Top 15 Free BlackBerry Apps – New Twitter App Launches

Welcome to this month’s edition of the Top 15 Free BlackBerry Apps, brought a few days early. The biggest story here is the official Twitter app launching into the top 5. This new BlackBerry app is in testing mode, but has been well received thus far. The other new app to the list is Navita Translator, while many apps are making a return after not making the list last month.

The Top 15 Free BlackBerry Apps are calculated by number of downloads from BlackBerry App World. This is a snapshot of the top free BlackBerry Applications. The information provided is via BlackBerry App World. Let’s jump right into the top 15 free BlackBerry Apps (as of 29 Apr 2010), beginning with number 15.

15. (NR) Ka-Glom – Free 1.5.1 (games) 3.5 Stars, 1k ratings, 317KB

“Now Free for a Limited Time!
Combine the explosive Ka-Glom jelly to blast blocks and get the ultimate chain reaction.
Ka-Glom is a high-pressure game of falling blocks.  Of the two block types, only the Ka-Glom jelly is explosive.  Connect four Ka-Gloms of the same color to start an explosive reaction eliminating all connecting blocks of that color.  In building huge chain-reacting explosions your Ka-Glom Factor increases and the bonus points multiply.  Play in Survival mode for a classic puzzle experience or try some deep thinking with the Puzzle mode.

Features
- 3 Different modes of Play: Normal, Time Attack, and Puzzle Mode
- Hidden modes to be unlocked
- Learn how to play with an easy and quick tutorial”

14. (10) Bible 2.1.4 *recent version upgrade* (religion) 4 Stars, 1k+ reviews, 337KB

“##Latest release fixes connection problems experienced on some phones including the Bold 9700
Read through the Bible this year using one of the 20+ Bible Reading Plan that were added in the 2.1 release. We also made improvements with outstanding compatability issues. This App now works on all Blackberry devices.
Introducing the BlackBerry® Bible App
powered by YouVersion.com (a free online Bible)
Read, explore, and learn from the Bible no matter where you are.  A great way to read the Bible more or begin reading the Bible for the first time.

Features:
- Use the Bible reader to study any part of Scripture
- Low memory use:  No large Bible files stored in your phone’s memory
- Completely Free:  No additional purchases or file downloads required to read the entire Bible
- Browse by books of the Bible – the entire Bible is at your fingertips.
- Take your pick from 41 different Bible translations available in 21 different languages.
- The One-Year Bible Reading Plan provides daily selections to help you read through through the entire Bible in one year.
- Learn from others by checking out recent user contributions from YouVersion.com associated with each Bible verse.
- Join the community at YouVersion.com and have your Bible contributions viewable in the BlackBerry® Bible App.  Contribute videos, photos, blog posts, and more and engage in a unique social network focused on the Bible at YouVersion.com
- Easily email Bible verses to your contacts. Tweet verses to Twitter®”

13. (NR) WeatherBug 1.1.0.150 (Weather) 3.5 Stars, 1k ratings, 1010KB

“Stay informed and prepared with live local weather, severe weather alerts, in-depth forecasts, camera views, detailed radar maps and international weather. The features of the WeatherBug application for the BlackBerry Storm include:

* Live neighborhood weather from over 8,000 weather stations in the U.S.
* Current weather, forecast and NWS alerts for your GPS location.
* Current conditions icon and outdoors temperature on your BlackBerry desktop.
* “Always on” NWS weather alerts such as Tornado warnings.
* 7-day and hourly forecasts.
* Detailed radar and maps.
* Daily National Weather Outlook broadcasts provided by WeatherBug meteorologists.
* Check the weather on BlackBerry Maps by simply touching any area on the map for two (2) seconds.
* View snapshots and time-lapse animations from more than 2,000 weather cameras in the U.S.
* Set-up new locations by pulling the location information from your contact list.
* Share the current weather information, forecast, alerts and camera views with friends and family.
”

12. (NR) Navita Translator 2.0.1.32 (translator) 3.5 Stars, 1k reviews, 244KB

“Translate-and-Speak words, phrases from e-mails as well as from the BlackBerry Browser, SMS or typing in the software.
Navita Translator translates more than 50 languages and is capable to speak languages like English, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, French, German and Russian.

Other Features:
- send your translations to: Twitter, Mail, SMS, PIN, MEMO
- supports English, Portuguese and Spanish interfaces.
- free support
- Compatible with all devices”

11. (12) FREE Sea Storm Animated Theme 2010.4.15.2108 (Nature Theme) 4 Stars, 3k+ ratings, 809KB

“Features:
* Professional Front Screen Animation
* Custom color scheme on menus
* New front Hidden Dock navigation for full front screen Animation display
* NEW – At least 6 icons on front Page for all handsets.
* NEW – Mobstar Slider adds more Icons (81xx, 83xx, 87xx and 88xx currently NOT supported)
* NEW – Clear Highlight for selected front screen icons.
* Animation pauses when phone is on standby to reduce battery drain”

10. (11) Movies 1.3 *recent version upgrade* (entertainment) 3 Stars, 1k reviews, 1201KB

“Movies by Flixster, the top movie app for Facebook is now on BlackBerry®!
- Get details for the top box office movies
- Browse the DVD catalog of over 50,000 movies
- Watch high quality trailers  currently only available on some devices
- Read reviews from Rotten Tomatoes
- View theater info with maps, phone number, ticket info and showtimes for theaters in the USA, UK or Canada
- Buy movie tickets from movietickets.com
- Search for movies by title, director or actors”

9. (NR) Poynt 1.5.4.12 (maps & navigation) 4.5 Stars, 4k reviews, 723KB

Use Poynt to find people, businesses, movie theatres, retailers and restaurants near you. Poynt uses GPS or cell-site locations to pinpoint you and quickly deliver the information you need whenever and wherever you need it.
- Find phone numbers and connect with one click, browse websites and map directions
- Plan a night out – book movie tickets and dinner reservations, add it to your calendar and invite your friends
- Add listings to your BlackBerry® Address Book, add movie and restaurant events to your BlackBerry® Calendar, share listings using BlackBerry® Messages
- Poynt is free and available in Canada, the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, and now in France, Italy and Spain

8. (NR) WeatherEye 2.0.2 (Weather) 2.5 stars, 3k reviews, 858kb

“WeatherEye for BlackBerry® provides you the following information and allows you to select from any city The Weather Network provides content for Current conditions, Hourly forecasts, Short-term forecasts, Long-term forecasts, Radar Maps, and Warning updates. Search cities using GPS.”

