Sabtu, 07 Januari 2012

BerryReview.com Giving Back to the BlackBerry Community

BerryReview.com Giving Back to the BlackBerry Community


Filter Your Photos With LensBoost from Mblware

Posted: 06 Jan 2012 02:52 PM PST

LensBoost2 LensBoost3

I first spotted LensBoost during a Hackathon at BlackBerry DevCon. Mblware was working on the promising WebWorks Instagram-like app for awhile and perfecting all the kinks. The app lets you filter your photos adding some slick effects and then share them over Twitter, Facebook, and BBM. Its a pretty impressive app and even does tilt-shift with relative ease. The only thing missing is a faster processing engine/library or tweaks but we can hope that comes with future updates!

LensBoost4 LensBoost

You can pick up LensBoost in App World for $1.99

If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:


Posted by the BerryReview Team for ©BerryReview, January 6, 2012, 5:52 pm. | Filter Your Photos With LensBoost from Mblware | Leave a comment |


Pick Up a Free UberSocial Theme in App World

Posted: 06 Jan 2012 01:03 PM PST

UberSocial Theme2 UberSocial Theme

UberSocial has had some pretty slick theme releases and now they are available in App World. Originally they were only on UberSocial's website but now all five of the free themes are on App World. These themes give your UberSocial Twitter client a new look and design and are very easy to setup.

You can find all five of the available themes in App World including their Russell Simmons, Ashton Kutcher, and 50 Cent themes. Kudos to Kal @PocketBerry for spotting them in App World!

If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:


Posted by the BerryReview Team for ©BerryReview, January 6, 2012, 4:03 pm. | Pick Up a Free UberSocial Theme in App World | Leave a comment |


RIM Selects its First “BlackBerry Fan of the Month” @Newshutr

Posted: 06 Jan 2012 08:08 AM PST

BlackBerry Fan of the Month

Its been fun to watch RIM getting more and more social and reaching deeper into the BlackBerry community. If somebody would have told me a few years ago that RIM would announce a BlackBerry "Fan of the Month" I would have laughed at them and said no way. Now in 2012 RIM has introduced a new BlackBerry Fan of the Month program to "recognize and celebrate our loyal, creative, helpful and just plain awesome #TeamBlackBerry members!"

RIM actually already named their first Fan of the Month and the credit goes to Brian Behler aka @Newshutr. You can read RIM's whole interview with Brian and details on the Fan of the Month program in their announcement.

If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:


Posted by the BerryReview Team for ©BerryReview, January 6, 2012, 11:08 am. | RIM Selects its First “BlackBerry Fan of the Month” @Newshutr | Leave a comment |


Visualize Your LinkedIn Profile With ProInsights for the BlackBerry PlayBook

Posted: 06 Jan 2012 07:58 AM PST

 ProInsights ProInsights3

ProInsights by Xlabz for BlackBerry PlayBook is a beautifully designed new app that turns your LinkedIn profile data into bite-sized infographics providing insight into your network. The app extracts the data from your LinkedIn profile and shows you useful nuggets of information through a cool portfolio style design. ProInsights claims to "reads between the lines of your LinkedIn profile" and extract the data.

ProInsights2 ProInsights4

Main features include the

  • Connection Explorer – The crux of ProInsights is the Connection Explorer feature, which displays your connections in four convenient and interactive views and is an absolute visual delight. One look at the screenshots and you'll know what we mean!
    • Card Deck: Has the look and feel of a rolodex. Flip through a business-card view of your connections.
    • Mosaic: Take a trip down memory lane and leaf through a photo-album of your connections
    • Bird Eye: Get a bird's eye view on your connections plotted geographically on a map. You might just discover that you have a contact in Uganda you had added ages back!
    • Spring Graph: Gives you a closer look at your Inner Circle. View your contacts in node clusters that link to you by the number of connections that they have. Move your connections around in this highly interactive spring-like view!
  • IntelliSearch – Trying to find contacts of yours from the Food Industry? Or a marketing expert maybe? Just type in a keyword on ProInsights' very own search engine- IntelliSearch- and find the people you are looking for! True to its name, IntelliSearch does an intensive search on your connections and thus helps you zero in on the most relevant connections.

