Mobile gadgets running Blackberry & Android OS'
Blackberry Gadgets & Application Reviews
Everything BlackBerry!
Gwabbit – a (free) contacts manager causing headaches
0792 days
Every once in a while a good application shows-up. For Blackberry. Usually, the best applications are the ones missing from the original OS build. And free of charge! Seems that RIM rushed the builds one after another and “forgot” to add some REALLY basic functions like adding a number to an existing contact, saving a signature from an sms or e-mail, having a full-screen picture of the caller when your phone rings, saving an e-mail, call or sms in the Calendar as a reminder/meeting, setting a quick reminder, etc. I see they start to take notice, and with every new phone they build, they slowly add functions – like that famous adding of tasks in the Calendar view! A strike of genius!
Or maybe we ask too much! But when the others are doing it and we’re talking about really simple stuff you can find in a “dumphone”, I really doubt it. So whenever people request an function and RIM doesn’t provide it, small developers step in. They charge us a lot of money to provide simple functions done in weeks probably.
Gwabbit is done by gwabbit, LLC. It’s a program to “…easily capture and organize contacts in your address book (…) for BlackBerry!”. All nice and neat. Except for the fact that it costs 9.99$ per year! As a subscription! Every year! This is the American model. Why let you buy yourself the application when they can rent it to you? You plan on keeping your BlackBerry for a few years? Very well, gwabbit will rejoice! They are also allowing you to download a free version from the App World but again, there is a catch: they will spam your every new contact added to the agenda with links to their product. How’s that? Hell, your new contact can think you’re cheap and can’t afford to pay an application! Yeah, talking about starting off on the right foot!
Other than that, it simply works. It’s RAM foot-print is small, just 126 Kb which is always a good thing when your RAM is limited! But there is also another programs that work by doing almost doing the same thing: ex-Anagram done by Anagram Technologies, now out of Beta, not free anymore and re-branded as Copy2Contact. It applies the same business model as gwabbit, but it’s a bit cheaper and has more features. They even went further and made a chart proving that. I write about it now, because I use it for more than two weeks now and it’s wonderful. I was lucky enough to win a free copy, don;t think I’d pay 10$ per year for this kind of thing.
I think everyone in this business need to understand that paying 10$ (there are some charging between 30 and a whooping 70$) per application or charging a yearly subscription is not the way to go. Just look at the Apple’s applications store: over 100.000 applications costing usually less than 3$. Do we see the same performance on BlackBerry applications? No. And why? The price is one of the reasons! A savvy mobile users looks at the cost of the programs he’s going to use BEFORE buying the phone. Seems like the BlackBerry developers “forgot” that one.
So I’ll end with some hacker’s words of wisdom: if you like it (them), go buy it (them)!
[en] A new/old track from GPSLogger [tech-head/GSM/BlackBerry]
0843 days
Because Everytrail has gone thru big changes at some point more than a month and a half ago, I wasn’t able to upload this track and also add pictures.
But now, thanks to the new layout, everything works perfectly. Here it is. Also by GPSLogger! This is what you can do with a BlackBerry!
Enjoy!
A walk in Nessebar, Bulgaria
[en] Testing GPSLogger for BlackBerry [blackberry/tech-head/GSM]
0898 days
I need a new GPS Logger. While the InstaMapper GPS Tracker I wrote about earlier works like a charm, it can’t retain the track offline and dump it later onto a program that can recreate my trips and match it over Google Maps, for example.
But now I found GPSLogger. It’s not a hassle-free program, as I need to export the .gpx/.kml files it creates into another website – GPS Visualizer or Everytrail are the ones I choose.
Here’s an example:
But now I found GPSLogger. It’s not a hassle-free program, as I need to export the .gpx/.kml files it creates into another website – GPS Visualizer or Everytrail are the ones I choose.
Here’s an example:
Map created by EveryTrail: GPS Trip Sharing with Google Maps
I’ll comeback with the details next week after I use it ( I’m off for 3 days from town and I’ll use it a lot!).
[en] BlackBerry review: a Data Counter for my Bold [GSM/Blackberry/apps review/tech-head]
2917 days
So, what’s the most usual complain you get with people using BlackBerry? I really didn’t do a Top 3 or a Top 10, but one of the most common is the fact that Blackberry doesn’t have a data counter.
And I’m sure they know it but have no reason really to let you know exactly how much (money and time) you’ve wasted using the device. God forbids, you might wanna cut back on usage!
For a long, long time nobody thought (or cared) to make an app designed to count the Mb you use daily, weekly, monthly. For a while I used Mini Moni, which measures the band width rather than the consumption. Of course, it can’t tell you the Wi-Fi usage against the GSM or Roaming usage, which really kills the data counter purpose.
