Drivesafe.ly, the application which reads you emails and SMS messages to you while you are driving has hit a big milestone. 1 Million users are now putting Drivesafe.ly to work for them and making the roads a little bit safer for all. The application is great for those who need to have their information asap but not willing to put their and others safety at risk while driving.

Drivesafe.ly comes in two versions, free and premium with the premium version eliminating ad's that are played before hearing your messages. One thing to note though if you are planning on using the app, which I really wish Drivesafe.ly would make more obvious is that it will email the sender of every message read to let them know you are using Drivesafe.ly. Rather annoying if you do not adjust the settings.

Contest: We have 25 free copies of Drivesafe.ly to give away. Just leave a comment on this post to enter. Contet ends this Sunday at Midnight PST. Please only leave one comment, multiple entries won't count.

• Download Drivesafe.ly For All BlackBerry Devices Today>>

 

T-Mobile looks to be revamping all kinds of plans and devices lately, and their latest offering dubbed T-Mobile Complete just adds to the fun. The new program allows for contract-free devices, namely the Curve 8520. According to Engadget, you can grab the Curve 8520 for $299.99 or a Pearl for $149.99. The first month of service is including free, but you're on your own after that. The plans start around $59.99, so not a bad deal if you are weary of getting in on a contract. The T-Mobile Complete packages should be arriving in Best Buy and WalMart just in time for the holiday season.

Since the release of the new Theme Builder 5.0 theme developers have been hard at working getting some new themes out the door. Hedone Design is no exception to that, the latest creation being GreenTech is the first Hedone Design theme to be completely made with Theme Builder 5.0. As always icons are nice and fresh, wallpaper is crystal clear and high res and transitions built into the theme are nice and smooth.

If you are using 4.x operating system must select 4.x versions. For more recent (5.x) operating system it is better to take 5.x theme as it includes features that until now were not used. GreenTech is available now for only $3.99 until Nov. 23rd and supports Bold incl. 9700, Storm, Tour and Curve 8900 devices and is available in Zen and TodayPlus versions.

• Purchase And Download GreenTech Today For Only $3.99>>

MeterBerry is one of the best tools a BlackBerry Abuser can have. The full-featured app gives you access to all the stats you could want about your device. Battery status, memory info and device statistics - its all here. You can see what goes on with your device so you always stay on top of things. Battery discharge rate, view your free application memory changes, show uptime, battery temparture and much more. Meterberry is the best tool you can have if you are a serious BlackBerry User. One of our top sellers, Meterberry is available in the CrackBerry App Store for $2.95, but we have 100 free copies to give away. Just leave a comment on this post to enter. Contest ends this Sunday at Midnight PST. Please only leave one comment, multiple entries won't count.

• More information and download of MeterBerry >>

ColorWare dropped us an email last night (sorry for getting this up so slow) letting us know about the availability of "Parts Only" ordering for the BlackBerry Curve 8900. This is a great service for those not wanting to have to send in their device to ColorWare and be without a BlackBerry until the order has been fufilled. Prices are still a little up there for some users, starting at $159 for the parts only option but for those who want true customization ColorWare is the way to go. Now the real question remains, when can we expect BlackBerry Storm2 and 9700 parts? ;)

• Head On Over To Colorware To Get Started On Your Order Today >>

 

Color ID is an app that allows you to customize your device's LED alerts for SMS, incoming calls and email from specific contacts on your BlackBerry smartphone. Its interface is easy to use and lets you choose from 10 different colors, as well as using 2 colors per alert if you wish. These color combinations can be applied to multiple contacts and are synched to your BlackBerry's address book. Color ID is a great way to customize your BlackBerry and make good use your LED. The obvious comparison to BerryBuzz will be made, but the two have different features (ie. BerryBuzz isn't for specific contacts) that set them apart. There is also a lite version that allows you to customize 2 contacts. Color ID is available for $5.99 in CrackBerry App Store.

• More information and download of Color ID>>
• More information and download of Color ID free>>

If you've ever wanted to tweak your backlight settings for any apps like Google Maps, or just needed to leave the backlight on, Leave It On is your solution. The simple app lets you choose when and for how long to leave the backlight on for any application. You can set the light on while charging or plugged in via USB, or have it light up when messages come in. Features include:

• Leave the backlight on automatically for up to 8 applications. Just launch the application and Leave It On will automatically keep the backlight on for you.
  
• Keep the backlight on while charging, through USB, car charger or regular charger.
  
