Apps for BlackBerry Storm 2

Recently my office shifted cell providers and so I got a chance to pick a new blackberry. I choose to go with the new blackberry Storm 2. Most people used to a BB have a problem shifting from the old keyboard based interface to a touch interface. I too had some teething problems, but having used a WinMo (Anyone remember the HTC Wizard or 8125 as it was known in the US) for a number of years before I got my first BB did help.

I find the device quite responsive and the clickable screen does help to get the feedback when typing feel. But I do think if you are someone who spends a lot of your time writing emails on the phone, you will be more comfortable with the keyboard based device than this one.

Anyway, coming to the crux of this post, the first thing I usually do when I get a new device is to play around with the themes and new apps.

So I installed the Blackberry App store and started browsing around. I found a number of interesting apps. (Do note, that since the Storm 2 is so new, a number of apps are not yet compatible with it yet)

Here is a list of apps I currently use:

 

1. DriveSafe.ly – I would say this is one of the must have apps. They have a free version and an paid version, so you can start using this without spending a dime. When you enable it, it would read out incoming emails and SMS so that you don't have to check your phone every time to see if you got a new email, when driving. If you are a long standing BB user, you know about the urge to check for mails :). Do note, this will always use the phone’s speaker (even if you have a headset) to read out the mail and so if you are travelling with others, be careful before you enable it. (Actually this is available for multiple mobile OSes/phones)

2.BeBuzz – This app allows you to change the color of the LED based on different events. They too have a free and pro version. So you can set the color to be green if there is a new email and a red when you are getting a call etc. The pro version allows you to set up more events.

3. WeatherBug – The free weather app that allows you to see the current temprature and weather information. The other nice thing about this app is that it allows you to have an icon in the home screen and so you can read off the current temperature without having to launch the app.

One of the other apps I want to have is called QuickPull. But it is currently not available for the Storm2 (or rather for OS 5, which is what the Storm runs) without a number of hacks. Looks like a newer version is in the works.

Expect to see more apps surface as I dig around more. Do leave comments on your favorite BlackBerry apps (preferably free ones :))

Comments

[amit]

hey from where can i get storm 2 in india..?

[Anand Mukundan]

I am not sure if it is officially launched in India yet. Also since it is basically not a GSM device in the US (though it does support GSM for worldwide roaming), I suspect you may not be able to get any unlocked device in the street...