What do you look for in an assistant? Someone who works hard? How about a real go-getter? Someone who can easily adapt and enhance your company's policies and procedures? Oh I almost forgot; they can fetch you your latte post haste as well. I may have found someone to fill the position, meet BBAssistant. This application is brought you by HandRapid, who are also behind applications such as log2file and redialer.
Despite the BlackBerry being a small wonder, there's probably been a time or two when you said "huh, why can't I do..[insert issue here]. BBAssistant may prove to help with a few of those problems, as it seems to be a stew of features stirred into one application. These features include; creating a calendar entry when a call is disconnected or adding to an existing contact in your address book! Let's put this little keener to the test shall we?
Yes sir, right away sir!
BBAssistant is available for Berrys that are running an OS of 4.2 or higher. When you take a gander at the main menu, you may think that there isn't a lot to look at. Don't let it's simplistic visage fool you, it's actually more powerful than you realize. First, we will cover the items found in the applications main menu.
what you see isn't always what you get
The first feature is the ability to have your Berry vibrate when your outgoing call connects. In addition to this, you can choose for the vibration to last between 0.5 and 2 milliseconds. I wouldn't recommend this if you don't use a Bluetooth headset, I hate hearing the vibration in my ear. If you do decide to enable this feature, be sure that you choose the shortest vibration time possible. The person on the other line will hear the vibration, and it's quite annoying. BBAssistant also has an alert feature, sounding a soft tone, which announces that the person on the other line has disconnected. Choose a volume level between 1 and 100. In this section, they didn't include a drop down menu to scroll though. Instead, your Berry will switch to numeric mode when the cursor is in the volume section.
After you have finished with the call, BBAssistant let's you enable a calendar feature. A pop up will display and asks if you would like to create a calendar entry. A very useful feature, especially if you have just agreed to an appointment/meeting/date on the call.
create a calendar entry right after the call!
Now we get to, in my opinion, the most important features of BBAssistant. The first is "Add to Address Book." From your Call Log or Message Centre, you can choose a phone number, or incoming SMS/Email/PIN to add to your address book. Once you select the desired entry, the pop up will ask you to choose where the contact value will be listed (Work, Home, Mobile, Pager, Fax, PIN or Email). This is fool proof, you won't accidently choose for an email address to be listed as a home number. The next window is the native address book entry view. The selection is already placed in the appropriate field, now you just have to fill in the blanks.
Add a new address or add to an existing one
where oh where should this go?
The last feature allows you to add the same entry to an existing address. I couldn't get this to function. In theory, you can scroll through your contacts until you find the correct one. After you select the contact, a pop up, similar to the one found with "Add to Address Book" displays. What I saw, were the first two contacts in my address book. So after choosing one of those, the pop up displayed. I tried to select a destination (again- Home, work, etc), but then it froze and I had to exit BBAssistant. On their website, and the CrackBerry Store, I noticed that they've been actively updating BBAssistant. I can't wait to see this application at its finest as I think it will be of great help to many of you.
At the end of the day...
BBAssistant offers some great productivity features. Between Calendar entry prompts and contact management, it will keep up with your busy day. Bugs have been addressed and fixed, so it's just a matter of time until it sees its full potential. To me, there are two major issues to be looked at next; the vibration when a call is connected and the "Add to Existing Address "feature. The application, including a free trial, is available at the CrackBerry store for $10.00. I'm going to extend its probation period on my BlackBerry, I'm sure it will keep aiming to please.
Pros
- prompt for calendar entry
- add to address book
- notification for the connection and disconnection of a call
Cons
- the vibration can be heard by the other person connected to the call
- application freezes when using "Add to Existing Address"
Download / Purchase
