VeryBusy for BlackBerry

[xDAKx]

Imagine your in a meeting, and suddenly someone rings you on your BlackBerry, Your really too busy to answer the call at the moment, but don't want the person who took the time to ring you to think your just being rude and ignoring them, or are avoiding you. That's where VeryBusy is designed to come in. As of 3 November 2010, It's being featured on BlackBerry App World.



VeryBusy is designed by MediaCanvas Co. Limited and is pretty simple when it comes to a UI, simply because it really doesn't have one, You open the app and are presented with a (semi-poorly translated) pop-up informing you how to get started with the app.

The app is pretty simple, When you get a call, simply press the end key, then VeryBusy will pop-up, presenting you with the messages you set in the application at an earlier time, or presenting you with the defaults if you haven't set any of your own. Choose the one you want, and press the trackpad/trackball, and the message will be sent, or ignore the pop-up and it'll disappear after 15 seconds.

While the app does work fairly well and succeeds in it's mission, It has some pretty sharp shortcomings that some users will likely find annoying.



First off the fact that it really doesn't have a UI, there isn't an option screen, simply because there aren't any user-configurable options besides the messages you can send to calls that have been rejected, and the ability to enable "auto-reject" mode.

Secondly is the "auto-reject" function, which some may find useful, other's may find a pain in the ar**. When enabled, You'll see a little red dot in your notification area, and any calls which come in will be automatically rejected, and will automatically have one of the messages you've selected sent to them.

I could understand this being useful in the event that your in a really important meeting, and choose to turn your ringer/vibration options off, and then set auto-reject to on, meaning there would be no such thing as an interruption from your phone.

However even in that usage scenario, VeryBusy will try and send a text to -every- number which calls your BlackBerry while that mode is on, including 1-800 numbers, landlines, and even private numbers, even more troubling is that a call from a private number will result in the app trying to send a text without a number, and causes the app to crash.

Personally, I feel with some more time and more code, the option to send a message to callers, of which the user has selectively chosen to reject would be a far better solution.

An example of this would be the following; a call comes in, you choose to reject it (this control alone would be an upgrade), however furthermore, you could allow the app to countdown for 5-10 seconds, giving you the oppertunity to prevent VeryBusy from sending a message to that number (think along the lines of "Press C to Cancel, or Back to skip this countdown").

Another short coming would be the poor translation throughout, For example "Active VeryBusy" and "How to Work" in the application menus and "leave it which will be disappeared in 15 seconds" are the most notable examples.

If you can live with VeryBusy's lack of user options and poor translation, VeryBusy may offer you a convenient little app to take care of a little issue that has surely bugged quite a few of us, VeryBusy has quite a bit of potential, provided it's developers are dedicated to improving the application further and listening to user feedback.

However all this comes at a price, a 2.99US price (£1.84 roughly) to be exact, It's a price that most people will be unwilling to be pay for such a simple app, which is only 64kb in size, Reduce the price to 1.99US and implement some new features, allowing the application to be more flexible to the users needs and wants, and I would recommend this app to any "power socializer" or business power user who frequently receives phone calls, but at this price, with such little to offer, I can't help but tell the average person to steer clear of VeryBusy for the time being.

Final Rating:
*** (3 of 5 stars)

Pros:
Relatively simple UI
Fills a previously unserved need
Unlimited number of messages that can be sent

Cons:
High Price
Poor Translation
No flexibility/options
Simple things cause an app crash

The Final Word:
With some serious commitment to furthering this little app, It could become worth it's price, but as of right now, it has too much ground to cover to justify it's price.

Get it: from BlackBerry App World

(P.S - This is my first review on CrackBerry in the community reviews section, do go lightly on me please!)