BerryBuzz updated to version 4.0 - Now known as BeBuzz across the board

By Adam Zeis on 28 Feb 2011 09:29 am

In celebration of it's own birthday, BerryBuzz has been updated to version 4.0 today and will also be know now as BeBuzz. BeBuzz is a great app that changes up the standard red LED on your device to a variety of colors. You can set custom alerts for BBM, emails, 3rd party apps and much more. New features of version 4.0 include:

BerryBuzz is now BeBuzz!
Toasts - Shows small unobtrusive messages at the bottom or top of the screen for notifications and incoming messages
BlackBerry Sound Profile Settings - Enable/disable LED, audible reminders, vibrate and toasts depending on your active BlackBerry sound profile
Custom Disco Colors - Now you can finally create your own disco colors! Share them via e-mail, Twitter and Facebook.
New Flashing Type "Smooth Pulse" - In addition to the regular LED flashing BeBuzz 4 adds the option to use a smooth pulsing LED light
Completely Reworked User Interface - Sleeker, cleaner and more powerful
More bug fixes, many minor changes and improvements

This update is $1.99 for current users of BerryBuzz 3.x while users who purchased BerryBuzz 3.x after Jan 1st, 2011 are eligible for a free upgrade. Head to the link below for more info.

More information/download of BeBuzz

Topics: BerryBuzz BeBuzz BlackBerry Apps

Adam Zeis 3025 (articles) 2789 (forum posts)

79 comments

boman06210 Feb 28, 2011 at 9:39 am

Im interested in what the toasts look like

DrewDT Feb 28, 2011 at 9:39 am

On the fence here. Are disco lights and toasts worth $1.99 as an upgrade cost?

stranger99 Feb 28, 2011 at 9:44 am

If you need to ask if anything is worth $1.99, then your answer is "no".

DrewDT Feb 28, 2011 at 10:01 am

Seriously, keep the condescending remarks to yourself in the future, they are immature and unappreciated. $1.99 won't break me but I'm just wondering out loud if these upgrades are just fluff warranting extra fees or if they are legimately worthy of more money. When you use alot of apps on your phone, these "nominal" fees can add up quickly.

dimm0k Feb 28, 2011 at 12:20 pm

Ditto on the worthless remarks... I went for the update myself since it supposedly fixes bugs, as well as future updates until the next major release. That and I was curious as to what these toasts are...

toppa Feb 28, 2011 at 9:39 am

sweet

nadjas9 Feb 28, 2011 at 9:45 am

I just use this app less than 3 month, and free upgrade is for user that buy the app in january! Ths is suck! Good move bellshare :)

spektakle Feb 28, 2011 at 12:20 pm

Me too... I just bought 2 months ago :(

tnhrocks Feb 28, 2011 at 9:50 am

I've had the app for a couple years and got wacked for the full amount $5.99 that's they're way of saying thank you to loyal customers! WTH

zorik72 Feb 28, 2011 at 11:20 am

I too paid $5.99 for the last update - it was expensive, but it was worth it for me since it allowed to add alert for PocketInformant I that use a lot.
But this upgrade is not worth $1.99 or at the very least it should be less or free to those who already paid for the last upgrade.

Sainthak Mar 1, 2011 at 1:59 am

Yeah its a lot of that going on nowdays. I too paid full price and they want me too add 1.99 to it nonsense.

tyler_zyco Feb 28, 2011 at 9:51 am

I'm pretty sure I bought it after January 1st,, so how do I upgrade? When I press "check for updates", It says I already have the newest version. I have a Torch 9800.

Silverbb222 Mar 1, 2011 at 5:01 am

I bought this app a week ago, but came seem to find the 'free update' either. :(

jlb21 Feb 28, 2011 at 9:55 am

Does this new version add the support for Uber Social?

If not, I'll hold off on an added $1.99 for now.

mckillio Feb 28, 2011 at 10:55 am

Add support? It was supported in 3.x

jlb21 Feb 28, 2011 at 11:08 am

UberTwitter, yes.

The new UberSocial, no. It is not yet listed as an option in the app. And yes, I have rebooted/BP my phone a few times since I had loaded the new UberSocial.

CashV Feb 28, 2011 at 6:14 pm

It added support to ubersocial.

gbons Feb 28, 2011 at 9:59 am

i don't understand how people who bought this before Jan 2011 are being charged for an upgrade, i'll hold off for now

gregorylkelly Feb 28, 2011 at 10:05 am

Note to self, don't ever buy BellShare apps, they will charge you for upgrades. I hope Bellshare reads this and realizes that they are hurting themselves for future purchases.

