Next we’ll get into my five favorite (truly useful) BlackBerry applications. I say “truly useful” because I have downloaded a lot of apps that wound up on my “hide” list because I seemed to be passing over them most of the time. These are the apps that I have use for very often, some are “always on.”
This one is a no-brainer, but the benefits of this program if you are a regular Facebook user are huge. I love the push-messaging of Facebook notifications — that they generate a separate Facebook image in the status portion of the menu — to help you stay up to date on an additional method of receiving messages. (The BlackBerry might be the only reason I even try to keep up with my messaging, let alone why I can be somewhat successful). Facebook on the BlackBerry is also my time-waster application. Rather than rack up the bucks on the popular poker game, I tend to use my spare mobile time checking out what’s going on. I can go long periods of time where most of the Facebook time I have is mobile Facebook time.
Opera
The Opera browser isn’t one that I use daily but it’s still a must-have, namely for the times when you really want to have two web pages open (I’ll often keep the NHL scoreboard open on one while I browse in the other) or when you want to see the full-sized version of a web site. That isn’t always dependable, but it’s often your only hope for doing so, and the browser is simply built better for that. I would say that 95% of my BlackBerry browsing is done in the BlackBerry browser due to ease of use, and because the default links in email open up there, but it’s nice to have another option, especially for those times you want easy access to multiple sites.
Google Maps
Again, the perks of this program are obvious. Even as I now have my first GPS device, Google Maps comes in very handy when looking for broad categories of things close to you (ie. restaurants) and it can also when wanting to browse around a map. Google Maps is pretty comprehensive, while most GPS devices have most of the common destinations but not everything (and not quite as updated in that regard). The moral of the story here is that my BlackBerry couldn’t replace the functionality of my GPS, but neither can the GPS make Google Maps an unnecessary BlackBerry application.
Gmail
I am not one of those people who depends on the Gmail app and swears by it. I like all of my email to be in “push” style, where it all shows up under the big umbrella of the inbox and it all comes in when it comes in. Whenever I depend upon myself to check I have large gaps in between. Still, don’t be caught without this app. Every now and then the imap connection hiccups and you realize you should be getting more email. You can go into the app and see what is there and compare notes. The best feature, though, is the ability to search your Gmail inbox. The way I operate my BlackBerry inbox is to delete everything that I don’t need to act on from it. If there is critical info I might need on the road, I keep it until it’s not critical. Otherwise, it gets deleted. With the Gmail app, if the message was in Gmail, I am able to into the app and search for the message I am looking for. That is often a huge time-saver if not sometimes a lifesaver.
Google Talk
It is because of this application and only because of this app that I have officially converted my IMing to Google Talk. If people want to reach me, they can email, sms, call, or go to Google Talk. It was the first application I knew of that didn’t use SMS (and I don’t want to run up a million sms messages) and because of that it has become the one of choice. That, plus the fact that chat is built into the Gmail web app (the web app even has video!) has made this the most versatile and available IM client there is. This, too, is another great time-killer when sitting somewhere you can do nothing else. It’s also a lot of fun to chat with someone from the road (if you aren’t driving) or at a sporting event.
These are the five can’t-do-without BlackBerry applications I have installed. If you have any other suggestions, please let me know. I am always looking for #6.
BlackBerry Review Series: Introduction | Part 1 | Part 2
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Tags: 5 must-have applications, BlackBerry, Facebook, Gmail, Google Maps, Google Talk, Opera
