Posted on October 19, 2009, at 1:39 pm .
Vlingo recently completed a study that reveals teens use text messaging as their primary method of communications and 60% admitted to reading incoming messaging while driving.
The survey comes as the nation observes National Teen Driver Safety Week, October 18th-24th. According to the study, 94 percent of teens use their mobile phones to send text messages. Fifty-four percent send more than 500 text messages per month and 79 percent send more text messages than make phone calls. Teens use text messaging primarily to communicate with friends (72 percent).
While email is central to communication on a BlackBerry, the device is also used heavily for SMS. Many teens buy BlackBerry devices, not for the email capabilities, but for the QWERTY keyboard and the brand.
It is for this reason that BlackBerryCool.com would like to remind you not to drive while using your BlackBerry. Even though using voice-based user interfaces may show an improvement in your ability to focus on the road, the absolute safest thing you can do is just wait until you arrive at your destination.
Visit Vlingo and register to read the full survey.
Posted on May 29, 2009, at 12:17 pm .
SMSLink allows you to get your text messages pushed to your Mac or PC where you can reply to them just like you would in a normal SMS conversation. This is good for users who are at their desk and receive a lot of text messages because you don’t have to stop what you’re doing, unlock your device, and reply to the message. With SMSLink, you can do it right from your desktop.
The software has been recently updated. With the new version you’ll find:
- Address Book Integration – SMSLink will now grab the address book directly from your BlackBerry. You no longer have to remember all of your contacts phone numbers.
- User Interface – SMSLink is now sporting a brand new user interface. V2 now looks much more like a traditional chat application. One contact list window, and another window that displays your current conversations.
- Improved Contact Matching – Version 1 of SMSLink required you to modify each and every contact in your address book to match a certain format. You no longer have to do this.
- Proper Deployment – Running Windows? There’s no a proper installation process that will add an application to your start menu, and allow you to uninstall the application.
- Running Mac? SMSLink is now bundled into a .app file, so you can add it to the rest of your applications, and add it to your favorite launcher.
Buy SMSLink for $8.99 USD from R10Software.
Before you purchase SMSLink, make sure you’ve seen Cortado’s SMS2Desk and compare the functionality of the two products. Sometimes similar products will often a particular feature you find uniquely beneficial.
Purchase Cortado SMS2Desk Premium for $6.98.
Posted on December 1, 2008, at 4:56 pm .
Whether your friends simply piss you off or you’re just too busy to receive calls, being a jerk and simply ignoring calls may come back to bite you in the butt. But, if you could send them a friendly text message explaining WHY you’re so busy that you can’t take a call, your diplomacy may yet pay off. With NotNow by Toysoft Development Inc., you can automatically send pre-drafted text messages to your friends and colleagues immediately after ignoring their call. Whether you’re in a meeting or on the run, NotNow offers BlackBerry users a quick and easy way to send a friendly text message to callers when you’re too busy to chat.
NotNow v.1.1 Review Quick Links
KEY DETAILS
INSTALLATION AND SETUP
KEY FEATURES
PROs/CONs
FINAL CONCLUSION
GALLERY
Continue reading ‘NotNow v.1.1 Reviewed!’
Posted on November 17, 2008, at 4:12 pm .
Last week we reviewed both Aerize and PeeKaWho, two great pieces of software that essentially give you great-looking caller-ID functionality for your emails and SMS text messages. We’ve talked quite a bit about PeeKaWho, developed by BlackBerry Cool 15 nominee Robert Kao of SmrtGuard (also the developer of Followup and SmrtGuard), and Aerize Alerts (developed by Aerize, who also developed the Aerize Card Loader we mentioned earlier in May).
Aerize vs. PeekaWho Head 2 Head
Posted on September 29, 2008, at 9:10 am .
What the Gubernator wants, the Gubernator gets (or he’ll be back). Starting in January of 2009, citizens within the great state of California will no longer be able to text message while driving. This new law covers not only sending, but the reading and writing of text messages as well; violators will be charged $20 for the initial offense and $50 for each recurring violation. The primary motivation for the law was SkyNET
“Banning electronic text messaging while driving will keep drivers’ hands on the wheel and their eyes on the road, making our roadways a safer place for all Californians,” said Schwarzenegger.
Californians take heart, however: you can have both safety and text messaging via Vlingo, a free voice-enabled application that’s extremely easy to use! Read our review below to learn more.
