Jumat, 24 Juni 2011

BerryReview.com Giving Back to the BlackBerry Community

BerryReview.com Giving Back to the BlackBerry Community


Foursquare App Updated with American Express Card Tie Rewards

Posted: 24 Jun 2011 01:50 AM PDT

Foursquare

Foursquare has been making some noise in the news since their announcement of their partnership with American Express. They have just updated their BlackBerry app to v1.9.97 to enable that rewards and points functionality for AmEx customers. This lets you get points and other benefits by using Foursquare at certain venues.

Here is their description on how to use it:

  • link your AmEx and foursquare accounts (you can do it here);
  • check in at a participating store and tap 'load to card' on the Special; and,
  • pay with your AmEx card.

Foursquare is starting off with a bang by kicking this new integration off with specials from:

A coupleof local New York restaurants are also offering great Specials: Blue Smoke, Union Square CafĂ©, Untitled (at the Whitney) and The Modern. More should be coming soon…

Check out the details at the Foursquare blog and download the Foursquare Beta on your BlackBerry here (Alpha also available)

Thanks JR for pointing this one out via PocketBerry

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Posted by Ronen Halevy for ©BerryReview, June 24, 2011, 4:50 am. | Foursquare App Updated with American Express Card Tie Rewards | Leave a comment |


16 Year Old Shares Vision of Future BlackBerry OS Concept

Posted: 23 Jun 2011 08:15 PM PDT

OS8 Vision4

Luis pointed out a thread in our forums where Bongs shared some really slick concept designs of his vision for BlackBerry and what he calls OS8. The designs are really slick and go right along with the eye candy combined with usability approach we are all hoping RIM brings soon just like they did with the PlayBook. I absolutely love the homescreen redesign idea with widgets and a few other updates but they need to be slick like HTC does. It is also cool how he has melded OS 6 with the BlackBerry PlayBook in that design.

Check it out for yourself and let Bongo know what you think in the forums. Best part is that he is only 16… Now if only we could get RIM to think along these lines. The PlayBook is a huge step forward but it needs to be consistent.

OS8 Vision

OS8 Vision2

OS8 Vision3

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Posted by Ronen Halevy for ©BerryReview, June 23, 2011, 11:15 pm. | 16 Year Old Shares Vision of Future BlackBerry OS Concept | 4 comments |


Free Berzerk Ball PlayBook Game is Simply Awesome…

Posted: 23 Jun 2011 07:50 PM PDT

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I have installed quite a few BlackBerry PlayBook games and I have to say Berzerk Ball is definitely my current favorite. Jay let me know about the free game from Berzerk Studio and I have to thank him for that. The game is so absurd it will have you laughing almost immediately and the game is truly fun with intuitive controls.

NOTE: This game is not exactly what I would call "safe for work" since it contains some profanity and people might look at you odd…

I don't want to give too much more away but I HIGHLY recommend checking it out. You can read a bit more about it in App World.

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IMG_00000431 IMG_00000429

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Posted by Ronen Halevy for ©BerryReview, June 23, 2011, 10:50 pm. | Free Berzerk Ball PlayBook Game is Simply Awesome… | 2 comments |


Giveaway: Win One of Two PowerSkin® Battery-Boosting Smartphone Cases For The 9700 or 8500 Series

Posted: 23 Jun 2011 03:00 PM PDT

01One of the problems with mobile devices these days is the fact that they run out of juice fast. We recently heard that PowerSkin supports the BlackBerry 9700, 9780, 8520, and 8530. The BlackBerry devices are know for having superior battery life compared to all the power hog devices out there but that doesn't mean it will last all day for a power user such as myself. The PowerSkin cases not only offers extra power on the go, it also protects your device.

Description:

PowerSkin®: Shock-Absorbing, Battery-Boosting Smartphone Cases

Cases are designed to be your go-to, go-anywhere, go on-and-on power source, fusing style and superior protection into a slim-fitting smartphone case that doubles battery life

  • PowerSkin® collection includes cases for iPhone 4, HTC EVO, HTC Thunderbolt, Droid X, BlackBerrys, Samsung Galaxy, Samsung Vibrant, HTC HD7, myTouch 4G and many other smartphones
  • One piece tough case outfitted with impact-resistant silicone rubber
  • Cases are lightweight, flexible and feature a non-slip grip for ultimate protection
  • XPAL Powered™ battery technology extends talk time anywhere from 4.5 to 8 hours, providing a convenient, compact source of power
  • 100% recycled (except for the battery and internal components)
  • All cases come standard with micro-USB recharge port, on/off button and LED battery status lights

