I personally believe you can never have enough photo editing apps at your disposal, and it's definitely a necessity to have one on your BlackBerry for on-the-go manipulation of your images. One of the more feature rich of the photo editing apps for BlackBerry is Photo Studio by KVADGroup, and it was recently updated to v0.9.8.26. This is a pretty big update, bringing 14 new effects in the Vintage, Sketch and Art categories as well as new corners and frames in PicFrames.

There were also several bug fixes and technical additions:

• special build for OS6 and higher device to choose photos in on click with new file picker
• added Dutch and German localization
• added new version update notifications
• overall algorithm's optimization
• bug fix downloading errors 302 and 404

Photo Studio is available for BlackBerry smartphones running OS 5.0 and higher. You can download the free version or jump right in with the paid version for $3.99 in BlackBerry App World. It seems like KVADGroup puts out an update almost monthly, which is pretty cool. Grab the app or the update at the links below, and if you'd like more information on the features you can check out Jared's review as well. 

For more information and to download Photo Studio
For more information and to purchase Photo Studio Pro
Read Jared's review of Photo Studio Pro

Yesterday saw the opening of the biggest BlackBerry store in Asia. It opened in Jakarta, Indonesia and with came a handful of promotional offers to mark the event, including 50% off BlackBerry accessories and Rp 1,000,000 discount voucher towards a second handset to the first 200 customers.

This isn't the first store to open in Indonesia and I don't think it will be the last. We already know that BlackBerry is hugely popular in Indonesia, with our very own CrackBerry Kevin witnessing this with his very own eyes but it would be nice to see BlackBerry stores pop up in other parts of the world. The UK maybe, where BlackBerry is #1. More pictures on the BlackBerry store in Jakarta can be found below.

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The Porsche Designed BlackBerry P9981 is no secret, it is for sale in Dubai, we have gone hands-on with it, and we don't even want to know the things our very own CrackBerry Kevin would do to get one for himself. We have seen the outside of the device plenty but what we have yet to see was what it was packing on the inside, and a recent filing to the FCC was able to show us just that. While it sure isn't anything like an iFixIt teardown it does still show us what exactly is running in the device -- spoiler, not much different than what you would expect -- but we all know the nerd in you is loving this. Be sure to hit the links below for more images, and the full FCC filing.

Source: FCC; via: Wireless Goodness

With TGrape Pfilter you can take a picture, apply your favorite filter effect and share it with your friends on Twitter or Facebook via Twitpic, yfrog, or img.ly. You have the option of adding a caption before uploading too. I was a little confused at first when trying to use a photo from my album. The option isn't obvious in the menu as it is listed under "send". The app was also a bit slow to load at first on my Bold 9900, but once all the filters had loaded it moved much quicker.

The following predefined effects are available now:

• Arti. A fun posterize effect
• Oldage. Gives you an old look on your photo
• Rouge. Adds that extra touch of red
• Burnett. A bit of darkness
• Beanwee. A black and white effect
• Leak. Light leak effect
• Freeze. Cold blue effect
• Contrast. Contrast effect with bit of blurring on the corners
• Rollfilm. Negative film

The trial version of TGrape Pfilter is free and will function for 7 days, during which time you can share only via Twitpic. If you would like to purchase the full version with all options enabled, you can do so for $2.99. This app comes in two versions, one for BB6 devices (91xx, 96xx, 97xx, and 9800) and one for BB7 devices (99x, 9810/50/60) so be sure you get the correct version for your device.

More information/screenshots and to purchase TGrape Pfilter OS6
More information/screenshots and to purchase TGrape Pfilter OS7

We first told you about Photo Booth by S4BB Limited back in May. If you aren't familiar with the product, it allows you to create photo strips automatically on your BlackBerry. I received notice tonight that the app has been updated to v2.4.5 and now includes integration with BlackBerry Messenger. After taking the four pictures for the photo strip you now have the option to send the resulting image to a BBM contact. The only catch with this feature is that the person you're sending the image to must also have the app installed, and you have to be on the 6.0 version of BBM. I've used this app on both my BlackBerry Torch and on my Bold 9700 with no real issues.

Photo Booth is available on sale for $2.99 (regularly $4.99) and is compatible with BlackBerry 82xx, 8330/50i, 85xx, 89xx, 9000, 91xx, 93xx, 95xx, 96xx, 97xx, and 9800.

For more information/screenshots and to purchase Photo Booth 

Ever try to take pictures of kids, or pets, or a group of people, and every attempt is foiled by someone blinking, or a sudden movement, or just plain bad timing? And then you have to say "Just one more try" and everyone groans or rolls their eyes and the smiles get faker and faker until you finally get a picture that is ok, but not as good as you'd originally hoped but you make do with it because you're sick of trying by that point. Or, have you tried to get those action shots at the kids' basketball games, but it takes so long between pictures you might as well not even try? Well guess what, now there is an easier way.

