7 Blackberry Softwares for Highly Effective (& Islamic) Individuals

I’ve recently upgraded to a Blackberry 8310 from a 8700. And when I did I sorely missed certain applications that I had installed in the earlier phone.

Concise Oxford Dictionary & Thesaurus

I do most of my reading at home or at a cafe and I rarely am close to a dictionary then. But that’s when I need it the most. The Mobile Version of the Concise Oxford Dictionary has proved quite invaluable to me. It’s got a very good breadth of words and the quality of explanations is what you would expect from Oxford. Once you actually have this app you’ll be amazed the number of times you actually begin to use it. You see, you never really know when you are in a situation when you begin something to read & you come across a word you’ve not heard before. It could be when your reading the morning paper or flipping a magazine when waiting at the Dentist’s. Most of the time you can guess the meaning, but there are times you want to look it up. If there isn’t a dictionary around you, you just let it go. Having this application in your pocket never leaves you guessing what a particular word could mean. And that’s a learning opportunity one shouldn’t miss. Unfortunately like many Blackberry apps, it’s pricey. It retails at $40, but certainly worth it.

World Magic – World Time Software

Either when I have to call my aunt in UK or if I’m receiving a call from a client in New Jersey, this software saves me the mental workout of figuring what time (hence mood) would the person I’m speaking to be in. It has a very clean interface, which tells you the time of four different cities simultaneously. Not a bad app for $7.95.

Lygea Calculator

The default calculator installed in the Blackberries is quite lacking in usability and features. For eg Because of lack of the comma after the respective number of digits, I have often caught myself counting the number of digits on the calculator to see if the result is in tens of thousands or lakhs. And here enters Lygea Calulator that saves your head from needless number crunching. A very handy calculator, with a much more pleasing screen. It accepts 12 digits, (compared to 8 digits of the default Blackberry calculator), has the comma (number separator), great for working out interest calcluations and a host of other features.

Mobylo – MultiAlarm

Although the blackberry has a default Alarm Clock, I have found myself needing to set another alarm during the day quite often. Many times it’s early in the morning itself. For eg, once I’m up at 5:00 AM after I’ve finished my prayers I feel the need for another nap, but don’t want to be late for work, hence I need another alarm to wake me up at 7:00 Am. If I change the earlier alarm that I set from 5:00 to 7:00, I’m certain to forget to set it back at 5:00. Therefore, I use Mobylo – MultiAlarm. With Mobylo you can set five different Alarms, with different rules. So that, if I set a new Alarm I don’t have to lose the old one. Retailing at $29.99 is not exactly cheap, but you can download yourself a 30-day trial and see if you’re putting it to good use, in that period.

PocketDay

As David Allen from the GTD (Getting Things Done) World recommends I would just like to see my appointments and tasks for the day in one single screen. The default Blackberry Calendar Application does have the tasks and Appointments in one screen, when you select Agenda View. But the problem there is, each time I complete a task and I mark that task of as complete, it stays right there on the screen. It doesn’t hide the completed tasks nor does it distinguish betweeen completed and incomplete tasks.

Enters PocketDay. I love this app. When launched, Pocketday, would let you know your missed calls, emails, appointments, to-do’s, how’s your stock portfolio performing and if it’s gonna rain today or not, all in One single screen. I don’t need to know of all of the above, as long as, I get to see my appointments and tasks for the day in one single screen, Arif is a happy bunny. The downsides to this app are, it would make your blackberry slow. I use the Pocketday Personal edition, which is lighter hence faster than the Professional Edition, but still not upto par when it comes to speed.

QuranReader Pro

You can give it your best, but you can’t really be successful or effective without the Almighty’s help. And that’s were my last two apps come in. QuranReader Pro, is an excellent software for those of the likes of me. The Arabic font is displayed beautifully, and once you buy it for £14, you have the wide range of options of various translations by Pickthall, Yusuf Ali or (my favourite) M H Shakir. This application comes in most handy when attending a majlises or any religious seminar and the speaker gives reference to a particular verse. Since I’ve got this app, it doesn’t take too long for me to pull that out and see what context the verse was being referred to in. And also I’m currently trying to memorise the smaller chapters, having this in my pocket is good use of time when I’m waiting for someone.

PrayerTime Extra

Dad had a saying up on his wall which read,

“If you are too busy to pray, you are busier than God wants you to be.”

How beautifully put. Generally one does a fair idea when prayer time is, PrayerTime Extra helps to narrow it down to the exact minute. This application really proves its worth when travelling. All you need to do is select the city you are in and you get to know when to set your alarm for the morning prayers. Again with a very clean interface and also has alarms to alert you when it’s time to drop all your excuses and thank the Lord for His infinite blessings, though how little we deserve it. A Big Thank you to the wonderful brothers at GuidedWays Technologies for coding these last two essential applications. May Allah SWT reward you and your families immensely for your services.

Well there you have it, 7 applications that are a must-have for me. What about yourself? Is there anything here that you particularly fancy here? Or something better that you’ve come across? Do let me know. As always. Keep smiling :-)

8 Comments

  1. Hi Arif,

    There’s a small typo in your blog buddy. It’s a 8700 you moved from to a 8130. Me too. It’s absolutely awesome.

    Here’s some of the apps I really like (mostly all free!!)

    – Google Talk/ BB Messenger / Yahoo Chat
    – Worldmate Live (excellent when you are traveling)
    – gos2go – worth a try, tracks you on google maps from a website whereever you are.
    – Definitely get all the Google apps – gmail, gsyncit (sycns with Google Calendar which then syncs with your Outlook. Great way to keep your outlook and your BB in sync while on the road!!).
    – Nav4all – also worth a try, good for major cities. Ofcourse, Google Maps with GPS is the ultimate.
    – GridMagic – works great with Excel on your BB
    – BeamBerry – works great for attachments viewing.

    So here’s my contribution !!

    Have fun!

    — Rahul

  2. Hey Rahul,

    Also thanks for the app suggestions, I’ll probably give Worldmate Live & gos2go a shot.

    Regarding gsyncit, that’s sounds like a great free solution. However, we’ve got Blackberry Exchange Server installed. That syncs all our contacts, tasks & calendar on the fly, no matter which part of the world we’re in. No more using cables with laptops or worrying about backups. We are using it to the max & are lovin’ it. I would highly recommend giving that a go.

    Arif
    Ps. Thanks for pointing out the typo, fixed it now :-)

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  4. Salaam ‘Alaykum,

    You should check out Salat, its a new BlackBerry app that provides prayer times based on your exact location. If your phone is equipped with GPS, it updates your prayer times as you move. Even without a GPS, you can update manually via BlackBerry maps by entering the street address that you’re currently at. What’s even more impressive, is the app provides the direction to Mecca based on your location. No need to cary a compass around anymore!

    The audio call to prayer is very comforting, and the graphics are pretty neat too.

    The app works on the Pearl (as long as you have OS 4.5 or higher), as well as on the Storm, Bold and Curve.

    Every Muslim should have this on their BlackBerry!

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