News and an early review of the just-released BlackBerry App World

Christmas came a little early for those of us in the BlackBerry world. The BlackBerry App World has arrived today even though it was rumored to come out in April. (Technically, it’s still the 31st on the West Coast). After hearing the news I hurriedly downloaded it.

But just like a kid on Christmas, I’m thinking to myself… this is it?

Honestly, I don’t know what I was really expecting. Maybe I was hoping this app would open the door to a whole new world of fauns and talking lions.

App World is full of mostly launchers (BlackBerry buttons that link to websites) and apps that were already available somewhere on the net. The featured apps are mostly apps that came with the phone. I’ve found a few apps I didn’t know were available like Shazam.

The one advantage of this app is that it brings all the information together into a iphone-esque collection. I think it looks like the Apple Store except in Black. It reminds me a lot of Verizon’s Get-It-Now service.

Oddly enough, the Facebook App they offer is a version lower than the one currently on my Storm. Why that is, I’m not totally sure.

The first look of the app seems promising. If more/most/all companies that create applications use App World, the medium will thrive. People will be able to find apps easily and quickly. However, unlike the Apple Iphone which requires all apps to go through the Apple Store (unless jailbroken), BlackBerry smartphones don’t have that limitation. Companies don’t have to use App World if they don’t want to. Using App World, the software company has to pay royalties.

BlackBerry App World makes searching for apps much easier. I’d say for the non-tech-savvy I-don’t-want-to-have-to-actually-look-for-things-on-my-own BlackBerry smartphone user, the convenience of App World is perfection (or at least the idea of it). It’s still raw and new but when things start rolling (if things start rolling) it may make the BlackBerry an actually user-friendly phone. (I still think the learning curve on a BlackBerry is too high for the average user).

To download BlackBerry App World, visit http://blackberry.com/appworld using your phone’s browser.

my first week of experience with Version .113 on the BlackBerry Storm

the journey’s been long; bright skies ahead

It’s been a week since I installed the “latest” leak. And I’m not going to lie to you; it started off really rough. By the second day, I already had to do two battery pulls because of crashes (one using poynt, the other using my camera), and a third because I had a scrambled screen issue I’ve never seen before. By Thursday night, I was already longing for .109 again, but I told myself to be a little more patient.

Lo and behold, I haven’t had a battery pull since. (I’ve had reboots because of deleting applications, but nothing forced).

Rumor around the BlackBerry blog circle is that .113 will be the next official version that Verizon releases (.75 was leaked before it was made official). And I can see why. .113 has become very solid. I’m not experiencing much lag anymore and if I do it corrects itself. I don’t check application memory every minute. The accelerometer is quite smooth. Even the battery life seems to have improved (I still carry around my charger whenever I know I’ll be leaving the house for the day).

Eric Zeman writes the changelog for .113 at Information Week. And the list is massive. Any leak user knows that OS .75 is night and day compared to what is currently out there.

I still think .113 being official rumor is just a rumor. I’ll believe it when I see it. A few questions linger if this is an official release.

1. Why doesn’t the Sound Button work? You know, the button opposite the lock button hasn’t worked for me since I started using leaks.

2. What was .114 about? RIM was obviously going for something with that leak, but what was it?

On an unrelated note, tomorrow is to be the rumored opening of BlackBerry App World… and I feel like a kid of Christmas Eve. This, I’m hoping, is not just a rumor.

Initial .113 report is here

When getting a BlackBerry, deciding between BES and BIS could be confusing. It really shouldn’t be.

hmmm… which one…

I think, as humans, we’re are, for some reason, drawn to things that are more expensive than what we have. When I first got my BlackBerry, I was faced with the confusing question of getting BES or BIS. Both seemed the same, but BES just costed more. This sole fact alone made me want to get it. But what was it? Which one should I get?

The answer is simple. If you need to ask which one you get, most likely BIS is for you.

BES (Business Enterprise Server) is used by companies that want to have a phone network within the company. Using BES, a company can send out emails, messages, company apps or any information to any or all phones on the BES. You can think of it like putting all the company phones on the same LAN. This way the company’s BES manager can act like a network manager and monitor the goings-about of the company phones.

This can be useful for a company because it keeps all the “private” information within the company server.

BIS stands for BlackBerry Internet Service. Instead of a private company delivering and offering services, your phone’s service provider takes care of everything. Of course you can see the security disadvantages that could possibly arise from this. A more-secure network could, however, should be highly unnecessary for the casual user.

There’s more finite differences but this is just in layman’s terms.

Once again, if it’s a company phone, most likely BES. If it’s not, BIS.

A few tips on how to improve the battery life on a BlackBerry

A BlackBerry’s battery is built to last a couple days. Don’t believe me? Treat your phone like a dumbphone (Delete all the non-essential apps, run the default theme, don’t surf the net and don’t talk too long) and I guarantee after the second day, the phone will still have some battery to spare.

Things that kill battery

Running extra apps – Well, obviously, if you’re using the phone, the battery will die faster. It takes power just the run the lcd, and it also takes battery to run the app. Multitasking a lot of apps just compounds the problem.

Running apps that update themselves – Weather Apps are big culprits here. You set up your app to update every 3 minutes so you have updated information at your fingertips all the time. Awesome, but that also means regardless of whether you look at your phone, it will be running every 3 minutes. Clearly this is overkill. (Obvious advantage of Push over Update)

Running apps that use constant GPS – I think using Google Maps with Latitude is awesome. My friends can know where I am in real time. If I leave it on though, I’m lucky if my phone makes it to the next meal. (WeatherBug with My Location is another culprit of this.)

Being in bad reception spots – Not that bad reception can be otherwise prevented but trying to stay out of those areas will help the phone.

Bluetooth – The battery use from using Bluetooth is minute. It’s one of the requirements of the bluetooth standand. Turning it off shouldn’t make that much of a difference.

Rebooting – During a reboot, the phone is working hard to reload. Imagine the phone trying to sustain it for more than a couple minutes; it’s going to kill a lot of battery.

How to improve battery life

Other than doing the opposite of the above list, there is a few things that can be done to increase battery life.

Update less frequently – I suppose it’s a spin off of what was written before, but, obviously, increasing the time between updates will help your battery life. Instead of weatherBug updating every 15 minutes, change it to 2 or 4 hours. Does the weather really change that frequently?

Lower the screen brightness – That beautiful screen takes a lot of power to keep it bright. Other than times of direct sunlight, it’s not really necessary to have 100 percent brightness. You can lower it by going to Options > Screen/Keyboard and Backlight Brightness. You can also decrease the time it takes for the backlight to timeout as well.

Check which OS you’re running – Some versions of the OS on your BlackBerry just run better than others. Therefore, the battery life also varies from OS to OS.

Close your apps

Remember to Lock – Locking the phone prevents any extra usage of the phone from things like accidental bumps while in your pocket.

Keeping these things in mind and changing settings will ensure battery life on the BlackBerry should last you much longer.

Related Article – Losing Connection because of No Battery

Old video on BlackBerry Addiction

I think I may have this problem…