BlackBerryInsight

I truly enjoy the fact my BlackBerry is connected to the Internet. In theory that means the entire World Wide Web is accessible right from my phone. But unfortunately, most of the web sites are not designed to run on mobile devices. Web masters usually optimize their pages to run on large screens. Even with the most recent BlackBerry devices such as the Pearl, you only get 320 pixels width. Add to this some advanced scripts on some web pages and you can not even access some sites from your BlackBerry. But don’t worry; there are a bunch of sites around there specially customized to run perfectly on your browser. Here at AllBlackBerry.com, we’ve decided to launch a new series of articles about BlackBerry friendly web sites. Today, we are taking a look at the movie space and we’ll give you the absolute “must have� list.

Moviefone

So you want to go to the movies tonight and you need the showtimes for movies in your favorite theatre? Moviefone has a mobile version of their site available. This is very easy to get started; you can find a movie or a theatre simply by entering your zip code. From there, follow the links!

IMDB

If you want to access the a huge movie database from your BlackBerry, IMDB is a good destination. IMDB stores over 6 million individual films/TV credits. This is extremely complete; you have movies released theatrically, TV episodes, made for TV movies, TV series, mini series, actors, directors, producers, writers, awards, biographies… If you are searching for anything about movies/actors, this is definitely the place!

Netflix

I am big fan of Netflix and have been using it for a year now. I was delighted to see they recently launched a mobile version of their site. The mobile site lets you do the most important tasks that you normally do on the standard Netflix web site, like viewing and changing your queue or browsing new movies, all from your BlackBerry. I find this very useful when you’re out with friends and someone recommends a movie to you. You can add it to your Netflix queue right from your BlackBerry, instead of waiting to get home and hoping you don’t forget about it.

So here’s the full list. In addition to the sites mentioned above, we also added some interesting mobile sites featuring movie news and critics. You’ll find information about new movies released this week, reviews, Box office, etc…

BlackBerry friendly sites, Movie summary list with URLs:

Moviefone: http://palm.moviefone.com/

IMDB: http://206.130.125.89/mobile.php?UMPG=index

Netflix: http://netflix.com/mobile

Hollywood news: http://wap.hollywood.com

Metacritic: http://wireless.metacritic.com/avantgo/

Fandango: http://mobile.fandango.com/index.jsp

Found via allblackberry.com
This article is licensed under a Creatice Commons License.

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QuickPlayer by QuickPlay Media is a new application for BlackBerry that delivers streaming audiocasts from a variety of channels. Currently it’s available only to carriers, but we at AllBlackBerry were fortunate to get an advanced look at the product.

On my 8700, the application starts up in about 9 seconds. If you are starting it for the first time, you are presented with the Channel Guide, where you can see a brief description of all the available channels.

You can play a small sample for each channel to decide if you are interested in hearing more. Subscribe to the channels you like and the next time you start the application, you are then presented with icons for each of your subscribed channels.

The graphics are well done, with a polished, futuristic feel. The channel selection covers news, finance, business, entertainment, weather, and even local news for a few big cities. When you start up a channel to listen to it, there is a brief (7-8 second) pause as the stream buffers and then the audio starts to play.

The audio almost always started out a little choppy, but after a few seconds it cleared up and remained very clear for the rest of the audiocast. Most of the audiocasts were around 2 minutes, just about the perfect chunk of time to listen to some news while you take a quick break. But you don’t have to just stare at the screen while you listen. You can switch out of the app by pressing the End key and check your email or compose a message while the audiocast continues playing.

Here are the channels on the beta version I tested:

• ABC News
• MarketWatch Morning Stock Talk
• ABC Entertainment
• ABC Business
• WSJ Tech News Briefing
• WSJ’s Your Money Matters
• WSJ What’s News
• MarketWatch Internet Daily
• Personal Marketwatch
• Money, Markets & More
• The Journal Report
• WSJ Weekend Edition
• WSJ on Small Business
• MarketWatch Stupid Investment of the Week
• LA News
• Dallas News
• San Antonio News
• Atlanta News
• Accuweather.com: Chicago
• Accuweather.com: Houston
• Accuweather.com: Los Angeles
• Accuweather.com: Miami
• Accuweather.com: New York
• BlackBerry Podcast

This is a really slick application. It has simple controls, compelling content, and best of all, it’s useful. It provides a practical way to catch up on the day’s headlines while you multitask and check your email or compose a new message.

The word from the company is that QuickPlayer for BlackBerry is available as of September 12 to telecommunications carriers internationally. Supported devices include the BlackBerry 8700, BlackBerry 7130 and BlackBerry Pearl series devices.

Found via allblackberry.com
This article is licensed under a Creatice Commons License.

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I just discovered on the website of Skylab Mobilesystems that their widely used GPS tool Spot now also supports the BlackBerry 8703e. Take a look to the Spot for 8703e page which exactly tells what features are available on the 8703e. So far I have seen that this is quite similar to the already established GPS-BlackBerrys 7100i & 7520.

BlackBerry 8703e in the press:

• 8703e Technical Details (Phone scoop)
• Verizon Wireless Launches the New BlackBerry 8703e (Slashdot)
• IT’S OFFICIAL: Sprint’s BlackBerry 8703e on October 1 (BBHub)
• BlackBerry and GPS
• BlackBerry Outdoor Compatibility

Looking for a Bluetooth GPS Receiver? Take a look to our Recommended BT GPS Receivers!

