Entries tagged with “App” from WIRELESS AND MOBILE NEWS

Finding the best apps for the T-Mobile G1 and myTouch 3G Google Android smartphones can be overwhelming because currently there are thousands of apps out there.

So how you can find the best apps? Well you could read reviews of all the apps out there which would take a lot of time, or you could rely on a source like Wireless and Mobile News to review the reviews out there and compile a best of the best list.
We've created this "Review of Reviews" by reviewing all the top reviews out there and then picking the ones that show up the most often as the best and top reviewed apps. 

1. T-Mobile AppPack - T-Mobile did a great shopping job of finding apps that they new their customers would like.  Many of the apps they picked were already well-reviewed and had high download numbers . The apps included are

• Sherpa, Sherpa learns a person's likes and dislikes through behavior and user feedback, prioritizing recommended retailers, restaurants and attractions.
  
• imeem Mobile streams music customized to your tastes, recommending new songs and artists based on which songs you identify as your favorites.
• WorldTour puts live webcams from around the world onto your home screen.
• Phonebook offers an upgraded, more personalized phonebook for Android.
• FreshFace is a theme engine to further customize your myTouch.
• Movies by Flixster takes the aspect of movie reviews to the next level. Through integration with Facebook, you can find friends who also want to see that movie or read reviews from friends who have already seen it.  It goes without mentioning that T-Mobile wants users to download their T-Mobile My Account.
  

2. Ringdroid - This ringtone making-app is too much fun not to download. Ringdroid lets you record or edit music and turn it into a ringtone. It supports WAV, MP3 and 3GPP/AMR files.

3. Google Maps - Google has a great relationship with Android and it really shows in the Android Map app.  They claim you will never have to carry a paper map again. It helps you find where you are through My Location and then help you go where you want to go. There's street view and satellite view as well as look for business listings and dial them directly. Google Maps was recently updated with Voice Search and Google Latitude. If you already have Google Maps installed, we suggest the super voice app Goggle Voice.
4.Shop Savvy - shopping app that when you scan barcodes, it looks up items online to comparison shop in real-time. It also saves items for future shopping.

5. WHERE - s a bundle of  useful GPS apps that help you find people, places and things. Are you looking for the hottest restaurants, coffee or need a cheap fill-up? Maybe you want to know the local weather, traffic or headlines? Whatever you are after, WHERE has it in little information widgets.

LifeinPocket is now available for the BlackBerry Tour and Storm. LifeinPocket has many functions for people with busy lives. It is a free text messaging via phone and PC service powered with navigation and other GPS based services. It has been suggested that the LifeinPocket app "transcends" iPhones. It offers GPS directions with maps, syncing, business search, weather, parking, gas station-finding. There are many location-based functions of this app which parents, teens, and mobile types will love. We name it our "BlackBerry Storm / Tour App of the Day" because it is very "location functional."  There moto is "Your phone, your life, in your pocket."

From the main screen you can access these icons/functions:

Navigation - advanced turn-by-turn navigation prompts with voice guidance. that  allows for hands-free navigation. Utilizing synced address book and its unique online trip planning tool, LifeInPocket Navigation virtually eliminates the need for typing on tiny keyboards.

GPS - offers fully personalized business, restaurants, attractions, WIFI hot spots search, real-time traffic, map, weather etc. based on your GPS location, address book, destinations or "MyLocation".

Friends - whether they are using the same carrier or not. Let friends and family know where you are by sending location messages to them. They can click on the location to let LifeInPocket Navigation take them there, to view it on map or to search nearby POIs (Point of Interest) meet.

For example, teens can send a location message to Mom. Mom clicks on the message and LifeInPocket guides Mom to pick up the teen via voice instruction.

Roadside Assistance and GPS Gas Finder - Request emergency and roadside assistance. Find nearby gas price, towing services, auto repair shops and parking.

Email, IM & Social Networking - access

Yahoo, Gmail, AOL, Hotmail, etc. and company emails and attachments by POP3, SMTP, IMAP and web. You can send and receive IM, connect with friends by social networks  easily

PIM - Sync/import/export with Yahoo, Gmail, MSN, Hotmail, Palm Desktop, Outlook Express, Outlook etc. Click to navigate, call, email and socialize with your contacts!

