Recent BlackBerry News
Weekly Sync: BlackBerry News from Week 39, 2009
It’s hard to believe another week has come and gone. It’s time to get you in sync with all the BlackBerry news from the 39th week of 2009. This week was quiet on the hardware side of things, but we did get to check out some new BlackBerry apps, plus the Storm 2 was found in Verizon’s inventory system. Besides that here is all the BlackBerry headlines from last week:
- Review: Fancy Characters v1.2 By Sergey Demyanov
- Nuts, Poker, and Candy: Party With New Games For BlackBerry
- Review: New Transformer Theme, Bumblebee For BlackBerry
- Introducing Crimson, New Theme From Cocky Culture
- Do You Think You’re Safe From Cell Phone Hijackers and Stalkers?
- New Tweet Genius Update Caught on Cam in BGR’s Bold 9700 Review!
- Review: Premium Crimson Theme by Cocky Culture
- HOT!! Get 20% off Gwabbit – Exclusively for BlackBerrySync.com Readers!
- Exclusive Interview With Todd Miller, President Of Gwabbit
- Review: Ever Light II v2.0 from MMMOOO
- Messaging And Social Networking Apps Updated By RIM!
- New BlackBerry HS-500 Bluetooth Headset Coming Soon!
- REDFLY Mobile Companion Announced: The BlackBerry Laptop
- LaterDude Pro v2.0.49 by Fabian Heuwieser
- New! Puzzle World By MMMOOO, Enter The World Of Puzzles
- BlackBerry, U2, and Palm
- Meet the $240,000 dollar BlackBerry Curve, featuring Yellow Gold and over 4,000 diamonds
- Is RIM working on a native Twitter App for BlackBerry?
- BlackBerry Storm 2 (9550) makes it way into Verizon Inventory System!
- P&T/Wireless & Networks Comm China 2009
- Review: Edocrab By Steelthorn Software
Review: Edocrab By Steelthorn Software
There’s a new software out that is going to make shopping more useful. Especially when it comes to Black Friday and Christmas shopping. And this software is free. The app is edocrab by Steelthorn Software. Edocrab is actually the word barcode spelled backwards, and barcode is what this app works off of besides your BlackBerry.
Steelthorn Software has a few different apps, and you’re probably familiar with them already. They have apps like the extremely useful QuickPull, BerryAnnoying, StormLock, and AutoStandBy to name a few. Some are paid, some are free. Well Edocrab is free. I had to try this app out, free or not, to see what all it could do. I love their moto for this app, “Leave the jungle, hit the beach”, it’s a great concept.
I downloaded and installed it on my BlackBerry Tour 9630. The app downloaded and installed quickly. When you go to find it, the icon sits as a barcode with a little yellow/orange crab in the bottom right. When you click on it, the top ribbon has the crab, the words edocrab by Steelthorn, and then the choices below are Scan, Search, Lists, and History.
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- The first screen of the app
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- The app as you see it
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- First results after scan
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- check out pics, videos, and music
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- check out who’s selling the product for the best prices
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- what do consumers have to say about the product
Scanning may take a few times. It’s best in very well lit area and trying to avoid any side lines, just the bar code. If the barcode doesn’t show clearly to the app, it will show you how your barcode pic compares to an example barcode pic. If at first you don’t succeed, you’ll try again till you get it right. After a successful barcode pic, the app will search online and the next screen you’ll see is the product, the cheapest price it found for online, and when you click on the top product, it will show you pics, you can click on video if there’s any, and music if any. The next line is the prices and you can click on it to see which online sites are offering the cheapest prices for that product. Next is reviews. Click on reviews to see what other consumers have to say about the product. And then there’s add to a list.
There’s also Search, where you can search a product, Lists which is what you create of what you want, and History where you can pull up previous searches.