Vlingo 1.1 for BlackBerry Reviewed
Posted on September 25, 2008, at 9:41 am .
It’s interesting how some worlds and demographics can overlap so easy. For example, I am a BlackBerry fanatic, but I also live and breathe sports (go Raptors, Habs, Bears, Jays, Tottenham Hotspurs!!). Reuters has an interesting feature today on technology spurring the growth of fantasy sports, and it appears the BlackBerry is playing a significant role:
If Scott Troetel is out with friends when the Indianapolis Colts are playing, he often reaches for his Blackberry to check how running back Joseph Addai is doing. But Troetel, who is 32 and lives in Boulder, Colorado, is not particularly interested in the Colts. Addai’s performance is crucial to “Addai in the Life,” Troetel’s fantasy football team.
It should be noted that there is a lot of money being made off fantasy sports and the BlackBerry space is no exception. Who is in first place? Companies like good BBCool friend 4Info, who expects that 15% of the 500 million text messages they’ll send out this year will be to people seeking sports results to feed into their fantasy sports teams.
Question time, folks: do you love your BlackBerry and sports? If so, how do you use your BlackBerry to stay up to date on all the latest news?
(via Reuters)
Posted on September 24, 2008, at 8:58 am .
Good news today for Europeans and International travelers as the cost of sending text messages abroad is about to get much cheaper. The European Commission has proposed to reduce the price of roaming text messages by 60% as of 1 July 2009. EU citizens travelling in other EU countries should pay no more than €0.11 per SMS compared to the current EU average of €0.29, and roaming customers should also receive an automatic message with data roaming charges for the country they have entered.
“Europe, through its GSM standard, made mobile telephony attractive across the globe. It is now time to demonstrate that there is a truly single telecoms market in which consumers can use their mobile phone in all 27 EU countries without being punished when crossing a border,” said José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission. “If we get this done quickly we will see tremendous growth in SMS and data services, and send a message that lower roaming charges can be a win-win situation for all.”
In addition to this, the European Commission is also looking to reduce price caps for roaming phone calls from €0.46 for calls made abroad and €0.22 for calls received abroad to €0.34 for calls made abroad and to €0.10 for calls received abroad by 1 July 2012. It’s great to see a governing body so progressive in not allowing its citizens to be price gouged. Hey, Canada was once a British colony – can we still join the EU?
(via CN)
Posted on June 9, 2008, at 10:07 am .
As I walk to work each day to get my blog on, I often pass punk kids blathering away on their mobiles. Recently, I’ve seen many of them using BlackBerry Pearls or hand-me-down 7290’s (still kicking!) from their parents. That’s why I’m pleased to discover today that all those punk kids in my way suffer from sleeping disorders.
According to a research abstract that will be presented at the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (no, I’m not making that up), when compared to subjects with restricted use of cell phones, young people with excessive use of cell phones (both talking and text messaging) have increased restlessness with more careless lifestyles, more consumption of stimulating beverages, difficulty in falling asleep and disrupted sleep, and more susceptibility to stress and fatigue.
So if you love your child, don’t give them a BlackBerry. It does beg the question, however: if this is what happens to teens, what’s going to happen to us?
(via CN)
Click here to read more about the study
Posted on June 3, 2008, at 10:37 am .
So how are your thumbs feeling today? Newsmax is reporting that in 2007, the average cellphone user sent 188 text messages per month, which equals roughly 2,256 texts a year. Sweet mama! Now, obviously this study refers to cellphone users and not smartphone users, which I would assume text far more often.
Does anyone have a rough estimate of how many texts and emails they fire off a month from their BlackBerry? Post a comment and let us know. Also, stay tuned for an upcoming interview with a medical specialist about the hazards of BlackBerry thumb. Seriously.
Posted on April 23, 2008, at 7:19 am .
Retain is Gwava’s flagship BlackBerry product, and it’s a doozy. With a normal BES setup, only emails routed through the server or phones could be archived. Using Retain, business can archive text messages, PIN messages, and phone logs for later use. As we mentioned last week, data retention is becoming more and more important to companies for legal issues, and this software could help a great deal. It also helps to monitor usage patterns within the company. Thankfully, it has full-featured security levels, so sensitive information is inaccessible without permission. They should have some good demos to show us at WES.
