Voice memo software roundup

Myself use Blackberry for company affairs, one functionality that was missing with older devices were voice memo taking (one 71xx model had it but I could not get that device that time) and was used heavily by me in my new Pearl 8100. The Blackberry is bundled with the ‘Send Voice Note’ application, but that comes with many limitations that made me look for alternatives, my search ended with two products that provided improved facilities for voice memo – ‘Voice Recorder+’ from SHAPE Services and ‘vNotes’ from Dollars 5 Complete. I myself ran a trial preview of both and decided to write a review of my findings that might helped me decide on my purchase and sharing it here for others to use this as a comparative review of different products before you commit with a purchase.

RIM – Blackberry bundled – Send Voice Note:

This is a bundled software that comes together with the Pearl, but allows user to send their recordings as MMS to other phone numbers. The software is very basic in functionality and is lacking many features normally a professional like me would expect to have.

SHAPE Services – Voice Recorder+:

This is a good piece of software that comes from German company that also has many mobile software. VR+ in short; has the facility of saving the recording to card or memory and view it latter, also allows me to send this as an attachment in an e-mail. Recording log, preview of recording, file-rename are some other features that are offered. Link: http://www.shapeservices.com/en/products/details.php?product=vr&platform=none

Dollars 5 Complete – vNotes:

This is also a good piece of software from a relatively new player in mobile applications; but their multiPlay for pearl is very popular and many seem to use. Coming back to vNotes – it also features saving to card and memory, recording listing, sending recording file as attachment, preview, file-rename, multiple record formats and tons of features bundled with it. One striking feature is the ability to tag the recordings that can view the tags to remember what the recording was meant for. And it comes with a neat user interface and good customer support too. Link: http://www.dollars5.com/plete/blackberry/vnotes-for-blackberry-pearl-8100/

Screenshots:

Roundup of features:

Feature	Send Voice Note	Voice Recorder+	vNotes
Record formats supported	AMR	AMR	AMR, AU, WAV (std, g711 a-law and u-law)
Saving to memory or card	No	Yes	Yes
Recording while using other applications (Background mode)	No	No	Yes and it can indicate background recording too via customizable LED flashings
Pause Recording	No	Yes	Yes
Immediate Play Preview	No	Yes by selecting from the recordings log	Yes by selecting from the recordings log
Change record format	No	No, but when sending as attachment their server seem to convert AMR to MP3	Yes, with in the application before starting the recording and setting default format in settings
User Interface	Very simple	Simple but no customizations	Simple and customizable as you like it from settings
Keypad shortcuts for quick functionality access	No	No	Yes, ‘1’ records/pause record, ‘2’ stop, ‘3’ play/pause play
List of previous recording/ recordings log	No	Yes	Yes
Additional features of the log	NA	No	Yes, sorting of the log by date, name and duration
Exporting outside Pearl	MMS	e-mail	e-mail
Tagging/Additional notes for the recordings	No	No	Yes, very cool feature – tags can be used for taking additional notes associated with the recordings and they are saved into memopad, also allows to use an existing memo as a tag
Phone call during recording	Stops recording	Pauses recording	Pauses recording
Quick recording on startup	Yes, always require to click a dialog for this	Yes, through settings	Yes, through settings
Record timer/duration indication	Yes	Yes	Yes
Limitation on recording	Yes, recording for 1 minute only	No, allows unlimited recordings, only limitation is free space on memory	No, allows unlimited recordings, only limitation is free space on memory
Ability to set record limits	No, default only 1 minute allowed	Yes, only memory limitation in MB	Yes, max recording time in minutes and memory limit in MB
Estimation of possible record duration	Yes	No	Yes, for the selected destination the maximum possible recordable minutes is displayed
Indication of record start	Yes, progress bar	Yes, button color changes – but that is not very much visible	Yes, button color change, LED flashing
Multiple record locations	NA	No, only 1 default location from settings	Yes, upto 5 configurable folder destinations to store the recordings and customizable keypad keys for changing too
Price	$0 (bundled with Pearl)	$19.95	$10.00
Customer support	NA	e-mail based	e-mail based and support forums at their site
Recent Improvements/upgrades	NA	Yes, but minimal upgrades only	Yes, some new features added like LED flashing, multiple folders, keypad shortcuts etc and there seems to be regular upgrades with added new features
Commitment of the developer (In terms of requests implemented/ beta feedbacks provided by me during the beta stage or after release)	NA	2/10   Less interest to improve product further and fulfill customer requests to add some features	8/10   More active in fulfilling customer feedbacks, almost many times immediately a QA version provided before upgrades officially announced

 

Final Words o the Roundup:

The review were prepared based on the features available, and customer experience that we experienced as beta testers for both products and after purchasing the products when released. I should thank my friend Kyle for volunteering to purchase vNotes and I made a VR+ purchase just to make the review full with customer experience too.

