[phone9]

The "screensavers" listed here:

BlackBerry Apps - Crackberry Store

need more testing. They have all been updated and I want to confirm through another field test that all the kinks have been worked out. Despite problems only a couple of users spoke up, and more feedback is needed.

For those who couldn't care less about a screensaver or charging monitor, the coupon will also work on Video Flashlight, which has also been updated (to work on all platforms) and could use some more verification also.

Thank you...

Coupon SCRTEST032 (may only work with on-phone store)

[thevillageidiot]

Itried the promo code but i only took 1.29 off?

[tmp3150]

I wonder if there isn't much of a need for a screensaver on a blackberry.

[phone9]

Itried the promo code but i only took 1.29 off?

The price should show as 1.29 and the coupon's for 1.29.

There isn't a need for a screensaver. People keep asking for something that adds coolness to a BlackBerry. Not that my ss's are cool yet but trying to do at least something to add some style to a business brick.

Some of the bestselling iPhone apps are just charging monitors, and my screensavers are also charging monitors.

I was thinking of switching to cool fade-outs instead of screensavers. For example, how would you like it if every time your screen fades out the black cat from the Matrix jumps across and then the screen wipes like when they reloaded the Matrix, and you see the glitch (cat re-materialzes farther back and the scene repeats). Then same thing when you re-light, or when you launch an app.

That particular fade can't be done because of copyrights, but I think that would forever put an end to the often-made statement, "There are no cool apps for the BlackBerry."

I tried something off-the-wall with I Charge Cool and it was top-10 for about a month, so I put the next 3 months into updates and followups. People download it by the thousands when it's free, and my screensavers are popular on pirate sites, but it seems most BlackBerry users aren't willing to PAY for the coolness they keep saying they want.

Ah well, guess it's time to switch to things like invoice makers...

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[yellowxboy]

i downloaded the american flag one, pretty neat concept you got there. I have a charging cradle at work so its nice to see the percentage on my phone w/o having to press any keys/buttons to see. A fade out screensaver would be awesome, the matrix idea sounds cool. Or just have the reboot screen (with all the green letters/numbers falling down) animate every ... 1 minute or so.

i'm running this with the .230 (5.0) build and it works just fine. I've only used it for about 10 minutes now but there seems to be no problem or anything.

keep up the good work! maybe give the user the ability to change the wallpaper themselves? that w.ould be easier instead of having to create multiple similar apps

[FF22]

The Star seems to work fine. I'm also not sure about a screen saver - does it ever fade completely (10 minutes, 30, 60, 90, 6 hours)? But it might be nice at Hannukah!!!

What is the impact of always have the screen lit up? Not image burn but just the life span of the lcd/screen light?

[phone9]

Thank you for this feedback,

The Star seems to work fine. I'm also not sure about a screen saver - does it ever fade completely (10 minutes, 30, 60, 90, 6 hours)? But it might be nice at Hannukah!!!

The app has 3 modes, either it's in Manual, Screensaver, or Charging Monitor mode. If you start it manually it doesn't shut off until you stop it. Screensaver mode activates after any display timeout, and extends the normal timeout by a time you specify, then shuts off. Chargemon mode activates when you plug in, and stops after a delay you specify, or that long after a charging target is reached. The only thing you can't do as far as timing is have the screensaver mode terminate in a shorter time than the backlight timeout you have set.

What is the impact of always have the screen lit up? Not image burn but just the life span of the lcd/screen light?

All BlackBerries except the most ancient use white LED's as the light source. They don't fade after lots of use like the fluorescent backlights in most computer displays, and are practically indestructible unless hit with power spikes or surges. Nothing's being consumed by leaving it on except some power, and the screensavers come preset with a 10% brightness setting to minimize any impact.

[phone9]

i downloaded the american flag one, pretty neat concept you got there. I have a charging cradle at work so its nice to see the percentage on my phone w/o having to press any keys/buttons to see. A fade out screensaver would be awesome, the matrix idea sounds cool. Or just have the reboot screen (with all the green letters/numbers falling down) animate every ... 1 minute or so.

If I had a free license to make a derivative work like that I would immediately drop everything else and do it. I tried to find out who the commercial rights holder of The Matrix is so I could contact them requesting permission, but I could not find that information. The Wachowski Brothers don't seem to want the public to find out how to contact them. If I can, I'll ask for permission.

maybe give the user the ability to change the wallpaper themselves? that w.ould be easier instead of having to create multiple similar apps

Yes, that is much better than what I've been doing. I'm considering making I Charge Cool into a screensaver/fader/chargemon "host" that comes with a few preset themes, and can also have 4th-party themes installed. What I'd really like to see is all the great themes for BlackBerry include a module that makes the screensaver/fader/chargemon match the main theme.

The ONLY reason why this hasn't already been done, is App World's $2.99 minimum-price rule. Say someone wanted Vendor A's chargemon theme. The customer would have to buy I Charge Cool for $2.99, then also buy Vendor A's theme for at least $2.99, and that's ridiculous -- making a customer pay $6 for an idle-screen theme?

That's the sole reason why I started selling every theme as a separate complete app, so that App World customers can pay the minimum price for a theme they want. So, I tried that method first. It's not working and is too much of a burden on me. But I can't make a tool to make it easy for 4th parties to build stand-alone apps, that would be like one company building another company a factory to compete against them.

So what's going to happen is I'll continue selling a number of stand-alone screensaver/chargemon themes, but also modify I Charge Cool to accept 4th-party installable themes and act as a fader/screensaver in addition to a charging monitor. People will be able to make their own custom themes and share or sell them also if they want, that'll be fine with me because I'll get my fair share (all users will have to purchase I Charge Cool from me), and the theme developers will get their fair share also for the creative and graphics work they did.

I think that's an O.K. compromise. So sometime this month, I Charge Cool 2.0 will come out and I'll try to convince the designers of the most popular themes to include ICC modules so the screen fader, idle screen, and charging monitor all go with the main theme.