For free, you can’t beat it. I like the products Steelthorn has. Pros are that it is fast to search once you scan. It’s accurate in pricing. The app is free, you can’t beat that. I can see this app being very handy for birthdays (provided you give yourself ample time to be prepared to order online), weddings, anniversaries, holidays, you get the picture. Here’s another pro….the product I scanned was for the same price from Walmart as the scan said it was on Walmart’s online site. So before ordering you might want to just stop by the store and see if it’s available there at that price.
Cons are that is that it sometimes takes a few or more barcode scans before it will accept it. The only stores that it lists are those online (which most of us shop now anyways). And the app is currently available only on the Steelthorn site and the BlackBerry App World. Hopefully it will be available in the BlackBerry Sync Store as well.
Keep in mind that the app is Beta, which means there may still be some bugs or issues, so kindly report any if you experience such issues so that Steelthorn and the developers can make this app even better.
The most current version will be downloadable from the Steelthorn edocrab site itself.
You can grab edocrab for free from the edocrab Steelthorn site here >
You can also grab edocrab for free from the BlackBerry App World here >
Compatible with all BlackBerry devices 4.5 or higher. If your BlackBerry does not have a camera, you can manually enter the upc in manually and it will work the same.
Rating: 
P&T/Wireless & Networks Comm China 2009
The event took place in Beijing Sept 18th and 19th. It is the only telecom event officially sponsored by the Ministry of Industry and Information, and PR China. It is the most prominent way to meet regulators, operators, vendors, and important customers and investors who come from across the globe.
Thanks to Owen from MMMOOO, we have some information and pictures to share with you of the event. This is BlackBerry’s 10th year, and they setting up their BlackBerry Office in China. They are also hopefully going to cooperate with China Telecom and China Mobile to release the 8900 and Storm late this year (and we in N. America are anxious for the Storm too, and newer Curve, we take for granted what we have here). The vendors bring their products to show the Chinese visitors, and I posted a few pics for you in case you would like to see where it was held, what the booth looked like, and get an idea of how large scale it is.
BlackBerry Storm 2 (9550) makes it way into Verizon Inventory System!
Nice! Look what has joined Verizon’s inventory system. It’s the BlackBerry Storm 2 (9550) which joins the unreleased / unannounced BlackBerry Curve 8530. This is one closer step for those looking to get their hands on a Storm 2! Looks like Verizon may have it in time for the holiday season. We’re still awaiting word on releases from the Canadian networks… Stay tuned for more details when we get them.
[via CrackBerry]
Is RIM working on a native Twitter App for BlackBerry?
This isn’t the first I’ve heard this either, but Kevin over at CrackBerry is reporting that RIM could be working on a native Twitter app. The app would just be like the apps RIM created for Facebook, Myspace, Windows Live, etc. Apparently RIM’s Twitter app will be just like all the others and tie into your address book to integrate contacts. We have no official details on it, but we may see it soon. What do you think? Should RIM come out with their own Twitter app when there is so many great 3rd party ones out there?
Meet the $240,000 dollar BlackBerry Curve, featuring Yellow Gold and over 4,000 diamonds
Al Sacco over at CIO has just shown us quite possibly the World’s most expensive BlackBerry available to date. It’s a diamond encrusted BlackBerry Curve 8900 ringing in at approximately $240,000 USD. This diamond BlackBerry is designed by Alexander Amosu and features solid 18-carat yellow gold and encrusted with 4,459 diamonds (weighing 28.43 carats). If you want to check out more details about this ridiculously priced BlackBerry head over to CIO.
If you’ve got an extra $240,000 laying around check out the designers site here.
BlackBerry, U2, and Palm
![u2[1]](http://blackberrysync.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/u21-500x361.jpg "u2[1]")
Zach from Boy Genius Report, posted a story about Palm. As it restates that BlackBerry Loves U2, there’s a different story concerning Palm and the lead vocalist of U2. It seems that while BlackBerry is sponsoring U2’s 360 Tour, Palm announced its secondary stock offering and along with that news was that Elevation Partners took up another 2.2 million shares of Palm.
