I was even looking into learning Java just so I could create my own programs that would do exactly what I wanted and looked exactly how I wanted them to look, however, my job at the time took up all my free time and I never got past buying a "Java for Dummies" book. I still have the book, as new and unused as the day I bought it...
So here I am, quite a number of months later, creating my own list of possibly little known apps (though many of them are well known in the BB App World) that I have found to be of good use to me. These are not in any particular order, just the 10 I've used and liked the most. You may not agree or like them, but hey, this is my blog and this is what I like. But remember that these are apps that work on a Blackberry Storm 9530 and may not work on other BB phones. To make sure, you'll want to check out the app's site or the app's place in the Blackberry App World.
So without further ado...
- QuickPull Lite
The one downside of using a Java environment for the BB is that it tends to gradually lower the available Application Memory over time. There have been a couple apps I've tried which try to remedy this, but fairly unsuccessfully. Therefore, eventually, I would have to take off the outer rubber casing, open up the back and pull out the battery to restart the phone and thus increase the available memory, for a time at least. Then came QuickPull. As long as I have a shred of available Application Memory, I can use QuickPull to simulate what I used to manually have to do for a battery pull. It is a pretty simple, but useful program and you can even schedule an automatic "pull" to automatically restart your phone. You can find this app in the BB App World. - Poynt
This is an awesome app that I use constantly. The newest edition of this app includes Business search, People search, Movie search, Restaurant search and a "Map It!" feature. Each of these features are based from your specified search location which you can type in or you can use your phone's GPS capabilities. With the Business search, you can look for any business by name, pretty simple. With the People search (my favorite), you can look up people by phone number, address or name. It's really neat too! With Movie search, you can look up movies by name, genre or top ten at the box office. You can then read the movie's synopsis and even download or just view a trailer for the movie in high, medium or low resolution. You can search what movies are playing in theaters around your search location. The Restaurant search allows you to search for restaurants in the area, by name or even by cuisine. And finally, the "Map It!" feature lets you map your search location using BB Maps or Google Maps. This is a very neat application to have. You can find Poynt in the BB App World. - WeatherBug
I know, I know, this is one of those apps that appears on most "Top 10 BB Apps" lists, but it is pretty neat. And because it was on all those lists, I didn't try it out until a week or so ago. (Note: I don't like to follow hyped up stuff until the hype has simmered down a bit, so that's why the big delay.) With WeatherBug, you can the temp, wind speed and direction, the highs and lows, the heat index, dew point, humidity and much more! Plus, the main little icon shows the current temperature and the high and low for the day. I'm not a weather fiend by any means and I don't watch the news, but I do like knowing when I'll be melting or not here in Tucson, Arizona and this little app tells me just that. You can find this app in BB App World. - Google Maps
I wasn't a huge fan of the Blackberry Maps that comes standard with the phone and I was familiar with Google Maps and Google Earth on my PC, so I naturally went searching for Google Maps for my phone. It was a very short search as I just went to m.google.com which is just a list of the available Google apps for mobile devices. While some of these "apps" (or products as they're called by Google) are basically links to the mobile site of whatever they advertise (such as the Blogger "app"), a few are actual apps that you can download. This is the case of Google Maps. The best part that I like about this app is that it has the backbone of Google which, no offense to anyone, is quite a bit bigger than RIM in some areas of technology and therefore has a great deal more access to information about the locations. You may disagree, but that's what I have found out in my experiences. You can find this app at http://m.google.com and is easier to download from your phone's browser. - YouTube
This is another app that you can download from Google. It is more of a fun app than a useful one, unless you look up informational videos all the time, I guess. But I use YouTube quite often to watch new music videos of a new song that I just heard on the radio. It has (at least almost) the same functionality as the full web version in that you can add a video to your favorites, rate the video and see related videos. I haven't found if you are able to share the video yet, but if there isn't a way yet, I'm sure they'll add it later on. A short, sweet and to the point app that can fill in some extra time. You can find this app at http://m.google.com and is easier to download from your phone's browser. - PatternLock Lite
