My Crackberry Storm

Well the app store over at Blackberry has been open for about five days now, and sad to say, there is not much available for my crackberry storm. Of course there is not much available for any other RIM device either…at least not yet. The preliminary opening of the store is more just to get users signed up and download some fairly rudimentary apps.

It is also the time for developers to sign up so they can port all those apps they have been working on for the iPhone and Android over to the RIM devices. Curiosuly, the folks at Blackberry’s app store are currently redirecting people away from the Blackberry store to competitors such as Handango and Handmark.

From the applications page of the Blackberry App Store:

BlackBerry Software Stores

Check out BlackBerry Software Stores for a large selection of games, ring tones and business and personal productivity tools.

• Handango Software Store
• Handmark Software Store

You’ve got to love an open market system to keep the apps plentiful and the cost low.

You just GOTTA love this commercial about My Crackberry Storm!

Ok, first the good news about this latest release. They fixed the camera! yeah!… Now I can actually take pictures and save them with my crackberry storm.

Now, the bad news. This appears to be one of the buggier releases.

First off, the cool QWERTY keyboard has dissappeared from portrait mode.
Secondly, sometimes you will need to shift my crackberry storm from horizontal to vertical and back again to get the notifcation icons to appear and/or disappear.
Thirdly, The battery is back to needing a charge every night.
Finally, though the camera may be back in working action, it seems that it takes a looooonnnng time to save the picture file before you can move on to the next shot.

This update is probably more of a core update and possibly some user functions were dissabled, etc. so there is no surpirse that this may seem a step back.  It of course isn’t as it may be that the other beta releases were glimpses of what is to come in the next official release.

Stay tuned for the next release update!

Blackberry

Currently, many apps available for my crackberry storm are priced anywhere from $1 all the way up to $10. With the recentt announcement that the Blackberry App store is on it’s way, it will be interesting to see how prices will begin to moderate.

Obviously, $10 is a lot to spend on a smart phone application and currently there is speculation on many boards that developers that are releasing applications are jacking their price up before the Blackberry store opens so as to maximize profit. If the crackberry app store will be like the Apple iphone store, then prices will being to moderate and you will see the higher priced apps drop to more reasonable levels.

Of course, some developers can justify their price, since making an app for my crackberry storm usually takes a team, project management, beta testing, updates, etc. even if it is a two man shop.

So what is a good price for an app? Take for instance the Urban Spoon app for the iphone. Quite possibly the most widely talked about app (at least in San Francisco) and people love to use it because it’s cool factor is so high. Shake the phone and then go dine. The interface is slick and there are tons of options to customize your food choices. I asked some friends the other night how much they thought the app cost. Most said somewhere in the $5 to $10 range. They were shocked (yes non of them had iphones) when I told them it was free. more »

First thing I did when i jumped off the plane was see if there was an update for my crackberry storm. There was! yippee!. I must say that being out of touch due to the lack of wifi in my crackberry storm (had to use the laptop) is still a sore point with me. But I am back and vacationed so let’s get on with the latest OS now shall we?

.90s claim to fame is the new QWERTY keyboard in portrait mode. It is light years better then the old portrait keyboard, but I must say still is not as easy to use as the QWERTY keyboard in landscape. What I would really LOVE TO SEE in next updates, is having of the space bar and making a .com button. That will save time and earn major kudos from…well just about everyone who uses the blackberry storm. more »