Happy Halloween!
Celebrate Halloween on your BlackBerry this year with our free Jack-O-Lantern application for all touchscreen BlackBerrys. You can change the Jack-O-Lantern’s face by sliding in different designs for the eyes, nose and mouth from the left or the right. You can also change the back colour of the design by clicking on the screen.
Over two months since RIM released OS6 on the 9800, 8 months since a preview was first showed off, and one month since I complained about it last, there is still no release of OS6 for the 9700, 9650, or 93xx model BlackBerrys. RIM is being obnoxiously slow in their rollout of the upgrade, and it is holding up the future of their platform.
Research In Motion had all summer to watch Google’s dreadfully slow rollout of version 2.2 of Android. But instead of learning from Google’s mistake, they are simply repeating it. Without having to deal with as many third partys, this was a chance for RIM to prove how their model can be better, and result in less fragmentation.
Instead RIM is hurting themselves by taking more time then they need or have in order to roll out code they have completed months ago. Updates to OS6 makes their devices better across the board, and the fact that this hasn’t happened yet gives RIM nobody to blame besides themselves.
Twinkle, a free Application for BlackBerry has now been updated to version 1.1 in BlackBerry AppWorld. Twinkle is a simple application that allows you to set and keep track of upcoming and past events. Twinkle will tell you how far away an event is, and allow you to add it to your BlackBerry’s calendar. Twinkle gives you the ability to add and edit events, lets you keep track of how soon something is, or how long it has been.
Version 1.1 of Twinkle adds font options in addition to some bug fixes, and the use of some OS6 features.
Additionally Twinkle was recently named a Regional Selections Winner in the 2010 BlackBerry Super Apps Challenge.
The BlackBerry Pearl 91xx series has had disappointing sales so far, with most BlackBerry buyers opting instead for a full qwerty experience. Still those who are buying the Pearl are actually opting for the even fewer keyed 9105 over the SureType 9100. The following chart shows the percent of Pearl 3G owners using each model over half month intervals, from the second half of August to the first half of October.
Surprisingly the 9105 has consistently held around two-thirds of the Pearl 3G market. There are a few things that this may imply. First that anyone looking for a more complicated keyboard is willing to take the step to a full qwerty device. Second of all it looks as if the target market is people who already are well accustomed to 9 key typing, and want to keep an experience that they already know from their non-smart phones when they upgrade to a BlackBerry. Another possible conclusion is that SureType is dead. BlackBerry has been the only model to offer something between 9key and full qwerty keyboards, and it isn’t selling it all that well. Of course all of this data is from before the recent launch of the Pearl 3G on AT&T in the United States, so next month it is possible that these statistics change completely.
As usual, all of these statistics come from downloads of the free game Pixelated, the most popular strategy game in BlackBerry AppWorld.
The Hockey Scores application for BlackBerry phones has been updated to version 2.2 with improvements to the font options, and more efficient connecting over wi-fi.
The Hockey Scores application supports all BlackBerry devices with OS 4.6 or higher. This includes the 8220, 8230, 8330, 8350i, 8520, 8530, 8900, 9000, 9100, 9105, 9300, 9330, 9500, 9520, 9530, 9550, 9630, 9650, 9700, and 9800. The 9670 and 9780 will also be supported by this version when they launch in the coming weeks.
Liar’s Dice is a recently released game for BlackBerry that is based off of the classic dice game of strategy and deception. The game involves seeing only your own dice you must bet on the combined dice in play without getting caught in a lie. It is also known by the names Perudo, Dudo, and Cachito. Version 1.1 of the application adds support for more devices as well as a few additional features.
BlackBerry Curve 85xx and 93xx devices as well as the Bold 9000 are now supported (although still requiring a minimum operating system of version 5.0). In addition, the application has been optimized to run smoother, make the dice roll animation optional, add icons to the menu options, as well as a few bug fixes.
