Upgrade Your Facebook Blackberry Software With Chit Chat for Facebook

Recently, Daniel Offer, Managing Director of Athena IT Limited wrote to us inviting us to write about their latest incarnation of Chit Chat for Facebook - a port of their popular Windows application to the Blackberry.  You've probably heard of their Facebook chat desktop application for Windows, and this Facebook Blackberry IM app according to the company is intended to be the "bigger and better brother app" for Blackberry Smartphones.

Intrigued, I paid out my .99 and purchased a copy of Chit Chat for Facebook for my cherished Blackberry Bold 9780. I was  eager to see if the Facebook Blackberry chat app matches the hype  - and well, the picture perfect official Chit Chat for Facebook Blackberry website.

Once purchased, Chit Chat was awaiting me in my "downloads" folder on my Blackberry - the icon will be familiar to users of the desktop Windows application and is basically two pacman like C's standing for Chit Chat. After going through the normal software rigmarole of choosing my desired language and accepting an End User License Agreement I was asked to provide my login details.

At this point I was instructed to enter my Facebook Username and password,  put simply - I didn't need to sign up for any additional services in order to do this like other applications I've used in the past. Although, if you don't already have a Facebook username, you'll need to create one.  That said, the instructions provided on how to create a Facebook username are fairly straight forward.  Although, you'll need access to a computer to be able to perform this step.

Once logged in I was presented with a list of my Facebook friends that were online and available to chat over Facebook chat. As an aside, there seem to be some people whom are always available on Facebook chat, at least on my buddy list. Back on to topic, the list is attractively presented on a green gradient with three tabs above it - three lists, buddy list, conversion list and unread chat messages. The touch pad enabled me to move up and down the contacts list, and left and right between tabs. Using Chit Chat feels very instinctive and effortless.

The menu button on your Blackberry allows you to select from a range of options, most of the options on this list you can more easily perform with keys on your blackberry,  with one exception,  preferences. The preference menu is only available via the menu button on your Blackberry.

Preferences is split into three sections - Conversation, Messages and Advanced. Dealing with the latter first, advanced preferences allows you to reset your settings as well as change your network configuration. More usefully, conversation and message preferences is home to a variety of functionality that enables you to customize the look and feel of this Blackberry Facebook chat software. 

'Message preferences' includes the ability to change the wall paper, add the time to messages, sort the buddy list and change the text size. Functionality that you'd normally expect from a Windows application, but not necessarily from a Blackberry app. Some brownie points for Chit Chat here.

My favorite features of this app are the ability to filter your friends on the buddy list and the  excellent message received alerts (it flashes the light on the Blackberry, vibrates and plays a jingle - although these can be turned off in preferences.

During my test I was able to stay logged into Facebook chat passively for several hours and then start using it actively without any issue arising. The Blackberry Facebook chat application feels solid and robust. One thing I felt was missing was the lack of the Facebook smiley's and them replaced with Chit Chat's own smiley graphics although that's probably a copyright thing more than anything else - there are substitutes for each of the Facebook emoticons .

In summary, Chit Chat for Facebook has moved from Windows to Blackberry in an elegant fashion.  Chit Chat for Facebook (Blackberry) is a best in class instant messaging app for the Blackberry and is recommended if you wish to use Facebook chat on your Blackberry Smartphone. It's available from Mobihand for .99 at the time of writing.

10 Reasons Why BlackBerry PlayBook is a Winner

Gadget Mobile Technology: 10 Reasons Why BlackBerry PlayBook is a Winner - The reviews of the new BlackBerry PlayBook are in and they are terrible. David Pogue in the New York Times dismissed it with, “It must be skating season in hell.” In the Wall Street Journal, Walt Mossberg was a tiny bit more charitable but he, too, ultimately shrugged it off as a non-event. Laptop Magazine just sneered at it: “Somewhere along the way, BlackBerry lost its cool.”

Here are 10 reasons to put PlayBook on the review list:

1. “PlayBook is targeted at mobile professionals,” said John Jackson, an analyst with CCS Insight. And that is key. It is not designed as a consumer product like iPad is. RIM instead created its tablet to serve the business user.

2. PlayBook, with a 7” screen, is ultra-portable and it's also zippy with a 1GHz dual core processor and 1GB of RAM. For employees who have been demanding a tablet because it is the latest new thing, PlayBook should scratch that itch.

3. You probably already support PlayBook because it piggybacks on BlackBerry’s enterprise products. CIO’s “already have the infrastructure to handle the devices. Most of our enterprise customers have had RIM devices and Blackberry Enterprise Server for a long time. There is a lot of work that goes into getting the same level of command and control for other platforms,” said Charles Edge, director of Technology at IT consulting firm 318. Getting PlayBook up and running in many enterprises will not be much more complicated than charging the battery.

4. Secure email and calendar -- as delivered via PlayBook -- are big enterprise advantages. Right now, accessing native email and calendar on PlayBook involves “bridging” it to a BlackBerry; essentially putting the mobile device’s mail and calendar on the PlayBook via BlueTooth. That has prompted some reviewers to pan the tablet as a glorified BlackBerry accessory. The upside? Those tools on the mobile phone are secure and so they will be on PlayBook.