MyBestShot by Christopher Townsend is a new app for the BlackBerry PlayBook that takes photos in quick succession so you can capture the moment and (hopefully!) end up with the pictures you want, and no battles to get them. MyBestShot is available for just $.99, and there is a free trial available, so go get it today!

Features include:

• Front and rear camera support
• Take up to 64 photos at once (other options: 4, 8, 16, 32)
• 3 Capture speeds (0.1sec, 0.25sec, 0.5sec)
• 3 Quality settings (2048xx1200, 1024x600, 512x300)
• Save photos as JPG or PNG
• Realistic physics scrolling gallery of thumbnails
• Double tap to enlarge photos when reviewing

For more information/screenshots and to download MyBestShot for your PlayBook

I love photo booths. I can't seem to pass by one without jumping in for some quick pictures, dragging along whoever is with me. Now you can have the same sort of experience right on your BlackBerry, with Photo Booth by S4BB Limited. It's really easy to use, too. All you do is click on "take shots" and the app does the rest for you, snapping four pictures and combining them into a photo strip for you. The pictures can be viewed in a gallery within the app, and are saved on your media card in a folder called Photo Booth so you can email them or post to your favorite social media sites as with any other image. My only complaint is that Photo Booth is a little slow between pictures, though the description says photos are taken 1 second apart. You can adjust that time in the options, but it didn't seem to change anything for me. Hopefully it's a small bug that will be fixed soon. The app still works fine, and the slight delay does give you time to get in the next position so it may actually be a benefit for some.

Overall this is a fun app, and a welcome addition to my BlackBerry Torch. I see lots of fun pictures in my future! Photo Booth is available on sale for $1.99 (regularly $4.99) and is compatible with BlackBerry 82xx, 8330/50i, 85xx, 89xx, 9000, 91xx, 93xx, 95xx, 96xx, 97xx, and 9800.

For more information/screenshots and to purchase Photo Booth

[ youtube link for mobile viewing ]

Man: Is your uh, is your wife interested in... photography, ay? 'Photographs, ay', he asked him knowlingly.
Squire: Photography?
Man: Snap snap, grin grin, wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more?
Squire: Holiday snaps, eh?
Man: They could be, they could be taken on holiday. Candid, you know, CANDID photography?
Squire: No, no I'm afraid we don't have a camera.
Man: Oh. (leeringly) Still, mooooooh, ay? Mwoohohohohoo, ay? Hohohohohoho, ay?

This classic Monty Python sketch, "Nudge, Nudge," demonstrates exactly the kind of picture you might want to hide on your BlackBerry. Obviously it's not the only reason for hiding a picture on your device; it's just the first thing that comes to mind when talking about it.

Hiding a picture is easy. From your Pictures, find the picture you want to hide. Press the menu key and select properties. Aside from useful information such as file size and dimensions, you'll also see a check box that says Hidden. Checking that box will instantly hide your picture.

It's the un-hiding part that's a little difficult - as it should be. If you hid a picture, you obviously don't want people to find it. Let's just hope you remember the file name and where the picture is when it comes time to unhide it.

Read Full Lecture

ToySoft has developed a lite version of their popular imgEdit application called imgLite that provides a simple way to resize, rotate, and crop images right on your device. ImgLite not only gives you those options, but also the ability to add several different borders to your newly cropped/resized image, all from within the media, file, and camera apps. There are some other nice features as well, such as choosing where you want the edited images to save and what quality you want the resulting .jpg to be.

Features:

• Works with BlackBerry OS5 and OS6
• Very small footprint
• Integrates with the System Media, Files and Camera applications
• Resize and Crop pictures in jpg, bmp, gif and png formats
• Rotate image
• Saves in JPG format with quality control
• Allows you save to different folder
• Crop the current screen. Perfect when you zoom in on a picture in the Media app
• Add border to the resized and cropped picture

A free trial of imgLite is available, or you can go ahead and purchase it for $1.99 in the CrackBerry store. ImgEdit is still available (and on sale this week!) if you want more options than imgLite provides

• For more information and to download imgLite >> 
• To check out imgEdit in the CrackBerry store >>

As trentm in the forums posted, Tumblr has rolled out their own official BlackBerry application. Personally, I'm a Posterous fan myself but if you frequent using Tumblr you'll want to check the app out for sure. From what I can tell, all native Tumblr functions are in place within the app. For example text, audio and even video show as being supported features and this is only the first version. Give it shot if you are a Tumblr user and let us know how it works out for ya. 

• Check Out Tumblr Staff Blog For More Information And Downloads>>