[ndub33]

Price: $5.95 via the BlackBerryAPPS Store.

Who Would Find This App Useful: BlackBerry users who recieve messages from a variety of sources (Personal E-Mail, Work E-Mail, SMS, BBM, etc.) on a regular basis.



Primary Function: BerryBuzz allows the user the abilty to customize the color, duration, and frequecy of LCD alerts for all types of messages, including voice calls and calendar reminders. There is also a "vibe-and-ring" feature. I always have my 8220 on vibe, so I don't use this feature, and won't review it here-if you have BerryBuzz and use the vibe-and-ring functionality, feel free to post your thoughts in this thread.

Ease of Download: This downloaded to my 8220 (OS 4.6.0.267) smoothly and in a matter of a minute or two. Be aware, though-the icon that is placed in your Downloads folder appearantly does nothing except refer you to your Options menu, which is where the BerryBuzz menu actually is located. I have hidden the home screen icon.

Ease of Use- LCD color, frequency and duration of alerts are all managed by drop down menus in the BerryBuzz menu. It is very intuitive to use. If you set up remnder alerts, BerryBuzz will add a menu item for each function that you set a reminder for , in your Profiles menu. For example, if you set up a Berry Buzz reminder for calender items, a new BerryBuzz calendar selection will appear in your Profiles menu. Be sure to deactivate "LCD flashing " in your normal Profile menu items, and it should work fine with BerryBuzz.

Performance: The app does everything that it claims to do. I played with the color and frequency settings quite a bit and did not detect any failures.

Pros: The app uses very little memory or battery life, which was a pleasant surprise. the LCD alerts are eye-catching, especially the "Bright " settings. (This could also be considered a Con, depending on where you take your BlackBerry-be a good wireless citizen and deactivate BerryBuzz when going to a meeeting, theater or other public area where it may be a distraction to those around you).

Cons: The Bright Yellow LCD setting looks more like lime green on my 8220.
If you use your BlackBerry for a single e-mail account, or just for SMS or BBM, you may not see the value-add of this app.

Summary: A well-built and intuitive app. May not have universal appeal, but those who need to be able to tell what kind of message they just got at a glance will love it.

Get it at the BlackBerryApps.com Store now!

[CoDudette]

that's an awesome review there, i've been using BerryBuzz for a while now, and i've got no complaints! i wish they had BerryBuzz enabled for BBM, because it's a bit of a bother. however, other than that, i like the fact the phone vibes+rings at the same time and you can set the vibration frequencies. good app, great review!

[ndub33]

I have BBM enabled on version 1.0.25 of BerryBuzz. Do you have an earlier version?

Thanks for the kind words...and I agree, I love the app!

[datl]

Very comprehensive review, ndub33. I love the app!

[CoDudette]

I have 1.0.25! and it doesn't work for bbm :( it doesn't even have the option for it! and i have the full paid version. maybe it doesn't work on the 9000?

[ndub33]

I believe the setting is called "PIN Messages".

[CoDudette]

Reallly?! so that enables it for bbm? thanks SOOO much! :D

[daphne]

Great review. I may have to try this.

[alb123]

Very nice review. I appreciate the screenshots because the very thing that I would need to see in this application, to justify the purchase, would be MMS notification support. I tend to use MMS messaging more than SMS just so I don't run into the 160 limitation. Seeing that most of my contacts do not have a BlackBerry device I can not convince them to use BBM. Thank you for saving me a few bucks!

ALB

P.S. I've found the non-MMS support to be prevalent in quite a few apps I would have liked to try otherwise. For instance, there are a couple apps out there that will forward copies of your SMS messages to an e-mail account of your choice, which I would use for archival purposes. Again, the issue I have is using MMS mainly for messaging and not SMS.

[SteveO86]

Do you know if the settings in BerryBuzz remain after an OS upgrade?

I love their SmartAlerts program, but it gets tedious re-entering my Alerts more then once.

[ndub33]

Originally Posted by SteveO86

Do you know if the settings in BerryBuzz remain after an OS upgrade?

I love their SmartAlerts program, but it gets tedious re-entering my Alerts more then once.

They do. I did an OS upgrade, and all of my settings remained.

[saxbystar]

thats the beauty of this forum.... great review and now i'll buy it today!

[Heavy Fluid]

It is a great application. I am using it and absolutely love having it.