It's Saturday morning as I type this and I'm about to head to the gym so it's a fitting time to blog this up...

Long-time readers of CrackBery.com are familiar with Gym Technik's fitness tracking service - we've written about them plenty of times before and have been longing for them to take their web app offering to the next level with an actual BlackBerry app. Great News! Gym Technik has just announced the preview release of their much anticipated, downloadable app: Gym Technik NextGen for the BlackBerry.

Thousands of users worldwide have been using Gym Technik's mobile and web application for tracking their workouts. After much feedback and interest from users surrounding this app, Gym Technik's developers are excited to present a preview release of the NextGen app. It comes bundled with a 30 day free premium trial. So you can test-drive both Gym Technik's Premium Service and NextGen app without commitment or hassle. All current Gym Technik members can link to the app, and new members can create an account right from their BlackBerry.

We'll be following up with a review on the app shortly. Next in line, GymTechnik has already promised upgrades for OS5 support and a Storm version of the app, stay tuned.

Learn More & Download: You can visit get.gymtechnik.com from your BlackBerry's web browser to download and learn more about the app and how to use your BlackBerry as a fitness tracking and workout management tool @ www.gymtechnik.com/blackberry.

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Since getting my new BlackBerry Bold 9700 earlier this week I have been living on cloud nine. It's uber fast. The optical trackpad is silky smooth. The 3.2 megapixel camera is noticeably better than the original Bold's and the additional flash memory boosts operating performance considerably. And I've been blown away by the battery life so far -- over 48 hours before needing to charge!!!

With positives oozing out of the device, the only thing that I have had to really come to terms with is how much smaller the new Bold 9700 actually is compared to its big older brother the 9000 (I tried to get the images above close to actual size and scale). And reading through the Bold 9700 forums and talking to other original Bold owners making or looking to make the upgrade to the 9700, it appears I'm not the only one.

When the Bold 9000 came out, I was a Curve user. At the time, I actually griped over the Bold's big size and deemed the size a negative. But over the year and a half following its introduction, I have really grown to LOVE the big-boned Bold. They keyboard is heaven to type on, and that extra 1/4" of width in the screen makes a difference. Plus, the device just looks impressive - the full leather back, the chrome band, the shiny black area above the display.... the Bold 9000 is the luxury SUV of the BlackBerry Smartphone line and when you see it in public it stands out in the crowd. The BlackBerry Bold 9700 is stellar, but it's more of one of these new, smaller, cross-over SUVs. The 9000 was my daily driver for the past few months, and making the switch to the Bold 9700 it now feels like I've gone away from using a Bold to using a Curve again.

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the Bold 9700. I just hope / wish RIM would also release a same-sized upgrade in the Bold 9000 form factor for all the people out there who appreciate a bigger device with a little extra bling (the 9700 has a more conservative look). Honestly, when I went to the Rogers store Wednesday to buy a 9700 they also had the new Bold 9000 in white on display. If only that white Bold 9000 had 256MB of flash memory, trackpad and a 3.2 megapixel camera, I would have purchased it over the smaller Bold 9700. The Bold 9700 needs to exist as device (it's awesome!), but it's almost like RIM should have branded it the Curve 3G or something (maybe slapped on a Curve-esque keyboard), then released a bigger device as an update to the Bold more true to the original Bold's heritage. On the other hand, to each his/her own. My girlfriend traded in her Curve 8320 for the Bold 9700 and is head over heels for it. I love the Bold 9700 too... I just can't help but miss the 9000's big keyboard everytime I pick it up.

CrackBerry Poll: Whaddya think? Like your Bold big or small? Cast your vote above! 

SAN FRANCISCO HERE WE COME!!! Monday kicks off the 2nd Annual BlackBerry Developer Conference and CrackBerry.com will be there in full force. Adam, Bla1ze and myself will be blogging the news, live-blogging the general session, recording podcasts, conducting interviews and doing up some videos if and when applicable. Keep it locked to CrackBerry.com for all sorts of DevCon goodness. This event is about the BlackBerry platform and is for the developers in attendance - don't expect any device announcements  during the week (plus the Storm2, Bold 9700 and Curve 8530 have just all been announced in rapid succession), but we're bound to see some cool things get displayed that you won't want to miss.

If you're a developer attending DevCon, reach out to us! We want to meet you over the course of the week and get to know you. Want to say hi to CrackBerry Nation? We'll interview you and feature your app on the blogs! Want to get some tips on how to engage the CrackBerry community to build better apps and promote them? We'll share our experience and give you the do's and don'ts. Definitely do not be shy. If you see us walking, stop us and talk to us. And if you somehow miss us during the day, the odds are good you'll find us at the hotel bar late at night. See you @ DevCon!!

• Learn More & Attend the BlackBerry Developer Conference >>

Entry #17: The Scent of a BlackBerry!

