Blackberry Apps

[martint235]

I've just moved over to a Blackberry Bold having used Android for a few years. Could the residents of this parish recommend apps for me please? They don't have to be cycling related but a good cycling news app would be appreciated.

Other categories are RSS news; To do lists; games are always welcome although I tend to like repetitive time wasting games (Crazy Diving is one I already have)

TIA

 

[MrGrumpy]

if I`m honest the BB App platform is gash, why did you move from Andriod? I am thinking after Christmas this year I will be moving the other way.

 

[martint235]

I moved for better battery life. I can get over two days out of my Blackberry Bold which is useful for some of the rides I've got planned, not least LEL next year.

 

[phil_hg_uk]

I moved for better battery life. I can get over two days out of my Blackberry Bold which is useful for some of the rides I've got planned, not least LEL next year.

Wow good luck with that, Blackberry have developed an app to run some android apps when the new phones come out so i think BB apps days are numbered.

I dumped both my Blackberrys a few weeks ago I was sick and tired of not having any decent apps and a small screen and I dont regret it my Android HTC Desire S phone is fantastic. Unfortunately if Blackberry dont get there s**t together they wont be around much longer far too many people are jumping ship and going over to either IOS or Android.

 

[martint235]

BB seem to do most of the stuff I need. I think if they do disappear I'll probably go for a Windows Phone. I can't see me ever buying an iphone and the battery life on most android phones is shocking if you so much as turn them on

 

[Norm]

I moved for better battery life. I can get over two days out of my Blackberry Bold which is useful for some of the rides I've got planned, not least LEL next year.

Ironically, I think that it's the apps and general usefullness of the Android OS which kills the battery life. If I turn off non-essential apps, BT and wifi (thus making it as useful as a BlackBerry) then my HTC Desire will easily last 4 or 5 days.

My most used apps are Advanced Task Killer (to remove anything running in the background) and Power Control (to turn on/off wireless connections and automatic updates). And the Battery Meter is telling me that, on normal use and having made several calls and spent time online last night, it's been unplugged since Monday evening (37 hours) and I've still got 47% battery left.

With HTC's own replacement batteries are under £20, there's no way that I'd move to a BlackBerry for personal use - to the extent that I've just (yesterday afternoon) received some money from Mazuma from a BB Bold which was gathering dust.

I've had nothing other than BlackBerry devices for work for nearly 10 years, and with a decent BES connection, they make peerless business offerings. They are, for me, not good for personal use.

Sorry, each to their own and all that but I think, Martin, that you'll soon regret the decision to go BlackBerry.

 

[phil_hg_uk]

BB seem to do most of the stuff I need. I think if they do disappear I'll probably go for a Windows Phone. I can't see me ever buying an iphone and the battery life on most android phones is shocking if you so much as turn them on

Try the HTC Wildfire the one I had used to last 2 - 3 days between charges depending on wifi and bluetooth use. The only reason I upgraded to the Desire S was I wanted a bigger screen and a faster phone, I am currently using the Juice Defender Ultimate app which automatically turns on and off Wifi and Bluetooth saving the battery for instance it only turns on the wifi when it knows I am at my home location and turns off the bluetooth 5 mins after I get out of my car and goes into night mode at night.

I wouldnt go for a windows phone you will simply be going from one obsolete platform to another one.

 

[phil_hg_uk]

I've just (yesterday afternoon) received some money from Mazuma from a BB Bold which was gathering dust.

They must be flooded out with BB Bold's thats where I sent both of mine.

 

[martint235]

Not sure about WP being obsolete yet. The tie in between MS and Nokia needs a little more time.

Time will tell Norm. once LEL is over I imagine my requirements will change anyway

 

[phil_hg_uk]

Not sure about WP being obsolete yet. The tie in between MS and Nokia needs a little more time.

Look at the past perfomance :-

Nokia once the biggest Mobile Phone company in the world now almost no one want their phones. At one time I would only buy Nokia phones, now I wouldnt touch one with a 10 foot barge pole.