• Low battery setting. Disable the backlight from staying on when the battery falls below a certain percent (configurable)
  
• Set how long to keep the backlight on for, settings from 1 minute to 2 hours or never.
  
• System wide "Leave It On" menu option so you can leave the backlight on at the click of a button
  
• Turn on screen when a new SMS or Email arrives
  

Leave It On is on sale for $2.49 in the CrackBerry App Store through Sunday. We have 100 copies of Leave It On to give away. Just leave a comment on this post to be entered. Contest ends this Sunday at Midnight PST. Please only leave one comment - multiple entries won't count.

• More information and download of Leave It On>>

Entry #12 -Two Different Kinds of Fruit

* Update - We got Eric's Special Time entry back up. Watch it below!!! *

This post is way overdue! Between the BlackBerry Developer Conference last week, and playing catch-up from being away this week, I'm a bit behind on our I Love My BlackBerry video contest shoutouts. Today we've got a couple of the funny short-commercials that were entered. Above you can watch Randall Brown's Two Different Kinds of Fruit video and below you can catch Brian Smith's I Have an App For That skit (this video always wins the award for Best Hair). There were two other entries that I absolutely LOVED in this category, but unfortunately the contestants yanked from youtube (leave your entries up... our final shoutout is coming tomorrow!).  Kudos goes to Entry #34 by Eric Hilliard for Special Time and to Entry #32 by Brad Cook for Unavoidable.

A note to contestants: Just to recap where things are at... the grand prizes winners have their BIG prizes en route to them already. Our finalists will be getting their $50 ShopCrackBerry coupon codes before end of day Friday. Our finalists and shout-out winners will be getting contacted about their custom CrackBerry coveroos before end of day Friday, and then everybody will who entered a video will be getting contacted about their Slacker and SmrtGuard and ShaoSoft and Dream Theme prizes before the end of the weekend. Thanks for the patience!

We'll never forget Kevin's bold (pun intended) attempt to find out the true limits of BlackBerry Messenger with our original BBM Stress Test. His Bold 9000 exploded with Messenger requests and gave us a good look at what the application can handle. Well after spending 4 days listening to him go on and on (and on and on and on) about the great battery life of his Bold 9700, I have been searching for a way to shut him up once and for all (an impossible task, but I like to try). I do have to agree that the battery life on the BlackBerry Bold 9700 is nothing short of amazing. I didn't hold DevCon as a true test (thousands of BlackBerry Smartphones all using the same towers and Wifi all on top of each other) of battery life, but back on my home network I have not been disappointed. I pulled mine off the charger at 8am yesterday, and at Midnight I was only at 65% with normal usage. It's crazy good battery life for a 3G device - especially compared to the original Bold 9000.

Beyond improved battery life under normal device usage thanks to its re-written radio stack, we heard it through the grapevine (or is that blackberryvine) at DevCon that music playback on the BlackBerry Bold 9700 is also a wonderful and much improved thing. Apparently a LOT has happened under the hood to ensure that when the new Bold is playing or streaming music, that other device functions are really put to sleep to squeeze every minute of life possible out of the battery. According to the features page at BlackBerry.com, the 9700 can playback music for a whopping 35 hours. Kyle at BBCool took a stab at it and from his initial tests have proven the device to actually exceed this limit. So since we can't let the CrackBerry Nation down, I'm proposing "Stress Test Part 2" where I'll run the BlackBerry Bold 9700 to the ground both streaming music (Slacker? Pandora?) and via the built-in media player (MP3s from media card). To add some flair I'll even run my Tour and Curve 8520 side-by-side and see how they stand up.

So the question is this - what do you think is the best way to run the test? I think that running Slacker on all 3 devices with a full charge, radio (and Wifi) on with the same settings (screen brightness, profiles, no other apps running etc.) would give us a pretty good comparison (obviously won't be perfect). Drop a comment below and let us know what you think. We'll take a look through and decide what you all want to see, and put this to the test.

RevBall is a new game from the good folks at Nickel Buddy, LLC. It's a fast-paced paddle ball game that adds some unique twists to the standard format of paddle ball games. The object is to strategically hit the ball with your paddle to keep it from escaping the circular arena, which sounds a lot easier then it actually is.

Features:

• Simple to learn, completely addictive.
• Exciting animations, sound effects, and gameplay.
• Countless hours of entertainment.
• 3 difficulty levels and 5 bonus challenges.

