Blackberry Playbook is the latest edition in the world of Blackberry phone devices and it is the first tablet launched by RIM. The Playbook is specifically designed and developed to cater the business needs of Blackberry Smartphone users. Having a light weight of just 425g and 1 GHz of dual core processor, the Blackberry Playbook is featured with a 3-mega pixel front camera and 5-mega pixel rear camera that provides a high definition to your video calls.

Moreover, its 16 GB memory, web browser flash support and 8 hours battery life makes this new Playbook a stunning addition to the business arsenal of most of the businessmen worldwide.

With the development of this advanced Blackberry Playbook, several business apps have also been developed to by Blackberry portal. However, there is not a vast selection of Playbook business applications but herewith I have documented to you the best 10 Blackberry Playbook business apps that will prove to be essential for your business kit.

1. Documents To Go Premium

This app is wonderful if you want to work with your business files and data in the format of MS Office. With this Documents To Go Premium app, you can read or make or edit your all files of MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint and can also see PDF. It also has the feature of bi-directional desktop synchronization that enables you to update the new version of any document automatically.

2. Adobe Connect Mobile

As mentioned earlier that Playbook has 3-mp front facing camera and 5 mp rear camera but it is the Adobe Connect Mobile app that enables you to work with both of the cameras while using video conferencing. This app is available with 24*7 support via monthly subscription and is the best method to deal with your colleagues and clients with blackberry.

3. iSpeech Translator

If you are in a business that requires you to deal with International clients and you are not very fluent in speaking many of foreign languages; iSpeech Translator is the right app to grow your business. This free application features speech recognition and also translates text to various supported foreign languages. Isn’t it wonderful!

4. Business Card Reader

It is a wonderful application to organize all your business contacts in your Playbook. You just have to take a photo of the required card and its ABBYYS text technology will automatically read it and set up the new contact in your Smartphone with correct phone numbers and email addresses.

5. Currency Exchange Rates

While dealing business with foreign clients, it is quite essential that you understand all the foreign currencies accurately and put the figures correctly. So here is the free Playbook app that converts 70 different kinds of currencies across the world and helps you stay update with the world’s business market.

6. Poynt

This app is highly beneficial to you if you are in an unknown city. Point gives you a route map of everything you want to look for and thus saves you time and energy.

7. IdeaPad

This app is for those people who want to note down their ideas during meetings. With the help of its in-built templates, IdeaPad will help you take written notes or make diagrams and to draw mobile user interface concepts.

8. Fortune Magazine

This is a quite useful app for business people that is laced with latest business news and updates such as love market news, stock quotes and other useful data. Thus it helps you to get important information about specific companies across the world while you are on the go.

9. Easy Agenda

This app is really useful for business persons as it keeps a full track of all your meetings or conferences with exact date and time and thus you can check all your scheduled programs with a glance.

10. Time Traveler

If your business required you to travel around different parts of the world, then the different time zones of different places is a thing that can certainly put you in trouble. But Time Traveler is an useful app that will always keep you on time according to the time zone ball.

 

Review

The folks at Hyperbees were kind enough to send me their new Android title, JellyBalls.  It’s a take on the popular colour-matching genre, with some added extras to make it stand out from the rest.  I’d guess you’re all familiar with this type of game so instead of going on about what you’re supposed to do, I’ll highlight how it differs from its competition:

• Design – sometimes I’ve found Android games have excellent gameplay, but they look horrendous or sometimes the in-game grahpics are well done but the menu system is a mess.  JellyBeans has it just right, they’ve thought through all the design aspects and made a game where the design is consistent (though nothing spectacular I’ll admit) from start to finish.  The animations are great, and the balls actually bounce when on the screen like jelly beans.
• Gameplay – there’s plenty of game modes to choose from.  I prefer the “Get them all” mode which has an element of puzzle/logic built in, it makes me think and often plan out the moves in advance to make sure I achieve the desired goal.  For normal mode I’ve never really understood if there is a trick to it, and instead tend to click at random and hope for a fluke.  The gameplay is smooth, the levels get gradually more difficult and I’ve found myself playing this game throughout the week during my commute even if it’s only for a 4 minute local train.
• Social Features – it’s becoming the norm for games to include some form of socialising method within the game.  JellyBeans uses ScoreLoop to allow you to submit your scores to the leaderboards and view your score ranked against others (including global, country, friends and scores submitted in the last 24 hours)
• Pricing – at 99cents (60-70p?) is a fair price for the game.  It seems to be a standard price for Android apps/games and this is the kind of game that’ll keep you occupied during those little moments of time that just aren’t long enough to get anything useful done in

The Bad

• no save games – the main thing lacking from JellyBeans is the ability to continue a game after you quit.  Ideally I’d want to start a game, stop for whatever reason and then carry one where I left off.  From the level of updates to other games HyperBees have published I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s one released for this game enabling game saves in the near future.

