BlackBerryInsight

I received a feed from Blackberry Review about “Where”

What is WHERE……well I’ll let WHERE explain it simply.

WHERE GPS widgets make it easy for you to customize your phone. It’s simple. You can add and delete them by dragging and dropping them to your phone from your account on where.com or by adding them directly from your phone.

“But,” you may be saying, “What exactly does that mean to me?”

In a nutshell, it means you get access to a growing set of widgets. Widgets such as:

local — search locally for points of interest around you
directions — get directions and maps from where you are to where you want to go… or from anywhere
saved places — save your favorite places to easily access them in the future and share them with friends
location notes — write notes about the places you’ve been for others to find, or keep them private if you don’t share well
weather — get the local weather for your location
ski report — local ski reports
earthquake! — find the most recent earthquakes by proximity
world largest — a fairly comprehensive list of America’s huge roadside attractions
fore! — golf course finder
roadside help — towing service and repair shops
state parks – enjoy your local state parks
winery finder — take a wine tour at your local wineries
rent a car – you know you want to
brewery finder — get to know your local breweries
nexrad radar — see your local nexrad radar
And more widgets are coming online

Well WHERE has just come out with a blackberry connection, the software and site have been around for a while I guess and has just done the blackberry thing, as far as I can see…….since it was a free add app I thought I would check it out, I have always like any GPS enable software, think its the cats meow at times. But this Where really blows my mind, not only because of what it can do, but that it works based on your position…really any position even here in small time Canada, it found Events, gas prices, coffee, rental cars etc etc all based on my location …Sweet.

I have seen similar products, but they don’t usually work unless you are in the big cities and mostly US cities, or you have to be subscribed to something, or the place your looking for has to subscribe to be a part of there search, but this is easy, user friendly and you can pick from a wide arrange of Widgets that you can drag and drop onto your screen..virtually, then it shows up there. Man I am very impressed with this software and give a big shout out to Blackberry Review for the Alert and to K and Blackberry Insight for allowing me to post it.

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This is even more than the 35.1 per cent RIM raised the US smartphone market share in Q4 2007.

Palm and Samsung raised their share by 13.4% and 8.6% respectivley.

Apple and Motorola - two other leading companies - tumbled! Apple lost 7.5%(!) from 26.7% in Q4 to 19.2%; and Motorola lost 4.9% from 7.5% to 2.6%!

It seems RIM is obviously the winner in the smartphone market right now!

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Not long ago we reported about the final release of BerryDialer 1.6.0 - the only good calling card application for BlackBerry devices.

The new version is supposed to contain no bugfixes as it is said: there are no known bugs. Therefor, it will carry the version number 1.6.1 which also indicates that this is not a major release. We just know of the some new languages that will be supported: Spanish (Castilian) and Catalan. There will also be some kind of another feature upgrade but we do not much about that yet. We’ll keep you up-to-date on this.

BerryDialer with lifetime updates at MobileSoftMarket.

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Here we go:

• Family will include HSDPA and EV-DO versions (including an AWS-capable 1700MHz version), much as we’d heard
• 480 x 320 display
• 625MHz CPU, 1GB internal flash memory
• 802.11a/b/g, Bluetooth 2.0 (with A2Dp), GPS, MicroSDHC
• 480 x 320 video recording, photo geotagging
• 4.5 x 2.6 x 0.55-inches, 4.7 ounces

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Our German sister-blog BlackBerryInsight Germany just reported about a new dictation software for the BlackBerry called “Findentity Mobile Dictate”.

Well, the pricing is very interesting. Even though it is advertised as an “enterprise product” this app is nothing more than a dictation application. For example: we know VR+ for several years now and it does dictations or so called voice note taking as well. For just: US$29.99! Check it out at: SHAPE Services

Moreover, VR+ looks better!

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QuickTask and TaskMaster™ 1.1.0 Update have been released.

QuickTask for BlackBerry® The fastest way to create a task on your BlackBerry®. Key Features Integrates with BlackBerry® Tasks, NextAction!, TaskMaster 2-click task adding Very easy and quick to use Highly productive Only $4.99

QuickTask: MSM, BerryReview, BBCool, BBGeeks, BBItalia, CrackBerry, Handango, MobiHand.

TaskMaster™ 1.1.0 for BlackBerry® Next generation of to-do / task management for BlackBerry®. New Key Features Hide completed English / German Timezone bugfix UI polished 1-click category switch Syncs with desktop Tasks compatible Comprehensive Only $19.99

TaskMaster™: MSM, BerryReview, BBCool, BBGeeks, BBItalia, CrackBerry, Handango, MobiHand.

Customers of MobileSoftMarket (MSM) are eligible for a free update of TaskMaster™.