Now Elevation Partners is already Palm’s largest investor, owning 67.8 million common shares and 376,000 preferred shares, it adds up to about 42% of the company. Elevation Partner’s Managing Director and Co Founder is Paul David Hewson, aka Bono. Here’s a little information on Bono and Elevation Partners. Bono has been more than just U2’s lead vocalist. In 1992 he purchased a hotel in Dublin named the Clarence Hotel and turned it from a two star to a five star hotel. In 2005 Time Magazine listed Bono and Bill Gates and his wife as Person of the Year. He is known for his humanitarian contributions especially with Africa, and best known for his Product Red initiative. Elevations Partners attempted to purchase Eidos Interactive back in 2005 which was not successful, and they have invested in other entertainment businesses. Bono, through Elevation Partners, has also invested in Forbes Media Group. They have a small minority stake in Forbes Media LLC.
Bono has become a successful vocalist, lyricist (only the 54th most successful song writer), and activist, but he’s also a successful businessman.
It’s interesting how at first Bono and U2 were pitching Apple just prior to being sponsored by BlackBerry, in fact in 2004 Steve Jobs dedicated in 2004 the first special-edition iPod in U2’s honor and they also agreed to making some of the songs exclusively available on iTunes. Bono was quoted as saying that Apple and U2 shared the same creative spirit. There are some other sites which are considering this venture a conflict of interest as though he’s torn in two. But as the entertainer he’s being sponsored by RIM, and as the businessman he has invested more into a company whose shares have gone up 170% in the last twelve months.
You have to wonder what smartphone lies in Bono’s hand? The iPhone, the BlackBerry, or the Palm?
[via: The Boy Genius Report]
New! Puzzle World By MMMOOO, Enter The World Of Puzzles
Do you like puzzles? Instead of playing games to pass the time, is Sudoku or challenging sorts of puzzles like that more of your recreation? Would you rather enhance your puzzle solving skills? Keep reading, you’re going to like this as it’s a great series of puzzles, fifty puzzles to be exact.
Puzzles are a great way to fine tune different thought processing skills. I have to admit, I do some riddles here and there, but this is a collection of puzzles you need to unlock one by one, through fifty puzzles. MMMOOO has a brought a collection of puzzles to the world of apps, and they are true puzzles.
The description says: Enter the world of puzzles now and enjoy the fun & pleasure every puzzle brings to you. Up to 50 puzzles including graphic reasoning, language reasoning, mathematics, imagination are waiting for you to conquer! Are you the smartest and fastest puzzle solver?
Features are:
1. Up to 50 puzzles.
2. Easy to control
3. Hint helps you to solve the difficult puzzles.
So this intrigued me. While not the greatest puzzle player, I do love trivia. I installed this game through my BlackBerry Desktop Manager and rebooted my phone after installation. With MMMOOO, all games and apps come as a zip in your email, and you must unzip the files and load through the BlackBerry Desktop Manager. I always advise a battery pull or reboot after installing apps or themes for best results.
The Puzzle World actually went into my Download folder but I moved it into Games. The appears as the Hollywood Director’s Cut board with the world Puzzle on it, and at the bottom it says PuzzleWorld. Clicking the first time will ask to be registered and thank you. There is a green background with strips of film across, the board that says Puzzle world and a strip down the left side from top to bottom that read: Play Game, Help, About Us, and Quit. Quit is obvious so I won’t go into detail except it’s to leave the game. About Us is MMMOOO , their moto, the contact email and website.
There is Help, and that gives you two of the best suggestions for the puzzles. One is that there are ten Hint points at the beginning you can use. Two will unlock a puzzle, one will allow you to see a hint. The second suggestion is that you should type in Arabic numbers not spell them out in English. So use numerals, not words.