The Verdict

4.5/5

It’s a top game and probably the only one of it’s genre that I’d even consider playing thanks to it’s puzzle game mode.  It’s professionally designed, developed and published at an affordable price.  It’s an addictive little gem which has already proven to be very useful for a bit of a time waste.

Market Description:
JellyBalls is an eye-pleasing casual game where you pop same colour balls.
Enjoy multiple game modes and hours of gameplay. Compete with friends through global leaderboard. Includes 5 arcade and logical modes.
The classic favourite takes on a whole new dimension.
Screenshots (click to enlarge)

It’s not very often I post about individual apps or games, but this is a rare occurance on account of one of my favourite iOS games finally being released for Android.  It’s called Fruit Ninja it’s just massive a frenzy of fruit slicing action.  There’s no demo on the Market. but it’s worth trying at only $0.99 (60-70p?) – don’t hold it against me if you don’t like it!

Download (click the code if you’re reading on your phone)

 

Video

Screenshots

 

This is the first of a new series I’ll be writing which aims to introduce apps to MyHTCDesire readers. The apps will vary including new apps, useful apps and other apps that I feel deserve a mention. If you do discover any apps that you want me to include in the next article just get in touch using the contact details on the right!

If you’re using ChromeToPhone or FoxToPhone you can click any of the QR Codes to send the link to your phone, which opens up in the Market.

 

1. Springpad

Springpad makes it easy to save notes, products and places you want to remember

Author: Spring Partners, Inc.
Price: Free

My Review

Springpad let’s you keep track of pretty much everything! Whether it’s a movie you want to watch, a task you need to complete or even a shopping list, SpringPad manages everything with a great looking interface too. It keeps everything sync-ed with the springpad website, although you might want to make sure that any personal items are marked as private in the settings section of their website.

Market Description:
v. 1.0.12
* Adds support for Android 1.6 devices

Springpad saves the things you want to remember. Notes, tasks, lists, wines, recipes and more. Scan barcodes, take photos, search nearby places. Automatically organizes and enhances what you save with useful links. Syncs with springpadit.com for universal access.
Screenshots (click to enlarge)

Download

x

2. psx4droid (PSX Emulator)

psx4droid is the famous PSX emulator for Android 2.x devices! Fast and featured!

Author: ZodTTD
Price: $5.99

My Review

This emulator lets you play SonyPlaystation games on your Android phone. When I orignally tried it with Crash Bandicoot 3 it was very slow, but I’ve since upgraded to the latest version and changed the framerate to 30fps and it seems to run a lot better – though it can lag at times. If you find your favourite games aren’t working then you might want to get a refund for now, but keep track of this app as I can only see it getting better!

Market Description:
psx4droid, the Sony Playstation (PSX/PS1) emulator for high-end Androids.

Fast and feature packed including:
– Uses formats BIN,ISO,IMG,PBP,Z,ZNX, and Eboot (compressed too)
– WiiMote controller works
– Trackball dpad
– Memory card & save states.
– Virtual control overlays
– Scaling modes
– more!

Thanks,
ZodTTD and yongzh
Screenshots (click to enlarge)

Download

 

3. Kindle for Android

Kindle books on your phone including thousands of free books. No Kindle required

Author: Amazon Mobile
Price: Free

My Review

This is an app that I couldn’t live without. I use it everyday during the commute to Manchester and it has a massive collection including most of my favourite books. I’ve not yet found the Riddle Master of Hed on it, but I hope it’s only a matter of time until it arrives. I’ll admit I was a bit hesitant to switch to ebooks instead of physical books, but after reading through the first two I’ve gotten used to it and not looked back. I could go on about the advantages of ebooks, but this review’s about the app so I’ll stop here.

Market Description:
Read more than 630,000* Kindle books on your Android phone including thousands of free books. No Kindle required. Auto synchronizes your last page read between devices with Amazon Whispersync. Adjust the text size, color mode, and brightness.

