Review: Card Loader, Optimizer and AutoStanby

[Tronyx]

Despite the fact that I have a website that has all kinds of articles, reviews, links to applications and what not, I haven't really ever wrote anything significant for the CrackBerry community. After a few posts in one of the topics in the Bold forum about an application that I was recently pointed to, I decided to go ahead and write a nice application review. It started when I saw another "Installling Applications onto the Media Card" topic and thought "Here we go, someone else who doesn't know how to use the search feature...". I posted the usual response about how it's not possible and all that and went on my way. I went back to check the forums a little later and saw there was at least another response so I checked it out. Someone had posted about an application that they had found that could do exactly what this topic was about. A little shocked and hesitant, I clicked on the link and it to me to Aerize's website. I checked out the info that they had on the application, did some research on it within the Aerize section of the Crackberry.com forums and decided to give it a shot. I also decided to pick up Aerize Optimizer, a memory optimizer, and Auto Standby while I was shopping. After posting a response to the thread that I was going to purchase all three applications, someone responded with a request for me to let them know what I found out since they were interested in the applications as well. That generated the spark for me to right a good review.

I spent a good few days using and testing these applications and here is what I have found:

Auto Standby - This little application can be picked up at MobiHand for around $6.00. I know that it has been around for a while and a lot of people have always recommended that I get it, but I always had the same thoughts about it. How hard is it to just put my Bold into standby mode? It really can't make THAT much of a difference. Man was I wrong. This has got to be one of my top applications for anyone with a Blackberry. It's so simple to set up too. Download it, install it, choose how long you want it to wait to enter standby mode after your screen blacks out and you're done! I have it set to five seconds and it works like a charm. Done with your Blackberry, sit it down, the screen goes blank, five seconds later it turns on with the entering standby mode message and you're set. This application has stretched out the life of my Seidio 1650mah battery by at least 10 hours and that is totally worth $6.00 in my book.

Aerize Optimizer - This little application can also be found at MobiHand and it will run you about $10.00. I have to admit that, once again, I was a little hesitant to purchase it, but it advertises that it will clean up and free up application memory along with helping to prevent memory leaks. I figured "What the h*ll, why not?". I have to tell you, folks, I was very pleasantly surprised. I downloaded and installed the Optimizer and immediately ran a "reclaim" as they call it. I was at about 42Mb of File Free Memory (I never really got into installing a ton of applications...) before I ran it and afterwards (Better get ready for this...) I was at an astounding 58Mb of FFM! I was freakin' amazed! It was almost too good to be true. Obviously the effects will not be the same for everyone, but I'm sure it will definitely make a difference. Now, the next best thing about this application is that it actually does help with memory leaks! I had been noticing a small memory leak within the past month or so and just shrugged it off with a "Meh, it's not that bad, I can live with it." attitude. Most of the time I would start with about 50Mb of FFM and by the end of a heavy use day, I would be down to about 42Mb of FFM. Not that bad, right? Wrong! Optimize has completely stopped whatever memory leak(s) that I had! I have gone three days now without doing a battery pull and, after cleaning some things up, I am still at the 62.17Mb of FFM that I start with after a battery pull. I have to tell you guys, this one is definitely worth the $10.00!

[Tronyx]

Aerize Card Loader - Ok. On to the application that I was the most skeptical about. As I'm sure most of you are aware the question about whether or not you can install applications to your MicroSD card on your Blackberry has been around for a long time. Up until now, the answer has been no. Enter Aerize Card Loader. It ran me another $10.00, which is a little expensive for an application, but again I figured "Eh, what the h*ll."

The way Card Loader works, is that when you download an application on your phone or install it from Desktop manager, it gives you the choice of installing the application to your SD card. Pretty sweet, right? What this application also does, is that it allows you to load an application when you want to use it and then unload it when you are done. Essentially, this application is allowing you to install more applications then you normally would be able to while only using your devices FFM when you run the application. This seriously sounded way, way, WAY too good to be true! Turns out that it KIND of is. Now, you can load and unload any application that you have installed to your MicroSD card, but (and this is kind of a big but...) some applications require you to reboot your device when loading and unloading them. Total turn off to this application, right? Eh, not really and here's why. Some applications are required to always have some kind of a "link" to your device so that you can run them. That makes sense to me. So, if you have one of those applications installed to your MicroSD card, it is unloaded by default and does not have a link to your device, hence the reboot. Here is Aerize's explanation:

If the application being loaded/unloaded:
• Uses a listener
• Is auto-start
• Uses persistent storage or backup/restore features
• Is running/listening for connections

Then a reset will be necessary, just as is the case when loading from the BlackBerry Desktop Manager. The only real issue that I have with this scenario is that there isn't a nice master list of the applications that require a reboot after you load them with Card Loader. You pretty much need to find out for yourself, which is the most time consuming part.

[Tronyx]

Another bit of a bummer about Card Loader is that you can't just move applications that you already have installed to your MicroSD card. You will need to reinstall it so that you can choose to put it on the card. Then you have to go in and load the application to see if it does require a reboot in order to function properly. There are some applications that you can just tell will need a reboot. Some of the ones that should immediately throw up a flag are BBFileScout (it needs to be linked so that it can keep tabs on your files), BerryBuzz or any of the other profile applications (They have to be linked for obvious reasons), and Auto Standby (Another "Duh!"). It definitely does take some time to get everything figured out, get your applications reinstalled and determine which ones need a reboot or not, but I still think that it was worth it. This application allows you to free up FFM by installing applications to your MicroSD card, which in turn allows you to install more applications. In my eyes it's worth both the money and the time required to fully set it up. I will also admit that having to load an application before you can use it requires more time and effort, but for anyone who has a lot of applications installed, it could very well be worth it.

I'm not going to lie to you all and say something like "Yep, I got it all set up in about twenty minutes". It took me a good hour or so to get all of my applications reinstalled and figured out. Here comes the fun part though. Downloading, installing AND testing a bunch of the more popular applications that you can get for the Bold.

Over the course of the weekend I will be testing out a decent amount of the applications that I have links for on my website and create a list of applications that require a reboot when loading or unloading them. I will also be coming up with a list of applications that seem to "ignore" Card Loader and install directly to the device anyway. Doing all of this testing will allow me to get a decent grasp on the application and determine what exactly happens when you install an application to the MicroSD card.
Thank you for taking the time to read this absolutely MASSIVE Wall'O'Text and, as always, your feedback is greatly appreciated.

Chris

[bbuser6894]

cool thanks for info

[Felicia-SU]

Yeah I tried Cardloader too and your review does sum it up quite well. However I decided to pass after the free trial was up.

[riverajuan]

So there still the security issue with RIM and which applications will work. Kind of insecure

[fyb87]

This sounds like a really good app. I will be interested in seeing your list of apps that you tested out!

[Undisputed]

I just picked up Auto Standby today from MobiHand and for those interested it is on sale for $2.95 until May 5th, at MobiHand.

Gotta say so far I really love this app. A lot of you may ask yourself why would you pay for a program that puts your phone in standby which is very true...But I'm sure you don't always remember to hit the standby key and like the reviewer stated it saves your battery dramatically!

Thanks for the awesome review!