BlackBerryInsight

mVoice for BlackBerry

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 05:50:26 +0000

I just received a note from the guys at Motion Apps. They released a new version of mVoice for BlackBerry:

We have just released initial version of mVoice for BlackBerry. You might be familiar with our previous Palm OS and Windows Mobile OS versions of the software, so we have decided to develop in a new direction by making this app available for BlackBerry as well.

In short, mVoice is a sound recorder which allows you to record voice memos or any sound you wish to record and save for later. The app also makes it possible to append the existing recordings and to send the recordings via email.

For more details, please visit www.motionapps.com/product/mvoice

Here are some screen shots:

There is also a demo video available:

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Blackberry’s Thunder Brings Dark Skies For Apple’s iPhone

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:23:14 +0000

Following the launch of Apple Mac’s iPhone in South Africa in September, many existing Blackberry mobile owners compared features in the hopes of upgrading their phone capabilities. Owing to the expanding mobile web in the country, business is pursuing web integration at an increased pace. With over 20 million cell phone users in South Africa, “The cellphone mechanism is just much more convenient to a very wide audience,” commented Kris Jarzebowski, CareerJunction CEO.

In comparison to Apple’s iPhone, Blackberry’s Thunder offers full MS Office compatibility, (with Word, PowerPoint, Excel, etc.) and Exchange support, which is suitable for business operations. For those already accustomed to using Blackberry’s formats, there would be less necessity to switch over to Apple. Thunder is the first Blackberry model with a full touch screen, with just four simple keys: send, end, menu and back. A hybrid device supports many carrier technologies, although in the US it’s available exclusively on Verizon Wireless, and on Vodafone in the Europe.

[...]

Via 1888 Press Release.

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Software / Support Review: Missing Sync for BlackBerry

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 05:21:26 +0000

Quite a while ago we wrote one of our favorite articles called: How to synchronize my BlackBerry with my Desktop Computer (Mac OS X). As I am a fan of NextAction! and other task management applictions for BlackBerry as well as using emails a lot I was also synchronizing my BlackBerry Curve 8320 with my MacBook using PocketMac for BlackBerry.

While it was technically working I thought there might be better ways to synchronize my BlackBerry and even sync more data between the Mac and the BlackBerry. Who knows; self and workflow-imrpovement are always part of my life. So I was searching many forums and it seemed there was a better solution than the previously mentioned PocketMac for BlackBerry called Missing Sync for BlackBerry. Because I couldn’t find a demo version … I bought it!

To wrap the conclusion / experience up: DO NOT BUY MISSING SYNC!

And here comes why:

First of all it does not do anything better than PocketMac; Missing Sync does actually do a lot worse and some features it does not do at all. For example it is not able to synchronize the BlackBerry’s data to the Mac’s data by overwriting all on my desktop with all data on my BlackBerry. This cannot be set up and therefor it does not work. It applies to all sorts of data like contacts, tasks, calendar events, and so on.

Secondly, it deleted all of my contacts in my MacBook’s Address Book!

Thirdly, because of point 1 I cannot transfer the contacts on my BlackBerry (I got nearly all backuped in there) to my MacBook. So right now I am stuck with an empty address book on my Mac and a full address book on my BlackBerry.

Fourthly, the Notes synchronization never worked.

Fifthly, the calendar and task (in conjunction with Apple’s iCal) caused hundreds of conflicts.

Sixthly, the conflict handling is very poor. Once there is a conflict you can either choose the desktop or the mobile version of your data. It is not possible to merge data together. Let’s say you have a contact with a landline phone number on your desktop and the same contact with his additional middle name and his mobile phone number on your BlackBerry. You have to exclusive choose one of those two. Guys, this is a basic feature of synchronization programs!

Seventhly, there were some more other minor issues which I want to skip here for now.

