Nazara Blackberry Cricket App: Live Scores, Updates and World Cup 2011 schedule

Nazara has a launched a app for cricket fans on the Blackberry Appworld. It provides live score, lists all upcoming cricket events and great for the upcoming World CUP 2011.

Its called the Cricket Club. And its free. Download it from here.

http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/23743?lang=en

Mobile Review Search Box Version 1.0

My custom search box for searching Cellphone (and other gadget) reviews is now online. I have included a list of websites that you can search on. The list is long (20+) so you will definitely find what you are looking for.

The search box is located on the home page just below the logo

Just use the word "Review" in your search to make get more accurate search results. The search is universal and not restricted to Mobiles. You can search for Laptops and computer peripherals reviews as well though the list of website will increase on that.

Of course this tool can also be used to search for news on any topic that you may have missed. Here's the list of websites that I have collected for version 1.amazon.com newegg.com anythingbutipod.com pcmag.com vicky.in amitbhawani.com pcworld.in/product/review/ laptopmag.com/ Thinkdigit.com pcworld.com notebookreview.com/ mobileburn.com phonearena.com/ mobile-review.com/review techreviews.in reviews.com techtree.com fonearena.com gsmarena.com mouthshut.com

Version 2 will include photographic reviews for DSLR and point-and-shoot cameras and a wider range of computer review websites.

Beerby: Find Beers Near You

A tool to find tap beer that links with either the Foursquare application or the GPS on your device. Tells you places where you can find your choice of beer and by integrating with your foursquare you can find new beer joints courtesy your friends.

Click here to read the full story

Facebook Chat on #Blackberry?

It might sound simple but it isn't. Palringo 2.0 does provide a facebook chat option but it never works. You will try to login and it will say "invalid username or password". It might login a few times but it will stop suddenly. (In a hurry?? go to the end of the post)

I was facing the same problem for a long time and I had almost given up. But then I wanted to have facebook chat on my desktop. So I googled it and found that facebook help center has a solution for that. It seems that facebook uses XMPP or jabber protocol for chat (I didnt know what it was before this).It said that I can use Pidgin as a windows client for chatting so I downloaded pidgin (which was a bit painful., but thats another story). Facebook gave me the settings for it which work fine (and which are generic to all jabber chat clients).

Today for some reason I changed my gtalk password, and unfortunately (or fortunately in this case) I had to delete my gtalk id from palringo because it wont let me simply change the password. So I added it again. While adding it I noticed that it had the same settings that I had used in Pidgin, which made sense because even gtalk uses XMPP. Then I thot "Hmmmm" and tried to add an XMPP/ jabber account on palringo with the facebook settings and it worked. Its not even been a day so I have no way of know that it will last, but so far its working.

So here are the steps
1. Open palringo on your phone.
2. Go down the list and add a XMPP/Jabber Account
3. Put the setttings given for pidgin on this page even the resource.
4. save

I'll keep updating if I face problems. Let me know if it doesn't work.
EDIT: I'm using Palringo on Blackberry curve 8520

Blackberry without Blackberry Service

Many people today buy Blackberry phones without really knowing the limitations of not having Blackberry service. Its only after they have bought the phone do they realise that functionality goes down a lot without a Blackberry service.

I started using my Blackberry with a Mail-lite plan (unlimited Free IM and Email) but I missed the browsing function and also couldn't do any social networking without a Wi-fi connection. So I decided I'm going to find an alternative to the BB service and work-arounds for most limitations
So if you have a blackberry but don't want to use the Blackberry service read on.
(This applies only to India, I don't know about operator policies in other countries but I'm sure it can be done)

1. Go get Tata Docomo connection (or any other service provider who gives GRPS APN access to applications)

2. Go to options - advanced options - TCP/IP connections - and put the APN settings of the service provider.

3.  For email, your inbuilt email will not work without a Blackberry Service, so you can use GMail mobile app to access your GMail account. You can also set up GMail to pull in mail from other inboxes so you get all your mail from one app.One tip - Gmail mobile many times doesn't show links in emails, the work around is using a browser (Opera Mini, Bolt) and Basic html format of Gmail

4. Use Opera Mini for Blackberry. Although you don't need this application, because the default browser will work with you Tata Docomo connection, opera mini is faster and lighter in terms of data. Its not totally bug free (mine refuses to respond to the track pad sometimes), but it allows you to do pretty much everything that you would do on a normal browser except watch You Tube videos.

5. Palringo - for IM.  Again not a a bug free app, its a lot lighter than the Nimbuzz software and I have used it to log into Gtalk, Yahoo, Hotmail, Facebook chat. Nimbuzz just ate all my battery, and was buggy too.

6. Most RIM applications will not work without a full Blackberry service, like the Facebook app, Twitter app and even Google Maps. I don't know about Blackberry Maps though. So I use a great app for Facebook called Snaptu, its light and sweet and can be used for Twitter. But I prefer to use Ubertwitter for tweeting. Its a lot more powerful and fun. I also use Foursquare, a location based app, that sort of rewards you for visiting places. It also lets you know where your friends have been recently so you are not left out.

If you are planning to buy a Blackberry and don't want to use the service, I'd suggest you go for another brand - there are many options (I like Nokia E and C series and Samsung Androids). But if you already have the Blackberry phone, this post should help you do everything you wanted. The only thing that you won't able to use is the Blackberry Messenger, which is a motivation for some to go for a blackberry in the first place. But I think its a small price to pay for Freedom.