Blackberry Software

Paul Ockenden of PC Pro put together a test comparing smartphone keyboards. The test was pretty basic, and while we can argue about the accuracy of the results, I think BlackBerry users can agree on the conclusions. The test involved typing the first couple of verses to Lou Reed’s “Pale Blue Eyes”, a telephone number, a web URL and a username/password. In each case, the operation was timed and accuracy noted. The results of the tests are shown in the above table.

Each phone was in its default mode, as it would be out of the box. One error is logged for each wrong word in the main text and for each wrong character in the phone number, web address, username and password. In each test, Paul tried to not look at the screen, and type as fast as he could, allowing the phone to correct any errors. Overall, the goal isn’t to type the fastest, but to get an idea for the speed to error ratio.

Obviously, the results we’re particularly interested in are those related to BlackBerry. According to the results, the Bold 9700 clocked in at 1M 44S with 0 errors. This was actually the best score across all the smartphones tested. These results are definitely something to be proud of, and as a Bold 9700 user myself, I can stand behind the results.

Now lets take a look at the Storm2 results: 3M 24S and 9 errors. These results show the Storm2 to have by far the least efficient character input across all smartphones tested. Again, as someone who has used the Storm2, these results are on par with my own experiences.

Personally, I think these results highlight how RIM made a fatal error with the Storm2. Their attempt to keep up with the Johnsons led them to develop a product that lacks the competitive advantages of a BlackBerry: speed, efficiency and productivity. While I love the Storm2 for its ability to open up the market for new apps and its large screen that makes rich media look so good, I can’t help but think SurePress was the Achilles Heel.

If Paul were to redo the test, I would ask he try the Bold 9000. I bet its large keyboard would beat the 9700’s by a significant margin.

© Kyle for BlackBerry Cool, 2010

In the latest BlackBerry Connection Newsletter, RIM mentioned that the official Twitter app and LinkedIn app are “almost here”. The newsletter doesn’t mention any specific release dates, but if they’re talking about it now, I’m hoping within a month is a reasonable definition of “soon”. Also of significance, is the fact that RIM is calling their official Twitter app a “business app”.

At first this struck me as odd but after thinking about the features built into the official Twitter app, it seems very much geared towards PR agencies. For example, the search function allows you to search for brands and filter the search based on “attitudes”. This feature would be particularly useful for a company looking to monitor a brand and the consumer perception of this brand while on the go. Monitoring popular topics and trends is another feature of particular interest to PR agencies, as it’s important to see if a campaign is currently trending. Hopefully these apps arrive soon.

© Kyle for BlackBerry Cool, 2010

Rob Woodbridge from Untether.TV is back and he’s interviewing Magmic’s Product Manager Jeff Bacon. We’ve had Jeff Bacon on BlackBerryCool several times, with his own column Bacon on BlackBerry, as well as some news tidbits. Jeff is a talented BlackBerry developer and has a lot of interesting things to say from a developer’s perspective.

In this interview, Jeff talks about Magmic’s NYT license and how they leveraged the brand to develop NYT Crossword and NYT Sudoku. The first thing that struck me during the interview, was Jeff’s comment about the fact that when they first started developing for BlackBerry, there were only a few models and implicitly suggested that development for BlackBerry has become more complicated. If a veteran developer such as Jeff is lamenting about the development process, RIM should these comments very seriously. At around 8 minutes, on the subject of costs associated with porting, Jeff says “it can get frustrating sometimes…why is someone releasing a new device that requires us to redesign a new UI for it?” The release of the BlackBerry Storm, apparently caused a lot of headaches dealing with the touchscreen, and cost the company dollars in porting and redesigning their games.

On the subject of distribution, Magmic focused on an exclusive with AT&T to promote the NYT brand. This brings up an interesting point that content is becoming increasingly valuable to carriers as a means of differentiating them from the competition. “Every carrier wants something that they can say that they have, that their competitors don’t, whether that’s a new type of device, rate plan, coverage map, or content. Content has been driving device sales for the last couple of years and will continue to moving forward.” BlackBerry is in a unique position in this regard with their ability to bring apps that the iPhone can’t supply (Skype, IM aggregators etc), thus getting the support of the carriers to sell more BlackBerrys.

