I have been reading through the specs for the BlackBerry 8800, and to make a long story short, you will be able to read email on it pretty much like you could on a BlackBerry 8700. There is no question that it will be lighter, brighter, faster, and smarter. Unfortunately, however, there really aren’t any new applications that will take advantage of the additional horsepower.
This is why the following three free BlackBerry applications need to be developed.
The first is Windows Media Player for BlackBerry. You may be asking yourself why in the world would Research in Motion, a competitor to Microsoft, build a crappy Windows Media Player for the BlackBerry. Well, because there is a crap load of content out their that the BlackBerry Pearl, 8800, and any other new BlackBerry coming out has more than enough horse power to play but cannot because a player doesn’t exist.
The second is a QuickTime Player for BlackBerry. The reasons are exactly the same as for a Windows Media Player for BlackBerry.
The third is a Flash Player, or ShockWave Player, or whatever the heck you need to view YouTube videos on your BlackBerry. Truth be told, if someone created a Flash Player for BlackBerry, I could live without the other two.
I am just tired of not having anything better to say than “Nothing does email better than a BlackBerry” every time someone with a Windows Mobile device shows me exactly why they will never switch as they watch a YouTube video or a video podcast right in front of my face.
It’s depressing….
There just came out a program that allows you to view your YouTube videos on your BlackBerry:
Watch YouTube Videos on your BlackBerry
The problem with this program is that you must first convert the video on your PC then upload it to your BlackBerry.
If you have to go through all that, why not just watch the video on your laptop?
There are some reasons. First of all, you need an Internet access on your BlackBerry. OK, most of the BlackBerry users have Internet access but not all. If you have Internet access you must have network coverage all the time to get access to the YouTube site. The most important thing: Such a streaming client will cost you money. You must have a really expensive data plan for your BlackBerry to be able to view some video streamed in realtime. And don’t forget the bandwidth …
Those are just some reasons why I would prefer to prepare the videos on the desktop.
OK, it is more convenient to watch them directly from the YouTube site as you can just click a link. But as mentioned before in some circumstances it is not really convenient and some kind of expensive 😉
I agree with your comments. The biggest problem with Blackberries is a lack of software. If BB does not do something about it, MS will clean their clock. It is amazing the problems getting software and data to and from a BB. With MS, you just copy the files as you would copying files to and from a USB drive. I admit this is a problem for carriers since a key selling point for BB is that customers are forced to purchase expensive data plans with a BB to transfer files. However, eventually this strategy backfires. Customers figure out that they are being subject to extortion just to copy a file to and from their phone.
Why build a more powerful phone if it lacks the features of equivalent phones? I don’t see what would be so hard about making better use of streaming technology to allow video/audio play straight off of the internet?
I love my pearl, but it would be nice not to have to load all the media via my comp.
P.S. the reasons ‘k’ preferred were horrible. I hope RIM hasn’t thought along those lines for why they haven’t included the above ideas.
Chance, please don’t get me wrong. Of course I would like to get those features working on the Pearl as well as on Windows Mobile devices for example. 😉
Here’s a simple one. How about a simple front end to the phone app that shows you a cross reference chart that shows you number to phone keypad. So you know that 2 is abc, 3 is def, etc… and if it lit when you press the key, now that would be very cool!!!
Bob, what would you use that for?
Robb, when you call and an auto attendant answers, you need to use the DTMF tones to type in a word. For example if you call my company, and don’t know my extension, you could spell by last (or first) name. This is impossible on a BB. I usually wind up trying to remember the combo that is on a normal keypad. Very diffcult. It would be sooo much easier if the chart was on the screen. If I could click wheel on the number pad that would be the best!
Bob
Bob,
All you have to do is hold the shift button and press the appropriate letter. Doing so will play that appropriate tone as if you were hitting a number key on a DTMF keypad.
For example. Lets say that you need to enter in the letter L. On a DTMF alphanumeric keypad you would hit the number 5, which is the tone for J, K, and L. All you would have to do on your BlackBerry is hold the shift key and press the letter L. The tone for the DTMF number 5 would sound.
Sorry I haven’t added to this for sometime. Robb, I know you can get the DTMF tones, but here the example.
Yesterday, I needed to call 1800-Mattres, Now how do you dial this on a BB? I did it by getting a cell phone, and making the call. There is no way to figure out the alpha to number sequence from the BB.
Unless you have the alpha to number sequence burned in your head, the BB is impossible to use for any vanity number. On top of that once you get to an company’s auto attendnat, you are stopped cold.
Thanks
Bob
Bob, you don’t have to figure it out. Just dial:
1-8-0-0-shift-M-shift-A-shift-T-shift-T-shift-R-shift-E-shift-S
Maybe it is just me, but I don’t see how some third party application would make it any easier. I actually find it simpler to do this on a BlackBerry than on a standard phone.
This is a problem. I’ve spent the last 10 minutes trying to get AVAYA in the phone. this isn’t rocket science but the pearl makes it so. The tricky part is when you don’t need the first letter in the sequence but the second. So C is easy in the method described but it took me 2 minutes to hit the right combination for the V… I’m just going to go search for the number explained somewhere…
A application could EASILY solve this.
Hi,
For me, using DTMF on BB Peal is a major problem. I normally dial numbers which require further entry of pins or additional numbers after first call had been connected.
The additional numbers and Pins are stored in my contacts list, hence I need an option to browse to my contact list to input any desired number as DTMF.
This is quite easily done on most Nokia’s, but It is not apparent how it can be done on BB.
Am lacking knowledge ? or is this action impossible on a BB. Please help.
If you have a blackberry with internet access, you can get to Youtube and view videos on your mobile vist (m.youtubes.com) on your mobile
Thank you,
I agree with K and all teh others.. If the Blackberry just supported video files like AVI instead of just plain old .3gp, it’d be a helluva lot less of a headache. Someone oughta come up with a WMP for Blackberry’s (old BBs).
Hi everyone! I’ve been trying to view a couple of shows (from mtv.com) on my BBCurve but it won’t open for some reason. Can anyone help me out? I have a feeling it has something to do with needing to have flash media … (Sorry I’m not too familiar with those)! Has anyone found a link for free download of media player or flash or whatever application one needs to watch shows on mtv.com?
I can watch Youtube videos on my blackberry,naver had a problem like that. My data plan is unlimited and is not expensive…..
Mariel
Now that’s not very helpfull.and if ur Blackberry loads videos that swiftly why the hell r u reading this article.
I have a storm that doesn’t play videos I did everything but no luck yet
What we really need is a BitTorrent client for BlackBerry
I need a media player help me. iI can’t download