Microsoft every mobile OS they have ever made has sucked big time they should stick to the desktop platform.

As a footnote to that you know what the ironic thing is, Blackberry basically invented the smartphone market and had it all to itself untill the iphone came along, now it cant compete in a market it created, I find that a great shame someone in that company dropped the ball big time.

 

[martint235]

It was that Blackberry dropped the ball as such. It was that someone got greedy without really thinking it through. In the enterprise market, RIM are still king of the hill really. They got caned because someone felt they should attempt to take the consumer market on where Apple was ruling supreme. I think Google are close to dropping the ball with Android. It's currently in a very powerful position but doesn't seem to be evolving in a sustainable manner. My gut feeling for how things should go is that Google should give more power to the manufacturers and allow more product divergence BUT also they should continue to make one unit themselves but with more of a hook to it.

I still think Nokia/MS may rescue both companies in the mobile market. MS have come up with innovative ideas before but then not taken advantage. WP6 would change the profile of your phone depending on where you were for example it checked your calendar for meetings. Android doesn't do this although you can get an app to change the profile depending on time or location. WP was also being developed in such a way as it could be set to email ahead if you were running late for a meeting.

In upshot, MS/Nokia and RIM should keep to the business market that they know well and leave Android and iOS to fight it out in the consumer market.

And as a subnote to all that, my fallback handset should my BB fail is a WP6 device where the battery lasts over a week. The only thing missing from this phone is Facebook integration with the camera.

 

[Norm]

Nokia once the biggest Mobile Phone company in the world now almost no one want their phones. At one time I would only buy Nokia phones, now I wouldnt touch one with a 10 foot barge pole.

I'd still go with a Nokia (Mrs Norm has one, it's the newest phone in the Norm household) if I wanted to get a phone that was just a phone. It is very small and has a great battery life, because it doesn't do anything when it's not doing anything. Solid and reliable, it lives in the back pocket of her jeans when she's gardening (her profession), gets covered in muck and water and never misses a beat. The only time a Nokia has failed on us, and we've had at least two running at any time for the past 18 years) was when it decided it didn't like the 1200 spin speed of our new washing machine - and I can forgive it that.

I think Google are close to dropping the ball with Android. It's currently in a very powerful position but doesn't seem to be evolving in a sustainable manner.

Yes... but... I'm not sure if this is the fault of Google or the hardware manufacturers. The Desire, for instance, is a faff to update even to Android OS 2.3, and I doubt anything beyond that will ever be made available. This is, I believe, HTC's problem rather than Google's. I see this as the sort of signature issue which Apple and Nokia have both had with their chargers, thinking that changing format will encourage the sale of a £20 charger when it actually discourages the sale of the next £500 phone.

 

[phil_hg_uk]

I'd still go with a Nokia (Mrs Norm has one, it's the newest phone in the Norm household) if I wanted to get a phone that was just a phone. It is very small and has a great battery life, because it doesn't do anything when it's not doing anything. Solid and reliable, it lives in the back pocket of her jeans when she's gardening (her profession), gets covered in muck and water and never misses a beat. The only time a Nokia has failed on us, and we've had at least two running at any time for the past 18 years) was when it decided it didn't like the 1200 spin speed of our new washing machine - and I can forgive it that.

Yes I can agree with that, but lets face it a company the size of Nokia is not going to survive on the sales of such phones alone if they dont bring out a smart phone people want then they are dead. Also the other thing I will say is that samsung also make some excellent little just a phone type mobile phones, I have a samsung slide phone that is really small and does the job of just been a phone very well and these days you can pick them up for between £10 - £20, it can also do bluetooth file transfer unlike a certain fruity phone

 

[ushills]

For apps go for endomondo or gpsometer for cycling. Tapatalk for accessing the cyclechat forum.

Glympse is good for someone to track you while you are out riding solo.

Then you have the other typical apps like opera mini for browsing, twitter if so inclined.

Angry Farm instead of angry birds.

Blackberry does what it's supposed to I.e. email best and the battery life is great. I've not really struggled to get it working with the stuff I need from the app store.