You’ve come a long way, BB

The BlackBerry appstore has long been criticized for its relatively Spartan offerings, but now there’s much to keep the crackberry addicts happy. Add to this their recent tie-up with the Amazon Appstore and you have enough arsenal to take on any other smartphone platform. We checked out the BlackBerry app store and found a few cool ones.

This contextual reminder app is created for the BlackBerry ecosystem and works on the basis of location and people. For example, if you’ve set a reminder to pick up your drycleaning, the app kicks in when you’re within the vicinity of the store. Or, if you set a reminder that you need to ask a certain friend about weekend plans, when that friend sends you an SMS or an email, you are reminded about what you need to discuss. The premise is simple and extremely useful and if you’re the forgetful sorts, it’s worth the ₹100.

This is one of the most interesting productivity apps on the BB, allowing you to control just how much information you receive – a great way to stave off the overload that’s inevitable on a smartphone. Tilt compiles all your essential information – weather, calendar, battery, location, etc – into blocks of information, starting with the most relevant at the bottom. Depending on how much you want to know, tilt the phone – the app displays information based on the phone’s gyroscopic orientation. At just ₹50, it’s the perfect app to keep your brain a little less cluttered!

All the ‘bill-paying’ every month is bound to get to you, and that’s where the native BB digital wallet application called HotRemit comes into the picture. Make money transfers to any of your social contacts, whether a Facebook friend or some one on your BBM. Just register, load your account using a debit card and make payments from the convenience of your phone, and with the ease of a social network. HotRemit comes free on the BB appstore.

After their recent partnership with the Amazon App Store, BlackBerry has vastly expanded their app collection, which used to be the main complaint for BB lovers, and the main jibe from iOS and Android users. Well, crackberry addicts have reason to rejoice as they can now access everything from Tinder and Instagram to Pinterest, without giving up on their BB. One standout app, that was recently offered free on the Amazon App Store, is Plex – the app that allows users to access their entire video and music library from any device. Eliminating the need to transfer from phone to computer, etc, Plex lets you view anything from any device. Users have to install the app on each of the devices, but the smooth streaming is worth the effort – and the $4.99 price tag.

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