Review: MyMusicCloud for BlackBerry smartphones and the BlackBerry PlayBook

I love to have music wherever I go; you never know when it will come in handy. Does this mean that I load up every single song that I have in my library onto my BlackBerry smartphone? No. Depending on how many songs you have, you could be eating into precious memory that your videos, images and other files already struggle for. Now true, there are slough of radio streaming applications you can tap into, but they too have their limitations. No matter how many settings and preferences you are given, you are still not in full control of what you are listening to. Using BlackBerry Desktop Software and WiFi Music sync puts the power of streaming your own music in your hands…until you disconnect from your wireless network. In order for WiFi Music Sync to work, your computer and your BlackBerry smartphone must be connected to the same network. On top of that, WiFi Music Sync doesn’t even work with your BlackBerry PlayBook. So what happens when you want to stream music wherever you happen to find yourself? Enter: MyMusicCloud.

 

MyMusicCloud is a online music services geared towrds connect users with their music over various platforms simultaneously. The service is powered by TriPlay who annouced MyMusicCloud on September 14th, 2011. MyMusic Cloud for BlackBerry smartphones requires you to be running OS 5.0 or higher. It currently is in version 1.6.3 and has a file size of 1.6MB - obviously not including content. The BlackBerry PlayBook version is a web based application, with a file size of only 297KB.

Cost: Free, also receive a free 2GB account. For additional storage, see prices below.

Rating of BlackBerry smartphone app in BlackBerry App World: Not yet rated

Rating BlackBerry PlayBook app in BlackBerry App World: 2/5

What users can do with MyMusicCloud is sync with their iTunes and other media players, with their BlackBerry smartphones. Actually, you can stream your music with multiple devices, you know, just in case you feel like using something not related to BlackBerry (but, why the heck would you do that?). The site says you can sync two computers and two mobile devices. That makes it incredibly easy to share your music library, as you could give your trusted friends your account information.

You aren’t able to upload music from your BlackBerry smartphone, so you need to set everything up prior to taking your music with you. The process is fairly easy; you can either upload music via their site or their Desktop Sync Agent. Most of the magic happens through the website actually, rather than with the BlackBerry smartphone app. The product description in BlackBerry App World makes it seem as though you can create ringtones from your smartphone, which definitely isn’t the case. You can only access the ones you have made online.

 

Here’s what you can do from your BlackBerry smartphone. The main menu of MyMusicCloud resembles the native Music menu; you can search music by genre, album and artist, as well as view playlists and the entire track listing. You can add/remove music to/from the queue or adjust the volume. When listening to music, you can view associated artist/album art, track title and the name of the artist/album. A progress bar is visible below, as well. Now I did find the controls to be a bit awkward with MyMusicCloud- very laggy as well. When pressing pause/play, or “restart” button, I discovered the app would either not respond to commands or would finally decide to execute them 6 to 10 seconds later. The music playback quality was, however, excellent.

Some of you might frown upon the lack of functionality around the BlackBerry smartphone app. Check this out; your BlackBerry PlayBook can get into the fun as well by accessing your account via the browser. This means that you can gain even more options that MyMusicCloud has to offer. Yes, that includes creating ringtones and accessing the Music Store; where you can purchase albums or tracks from within your dashboard. That’s over 11 million songs to choose from. Keep in mind that the store is only available in Canada, the U.S. or the U.K. You can also share your music preferences via Facebook (share album art and links to allow friends to sample, download or purchase tracks) and look up lyrics for the track you are listening to.

MyMusicCloud offers everyone a 2GB account for free. Want access to even more songs? They also provide premium accounts where you get:

5GB for $10/year

10GB for $20/year

20GB for $40/year

MyMusicCloud offers support for both online and offline support. The application will continue to make already downloaded music available for your listening enjoyment. Oh and the application also supports videos, as well.

If the playback controls could be more responsive, we would have an outstanding hit on our hands. Having access to a full bodied suite of options from the BlackBerry PlayBook is a saving grace, if you actually own one. You can look at it like this; once you set up your account, you have a lightweight, simplistic access point to your music AND newly created ringtones! Remember that, if you want to check out MyMusicCloud, you have a free 2GB account to mess around with. You can grab the BlackBerry smartphone app, and the BlackBerry PlayBook webapp, for free from BlackBerry App World.

