I'm a creature of habit. I get into my routines and don't like to mess with them. Wake up, Check Email, Exercise, Check Email, Eat Breakfast, Check Email, Shower, Check Email, yada, yada, yada. When it comes to my blackberry device, I'm not one to change the wallpaper, theme, or ringtone very often. For me to even attempt to change things up, it needs to be something that I REALLY like.

And, I'm sure like many blackberry users out there, when I watched the Steve Job's Apple iPhone release a few weeks back I have to admit I was salivating - not so much over the functions or features of the device (which after much analysis by everyone on the net doesn't really seem all that appealing to me anymore), but because it looked so darn good! Oh Those icons!!

BlackBerry users can now have the best of both worlds with the iBerry theme for the BlackBerry. Now you can have all of the looks and beauty of the iPhone, combined with the BlackBerry functionality and rock-steady performance blackberry addicts are accustomed to.

I recently installed the iBerry theme on my 8700R and have been LOVING it. The iBerry Theme is also available for the BlackBerry 7100, 8100, and 8800. I may not like changing up my routine, but this theme has garnered my undivided attention (my crackberry addiction has actually gone up - I keep my berry beside me during the day on top of my computer desk. Since installing the theme I find myself flicking the trackwheel or clicking a key just so I can see the screen light up with all those pretty icons). In addition to the homescreen icons looking good, all of the other standard blackberry screens look great as well. The "calling number" screen is my next favorite.  After spending quite a bit of time with this theme on my phone, I can definitely say it's a smooth running performer.

Any Drawbacks?
While the iBerry theme is near perfect I do have two minor complaints to report on (so minor that they should not prevent you from giving this theme a go):

1. After installing the theme I had to take 3 minutes to rehide and reorder the icons on my desktop as they all became visible again and were out of the order I orginally had them in.  This probably isn't an issue to most, but I use the berry so much that my brain has trained trained itself to open applications without me even having to look at the screen. Changing up the order of icons would put a temporary end to that ability I love so much, so I'd much rather have the icons retain their original position. Again, not a big issue, but I'd rather this not have to be the case when changing up themes. 

2. In your standard BlackBerry Theme, the text under an icon is not part of the icon graphic, it's text written onto the screen.  With the iBerry theme, the text is actually part of the graphic icon image. What this means is that only the default blackberry icons will have text underneath them, whereas any third party applications will just be the icon with no text beneath.  If you take a look at the screen shot to the left it is easy to see this - Notice Brickbreaker has text underneath while Ace's No Limit Hold'em, Google Maps, and Ascendo Fitness do not.  I'd love to see a version of this with NO text under the icons.  The graphics are actually so good that it's easy to tell which application is related to an icon. For the real blackberry addicts out there, the need for explanation text is limited. 

Purchase & Installation
The iBerry theme is available for $6.00 from the CrackBerry Store , which for this particular theme I think is totally worth it.  You'll get your $6.00 worth of kicks just by showing your "iBerry" to all the co-workers in the office. And if you use the coupon code CRACK20 before the end of March you will save 20%.

Once you have purchased the theme, you can either download the .zip file to your desktop and install using BlackBerry Desktop Manager, or you can email the installation link to your Berry for easy Over The Air installation.

Once the theme is installed, you will have to install one more file - The Plazmic Theme Reader file. Without this installed, you won't be able to locate your newly added theme. Once the Plazmic Theme Reader is installed activating the new theme is easy. Simply go to Options > Theme and select the 8700 iBerry theme. If you choose to install using Desktop Manager, the Plazmic Theme Reader file is included in the .zip.  If you choose to do an OTA installation, you can get the Plazmic Theme Reader by visiting the link below from your berry's browser.

iBerry Theme Download Links:

iBerry theme for BlackBerry 8700

iBerry theme for BlackBerry 7100, 8100, 8700, 8800

Plazmic Theme Reader:  http://www.blackberrythemecentral.com/8700ota/ota/com_plazmic_theme_reader.jad

This is an OTA install link, so copy & paste the above URL into an email and send it to your Berry.  Click on the link from there and the file will install hassle free. 

Compatibility: BlackBerry 8700c, BlackBerry 8700f, BlackBerry 8700g, BlackBerry 8700r,
BlackBerry 8700v, BlackBerry 8703e, BlackBerry 8707v

As more versions of this Theme become available in the CrackBerry store, we will update them here.

Developer: BlackBerry Theme Central