Ok Ok. BlackBerrius Maximus is GARY's column, not Plevin's, but I had to hi-jack it this week to relay my BlackBerry Bold torture test to y'all. I love my BlackBerry Bold... but I have been pretty hard on it in the blogs, you know, with the buggered browsers it shipped with and the fact NYC hated it. I might be one of the world's biggest BlackBerry fan boys, but that doesn't mean I'll blindly drink the koolaid. If something doesn't perform to expectations, I'm gonna call it out, and if it kicks a$$, I'm gonna sing its praise.
Enter the BlackBerry Bold torture test. What's that you ask? Well... put it this way... Have you ever tried installing 23 applications onto your BlackBerry smartphone in one shot via Desktop Manager? Me neither. I install most of my apps one at a time via OTA downloads these days, and when I do bust out Desktop Manager to load up apps or themes I load up one or two per time at most. But 23?! Leading up to the torture test I didn't know what to expect. I figured either Desktop Manager would freeze, my Bold would "nuke" itself, or perhaps both computer and BlackBerry would spontaneously burst into flames. This just doesn't seem like a stress-test RIM would put their devices or software through. Just to be safe, I kept a fire extinguisher close at hand. Read on to see if the Bold survived.
Why Would I Even Do This?
Why bother attempting to install 23 apps at once onto a BlackBerry? Because I had to. I mentioned the other day that I was judging the games category of the BlackBerry Developer Challenge. In that role, I was set with the task late last Wednesday to test out and rate over 30 BlackBerry Games that were submitted and I had to get my ratings in by Monday (the finalists get free attendance to the BlackBerry Developer Conference at the end of this month).
Let the Games err.. Torture Test Begin!
The games I had to judge were stored up on an FTP site, so I yanked down the files (one zip per game), and extracted everything onto my desktop. Then the realization struck me... Frack, I have to install all of these??! This is gonna take forever. I connected my Bold to my PC via USB and opened up BlackBerry Desktop Manager. I added one game. Then I added another. I was about to click Finish and let them install... but then thought... Wait, what's stopping me from adding another game? I don't see any warnings here that say don't install anything else.
So I kept clicking and clicking and clicking... adding game after game to be installed on my BlackBerry Bold. I started to get worried. I started to sweat. Doom was on the horizon. But Desktop Manager kept taking it, so I kept giving it. Finally, when I hit 23 apps, I said enough is enough. Time to hit FINISH and see what this Bold is made of.
Load up those games!!
Time to Cross my Fingers and Hit FINISH!
I hit the Finish button at 12:22pm. I watched for a couple of minutes as the apps began to install... it started off ok, but got painful quick. After two minutes, one of the installation progress bars got stuck. I watched it not move for a minute and figured... here we go, beginning of the end, I'm going to have to reload the OS one more time. Thinking I bring the Bold bad luck, I decided to risk the house fire and go grab some lunch. I'd discover the final fate of my Bold soon enough.
I arrived back home at 12:42pm (beef donair in one hand, can of Coke in the other) to find the following displayed on my computer below:
SUCCESS!!!
Holy FRAK! It worked!! In the time I went to grab some lunch, all 23 apps installed with no issues at all. Was I surprised? Yes. Should I have been surprised? I honestly don't know. I have no idea how many apps it's "safe" to try installing at one time. Next time I'll try for over 30 apps in one install process.
It makes me wonder... was this even torture for the Bold? If not, I can at least tell you it was torture on myself - just unzipping that many folders and adding the apps to be installed wore out my left mouse button from all the clicking, never mind the mental anguish I put myself through.
My application free memory dropped from 56 megs free to 45 in the process, but all said done my games we're installed and I could get to the task at hand... playing them! No rant here... the Bold survived this torture test with FLYING COLORS.
Time to Play some BlackBerry Games!
I know what you're asking now... which game was the best?! My lips are sealed for now on that question. Once the Devloper Conference is over and the winners are announced, I'll be sure to let you know my personal faves in a follow-up post. But for now, this episode of BlackBerrius Maximus is finished!
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