When it comes to the iPhone, Jeff was really positive. When Magmic first started developing for the iPhone, it was much more powerful than the BlackBerrys on the market at the time. While Magmic was pushing the boundaries of what was possible on a BlackBerry, they found new challenges with the iPhone given that they had more processing power and memory at their disposal. Also, customers on the iPhone were used to a much different experience than BlackBerry users. Jeff gives Apple a lot of kudos for educating their users about how to use applications and setting a standard for developers that, if they adhere to, will almost guarantee that an iPhone user can pick up their application and use it without the need for help menus or tutorial.

Overall, I would say this interview summarizes some of the key competitive advantages that the iPhone provides to developers, that RIM would be smart to adopt. While BlackBerry provides a platform that can surpass the iPhone in what an application can offer, the barriers to entry need to come down.

© Kyle for BlackBerry Cool, 2010

Since the release of the BlackBerry Presenter and the announcement of the iPad I’ve been thinking more about mobile word processing. Until now I was satisfied just using the notepad and email functions to export the note-taking I do on my BlackBerry, onto my desktop. When iPad’s iWork word processing got debuted, I started thinking about how great it would be to get advanced word-processing features on my text-nimble BlackBerry.

After some testing I found myself wondering why bold, italics, and basic text formatting aren’t part of the BlackBerry experience. I would love it if I could compose BBMs or emails in bold, italics, and strikethroughs.

Here are some of the solutions I tried. Both had about as much ease of purchase and registration as any game or theme, which was surprising for such valuable mobile utilities.

eOffice 4.6 by DynoPlex Inc

eOffice offers a suite of editors and a great UI for handling the sharing, accessing, and storage of all your documents. I was pleasantly surprised to the file-management system so well-laid out for a mobile app. Having the phone memory, media card, google docs, an included online “Virtual Drive”, and PC Desktop access all available from the app’s file selection menu.

eOffice 4.6 has a great menu system for accessing the word processing features. Press the menu button and up comes a hierarchical, menu with more features and formatting than you would expect for a mobile word processor. From here you can access the file menu, fonts, formatting, tools, view, and zoom options.

I found eOffice to be elegantly designed for the mobile, it had all of the features I wanted, and saved the more advanced stuff for the desktop. I was able to seamlessly open word and excel files from my email, edit them on the go, and loved what I saw when I got back to my desktop word processor.

eOffice is feature-filled and well-priced at .95, pick up your copy today.

Documents To Go Premium Edition 2.0 by DataViz

Instead of an all-in one office suite, Documents To Go has instead opted for separate apps and good BlackBerry menu integration. DataViz has also developed something called InTact technology which insures that you have 100% document fidelity while editing on your device.

Documents To Go also has a file-loading app called Documents To Go Files. This app allows you to access documents on your device or remotely access your files on your PC. I look at this tool as an advanced out of office tool. Being able to access the stuff you don’t even plan on accessing when you leave the office has got to be the most subtle killer app I can think of. It’s also got a great PDF viewer to round out this professional suite of viewers and editors.

I like how Documents To Go handles the difference between viewing and editing. When you open a document from email or through browsing files, you’ll be asked if you’d like to simply view or edit the document. Seems like something small but I like how the concepts are separate within the same software. I’ve pocket dialed enough people in my time that I’d rather not pocket edit something important from work.

Documents To Go is available for .99, pick up your copy today.

© Matt Cameron aka W4LNUT for BlackBerry Cool, 2010

Zoompass have announced that they are now preloaded on Bell devices and users should start seeing the app on the homescreen shortly. This isn’t breaking news because we know that Zoompass is a joint venture with all the major Canadian carriers, but it’s good to see how fast they’re moving. About a week ago, we saw the announcement that the Zoompass app was preloaded on TELUS, and at this pace we can expect a Rogers announcement next week.

Personally, I think an initiative such as this needs the major banks to sign on. While it’s convenient to be able to use the app to transfer money between friends, and the Zoompass sticker to use at PayPass locations, it’s still not enough. To truly have a mobile payment solution, we need a way for the BlackBerry to interact with a debit machine.

© Kyle for BlackBerry Cool, 2010

UberTwitter have launched version 0.970 and they’ve included a nice changelog for those looking to see what specific updates and fixes have occurred. Some of the notable updates include the ability to opt out of sponsored tweets, delete direct messages and they’ve added a new shortcut for scrolling up your timeline (press ‘0′). Click the jump to see the full changelog.

