Software | CHRIS CREDENDINO

Qik Beta for BlackBerry Tour Tested

April 6, 2010May 4, 2010 Chris 12,710 Comments

Last week I wrote an article about Qik rolling out a beta app for BlackBerry users running OS 5.0. Well, last night I received an email from Qik Product Marketing Manager, Jiuyu Zhou, with instructions for downloading the Qik beta app as well as a request to test the BlackBerry Tour’s network. After waiting nearly 8 months I was psyched to finally get my hands on the app and start messing around with it. However, I decided to take a couple minutes first to test the Tour’s network since the results will help the Qik mobile development team find a fix to the streaming live video issue on CDMA devices.

Nonetheless, once the network test was complete I went ahead and downloaded Qik beta version 0.1.17.2 OTA. The installation was smooth and there was no need to reboot the OS to get started, therefore I launched the app, entered my login credentials, and connected successfully to Qik. I’ve been playing with the app for a while and with the exception of streaming live video, everything is working fine and the video upload feature is flawless. As I mentioned in my previous article, streaming live video was a known issue for CDMA devices so I did not expect this feature to be available in this beta version. However, BlackBerry users running OS 5.0 on a GSM device have the ability to stream live video from their BlackBerry to their Qik page as well as the ability to upload recorded videos that already exist on their device.

TweetDeck Develops an App for BlackBerry

April 2, 2010May 4, 2010 Chris 12,613 Comments

I’ve been using TweetDeck as my desktop client for quite a while now, and in my opinion, it is by far the best social media client on the market. The ability to manage multiple social media accounts such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and more all within one desktop client makes the social media experience a dream.

Although I’m not an iPhone user, I had the luxury of playing around with TweetDeck for iPhone and I believe it trumps any other social media app available for iPhone. Unfortunately, BlackBerry users have not had the luxury of enjoying the TweetDeck experience, but hopefully that will change shortly.

Another Inside Look at Twitter for BlackBerry – Beta v1.0.0.37

April 1, 2010May 4, 2010 Chris 717 Comments

A couple months ago I took you inside the first Twitter for BlackBerry® beta app and shared my likes and dislikes. While I was impressed with the app’s GUI, color scheme, and features, I was disappointed with the basic features it lacked and its sluggish performance. Nonetheless, today I got my hands on the new Twitter for BlackBerry® beta v1.0.0.37 and all I can say is “amazing” – simply amazing. This new version of Twitter for BlackBerry® is a pleasure to use now that RIM added several features, made improvements to existing features, and now uses data cache to speed up performance.

The features in this new version of Twitter for BlackBerry® include:

Qik Beta Now Available for BlackBerry Tour

March 31, 2010May 4, 2010 Chris 754 Comments

If you are not familiar with the sequence of events that led up to the development of the Qik beta app for the BlackBerry Tour, continue reading so you have a better understanding how we got to this point.

Last year when I joined the video-sharing site, Qik, I was excited to download their app to my new BlackBerry Tour so I could start streaming live video and upload previously recorded videos. However, after visiting their smartphone support page, I noticed that the Tour was not supported. At that time the Tour was on the market for only a few days so I understood that there might be a short waiting period before I got my hands on the Qik app. Since there was already support for approximately 125 smartphones, the BlackBerry Curve, Pearl, and Bold being among those supported, I figured it was only a matter of time before Qik developed an app for the Tour.