Check out ProInsights for the PlayBook in App World for $9.99

If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:


Posted by the BerryReview Team for ©BerryReview, January 6, 2012, 10:58 am. | Visualize Your LinkedIn Profile With ProInsights for the BlackBerry PlayBook | 14 comments |


Sweet Backbreaker 2 Vengeance Football Game Arrives for the PlayBook

Posted: 06 Jan 2012 07:24 AM PST

 BackBreaker 2 Vengeance 4

You may not have heard of Backbreaker 2 Vengeance but it is a very popular game by Natural Motion Games for the iOS and Android. Its an (American) football style game with an extreme focus on tackling and it works like a charm on the BlackBerry PlayBook. Check out some of the gameplay screenshots below:

BackBreaker 2 Vengeance 5 BackBreaker 2 Vengeance 1

BackBreaker 2 Vengeance 2 BackBreaker 2 Vengeance 3

They have multiple different modes for you to run the field but you can get a great idea of how the gameplay works by checking out this trailer for the iPhone version:


Desktop Video Link | Mobile Video Link

Here are the features they list for Backbreaker 2 Vengeance:

  • ALL-NEW VENGEANCE MODE  – The all-new Vengeance Mode turns the tables: now YOU tackle! Can you take down that ball carrier?
  • NEW MOVES – As well as the existing spin and juke moves, you can now jump and truck. It's a whole new game!
  • NEW, ENHANCED SHOWBOATING – Really rub your opponents' noses in it with new multi-touch super showboat! You'll bag more points, but your player will slow down. What will you risk?
  • NEW ON-FIELD OBSTACLES – It's not going to be easy to get into the endzone. Obstacles and obstructions, such as hurdles and truck gates, are there to make your life that little bit more… challenging.
  • NEW TACKLE ALLEY WAVES – Fans of the classic action of the original game won't be disappointed. Get ready for 100 new waves spread across Tackle Alley and Vengeance mode… this time with a few extra twists!
  • NEW STADIUMS – Two all-new stadiums have been added, including – for the first time – the breathtaking day-time San Francisco stadium from Backbreaker on Xbox 360 & PlayStation3.
  • STUNNING GRAPHICS UPDATES – Backbreaker 2: Vengeance features console-quality lighting and full Retina display resolution. And just like the original Backbreaker Football, the action is powered by NaturalMotion's Morpheme and Endorphin animation technologies

You can find Backbreaker 2 Vengeance in App World for $2.99

If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:


Posted by Ronen Halevy for ©BerryReview, January 6, 2012, 10:24 am. | Sweet Backbreaker 2 Vengeance Football Game Arrives for the PlayBook | 3 comments |


BerrySki Offline Gps Ski Maps Quick Review

Posted: 06 Jan 2012 07:09 AM PST

BerrySki 

I finally had a chance to seriously test out the BerrySki app by Bist LLC and I have to say I was impressed. During my few days on the slopes I had multiple people asking me how they could also track their run and view their stats. In case you don't know BerrySki is an offline GPS skiing map app that supports resorts from around the world. They have over 100+ US/Canada resort maps and 400_ european resort maps along with some for South America, New Zealand, and Australia.

The app offers up multiple packages based on how many resorts you need for the season. It captures every single run or lift I went on, at the end of the day you can see exactly how many times you went on a lift, runs, your max and average speed, it even has a nice summary of your trip at the end. It does drain the battery but that would be the case with any GPS app running all day. You also are subject to some spotty cell coverage on the mountains which makes your phone eat your battery faster even though these maps are offline. I simply recommend packing a second battery.

Check out a video of the app in action below:


Desktop Video Link | Mobile Video Link

There are a few things I wish were improved in the app. There should be an option to resume tracking on a previous run, for example if the battery dies in the middle and change battery it starts tracking as a new data set and not part of the previous data set. It would also be nice if there was a way to track your buddies on the slopes. I suggested this to the developer as a perfect way to integrate BBM into the app to see your BBM buddies so hopefully it is included.

Until then you can check out BerrySki for yourself at www.berryski.com. Let me know if you have any tips or questions!

If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:


Posted by the BerryReview Team for ©BerryReview, January 6, 2012, 10:09 am. | BerrySki Offline Gps Ski Maps Quick Review | Leave a comment |


RIM: Perception VS Reality

Posted: 06 Jan 2012 07:00 AM PST

Bold 9900

It has been an eventful couple of years for Research in Motion, struggling to turn their declining US market share around. These days it’s hard to find a positive mention of the company. Articles appear at a steady rate in blogs and newspapers slamming the company, their products, and their management — and the stock price is in the toilet.  It makes me wonder: Is there a disconnect between perception and reality?

Back in early 2009, I purchased my first smartphone: The Bold 9000. It was the first time a smartphone had really caught my eye. In a short period, BlackBerry had transformed itself, going from producing chunky email pagers to delivering great looking devices. But the product aged quickly. (My main source of dissatisfaction was the web browser, which was slow enough that I avoided using it) With the advent of the retina display, my Bold 9000 looked downright ancient. The Torch product was intriguing, but felt like one step forward where three steps forward were needed. I think everyone can agree, RIM lost ground quickly — they needed a refreshed product with a great screen, a screaming processor, and a beautiful form factor.

