Blackberry Phones

Although I often switch between Slacker Radio and Pandora, the new services recently introduced by Slacker have caused me to use it more so then Pandora recently. The PlayBook app is great but the BlackBerry app for a while now has always some minor bugs within including a rather long start up time.

The latest version, while not in BlackBerry App World as of yet has been released via the Slacker website recenty — having downloaded the v4.0.736 release it looks like start up time has been reduced if nothing else. Still, no change log has been posted but you’ll likely want to grab it anyway if you’re a Slacker Radio user.

More information/download of Slacker Radio

Step right up boys and girls… for your chance to win a custom-painted BlackBerry Torch!!! That’s right folks, we’re giving away another BlackBerry Torch to a lucky CrackBerry reader, and this time it’s coming to you courtesy of our friends at ColorWare.

The Prize: The lucky winner will win a BlackBerry Torch 9800 and get to paint it in the color scheme of their choosing. You can jump over to ColorWare’s BlackBerry Torch 9800 Design Studio to figure out how you’d do it up. Keep in mind it’s an unlocked OEM non-CDMA phone, which means you’ll need to be running it on GSM network (best on AT&T in the USA (T-Mo works, but no 3G), Rogers in Canada, etc.).

How to Enter: To enter, JUST LEAVE A SINGLE COMMENT to this blog post. You can say whatever you like in the comment, though we always love to see comments about how much CrackBerry and ColorWare rock! Or let us know what color you’d paint your Torch if you win.  Contest ends Sunday, November 14th at Midnight PT.  That’s it. GOOD LUCK!!!

Seems the BlackBerry Bold 9780  carrier information is now flowing nicely, the device has just shown up on the Vodafone NL website as coming soon and appears to be available for pre order. Looking at the price points it shows the device will be available for € 0.00 when combined with a plan of at least € 17.50 on a 2 year contract. The off contract price currently shows as € 509.00.

The BlackBerry Developer Conference is well under way and many of the developers are here on site with us. One of those such developers is MLHSoftware, who makes many great applications as seen above. Now and for the remainder of DevCon you can check out any MLHSoftware developer application for 50% off the original price. Process is simple, on your BlackBerry head on over the Shop CrackBerry Software store and select you application. In the coupon are enter in the code “MLHDEVCON10″ and click on update. Once your cart shows 50% off you can then proceed to checkout. Remember, it must be done on your BlackBerry for the code to work.  Many thanks to MLHSoftware for the sale!

These days, the talk surrounding mobile devices is really heating up. With the explosion of Android devices and the ongoing substantial growth of the iPhone  showing no signs of slowing down, many folks are constantly looking at their options. Be it, switching from Android to iPhone, iPhone from BlackBerry to webOS or however else you really want to look at it, people are making choices and changes on what they want from their mobile devices.

This area is certainly going to expand as well. Windows Phone 7 devices are soon to arrive and many are waiting to see what is in store for them as consumers there. One thing that has really been a focus of some media outlets is the supposed influx of people deciding to leave BlackBerry in an effort to seek out more. While it is true that many users appear to be heading away from BlackBerry devices, one often forgets to look at the information about how many of those users once gone, actually come back to BlackBerry devices after spending time on other platforms.

Each day, the CrackBerry forums fills up with users proclaiming they are either leaving BlackBerry for another platform or, they have just arrived back from another platform and are proclaiming what they missed about their BlackBerry devices. Now, being a multi platform user myself, I can easily say the grass is not exactly always greener on the side of the fence. For some though it is and that’s quite alright as people SHOULD be buying devices based on their needs rather then what they think is cool. But often times this isn’t the case. Often times, people will buy what they think they need or want rather then face then reality being that they really do not need all the bells and whistles that some other devices offer.

So how about you all, anyone tried another platform yet returned back to BlackBerry for whatever reason? If so, tell us why in the comments it’s always cool to see the variation of users. In the meantime, check out the forum thread posted below and see some reasons others have chosen to return back to their BlackBerry devices having spent time on other platforms

When you are a BlackBerry user and you travel; be it often or just simply on random occassions, I have never come across a better application then Worldmate. Personally, I use it on my BlackBerry and when I had an iPhone I also had it installed there as well. The latest news from Worldmate is that they have updated to version 4.0. This update, brings a lot to the table in terms of how exactly Worldmate function and how it can better assist you in your travels. A new service addition has been added to Worldmate:

WorldMate introduces TripCatch to their BlackBerry application, an opt-in service that monitors a user’s BlackBerry inbox for travel confirmation emails and then automatically imports them into their WorldMate account. Skipping the manual step for users, TripCatch grabs confirmation for flights, hotels, rental cars and more, generating detailed trip itineraries. Ensuring privacy, TripCatch is certified with the Privacy Seal from TRUSTe so the only information accessed is explicitly allowed by the user.

With TripCatch automation, confirmation emails for flights, hotels, rental cars and more generate detailed trip itineraries. The WorldMate service also includes flight alerts, calendar synchronization, and itinerary integration with mapping, navigation and LinkedIn contacts. Using TripCatch bypasses the old method of adding items to you itinerary wherein you had to forward all conformation emails to a specific email address before they would be added. TripCatch is an opt in service as well, so if you try it out and do not like you you may opt out at any time.

The Dragon for email application is simply put, awesome! I have it on numerous devices (BlackBerry and iPad) and it has never failed with dictating my emails so far. Sure, at first it had some issues with my “aboots” and “eh’s” but once you learn to get past that it’s pretty sweet.

The intial realese of Dragon was not that great for some BlackBerry Tour owners though. Many experienced issues with the application not loading correctly or just simply not working at all. Nuance, the makers of Dragon for email have corrected the issue with their latest release which is currently available via BlackBerry App World. Honestly, I’m not sure as to when it was updated exactly but I am told this will resolve the issue for Sprint Tour owners. Sadly, the app is only available in the US so if you live elsewhere you may have issues finding a direct download for the latest version which is currently sitting at 1.6.2.