Well, so what is a calmed down and still angry customer who paid $39.95 for this crap doing? Right, writing a nice letter to the support dudes. Well, to make it a bit easier I just addresses one issue in there as I know that support people get overextended pretty quickly. So I wrote:

Hi,

My BlackBerry is full with contacts and I wanted to sync’ my BB with my Address Book on my Mac. First of all I didn’t backup my address book on my mac before and those contacts are lost after the initial sync’ as MissingSync seemed to have them deleted. Well, my fault. Anyway, I thought I could get all of my contacts back into my Mac’s address book as I still have them on my BlackBerry. The Contacts sync in MissingSync runs fine shows a successful ending. However, the existing contacts on my BB do not appear in my Mac’s address book. If I create a new contact on my BB it is gonna be sync’ed with my address book but none of the existing ones.

I tried the “iSync History reset” mentioned somewhere in your knowledge base here already. Didn’t help

It would be great if you can help me out here. Also an option like “Overwrite all Contacts from BB to Address Book” would be nice as an option in MissingSync.

Regards,
k

The support answered quickly suggesting something like resetting sync history, deleting address book groups (I don’t had any so I created some, deleted them again), backing up the address book data and importing it again to the Address Book, and so on. It is obvious that they tried to screw Apple instead of their own software.

Well, I did this for some days as I had the big target in mind to fully synchronize my BlackBerry with my Mac. I also wanted to get my f***** Address Book filled up again with all of my contacts! After several days I finally gave up. I started asking for a refund as the program was obviously not working as promised and I wrote:

Hi,

The program is not performing as expected. First, it deleted my whole contact database on my desktop. Now it will not copy all my contacts in my device’s address book to my desktop. The Calendar synchronization needs several attemps to be successful. Moreover, the Notes synchronization does not work at all and errors every single try.

This program is not useful at all. I deleted it from my Mac already. Please refund my money asap.

Order Number: MSS08-xxxxxxx

Best regards,
k

This was denied! I don’t understand how companies can do business if they distribute fraudulent and buggy software and then even deny to issue a refund. Just in case you are interested here is the following whole conversation:

Hello

We do apologize for the issues that you have been experiencing.We do have an “All Sales are Final” policy, but can make an exception where there is an unresolvable support issue. However, we first need to review your specific situation before we can make that determination I would first recommend our technical support team to help you resolve these matters. If problem still persist we can talk about your other options that you may have.

Please let us know what type of errors you are seeing and a detailed description of the steps you have taken.

Please let me know if I can be of any further assistance to you. Have a great day.

Best regards,
La’Keith
Mark/Space Inc.
Sales Representative

I answered:

Hi,

thanks a lot for your quick answer.

I already worked with your tech support (case xxxxxx) but it did not solve my issue.

Best regards,
k

He answered:

Hello k

Thats for the info, Dave N. is one of our knowledgeable supports reps and I see that there was no response to his initial email you may want to let him know that you are still having issues and so he can advise you on next steps to resolve your issue.

Please let me know if I can be of any further assistance to you. Have a great day.

Best regards,

La’Keith
Mark/Space Inc.
Sales Representative

I answered:

La’Keith,

it just does not work and I don’t want this product anymore. I don’t have time to debug your software and send you reports. I deleted the program already and will never use it again.

Please issue a refund now or I need to initiate a credit card chargeback.

Finally this seemed to work and he went into my line. Of course, without any sign of him admitting that this is a problem of their software.

He answered:

Hello

To get the refund process started, please deauthorize your computer.

To do this, launch The Missing Sync and select “Deauthorize computer” from the main menu bar at the top of the screen. Allow it to connect to the Internet.

If you have already uninstalled The Missing Sync, you will need to re-install, in order to deauthorize.

Then, uninstall The Missing Sync: /Applications/Missing Sync for BlackBerry/Uninstaller.app

Let me know when this has been completed.

Please let me know if I can be of any further assistance to you. Have a great day.

Best regards,

La’Keith
Mark/Space Inc.
Sales Representative

I have done this until now and are waiting for the refund. Hopefully, they really do what they promise. A credit card chargeback always a while but I would definitely go through with this as they had the impudence to not take credit for their faults.

