5 Must Have [Free] BlackBerry Apps

This list was last updated July 3, 2009. If you want to suggest an app for this list, please leave a comment.

Let’s face it. The one advantage to having an iPhone are the plethora of apps available. With the ‘newness’ of the BlackBerry Bold, I’ve had trouble finding some decent applications to add to my phone…apps that I’d actually use on a daily basis. After searching high and low on the Interweb, and a little trial and error, I’ve discovered several apps that make the Bold even more uber. The following BlackBerry apps are free and in my opinion the most useful of the lot.

viigo. This aggregator features a wide variety of content from a collection of news sources (national, local, entertainment, sports), stock tracking and finance news, as well as an RSS reader to keep track of your favorite blogs through over 5,000 channels. Viigo also allows you to customize your feeds including the capability to listen or watch podcasts. You can even track packages from four of the major parcel services. Social networking is limited to Facebook, Twitter & Plaxo. Most recently, Viigo has added emergency services to its lineup including breaking news, earthquake and storm watch monitoring, and FEMA and homeland security bulletins.

As I originally thought, this app grew on me. It’s ‘all-in-one’ personality was just too awesome!

From a business model perspective (I apologize…a little off topic), Viigo has smartly and tastefully included ads in its delivery of content (each contant provider has the opportunity to opt in or out of showing ads in their feed). The ads are not overpowering nor are they intrusive, which is hard to do considering the amount of screen real estate on a mobile device. Obviously used to help subsidize the ‘free’ness of the service. Kudos, Viigo!

To download this app, visit http://www.viigo.com/download via your BlackBerry or from your PC.

UberTwitter. If you’re a raging Twitterholic like I am, you need to download UberTwitter now. With this app you can view others’ timelines, single out @ replies, reply and reply all to friends, and view and send direct messages. There is a handy ReTweet function and hashtags are clickable within UberTwitter. It also allows you to search Twitter as well as view a ‘trending topics’ list.

You can also take a picture in Uberwitter and add it to your tweet. Regardless, I still chose to use TwitPic. Add to that some geolocation capabilities and you’ve got a pretty complete Twitter app.

TellMe. TellMe is a voice recognition app that provides GPS directions, traffic information (where available), maps, businesses, movie times courtesy of Fandango, as well as weather information. By using keywords such as “coffee” or “movies” or “sports”, TellMe gets you the information you’re looking for. TellMe is a Microsoft subsidiary and therefore uses LiveSearch for a majority of its results. This app is available for the BlackBerry Bold. You can download this app by going to m.tellme.com on your BlackBerry.

Facebook. Facebook is not only the world’s largest social network, but it continues to grow. I’ve reconnected with many of my old friends and keep up with business contacts at the same time. There are other apps out there that allow you to access your Facebook account, but I prefer to stick with the actual service. Each update of this app has featured something more useful and a more user-friendly interface…moreso than Facebook.com itself.

If you have Facebook, download this app through Facebook or visit the Facebook For BlackBerry website.

E*TRADE Mobile Pro. You’ve seen the talking baby commercials. This kid knows what he’s talking about. For you stock market buffs, this is ‘the one’. The layout is clean, and from a functionality standpoint, it is capable. And best of all, you can use it without opening an E*TRADE account. However, you won’t be able to realize all of its benefits, such as saving your favorite tickers, without doing so. You might be able to gain full functionality by opening a Complete Savings account, which currently has a minimum requirement of $1. You probably want to contact E*TRADE to be sure. For now, I just use it for quotes and market updates…and because it’s pretty.

To download it, go to etrade.com/mobile from your BlackBerry.

APP-SOLUTELY! Like most app providers will include in a disclaimer, these apps are ‘free’ to the point of downloading them at no charge for a service that does not have a service cost (monthly or otherwise). It is important to be sure that you’re plan includes unlimited data. If you do not have an unlimited data plan, your wireless service provider may charge data usage fees for downloading and using the application. If you do not know if you have a data plan, or are uncertain what your data rates are, please contact your wireless provider.

The following apps were once at the top of the list, but have been muscled off the updated list by the new hotness. Regardless, they’re still worth a mention:

ASSOCIATED PRESS. Through an extensive network of content contributors, the Mobile News Network application offers access to local and national news “supplemented by AP’s text, photos and video”. With ‘The Network‘ you can search, share, rate content, and receive text alerts set to your preferences. To download this app, visit bb.apnews.com from your BlackBerry.

VLINGO. Voice control capability for your mobile device is huge. If you’re like me, you want to practice true hands-free driving. Eyes on the road! Vlingo is arguably the best tool for this job. Vlingo’s voice recognition abilities reach beyond dictation of texts and emails. It also allows virtual hands-free web searches, updating Facebook & Twitter status, and it allows you to access your calendar among other apps. To download it, visit Vlingo.com.

Popularity: 72% [?]

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