Signed,

Happy BuzzMe Customer

The Consigliere Feb 28, 2011 at 10:05 am

Yeah that's something I never really understood either, those people who have used your product longer kind of get screwed over & have to pay more to get the latest upgrade while those who just bought it pay less? I've never really used this but have been hit with this kind of thing on other apps in the past.

brava27 Feb 28, 2011 at 10:06 am

It is a great app but as a paying customer who has purchased this program in the past 3 times. Paying $1.99 for an "upgrade"? I already paid for this program. Who pays for an upgrade? $1.99 is pocket change, but it is annoying that hardly anything changes in this app. It is just a money grab IMO....

elvin1983 Feb 28, 2011 at 10:07 am

Updated this app this morning. It's without a doubt one of my favorite apps for BB. The updated UI is really nice, especially the settings menu. I don't particularly care for the "smooth pulse" but some folks may like it.

The tosts are just a little notification box that you can set for top, bottom, bubble, or bottom rounded, and it just pops up with an alert of what kind of message you have waiting. It's pretty cool, and you can disable it if you want. Access to the app has also switched from the option being in the options menu, to the actual app icon.

It's only $2 to upgrade it, not really a question whether or not to upgrade. It's worth the two bucks.

brades Feb 28, 2011 at 10:09 am

$1.99 for an upgrade? D:

ba_hamilton Feb 28, 2011 at 10:13 am

The toasts are worth it. I've been using this new version for a while now and the toasts really add something to the app. The options that this app has are many. It will take a little bit to get it set up exactly how you want it. Almost everything is customizable. But thats part of the fun of this app.

mikeplus1 Feb 28, 2011 at 10:22 am

Yeah $2 is not that much, but is it really that much of an upgrade and do I really need it, probably not on both counts. :(

teddyp6 Feb 28, 2011 at 10:45 am

I have been using BerryBuzz for over 2 years and love it. 1.99 isn't that bad and I like the upgrades its done. Anyone that wants to know about the "toasts", it basically does the same thing as the Leave it On app now.

joebmxx Feb 28, 2011 at 10:56 am

atleast there only asking for $1.99 to upgrade there asking me for the full price of the app again!

mckillio Feb 28, 2011 at 11:00 am

If I could figure out how to do the $1.99 upgrade, I probably would.

aaimbrogno Feb 28, 2011 at 11:13 am

I got the email that it came out this morning, and I downloaded it. It said that it was 1.99 but it said that it charged 0.00 to my credit card...and on the actual download page itself it said it was 0.00. I'm not a new user, I've been using this app since I got my tour in July of 09, so maybe I just got lucky and didn't have to pay? I probably would pay the $2 for the upgrade, it's got some nice features.

eve6er69 Feb 28, 2011 at 11:15 am

update still didnt hit app world.

jlb21 Feb 28, 2011 at 11:16 am

Will it allow you to restore your 3.x BerryBuzz settings?

Would be a PITA if not......

mckillio Feb 28, 2011 at 11:25 am

It does.

cookney Feb 28, 2011 at 11:21 am

http://berrygoodthemes.blogspot.com

my view on costly app upgrade prices, and the real reason why devs charge for updates!!!

jlb21 Feb 28, 2011 at 11:45 am

I read your blog post and like what you have to say.

In principle, I have no problem with Bellshare or any developer with distinguishing between maintenance/support updates and major revisions.

I do consider 4.x a major upgrade.

What would upset me the most is if there are little changes/maintenance/support things that are held off until a major upgrade. But, in the grand scheme of things, if you were a busy developer, this might be seen as normal practice.

I just hope Bellshare will provide UberSocial support to 3.x.

mckillio Feb 28, 2011 at 11:48 am

The main problem with your argument is that no one has to upgrade to the latest software. Is 75% of original price too much for an upgrade, yes, probably. If so, don't buy it. If enough people don't then they will have to lower their costs or go out of business.

jlb21 Feb 28, 2011 at 11:53 am

Oh, true.

To your point, I sent a tweet to @bellshare asking about UberSocial Support, but more importantly saying I was NOT going to pay to update at this time.

I encourage anyone who is "displeased" with the whole uprgade fee thing to contact them in some fashion and speak your mind.