Additional note: Sorry for the very negative view of this program and it’s company. I know there are people out there who have made good experiences with them but I believe bad experiences must be spoken out as well. I hope this helps a bit to make your own view.

If you want to know how BlackBerry - Mac synchronization works in a good and productive way check this out: How to synchronize my BlackBerry with my Desktop Computer (Mac OS X).

Programs we proofed synchronize their pretty pretty well with your desktop and enterprise system are: NextAction!, TaskMaster™, TaskMailer™, QuickTask™ (they all come with a 30 day unconditional money back guarantee).

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Rumors: TaskReports BETA and NextAction! to be updated with more GTD features!

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 15:23:17 +0000

I just received some sneak a peak information from the development department of the productivity group at S4BB Limited - the makers of NextAction! and TaskReports (which is still in beta).

While NextAction! is the only real GTD application for BlackBerry devices by now (don’t start talking about those copying companies like rexwireless who just use the keyword GTD - as well as Covey - for marketing purposes…) TaskReports just got its GTD support in the latest beta version update. It is gonna be more and better integrated for improving productivity in the daily GTD workflow.

I am not yet sure what exactly the GTD improvements will be but we will try to get some more insight information here and check out a program version before it comes out.

Don’t forget to check out our BlackBerry software store which has a 20% discount coupon for BlackBerry productivity software

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More BlackBerry Storm Images (Vodafone Version)

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 04:48:20 +0000

Our German sister site BlackBerryInsight - Germany just brought us some more BlackBerry Storm photos. Check it out here as well:

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Abaqus integrates BlackBerry tracking with their web service

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 21:23:54 +0000

Quite some time ago we reported about the Abaq.us website whose BlackBerry tracking client is powered by Skylab Mobilesystems Ltd. tracking technology. While we have evaluated Skylab’s MobileTracker application for BlackBerry (also available for Windows Mobile) we have also reviewed the previous version update of them.

Anyway, the Abaqus BlackBerry client for this is called GeoRecorder which can be exclusively downloaded in the Abaqus member area. While the first version just looked pretty much like the original MobileTracker the new version seems to come with more integrated features and it works much better with the MobileDiary tracklog web service.

The Abaqus service is free for use for everyone. It does not require any personal data except an email address. Since our first check out of their site it has been improved quite a bit and it looks much more professional than before.

We would like to see how far the BlackBerry/Web-Service integration goes and how good it works together. Hopefully, we will get a version in our hands soon to write more about that!

Website: Abaqus MobileDiary

Don’t forget to check out our famous BlackBerry and GPS article! It is also recommended to check out Does my BlackBerry GPS use my Data Plan?.

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RIM CEO: AT&T still testing delayed BlackBerry

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 03:35:26 +0000

A delayed top-of-the-line BlackBerry phone from Research in Motion Ltd. is still undergoing testing by AT&T Inc., and RIM’s co-CEO implied that the carrier wants to avoid the chorus of complaints about performance that greeted the new iPhone this summer.

Source: Herald Sun

The article “BlackBerry with clickable touchscreen ready to take on iPhone” also says:

A new touchscreen BlackBerry phone is launched today, ready to battle with the likes of Apple’s iPhone and the new “Google phone” in the run up to Christmas.

The BlackBerry Storm aims to blow away its rivals with an “intuitive touchscreen” which can be pressed down like buttons on a keyboard, unlike other touchscreen mobiles where users tap the unresponsive glass.

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BlackBerry, 3G iPhone may come on BSNL network in India

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 02:17:19 +0000

NEW DELHI: The much sought-after 3G iPhone and Blackberry may soon be available in the state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) network.

BSNL, the country’s largest telecom service provider, is in talks with Apple and BlackBerry to launch the services in India in its own network. According to BSNL executives, talks with BlackBerry are at an advanced stage and this handset is likely to be available to BSNL’s customers by the year-end.

On the other hand, subscribers on the PSU’s networks may have to wait longer to access the 3G iPhone as talks with Apple are still lingering in preliminary stage, BSNL executives added.

Source: India Times.