Handy Blackberry Apps

I’ve been meaning for a while to share some Blackberry Apps I’ve found useful. I’d also like to hear about any you find useful also!

Google Voice (http://www.google.com/mobile) – Lets you call people with your Google number set as the number they see. The nicest feature though is FREE SMS messaging!

Google Sync (http://www.google.com/mobile) – Lets you sync your Google calendar and contacts with Outlook.

Google Maps and Search (http://www.google.com/mobile) – Allows you to search based on your GPS location, and obviously, Maps helps you get where you want to go, though it is still occasionally inaccurate.

EveryTrail (http://www.everytrail.com/bbapps) – Tracks your location while you drive, run, bike, ride a horse, whatever. It will record your entire trip, including altitude changes, average speed, total distance covered, etc... You can also upload the trip to the EveryTrail website, Facebook and other social media sites from your phone, and can replay the trip later on the website.

DriveSafely (http://www.drivesafe.ly/download/) – Text-to-speech for emails and SMS. Just remember to turn it off after you get out of the car, or it may start loudly reciting the email your wife just sent you while you are in the middle of a meeting.

Pandora (http://www.pandora.com/blackberry) – Is awesome. If you don’t know what Pandora is, you don’t need this app.

WorldMate Live (http://www.worldmate.com/blackberry/) – The app is a bit of a beast, but it is very handy if you travel a lot. You just forward your itinerary email (most websites, like Orbitz, and travel agents will email you an itinerary) to trips@worldmate.com, and voila, you have all your hotel and airline ticket/confirmation numbers on your phone. It will also remind you when trips/flights are approaching. You can manually add items and book flights/hotels with it also. Oh, it will also tell you what the weather is at your destination. Did I mention the app is a beast? And there are more features in the paid version!

Urbanspoon (http://www.urbanspoon.com/blackberry) – A kind of restaurant slot machine. Tell it what kind of food you want, or how much you want to spend, and it will find you a restaurant based on your current GPS location.

UberTwitter (http://www.ubertwitter.com/bb/download.php) – This is my favorite Twitter app for Blackberry (so far, there are some other good ones in the works).

FourSquare (http://foursquare.com/blackberry/beta) – I’ve fallen out of the habit of using it, because I’m usually too busy when I’m travelling to mess with it, but it could certainly be fun at tech/security events. Some places will give you discounts for being “the mayor” as well.