I received an email this morning from BitStream letting me know that Bolt, a third party mobile web browser that works pretty well on the BlackBerry, is now out of Beta.
Many of the most significant upgrades occur “under the hood,” but you are sure to notice the results – v1.5 is the most reliable, fastest browser we have ever released – more than 15% faster than Beta3.
Here are some of the new and updated features in Bolt 1.5:
- Server upgrades (make v1.5 15% faster than Beta3)
- Cache support that enables directly browsing back to a previously visited page
- Download manager that downloads files directly within BOLT on JSR 75 capable devices
- Dedicated search bar, enabling search on popular search engines directly from BOLT
- Enhanced column width control that auto-aligns the text to columns for ease of reading
- Enhanced video support that includes inline media playing capability even on low-end devices.
- Support for streaming videos of any length
- Volume UP/DOWN controls in the inline media player
- Ability to rearrange the subscribed feeds using the ‘grab’ feature
- Access to History links from the URL window with inline editing OFF
- One click access on Home Page that ensures the cursor jumps to the desired widget
by Robb Dunewood on October 6, 2009 · 1 comment
European online media provider, 7digital, has partnered with RIM to bring over 7 million DRM-Free tracks to the BlackBerry, and today, with the launch of 7digital’s U.S. based service which offers single tracks for $0.77 and most albums for $7.77, has released the 7digital Music Store BlackBerry app for the Curve 8900, Bold, and Tour.
Browse the latest charts, preview the latest tracks and discover, purchase & download high quality, DRM-free MP3 music directly to your BlackBerry smartphone.
You’ll also get an integrated advanced media player that imports your existing playlists and MP3 music so that you can carry your music collection wherever you go.
- High quality, DRM-free MP3 music store
- Latest charts, new music and weekly features
- Flexible downloads via wireless carrier or WiFi with auto-replace
- Integrated advanced media player
- Headset, speaker and Bluetooth audio streaming support
[click to continue…]
Well, what do you know… BlackBerry Messenger 5 will launch globally in just a couple of days on October 7th and it actually will be called BlackBerry Messenger 5.
Kevin from CrackBerry.com received the following email:
BlackBerry® Messenger 5.0
Launch Date: Global – October 7, 2009
BlackBerry® Messenger is an instant messaging application that allows BlackBerry Smartphone users to send and receive instant messages with other BlackBerry Smartphone users.
BlackBerry Messenger 5.0 is the latest release.
Features:
- Enhanced SMS -Allows for a conversational chat-like user experience with a single contact list for the most personal mobile-to-mobile communications
- Note: BlackBerry® Device Software 5.0 and later is required for the SMS functionality.
- Avatars - Users can choose a picture from the BlackBerry Smartphone gallery and save it as their personal avatar, which will be seen by their contacts. They can also view other avatars in the contact list and zoom in on the avatars of contacts participating in a conversation by selecting “View participants.”
- Large Media File Transfer - Users can send/receive large file transfers up to 6 megabytes for pictures, files and audio.
- Note: BlackBerry Device Software 5.0 is required to receive large media files.
- Enhanced Group Functionality - Allows for the ability to update, share & communicate with a subset community.
- Bar-code Identity - A user can add a contact to the BlackBerry Messenger contact list by displaying a 2-dimensional bar code that invitees can capture with their device cameras.
- Reliable Contact Backup and Restore - Contacts are backed-up on a server and do not require the need for BlackBerry® Desktop Manager.
I’ve been using a leaked version of BlackBerry Messenger 5 for some time now, and, I’ve got to admit, it is a really well put together BlackBerry application. Can’t wait for this thing to come out.
by Robb Dunewood on October 1, 2009 · 1 comment
As great an email device as the BlackBerry is, one of the things that you can’t do is flag your emails for follow up. Well, once again, BlackBerry developer extraordinaire, Fabian Heuwieser, creator of about a dozen or so extremely popular premium and free BlackBerry applicatoins, has released LaterFlag.
LaterFlag is a free BlackBerry app that does what your BlackBerry should do (and will do in OS 5) out of the box. As the name implies, LaterFlag simply allows you flag your emails and set their priority as high or low.
You can download LaterFlag OTA directly to your device here. You can see other applications from Fabian Heuwieser here.
by Robb Dunewood on September 28, 2009 · 0 comments
As many of you may already know, AOL Radio, powered by CBS Radio, is one of the more popular internet radio services available and they have recently released AOL Radio for BlackBerry to join the likes of Slacker, Pandora, iHeartRadio and others with their own BlackBerry internet radio client.
Blackberry Bold owners can now take everything they love about AOL Radio with them on the go, including all 250+ AOL Radio stations and 150+ CBS Radio local and HD stations. Additional features include the ability to bookmark your favorite stations, find out what you’ve recently listened to, automatically find which local CBS Radio stations are in your area (via GPS) and even song skipping.
AOL Radio for BlackBerry is currently only available on the BlackBerry Bold although I would assume versions for other BlackBerry devices are in the works. AOL Radio for BlackBerry is a free download and you get it it from BlackBerry App World via the the following link.
AOL Radio for BlackBerry: http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/3484
[Via AOL Radio Blog]
by Robb Dunewood on September 24, 2009 · 0 comments
Google Voice for BlackBerry version 0.1.5 is available for download… again. I don’t think that we even mentioned it the first time that it was released because by the time we found out about it, it had already been recalled.
As usual, Google supplied no release or change notes, so, other then telling you that I had to reboot after installing Google Voice 0.1.5, I am not quite sure what the improvements are. Google definitely didn’t pretty up Google Voice for BlackBerry so I still think that there is a real opportunity for a third party developer to release a Google Voice client that could become insanely popular.
As plain a BlackBerry application as Google Voice 0.1.5 is, I highly recommend that every BlackBerry user with a Google Voice account download and install it. If you don’t have a Google Voice account, sign up for one.
Google Voice 0.1.5 OTA Download Link: http://m.google.com/voice
by Robb Dunewood on September 23, 2009 · 3 comments
Research in Motion has updated all of it’s Instant Message clients, Yahoo! Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, AIM, ICQ, and Google Talk, to version 2.5.
New features include:
- Add dedicated icons to the Home Screen for one-click access to conversation boxes of specific contacts. The icon appears as the contact’s display picture or avatar.
- Add contacts and display pictures or avatars to the address book to easily instant message, email, SMS, or call right from the address book or conversation box.
- Search through saved conversations
- Add dedicated emoticon icons in the conversation box
Word on the street is that these clients are now compatible with BlackBerry OS 5 as well.
You can pick up any of these instant messaging clients up OTA by pointing your device’s BlackBerry Browser to http://mobile.blackberry.com and clicking on Instant Messaging.
[Source]
by Robb Dunewood on September 18, 2009 · 4 comments
