BBSmart Shortcuts Review - uh thanks CrackBerry?
This morning at 3am, when I saw Get Alarms Pro for $5 I was PSYCHED! When I reread the article and it'd said get Alarms free by spending $5 I was shedding incredulous tears. And oh hey, I can get a shortcut app for $5. Looked promising.
Well, I don't like it. Even the discounted $5 doesn't sit well with me.
Pros
- Adding quick shortcuts with visual hotkeys was a breeze.
- Quick access to icons at the top, quick navigation to messaging, calling, your most frequent buds.
- Very clean and eye-pleasing app. Looks like facebook.
- Integration with contacts in your phonebook.
- Small size. 83k
- Version 1.1 was released almost immediately.
Cons
- Completely flabbergasted why all native BB apps aren't included in a predetermined list (God, of all things) of icons to pick from. Why not make the list as expansive and useful as setting convenience key?
- Can only set 3rd party apps and a few blackberry tools (Call log, camera, address book, tasks, calendar, memopad, and browser) What if I want setup wifi? Video? Manage Connections for my wifi? No? Why the he11 not?
- Buggy with messaging and phone list. Clicking a contact opens a menu that has "Close" as the only option. Wtf?
- Further causing insult to injury by the fact that the app is highly redundant. I can easily email/text a bud by typing his name, right click, compose email. Those steps don't bother me - the process is highly fluid/congruent. And choosing an app from a smaller list of icons than my homescreen...hardly makes any sense to me.
- Cannot paste. Hope you can memorize that long UR....
- Lose a convenience key for an inconvenient app. One button access became one button + scroll + click. 3X THE TROUBLEZ!
- DOESN'T INCLUDE OTHER BB APPS!
- Return key isn't click. Its trackball only.
- $5 app was $10 more than I would've liked to pay.
- Version 1.1 causes an inevitable Java.Lang Null Exception error. The app will not execute. Hilarious. I would've included screenshots if the BBSS would let me run it...
*Edit: Ver1.3 works again. Screens loaded, messaging remains nonfunctional.
Once the kinks are worked out, I think I'd like this app a little more. Heck I better, I paid for it afterall. The aspect of this program that conflicts me the most is the redundancy of it all. Getting a contact to dial or email was NEVER a hassle to me. It was simple and logical - type the name, create the message. And every Zen/Today/Icon themes have all the icons laid out for me, which I don't find any more troublesome than having an app determine another set for me to pick from. Unfortunately, the lack of a reason to use this app cannot be addressed. Kevin, does your guarantee we'll love this come with a moneyback? Wait, do I have to give back Alarms Pro
I give this a hardly impressive 1.5/5