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CIO.com just announced another nice article about the BlackBerry. The RIM executives chose the best BlackBerry applications:

• TeleNav
• Garmin Mobile
• PocketExpress
• Worldmate Life
• Facebook
• FlipSide
• Viigo
• Google Maps Mobile

We are not really sure if that are the best programs. For example: We don’t really know what Viigo is about. Sorry guys, but we just don’t get it. FlipSide is also not as nice as it looks (sorry guys). PocketExpress … well … I installed it on my BlackBerry but I never used it. I don’t know what for. Facebook, OK, occasionally facebook checks. TeleNav, Garmin, GMM: all of those are nice. GMM is definitely the best - and even for free! We never tested the Worldmate app so we can’t anything about that one. However, it looks like it might be worth some bucks. Would be great to get an evaluation copy

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If you have an own blog and you write about the BlackBerry - no matter it is the blog’s main topic or just a one-time article - you can submit your blog post to the new blog carnival. BlackBerryInsight is sponsoring this event by hosting and promoting it right here for free! We hope to gather a lot of high quality articles about the BlackBerry and publish it here at www.BlackBerryInsight.com. You can find the link below. The deadline for article submission is June 7th; so you still have time to figure out a good one.

Submit your article now! It’s for free!

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Just some days ago we were talking about the BlackBerry’s security.

Now we see many articles about the security issue in India. Well there are just 114,000 BlackBerry users in India but it seems the government wants to get access to the BlackBerry’s communication channels to monitor them. It seems RIM denies to give them “master key access” to their systems. Well, they can’t say anything else! Furthermore, they just can’t do that. In case RIM would provide several governments access to their users’ communication the whole idea of the BlackBerry would be compromized. Furthermore, we hope that RIM is really not able to generate or get some kind of a “master key” because it would make the term “security” in some way ridiculous.

Read more about the BlackBerry - India security issue over here:

• RIM can’t give India access to BlackBerry messages
• BlackBerry refuses to part with mail code
• BlackBerry key is not in our hands, says RIM
• BlackBerry clarifies, communications safe
• RIM expresses inability to hand over ‘master key’ to Govt

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This is a question that is being asked by many BlackBerry users. There is obviously a lot of confusion about this topic. This confusion is mostly caused by the network carriers who bundle BlackBerry devices with their BlackBerry plans (including voice plans, data plans, and so on). Sometimes you can even subscribe to a “GPS plan”.

Now you’re completely confused, right?

So let’s keep it simple:

1. GPS itself is free for use: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPS
2. GPS itself is just a technology for telling you your position on the world. Which actually means: you get an “X” (Longitude) and “Y” (Latitude) value in degrees and maybe the height - depends on the signal strength. That’s it.
3. A GPS position is nice, but you cannot that much with it.

Many BlackBerry devices (current ones: 8110, 8310, 8800, 8820, 8830) come with a built-in GPS receiver which can obtain your device’s location on the world. That is for FREE! (”free” as in “free beer”)

So what are those companies like Verizon charge money for?

All of those built-in GPS receivers are so called “A-GPS” receivers. The “A” stands for “Assistet” and means that obtaining the GPS position is assisted by the network carrier’s access points via cell mast triangulation. We could get more detailed here but it is not necessary. Network carriers may charge for this kind of service. Moreover, network carriers have the possibility to disable several functions and features of BlackBerry devices on their network. Verizon for example deactivated the internal GPS receiver on devices like the Verizon BlackBerry 8703e and 8830. If you want to get GPS access (which means you can use the actual free GPS service along with the “Assistence”) you need to subscribe to their GPS plan. This GPS plan also includes the right to use software applications that make more from your GPS position.

Remember: GPS is just the location (X and Y).

This just this location you cannot do that much. Most of the time you want to see your location on a map. So you need a mapping program to view your location on a map. Most mapping applications download the maps from the internet on the fly. This “download from the internet” is quite similar to just browse the web with your BlackBerry browser and it will use your data plan. Depending on your plan, on the application you are using and on the intensity of your usage this can result in an expensive phone / data plan bill. Now just imagine what it might cost if you are roaming outside your country.

However, most applications are rich in features and I personally like to use them. Some without maps even don’t take usage of the data plan and are therefor free if you have a BlackBerry with a normal unlocked GPS reciever (8110, 8310, 8800, 8820). Here are some of my favorite GPS applications:

• Spot
• Google Maps Mobile
• MobileTracker (no mapping, just recording where I went - read more…)

So take care of what you are using. Hint: it is very easy to track if your BlackBerry is transferring data by checking the top right corner. It will show two arrows (up and down) when data is transferred. So this always means: it costs you money or at least takes usage of your data or BlackBerry EMail plan.

Summary:

1. GPS does not use your data plan.
2. Maps use your data plan.

Bluetooth GPS receivers: Carousel: BlackBerry Compatible Bluetooth GPS Receivers!

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