You never know.......

tekware Feb 28, 2011 at 11:26 am

I paid for this app when I first bought it almost two years ago and I paid for the so called update after that which actually made the product work properly. I felt so blessed when I received the next update for free since I fell within their rapidly diminishing upgrade window. I will not update my current version for $1.99 and I will not purchase another Bellshare product. A brand new customer can get the latest product for less money than someone who purchased it just 3 months prior. They reward their long time customers with constant upgrade fees. Well this long time customer rewards Bellshare by steering all my friends and customers away from their products.

the brother Feb 28, 2011 at 11:48 am

i hope i don't get flamed for this question - are there any changes to the slim FREE version? thanks

pa7tip Feb 28, 2011 at 12:27 pm

I wouldn't mind paying if I could figure out how to upgrade.

Quisinberry Feb 28, 2011 at 12:28 pm

Setting the LED color should be a factory-installed setting.

bxsweety830 Feb 28, 2011 at 12:42 pm

After waiting almost 3 months before getting help from BeBuzz regarding last upgrade, I will not be buying.

jchenschel Feb 28, 2011 at 12:46 pm

I just upgraded (for free, have been an owner of BerryBuzz 1+ years, sweet!). My toasts for emails display sender, subject etc., but not for texts. All it says is "text message". Is this supposed to happen? Also, my understanding is BBM cannot recognize sender, just that you have a BBM. Either way, neat update.

Noobie101 Feb 28, 2011 at 12:51 pm

Someone tell me how to update please can't figure it out thanks

pistolpetefan23 Feb 28, 2011 at 12:53 pm

Until it is figured out if this new version supports UberSocial, I won't be paying for an update.

SenorLoco Feb 28, 2011 at 2:00 pm

Yes, 4.0 does support UberSocial.

rmingram Feb 28, 2011 at 1:01 pm

Personally, I'm not feeling the $1.99 upgrade fee. I've been a loyal customer for a year and paid upgrade fees in the past. But somewhere along the way, i have to draw the line and it's drawn here. I will stay with 3x, now unsupported, version.

PJD642 Feb 28, 2011 at 1:10 pm

The update hasn't hit App World as of 13:08 EST, and although the mobihand website shows version 4.x, when I get the link to download it still shows 3.2.1.8, which is what I already have.

I'm going to upgrade, but it's annoying that the update is announced & shows on their website, but apparently isn't actually available yet. How about uploading it to your servers before making the announcement?

StormJH1 Feb 28, 2011 at 1:11 pm

Agreed with being against the "dink-and-dunk" charges for existing buyers. No, $1.99 isn't a lot, but it's kind of like being constantly asked to buy "expansion packs" for an item I already own. My current BerryBuzz is working fine, and I'm only going to make it worse trying to upgrade without any discernible gain.

will_iaint Feb 28, 2011 at 1:25 pm

How does the website know how that i have a copy of berrybuzz already? i bought mine 2 weeks ago. i actually bought it on mobihand.com

Timelessblur Feb 28, 2011 at 1:58 pm

Nice upgrade. If it was not for them putting a free coupon code on twitter I would not of upgraded mine but since it was free I jumped on it.

don.new Feb 28, 2011 at 2:17 pm

I was hoping IM+Talk was going to be supported, but only IM+Pro seems to be.

xandermac Feb 28, 2011 at 2:28 pm

This is an app that is struggling to remain relevant. V3 is about as far as it can go, adding "toasts" is just a ploy to get people to pay for a pointless update. Spend the money on bepopup & get useful notifications instead.

Bold_9809 Feb 28, 2011 at 11:14 pm

Yup. I'm agree with u. toast is really a pointless update. BePopup is much more useful than this crap.

dmann96 Feb 28, 2011 at 2:45 pm

Here's the problem ... The ORIGINAL cost of the app is too high! I paid full price when I bought this app, and I like it, but charging a $1.99 to upgrade is plain bullsh!t if you ask me. Had I paid 99 cents for the app and had to pay 99 cents again I would but to pay $6 bucks and then $2 more is pointless and I believe this is the 2nd time I have had to do this; now paying $10.00 for an app that changes LED colors ... And now provides something that another developer provided long ago (** cough** Shao-Soft's Leave It On app **cough**).

The developer, of course, now has you by the balls! Because if you have to reinstall your OS and thus redownload all your apps you have to pay for the upgrade ... Thank God for BBSAK!!! And a BIG FU to BellShare!

