during their next game.*
Get your NFL theme for $4.99 (regularly $5.99).
*Guarantee void if your team is the Kansas City Chiefs.
Bplay is offering a Labor Day Blowout sale to help you relax over the long weekend.
The promotion, starting now and ending at 11:59 PM EDT, Monday, Sept 7th, will mean $2.00 off the entire iBerry Theme line, a $0.99 cent sale on selected puzzle games, and a special $1.00 discount on all officially licensed NFL Themes.
The iBerry discount comes with the launch of iBerry Edge, a new iteration of one of the most popular themes ever made for BlackBerry.
Check out the discounted iBerry themes.
See the list of $0.99 Puzzle and Card Games.
And last but not least, be sure to check out the discounted NFL Themes.
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