1.0.3:Enables UK store

*If you are a non-US customer, book availability may vary
Screenshots (click to enlarge)

Download

 

4. K-9 Mail

K-9 is the best email client for Android. It’s incredibly powerful and 100% free

Author: K-9 Dog Walkers
Price: Free

My Review

While the HTC Mail application is fantastic and I’m sure that a lot of people are happy with it, I needed an alternate mail so I could switch between custom ROMs (Sense-based and Sense-less) without the worry of having to setup all my mail accounts again (which there’s over 10 of). I can easily backup everything in K9 Mail and restore it in any ROM regardless of whether it has HTC Mail or not.
If you’re not happy with HTC Mail then this is definitely the next best thing.

Market Description:
New in 3.0: Copy & Paste, PGP support w/APG, Launcher shortcuts, Display of Emoji, Archive & Spam Buttons – More at: http://bit.ly/new_k9

K-9 Mail is an open-source e-mail client with search, push mail, multi-folder sync, flagging and refiling, signatures, bcc-self, configurable alerts and more! # K9 Mail
Screenshots (click to enlarge)

Download

 

5. StumbleUpon

StumbleUpon is a discovery engine that finds the best of the web, just for you

Author: StumbleUpon.
Price: Free

My Review

If you’re ever looking for websites containing content you’re interested in, or if you’re just looking to browse the Internet aimlessly then StumbleUpon is for you. It presents you with recommended content based on your preferences, and it learns from your habits to make sure it’s only giving you relevant results.

Description:
StumbleUpon is a discovery engine that finds the best of the web, recommended just for you. Every time you click Stumble!, we’ll show you sites that have been selected based on your preferences and recommendations from millions of users who share your interests. So you see more of what you want and less of what you don’t.
Screenshots (click to enlarge)

Download

 

6. Tumblr

Tumblr for Android. The easiest way to blog.


Author: Tumblr
Price: Free

My Review

If you’re on Tumblr then this app is perfect for you. I don’t use it myself (don’t have a Tumblr blog) but I’ve seen a friend using it to post up photos and videos taken with her phone to her blog. It has a really clean and simple interface and you can very easily create new posts for your blog.

Market Description:
Tumblr for Android. The easiest way to blog.

Features:

• Post to Tumblr. Support for Text, Photo, Link, Chat, Quote, Audio and Video. Set advanced post options and edit, too.
• Built-in Dashboard. View, like and reblog posts.
• View your blogs. See your posts, drafts and queue.
• Landscape support.
• Share menu support.
Screenshots (click to enlarge)

Download

7. Laputa Book Reader

****
New Version: v3.0.3
Restart your device if the icon cannot be linked to your Laputa!
Bug Fixed!

Author: Laputa Team
Price: Free

My Review

If you’re looking for a free alternative to Kindle, then this is the closest thing. Although the catalog isn’t as big as Kindles, Laputa still has a huge collection of books where are all free to download. I actually started off with this before Kindle, and only switched after a few months when I’d read all the books I wanted to.

Market Description:
****
New Version: v3.0.3
Restart your device if the icon cannot be linked to your Laputa!
Bug Fixed!
****

Just the ibooks on Android

Improved points:
+ User Reading Experience
+ Flip Effect
+ More stable

New features:
+ Font Face
+ Gutenberg Project Supported
+ Manybook Supported
+ Full screen setting

Q? Mail us!
Screenshots (click to enlarge)

Download

 

8. Searchify

Perform translation, calculation, unit conversion and more from the search box.

Author: Oliver Lan
Price: Free

My Review

Though it’s not one I use on a daily basis, this app definitely has some novelty value. It uses voice input for you to tell it what you want to convert, then it quickly interpretates and converts your input into the relevant output, be that unit conversion, calculation or language translation.

Market Description:
Searchify lets you perform translation, calculation, unit conversion, wikipedia search, calendar entry, calendar search and more just by typing into the quick search box or search widget.

Make sure you enable the app in your phone settings!

1.1.4: for Froyo, made keywords case-insensitive

Try my new app: Touch Calendar!
Screenshots (click to enlarge)

Download

Yesterday Google announced a new and improved version of the Voice Search application which is known being referred to as Google Voice Actions.  As the new name suggests, it doesn’t only allow voice searching, but lets you perform lots of other actions with your phone too including:

• listen to music title/artist/album
• note to self note
• send text to recipient
• send email to recipient
• call recipient
• navigate to location
• directions to location
• map of location
• go to website URL

You can start using this straight away as the application should now be on the Android Market when you search for “Voice Search”.  Here’s a QR code to help you out.

