BuzzMe is the Ultimate BlackBerry Utility
By: Hillel Fuld
As a person who reviews mobile apps daily, there are very few apps that I download and keep forever. On the iPhone platform, there is endless storage and memory to handle hundreds of apps, but on the BlackBerry Bold or the Android device I use, the application memory is very limited. What this means for me and many other heavy mobile users is that if you are not using the app on a daily basis, you cannot afford to have it to take up your precious application memory, so even if you like an app, chances are you will delete it eventually.
BuzzMe was one of the first apps I installed on my BlackBerry and while many other apps have come and gone, BuzzMe is still hanging around. I originally got the app to solve the issue that the BlackBerry by default vibrates and only then rings. As a result of this weird annoyance, I was missing many calls. BuzzMe allowed me to set exactly how long the phone would vibrate for, and it enabled the phone to vibrate and ring simultaneously.
However, since those days when BuzzMe was in its early years, it has evolved a lot, and I recently installed the 2.5 premium version of BuzzMe. Let me tell you, not only is the app absolutely overflowing with features, it eats less battery than before, and has truly saved me on numerous occasions. Let me explain. Putting aside the whole vibrate and ring thing, the new BuzzMe premium, which costs $4.99 (the most I have ever spent on a mobile app, but totally worth it) comes with a list of features longer than anything I have seen on any other app.
So, what does BuzzMe Premium do? Let’s start with the basics. As mentioned, you can have the phone ring and vibrate at the same time, but you can also change the color of the LED notification light when the phone is ringing as opposed to getting an email or text message. The app includes the option to turn off all notifications when you are on a call, which I have done, since I am not going to be checking emails while talking to someone anyway, so why be bothered?
Another extremely cool feature is the ability to create a personalized color of your choice, which can then be applied to calls, any email account, or a whole list of other add ons, which we will get to a little later. You can create this color by mixing three basic colors or by inputting a HEX color value. The color of the LED can of course be changed for email, calls, and SMS messages as well.
Moving along, not only can you customize the color of the LED, the way the phone rings and vibrates, but you can also define how long you want the actual vibration to be. So, for example, if the phone is on vibrate in your pocket, and you are in a meeting, just by the vibration alone, you can know if it is a call, email, SMS, tweet, Facebook message, IM, and the list goes on and on.
Which brings me to my next and most significant point. The new Premium version has what’s referred to as “Add ons”. These are 3rd party apps for which Buzz Me allows you to customize the way the phone sends you notifications. The add on list consists of the following apps:
- BlackBerry Messenger
- MySpace
- Beejive
- UberTwitter
As I am sure you have gathered, the new BuzzMe Premium has all your needs covered. Just to add one more very useful feature, the paid versions of BuzzMe allow you to automatically start the app when the phone reboots. BuzzMe is the kind of app you need running all the time and I don’t know about you, but I would not remember to enable it every time I turn on my phone, so this is a very practical feature for me.
In conclusion, it has happened to me countless times that I was in a meeting and just by the color of the LED or the vibration type/length, I knew exactly what was going on without having to even look at my phone. The app is a must have, and if you do not trust me on this (you should), go download the free version, try it out, then imagine it ten times more useful and go buy the paid version. It comes in three versions, the free one, the Pro version, and the Premium version. You can read about the differences here. If you do not use all the add ons, the Pro is sufficient, but if like me, you are constantly tweeting, IMing, and Facebooking, then go shell out the $4.99, you will not regret it.
Our Rating: 5/5
Developer: BigTinCan