RevBall is currently only available for the BlackBerry Storm series of devices (both Storm1 and Storm2) and is reasonably priced at only $4.99. Check out the video above to see it in action and more screenshots are available to view here.

• Purchase And Download RevBall For Your BlackBerry Storm Series Device Today >>

Our CrackBerry Tip box was flooded this morning by happy canuks letting us know that the Telus BlackBerry Storm2 9550 is available on Telus' website. It's kind of interesting to see a carrier offering both GSM and CDMA-based smartphones... Storm2, Tour 9630... Bold 9700?? Tough Decision! 

The Telus BlackBerry Storm2 9550 sells for $199.99 on a three-year contract, $499.99 on a two-year contract, $549.99 on a one-year contract or you can pick it up for $599.99 off contract. If you're not yet familiar with the BlackBerry Storm2, you'll want to check out our BlackBerry Storm2 Review and BlackBerry Storm2 Features and Specifications page. 

• Check out the BlackBerry Storm2 9550 on Telus >>

Awesome news comes to us from Epic applications today. Druglord Wars (formerly Berry Wars), which was previously a number one top selling game in the CrackBerry store has gotten a new name and a new UI to go with it. For those of you all unfamiliar with Berry Wars it is an is an adventure game pitting you against the world of street dealers, crooked cops, and drug cartels in a battle for money and drugs. Starting off in debt, you will build your drug empire by visiting over 10 beautifully rendered cities, and fight attackers out to get you. New updates to the game include:

• Global online leaderboard to compare your skills to the world
• 17 drugs to buy and sell in 11 beautifully rendered cities
• 18 weapons and storage containers to take down enemies and hold more drugs
• Over 125 custom designed images just for BlackBerry
• Save games and preview progress before resuming
• Unlimited gameplay mode to see how far you can take your drug empire 

This new version was beta tested right here in the CrackBerry forums with many users loving the new improvements to the game and UI. Currently device support is for OS 4.6 and up with 480x320 or 480x360 screens, but are planning to support 4.5+ with 320x240 soon. Right now you can grab the all new Druglord Wars for only $3.99, which would normally be $4.99 and check it out.

• Read More About Druglord Wars In The CrackBerry Forums >> 
• Purchase And Download Druglord Wars Today In The CrackBerry App Store >>

In an article posted by Reuters, Scott Totzke, RIM's vice-president of BlackBerry security speaks about the security of smartphones these days making some bold, but reasonable statements about where we could end up if we are not careful.

Totzke, along with Kevin Mahaffey, chief technology officer at Flexilis shared issues and concerns for the smartphone market both agreeing that users need to be more aware of what, exactly they are installing on their devices. Essentially, if warnings are not heeded in these areas your smartphones could be used in DDOS attacks. Totzke was quoted as stating "I think that's an area of concern," while Mahaffey stated "These are not telephones anymore. These are computers. So people are going to have all the problems on their phones that they have on their computers."

The smartphone market is growing massive and it has reached a point where security concerns are now going to be a huge factor with the amount of information and data users store on their devices. We have seen some "proof of concepts" lately wherein security has been breached on a multitude of devices and one can only hope that manufacturers are working hard to help keep their users safe and that users will utilize all offerings such as updates and patches.

So what's your take on it? As a smartphone owner, do you give any thought to security? Or do you just assume it's all good and keep installing apps like crazy?!

• Read The Full Article Over At The Reuters Website >>

Recently DreamTheme launched 20 new personalization products across 3 new app categories. This week they have just released a new ringtone bundle called Dancify. The Dancify DreamTones app is a small app you install that gives you access to over 20 professionally recorded vibes you can then save as a ringtone. The DreamTones packs actually are composed of 7 or 8 tracks, with segments of different lengths to allow a bit more control over the nature of the ringtone you are interested in for assignment to different events on your BlackBerry. You can check out Dancify and DreamTheme's other DreamTones packs by listening to them at www.dreamtheme.com.

For those of you that have already bought the 'Unlimited Dreaming' package from DreamTheme, the Dancify DreamTones are now available to you at no charge. You can buy Dancify DreamTones, Unlimited Dreaming, or anything else from DreamTheme's catalogue here at the CrackBerry App Store. Use the code "Crack" to get an additional 15% off when purchasing through the CrackBerry App Store Client or Mobile App Store site!

• Dancify DreamTone Pack for BlackBerry Smartphones >>
• Browse all DreamTheme Products >>