I passed the first puzzle easily, I won’t go into detail about the rest. What I would have liked to have seen is a puzzle category after play to go through each category. That way you could use your strongest reasoning skills to knock out the ones you do best with first. Each puzzle gets a little harder, and mixes mathematical puzzles, graphic reasoning, language reasoning and imagination. Puzzle World is the perfect solution for passing idol time while keeping thought and reasoning skills fine tuned. It’s not easy, so it’s really good for those who are up to the challenge.
Pictures are cute, drawings, and hint is great at helping you to solve the puzzle, but does not give you the answer. When you click on a puzzle, You navigate using your trackball. Going through it, it gives you a place to enter your answer and a place to hit submit. There’s hint to your right as well. Some of the puzzles are interactive, requiring you to go into the puzzle and move objects. And with 50 puzzles, it’s an adventure. This is not a game I would think could be unlocked in a short time in any means.
The road through the puzzles is movie film, and you travel it down the film. It gives you the choice to unlock the puzzles too. If a puzzle is unlocked, it will display the lock opened in the bottom right and a circle with a check in the middle. If the puzzle is locked, the locked lock displays in the bottom right instead. The hints are helpful in pointing you to the answer without handing it away. Much like a review to a movie is, instead of a spoiler.
MMMOOO has great customer service too, so any questions or issues with their products you can ask them and they are prompt in answering and solving them.
Who can I see loving this app? Teachers, college students, puzzle solvers, those who can’t resist those puzzle books at the grocery and book store. Anyone who’s ever loved the Rubik’s cube and didn’t cheat by taking off the stickers. This puzzle game will appeal to anyone who loves a challengPuze. If you’re good at puzzles, I dare you to enter the Puzzle World.
Puzzle World sells for $4.99, that’s like ten puzzles for a dollar. It hasn’t come to the BlackBerry Sync Store yet, but when a new MMMOOO product comes out, it makes its way to the store shortly after.
You can grab your copy of Puzzle World for $4.99 from the MMMOOO website here >
The game is compatible with all BlackBerry handsets
LaterDude Pro v2.0.49 by Fabian Heuwieser
My task was to check out LaterDude Pro and give you an overview of it. I’m always up to checking out an app and seeing what I think and this app intrigued me. It’s a reminder app for those of us who need a little more direction and guidance, I’ll plead guilty now.
I can be so scattered when it comes to appointments, times, you name it. I’m always on the go, don’t sleep much, and my kids get so mad when I forget important events or appointments. I have finally started using my BlackBerry Calendar more, just to feel a bit more in the loop. LaterDude might just be the answer to my scattered thoughts.
REDFLY Mobile Companion Announced: The BlackBerry Laptop
For some of us, the keypad of our BlackBerry is a little small, some consumers are put off by the size of the keys even. But soon there will be a solution for those of us who feel that way. The BlackBerry Laptop by Celio REDFLY. It is actually a mobile companion.
The companion when connected to your phone gives the user a 7 or 8 inch screen and a larger keyboard that you can type on in laptop form. This would be similar to a netbook. Now the company has had the Windows Mobile version, and it hopes to have the BlackBerry version available by Christmas of this year for BlackBerry devices with 4.6 or higher, such as the Bold, Tour, Storm, etc. It sports an 800 x 450 pixel resolution and weighs under 1k.
To use the device, you simply connect your phone to it by Bluetooth or USB. There will be two different companions available, C8N and C7. Now keep in mind that these units do not have a processor, no memory, no storage available, and no Operating System. They are only an extension of your phone.
What will expected battery life be like? It appears the 8 inch will have a battery life of 8 hours for the eight inch device and 5 hours for the seven inch device. The models are going to be priced at $199 for the 7 inch version and $249 for the 8 inch model, not bad when you think about it.
The device requires no contract, if it’s stolen there’s no personal information to be retrieved or exploited, and I don’t know how many times I hear “If I could just find a monitor and keyboard, I would have no need for my laptop when I take my trips.”
What are your thoughts on these devices? Yay or nay? Will you be looking into purchasing one or not? Share your thoughts, we’d like to know.
[via: Pocket-Lint]