The object of the game is to catch your opponent (the computer) betting too high. Bets are placed on both your own dice which you can see, and your opponent’s dice which are hidden from you. You begin each round by making a bet. The computer then has an opportunity to either call your bet a lie, or to bet higher then you. Then it is once again your turn to call your opponent’s bet or to bet even higher. This continues until eventually a bet is called. Then if the bet is too high the caller wins, or if the bet is not a lie, the bettor wins the round.
The game has two main game modes. The “High Score” mode is the default mode, points are awarded for each round, and the first to gain a given number of points wins. The amount of points that the game plays to can be selected from the options page, allowing for shorter or longer games.
The second game mode is an “Elimination” mode in which the loser of each round loses one dice for the following rounds, and the last player with any dice left is the winner. This game is more dynamic as there are a different number of dice in play each round. Additionally these games in this mode typically play faster than high score games.
Version 1.1 of Liars Dice requires at least OS 5.0 and supports the 8520, 8530, 8900, 8910, 9000, 9300, 9330, 9500, 9520, 9530, 9550, 9630, 9650, 9700, and 9800. It is anticipated that the 9780 will be compatible as well when it releases early next month.
A recent Wall Street Journal Article talked about some of the limitations of BlackBerry development. However instead of looking at real issues, such as the fact that only CDMA devices support OpenGL, the article instead focused on a company called Widality who quite simply is just doing things wrong. Widality obviously is clueless and needs some help, so simply here is how to fix (some) of their self inflicted problems.
First of all Sell the application through BlackBerry AppWorld. In the article you claim to sell “exclusively through BlackBerry’s App World store” but a quick search of AppWorld doesn’t show a single product for sale. If customers got the free version from AppWorld, they are going to look to AppWorld to but it.
This is related to the last point but, make it easy to buy. Getting people to upgrade from the free version of an application, to a paid version is tough. Only a small percent of Pixelated users upgrade to Pixelated Plus, but it is much better if users can figure out how to upgrade. Even under the “Try & Buy” tab on your website there is no clear way to actually buy the application.
Third you should not require users to delete the free version in order to upgrade to the paid version. You are just making things difficult on your customers. Instead let the apps play nice with each other by simply giving them different names. It really is that easy. Also related to smoothing out the upgrade process don’t make users reload their data. There is about 10 different ways to migrate the data automatically, please use one of them.
There is no excuse for your application to be so ugly. This is honestly one of the worst looking applications that I have ever seen. RIM includes native API’s for things like text and buttons, and if you used them your app might actually look decent and get some more sales.
Finally, you need to set a fair price. The article states that you moved form charging $3 to charging $96 per year. You do not need to charge the minimum, but your price does have to be reasonable.
Hopefully this can help Widality out, so that in the future they can just make decent applications instead of looking for somebody else to blame.
As part of BlackBerry operating system 6.0 RIM has added the net.rim.device.api.ui.component.progressindicator module to help with things such as displaying progress and activity indicators. Progress indicators are used to show how far along a task is when the length of the task is known (ie. 5 of 7 done; or 35% complete), while activity indicators are used when the length of time is unknown (typically displayed as a pulse or a spinning object). An activity indicator as shown below is used in version 2.0 of the Hockey Scores application while the app is waiting for the scores to initially download.
The main complication in implementing this feature was that the sample code for the feature consists of 4 java files and over 800 lines of code. Fortunately actually using this feature can be much simpler, and in fact can be simplified down to only 8 lines of code.
Screen s = new Screen();
ActivityIndicatorView view = new ActivityIndicatorView(Field.FIELD_HCENTER);
Bitmap spinImage = Bitmap.getBitmapResource("spinner.png");
view.createActivityImageField(spinImage,6,0);
LabelField label = new LabelField("Loading Hockey...");
s.add(label);
s.add(view);
pushScreen(s);
Granted this doesn’t make use of all the features that the ActivityIndicatorView can make use of. However, as soon as the data is loaded there is no need to keep the ActivityIndicatorView around anyways as the screen replaces it with real data that we were waiting for anyhow.
