Despite what some of us want to believe, there are times when you simply can't use your BlackBerry. Whether it be an important meeting, family function or a romantic evening, the Berry must stay holstered. You fight the urge, sighing and squirming in your seat.
"Well, I should at least let them know I'm busy," you think to yourself, "it's the polite thing to do." You sneak a peek at the email, it's nothing critically important, but you decide to respond letting them know you're busy. The next thing you know, you're busted. You should have done one of two things beforehand; Keep your BlackBerry holstered and pick up a copy of CrackBerry: True Tales of Use and Abuse, or find a way to respond without getting caught.
Let them know you're in a meeting, without picking up your BlackBerry.
Antair Email Auto-Responder for the BlackBerry will help you to stay focused on the task at hand. The application allows you to create tailored, automatic email responses for your incoming emails. Essentially, Antair turns Out of Office replies into Out of Reach of my BlackBerry replies. Read on for more.
No Need to Type Responses to Incoming Email
Besides Auto -Responder, the Antair Corporation offers both effective solutions (including their Spam Filter and Call- Screener) and entertaining games from their Antair Games division. If you look waaaay back in the blogs, CrackBerry held a contest in June 2007, giving away a copy of Antair's Asteroid Jane. Antair Auto-Responder supports a wide range of BlackBerry models (with OS 4.1 and higher), supporting both BIS and BES devices. The application size is 125.1KB.
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the main screen
The load page displays a background resembling parchment paper and ink pen. I was hoping that this design would carry into the application, but the design then switches to a blue, basic interface. Each of your email accounts will be listed in the application. You will be able to decide which account you can enable or disable the Auto-Responder for. There are two types of responses available to you:
Custom Response - a response sent to predefined, specific email address or to a specific group (domain). Typically used for company emails.
Global Response - these responses go out to everybody who doesn't have a custom response assigned.
When you open up either Custom or Global Response, you have a generic "Out of Office "and "Busy Right Now" replies which are already loaded. These can be edited to suit your needs, or you can virtually create an unlimited number of automatic responses, with e-mail subject and e-mail body fields to fill in. Now you can create responses for friends, family, co-workers, frenemies, customers and more. The process of pairing responses to contacts is quite simple. Select a response and Auto-Responder opens up a list of email addresses from your native BlackBerry contact list where you can choose to add a specific address or domain. You can also manually enter in an email address or domain for someone not in your address book.
accessing contacts from our address book
create custom responses
When I had to send multiple emails to a specific contact, say reports I had to submit, I hated receiving multiple auto-responses immediately. Auto-Responder lets you set a response wait period. So, if the application sends out an auto response and the same person emails you again, you can have the application wait up to 24 hours before sending the auto response.
set time intervals
Although Antair Auto-Responder is very easy to use, there is an overview/manual embedded into the application. Once set, the application works perfectly and auto-responses were sent out as programmed. The menu doesn't hold much, basically the settings and help options. Unfortunately, the menu cannot be accessed by using your BlackBerry menu button, you have to scroll until the link at the top right is highlighted. No shortcuts are available as well.
Conclusion
Antair Auto-Responder is a simple yet effective solution to getting back to people when you just can't whip your BlackBerry out. Though, if you use Outlook or Exchange, you can set up rules to send auto responses as well for free. I would love to see Antair including options to set up rules for auto response start and stop times, or even tie the rules to your profile. That way, you can switch your profile to vibrate or silent and have specific auto-responses activated. If you think Auto-Responder is right for you, you can pick it up at the CrackBerry store for $19.95. It is a little pricy, but if you can truly benefit from it, it may be worth the cost. If you're not sure, there is a 7 day trial available. For more on Antair Auto Email Responder, click here.
Pros
- Create an unlimited number or responses
- Set responses for groups or individuals
- Good to go for BIS and BES
Cons
- Menu option awkwardly accessed
- Cost
Download