Yup, that's right... the Grand Prize Winner in our I Love My BlackBerry Video Contest is Matt Galo's amazing video production, The Scent of a BlackBerry. If you haven't seen it yet, watch it above and be blown away! For his creativity, efforts, and wicked video, Matt will be taking home a new Macbook (in honor of the launch of BlackBerry Desktop Manager for Mac), his choice of BlackBerry Storm2 or BlackBerry Bold 9700, and the Schlage LiNK home system!!

Our 1st runner up was our wild card pick, APPLECALYPSE, which drew in a lot voter support, capturing 24% of the vote compared to 26% of the vote for The Scent of a BlackBerry. 2nd place will get Kevin Leung his choice of BlackBerry Bold 9700 or Storm2. From there it was CrackBerry Therapy followed very closely by BlackBerry... A Love Story for third and fourth place respectively, each getting 11% of the votes. You can view the finalist voting breakdown below.

ALL OF OUR FINALISTS Will be receiving some great prizes, including a $50 coupon code for accessories from ShopCrackBerry.com, a free custom battery door cover from Coveroo.com, and a 1-year subscription to both SmrtGuard and Slacker Radio Plus. With the finalists and grand prize winners taken care of, we still have some shout out awards that'll be hitting the blogs over the next few days. To all our participants -- we'll be following up with all of you soon as everybody will be getting prizes (stay tuned for a big thank you to our sponsors post too).  BIG CONGRATS go to all our our finalists! 

 

A few months back Verizon Fios released an application that allows users to control their DVR from a mobile device. The app lets you search, view TV listings, record programs and more. While it was a step in the right direction, I was still frustrated that my cable company, Cablevision, had yet to release their own. Well a few months down the road, Cablevision finally got it together and revealed a web portal that allowed users to control their DVR, and Thursday they finally unveiled a mobile site for doing the same. While not a full featured app (as we could hope for down the road) the mobile site simply lets you see what programs have been recorded, delete them or search for new shows to record. Unfortunately there are no TV listings and you have to search for each program, but its definitely a good start. The service is for Cablevisions iO TV customers (a small few of us I know) and can be reached by logging into your account on your device via optimum.net. View the full press release after the jump.

• Check out Optimum.net on your device >>

Drum roll please...... and the winning bumper sticker slogan in the Where and Traffic.com Bumper to Bumper Contest is....

I would honk, but I'm on my BlackBerry!

Nice. I guess it's fitting that CrackBerry.com readers would vote the slogan with a BlackBerry theme the highest. You can see the finalist voting results below. This bumper sticker was submitted by chadmd23, who has won himself a new Garmin Nuvi 1390 T. Congrats! Big thanks to Where.com for setting up this contest, and if you haven't already, be sure to check out the Traffic.com Application for your BlackBerry today.

With the BlackBerry Bold 9700 getting set to launch on a whole lot more carriers around the world, we've taken the time to team up with BlackBerry Emporium in order to being you a contest you are sure to love. Up for grabs is a brand new, unlocked T-Mobile branded BlackBerry 9700 Smartphone as soon as the device becomes readily available. The contest is simple. Leave a comment here on this post stating why you feel as though the BlackBerry Bold 9700 is better then any of the other BlackBerry smartphones released and we'll pick a winner. BIG Thanks to BlackBerry Emporium for offering this up for our readers! Be sure to check their new website out.

[ Contest will run until the T-Mobile 9700 becomes officially available via the T-Mobile website, then a winner will be chosen shortly after. Enter once, duplicate entries will be ignored ]

 

RoadRunnerGPS is a great app whether your an avid jogger, runner, or just walk your dog each day. It uses your BlackBerry's GPS to give you an in depth summary of your distance traveled, average speed, pace, calories burnt off, and the time it took you to do so. Its built in mapping shows a detailed description of where you are, where you have been, and how you got there. After each trek you can upload all this information to the online server for review. If you're a runner or walker, you know how invaluable it can be to see all your stats, and not having to buy a separate GPS device is a big bonus. RoadRunnerGPS is available via BlackBerry Appworld for $4.99 with a 14 day free trial.

• More information and download of Roadrunner GPS >>

Just bought a new BlackBerry Bold 9700 running the latest and greatest firmware? Well... it is a pretty dang wicked device, but depending what carrier you're picking it up from when it goes on sale, you may not have the latest firmware. Example: Rogers launched the 9700 with 5.0.0.321 while T-Mobile released it with 5.0.0.330. As we head into the weekend, we have OS 5.0.0.344 up for grabs. While this is an evil leaked OS, word is it is the gold candidate build for a couple of the European carriers out there that will soon be releasing the Bold 9700, so it should become "official" soon enough.

