It’s hump day and I’ve travelled from Melbourne to Brisbane. Working on the road using only a phone means apps are vitally important. Here are the BlackBerry 10 ones I’ve found most helpful so far, and the handful that have been a hindrance.
Cheers
Mail/Hub. Mail was the selling point for the original BlackBerry, and it remains just as easy to manage in the modern version. One touch I really like: pictures for my contacts automatically imported from LinkedIn.
Dropbox. Dropbox is integrated into the file picker, so you can easily grab any file you need. Files are only downloaded when you use them though, so storage space isn’t wasted.
Remember. Although designed as a task manager, I’m mostly using this as a text editor/word processor. In that capacity, it’s a better fit for my needs than Docs To Go, which feels buggy and half-realised.
Story Maker. I’ve been using this to produce the daily roundup videos. A simple wizard lets you add pictures, video and music and then tweak the results. Full-blown video editing rarely makes sense on a small screen, so this is a clever compromise.
Kindle. When you’re used to a classic Kindle, actually seeing colour covers on books is a pleasant surprise.
Jeers
A shorter but equally heartfelt list.
WordPress. Lifehacker uses WordPress as our CMS so this is vital. Unfortunately, the BB10 release is a piss-poor Android port which crashes constantly and can’t be used for even simple text selection or editing. For that, I’ve had to use the browser instead.
BlackBerry Travel. The key feature of this app in earlier versions — building your itinerary automatically via confirmation emails — no longer works for me.
Tomorrow sees the longest journey of the trip: Brisbane to Perth. I have a transcription task to keep me busy!
Music by The Kyoto Connection
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