Finance - manage stock portfolio, get stock quotes, charts, financial news/ analysis/report, access brokerage accounts.

Document - upload documents and books to LifeInPocket. Then, you can read them on your phone anytime and anywhere you want.

Media - news, Sports, Entertainment News, magazines, sports (NFL MLB NBA NHL LPGA NASCAR etc.), entertainments and local reports.

Search - search via GPS, view ratings and real-time reviews by real people before navigating to an unknown restaurant/store/repair shop.

Internet- access mobile Internet anytime, any place simply click and go! Needs no or very little typing to browse through sites.

Sync- sync with server, Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail, MSN or Outlook Express.

The BlackBerry Tour has had record sales for Verizon and is readily available on Sprint.  After you become accustomed to using the basic functions of the BlackBerry Tour, you can enhance your experience with free apps.

We've rounded up the best free top BlackBerry Tour apps so far and we will be periodically writing about new BlackBerry Tour apps as they appear.

Travel
WorldMate Live - helps users plan and manage trips at home and on the road, with instant access to travel tools and resources, making travel hassle-free. Features include email notifications of flight changes/delays, flight/hotel search/booking, mapping/directions and reminders.

Music/Radio Apps
Slacker Radio - lets you listen to over 100 expert-programmed stations and an unlimited number of listener generated stations whether you are connected to a network or not. Slacker Radio caches the stream of audio and stores it on the memory card.

FlyCast - FlyCast claims to have more radio stations than any other Internet radio or satellite platform with 1200 stations. There is a free version and a premium version the premium version allows for caching.

Pandora Internet Radio -Pandora creates radio stations based on songs and artists that you likeu, based on algorithms from the Music Genome Project. Pandora Radio streams the songs to your BlackBerry Tour.

Fun Goodies/Lifestyle
Feel-Goodies - this free feel-good app reminds you how wonderful you really are. Click through positive empowering sayings to feel better about yourself. "An app to give or receive that can't go wrong."

Here's a free app that tracks outdoor activities.  nogago connects to the GPS in your BlackBerry smartphone and then keeps track of your travels, speed and how far you went.  It works with the most popular BlackBerry smartphones including our readers' favorites the BlackBerry Tour, BlackBerry Storm and BlackBerry Curve 8900 as well as most recent BlackBerrry models. We name it BlackBerry Storm/Tour App of the Day for outdoor tours.

The nogago BlackBerry app lets you:

• Measure the time, distance and speed of your travels
• Record and view your tracks (while on the go and later when you are back home on your PC.)
• Navigate along prerecorded tracks (you can find many, many thousands of tracks at gpsies and other GPS track communities).

The nogago website has an online search function to help your find tracks to trek for biking, canoeing, bicycling, sailing, running, skating, horse riding, sailing and trekking all over the world.



How the nogago app works:

You can create a track log (press "0″) of your movements and share this track with your friends and family when you are back. Press "3″ to reset the odometer, whenever you want to start over with measuring your time and distance. This does not affect your track log but resets display, so when back home you can analyze how far, fast and long you went for what was recorded.

You can see your traces in the map mode pressing "9″ (always facing north) and return to the instrument view by pressing "9″ again.

To use the nogago, it would help if you have knowledge  basic outdoor navigation and how a compass works.

We've gotten positive feedback from our readers for articles featuring free BlackBerry Tour apps. BlackBerry Tour apps can be difficult to find, while developers are tweaking their BlackBerry apps to work on the BlackBerry Tour.

The spokesman for Slacker Radio confirmed that Slacker Radio works on the BlackBerry Tour. You can listen to over 100 expert-programmed stations and an unlimited number of listener generated stations whether you are connected to a network or not.

The Slacker app also shows detailed artist bios and album reviews for each song.

Slacker Radio for BlackBerry Tour is a personalized music discovery and listening experience, with over than 100 expert-programmed Slacker stations, over 10,000 artist stations or nearly unlimited number of the listener's own custom-created stations. Features include station caching to storage memory, and "peek ahead," allowing the listener to see a preview of the next artist and album in their stations' rotations.