*OS Disclaimer - Please Read: Keep in mind this is NOT an official release and as such is not supported by RIM or your Carrier. If you choose to install, do so at your own risk and only if you're comfortable in the process of upgrading and downgrading your device software. It is quite normal during operating system development for certain features to be crippled or disabled while others are tested, and these beta builds often reflect that. They are not always better. Depending on your BlackBerry comfort level, it may be best for you to wait for community feedback on a build before deciding to download and install for yourself or simply wait for the next official release. If you require support, you will find it in our CrackBerry forums via our extremely knowledgeable community base - do not contact your carrier or RIM for Beta OS technical support (their first course of action will be to advise you to downgrade to a supported OS). Follow the links below for more information and instructions. *

• Download OS 5.0.0.344 for Bold 9700 (rapidshare) >>
  
• Download OS 5.0.0.344 For The Bold 9700 (Mirror)>>
• Instructions: How to Upgrade your BlackBerry's Operating System >>
• Instructions: How to Downgrade your BlackBerry's Operating System >>
• Instructions: Mess things up? Fix a Bricked BlackBerry Here >>

The application Blurts from MLH Software has been released to the public with version 1.0.0.1.
We covered Blurts a few weeks ago when they had put out a call for beta testers in the forums.

If you are like us, you sit in front of a PC most of the day with a BlackBerry in your pocket. Every time it rings you have to dig it out just to see who is calling, and you think to yourself, wouldn't it be nice if the caller ID just popped up on my computer screen so I could see who is calling before going through the trouble to dig it out of my pocket?

Having had the opportunity to personally participate in the beta testing, I can honestly say that this is a very handy app to have, particularly for those who can't pull out their Berry in the middle of class or the office. If you find yourself sitting in front of a computer all day (as a lot of us do) then Blurts is definitely worth checking out. The pro version sells in the CrackBerry Store for $5.99, but is currently on sale until Nov 15th for $4.99.

• Download the free version >>
• Purchase the Pro version >>

A very pleasant November to you all. Can't believe November is here... the holiday 'silly season' is upon us, and it's only a matter of time before we see what RIM has planned for the holidays (besides the Storm2 and Bold 9700 of course!). Getting back to the app scene, here's what I have for you in this weeks' edition of the App Roundup:

In Case You Missed It: BlackBerry App World Updated, Slacker Radio Updated to Version 2.0.91, Elertify, Mobile Auction Manager for eBay

New This Week: Copy2Contact, Bubble Shooter!, My Electrical Calculator, 365 Solitaire Club

Apps on Sale: In Case of Emergency, I Charge Cool, Free Ringtones Maker, Calendar Date, Mobile Checkbook for BlackBerry

Cool at BlackBerry App World: Smarter Than a 5th Grader 2010

Freebie of the Week: Wallpaper Changer Lite

Hmm... this is interesting. Just yesterday we told you about DreamTheme's new offering of PrimeThemes, DreamTones and StillScreens. I was just clicking through App World catalogue this morning to see if there was any new apps on the BlackBerry scene and lo and behold, I stumbled onto a few of DreamTheme's new PrimeThemes! These are standard themes, built with the Plazmic CDK.

We've been hearing that RIM will soon announce support for themes in App World (at least to RIM ISV partners who pay the annual fee and assure RIM they are only using content they own the rights to in their themes). This is either a little slip up -- maybe naming it PrimeTheme and throwing in a few extra wallpapers was all it took to get past QA and into App World -- or maybe this is just the first of themes to show up. I guess time will reveal all.

In the meantime, if you haven't loaded it up on your device yet, be sure to grab the new CrackBerry Theme Store. It's full of free and paid themes from all developers who choose to include their collections there (no fees to developers).

• Check out DreamTheme's Themes in App World >>

Seems as though RIM is not only flooding the market with new BlackBerry smartphones but now also getting in the habit of relaunching old devices, just with new paintjobs. First we saw the BlackBerry Bold 9000 arrive in white on AT&T and Rogers (more carriers coming) but now we are getting a look at the BlackBerry Curve 8900 in white.

BGR didn't have any details on release date or anything along those lines but at least we get a glimpse at it. What do you all think? A lot of folks loved the white BlackBerry Bold 9000, so who is on board for a white BlackBerry Curve 8900?

A few days ago we covered a story that was posted on the Inside BlackBerry Blog. RIM had posted that they would be answering questions regarding BlackBerry App World and clearing up some unanswered questions about the application. After some issues with the blog not accepting questions being submitted another post went up yesterday, the second half. In it you'll find some common questions but one specifically may peak everyone's interest.

"Why won't BlackBerry App World work with my leaked OS?"

While I appreciate the power user's need to have the latest and greatest, you are using something that has not been publically released or fully tested, and of course has not been approved for use. You should only use the latest released OS for your BlackBerry smartphone - available from your carrier or at BlackBerry.com - and we think you'll find that everything will run smoothly on finalized (read: public) product.

A relevant question. But that answer doesn't really sit so well with me and probably not many others out there. It sounds as though running a leaked OS is the cause for all things not working right? But..Umm..how can this be? Considering some of the issues we have seen with officially released OS' on devices these days, we as users certainly know what was said is NOT the truth here. We could start off with themes not working (9530), media player bugs, menu system errors (9700) and the list really does go on and that folks, is the truth. Keep reading.