The days when a BlackBerry was all about the email are long gone. Thanks to BlackBerry App World, there’s an increasing number of impressive productivity apps, while the new generation of touchscreen BlackBerries (think the Storm 2) are set to amp up the gaming fun too. Here’s our current pick of what’s available.
eBay
Although only available in North America as a beta right now, trust us when we say eBay’s BlackBerry app is rather special. It lets you search for items, watch or bid for them, all while getting alerts pinged to your homescreen and email if you’re in danger of missing out. Digital crack squared, if you’re an eBay and BlackBerry addict.
Twitter
This is another of Research In Motion’s ‘Super Apps’, designed to tie deeply into the BlackBerry OS. For Twitter, that means direct messages (DMs in Tweetspeak) appear in your inbox. The app also integrates with your camera and browser, to make posting pics and links quick and simple.
LinkedIn
If ever a social networking app was made for BlackBerry, it’s LinkedIn. The corporate social network let you check out and communicate with your work colleagues. Calendar and inbox integration means you can go to people’s profiles direct from emails and meeting entries, ensuring you’re never caught short.
Xobni
Xobni bills itself as the ‘magic address book’, which is some claim. Happily, it’s true. Once installed, the app analyses your BlackBerry voice calls and emails, and ranks your contacts by importance. It also creates profiles for each contact, pulling in data from LinkedIn and Facebook.
Need for Speed Shift 3D
BlackBerry games aren’t impressive when compared to iPhone titles, but that will change. New handsets like the Storm 2 support the same whizzy 3D OpenGL technology, with Need for Speed Shift 3D the first big game to benefit. BlackBerry-owners with a penchant for fast cars will love it.
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