5. PlayBook already runs Flash. This means that whole segment of the Web that is unavailable to iPad users is easily accessed by PlayBook. Overall the PlayBook Web browsing experience is hands down faster and better than going online with pokey Safari on an iPad.

6. The PlayBook touch screen provides the best multi-tasking tools of any tablet. iPad still struggles with multi-tasking, but PlayBook, using RIM’s proprietary QNX operating system, offers easy multi-tasking -- just what mobile professionals need.

7. Secure access to Android apps. RIM stared the comparative lack of BlackBerry apps in the face (there are around 3000 compared to hundreds of thousands that run on iPad) and it’s come up with a clever solution. PlayBook will run at least some Android apps (there are over 100,00) but to get on PlayBook they have to be downloaded via the BlackBerry App World, where they have been vetted by RIM staff in a system closer to Apple’s Apps store than the wild west of the Android Marketplace.

8. Plug in an HDMI cable and the PlayBook can be used to deliver PowerPoint shows to a projector. iPad cannot do this.

9. No cellular connection, which, if you think about it, is a kind of plus because it produces cost savings. Right now, PlayBook is Wi-Fi only; no cellular carrier support except it has a built-in tethering tool that lets it power up using a BlackBerry phone’s 3G network for no added cost.

10. Cost: 9 buys the 16GB model. The 32GB model is 9. The 64 GB is 9. Those price points exactly match iPad 2’s.

A last reality: numbers matter. There’s no counting BlackBerry out, despite the faltering launch of PlayBook, because, at day’s end, it still has a huge installed base: BlackBerry remains the phone of choice in many enterprises.

Source

Upgrade Your Facebook Blackberry Software With Chit Chat for Facebook

Recently, Daniel Offer, Managing Director of Athena IT Limited wrote to us inviting us to write about their latest incarnation of Chit Chat for Facebook - a port of their popular Windows application to the Blackberry.  You've probably heard of their Facebook chat desktop application for Windows, and this Facebook Blackberry IM app according to the company is intended to be the "bigger and better brother app" for Blackberry Smartphones.

Intrigued, I paid out my .99 and purchased a copy of Chit Chat for Facebook for my cherished Blackberry Bold 9780. I was  eager to see if the Facebook Blackberry chat app matches the hype  - and well, the picture perfect official Chit Chat for Facebook Blackberry website.

Once purchased, Chit Chat was awaiting me in my "downloads" folder on my Blackberry - the icon will be familiar to users of the desktop Windows application and is basically two pacman like C's standing for Chit Chat. After going through the normal software rigmarole of choosing my desired language and accepting an End User License Agreement I was asked to provide my login details.

At this point I was instructed to enter my Facebook Username and password,  put simply - I didn't need to sign up for any additional services in order to do this like other applications I've used in the past. Although, if you don't already have a Facebook username, you'll need to create one.  That said, the instructions provided on how to create a Facebook username are fairly straight forward.  Although, you'll need access to a computer to be able to perform this step.

Once logged in I was presented with a list of my Facebook friends that were online and available to chat over Facebook chat. As an aside, there seem to be some people whom are always available on Facebook chat, at least on my buddy list. Back on to topic, the list is attractively presented on a green gradient with three tabs above it - three lists, buddy list, conversion list and unread chat messages. The touch pad enabled me to move up and down the contacts list, and left and right between tabs. Using Chit Chat feels very instinctive and effortless.

The menu button on your Blackberry allows you to select from a range of options, most of the options on this list you can more easily perform with keys on your blackberry,  with one exception,  preferences. The preference menu is only available via the menu button on your Blackberry.

Preferences is split into three sections - Conversation, Messages and Advanced. Dealing with the latter first, advanced preferences allows you to reset your settings as well as change your network configuration. More usefully, conversation and message preferences is home to a variety of functionality that enables you to customize the look and feel of this Blackberry Facebook chat software. 

'Message preferences' includes the ability to change the wall paper, add the time to messages, sort the buddy list and change the text size. Functionality that you'd normally expect from a Windows application, but not necessarily from a Blackberry app. Some brownie points for Chit Chat here.

My favorite features of this app are the ability to filter your friends on the buddy list and the  excellent message received alerts (it flashes the light on the Blackberry, vibrates and plays a jingle - although these can be turned off in preferences.

During my test I was able to stay logged into Facebook chat passively for several hours and then start using it actively without any issue arising. The Blackberry Facebook chat application feels solid and robust. One thing I felt was missing was the lack of the Facebook smiley's and them replaced with Chit Chat's own smiley graphics although that's probably a copyright thing more than anything else - there are substitutes for each of the Facebook emoticons .

In summary, Chit Chat for Facebook has moved from Windows to Blackberry in an elegant fashion.  Chit Chat for Facebook (Blackberry) is a best in class instant messaging app for the Blackberry and is recommended if you wish to use Facebook chat on your Blackberry Smartphone. It's available from Mobihand for .99 at the time of writing.