More information/download MyMusicCloud for BlackBerry smartphones

More information/download MyMusicCloud for the BlackBerry PlayBook



Check out the MyMusicCloud site

 

Review: Allergen Free Cooking for the BlackBerry PlayBook

It’s funny, there’s one thing that sticks with me when I think back to the finalists for the BlackBerry Super Fanboy contest. Besides the creativity, I think about the content; applications to be more specific. How fitting that the winners also included developers. We’ve heard about Marco van Hylckama Vlieg’s ever useful Screamager application, which was out and about at DevCon 2011, and also came in handy during our Halloween Trick or Treat trek. There’s another one that was shown off in a fanboy video that isn’t quite as well known, but is definitely awesome. Another Fanboy contest winner, Alexander Perri, could be seen cooking with his PlayBook next to him- check out his My Everlasting Light video at the 3 min, 45 sec mark to see the app in question. That application is actually his own creation; it’s called Allergen Free Cooking.

When his video was posted in the blogs, I immediately reached out to him, wanting to know which app it was. At DevCon, I finally met up with Alexander and we discussed the application, its creation and its future. Since day one, it hasn’t left my BlackBerry PlayBook, though it does cause me to salivate which in turn creates the danger of potentially causing water damage to my tablet. Read on for more.

 

Allergen Free Cooking was developed by Alexander Perri under AP Photography and by CR6 Technologies. It’s currently only for the BlackBerry PlayBook, though there are plans to bring to OS 7 BlackBerry smartphones. The application is currently in version 1.0 and has a file size of 32.6 MB.

Cost: $1.99

Rating in BlackBerry App World: Not Yet Rated

In a nutshell, Allergen Free Cooking is a recipe book that caters towards those with intolerances, or allergies towards dairy, egg, gluten or soy by currently providing 19 delicious recipes. According to the about screen, these appear to be provided by stylist and Chef Biance Drennan. There are two ways of accessing the recipes; view all or view by type. You can do either from the main menu, where types are divided into Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Dessert.

Below these categories, the navigation menu can be found, which is stationary no matter which screen you are viewing. In this menu, there is a link to the master list of recipes, as well. In either view, each entry includes a thumbnail of the delectable dish. Let’s take a look at one now.

The design and layout of the application is wonderful, it showcases Alexander’s photographer skills quite well. This includes the look of each “recipe card”. Each recipe card includes items such as a description of the dish, storage options, substitutions, information on specific ingredients, serving size and difficulty. The recipe card also lists the ingredients, measurements and directions. The description, ingredients and direction fields may include more information than it can display. You are able to scroll up and down within those fields. That allows for maximum information and minimum use of the screens real-estate. What’s done with the rest of the screen? How about 4 beautiful images capturing the dish from start to finish? My stomach is growling as I write this while looking at the app. Excuse me while I go get a snack…

Of course you need to keep track of the ingredients needs for these recipes. Conveniently, Allergen Free Cooking has a section where you can manage your grocery list. Rather than one massive list to run through, your items are divided into four categories;

Fruits, Vegetables & Herbs

Spices, Seeds & Grains

Meat, Fish & Milk

Baking, Honey, Syrup & Condiments

The ingredients are preset with no option to modify them in any way. Wait, no you can choose the quantity of each item you want to pick up. Each entry has a quantity tracker to the right, allowing you to easily mark off of many of each you need. To the left of each entry, a check mark is displayed. As you drop items into your shopping cart, click on the checkmarks to track what’s left to pick up. It’s simple, to the point and easy to use while pushing a cart or juggling a basket. The only thing I can think of is combining recipe cards with the grocery list. Include a button that will automatically add the ingredients from a recipe card into the grocery list. Streamlining this process will make the app go far.

Otherwise known as the drool den, the gallery displays larger image of all 19 dishes. Scroll through, wipe your mouth and decide which one you want to make next. What you make this section more useful is being able to tap on an image and be redirected to the associated recipe card.

Besides the couple of additions I mentioned earlier, this application is amazing. Each of the features is powerful on their own (photography, layout, recipes and grocery list), but Allergen Free Cooking combines them into one beautiful package. Alexander is looking for more recipes to add to future versions, so if you do decide to pick this up, let him know of your ideas. You can pick up Allergen Free Cooking for $1.99 from BlackBerry App World.