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The commonly famous “Free-Call-Program” for your BlackBerry BBCalls (Download) has caused a lot of discussions. Most people do not know how it really works and how VoIP can be possible on such low powered devices (like the BlackBerry 7290). First of all, it is not usual VoIP. BBCalls is a program to initiate VoIP calls, but these VoIP technology is only used between the network carriers of each call member - that is the difference. Got it? Here a short diagram:

That is the technical(!) overview of the basic principle of the web-activated Jajah technology. As a call is initated over the web (by selecting “Jajah Call” in your BlackBerry Address Book) the whole communication starts at the Jajah service, so it starts on the Internet. That means, BBCalls invokes the Jajah service. As of the release of BBCalls the technical issues are completely encapsulated to the user. So you will just see that you initate a call and your phone will ring. That BBCalls calling procedure is shown is the following illustration:





As you can see, there are 4 steps marked in the illustration:

1. Select the contact you want to call and press “Jajah Call”
2. Jajah calls you - pick up the phone
3. Jajah calls your contact - he/she/it picks up the phone
4. The call is established and you can talk to your contact

So BBCalls enables you to do that with only one click in your Address Book - “Jajah Call”. That is all you need to know

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Two new Software products has been released by S4BB Ltd. on all important mobile content platforms like Handango, MobiHand, PDATopSoft and MobileSoftMarket.

1. BBBatterywatch: A small and fancy tool for getting a quick overview of the battery state of your BlackBerry. Link
2. BBUptime: A tool for checking the uptime of your BlackBerry. So you will see how long your BlackBerry is running by just one click on your BlackBerry desktop. Link

Please keep in mind that there is still a discount available before 2006/09/30, we reported.

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Handango, the biggest online content distribution platform worldwide published their Handango Champion Awards Winners:

Developer of the Year:

• BlackBerry: Cerience Corporation
• Palm OS: RealDice Inc.
• UIQ: DataViz, Inc.
• Series 60: Mobile Systems, Inc.
• Windows Mobile Pocket PC: Spb Software House
• Windows Mobile Smartphone: Fizz Software Ltd
• Tablet PC: Agilix Labs, Inc

Each Handango Champion Award winner will receive a prize package that includes a $5,000 marketing stipend, placement in a special edition of the Handango Champion Newsletter and a variety of other promotional opportunities. Winners and finalists will also be featured prominently on Handango’s Web and on-device storefronts. The Handango Champion Award winners are:

BlackBerry:

• Best Application for Work - RepliGo Professional by Cerience Corporation
• Best Application for Play - NEXT by Mobigloo
• Best Application for Life - VoiceControl by MobileVoiceControl
• Best New Application - SplashID by SplashData

Palm OS:

• Best Application for Work - MobiSystems Office Suite Professional 7 by Mobile
  Systems, Inc.
• Best Application for Play - Multiplayer Championship Poker Texas Hold’em
  by RealDice Inc.
• Best Application for Life - Pocket Quicken by Landware
• Best New Application - BackupBuddy.net by Blue Nomad
• Best Industry Application - PocketLingo Wall Street Dictionary by HLCSoft

UIQ:

• Best Application for Work - ImageExpo by SysOpen Digia
• Best Application for Play - Intelligolf Birdie Edition by Karrier Communications
• Best Application for Life - WorldMate by MobiMate
• Best New Application - RoadSync by DataViz

Series 60:

• Best Application for Work - MobiSystems OfficeSuite by Mobile Systems, Inc.
• Best Application for Play - SmartMovie by Lonely Cat Games
• Best Application for Life - IM+: Instant Messenger by SHAPE Services
• Best New Application - Stuntcar Extreme by Fathammer

Windows Mobile Pocket PC:

• Best Application for Work - Microsoft Voice Command by Microsoft Corporation
• Best Application for Play - Spb Air Islands by Spb Software House
• Best Application for Life - eWallet by Ilium Software
• Best New Application - MobiTV for Pocket PC by MobiTV
• Best Industry Application - HanDBase Professional Database Manager by DDH
  Software

Windows Mobile-based Smartphone:

• Best Application for Work - PhatNotes Smartphone by Phatware
• Best Application for Play - Pocket Streamer by e-mobile software
• Best Application for Life - SmartVideo by SmartVideo
• Best New Application - WeatherBug Mobile by WeatherBug

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The awards keep rolling in for Next from Mobigloo. First, Next won the game development contest sponsored by RIM earlier this year. And now Next has just won the Handango Champion Award for Best Application for Play 2006. This prestigious award was given by a panel of industry experts assembled by Handango for their Champion Awards Ceremony held on September 11, 2006.

And for some more good news, we’ve just learned that Mobigloo is about to release the Next Puzzle Pack 2 for BlackBerry, a whole new set of levels for Next. The new level pack is due for release on September 21, 2006. I’m a big fan of Next, and so when we at AllBlackBerry were given the opportunity to get our hands on an advance copy of Next’s second puzzle pack, I was more than happy to play, I mean review, the game!

If you’ve already played the first Next, then you’ll know what to expect from Level Pack 2. The game hasn’t changed. It features the same clean interface and attractive design as the original. But it brings a whole new set of maddening puzzles to distract us in meetings, and fill our dreams with visions of little colored blocks.

Game play is simple. You start with a field of colored blocks, stacked in various starting positions. Each block can be pushed to one side or the other, falling to the bottom of the screen if there are no blocks below it. When two blocks of the same color get next to each other, they obliterate each other. To solve each puzzle, you push the blocks around, destroying groups of them until they have all disappeared and nobody has been left stranded and solo on the playfield.

Next has a simple design. It’s easy to learn, easy to play, but hard to solve. This makes it a compelling game and a classic that belongs on every BlackBerry.

If you don’t yet have the original, you can find it here at Mobigloo.

You’ll have to wait a few more days for the new game to be released. In the meantime, here are some exclusive early screenshots of the new puzzle pack.

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