I have three kids under 3 years old, two of whom are very fascinated with my phone and grab it as often as possible. I tried to remember to use the phone lock button as often as possible, but my kids would often beat me to it. That's where PatternLock comes in. You can set this app to automatically lock your phone using its various options. Then, when you want to unlock your phone, you have to input whatever pattern you have set on the 3 x 3 dot grid. It's pretty neat graphics for such a simple program. It works both in landscape and portrait view as well. You can find this app in the BB App World. - ScreenLock
One problem that many people have encountered is that the Storm's screen does not lock when you are on a phone call and many (including my wife) put themselves on mute or put the call on speaker when not meaning to. Then I found ScreenLock. This is an incredibly simple app that has only one function, to lock the screen while you are on a call. It doesn't have any fancy options or icons. It instead automatically starts when you are on a call, both incoming and outgoing. If you do need to use the screen, simply hit the back button and it unlocks the screen. Then you can hit the menu button and lock the screen again. Very easy, very simple, very effective. You can find this app at http://m.crackberry.com in the free Blackberry Storm apps directory and is easier to download from your phone's browser. - Capture It
I'm sure there are a few screen capture apps out there, but I haven't searched a around for any of them actually. In all reality, I don't use this app very often, but when I need to, it comes in handy. I normally use it to send pictures to friends who have recently purchased a Storm when I am trying to explain something to them. The Capture It option is embedded in the menu, but I also have it linked to a convenience key and when hit, the phone vibrates to tell me that it took the shot. Capture It precisely takes a picture of whatever is on the screen and automatically saves it to the Memory Card. I like it and it works for me, plus it's free. You can find this app at http://m.crackberry.com in the free Blackberry Storm apps directory and is easier to download from your phone's browser. - Berry Unit Converter
Now I don't know about you, but I am terrible with conversions. I have no idea how many inches are in a meter or how to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit. Luckily, the computer was invented so I don't have to keep all that knowledge in my head, which saves room for random movie trivia and my anniversary date (an important thing not to forget!). With this non-graphical app, you can pretty much convert anything to anything within the logical groupings. This app has everything from weight to torque to energy to even film (film frame, second, etc.)! It works consistently without the bugs of other conversion apps I've tried and it has a range of different measurements so I will never be left out in the cold if someone asks me how many Newtons are in an ounce force (0.2780139 I guess). You can find this app at http://m.crackberry.com in the free Blackberry Storm apps directory and is easier to download from your phone's browser. - FileScout
When it comes to computers, I am a control freak. I am used to File Manager and FTP. I like seeing the actual files in a tree format with the size of the file displayed. That is exactly what this little app does. It shows the file, the file extension, the size of the file and the file location, just as if it were File Manager on my computer. Under the menu, you can zip a file, view a file, put the file on the clipboard, send the file, view the details of the file and more. I wouldn't really recommend this app to anyone who isn't comfortable with computers or the Storm as you could probably do some damage if you accidentally deleted a needed file, which is very possible. But this app suits me just fine, even though I haven't had a practical reason to fully use it yet. You can find this app at http://m.crackberry.com in the free Blackberry Storm apps directory and is easier to download from your phone's browser. - Bonus App: FlashLight by App Pro Shop
This app is one I use more for fun than for anything useful, although it worked well in a power outage recently when lighting hit a nearby power pole. There are different color options that turn the screen the solid color of whatever you chose. The part I think is neat is that the LED light changes to match the screen! I like the little things in life, what can I say? The app suggests that the different colors can be used in different situations. For example, the red light "does not impair night vision, provides excellent contrast and is not visible to the human eye over long distances". I included the name of the developer of this program because in can find many apps with the same name. This one is free however and is pretty neat. You can find this app in the BB App World.
There you have it, my own, personal top 10 list of free apps for the Blackberry Storm 9530. I hope this was useful in some way and helped you find some quality apps for your phone.
If you have any suggestions for any other free apps, please leave a comment.
- J
