Being the BlackBerry power user that I am, I am always on the lookout for multifunctional utility applications. When I rocked my 9800 and 9900, Fixmo Tools and QuickLaunch were mainstays. For those of you who want an app that offers a variety of functions without separate purchases, I introduce to you Power Tools for BlackBerry 10. There is not just one or two apps included but twelve different tools that it make an effective active frame application for day-to-day use. 

This undertaking by Toysoft compiles quite a few of their popular offerings in one convenient place with a few never seen before. For example, the encryption option utilizes the built-in BlackBerry AES one to secure your files. Whether it be creating custom alarms, assigning LED colors, adding a screen lock or spam block, shredding files or swapping wallpapers, there is a little bit of something for everyone depending on your needs. One that I enjoy happens to be the ability to select a different wallpaper for the lock screen without the workaround. 

Features

  • Encryption - Use BlackBerry's FIPS certified powerful AES encryption library to secure your files.
  • Message Blocker - Block Text and Email. Detail log file to keep track of blocked messages. You can view and delete the log file. Even block email messages base on Language of the message.
  • Active Frame - Display Battery and Memory info in Active Frame. Also shows Battery Charging information like time to fully charged
  • Alarm - Create custom Alarms for Daily, Weekdays and Weekly. Create multiple alarms. Snooze option. Option to select a random ringtone from your favorite sound folder as a ringtone
  • Bluetooth - Control when to turn on and off Bluetooth Daily, Weekdays and Weekly. Schedule multiple Bluetooth
  • LED Color - Add color LED to incoming Text, Email, Facebook LinkedIn, Twitter or Accounts. Customize LED for Contacts with Vibrate and Ringtone. Over 25 different color combinations to use. Set contact or Account to VIP status so that you will never miss their text or email. VIP will blink and play the ringtone regardless what the system Notification is set to. Sorry BBM and WhatsUp is not supported yet
  • Screen Lock - Add custom sounds when screen is locked, unlocked and password locked. Have a custom password lock wallpaper
  • Phone Call - Add custom LED color for all incoming calls, vibrate on call connect and disconnect
  • Sound Profile - Schedule and Manage system Sound Profiles. Turn system sound to Vibrate or Silent at nights, Normal in the morning, set Vibrate at the Office, Silent at Church on Sundays, Alert Offs for weekly Staff meeting etc... Sound Profile switching is automated. You just have to set the start and end times and leave it to Power Tools. Sound Profile is only available on OS10.2 and higher
  • Wallpaper - Set custom wallpaper on every minute, 5 minutes up to 8 hours, set time to change only Daily, Weekdays or Weekly. Chose a picture folder to randomly or sequentially change pictures. You can optionally add the Battery percentage and current date to the wallpaper. Note: Due to OS10.2 changes when changing wallpapers a Toast message is displayed.
  • Picture Resize - Resize a single picture from the Pictures, File Manager or any apps that has Share or Open In feature. When resizing you can select many different sizes to resize the picture like Screen Size, percentage and predefined sizes.
  • File Shredder - The ultimate personal security. When you delete a file from the Pictures or File Manager app the content is not erased therefore it is possible to recover the deleted file and view the content. By shredding the file it would make it impossible to recover the content. File Shredder will write to the physical location of the files with random data many files over so the content can not be recovered.
  • Battery Information - Gives you detail information on the current Battery status such as percentage, usage before empty, charging information such as time to fully charged and more.

Operating Power Tools requires no effort at all. When the application is launched it is literally a blank slate. You decide which items to populate the application by selecting them from the list. This means tools maybe added more than once to suit your needs and can be removed just as easily. As with their other applications, each of the applications included are easy to use and are modifiable. For instance, you may choose to assign multiple contact LED's or sound profiles. All will run together in one active frame. While Toysoft plans to support headless apps, as of now it must remain an active frame to run properly. 

However, that is not to say that there aren't a couple of bugs that may appear from time to time based on my usage. In saying that, I have been working with Toysoft and they have been resolved but you should be aware of one that pops up nonetheless. There is a potential issue when trying to open an unsupported file type via an email attachment it may load in Power Tools. Users can either tap on the download and select the default application or adjust this option in settings. Toysoft is pretty quick with support and is responsive in the forums. 

I am a huge admirer of multifunction apps and Power Tools offers an array of useful features for one low price of $3.99 for all BlackBerry 10 devices running OS 10.0 and higher. Please note that certain capabilities such as the notification sound profile, new notification and block all calls feature requires OS 10.2. If you've been holding off on trying any of the applications in their catalog be sure to check this all-in-one utility app out.

More information/Purchase Power Tools

Read more