Blackberry Phones are Useful for Every Smart Business Users
Oct 15, 2009 Reviews
Author: Ankita
Blackberry is a well-known name in the global telecommunications sector that was created by Research in Motion (RIM) a leading designer and seller of wireless solutions of Waterloo, in 1984. The Research in motion was the first wireless data technology developer in North America. BlackBerry is a wireless handheld gadget that was introduced in the year 1999 as a two-way pager. In 1999, the Blackberry wireless e-mail apparatus, the Blackberry 5790, was discovered along with the Blackberry Enterprise Server for Microsoft Exchange. The brand has been around since 1999, but they really didn’t start gaining attraction until the early on 21st century. It was in 2002 when Blackberry introduced its high ended device that supports mobile telephone, text messaging, push e-mail, web browsing, internet faxing and other wireless information services along with a multi touch interface. Read the rest of this entry »
Get the most our of your Blackberry?
A couple of weeks ago, I received an email from S4BB about two new apps they had coming out that could help improve your Blackberry in two ways. One, by freeing up memory, the other by boosting your Battery life (which, while battery life on the BB isn’t as bad as say, an iPhone, it can get pretty short if you use a lot of apps). Needless to say, I was intrigued.
First up is MemoryBooster which is currently for sale for $8.99 until August 21st. According to the email, “MemoryBooster boosts your device speed by recovering wasted memory”. I figured, I’d install this bad boy, run it and no more hour glass. Well, that isn’t exactly the case.
The program installs like normal and places an icon in your downloads (or wherever) folder. From there, you open the app and you simply push a button. When running this application, I’ve freed anywhere from 4k to 6M of memory at one time. Something you would expect to help a great deal. Unfortunately, it does not free up used app memory. I asked S4BB about this and the reply I received was that it frees up Flash Memory. So if any of your programs uses Flash Memory to store temp information, this is a good way to recover that space. The best and perhaps only way, to free up App Memory is still a battery pull.
That being said, MemoryBooster takes up relatively little space and anything that helps with memory (even if its flash memory) is good in our book. Perhaps the only issue with it is the way in which is displays the counts and the fact that it isn’t always clear where the “free” memory the app displays is coming from. I would like to see it in Megabytes instead of listed the way it is, as 2M means more to me then 26173836.
BatterBooster is the other app. This one I was really hoping would live up to the promise of boosting my battery’s runtime. Unfortunately, I’m not sure I can say that it does. The program runs in the background (starts automagically on restart) and when asked about the technology behind it I received basically a rewording of the original email. I wasn’t certain how an application that’s running all the time on the device could actually extend the battery life instead of draining it. From experience, the more apps running, the shorter battery life, but I was willing to give it a try.
The first two days I noticed that I did not have to charge my phone as I usually did (when in the car, the phone is plugged in to the charger unless talking on it) but it may have been because I was using my desktop twitter, facebook and IM applications more then the phone. The more I used the phone, the more I noticed that the battery life was about where it was before I started using the application. Battery life isn’t terrible, but I wasn’t seeing the expected results from the app that I had hoped.
As with MemoryBooster, BatterBooster (also available for $8.99) had an interface but it isn’t much more then a bar graph showing battery life and a percentage. Perhaps even better would be a way to calculate battery life left on the current charge.
If you’re really looking for a way to extend your battery life, I’d actually go with something like the Seidio Innocell 2600mAh Extended Battery or an app like Radio Saver which actually turns off the radio on your device (meaning no calls or data coverage) when you’re in poor service areas. That’s more likely to extend your battery life.
If you have an app or product you’d like us to review, please contact us at tips@blackberryhack.com or via Twitter @blackberryhack.
Tags: Applications, Battery Life, BatteryBooster, Blackberry, Free, Memory, MemoryBooster
Sync it with Sugar
May 14, 2009 Apps, Berry, Reviews
I was looking for a good way to get some documents and photos on my Blackberry with out having to use up the precious memory card space I’m saving for Slacker Cache files and videos, mp3s and other stuff I must have at all times on my Phone. That’s when I came across, SugarSync.
