If you haven’t had a chance to open up App World on your BlackBerry smartphone and download those free BlackBerry 7 apps, then I suggest you do so soon. RIM has just sent out a reminder via their social networking sites that the promotion for the free applications will end on May 31st. The promo started in the U.S. back in March and then was later expanded to include Canada. In the promotion, RIM had included some of the top selling apps that showcase some of the BlackBerry 7 features, apps like BeBuzz, Screen Muncher, BeWeather, and more totaling about $77 in free stuff which is okay in my books.

Free Premium apps courtesy of BlackBerry

• BeWeather
• Endomondo Sports Tracker PRO
• Pinball Deluxe (however unavailable for my device/os)
• Rubik's Cube
• Mahjong Solitaire
• Cribbage
• Color ID
• Screen Muncher
• iSpeech Dictation Pro
• iSpeech Caller ID Reader Pro
• iSpeech FB Chat Pro
• Aces 3D Pool
• Aces Traffic Pack
• PBA Bowling 2
• Fixmo Tools
• Next Dual Pack
• Popup

If you’re able to cash in on the promotion I suggest you do so as it ends on May 31st. I’ve personally downloaded them all, I may not need them now, but I may want them later. The question I really would like to ask is, which apps have the CrackBerry Nation downloaded?

Discuss more in the forums

CrackBerry's guide to the best free apps for your BlackBerry smartphone.

Looking for the best free BlackBerry apps? You've come to the right place. There are loads of great free apps for your BlackBerry that are just a few clicks away. There are great media apps like Slacker Radio and Pandora, utilities like BeBuzz and Dropbox, social networking apps like Twitter, Facebook and foursquare, and many more. While your device has some great stuff out of the box, you'll surely want to load up some more apps before long. Keep reading and we'll check out some of the best free BlackBerry apps to get you started.

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I wouldn't say that I was a hardcore eBay user but I do purchase quite a few things, more so lately. I don't make big purchases on eBay, it's more of just accessories for my phone, or sports gear, or console games etc. I do like to try and find things at the best price -- meaning at a bargain. There are a few ways to do this and one has been to use a website called FatFingers.

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The Natwest Mobile Banking app is one of my most used apps on my BlackBerry phone. I use it everyday, making sure my balance is in check and not being used frivorously. It has only been about a month since we last saw an update but today, I am happy to announce that it has recently been updated to v1.3 and it brings a feature a lot of people have been wanting since it was first released. The update now allows you to make payments from the app. However, you can only make payments to accounts already set up through online banking. So if you haven't yet set any up then you'll have to get those set up first before they will show up in the app.

It certainly is a welcome update and if you're a Natwest customer and haven't downloaded this app yet, get to it now. It is available for BlackBerry smartphones with OS 5.0 and above.

More information and to download the Natwest Mobile Banking app for BlackBerry

Everyone loves free applications, right? The good folks at RIM are back at it again with another round of Compliments of BlackBerry applications available through BlackBerry App World. Running from now through May 31st, you can download great applications such as BeWeather, Endomondo Sports Tracker Pro, Fixmo Tools, Screen Muncher and many others -- all for free. The apps are an incentive for current or new BlackBerry users to upgrade to a BlackBerry 7 device, and are unfortunately only available for US customers. Along with the BlackBerry Smartphone applications, RIM has also included Modern Combat and Asphalt 6 which both run on the BlackBerry PlayBook.

This free batch of applications will require BlackBerry OS 7 and above unfortunately, so not everyone will benefit. If you have a BlackBerry 7 device or a BlackBerry PlayBook, you will certainly want to hit the link below and check out these great free applications for yourself. Be sure to hop into the forums and let us know which applications you picked up and let's all be sure to thank RIM for this awesome deal!

Note: The free apps are only available for the US.

More information and to download Compliments of BlackBerry Apps 

Barclays have release a mobile banking app called Pingit for BlackBerry smartphones. While a lot banks have been releasing apps where you can view your bank balance as well as transfer money, you could only do this between your own accounts. The Barclays Pingit app goes a step further and allows you to send money to other Barclay customers as well as non-Barclay customers. Better yet transfering money is as easy as sending a text.

To be able to use the app you must register your bank details as well as your UK mobile number and then you can start sending money to your phone contacts simply by sending a text. If you will be sending to a non-Barclays customers they must also register in order to receive payments via text.

App Features: 

• It's free to download and use - and sending money is secure, done in seconds and shown on your Barclays bank statement
• You'll need a BlackBerry smartphone with internet access
• You need to be a UK resident, have a UK-registered mobile number and be aged 18 or over
• Non-Barclays customers with a current account can only receive payments - but soon they'll be able to send money too
• When you receive a payment through Barclays Pingit, your full registered name will be made visible to the sender of the payment 

The time of year has come where I am once again commuting regularly. So with hour long journeys I need to find something to do during that time. There's a whole of list of things I could do - read a book, watch a show/movie on my BlackBerry, listening to music, sleep ... I could go on but I shant instead I'll tell you what I do first, I check out the news. Instead of picking up the free papers from the station and get my hands stained with ink, I take out my BlackBerry and open up the Sky News app. It's a great way to catch up with the news throughout the day too.