Lessthanperfekt Feb 28, 2011 at 3:21 pm

I'm sorry but that's ridiculous to pay 1.99 for an upgrade of an app every other 4 months. When 3.0 launched they had 2 updates in the course of a couple of months, now we have to pay 1.99 to upgrade to 4.0 which might or might not be worth it. Though 1.99 isn't a lot of money, its the fact that you have to do it constantly. This is by far the only company I know that charges their long time customer a fee to upgrade, but customers who bought it recently gets it for free. That's a load of bullsh!t I'll stick with 3.0

gloommerchant Feb 28, 2011 at 3:23 pm

This upgrade erased all my custom sound profiles.

roninksb Feb 28, 2011 at 4:28 pm

Hmmm ... I noticed this as well. What is seems to have done is moved the BeBuzz alert configuration into BeBuzz itself. However, there appears to be an option to put them back in the BB profile manager by selecting "Use BlackBerry Profile" which show up at the end of the alert list. However, this does not seem to work quite right as using this option is hit or miss. Sometimes the entry shows up in the BB Profile Manager and some times it does not. Also, it seems that a reset removes the entry from the BB Profile Manager. Managing the alert with BeBuzz itself would not be so bad if it allowed you to access all of the ringtones which it does not seem to do. Many of the built-in ringtones on my Torch are not in the list, I am not sure why they are not visible.

SenorLoco Feb 28, 2011 at 6:11 pm

BeBuzz does not have access to the BlackBerry built in ringtones. The few ringtones that you do see are actually built in to BeBuzz. You can also use your own ringtones that are either on your SDCard or on the device memory.

nmburns Feb 28, 2011 at 4:01 pm

One of the new features shows you can manage the sound profile settings... It appears that you can personalize what happens by sound profile. I would like to set the leds to off when I'm in Silent mode... so I set all to off, yet it doesn't work - I'm still getting the colors coming through.. anybody else tried this?

roninksb Feb 28, 2011 at 4:32 pm

try this, go into BeBuzz Options, select Profile Settings, select Silent, turn LED from Enabled to Off.

nmburns Feb 28, 2011 at 4:41 pm

Hi there, I did try that first and it doesn't work. I'm still getting led notifications coming through...,. UGH!

SummersLastNight Feb 28, 2011 at 4:03 pm

Toasts are pointless for me as I only use different LEDs for different messages: eg. Blue is BBM, red is Text, green email. As far as bugs go, my version works fine. I shall not be paying another 1.99 to upgrade for no value gained.

LaHaye Feb 28, 2011 at 4:13 pm

Bellshare is like a vampire....its sucking blood.....I buy berrybuzz3.0.x on Dis 2010 now they had a new version....and I should pay them for an upgrade??? KILL ME!!! I don't want to pay anything for an upgrade....its only a software for an smartphone not a Lappy or computer...damn You Bellshare...right now I'm stick with Bebuzz 3.0.x....

aubinhick990 Feb 28, 2011 at 4:13 pm

Charging AGAIN for this is bull. I'm not buying. I bought it half off initially a few years ago, and paid for 1 upgrade (multi color was worth it...kinda)...but there is NO way I'm buying again, Bellshare!

greenii Feb 28, 2011 at 4:32 pm

I purchased this about a year ago - for $5.99 - silly to have to pay an upgrade fee - but I was going to do it....until I went to check out and saw that the cost it was STILL charging me was $5.99. It's a nice app....but not worth another $6.00.

I hope those that purchased the upgrade enjoy it!

SenorLoco Feb 28, 2011 at 6:13 pm

You will want to contact the store where you originally purchased BeBuzz because you should not have to purchase at $5.99 again...

mingus007 Feb 28, 2011 at 6:51 pm

Well, I'm definitely not as angry as a lot of other folks in these comments (was in on BerryBuzz/BeBuzz since its 1.0 rendition and purchased upgrades through 3.x, chiefly for OS compatibility). My only beef, really, is for $2, make it...well...actually WORTH $2! Not even "$2 more," but the $2. For folks who have paid in $10 already, it's got to have some chutzpah to ask for a total of $12 for an incremental bump. That said, I'll be passing on this one. Liking BBuzz 3.x. It works. Maybe at rev. 5.x...if it's "worth it"! But that's just me.

luqman24 Feb 28, 2011 at 7:05 pm

No ill pass. I have no issues with the current version and works fine. If anything they should let me use the BePopup app that I've purchased with my old device and update the code to let it work with my Torch. Thanks being loyal to ur customers Bellshare.

