BlackBerry App Roundup for October 16, 2015

Howdy CrackBerry Nation! What a hectic week it has been here in New York. From baseball games to endless meetings I am grateful it is finally over so I can get back to what I enjoy, bringing you this week's BlackBerry app roundup as well as some of the top news from the last seven days. We started things off with another episode of BerryFlow Upstream Podcast - Bide which discussed John Chen's interview at Code/Mobile, followed by learning that users can now sign up to receive the latest Priv by BlackBerry information. Finally, as we all love a good contest, be to sure to enter to win a $200 shopping spree at ShopCrackBerry.

Now it's time to bring you this week's picks for all your passionate BlackBerry addicts out there. You can find each app and game I've rustled up for you by clicking through the gallery below. If your favorite did not make the cut this week, remember you can help by offering your suggestions at the end.

Bluetooth Terminal by Bojan Komljenović

Going through the App Announcement forums I came across this useful productivity tool for those seeking to run their own Bluetooth server. Bluetooth Terminal offers several features including allowing to discover, pair, and communicate with other BT devices directly from your BlackBerry, send commands to other devices via serial port protocol, create, edit and delete preset commands per device, file sending, and real database support in the background. In addition, the developer points out it is the perfect companion for developing with Arduino, Raspberry Pi or other boards. It offers a simple and user friendly interface to quickly connect and communicate with all your devices. You can purchase Bluetooth Terminal for $1.99 in BlackBerry World for OS 10.3.1 and higher.

Learn More / Purchase Bluetooth Terminal

Emoji Pack by Azuware

When it comes to choosing applications, I take suggestions from all sources, even from links shared in BBM Groups. For those looking for emojis beyond the stock ones to insert into various messages and applications then this one will do the trick. The free version offers 200 emojis in five different categories: people, nature, objects, places, and symbols. Upgrading to the Pro Version for $0.99 will unlock additional packs. Emoji Pack works best with those running OS 10.3.1 and higher.

Learn More / Download Emoji Pack

Tunable: Tuner, Metronome, and Recorder by AffinityBlue

Recently, I decided to take up the violin again. As I used to play years ago, but forgot my training, I am basically starting from scratch. That being said, the instructor urged me to download a metronome application for practicing at home. Since the only metronome I had was my mother's from the 1960's, an update was in order. We have seen tuners before but I decided to go for the all-in-one toolkit from the Amazon Appstore. Tunable is a chromatic tuner, tone/chord generator, metronome, and recorder from the same developer behind NodeBeat. It offers a plethora of features in an intuitive interface. Musicians can visualize the tuner and view note, octave, and frequency, play and sustain chords, adjust tempo, beats per measure and subdivision, and record and save unlimited recordings. To view the rest of its capabilities please refer to application description. You can find this one-stop-shop for all your performing needs for $1.95 in the Amazon Appstore and the Amazon Underground (US, UK, Germany, and France only) for free.

Learn how to install Tunable from the Amazon Appstore

Journey to the Core! by dream.make.play

Another one from the forums, this next selection is an arcade game by an indie developer. Journey to the Core is a space shooter that is fun for everyone. The story behind this game is that your ship must travel down a live volcano and navigate the treacherous lava-filled tunnels to make your way to the core with only a gravity gun to protect you. This adventure comes with simple onscreen controls and the only thing to watch out for is that your gravity gun can actually destroy your ship if it hits you. The downside is that this is extremely easy to do. Journey to the Core! is free to download from the Amazon Appstore.

Learn how to install Journey to the Core! from the Amazon Appstore

Term48 by Todd Mortimer

Searching for a terminal emulator for your BlackBerry? Looking no further than Term48. It grants users access to the local shell on your device using various commands. Additional features include Unicode support, color, preferences for font and meta keys, and support for both Bluetooth keyboards and the virtual keyboard. I have had no issues entering in different commands, though I was careful what I entered. Being the novice in this area I will leave it up to the more knowledgeable individuals to use. Unleash your inner geek and download this native fully-functional terminal emulator for free from BlackBerry World.

Learn More / Download Term48

What You Might Have Missed

Read Out adds more language support and squashes bugs in the latest update

This week popular Text to Speech app Read Out! received an update. This included an array of bug fixes and improvements to enhance your experience. If you aren't familiar with Read Out, it essentially translates text into an audio file so you can listen to your messages and various other forms of text hands-free. It's just that simple. Text can be shared from other applications or you can type text directly into Read Out. Once the audio is generated, users may share the mp3. Be sure to check out our quick review of Read Out if you haven't already. ReadOut! can be purchased from BlackBerry World for $0.99.

Learn More / Purchase Read Out! (TTS, Text to MP3) from BlackBerry World

Until next week...

That's it for this week folks. For more apps and games, be sure to head on over to the CrackBerry Forums where you will find even more hidden gems to choose from whether it be for BlackBerry 10, BBOS or the BlackBerry PlayBook. Of course, you can always find the latest and greatest top editor's picks in the CrackBerry App Gallery. Are there any apps or games you would like to see? Feel free to leave your suggestions in the comments.