Recently, Slacker and Verizon announced that the Slacker Radio app was being sent as an Over-The-Air download to BlackBerry Storm smartphones with the added ability to buy music directly from V CAST.

FlyCast is a streaming audio "radio stations" program, we previously named "BlackBerry Storm App of the Day." FlyCast claims to have more radio stations than any other Internet radio or satellite platform with 1200 stations. For our BlackBerry Tour readers, we have confirmed from FlyCast that FlyCast works on the BlackBerry Tour.

FlyCast streams popular radio stations and it will work anywhere. If you are out of town and want to listen to a major radio station, you should be able to find some of your favorites from Boston, New York or Los Angeles.

Flycast has updated their service now offers "wireless station caching," the ability listen to  favorite radio stations without a wireless connection. With FlyCast 2.0, users store their favorite stations when  connected to a cellular or Wi-Fi network, then disconnect from the network and listen to the stations any time.

Version 2.0 of their BlackBerry app presents music stations in a track-based cover flow, enabling in-application music purchases and providing time shifting skip-ahead and skip-back functionality. FlyCast 2.0 reduces battery drain and cellular data usage charges.

Handmark has released TweetCaster, a new free Twitter application available exclusively for BlackBerry smartphones with a trackball (including the BlackBerry Tour) and the BlackBerry Storm.

TweetCaster claims that their app, makes Twitter on a BlackBerry smartphone fast, easy, and fun. With TweetCaster, offers nearly twice the number of features as alternative BlackBerry smartphone or mobile web-based Twitter apps.

TweetCaster offers:

• Ability to toggle between multiple accounts.
• URL shortening.
• Picture sharing.
• One-step @reply and retweet capabilities.
• GPS locator to find Twitter friends near you.
• Real-time trending topics list.

TweetCaster is currently the only Twitter application for BlackBerry smartphones offering the ability to toggle between multiple accounts.

One of the most popular apps for the BlackBerry Storm for our readers is Google Maps and we are pleased to find out the Google Maps app now works with the BlackBerry Tour. 

Google has made changes to their server, and BlackBerry Tour users will get the correct version of Google Maps for the BlackBerry Tour.

Google Maps for BlackBerry  looks and feels like the PC/Web version. It provides driving and transit directions. There is also phone number search for phone numbers and addresses of local businesses with dialing built-in.

Other features of Google Maps are street view and walking directions. You can see your friends' locations and status messages via Latitude the location-based friends app. Start Maps and then select "Join Lttitude." The app automatically detects your location through a service called "my location."

For commuters there is real-time traffic information.  As with everything Google it is free.

To download go to  m.google.com/maps from the BlackBerry Tour's native browser.

Many of our readers who are BlackBerry and J2ME cell phone users have enjoyed the BOLT mobile browser.  We saw a demo of the BOLT at CTIA on both the BlackBerry Storm and commonly used "free-style" basic phones.  BOLT rendered the images like a computer and because BOLT is powered by the Bitstream people who really know their fonts, the fonts appeared quickly and clearly. An added benefit is the ability to view Flash-based animated web pages such as YouTube videos.

Bitstream just released the faster Beta3 release of  BOLT and added the ability to copy and paste text from web pages, enhanced font rendering, inline entry of text into online forms and support for languages using Cyrillic alphabets.

Other new features included:

• The ability to upload files such as videos to YouTube or pictures to Photobucket.
• Managment of favorites to order favorites and arrange them into custom folders.
• Toggle between viewing websites with or without images displayed.

BOLT added a forum for users to discuss the BOLT browser. The BOLT browser features unrivaled speed -- consistently at least 25 to 50 percent faster than competitors. The WebKit based BOLT browser offers ultra-fast viewing of streaming and flash video, high standards compliance, rich media, and graphics enabling people to view websites just as they do on a PC.

BlackBerry Tour users will be looking for a better browser because reviewers have mentioned the sub-competitor browser.  We have seen through Twitter posts that that  BOLT really speeds up the BlackBerry Tour and have a call to the technical team at  BOLT to confirm compatibility.  We found through forums that BOLT is only browser that automatically shows the full PC-version of the website, while Opera Mini and the BlackBerry browser shows WAP, lower-functionality web pages. The BlackBerry Tour has a similar operation system to the BlackBerry Storm.  BlackBerry Storm users flocked to BOLT early on.  

