BerryReader vs. Feeds

I would guess that if you polled Blackberry users and asked them what kind of app they would most like to see on their beloved phones, a fully synced Google Reader application would be in the top 10. If you're a news/tech/sports junkie like me, you use Google Reader to aggregate your news and your Blackberry is permanently attached to your right hand, you need an app like this on your phone.

Of course, you only need a single Google Reader app and I'll help you choose between two that claim to be everything that you need.

BerryReader

BerryReader (BR) is developed by Bellshare and is currently in stable version 1.0.63 for OS 5.0. It is available for numerous devices and OSes and currently costs $9.95 from Mobihand, though it was on sale on 9/10/10 for $4.99 from App World - so deals can be found. Unlike many developers, Bellshare offers a 7 day free trial as well.

Feeds

 
Feeds (Feeds) is developed by CDJ Studios and is available for $2.99 on Blackberry App World. The current version is 1.01.

Pinball Deluxe

Let's face it. You didn't buy a Blackberry because it was the best phone for gaming on the market. If playing games on your phone was that important to you, you wouldn't have purchased a Blackberry at all. With all the things that Blackberry does very well, gaming is really not one of them - that is, unless you are talking about Pinball Deluxe by Mobigloo, LLC.

When all of your BBMing, Facebooking and Twittering are done and you still have a few spare minutes on your hand, what better way to kill some time than firing up a game on your beloved Blackberry. And, if you had to choose only one game, make it this one.

Pinball Deluxe by Mobigloo, LLC

Pinball Deluxe is developed by Mobigloo, LLC and is currently in version 1.0.0 for the 9700. It is available for many different devices and OSes and is currently for sale for $4.99 on Mobihand.

QuickLaunch vs. ShortcutMe

No "versus" posts are more present on the Crackberry Forums than those of the QuickLaunch vs. ShortcutMe variety. These receive the most action, have the most heated debates and even elicit the most response from the developers. Even though they are at times enjoyable to follow, the "this program is better than that one/this one stole from that one" threads are not ultimately helpful to the consumer.

This review aims to take this long standing "versus" debate and actually make it helpful when deciding which program is right for you.

Introduction
What do these programs do, you may ask? They attempt to make your Blackberry more efficient and easier to use by providing a method to access your applications, emails, websites and more via an easy to use shortcut interface.

If you are using a standard Blackberry theme, you probably have 6 icons on your home screen that are easy to access. However, you likely have more than 6 applications loaded on your phone. What do you do if you want to launch one of these other apps? You hit the menu key to go to your app screen, scroll and find the app you want to launch and you may even need to navigate through a folder to find that app.

Now, instead of doing that you can quickly hit the Space bar, then T and you've launched UberTwitter. Hit the right convenience key twice and you're in the camera app. Tap Space E and you're on ESPN.com. Create numerous shortcuts and customize to your heart's content.


QuickLaunch

QuickLaunch (QL) is developed by NikkiSoft and as of this writing is in version 3.3 and is available for $4.99 from Mobihand. QuickLaunch supports a wide variety of devices an OSes - you can find the full list on the Mobihand link.






ShortcutMe

ShortcutMe (SCM) is developed by Fonware, LTD. and is currently in version 4.4.1.0 and is available for $4.99 from Mobihand. ShortcutMe supports a wide variety of devices an OSes - you can find the full list on the Mobihand link.