For a long, long time nobody thought (or cared) to make an app designed to count the Mb you use daily, weekly, monthly. For a while I used Mini Moni, which measures the band width rather than the consumption. Of course, it can’t tell you the Wi-Fi usage against the GSM or Roaming usage, which really kills the data counter purpose.
What is extremely unpleasant is the fact that all the GSM operators are charging considerable amounts of cash for a relative small usage (5 MB/ 15 MB/ 100 MB of traffic) subscription, so it’s really necessary to have the means to control it.
And then, by mistake, I found Mobile Data Alerter.
This little baby is the perfect example of how a BlackBerry application should be built. Its RAM footprint is small, the design is beautiful and the U.I is simple and complete.
Main screen:
As you can see, I have 2 connections available (self explanatory) and a 3rd field for Roaming. On the left you can see the consumption and on the right you can see the limits I imposed. The setting can be adjusted with any data limit, as you can see in the lower screen-shot.
Another interesting section is the “Active applications” in which you can see the potential data consuming apps – it’s nice to have especially since it will signal you if any of the ones above starts consuming a lot of data.
My only gripe is that is always running in the back putting the strain on the already small value of RAM available on my Bold. But I guess it’s always a trade-off, you lose some in order to get some.
This app is a definitive keeper. Get it here.
[en] Mangalia-Bucharest GPS Tracker Map [GPS/tech-head/GSM]
0920 days
Another fine&accurate Instamapper GPS Tracker Map. 2 hours and 56 minutes from Mangalia to Bucharest last night. A new personal record! 
I could’ve done a lot better with the Impreza…
I could’ve done a lot better with the Impreza…The Mangalina-Bucharest map. And the Bucharest-Mangalia map, one day before. I might add that there are some inconsistencies with the tracking, I guess at times there was no GSM coverage in order for the Tracker to send its recordings. We’ll see.
[en] BlackBerry Review – BB Robot Scheduler [BlackBerry/GSM/tech-head]
0922 days
I tend to check BB forums, software selling sites and other’s experiences quite often, so I am up-to-date with all the new applications arriving on the market.
At some point, I needed an auto-starting application, an application that would start-up other applications without my intervention. While for other OS like Symbian this is just a routine task, for the BlackBerry OS is something new. Not only that there aren’t too many apps available but even the OS is imposing certain rules: an application can’t be shut down by another app automatically, it can’t change profiles or restart the phone if the keyboard is locked or the phone is holstered.And with all those, the BB Robot Scheduler is an app that offers you a lot of options to automatize quite a few of your daily tasks.
BB Robot Scheduler is done by Computerinbed, a company known for another apps for BlackBerry, like Radio OnOff.
But BBRS is the most important. It lets you schedule a lot of tasks like reset, shut off the radio, send e-mail / sms / GPS position, play or record audio, make or fake a(n incoming) phonecall, show a pop-up message, play a tone, vibrate, launch an application or the browser, lock the phone, flash the led, etc. really, at least 20 processes, all can be scheduled and automatized.
The scheduling process is quite simple…after you get the hang of it doing it a few times because there are some steps you have to follow in order to have an effective program:
-open the menu and press “Make a Scheduler”
- choose a name, when to start (now, date or delay after this moment), recurrence [minute(s), hour(s), day(s)]
- save
- choose the action (send e-mail, sms, pop-up message, fake call, restart, etc)
- choose destination
- save
That’s it! It supports a number of rules (can’t assess exactly how many but a lot,anyway) and can be set at any time. The OS can take more rules at the same time but I advise you to set it at different hours, even if minutes apart.
And now, for my experience: I don’t use it because I don’t need 95% of its features! And I guess it leaks my RAM. If it’s not, it probably uses it and the Garbage Collector can’t recover it. Either way, my RAM decreases very quickly since I’ve installed BBRS. Actually, I DID need a couple of them, like auto-stating apps in the morning and resetting the phone at 6 A.M in the morning but the BBRS’ memory foot print is too big for me and takes quite some RAM. I wasn’t able to find out exactly how much but it seems like a lot [BBRS (sometimes) runs in the background even if you can't see it with the task manager] for 2-3 programs I like to have started in the morning automatically. I kept it because I paid for it (yes, it’s not a free program) but now I found a new tiny lil’ program doing EXACTLY what I need: Start Me Up – small RAM footprint, doesn’t run in the background eating RAM and it’s free.
And to summarize this review, I gotta say I like the multiple tasks, the stability and the fast replies from the creator of this program – you’ve been a great help! I wanted to un-install it but I won’t because of all the features it holds; I will need some on the spot like: – send GPS position by email, fake incoming call, show message pop-up, etc. This program runs very well, never crashed neither failed to run whatever rule I added.
It’s been 3$ on special offer here (nice review,too!).