BOLT, however, works on many phones.  If you surf the web at all your cell phone, its worth checking out BOLT.  BOLT has been installed on more than 1,000 mobile phone models from over 50 handset manufacturers.

There is now a new version of  Pandora Internet Radio for BlackBerry. The new version works on the brand new BlackBerry Tour smartphone. We previously named Pandora our "Free BlackBerry Storm App of the Day" and are adding it to our list of Favorite BlackBerry Tour Apps.

Pandora creates radio stations based on songs and artists that you like based on algorithms from the Music Genome Project. Pandora Radio streams the songs to your BlackBerry.

Users give feedback on individual songs (thumbs up and thumbs down) which Pandora takes into account for future song picked. While listening, users can buy the songs or albums. Over 400 different musical attributes are considered when choosing the next song. These 400 attributes are combined into larger groups called focus traits. There are 2,000 focus traits.

If you haven't tried Pandora, you really should. It has been very popular on the BlackBerry Storm and we expect it will as popular on the BlackBerry Tour.

Pandora can be a lot of fun because you may remember an artist you liked but not always the song or vice a versa.  Type in the song or artist and you'll usually find music you like.  One day, we created a station based on the Mama's and Papa's and were taken back to the happy hippie days of the sixties.

TeleNav's GPS Navigator is now available for the BlackBery Tour. They are offering a free 30-day trial that includes full access to the mapping navigation service.

It offers full-color 3D moving maps, voice and on-screen directions, and optional speech recognition for address entry.

TeleNav also shows traffic alerts with one-click rerouting and an on-screen ETA. With 10 million business listings, gas price listings and Wi-Fi hotspot finder, it can come in very handy when traveling. It also features a pedestrian mode so you can use it while walking around town.

My TeleNav offers online pre-planning. This is an alternative to Verizon's mapping offerings and should tide you over until more BlackBerry Tour map apps come out for the BlackBerry Tour.

After the free 30-day trial, TeleNav GPS Navigator is $9.99/month for unlimited use. Click here to find out more information or to try out TeleNav GPS Navigator for free.

Sprint has announced their 4G WiMAX plans which mirror Clearwire. They will launch in major cities this year and more markets in 2010.  New devices such as tri-mode modems are planned. Sprint owns 51% of Clearwire and acts as a reseller of Clearwire WiMAX.

They claim, Sprint 4G offers turbo-charged mobile broadband - peak downlink speeds of up to 12 Mbps in Baltimore today and average downlink speeds of 2-4 Mbps - three to five times faster than today's 3G service from any carrier.

Sprint plans to deploy Sprint 4G service in many markets in 2009, including Atlanta, Honolulu, Charlotte, Las Vegas, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, Portland, Fort Worth and Seattle.

Sprint also expects to launch service in multiple markets in 2010 including Boston, Houston, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

Frost & Sullivan has awarded Sprint the 2008 Award for Market Leadership in the Consumer LBS Market for its open approach to developing GPS applications for mobile phones.

Sprint offers a wide variety of consumer GPS applications and  recently announced that it will offer developers open access to two location aggregation platforms.

Frost & Sullivan projects that the U.S. market for wireless carriers' consumer LBS applications will reach approximately $3.3 billion in annual revenues by 2013.

Sprint LBS services include: Sprint Navigation, which provides GPS-enabled, turn-by-turn driving directions with 3D moving maps, one-click traffic rerouting and more than 10 million local listings. Sprint Family Locator, which enables a parent to use their phone or PC to find the location of a family member, which is displayed on a map along with the address, surrounding landmarks and accuracy of the information within a specified radius.

Sprint plans to reach a 90% phone collection rate for reuse/recycling compared with annual wireless device sales by 2017.

Sprint has instituted a "Zer0 e-Waste" policy with the providers who receive and process the recycled phones it collects, ensuring they are recycled safely, ethically and responsibly.

A recent Sprint survey examining consumers' mobile phone recycling habits found that nine out of 10 surveyed own at least one and as many as five old, unused mobile phones.