All parts of the software were throughly tested in two devices in 3 stages: beta software version, trial software version and fully licensed version.

Results:

The kind of features offered by ‘Send Voice Note’ makes us look for a full featured voice memo application, so the winner is the one that offers more features not just in software alone but also through customer support. Features wise, both third party software had competing features but the vNotes facilities were outstanding and just the company – Dollars 5 Complete; also though seemed to be a new entrant into mobile applications business; provided added features and more customer interaction than SHAPE services. Also Dollars 5 provided more support channels with a transparent and additional support forums. Cost wise for $10.00 (almost half the price of the VR+) what vNotes provides makes vNotes a clear winner. The result rating would be vNotes – WINNER – 8.5/10; Voice Recorder+ – Runner up – 6.5/10 and Send Voice Note – Runner up – 4/10

I am open for comments and suggestions.

Protecting your Blackberry Pearl from damages!

The Blackberry Pearl has a shiny stone finish – looks good. But as we know “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting“; holds good for Blackberry Pearl too. The shinny finish has danger in many forms and a major form of danger is; hold on; it is “YOU”. Yes, every blackberry user is the primary cause for damaging his very own Pearl.

How is it possible? Here is how, your lovely touch, leaves your finger prints on it, even a soft wipe with hand causes minute scratches. Ifit continues, one day you will find your Pearl dirty and will never ever again Love it.

After serious of considerations on protecting my Pearl, I ended up with a skin for my pearl and a screen  protector from Seido. It is the cheapest and best solutions I know so far.  It is only $15.95 and available for purchase from http://www.seidioonline.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=530, comes in two colors – ‘Frost White Skin case’  and ‘Jet White Skin case’.

My Pearl after skinning and applying the screen protector looks like this:

 

Though there are rumors of availability of a Silicone Skin that would not hide any of the Pearl’s beauty, it is so far not officially available, will update this post when I try it out.

Shortcuts for Pearl 8100

Here is a small list of shortcuts that I frequently use on my Pearl. I will keep updating as and when I find more shortcuts – if you know some shortcuts, post as reply to add to this list.

Introduction to keys:

The ALT key is the first bottom key on the left side of your keyboard; looks like for T-Mobile and for Cingular Blackberry Pearl phones respectively. The CAPS key is the one located second bottom key from the right side of your keypad; looks like for T-Mobile and for Cingular Blackberry Pearl phones. The ESC key is the one located immediately left to the trackball on the top of your keyboard and looks like

When I mention ALT+KEYS means while pressing and holding ALT key, you have to enter the sequence K, E, Y, S on your Blackberry keyboard.

HomeScreen Shortcuts:

ALT + LGLG = Event Log is displayed. From menu options you can select ‘Clear Log’ to clear the log entries – though this does not have any significant improvement in performance; it is better to have it free if there is no problems.

ALT + ESC – while on any application to switch between applications. This saves time from exiting current application and running other application and allows multitasking of applications in your Pearl

ALT + NMLL = change signal display to number or bars. (Note: to enter N – you have to enter the key BN twice – something similar that you would do on multi-tap)

ALT+RACE/Select Options->Advanced Options-> Applications, ALT+CAPS+H = launches Help Me! Screen with information about your device at one place.

While at Homescreen – enter a phone number – allow you to call that number.

Applications Screen Shortcuts:
A – Address Book
R – Alarm Clock
B – Browser
U – Calculator
L – Calendar
C – Compose E-mail
K – Keyboard Lock
M – Messages
D – Notes
O – Options
P – Phone
F – Profiles
V – Saved Messages
S – Search
T – Tasks
W – WAP Bookmarks

Smart System Codes while on an Auto-Text input field:

Type the below smart system codes and press ENTER to get these text replacements.

Myver – Displays the device/version
LD – Displays the local date
LT – Displays the local time
mysig – Displays the information you entered in the BlackBerry Options -> Owner screen
mypin – Displays your handheld’s PIN

Messages application shortcuts:

ALT+V/ALT+C = Voicemail messages

ALT+P/ALT+O = Placed call logs

ALT+I/ALT+U – Incoming call logs

ALT+A/ ALT+S – SMS messages

ALT+L – Compose a new e-mail message

Video: A typical Crackberry addict

The following video shows a typical blackberry addict (commonly known as Crackberry addicts)

Welcome Crackberry Addicts!

Welcome to my blog crackberry addicts, this is my first blog entry.

This blog is focussed on Blackberry tips, software reviews and add-ons recommendations . All entries have comments and feel free to express your thoughts on my posts.