HaTaX Feb 28, 2011 at 7:45 pm

The main reason you don't see it in AppWorld? AppWorld isn't setup to charge people for updates to apps, so there's no way for them to process a $1.99 fee to upgrade. They'll have to release it under a different name or something to get around that....

I worry about these trends of developers saying you get a specified time frame of support or updates on mobile devices. I understand that there are more changes on mobile platforms on a more frequent basis, but it seems that users are getting nickled and dimed left and right with these $1-4 charges...

Bellshare would do well to make a BeSuper app that has all of their applications functionality built into one package. I think they'd get a lot of traction with a combined app like that.

courtneyk93 Feb 28, 2011 at 8:35 pm

i love the toasts, i just wish the text message toast would pop up the person's name instead of just saying text message.

brando0623 Feb 28, 2011 at 8:53 pm

I'm a current user of berrybuzz 3.x and purchased it in app world prior to bbid showing up, how do I get the $1.99 upgrade for bebuzz

Fit24 Feb 28, 2011 at 9:12 pm

No upgrade for me. Version 3. works fine.

Raistlin1 Feb 28, 2011 at 10:39 pm

I think this will be the third time I am upgrading... If I upgrade

JunkieXP Mar 1, 2011 at 3:54 am

Last upgrade I'd paid just because of WhatsApp Support which I think was a huge turn off, this Time I was wondering if they included a LED for WhatsApp GroupChat and I was curious at the Toasts and Smooth Pulse, all those functions disappointed me, or where not included =(. I get sick that I'll have to pay for each and every Update (except for the first BugFix update in between).

For Toasts I'd hope to see a little Preview, or Sender, but you only get the type of message you receive. This was a big turnoff, but what could you expect, when the same company has an App that does this for a living (BePopup)

Smooth Pulse wasn't so Smooth as expected, I see myself using this, although I want to set it for each notifier separately.

Also BeBuzz now no longer include in the Settings list, which is too bad =(.

Good thing to know, is you can now Provide your own LED Requests: http://www.bellshare.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2571. Hope they will implement this for own In-App use, although I think they will charge you $1,99 for this.

JustPlainJef Mar 1, 2011 at 4:58 am

How dare they charge for a revision to their software! That's just wrong of them!!!

By the way, I have an old Metallica cassette tape from back in high school. That entitles me to get all of their albums on CD now, right? I mean, I've already given them money, now I should be entitled to all of their work! I've got Windows Vista on my computer at home, but Microsoft won't give me a free upgrade to Windows 7. The nerve of them... And my car is getting old, but the dealership won't give me a brand new car for free... They are just a bunch of jerks. I've all ready paid for their product, I should get new ones for free, shouldn't I? [/sarcasm]

No one is forcing people to buy the upgrades. No need to bad mouth the company for wanting to charge for their work. I think offering a $6 product for $2 to anyone who's on the previous version is a fine idea.

JunkieXP Mar 1, 2011 at 5:21 am

I don't blame them for there paid updates with new Functionality. But it's the fact that new Notifier LED's won't ever come in Previous Versions.

So if you'd used UberTwitter, you won't see any Notifier LED's in this App (now called UberSocial) untill you upgrade to V4.

I think this App List should be provided for update to those guys as well, at least for about a year after they paid for the App / Upgrade, that's the least of support you can give within such an App, right?

UnityDivides Mar 3, 2011 at 1:56 am

I upgraded, because I'm a sucker like that, and...no toasts. Nothing. I've tried battery pulls, changing the settings, everything. Nothing's coming up. That's frustrating.

will_iaint Mar 4, 2011 at 4:42 pm

why was i charged 5.99 if i already had berrybuzz?!

PJD642 Mar 6, 2011 at 12:42 pm

Well, it is listed as a public BETA, so I guess that explains why V 4.x did the following:

1) Erased all my custom sound settings and restored the factory "Loud, Medium, Silent" etc.
2) Custom flash colors ("discos") can be created and assigned to specific contacts, but it still only flashes the generic ring flash when the specified contact calls me.
3) Reminders for missed MMS, SMS, etc are gone.

I went back to 3.2.18, and will stay with it until the bugs are worked out of V 4.xx.

And yes, I did 2 battery pulls after installing and changing the settings.

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