Direct link for mobile readers

Search Widget

To accompany this new app, Google have also launched a new Search Widget which you can also download right now from the Android Market:

Direct link for mobile readers

Bear in mind that you will need Froyo to be able to run this new app.  Enjoy!

According to Google this is the start of small updates to the Android OS coming via the Market.

It’s time to submit your favourite games and application to determine the entries for this months poll!  It’s been a while since the polls were up and there’s been some great new additions to the Market – now’s the time you can share your discoveries with all the MyHTCDesire readers 

Just get a list of your top 10 games and apps and send them to me using the form below.  Submissions will be accepted until the end of Sunday 18 July.

Voted has now ended and poll will be online shortly.

What We’re Going to Achieve

Sorry about blurriness, will have a try during the day to see if I can get it clearer.  Actual graphics are much better – see screenshot at the end of this article!

What Is ScummVM?

ScummVM is an application that let’s you play certain PC games on alternate hardware (such as an Android phone).  Examples of ScummVM compatible games include:

• Monkey Island Series
• Sam and Max Hit the Road
• Full Throttle
• Broken Sword 1 & 2
• and plenty more which you can see here

For this tutorial I’m using Broken Sword because I have the full trilogy to hand.

Prerequisites

1. Firstly, make sure the game you want to play is supported by ScummVM by checking this page
2. A copy of the game you want to play on your Desire (as mentioned, I’m using Broken Sword).
3. A MicroSD card with at least 1GB free space.  This depends on the game you want to use – Broken Sword takes 1.13GB and that’s 2 CDs
4. At least 30MB free space on your phone

Downloads

1. The latest ScummVM .apk file.  I used this version but there are alternatives on the ScummVM for Android progress page

Instructions (click any of the images to enlarge)

1. Install the ScummVM.apk file to your Desire.  If you don’t know how to just use these simple instructions
2. Connect your Desire to your computer in Disk Drive mode
3. Insert the game CD into your computer’s DVD-drive
4. On your SD card create a folder somewhere to store the game files.  I just made a folder in the root called Broken Sword
   x
5. Go on the ScummVM datafiles page and find the section relating to the game you’re installing.  It’ll show you the files to copy.  For Broken Sword it has the following:
   

   • *.clu
   • swordres.rif
   • MUSIC folder (Except 2M29.WAV in CD2)
   • SMACKSHI folder
   • SPEECH folder
   • Rename speech.clu on CD1 to speech1.clu
   • Rename speech.clu on CD2 to speech2.clu

6. Copy the files it mentions from your game CD to the SD card.  The CD contents are shown below:
7. The contents of the Broken Sword folder on my SD card now look like this:

   I copied the video folder over too, just to check if it would work – and it did!
   Because it didn’t say “clusters folder” but did mention the *.clu files, I put the contents of the clusters folder in the main directory instead of a subfolder.  Same with swordres.rif
   I didn’t have a SMACKSHI folder so I ignored that

8. Once copied Safely Eject your SD card from computer, Unmount it by changing it to Charge Only mode
9. Open ScummVM from your apps menu, and you’ll see the following:
10. Press Add Game and scroll down, double-click sdcard (using trackpad or touchscreen), then find the folder where your game is stored
11. Press Choose and a box showing details of your game will appear
12. The main things to check here are:
    • the name of your game is correct
    • Under paths change the Save path to somewhere on your sdcard.  I just saved in in my game folder.

     

13. Press OK
14. Press Start and if all’s gone well your game should load up!

 

Extra Info

The release I’ve used is 1.1.1-vorbis.  This isn’t the final version and has a few bugs.  Before attempting this tutorial check the downloads page if a newer version is available.
One of the main bugs in this version is that each time you start the app you have to add the game again (steps 10-13).  As long as you save your game you can still carry on where you left off.

FAQs

1. The ScummVM menu screen keeps flickering in the background
   A.  Press the Home button to go to your homescreen.  Hold down the Home button and switch back to ScummVM.  The flickering should have stopped
2. How Do I Change the Volume?
   A.  The volume keys don’t seem to respond within ScummVM.  Just press Home to go to homescreen.  Use the volume rocker (it should change the Media Volume) then switch back to ScummVM.  Additionally, there’s also some volume settings within ScummVM if you press the Menu button during the game and go on Options.
3. I’ve noticed that there are some ScummVM game plugins in the Market for various games.  Do I need them?
   A.  As far as I’m aware, no.  I’ve tried running Broken Sword without the plugin and it still appears to work.  If your game doesn’t seem to be working properly then try download the plugin and see if it helps.