Tech specs

  • Power Capacity: 1150mAh
  • Input Spec: 5V, 0.7A
  • Output Spec: 5V, 0.7A
  • Talk Time: 230 Mins*
  • Standby: 265 Hours*
  • Product Dimensions:
    4.45L X 2.75W X 0.9H inches
    11.3L X 7W X 2.3H cm
  • Weight: 0.17lbs / 77.1g
  • Package Contents:
    PowerSkin Case & Charging Cable

Where can you purchase:

http://www.shop.power-skin.com

Or through Amazon.com

AT&T & T-MobileBlackBerry 9700AP1001B85$59.991500
Sprint & VerizonBlackBerry 8530AP1001B85$59.991500
T-MobileBlackBerry 9780AP1001B85$59.991500
T-Mobile & AT&TBlackBerry 8520AP1001B85$59.991500

They also have these available for other non BlackBerry devices.

 

 

Giveaway: The guys from PowerSkin have sponsored a giveaway for two cases. All you have to do for a chance to win is leave a comment before Monday June 27th. No more than one comment is allowed or else you automatically disqualify yourself. Good luck.

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Posted by Luis Merlos for ©BerryReview, June 23, 2011, 6:00 pm. | Giveaway: Win One of Two PowerSkin® Battery-Boosting Smartphone Cases For The 9700 or 8500 Series | 56 comments |


RIM Removing Streaming Apps from App World in the Middle East

Posted: 23 Jun 2011 01:06 PM PDT

Worst part of censorship

A developer of popular BlackBerry apps, Shane, let me know that he was contacted by RIM with an interesting issue with his apps. According to RIM streaming applications are not permitted for sale in the Middle East. They are removing availability of streaming apps in App World for users in the Middle East for all currently approved apps and new apps.

The list of Middle east countries banned from streaming apps is: Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen

I have never heard of such a restriction where streaming apps are not allowed in the Middle East. It makes me wonder if RIM Legal is pulling some CYA or if this is an actual restriction imposed by other stores. RIM flagged Shane's police scanner apps but it makes me wonder what RIM means by "Streaming Applications." I wonder if Nobex and other streaming radio apps are included. This is why I think it is a slippery slope for RIM to only allow BlackBerry PlayBook apps through App World. That is an Apple strategy that just helps enforce censorship since everything is centralized.

Let us know if you figure out any more!

Here is the email RIM is sending out:

Dear Mr X,

 

This email is to inform you that any streaming applications, including police scanners, are not permitted for sale in the Middle East. Please remove the following countries from any future application submissions of this type. The applicable changes are currently being made to the applications as they are approved. Please note this will not happen moving forward.

 

Also, if we have missed the country restriction on any applicable applications please make the necessary changes or feel free to inform us.

 

List of Middle East countries:

- Bahrain

- Egypt

- Jordan

- Kuwait

- Lebanon

- Oman

- Pakistan

- Qatar

- Saudi Arabia

- United Arab Emirates

- Yemen

 

 

Thank you for your continued interest in BlackBerry App World.

 

Regards,

BlackBerry App World Team

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Posted by Ronen Halevy for ©BerryReview, June 23, 2011, 4:06 pm. | RIM Removing Streaming Apps from App World in the Middle East | 3 comments |


Latest BlackBerry Bold Hands On Video Shows Responsiveness

Posted: 23 Jun 2011 10:23 AM PDT

 Godberry Godberry2

Since BlackBerry World last month I have not seen that much coverage of the unreleased BlackBerry Bold 9900. I was happy to see that PhoneArena got a chance to play around with the device recently and report back. The devices at BlackBerry World were running a pretty early OS but this device seems to be responding beautifully to the reviewers every touch.

I liked the hands on by John because it highlights the biggest feature of BlackBerry 7. By giving the OS double the processor speed it suddenly flies! When is the last time you heard a BlackBerry reviewer calling the device peppy, screaming, effortless, and responsive. Personally I am just happy to see the Bold 9000 style resurrected with a touchscreen. I remember back in the day we used to call the then mythical touch/QWERTY Bold the GodBerry. Check out their hands on video to see what I mean:


Desktop Video Link | Mobile Video Link

They also have a ton of pictures and their full hands on at PhoneArena. Let us know what you think!

