Reilly2040's Blog

When I first got my Blackberry, one of the first orders of business was to get a Twitter client installed.

The obvious choice was Twitterberry. It had a nice GUI interface, and was easy to download and use. However, since then a couple of new clients have arrived on the market. SocialScope is currently in a closed beta, so I’ve not been able to try it, but everyone’s raving about it.

However, ÜberTwitter burst onto the scene a short while ago with a public beta of their new client. I wasn’t able to use the initial betas, as I’m on BIS, and applying different TCP settings would take me outwith my unlimited data tarrif.

However last week saw the release of the latest beta, which now supports BIS, meaning I can have a proper play.

To say I’m impressed would be an understatement.  I do feel some loyalty to Twitterberry, as it was the first client I used, and its completely free (once out of Beta, ÜberTwitter is planning free and paid-for editions), however there’s just no denying that ÜberTwitter’s feature set blows Twitterberry out of the water, even if you compare it to the latest Twitterberry Betas (which I’ve also got installed).

While I’m not big on the location updating services built into ÜberTwitter (its just not something I’m interested in), the rest of the features are great.  The timeline view is nice, sending new tweets is snappy (something that’s slowed down noticably in the latest Twitterberry betas), it supports clickable hashtags, has inline thumbnails for Twitpic (and various others) and it supports searching twitter from within the app.

The last one especially, I really love.  Previously I was doing all my Twitter searches from the website, but the ability to do them, or follow hashtags straight from my Twitter application I find incredibly useful.

Its not perfect.  Its pretty well known that if you leave ÜberTwitter running, constantly polling for new tweets, it suffers from memory leaks, and will happily munch through your battery, but then, it is only in beta.  

I can’t wait to see what else they add over the course of the beta, and I think its safe to say I’ll happily pay them for a pro version when they go for a final release.  There’s no doubt that this is a great, feature-rich, professional-looking client.

Last week, Blackberry released their new App World to the public. Free to download from their website it brings their version of the Apple Appstore to Blackberry handsets.

Of course, third party apps on the Blackberry aren’t a new thing.  Unlike the iPhone, which is reliant on Apple’s Appstore Blackberry developers have long enjoyed the ability to develop and distribute their own applications freely, resulting in many third party vendor websites for the Blackberry already enjoying success (http://shop.crackberry.com and http://www.bplay.com for example).  So what App World provides is a handy one-stop shop.  Rather than having to find any third party vendors out there, there’s now a handy store that is Blackberry approved (and will presumably ship preinstalled on new handsets).

Its my hope that having one, central store like this will provide a development focus, much like Apple’s Appstore. There’s plenty of good software out there for the Blackberry, but with it spread all over many different sites, it can sometimes by awkward to track down exactly what it is you’re after. However, I’m also glad that Blackberry’s App World isn’t replacing third party vendors either. It should create a degree of competition that you can’t get on the iPhone.

Having played about with the app for a bit now, I’m finding it very nice to use. I like the featured content sections, top downloads etc. The only things I’d really like to see added would be to split the top downloads by free/paid, as in the Apple App Store, since the free software tends to dominate the paid stuff, and I’m also slightly concerned by the pricing. Unlike the Apple version, the Blackberry’s App World pricing starts a lot higher. There’s no concept of a 79p application here (prices start at $2.99 I think), and I think that’s a bit of a shame. There’s quite a lot of nice, cheap software on Apple’s App Store, and developers have started to twig to the fact that putting your prices right down, can mean a lot more sales, thus generating more profit overall. This I worry is something that the Blackberry offering may miss out on.

Regular readers will know I’d been debating what new phone I would get this year. For a while there, the Blackberry Storm really caught my eye, until it was announced as a Vodafone exclusive. And from the initial reviews floating around, its looking like I may have dodged a bullet on that one.

Instead, I went for the more traditional style Blackberry, the new Blackberry Bold. And I must admit, after some initial connection hassles between the shop and the network, once the device sprung to life, it quickly became apparent why they’ve got the nickname crackberries.

Setting up email was an absolute doddle. I simply got a message saying my Blackberry account was active and prompting me to add in my email details. I gave it my address and password, and it figured out everything else. 20 minutes later and new emails to that address were getting pushed out to the device. Simple and how it should be.

I’ve also added various apps to the Blackberry.  Google sync for my contacts and calendar, Windows Live Messenger, Facebook.   All of which work great, with new Facebook alerts or Windows Live messages causing the red light to flash just like emails or texts.  Brilliant.

The other device functions are great as well.  Having not had a 3G device before, its a revelation as to how fast it is, and its great fun using the builtin GPS with Google maps.   As someone who’s not completely sold on the iPhone’s touchscreen keyboard as well, I must admit to being very happy with the Bold’s full qwerty keyboard.  Typing on it is very natural, and while it means the device is a bit wide, I’m glad I went for it for the slightly larger keyboard and screen.

All in all, the Blackberry Bold is definitely a device I’d heartily recommend to anyone interested in a smartphone.   Its only real failing for me is that the 2 megapixel camera’s a downgrade from my previous 3.2 (not to mention my previous one had a nice picture stability function which compensated nicely for my shakey hands).

So, unfortunately it looks like I’ve not found my new phone after all. Vodafone’s website is now advertising the Blackberry Storm, and in a move similar to Apple’s much-complained-about iPhone network lock-in, its looking like a Vodafone exclusive.

Network coverage in my area is spotty at the best of times, and Vodafone is one of those networks that doesn’t get great signal, so this means that I’m not getting one.

I also notice that the Blackberry Bold, another handset I’d have wanted, only seems to be on Orange. Well, since that’s another network that doesn’t work in my area, again I’m not going for it.

So currently looks like I’m looking at a Curve, unless the Javelin comes out cross-network. Of course, the Curve is an older handset now, so maybe we’re looking at Blackberry losing me as a potential customer while I go for some other kind of Smartphone that’s a bit more up-to-date? (I’m not getting an iPhone as I’m a big texter, and the touchscreen’s not that great for typing).

Can we please nip this kind of thing in the bud? The iPhone being locked to one network has been hugely controversial, and now Blackberry are doing the same thing. Its just an escalating problem, and it limits consumer choice. Let the networks compete in terms of coverage/pricing etc, and let the handsets compete on their own merits.

*Update* Having quickly done a more thorough check I see the Blackberry Bold *is* available on Vodafone as part of a business contract.  Not much use to individuals, but at least it isn’t just Orange that’s selling it.

Well, there’s a lot of fuss in the tech press today over the announcement of Blackberry’s new phone, the Blackberry Storm.

Coincidentally I’ve been looking at getting a Blackberry for my next phone (currently been looking at the Curve), and if this lives up to its initial promise, then I reckon I could well get one. It seems to address one of my main problems with the current touch screen trend (lack of tactile response), and it looks pretty. The camera’s also better than those on the current handsets (3.2 megapixel vs 2.0).

From a quick look at the specs and just the general hype its caused, could we be looking at a potential iPhone-killer? I certainly hope so, as while there are currently other touch screen phones available, none of them have really measured up. Also you assume this phone will be available on multiple networks, so I have to presume that Orange, Vodafone etc will be looking for a handset they can push to upset O2′s advantage.

Certainly, while I’m not interested in the iPhone (keyboard too fiddly for texting, no MMS) this has really caught my eye. I’m due to upgrade at the end of the year, so hopefully this will be out by then, and I’ll be able to check out some of the reviews.