When the Bold 9900 was released, it definitely caught my eye, but I work from home these days, so I wasn’t especially motivated to drop $600 on a new phone.  That all changed when I ported my iTunes Sync application from PlayBook to BlackBerry phones, and saw the app rocket up to become the #3 app (excluding games) on App World during the holiday season.  It brought in an astonishing $7700 in sales the week of Christmas, leaving me dizzy.  (Yet more evidence for the skeptic that App World represents a fantastic opportunity for developers)  Needless to say, I didn’t have any difficulty justifying the purchase of a 9900 that week.

My device arrived today.

Unpacking the 9900 and setting it up has been a wonderful experience, shattering the perception that RIM’s latest product offering isn’t competitive.  The device is gorgeous, especially due to the brushed aluminum band, and how thin it is. If you ask me, it’s as pretty as the iPhone 4.  The screen is exactly what I had hoped for: Finally a retina display class screen in a BlackBerry. The UI is both pretty and faithful to the winning BlackBerry design. The processor is indeed screaming, scrolling is buttery smooth, and they nailed the web browser.  Even the speakers are fantastic.  I was always impressed with my Bold 9000′s speakers, but the 9900′s are noticeably better.  The keyboard feels incredible. Again, I was always impressed by my Bold 9000′s keyboard, but somehow RIM has figured out how to raise the bar noticeably higher with the 9900′s keyboard.

As you can tell, I am smitten with my new purchase.  The 9900 delivers in every area that I had hoped, and exceeds all of my expectations.  If you ask me, RIM has an incredibly competitive product on their hands.

So I circle back to my original question: Perception VS reality.  Had I not purchased the 9900, I would have thought, like the rest of the world, that RIM lagged way behind iPhone and Android.  Perhaps RIM’s biggest problem, then, is a perception problem.  Like they say, perception is reality.  Smartphones are increasingly a statement of fashion and brand in the US.  Why buy a phone from a company that everyone loves to hate?

No wonder RIM is launching an aggressive marketing campaign.  They know all too well how great the 9900 is, and need to get the word out.

The other realization is that, with such a compelling product, the need for a QNX phone is not what it seems.  Sure, delivering a QNX superphone will be a boon for the company in certain market segments, but if the perceived reason for rushing a QNX phone to market is that the 9900 is lackluster, then I must say I can’t disagree more.

I want to end on a note of encouragement for Mike and Jim: You guys pulled off an incredible feat with the 9900. It’s a gorgeous, fast, and incredibly usable smartphone, and you can count me in the group of people who feel that it is perhaps the best smartphone in the world today.  Keep up the great work, and keep your chin up.

If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:


Posted by danielb for ©BerryReview, January 6, 2012, 10:00 am. | RIM: Perception VS Reality | 28 comments |


iShower Makes My Dream Come True With Water Resistant Bluetooth Speaker

Posted: 06 Jan 2012 05:55 AM PST

iShower

My wife makes fun of my attempts to perfect listening to music in the shower. Currently I have my BlackBerry hooked up to a portable Bluetooth dock that sits on the sink. I even have a remote for volume that I put in a ziplock back and attached to the wall. The problem is this makes it really hard to star/like or ban/dislike a song on Pandora or Slacker while I am enjoying my shower. Big problem right?

That is exactly where iShower fits in. The creators of iGrill, iDevices, is introducing the iShower which is a Bluetooth shower speaker that is water resistant. That means you can mount it on your shower wall and play music from your phone for up to 15 hours on 3AA batteries. It claims to have a 200 foot range which I doubt is true but who really needs that much room to shower. :) The best part is that it has Play, Pause, Forward, Rewind, and volume buttons on the device which means I should be able to at least skip to the next song. Its not as good as actually being able to star or like a song but I will take what I can get!

Key features of iShower include:

  • Play/pause/forward/rewind & volume functions.
  • 200-foot range — leave your device anywhere in your home away from potential water damage.
  • 15 hours of streaming audio on 3 AA batteries (included).
  • Water resistant.
  • Time of day display.
  • Easy installation (no tools needed).
  • Detaches, easy to use on the go.
  • Standing and hanging options.
  • Optional anti-fog shower mirror. 

The iShower is set to retail for $99.99 and be available through iShowerinc.com and select retailers. I cannot wait to pick one up!

If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:


Posted by the BerryReview Team for ©BerryReview, January 6, 2012, 8:55 am. | iShower Makes My Dream Come True With Water Resistant Bluetooth Speaker | 5 comments |


Tidak ada komentar:

Posting Komentar