The Stuff I Need app has been updated to version 1.1 in BlackBerry World. This new version adds support for the BlackBerry Q10, and also includes a delete all function on the options page in order to make it easier to refresh your list.
Originally conceived as a grocery list app, this minimalistic checklist can be used to keep track of the stuff you need to get, or the stuff that you need to do.
The colorful strategy game, Runaway Trains has been updated to version 2.4 for BlackBerry and Android. This new version has ten new levels, as well as adding support for the soon to be released BlackBerry Q10.
Runaway Trains is a colorful strategy game for all ages where you must route the trains to the proper station. Each level progresses in difficulty and presents an unique puzzle which you must solve by finding a way to guide the coloured trains causing a collision or running out of track.
This is done by touching the intersections to toggle the open path of the tracks. If at any time the trains crash or end up at the wrong station, you will have lost and have to try again.
The first 25 levels are free, while the rest of the game can be accessed following a one time in-app purchase of $2.99.
Version 2.4 of Runaway Trains adds levels 171-180, as well as new and improved menu icons. BlackBerry 10 phones also now have a new easy way to share high scores, and the app now supports the soon to be released BlackBerry Q10.
 |  |
 |  |
The brand new game Starbeams has been released in BlackBerry World for all BlackBerry 10 phones. The game has 100 levels, and requires you to assign colors to each star in order to ensure that none of the stars are connected to another star of the same color. The game starts off easy, but quickly gets more complex, adding more colors and seven pointed stars that can not be changed.
As with Xploding Boxes and Runaway Trains the first 25 levels of the game are free, while the full game can be purchased through a one time in-app purchase. Currently Starbeams boasts 100 levels, but that number is sure to grow as the game is updated in the coming months.
The game supports all BlackBerry 10 phones, including the Z10, the Q10, and the DevAlpha.
 |  |
 |  |
Xploding Boxes has been updated to version 4.3, adding ten new levels bringing the total up to 370. This update also improves the app’s handling of square displays, adding support for the soon to be released BlackBerry Q10, and providing better support for the Windows 8 version when in three-quarters snapped mode. The menu icons for the app were also refreshed on Android, Nook, and Playbook versions of the app, in order to match the style that was recently revealed on the BlackBerry 10 version of the app.
Xploding Boxes is a strategy game for BlackBerry, Android, Nook, Windows 8, and BlackBerry 10 where the goal of the game is to start a chain reaction that will explode all of the boxes on the screen. Each level gives you a different number of touches, and requires a different strategy to solve.
The game itself, and the first 25 levels are available for free, while an in-app purchase can be used to access the rest of the levels for just $2.99 while maintaining your progress from the free levels.
|  |
|  |
January saw almost all PlayBook users on the newest OS version available, and given that there has been no OS upgrades released since then, there is little surprise that pretty much all PlayBook users were still on the newest OS version this month as well.
This data was collected by BlackBerry World at the time of download, for the popular PlayBook strategy game Pixelated. Data shown on the chart is from the beginning of February 2012 through the end of February 2013.
The above chart shows the county break down of downloads of Xploding Boxes on Windows 8 over the past 6 months. This data is collected by Microsoft’s store. The below chart shows the country breakdown for Pixelated over the same time period.
For both games there were more users from the United States than any other country. Followed by (in both cases) the United Kingdom, and Canada.
I am fairly sure that the BlackBerry Z10 actually does exist. I have seen pictures of it online, I have talked to people who have claimed to have used it, I have had many people use the device to download my apps. Yet I have never actually seen a BlackBerry Z10 in person.
The phone has been on sale in some countries for 36 days now, and as such it has probably been seen by a few million people, who either bought one, looked at it in the store, or ran into someone using one on the street. Given how much time I have spent looking at, and studying the details of this phone, you would assume that I would be one of the experts on this, but apparently not.
I am fairly sure that the Z10 is a real phone, but lets see how much longer it takes for me to finally see one…
February saw the launch of BlackBerry 10 in most countries (besides the United States), so I figured that it would be worth taking a look at which countries BlackBerry 10 users are in.
Canada (unsurprisingly) lead the way with 62% of BlackBerry 10 users. It was followed by the United Kingdom with 17% of users, and then a collection of middle eastern countries, such as Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, and Qatar. Surprisingly the United States managed to have a bit of a showing despite not yet being formally launched in that country.
This data for this chart was taken from downloads of the free BlackBerry strategy game Pixelated over the course of February 2013, and excludes Dev Alpha devices.
For the second straight month, the distribution of BlackBerry OS versions are mostly unchanged. Almost all users (98.5%) are running OS 5.0 or higher, but only about a third of users (34.1%) are on the newest version of the OS.
This data was taken from downloads of the free BlackBerry strategy game Pixelated. Data shown on the chart is from the beginning of February 2012 through the end of February 2013, and does not include BlackBerry 10 or PlayBook devices.
Following Pixelated’s recent upgrade to version 3.3 the game has exceeded 5,000 reviews in the BlackBerry World store. Even with so many reviews, the game continues to have a four out of five star rating. One of my favorite reviews to be posted in recent months is below.
Thank you to everyone for your continued support of Pixelated.
I have spent the last few days with guest posts on other websites.
For Android apps compiled against Adobe AIR, it is best if you include the entire AIR runtime as part of your distributable .apk file. It may not be as nice from a programing standpoint, but it is far better for the end user. I have three Android apps in the Google Play store (Xploding Boxes, Runaway Trains, and Black Out), at first I relied upon users to download AIR for themselves, but have since realized that bundling the runtime gives a much better experience for Android users.
For developers the idea of having the AIR runtime as a separate installation presents a much prettier (and more loosely coupled) architecture. It allows the app to have a smaller file size, and to share the AIR platform with any other apps that need to make use of it, while also allowing the two installations to be updated individually.
However on Android (unlike the BlackBerry PlayBook and the Barnes and Noble Nook) the AIR framework is not preinstalled on the OS, so if the captive runtime is not used to bundle AIR into your .apk than when users first launch the app they are presented with a screen asking them to go download and instal Adobe AIR. This is just giving your users another chance to quit, and ignore your app, and even resulted in a poor review for one of my apps from a user who did not understand what Adobe AIR was.
Instead if you bundle AIR into your app using the captive runtime you result in a larger distributable file, but when the user goes to launch it for the first time it is guaranteed to just work.
The Mileage Tracker app has been updated to version 1.1 in BlackBerry World. This new version adds smoother animations between screens, and automatically assigns focus to fields as needed in order to make the flow of the app quicker. Additionally an option has been added to automatically attach exported files to an email, so you can share your data with others.
Mileage tracker is a free app designed to help you track the miles you drive on each trip for use on tax deductions, accounting, or employee reimbursements. Instead of keeping this information charted on your computer, it makes much more sense to be able to track this directly on your phone, which you normally would have with you in the car already.
Trips can be grouped into categories, and edited (or deleted) at a later date. Following a one time in-app payment you can export your data into an Excel compatible .csv format and a pretty (and sortable) .html format.
Animal Sounds is a brand new free app for BlackBerry 10 that has just launched. The app allows you to click on an image of an animal, and hear what sound that animal makes.
This app was originally created as a challenge to myself to create a brand new app in less than 24 hours. In the end, I finished it in less than 12. The details of this process have been documented at Storify.