BlinkBerry for Blackberry

Date reviewed: April 6th, 2006
Version: 1.0.0
Website: http://www.greentechmobile.com/blinkberry/
Price as reviewed: 9.99 USD
Free to try: Yes
Vendor: Micheal A. Blake ; GreenTech Programs
Installation: Application Loader via USB
Size: 23 Kb

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Have you ever wanted to know if you had enough signal to make a phone call without ever having to look at your phone? Do you want a versatile program that allows you to see what kind of coverage your in, easily and quickly? That is the idea behind this simple application! GreenTech Programs is the proud creator of BlinkBerry, an application that automatically changes the color of your LED indicator to reflect the amount of signal that your Blackberry is picking up (and you thought it only blinked red and green ).

The application is very basic and provides just what it states (no room for user error here!). The makers even provide a user manual. First configuration setup, you have to turn off your main LED indicator so there is no conflicts.





From the main screen, you can access several different options. The first little "cool tool" is the flashlight feature. It keeps the LED on until you decide to toggle the option back off. Great if you need a little help in the dark. In addition to that option, you can have the LED stay on continuously when there is no coverage for your blackberry at the moment. Below that you have a Blink on option which can be toggled to off, keeping the LED off. You can set blink times, colors, and fade times. All part of the cool little features of this program.






Overall, this application suits the basic needs. On the application website, the creator stated, "This is a work in progress, there are many features I would like to add, but due to the demand for the application I have released it with what I think is some really cool features."

The only draw back to this application is that even though the colors are nice, trying to remember what 6 different colors mean can be a little difficult. I am sure with a little practice, the user of this application should have no issue recognizing what signal coverage they have. In addition, I am unsure as to the "usefulness" of this program. Having 2-5 bars is really enough to make a phone call or receive a SMS or email. To me, red or green is good enough for me. The value of the program is not quite worth the 9.99 USD in my opinion, but if this was, let's say 5.99, I just might buy it. I can see the benefit, I just don't know if I need it for $10.

I give this application 2 out of 5 blackberry's :

A useful addition would be pulse blinks -- two blinks for two emails, three blinks for three emails, etc.

A simple rainbow feature would simplify the need to memorize colors.... green-yellow-orange-red for signal coverage. It goes well with alert and stoplight colors so red means no signal, orange 1 bar, yellow 2 bar, all the way to green being 3/4/5 bars. I don't need to know weak signal unless it's below 3 bars.

I'd like to see them make the LED fully customizible. Kind of like Butler does for the Treo.

For example, I'd love to enable my LED to go solid for certain alerts, blink rapidly for others etc.

All of those are great ideas. I totally agree with the standardization of colors for signal, something that carries universal meaning.

The customization for certain alerts would be nice too. Great idea Larry!

I have written the creator of this application to notify them that it was reviewed. Hopefully I will hear back from them so that I can suggest these ideas.

You can use the same colors for different signal levels, so you can set 3,4,5 to green as Mark stated. It is mostly designed for the traveler. You can see the signal level without taking your phone out of the cup holder/backpack/etc. It also helps locate the phone in the dark - I am really bad about leaving my blackberry around so if it is flashing I just turn the light off and I get a beacon.

Another reason I like the blink is that I had nextel for years and I missed the blink my nextel had.

You can thank the commission rates at handango for the price - they take 60% and then the feds take another 20% - all it takes is one customer that has alot of problems and my profit goes to pennies on the hour. Almost makes selling software hardley worth it.

I second the need to customize email alerts.

Signal's not an issue with me, so I have my signal turned off on my 7130e. As a noob, I might have missed something, but the 7130e doesn't seem to give me an option to blink the LED when the first email comes in, just for the 2nd alert. I don't want it to vibrate for email ever - just blink if there's an email, even if it is the first email.

PS. Thanks for the review!

I tried it out, not sure if I did something wrong, but I set it up following the directions but as soon as I use another program, the led stops flashing and I have to run Blinkberry to have the led blink again, am I missing something.

The trial does not allow Blinkberry to run while you are in different programs. Only the full purchased version will allow for that

So we can presumably purchase it directly from you for $4?

I've used this program for the last 24 hours (in demo mode) and have some problems with it.

Firstly, I've noticed that my blackberry hangs at random times during the period this program was installed and running. The problem seemed to disappear since it was removed or when it was closed

Secondly, the flashing was not totally consistently spaced. it looks awkward especially at shorter blink times (ie: faster blink frequency) when it was more noticable. Perhaps this is simply due to the way the program calculates time between blinks or the way in which it controls the LED. This might be totally outside of our control.

Thirdly, although it offers people with this particular purpose in mind (ie: really desperate to see when they have 3 bars instead of full coverage- which in my opinion is moot), it needs to have additional options/controls to make it a truly useful utility.

I would say this is great if you want to see your signal level at a glance... but you can already tell when there is no signal if you have your LED status indicator on- it simply won't flash green. But for most of us, there's no real practical purpose.

Great idea, I agree... And I'd love to see future versions with more control. If there was an app that would keep my indicator flashing, for instance, when a message comes in- instead of rim's way of cancelling the red flash after a short period of time, I would likely buy it and praise the author. Knowing what type of message by looking at the colour of the LED would be pure icing.

Just my two cents- totally subjective.

After installing it on my 7100i 4.1, clicking on the item gives me a "Uncaught Exception: net.rim.device.api.system.UnsupportedOperationExce ption" error.

I have the LED off before installing the program like the instructions say.

Anyone with any clues why?

I have the full version. How do you keep it running after a reboot or after auto off/on? I really don't want to restart the program every day.

Am I the only person in the world with a problem using BlinkBerry ?

Code Cannon, I have sent you a message for support on your product that I purchased and have not anything from you. What gives?

Just to update. I have been contacted by Code Cannon and he is working on a code to work on the Iden BBs.

*STILL WAITING* 5/25/06

*STILL WAITING* 6/21/06

*STILL WAITING* 12/6/06

Does this mean I just wasted 10 bucks! I have sent him several emails today but just figured it was Sunday but after seeing your updates I am not too excited!