Coffee Dharma

BlackBerry Life

Posted on 14. Sep, 2008 by Rob in All, Life, Musings, Older, Review

It’s been a few weeks since I activated my BlackBerry.  I have never been this impressed by a phone platform as quickly or as completely as I have with BlackBerry.  After getting a chance to learn the unique functions and menus, I am feeling comfortable with the daily routines now.  It’s hard to imagine life before push based services.  These services have become so ingrained in my daily life I see clearly how people become so addicted to these wonderful devices.  I haven’t, nor will I ever, gotten to a point where I’m neglecting my children or duties, so no worries on that.

I wanted to share the top programs I have added to my phone and use the most often.  There are so many programs provided by RIM already that I didn’t need to look for many alternatives.

• BeeJiveIM ($20-$30) - Multi IM client that supports AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, MS Live, and GTalk.  Best looking IM client for BlackBerry by far, though it doesn’t tie into the contacts system as completely as the default IM clients provided by RIM.  There’s a price to pay for having them all together like this.
• Opera Mini (Free) - Much nicer web browser than the default one on BlackBerries.  The only thing you can’t do with it is OTA (Over The Air) installs of software.  I have also discovered there doesn’t seem to be any way to set it as the default browser on the phone.
• Google Mobile App (Free) - Use all of Google’s applications from one place.  It supports Docs, Notes, Maps, News, Reader, Gmail, Calendar, Picassa, and Sync.  This one just came out a few days ago.
• TwitterBerry (Free) - Update your Twitter page right from your BlackBerry.  You can also see friends feeds and get updates. with user icon support.
• NFL Mobile Live (Free) - Sprint only NFL app (it works on Verizon though) that lets you watch games, get recent scores, listen to live games, and much much more.  A must have for American football fans.
• AutoLock (Free) - A simple program that adds the option to have your phone lock automatically.  You can enable or disable it and choose how long after the backlight goes out to lock it.
• Viigo (Free) – RSS, News, Weather, Entertainment, and more all on tap in a great application.

There are quite a few other programs out there I have yet to discover or try.  If you have some favorites I haven’t listed please feel free to leave a comment and tell me about them.

Tags: Blackberry, Life, Musings, Review, Tech