To encourage consumers to recycle their unused wireless devices, Sprint offers two free and easy programs: Sprint Buyback and Sprint Project Connect

• Sprint customers can participate in the Sprint Buyback program by going to www.sprint.com/recycle or going to any Sprint-owned retail stores nationwide. The wireless device recovery effort allows customers to return eligible Sprint or Nextel devices for account credits.
• Anyone can recycle with Sprint Project Connect. The program accepts all wireless phones, batteries, accessories and data cards, regardless of carrier or condition. Free postage-paid envelopes are available at any Sprint-owned retail store, and come in the box with most new phones sold by Sprint.
  

Sprint has added push-to-send location capability to the Nextel Direct Connect portfolio, and started a new advertising campaign.

With NextMail Locator, customers with select Nextel Direct Connect phones now can push-to-send their location, date, time and voice observations to a dispatcher, call center or another field worker - by pushing the Nextel Direct Connect button and leaving a message.

NextMail Locator, powered by Pacific DataVision, allows customers with compatible phones to add the GPS coordinates, physical street address and an interactive map of their current position to NextMail voice messages, which can be sent to any email address. 

Sprint recommends the BlackBerry Curve  8350i with Nextel Direct Connect and push-to-talk. The BlackBerry Curve 8350i has Wi-Fi, 2 megapixel camera and a speaker phone.

To support the ongoing reinvigoration of Nextel Direct Connect, Sprint is introducing a new ad campaign, including television, radio, print and online ads that demonstrate Sprint's leadership in push-to-talk services and devices. To view the video continue reading.

Some Sprint employees are being asked to voluntary buyout packages.  The Spring employees have l December 3 to take the option.

Happy Holidays Sprint employees.

Sprint announced an ambitious goal to reduce its total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 15 percent by 2017, along with a set of environmental priorities, as part of its expanded environmental program. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will recognize Sprint as a "GHG Reduction Goal Setter" during the 2008 Climate Leaders Conference Oct. 6-Oct. 8 in Chicago.

Srint Nextel now has an online self-service tool that allows consumer customers to analyze their wireless usageto determine if their current plan is the right "fit."

The Sprint Plan Optimizer, available at www.sprint.com/planfit, gives customers a view of their historical cost and usage trends.

After viewing a month-to-month analysis of usage and costs, customers can opt to "Analyze My Plan." If Sprint Plan Optimizer finds a better plan to fit the customer's usage pattern, a plan change is suggested. Customers may then complete any desired plan changes directly online.

HTC Touch Diamond, Review of Reviews:  Not iPhoney Enough? Beauty and the Beast

The HTC Touch Diamond is due from Sprint  and reviewers are already talking about it, commenting on the Windows Operating System calling it "out of date,' making and it a beast while others find it a beauty.

The TouchFLO 3D interface along the bottom of the screen allows for one-handed touching of the screen to move through menus. The HTC Touch Diamond is packed with lots of features. It was called "beautiful and fun to learn"  and a "slab of sculpted elegance."
 
Many more reviews were written since we first wrote this article therefore we created a new "Review of Reviews"

Sprint  said it is preparing for the potential impact of Tropical Storm Fay threatening to make landfall in the Florida Keys Monday evening and then again through southwest and central Florida Tuesday. Sprint has staged backup generators and personnel in strategic locations in Florida to manage potential service impacts.

Sprint also  installed permanent generators at more than 1,000 additional sites in hurricane-prone communities in Florida in 2007. Sprint also added more than 450 new sites throughout the state of Florida to its Nationwide Sprint Network and Nextel National network in 2007.

Customers can take proactive steps before the storm hits. Sprint offers the following consumer tips to prepare for a possible landfall:

• Keep your wireless phone and backup batteries charged, but be aware that an interruption of wireline and commercial power could affect wireless calls.

• If possible, get extra batteries and charge them.

• In times of commercial power outages, a car adapter for your wireless phone should enable you to recharge the battery.

• Keep phones and necessary accessories in a sealed plastic bag to avoid water damage.

• Load family and emergency numbers into your wireless phone.

•  Wireless networks sometimes experience heavy traffic during emergency events, so remember to use Nextel Direct Connect( or send a text message.

For more information about Sprint Nextel hurricane preparation efforts, or to learn what you can do to prepare for a major storm, visit: www.sprint.com/hurricaneinformation.