SugarSync is another in a long list of Online Backup Solutions. This one however, ROCKS. I was a little skeptical at first as I signed up for the 2gb FREE account, however, once I had downloaded the PC client, I was pleasantly surprised. My account was setup and ready to use in a matter of minutes and after I verified the account, I was able to grab the client and set it up on my laptop. Once installed, I logged in and selected the folder I wanted to “share” on the cloud. As I went cheap (I’ll talk about the other accounts in a minute) I created a special folder that I can drop things in that I’ll need on the go. That way, my entire itunes DB isn’t being backed up on the account.
I added a couple of files and logged in to the web interface. The cool thing is that you get a special “subdomain” thats all yours. So, I’d go to http://mcangeli.sugarsync.com and log in and viola, I’m looking at my shared folders. Almost as soon as I drop an item in the folder I can refresh the screen and see it. Making it available to me anywhere I have internet access. HOW FREAKING COOL!?!?
Its easy to navigate the web interface, but what had really caught my attention was the Blackberry client they offer on their site as well. Yes, you can also hit m.sugarsync.com and use it via the BB Browser, but that has some limitations and isn’t always the best choice and while the current client is rather basic, it offers all the functionality anyone needs. I was able to browse my folder and open an excel spreadsheet with out any issues and it loaded as quickly as though it was on my Berry (note: I was on wifi at the time, that probably didn’t hurt at all).
The other nice feature is the ability to take photos from with in the SugarSync.
client and have it automatically uploaded to the server in the mobile photos folder. This is great for those who like snapping off pics of whatever they see (like giant cows on the side of the road) and is a great tool for getting the photos back to your computer without having to sync up.
SugarSync. has a number of different accounts ranging from the 2gb free plan to 30gb for $4.99 a month up to 250gb for $24.99 a month. They claim their most popular account is the 60gb for $9.99 a month (or $99.99 a year) which I could easily see. My problem would be I’d fill that 60gb in a second and would have to up my storage.
So far, I’m fairly impressed with the ease of use of SugarSync., the options available with it and the speed. Not to mention, the FREE 2gb account is a good starter package for those looking for a simple way to share documents between computers and devices like Blackberries and iPhones. The other cool thing is that I can load the SugarSync.
client on another machine and use it to sync folders on another machine as long as I’m with in my limit. This brings a whole new meaning to file sharing!
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Tags: Backup, Cloud, Filesharing, Online Backup, SugarSync
Aerize E-mail Alerts -
There are a handful of must have apps for any blackberry user. Viigo, google maps, Slacker Radio. You get the idea. Apps that make the life of a blackberry addict that much better (and provide even more reason for constantly having the berry out and glued to your hand). Aerize E-mail Alerts is one of those programs. Keep Reading for a Review and special offer from Aerize.
A STORM of Reviews
Not even out yet in the stores (its supposed to hit shelves tonight at midnight Oh One here in the states) and there are a plethora of reviews already hitting the intertubes about it. Thats right, the Blackberry Storm. RIMM’s answer to the iPhone and hopefully the new flagship phone for Verizon goes on sale tonight and according to reports, people may have a hard time walking out of a store with one in their grubby little hands.
In case you want to see what you’re getting, here are some of the hottest reviews:
- Blackberry Storm Review @ Engadget
- Blackberry Storm Review (verdict: not quite a perfect storm) @ Gizmodo
- Review: Blackberry Storm for Verizon Wireless @ CrunchGear
- Review: Blackberry Storm @ PhoneScoop
- Blackberry Storm Review @ BGR
- Blackberry Storm the reviews are in @ Fortune
Unfortunately, I’m on AT&T and not able to get my hands on one unless someone wants to buy one for me 
If you’re a lucky one to get a Storm, let us know what you think of this beauty!
Tags: Blackberry, review, Rimm, Storm