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Ever wonder what type of data speeds you are getting from your carrier on your BlackBerry device? Well, up until now it was never really possible to tell, and there were no fun apps like Speedtest.net for the other devices, but now BlackBerry users are no longer left out of the fun. Fancy Speed Test is a free application that allows users to check their data speeds, by seeing what their ping, download and upload speeds are in a quick and easy fashion. So, if you want to monitor your speeds, and show them off, be sure to grab this free app today!

More information / download of Fancy Speed Test

Just what you have always wanted, right? Input some funny text and hear either Bush or Obama speak that text to you, who could pass that up? The folks at iSpeech have developed some fun little applications that allow us the countless hours of fun of typing random things, and having them spoken by folks who have run the US. Now you can have that conversation with the president you have always wanted to have, excited?

Update - Downloading the free application will get you only the text input to voice, if you want to use your device microphone to record something to be translated you are have to upgrade for $3.99. This purchase is made in app, and requires you to input your credit card information in, no option to buy a full version through AppWorld.  The registration screen requests a phone number which will allow you to use the SMS functionality but you can scroll to the bottom and select skip if you wish to opt out of that.

Download iSpeech Obama
Download iSpeech Bush

American Airlines has officially announced the release of their BlackBerry application today, which is aimed to help users flying their airline have a much better experience and give them all the information they need while on the go. Whether a frequent flyer, or an occassional traveler, navigating airports while trying to keep informed about the status of your flight, your departure gate, and whatever else is going on can be a daunting task, but now American Airlines users can stay informed of all of this while on the go, all from their BlackBerry devices. This free application is available for BlackBerry devices running OS5 and OS6, and while it doesn't show official support for the BlackBerry Storm, it will work on the device.

Download the American Airlines application from your BlackBerry

My head is full of what some would consider useless knowledge, one of those things occupying space in my brain is some obscure music trivia so, when I spotted Quizzical Music in BlackBerry App World I had to give it a go just to see how I'd fair. If you've not had a chance to take a look at Quizzical Music on your BlackBerry PlayBook yet, it's a pretty basic application but it has some great features built into it.

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If you are an avid reader you know how hard it can be to keep organized when it comes to what books you have read and what you want to read next. Berrylocal has developed an app for the BlackBerry PlayBook to help you with this problem! Book Probe is a free app to help you keep track of your reading list. Powered by Google owned Freebase you can access over 2 million books and half a million authors. Also, through collaboration with Goodreads.com, you currently have access to book reviews within the app, with social features (rate a book, review a book, sync online bookshelves with the application, comment on a existing review, request to add a friend and so on) to be added soon. Book Probe features both Potrait and Landscape modes with support for swipe down gesture for access to contextual menu options and various transition effects featured through out the application. This looks like a great app with a lot of potential in future updates. Download it today and let us know what you think!

For more information/screenshots and to download Book Probe

Welcome to this week's BlackBerry App Roundup! This week we decided to focus on games, and not just any games, but FREE games! Check them out after the break. If you have an app you want to see featured in the roundup be sure to check the end of the post for information on submitting it to us. We have several contests going on this week, so be to check them out and enter to win some cool stuff here.

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Before eBooks were invented, we had these crazy things called books on tape. Some of you may remember listening to them in your car on long drives, or at home on quiet evenings. I'm sure those are still around, but it seems they have been replaced largely by eBooks, with mobile devices having apps to keep them organized and portable, and the invention of eReaders. It's not always practical to read however, for example while driving, so audio books still have a place in modern life. I found a cool app called Jagamaga Audiobooks in BlackBerry App World that provides hundreds of classic, public domain books in high quality audio format. You can download entire books or a few chapters at a time and save them to your device memory or SD card. To select where the downloads save to, use the menu button from the app's main screen. This is also where you can view and play the books you have downloaded, and delete them as well.

• The only app that offers professionally curated LibriVox audiobooks. 
• Professionally mastered Public Domain audiobooks.
• User-friendly interface.  
• Dynamic catalog updates with new free content.
• Over 200 titles…plus hundreds of free short works.
• Smaller files for fast downloading and wireless access.
• Carefully de-noised and edited for undisturbed listening.
• Browse by genre, title, author, and narrator.
• BlackBerry®-optimized file format. 

There is a free version of Jagamaga that offers over 200 titles, and a paid version ($2.99) that gives you access to the entire collection of books. This app is compatible with all BlackBerry smartphones on OS 4.5 and up, though there are some country restrictions.

For more information and to download the free version of Jagamaga
For more information and to purchase the paid version of Jagamaga

Expense reports on the go couldn't be easier with ProOnGo Expense with Receipt Reader. You can track your mileage via GPS, time via call logs, and regular expenses by taking pictures of your receipts, all right from your BlackBerry! When you take a picture of your receipt, the app automatically extracts the dollar amount, merchant name, and date which it then generates into an expense report. When it's time to submit the report, ProOnGo has tons of options for that as well. Other features include currency conversion, integration with calendar and contacts, receipt image editor, reminders for recurring expenses, and more!

The newest feature that was just recently added gives you the ability to compute two different types of taxes on a single item. Users just enter in in a percentage and ProOnGo Expense will find the the tax amount and include it in your expense details.

ProOnGo Expense is free to download, and has a 30 day trial. To continue using the app after that you will have to choose a subscription package, which ranges from $.99 to $9.99 per month with discounts for pre-paying.

For more information and to download ProOnGo Expense from the CB Store
For more information and to download ProOnGo Expense from BlackBerry App World