7. (13) Dictionary and Thesaurus – Dictionary.com 1.1 *recent version upgrade* (Education) 4 Stars, 1k reviews, 360KB

“New in this version:
* Now available for the Storm and Storm 2
* Antonyms in Thesaurus

The only free dictionary app for BlackBerry® is from Dictionary.com. Our well-known reference content from Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com includes more than 500,000 words, definitions, and synonyms. The app also features phonetic and audio pronunciations, spelling suggestions and Dictionary.com’s popular Word of the Day that is enjoyed by millions of people.
*    Dictionary and Thesaurus
*    Word of the Day  English and Spanish
*    More than 325,000 words and definitions
*    More than 275,000 synonyms and antonyms
*    Phonetic and audio pronunciations
*    Spelling suggestions
*    Recent history
*    Social networking functions
*    Email integration”

6. (3) Facebook 1.7.0.22 (social networking) 2 Stars, 4k reviews, 1397KB

“Stay on top of your social life with Facebook® for BlackBerry® smartphones. This free application makes Facebook services – like sending messages, poking friends, writing wall posts, inviting friends to join and uploading photos – available on the go! Take Facebook wherever life takes you and don’t miss a beat!”

5. (NR) Twitter 1.0.0.37 (test center) 3.5 stars, 1k reviews, 963kb

“Be among the first to know what’s happening.
With Twitter® for BlackBerry® smartphones, you can get your Direct Messages as soon as they arrive.  It even works with your BlackBerry® Browser and BlackBerry® smartphone camera, so it only takes a moment to post a link or upload a picture directly to Twitter. Plus, you can follow friends, search for a topic of interest, and more.

Interested in discussing Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones with other BlackBerry users?  If you’re a resident of Canada/US/UK, register for a BlackBerry Beta Zone account today at http://www.blackberry.com/beta/ and join the conversation!”

4. (NR) Drive Safely 1.23 (utilities) 3.5 stars, 1k reviews, 600kb

“DriveSafe.ly reads your text messages and emails out loud so you can concentrate on the road.  Eliminate the temptation to reach for your phone by letting DriveSafe.ly read to you and automatically respond for you.

Stay connected by listening to your messages without texting while driving or reading emails in your car.  DriveSafe.ly is the answer to texting while driving  TWD .

For even more functionality download DriveSafe.ly Pro – also available on BlackBerry® AppWorld™.  DriveSafe.ly Pro adds the ability to use additional voices, listen to text messages and emails without sponsor messages and much more!

Features include:
-It is free to use DriveSafe.ly
-Automatically plays incoming text  SMS  and email messages
-Play messages on demand through menu
-No complicated software to install  easy to use
-Small footprint  lightweight app does not slow down your phone
-Customizable auto-response and timeout duration
-Human sounding text to speech powered by iSpeech.org”

3. (7) Pandora 1.1.3.3 *recent version upgrade*(Music & Audio) 4 Stars, 5k reviews, 352KB

“Pandora.  It s radio that is personalized just for you, playing only the music that you love.  Simply enter one of your favorite songs or artists and Pandora creates a radio station that explores just that kind of music.  With your BlackBerry® smartphone, Pandora brings an effortless personal soundtrack right to you whenever you want to listen to music.

Pandora plays all your current and old favorites and introduces you to new songs that you ll love.  Rate songs as they play because Pandora caters your radio stations to your tastes and adapts the playlist to your feedback on the spot.  Pandora has all styles of music – from hip-hop to jazz, country to classical, latin to rock, dance to pop, and much more.”

2. (1) BlackBerry App World 1.1.0.33 (Shopping Tools) 3 Stars, 1k+ reviews, 835KB

“Discover a world of possibilities at the BlackBerry App World™ storefront. Personalize your BlackBerry® smartphone with games, social networking, personal productivity applications and so much more. BlackBerry apps can take full advantage of proven features like BlackBerry push technology and GPS to name a few so you can experience apps like never before. Put more of your life on your BlackBerry smartphone.”

1. (2) BlackBerry Messenger 5.0.0.57 (Instant Messaging) 3 Stars, 5k+ reviews, 3213KB

“Battery life has been improved with the latest BlackBerry Messenger.  This version also addresses some of the issues identified in BlackBerry Messenger 5.0.0.33, such as file transfer not working or working slowly, no file preview, and file transfer requests expiring after a short period of time. This version does not include any new features. The Check Spelling As You Type feature has been restored for all devices.”

“Share your pin or unique barcode to connect with friends anywhere, anytime. Take comfort in knowing your friends are only a BlackBerry Messenger message away whether you want to make plans for the night or ask a quick question. Chat and share funny stories, pictures, videos and more with individual contacts or groups of friends instantly. Stay in touch like never before with BlackBerry Messenger”

What’s your favorite Free BlackBerry App? Which do you think are too high? How about ranked too low or not listed? Feel free to share your favorites.