The Halloween themed Jack-O-Lantern application has received an update. Version 1.1 adds more options face options to the application, and includes a few bug fixes.
This application is designed to turn your BlackBerry into a virtual Jack-O-Lantern in order to help you celebrate the Halloween season on your phone. You can change the Jack-O-Lantern’s face by sliding in different designs for the eyes, nose and mouth from the left or the right. You can also change the back colour of the design by clicking on the screen.
The Jack-O-Lantern application supports all touchscreen BlackBerrys including BlackBerry Storm model numbers 9500, 9520, 9530, and 9550 as well as the BlackBerry Torch 9800.
The Hockey Scores application for BlackBerry phones has been updated to version 2.1 for the new 2010-2011 Hockey season. As it did last year the application provides the day’s hockey scores is an intuitive and easy to use format. It also includes additional game statistics such as start times, goal scorers, shots on net, hits, faceoff percentage, and team Corsi numbers.
The Hockey Scores application supports all BlackBerry devices with OS 4.6 or higher. This includes the 8220, 8230, 8330, 8350i, 8520, 8530, 8900, 9000, 9100, 9105, 9300, 9330, 9500, 9520, 9530, 9550, 9630, 9650, 9700, and 9800.
Now nearing almost a year since its release, adoption OS 5.0 has remained level over the last month. Th 89.7% of 9530 users who have upgraded as of September is almost unchanged from the 89.9% who had upgraded as of August.
As usual this data comes from downloads of Pixelated, which is the second most popular game in BlackBerry AppWorld. Similar data from Sensobi helps to confirm it.
In time to celebrate the Halloween season we are launching a free Jack-O-Lantern application. This application is designed to turn your BlackBerry into a virtual Jack-O-Lantern in order to help you celebrate the Halloween season on your phone.
You can change the Jack-O-Lantern’s face by sliding in different designs for the eyes, nose and mouth from the left or the right. You can also change the back colour of the design by clicking on the screen.
The Jack-O-Lantern application supports all touchscreen BlackBerrys including the 9500, 9520, 9530, 9550, and 9800.
Liar’s Dice is a new BlackBerry game, that is available today. This application is based off of the classic dice game of strategy and deception in which seeing only your own dice you must bet on the combined dice in play without getting caught in a lie. The game is popular in many different cultures and is also known by the names Perudo, Dudo, or Cachito.
The object of the game is to catch your opponent (the computer) betting too high. Bets are placed on both your own dice which you can see, and your opponent’s dice which are hidden from you. You begin each round by making a bet. The computer then has an opportunity to either call your bet a lie, or to bet higher then you. Then it is once again your turn to call your opponent’s bet or to bet even higher. This continues until eventually a bet is called. Then if the bet is too high the caller wins, or if the bet is not a lie, the bettor wins the round.
The game has two main game modes. The “High Score” mode is the default mode, points are awarded for each round, and the first to gain a given number of points wins. The amount of points that the game plays to can be selected from the options page, allowing for shorter or longer games.
The second game mode is an “Elimination” mode in which the loser of each round loses one dice for the following rounds, and the last player with any dice left is the winner. This game is more dynamic as there are a different number of dice in play each round. Additionally these games in this mode typically play faster than high score games.
In addition to the main game, the Liar’s Dice application contains features to keep track of statistics and to integrate well into the BlackBerry. Included in version 1.0 are:
In celebration of its release Liar’s Dice will be available in BlackBerry AppWorld for $2 dollars off of the normal price through October 15th.
Version 1.0 of Liars Dice requires at least OS 5.0 and supports the 8900, 9500, 9520, 9530, 9550, 9630, 9650, 9700, and 9800. Version 1.1 of the application will add support for more devices in the near future.