Best Blackberry Weather and News Apps

For those looking to outfit their Blackberry with the latest and greatest from the Blackberry App store, the free Weather Eye application is a necessary first download.

Overview of application: Desktop icon on Blackberry that allows the user to quickly check the current weather, daily forecast, and longer-term outlook. Program can be customized for your current location (e.g., by zipcode) and temperature reporting preferences (e.g., Celsius)

Pros:

-Visibility: desktop icon shows an image of the weather (e.g., sunny, rainy) so you can see what it is like outside without opening the program

-Small program: can be quickly downloaded for free

-Easy access: desktop icon makes referencing the weather easy

-Functionality: ability to toggle between current and short/long-term forecast is easy

Cons:

-Program can be slow to open if you need to check the longer-term forecast

-Occasionally the program has data malfunctions not allowing it to access the weather

Overall: this is the best free weather program I have found and a strong improvement over weather.com and other web-based programs.

VIIGO

For people who often find themselves skimming the NYT on the go in a cab or on the way home from work, Viigo might be a useful application. The application is similar to Google Reader in that it allows you to select several news sources you enjoy and then receive updates as interesting news stories are published.

Pros:

-Simple interface: the application is structured arounds the news source as the first layer and then the stories as the second. When you open Viigo you first choose which source you want to read, then the article. This is different from other sources such as google news which provide a stream of articles somewhat grouped by topic.

-Speed: opening the articles is surprisingly fast. The user rarely has to wait while the article loads.

-Diversity of sources: there are many different news sources available so one is most certainly apt to find one that suits his or her needs. You may even find some news sources through Viigo that you enjoy but had never heard about before.

Cons:
-Full article view: because Viigo is relatively quick to load articles sometimes it seems that I only get a snippet of the article. I then have to go to the host website to download the full article. This functionality is not an issue if your primary use of Viigo is to skim the news but can be troublesome if you enjoy reading each article in full.