The following changes have been made from 0.963 to 0.970

• Java exceptions on device boot – Fixed issue where java exceptions would be reported on device reboot due to lack of permissions.
• Opt-out of sponsored tweets – Users can now opt out of receiving sponsored tweets.
• Goto User bug fix – Fixed bug where entering a user not in your timeline and then pressing trackball wouldn’t use the text you entered but instead find the closest match from your friends list.
• Everyone Near You – Fixed bug where it wouldn’t uses your current location, and sometimes would revert to somewhere off the coast of Africa. Also increased the distance to a 10 mile radius, in the future we will let you select this.
• Mini-Icon Notification – Fixed bug where if the app didn’t have certain permissions not related to the mini-icon, it still wouldn’t show the mini-icon.
• Fine-Tuned control of visual notifications – There are now three settings each for the mini-icon and application icon so you can fine-tune the control over how you want each to notify you. Also, the number next to the mini-icon will only reflect the number of new tweets of the type it is tracking. For example, if you only set the mini-icon to track new DMs, then the number next to the mini-icon will only reflect the number of new DMs.
• New short-cut for page-up – Added a new short-cut to page-up in the timeline, pressing ‘0′ (zero) will now page up in the timeline.
• Instability when using cell location – Fixed bug that would cause instability in the app when using cell tower location.
• 3G Cell Tower Inaccuracy – Fixed a bug in the cell tower location mechanism when 3G towers were being used.
• Symbol Screen – Again reworked the symbol screen.
• Secure Connection – Changed the default Twitter endpoint so your traffic will travel over a secure HTTPS connection.
• Deleting DMs – We now allow you to delete direct messages.
• Constant permissions requests – Fixed bug where every time the app was started it would ask for permissions.

© Kyle for BlackBerry Cool, 2010

Verizon have begun to push their Skype Mobile services on YouTube, and while the video doesn’t reveal anything new about the product, it’s good to see that things are moving forward. Verizon claims the call quality will be excellent, and messaging will be an integral part of the service. Hopefully Verizon haven’t locked Skype down from doing business with other carriers, as I know many other BlackBerry users in Canada and on other providers would love to get their hands on this service.

© Matt Cameron aka W4LNUT for BlackBerry Cool, 2010

Shazam is the app that’s famous for being able to tell you what song you’re listening to, simply by having the app tag a portion of the track. The app has been recently updated, and the major feature is that they are now offering sales through the 7Digital store. Also new to the app includes the ability to watch music videos of tagged songs with YouTube (Vevo?) and tweet tags to your followers.

Shazam is available on a free trial so check them out in App World.

© Matt Cameron aka W4LNUT for BlackBerry Cool, 2010

Nimbuzz is a free IM app that features quite a few clients such as AIM, Google Talk, MSN, Skype as well as Facebook. They let us know that the app has been updated, with the connection issue for OS 5.0 resolved. Features include:

• Runs in background.
• Connects all your friends: Put all your friends in one place, check their status updates, and chat right from the buddy list.
• Home screen notifications: You wont miss anything, a red dot will show up on the letf corner of your screen everytime you get a new message.
• Auto-reconnects: for switching between 3G, 2G and Wifi networks.
• “Clickable” URL’s: Share links and websites with your friends! No need to retype web addresses.
• Sound profiles – your notifications can be customized, so you can make them personal.
• Save money on text messages with free Nimbuzz to Nimbuzz messaging.
• Free!

Try Nimbuzz in App World.

© Matt Cameron aka W4LNUT for BlackBerry Cool, 2010

Stitcher is a free media/podcast player that is now available for the BlackBerry Storm2 9550 and the 9520. The app provides a large selection of on-demand content and is a decent media player for anyone into podcasts. Previously, the app was only available on the Curve 8300, 8310, 8320, 8900 and Bold 9000. When we last wrote about Stitcher, they mentioned their upcoming version 1.2, which is still set to launch early July. The update includes improved handling of longer shows, full seek functionality and support for Bluetooth streaming.

Grab Stitcher from stitcher.com/dl or BlackBerry App World.

© Matt Cameron aka W4LNUT for BlackBerry Cool, 2010