BlackBerry App Roundup 8/21/15

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Howdy CrackBerry nation! Another week has just flown by here and I cannot believe the summer is almost over. Where has the time gone? The buzz this week was all about the BlackBerry 'Venice' Slider, the leaked render, and how it could arrive on all four national US carriers in November. Until it's officially announced, though, we will have to wait and see what happens. I still have my Torch 9800 so would love to add this slider to my every growing collection of devices.

Now it's time to bring you this week's picks for all your passionate BlackBerry addicts out there. You can find each app and game I've rustled up for you by clicking through the gallery below. If your favorite did not make the cut this week, remember you can help by offering your suggestions at the end.

Good Morning - Speak Time, Weather, Appointments and New Message Counts by Toysoft Development

Good Morning

Always on the prowl for apps with interesting features, this one came along in BlackBerry World. As someone who loves hitting the snooze button in the morning and forgets to check the important things before running out the door (i.e. Weather), this one helps you start your day. Keep in mind, Good Morning is not an Alarm application but rather a speaking assistant. That being said it does offer an array of features for when you turn your BlackBerry on in the morning. When you set the wake-up time within the application will speak to you. It supports over 30 languages and tells you the current date and time, current weather temperature and condition, new text and email message counts, and calendar appointments. Should you wish to stop the application you may do so with a press of a button. You can find Good Morning in BlackBerry World for $0.99.

Learn More / Purchase Good Morning

Penana - Your Mobile Fiction App by Penana Limited

Penana

Going through the forums, I came across this new social publication platform similar to Wattpad. It is a native application to access a website designed for young and aspiring writers. Once you have signed up for their service you can read and explore stories and creative writings in fiction and non-fiction genres, review, comment and like stories, write and edit your own stories on the fly, host and join mini writing contests, follow writers, and even engage in writing societies to discuss topics. With its user friendly interface you can not only interact with new authors but it helps encourage you for your own works as well. You can download it for free in Blackberry World.

Learn More / Download Penana

AlphaBetty Saga by King

AlphaBetty Saga

From the developer behind Candy Crush comes this challenging quest to collect new words. Similar to Bookworm and Boggle but with the graphics of their predecessor games, the object of the game is to complete the objective (i.e. reach a certain score) in order to advance to the next level. Rather than matching pieces of candy you are attempting to find words, using adjacent letters, from the lettered grid. Words must be at least three letters long, can be linked from right to left, and may also be linked diagonally. There are special blocks and obstacles that appear as you advance, and, of course, the levels increase in difficulty. While I would say this game is geared more for children, it is fun for all. There are over 100 levels, leaderboards, boosters to crack challenging levels, and in-app purchases (like with their other games). AlphaBetty Saga is free to download from the Amazon Appstore.

How to install AlphaBetty Saga from the Amazon Appstore

Polarr Photo Editor by Polarr, Inc.

Polarr

Polarr is an advanced photo editing application. While there are no shortage of these types of applications, it offers various tools and techniques for free. Whether you are looking for high precision tools, advanced clarify and dehaze filters, or even preset styles you have them all at your fingertips. Additional features include the option to create your own style presets, infinite undo/redo, HSL channels and tone curves to perfect colors, split-tone with any colors you choose, all the basic editing features as well as new tools such as chromatic shift, and an easy to use interface. You can find Polarr in the Amazon Appstore. Update Since this post was published, the developer notified us that they have released a version in BlackBerry World. I have included the download link as the 2nd link below.

How to install Polarr from the Amazon Appstore
Learn More / Download Polarr Photo Editor

Sugar Story by KaNodHome

Sugar Story

Another discovery from the forums, this simple game takes its cue from Pacman. The goal of this arcade game is to lead Sugar Cube towards the Land of All Sweets. In order to accomplish this task, he has to escape hostile environments by collecting various candy and grabbing all the keys to unlock the gates between levels. Sugar Story is cross platform and available in both a lite version and a premium version for $0.99. There are 25 levels (five episodes each), and 10 unique and charismatic villains. The game may be simple but it keeps you occupied and is native for BlackBerry 10. You can try out the free version in BlackBerry World which includes two chapters and one endless mode game.

Learn More / Download Sugar Story Lite
Learn More / Purchase Sugar Story

What You Might Have Missed

BlackStack by Travis Redpath

BlackStack

For those who belong to the Stack Exchange sites to find answers to questions in various topics and fields, a new BlackBerry 10 native application popped up this week. BlackStack supports an array of features including viewing questions, answers, and comments from all Stack Exchange communities, searching for questions, users, or tags, syntax highlighting, math formatting, and spoiler tags, bookmark questions, snapshot questions for viewing offline, and setting favorite communities. While BlackStack is free to download, there will be a few features available for those who purchase the premium version for $1.99. Once purchased, users can change from the bright them to the beta version of the dark theme, lock the app with either an alphanumeric or simple four digit password, and display the Superbar at the top of the screen.

Learn more / Download BlackStack

Until next week...

That's it for this week folks. For more apps and games, be sure to head on over to the CrackBerry Forums where you will find even more hidden gems to choose from whether it be for BlackBerry 10, BBOS or the BlackBerry PlayBook. Of course, you can always find the latest and greatest top editor's picks in the CrackBerry App Gallery. Are there any apps or games you would like to see? Feel free to leave your suggestions in the comments.

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