Thanks to JJ for sending this one in.

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Posted by Ronen Halevy for ©BerryReview, June 23, 2011, 1:23 pm. | Latest BlackBerry Bold Hands On Video Shows Responsiveness | 18 comments |


BlackBerry WebWorks SDK for the PlayBook Tablet OS Updated to v2.1

Posted: 23 Jun 2011 10:03 AM PDT

webworks-delta 

RIM has updated their BlackBerry WebWorks SDK for the BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet OS just got a nice update today to v2.1. This update adds some more feature parity with the AIR APIs available along with adding the BlackBerry In App Payment API. That is interesting since the In App Payment API is not available to smartphone WebWorks developers. RIM has also opened more of the APIs to be called using AJAX.

The new API's available in the WebWorks 2.1 SDK include:

  • Camera API for taking pictures/video taping from within the WebWorks applications with the PlayBook's powerful dual HD cameras
  • Microphone API which developers can use to activate the capability to record audio with the PlayBook's microphone
  • Identity API provides applications with the ability to retrieve information about the BlackBerry PlayBook PIN
  • File IO API which gives developers the possibility to read, copy and write files onto the Tablet OS file system.
  • File Properties API
  • Home Screen Category
  • App Securities Permissions

RIM has updated the API Reference Guide for the new SDK. So what are you waiting for? Download the latest WebWorks SDK for Tablet OS. You can read some more details about the announcement on RIM's devblog.

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Posted by the BerryReview Team for ©BerryReview, June 23, 2011, 1:03 pm. | BlackBerry WebWorks SDK for the PlayBook Tablet OS Updated to v2.1 | 2 comments |


BeBuzz Beta Adds Support for Latest UberSocial Update

Posted: 23 Jun 2011 09:37 AM PDT

BeBuzz Update BerryReview BeBuzz Update BerryReview2

The popular BeBuzz notification customization app from Bellshare got a small update in their beta today. Bellshare has a rolling beta for BeBuzz which is now at v4.0.80 in beta. This latest beta update adds support for the UberSocial update to v1.2 that happened yesterday.

You can find the download links to the BeBuzz beta in their forums at this link. If you don't already have a copy you can pick up the full premium version for $5.99 in the store. The free version of BeBuzz in App World will probably be updated when the beta is over.

Kudos to Ashley for the tip!

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Posted by the BerryReview Team for ©BerryReview, June 23, 2011, 12:37 pm. | BeBuzz Beta Adds Support for Latest UberSocial Update | 3 comments |


Pretty WeatherSpark Flash Website on the BlackBerry PlayBook

Posted: 23 Jun 2011 08:13 AM PDT

WeatherSpark PlayBook WeatherSpark PlayBook2

I am always on the lookout for slick flash websites that work on my BlackBerry PlayBook. I was impressed when @BerryInformed pointed out WeatherSpark to us on Twitter. The WeatherSpark website provides tons of weather data for your location in their flash beta site. They definitely should package this up into a PlayBook app but it does work well in the browser.

It gives you radar maps, graphs, broken down forecast, historical weather, multiple sources of data and more. If you have been looking for such a think I highly recommend checking out www.weatherspark.com from your PlayBook! Its also fun to use on your desktop. :)

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Posted by the BerryReview Team for ©BerryReview, June 23, 2011, 11:13 am. | Pretty WeatherSpark Flash Website on the BlackBerry PlayBook | 2 comments |


Tagged Social Network Launches BlackBerry App

Posted: 23 Jun 2011 08:01 AM PDT

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Tagged let us know that they have launched a BlackBerry client app for their alternative social network. I had never heard of Tagged so I started checking it out and it seems they are relatively popular "social discovery" network. The thing is they seem to have dropped the ball with their BlackBerry app.

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Currently the app has 28 reviews on App World and a majority of them are 1 or 0 star ratings with users complaining about the app either not working or slow. I tried it myself but quickly uninstalled it because it also did not work on my Torch. It seems to simply be an app that opens a browser window inside the app but even that does not work…

If you happen to be a fan of Tagged and want to give it a shot despite the ratings check it out in App World.

