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BlackBerry News

Posts Tagged ‘Mobile Experience’

Foursquare Updated to Version 1.7.0 – Now on App World!

March 12th, 2010

BBerryNews

I’ve been talking to Foursquare recently (article to come) about their awesome location-based social platform. The company have put a lot of work into their BlackBerry client, and updates are continually rolling out to make the mobile experience on BlackBerry as robust as possible. Something you may have noticed about the BlackBerry app is that it doesn’t rely on traditional menu and setup screens. This is just one example of how Foursquare are building a BlackBerry app that focuses on smooth navigation and user experience. BlackBerry isn’t the easiest platform to develop for, so it’s clear the company is investing a lot of time and dollars into this free application.

One of the first things you’ll notice about the update is that the top menu bar has been updated and now lists Friends(F), Places(P), Tips and More. The Friends screen (top screenshot) now shows you small user profile icons along the left side, adding a more personal touch to the app. In the Places screen, venues have also been given avatars of sorts, with icons denoting what kind of venue you’re looking at. For example, a bar is a mug of beer, a restaurant has a knife and fork and a school has a grad hat.

As mentioned, the Tips section has been added to the top menu bar. From this section, you get a quick summary of tips left at venues in your area. Again, this really helps the local discovery process because you might find a tip about a cheap meal deal or a special you might want to take advantage of.

Once you click into a tip, you can discover a little more about who left the tip and the venue it was left at. Whenever I go to a new restaurant now, I always check the tips to see if a regular has left a good food recommendation. From this screen, you can add to your To Do list or select that you’ve already done it.

The latest Foursquare updates go a long way to making the app more visually rich, and adding a little more functionality when it comes to discovering what’s good in your neighborhood. If you’re headed to SXSW, be sure to get the latest update and check-in everywhere. I’ve heard the latest SXSW badges are really cool.

Foursquare have made the latest version available on App World, and you can still download it from their site. Like I said, the company have invested a lot of money in this application, making it compatible for a wide range of devices from the Pearl up to the Storm.

Now if only Foursquare would make the BlackBerryCool badge…

Posted in BlackBerry Cool

Tags: Blackberry Client, Discovery, Food Recommendation, Free Application, Friends, Good Food, Grad Hat, Knife And Fork, Mobile Experience, Personal Touch, Screenshot, Setup Screens, Smooth Navigation, Social Platform, Sorts, Top Menu Bar, Traditional Menu, User Experience, User Profile, Venue

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BOLT Mobile Browser Updates to 1.7

March 7th, 2010

BBerryNews

Last week Bitstream Inc. celebrated the one year anniversary of their popular BOLT mobile browser with an update to version 1.7. Originally released for public beta in February of 2009, the company is reportedly very excited with this announcement and is continuing to push forward to lead the industry in hopes of becoming the ideal choice for your mobile web browsing needs.

The obvious goal in mobile web browsing for any developer would be to recreate the desktop web browsing experience. With the advanced capabilities of smartphones, the margin between a mobile experience and a desktop experience is shortening at an exponential rate. This is evidenced by phones such as the iPhone, Droid, and Nexus One; just to name a few. With BOLT, Bitstream Inc. has not only been able to emulate this experience, they have done so while providing compatibility to a wide range of mobile phones aside from smartphones. From very basic handsets to more advanced devices such as the BlackBerry, it is this niche that will set BOLT apart from the competition in the saturated race to being regarded as the best mobile experience.

This latest revision of the BOLT mobile browser includes many usability enhancements including keypad shortcuts and compatibility to multiple video sharing websites other than YouTube. Along with this, the introduction of features such as widget functionality and twitter integration all deliver the promise of a more enriched and user friendly experience.

Point your browser over to http://sites.google.com/site/boltbrowsermwc/ for the full Mobile World Congress press release and to read about the updates to the BOLT mobile web browser in detail.

BOLT and BOLT Lite are both available for free download at http://boltbrowser.com.Bolt is compatible with just about any device running Java. This includes BlackBerry, Palm and Windows mobile.

Have any questions regarding the BOLT browser or Bistream Inc.? Leave a comment and we’ll be happy to answer for you!

Posted in BlackBerryNews

Tags: Bitstream Inc, Browser Updates, Congress Press, Desktop Experience, Desktop Web, Droid, Experience Point, Exponential Rate, Google, Handsets, Iphone, Mobile Experience, Mobile Web, Mobile World, Public Beta, Usability Enhancements, Web Browsing, Widget, World Congress, Youtube

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New free LBS app Centrl integrates web, maps and social networks

September 21st, 2009

BBerryNews

Location based services have been getting an incredible amount of attention by investors and consumers alike. LBS adds another layer of data to our mobile experience, and has the ability to enrich almost any application we use today.

Centrl is the latest LBS application for BlackBerry (also available for other platforms) and it is completely free of charge. The service also lets you login from your existing accounts (Facebook, MySpace, iGoogle, Friendster, Ning, Hi5, bebo, Orkut, iTimes, or Sonico) which means there’s no need to register.

Like any good LBS application, Centrl pulls in data from Yelp, Citisearch, Wikipedia and other databases, in order to help users find location sensitive information. The app will also broadcast your whereabouts, and help you connect with friends and users.

One particularly unique feature of this application is that it offers a free IM client that is displayed on the map. Users who are viewing the service on a PC, can communicate with users who are on their mobile, virtually in real-time and without fees for both sides.

Try it out for yourself! Again, Centrl is a free service that will only get better as more users get on board. See who is using it in your area.

Download Centrl for your BlackBerry OTA by pointing to http://centrl.com/bb/centrl.jad from your BlackBerry browser.

[Via]