Review: SpotJots Mobile BlackBerry Edition

"Because life doesn't happen behind a desk..." sigh, I love it.

Summer time is inundated with vacations, parties, barbeques and days at the beach. If you have time, you may want to try squeezing work in as well. As this time of year drags you out into the sun, your online social networks try to drag you back to your screen's warm, glowing, warming glow. Thank the powers that be, that you can rely on your trusty BlackBerry to keep you in touch.

You have a slew of applications available to you, in terms of keeping in touch. I recently scooped up SpotJots Mobile: BlackBerry Edition, which grants me access to my online social world. Ten23.com offers SpotJots as a location-based networking tool to help you keep your friends in the know. SpotJots also allows you to share your "jots" with other online accounts, including Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.

Let's get into this spatial social solution, shall we?

Jotting my thoughts

SpotJots helps you capture your day to day or out of the ordinary experience and share them with your friends and family. Think of SpotJots as your diary, or journal, that everyone could possibly read. I decided that since SpotJots is a social tool, I would incorporate feedback from fellow Jotters in this review. Thanks to everyone for your input!

SpotJots is available for the Pearl, Curve, 88XX and the Bold, and those with GPS enabled will have a bit more fun with this app. I'll explain this as we go. This application is pretty easy on the eyes. I especially like the battery, signal strength and GPS icons in the upper banner, revealing your status. I would love to see them in a theme. Anyway, with this mobile app, you'll be able to take video, photos & notes (voice and typed) and upload the files to your SpotJots account in real-time. Below the status section are you four main options; Create Jot, View, Outbox and Settings.

Having fun? Share it with the world

Create Jot - self explanatory I think. Here, you can share your life at that moment. Perhaps you are at the beach while your friends are at work. You can jot down a note and take a pic, video, etc. Pics, vids and voice notes can be recorded right from the application. Next you can pick a category, meaning what type of jot you're posting. It could be a celebrity, friends and family, shopping, there are tons to choose from. If you don't want EVERYONE on SpotJots to see what you are up to (maybe you called in "sick"), you can switch the visibility from Public, Private or Followers only. If you don't want your friends who aren't on SpotJots to miss out, you can also send it off to your other accounts, like Facebook, MySpace, etc. For you GPS enabled users and abusers out there, you can also geo-tag your photos. To geo-tag is to tag your photo with the GPS data of where it was taken. That way others can see where that location is on a map. I can see this being used on a road trip, while you quickly take shots of landmarks, wildlife and strange- I mean- interesting folks on the way and make their locations visible. Post and you're done! For easy view, SpotJots uses google maps to show off not only your jots, but jots from around terra firma.

View - this is where the application really shines. In this section, you will be able to search through Jots from fellow Jotters nearby, Jotters you follow, places and much more. Choose to search from your GPS location, from your address book or another address. This way, Berrys without GPS won't be left out. From what I've seen on SpotJots, there aren't too many Jotters in the Vancouver area! C'mon people, get jotting! Once you find a Jot you want to read, clickity click and you are shot to the SpotJots site.

Outbox - Here you can check out all the jots you have sent. Make note that, when you close the application, the outbox is cleared. Way to not use up my memory SpotJots!

Settings- In this section you can enter your account login info. You can also choose to resize your images. If you want to speed up your Jotting experience, keep the pics small. Other options include indicating if you're using a BES and which folders to store your media.

How do you want to capture the moment?

See what others are up to

personalize your view

Because SpotJots is easily navigated, it won't hinder your enjoyment of whatever you're trying to share. I've found it quite easy to snap a photo and upload it, attaching notes and locations. There are some business uses as well, for all you fun police. You can think of SpotJots as your own media manager. Upload your media to SpotJots, using it as a sort of media backup service. How's that for trying to explain to your boss what you're doing when you're supposed to be working?

Conclusion

Now I've received a lot of feedback from fellow Jotters and have included some of their collective two cents. I think SpotJots member Fitched said it best. Fitched said:

"Well, I've been spotjotting a lot, and I love it! It was actually the reason I got a BlackBerry instead of another Motorola Razor. The truth is, I was spotjotting on my Razor before I ever got the BlackBerry. I was just entering all of my location info manually. I was trying to send a spotjot in a sudden pouring rain when my beloved Razor finally died (due, strangely enough, to water under the keys....Mmmm.) But I digress. When I was looking around for another phone, I didn't really think I needed anything too fancy, like a smartphone, but it did not escape my attention that Spotjots has a downloadable format for the BlackBerry. Of course now, I'm totally hooked on the BlackBerry, and one of my main reasons is because of all the Spotjots I send. I've used it to let friends know how my life is going, I've sent "personal" spotjots to remember sudden creative moments that I would otherwise forget later, and it's a great way to document each moment of a vacation as it happens so that I don't have to wander through hundreds of digital pictures after the fact, asking myself, "Where was that again?" I've used it to tip friends off to good restaurants, and the GPS lets me map exactly where they are; I've used it to let people know where good bands are playing, etc, etc. Basically, I give Spotjots a thumbs up."

Thanks to everyone for your comments. Now my fellow users and abusers, go forth and download SpotJots for FREE and get jotting!

Pros

• real time jots
• geo-tag your images
• create images, videos and notes
• find fellow jotters in your area or around the world

Cons

• couldn't find any, maybe you can!

Download

• Pick up SpotJots for BlackBerry Here >>