If you have a Blackberry and use it to listen to music, you may or may not be a fan of the built-in Media player. Sure, it’s handy to have a program already there, but you may want something more… Meet FlipSide from Electric Pocket.
FlipSide is an MP3 player program by Electric Pocket. It’s available for most Blackberry and Windows Mobile smartphones. I got a chance to test out the BlackBerry version on my BlackBerry Curve and Pearl.
Install was quick and easy. You put in your activation key and you’re off to the races! It automatically scans your Blackberry’s memory card to find all your songs. Unfortunately, when it does the scan it slows down your device quite a bit. But once it knows what you’ve got, you can fly through your music like nothing!
Music is sorted alphabetically by Artist and Album. For example, it will show music like this
- Aerosmith – Big Ones
- Aerosmith – Permanent Vacation
- Bon Jovi – Cross Road
- Bon Jovi – Slippery When Wet
Once you click on an album name, the songs are displayed either by track number if the ID3 tags are entered, or alphabetically if they are not.
Something I think is great is the album art feature. If you have the album art picture already in the folder on your memory card, it will display it. However if you don’t, not to worry! FlipSide has the ability to download the album art for you! All you have to do is press the menu button and choose “Find Album Art”. Of course, your MP3 file has to be properly tagged with the song information so it has something to go by. Often times, it doesn’t get the proper picture. I guess it’s just a matter of making sure their database is up to date and accurate. I’m sure it will be fixed in time.
Sound quality is great. The songs are nice and clear and it can go pretty loud. It would be nice if you could adjust the EQ in the options, but for the music I listen to it doesn’t make too much difference. Another thing, is you have to be in the player window if you want to adjust the volume. So if you need to quickly turn down your music if you’re playing Brickbreaker, you have to switch application to FlipSide to do so. The built in player is able to turn down your music and switch songs from any screen. I’m sure that these 2 issues will be addressed in future releases.
I like the way it looks and operates. It’s a uniquely designed piece of software and it’s very appealing to the average user. I’ve seen some MP3 players that require a university degree to operate or load up with music. But FlipSide is seamless and very user-friendly.
Overall, I am pleased with this player. If you’re one of those Blackberry Addicts who loves to have their music on them at all times and doesn’t want to carry a bunch of gadgets, then FlipSide will definitely help make your Blackberry a “jack of all trades” that much more.
What Works
- Simple, easy to use interface with quick navigation
- Easy to get missing album art to jazz up your device’s music collection
- Quickly create playlists of your favourite songs
What Doesn’t Work
- Unable to control volume from another screen, must be in player
- Causes device to lag badly when new media has been added and you try to use player
- Not much customization in options (ie: Equalizer, skins, etc)
My rating – 9/10
If you’d like to give FlipSide a try, you can download a free trial version in the BlackBerry Sync Store. If you love it and want to make it your own, it’s only $19.99 and can be purchased at the BlackBerry Sync Store as well.
Also, if you’ve used this player and would like to share your experiences or need some help with anything, check out our forums and tell us your stories.
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