Craigslist Mobile App for BlackBerry by Movela Review
Today I will be reviewing the Craigslist Mobile app by Movela. This application is the first version released by Movela and it's version is 1.0 . Most people in the United States have heard of the website craigslist.com. Craigslist is a website where people can post ads for everything and anything you can think of. This site is NOT just for things for sale, but also for things lost or found, activitiy announcements, garage sale listings and even the ever so popular "Personals" section where people can post personal ads. What this application does is allow you to browse the craigslist website on your Blackberry with out having to load the site on your mobile browser. So whether you are looking to find a local garage sale while out and about or looking for a "casual encounter" while out of town on business, Craigslist Mobile had you covered!
Overview
Movela released this application to the Blackberry App world in September of 2009. The application is available for all devices and all current official OS releases. Weighing in at 840KB the application does not put much stress on the already thinning device memory. The application is currently priced at $4.99 and can be purchased via Blackberry App world. What I have found is that this app holds true to Movela's boast of it being a full featured browsing app. The app has every feature you would need in order to find a craigslist add and reply to it with very little effort. The interface of this application is very user friendly and has a very nice feel to the browsing.
Features
During your initial setup you will be asked to fill in from a drop down menu the Country, State\Prov, City and Sub Region of the place in which you would like to search for ads from. At the bottom of that screen is an option to use your current device font if you wish, which is a nice touch. Some people really like looking at certain fonts all the time and not every application will allow for this.
Once you have setup where you would like to search from the main screen will look like this and give you all the categories you may search from. You will find every category that is available on the craigslist website is here for you to search accept the discussion forums. This version does not contain discussion forum features and hopefully this will be an addition to a later version. At the bottom of each screen you are given an icon that will allow you to access different features faster than using the menu. The options are: Home, which takes you back the home screen. Search, this allows you to search all postings for your selected region for keywords that would help you find a posting faster. My Searches, this allows you do check on your most resent searches or setup a saved search word or phrase for faster searching for similar items. Bookmarks for saving pages you wish to return to quickly and finally Recommend Craigslist Mobile to a friend.
Now that your ready to browse you may click on any of the main search categories to get a list of sub categories to help refine what your searching for. If you click on the Personals section you will receive a few disclaimer messages that you will need to click "I agree" to in order to continue to that section of the app. This is the only category that requires this because of the possibility of seeing (and possibly regret seeing) adult content.
You can reply to postings using the menu and will be required to type in a Captcha as part of craigslist ever growing Spam and fraud prevention practices. Ugh, say that three times fast!?! Once you have entered the Captcha you will be given a reply e-mail address that you can copy and paste into your e-mail application later. I would have liked to have seen the ability to link the e-mail address so that when you click on it, it would automatically launch your e-mail app and auto create an e-mail to that address. This is a feature that most people are used to having when using the craigslist website.
Findings
I have been using this application every day since I originally downloaded it 6 months ago. I search craigslist a lot for discount electronics and people who do not know the value of their Blackberry and want to try and sell it off. These people make me sad but c'mon, if you saw a Blackberry Storm 2 on sale for $80.00 your telling me you would try and talk the seller into charging more or not selling it at all? YEAH RIGHT!
I have found that the application does seem a little slow at times and a lot of that has to do with network signal strength. The application Pulls from the craigslist site when you refresh your search category as well as when you start the application for the first time. I would like to have seen an auto refresh feature or some kind of streaming feed but there is always room for improvement. Overall this application is very useful and comes in handy when you do not have access to your computer or are bored in Jury Duty!
Pros
- Super easy to use
- Small Device Memory Footprint
- Ability to view images on ads
- Easier to view and search than the mobile site on your device
Cons
- Only menu option to exit the program is visible from the home screen and not all screens.
- Does not have the ability to Post listings from the application
- Can be slow at low network signal strength
Conclusion
The pros definitely outweigh the cons with this application. It's price tag is fair and the features are impressive. I would rate this application at 4 stars out of 5. With only a few minor tweaks and just a few new features, I think this application could be a power house. So if it's a new car your looking for or a place to stay or possibly a JOB ( the word of today is JOB, J.O.B) change, this app has what your looking for. And if your out there cruising for a "casual encounter" or the next Love of You Life, this craigslist app by Movela has you covered like a jimmy hat! ;) Stay safe!
** This review was written as part of the CrackBerry Idol 2010 competition. Click for details. **