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Posted by the BerryReview Team for ©BerryReview, June 23, 2011, 11:01 am. | Tagged Social Network Launches BlackBerry App | 2 comments |


Bank of America App Gets Nice Update to v3.0.26

Posted: 23 Jun 2011 07:09 AM PDT

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After years of neglect Bank of America has updated their BlackBerry banking app to v3.0.6. That is a huge jump from the previous version 1.1 which came out almost 3 years ago as a marginally more useful homescreen shortcut. Their new app is actually quite nice and works according to Amir who sent in the tip but they could make it snappier.

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Features include:

  • Find ATM and banking center locations using GPS, with no address input required
  • Review account balances
  • Pay bills and transfer money

You can pick up the new version of the Bank of America app in App World

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Posted by Ronen Halevy for ©BerryReview, June 23, 2011, 10:09 am. | Bank of America App Gets Nice Update to v3.0.26 | 3 comments |


BlackBerry Thumb, BlackBerry Facial… Now the BlackBerry Neck?

Posted: 23 Jun 2011 06:49 AM PDT

BlackBerry neck

You just have to be a little bit crazy to come up with these "conditions" caused by using BlackBerrys or any other smartphone for that matter. Awhile back we heard about some treatments for BlackBerry Thumb but that is so passé. The Paul Labrecque Salon & Spa in Manhattan is offering a BlackBerry Facial and now a BlackBerry Neck treatment. The neck condition is caused by "repeatedly looking down" at your BlackBerry according to the NY Daily News. Here is how they describe the treatment:


The 45 minute exfoliation treatment was intense: A neck cleansing, a peel with sapphire stones, another peel, a hydrating serum and then some lymphatic drainage.  The treatment ended with 20 minutes of LED light and microcurrents, topped off with an oxygen mask.

All for $200… Seriously who are we kidding. Go go gadget neck!

inspector gadget neck

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Posted by Ronen Halevy for ©BerryReview, June 23, 2011, 9:49 am. | BlackBerry Thumb, BlackBerry Facial… Now the BlackBerry Neck? | 5 comments |


New Bill in Congress Wants Carriers to Have to Explain What 4G Means

Posted: 23 Jun 2011 06:39 AM PDT

 Ludicrous Speed Space Balls

Remember when 3G was a big deal? GPRS was considered 2G and EDGE was 2.5G and then all the craziness started with 3G but now we have even more marketing gimmicks going on with 4G. Customers obviously assume that 4G means better than 3G but the thing is not all 4G from US carriers is created equally. Verizon has been calling their LTE network 4G along with Sprint and their WiMax network. We then had T-Mobile calling their HSPA+ network 4G with AT&T coming shortly thereafter calling their HSPA+ network 4G too… Confused yet?

A new bill was introduced into congress by Rep. Anna Eshoo called the Next Generation Wireless Disclosure Act that wants carriers to have to disclose what they mean by 4G and what that translates into for consumers. That includes speed, coverage, and technology along with a comparison to the competition. While I think that is noble and probably a way for her to win some brownie points with constituents I would rather they focus on these new stingy tiered data plans.

What do you think? How about we just head on over to Ludicrous Speed!


Desktop Video Link | Mobile Video Link

via CNNMoney via IntoMobile

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Posted by Ronen Halevy for ©BerryReview, June 23, 2011, 9:39 am. | New Bill in Congress Wants Carriers to Have to Explain What 4G Means | 8 comments |


Slick BlackBird PlayBook Twitter Client with Multiple Account Support

Posted: 23 Jun 2011 05:47 AM PDT

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First we had Blaq impress us with their Twitter app for the PlayBook and now we have BlackBird showing up on the scene. BlackBird is a slick client to bring Twitter to your PlayBook outside of the browser. You get access to the basic features of you account including the ability to use multiple accounts which is a nice perk.

Other features include:

  • Quick access
  • Easily read your timeline and single tweets
  • Write and post your tweets and replies
  • View profiles
  • Retweet and mark as favorite
  • Multiple account support
  • Design by Austrian multiple award winners

Check out BlackBird for your BlackBerry PlayBook for $1.99 in App World.

PS: I am happy to see that RIM legal didn't have any trouble with the name of the app including "Black" since they seem to think they own "Berry". Crossing my fingers that maybe all of them were fired already.

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Posted by Ronen Halevy for ©BerryReview, June 23, 2011, 8:47 am. | Slick BlackBird PlayBook Twitter Client with Multiple Account Support | 6 comments |


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