More information/download Allergen Free Cooking for the BlackBerry PlayBook

Review: Blaq for the BlackBerry PlayBook

When the review for the BlackBird Twitter app for the BlackBerry PlayBook went up, someone made a comment that they wanted to see a Blaq review. Up until that point, I had only seen Blaq on BlackBerry smartphones, and thought it was a decent Twitter application. To be honest, I was already bouncing back and forth between Twitter for BlackBerry and another Twitter client and didn’t feel the need to pick up a third. Had I actually done so, I think that Blaq would have been installed on my BlackBerry PlayBook the moment the app was made available. As I had mentioned in the BlackBird review, accessing Twitter from the PlayBook was (at the time) limited to a basic mobile view – making it painful to use. Even with a new beefed up mobile site, I’ve quickly taken to Blaq to help me keep connected to Twitter. Kisai labs has recently updated Blaq with a slew of new features and fixes, making in (in my opinion) the most functional (and sexy) PlayBook Twitter client yet.

With Notifications, paused timelines and multiple account access, Blaq may have you saying “Holy Tweet!” As lame as that just sounded, let’s hope you keep reading.

 

Blaq for the BlackBerry PlayBook was developed by Kisai labs, the same grey matter behind the image downloading ‘Show Me the Images’ and the games ‘Photo Quest’ and ‘Mancala’. Like I mentioned earlier, Blaq was recently updated to version 1.5 and has a file size of 2.2 MB.

Cost: $1.99

Rating in BlackBerry App World: 4/5

Blaq for PlayBook expands upon the design of the Blaq app for BlackBerry smartphones. Seeing the menu on a screen this size really shows off the beautiful layout. On the left side, you will see your timeline, mentions and direct messages that can be viewed quite fluidly. No lagging could be seen when scrolling up and down through the Tweet. Just as you would see with Twitter, each entry shows the users avatar, name and when the tweet was posted. Now with Blaq, you can actually see new Tweet getting added to the timeline, with the time showing “moments ago”. Blaq also has a small “Real Time” icon near the bottom right corner of the screen, which has a square that glows green when connected.

On the right side of the screen, you can see your Profile picture and an entry field with which you can tweet away. Added features to this include a convenient “Add photo button”, a character countdown and a quick look at your last tweet. When selecting Add Photo, you can either take a picture or select one from your files. If you want to mention someone in a tweet, all you have to do is type @ to see a popup containing all of your friends. Down the right hand side of the menu are your various views that let you manage your mentions, direct messages, lists and search options (view trends or search through tweets/people). Now you don’t have to stare at Blaq constantly in order to keep on the latest. You can set up native notifications to appear, reminding you to head back to the app. You can set this up to notify you of every single tweet or alert you to new mentions, direct messages or even followers.

Tapping on a tweet generates a popup on the right side of the screen. Now this popup contains a lot of detail; at the top will be the tweet as it appears in the timeline. Below this are five icons/options to choose from; mention/reply, retweet, mark as favourite, direct message and copy/translate tweet. Underneath the icons, you can find the profile of the user; complete with bio, followers and links. What’s cool is you can tap on some of these to see more detail – you can actually see who is following them.

You can also see a larger size profile picture by tapping on it. The same can be seen if the tweet contains an image. This is the part that I love; if a tweet contains a link, you have two different ways to view it. First, you can tap on the tweet itself and view the web page as a mini browser window in the previously mentioned popup. The page is fully functional; you can click on links, videos- you name it. I was able to check out BlackBerry FanBoy Video Contest finalist videos from within Blaq. The second way is to click on the link itself, not the tweet. This will redirect you to the native browser. I preferred to use the mini browser, as I can still check out tweets as I go. Oh speaking of which, when you generate a Tweet popup window, your timeline is paused so you don’t miss anything.

The hidden menu above contains the settings. It’s here that you can manage options like notifications, accounts and font type/size.

Blaq is more than impressive; it’s an absolute necessity if you want to access Twitter on your BlackBerry PlayBook. It has the largest set of features I have seen in an app in a long time. From the mini browser to notifications, this app has it covered. Rather than relying on providing information using multiple windows/applications, everything is practically contained in a beautiful package. If you want to give Blaq a spin, you can grab it for $1.99 from BlackBerry App World.

More information/download Blaq for the BlackBerry PlayBook