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What Are the Best BlackBerry Apps?

They don't call it the CrackBerry for no reason. Business users love their BlackBerrys -- and thanks to a growing app store, they can be more useful than ever.

By Amanda Kooser
Posted 10/ 28 10 at 8:00 PM | Business Trends, Technology, Business Travel, Online Business, Business Products & Services, Consumer Products & Services, Media, Software, Telecommunications, Inventions & Innovations

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There's an app for that: A look at the best BlackBerry apps.The iPhone came and you resisted. Android came and you said, "No, thanks." You're a loyal BlackBerry business user and proud of it. BlackBerry might have the smallest app store of the bunch, but a good chunk of the apps are all about tackling serious business tasks. And that can be a good thing -- meaning you don't have to slog through quite so many zombie shoot-em-up games or variations on Tetris to find what you're looking for.

As of Oct. 27, these apps are the ones that reigned supreme as the most popular in the "Business" category of BlackBerry App World. Here's a closer look.

Top Free BlackBerry Apps

You won't have to shell out any bucks to take these apps along for the ride.

1. Real Estate Powered by Smarter Agent. This app caters to both home buyers and real-estate agents. It accesses publicly available MLS listings covering 300 markets across the country to display information such as price, pictures and estimated mortgage costs. The app ties in with your phone's GPS capabilities on most BlackBerrys to bring some location awareness to your searches.

2. Call Time Tracker. Your BlackBerry is your business buddy. It's your conduit to your clients and your mobile e-mail connection. You spend a lot of time on your BlackBerry. Keep track of all that with this app. Call Time Tracker lets you log calls, mark them as billable time, add tags to your calls, track your time spent on e-mail and generate a monthly spreadsheet of the data you've tagged.

3. HandyLogs Money. This app is all about keeping track of your expenses, time and mileage. You don't have to wait to get back to the office to put your report in order. You can create custom categories and keep track of clients. And the app doesn't need an active Internet connection -- it works even when you're out of cell range or away from a Wi-Fi connection.

4. Telicost. It's easy to get carried away on your BlackBerry and let those minutes, gigabytes of data and text messages pile up during your billing cycle. Telicost is the little voice inside your BlackBerry that lets you know when you're in danger of running over, so you don't rack up surprising overage charges.

5. Dragon for E-Mail. You love your BlackBerry's built-in keyboard, but sometimes it's just easier to dictate, especially when you compose longer e-mails. That's where Dragon for E-Mail comes in. This e-mail dictation app lets you open up your e-mail, dictate your message and send it on its merry way.

Top Paid Apps

Break out the credit card. These are the top apps that other business users have been happy to pay for.

1. WiFi File Transfer. If you have a Wi-Fi-enabled BlackBerry, you've got an option to move your files from your Mac or PC directly to your smartphone. There's no monkeying around with Desktop Manager, Media Manager or any other speed bump. WiFi File Transfer does just what its name says it will. ($4.99)

2. Contacts Cleaner. Your BlackBerry contacts can quickly start looking like the New York City phone book if you don't keep a handle on it. All that importing from various sources can make for a lot of duplicate entries. Give your contacts list a good scrubbing with Contacts Cleaner. This app goes through and weeds out duplicate entries, merging them together for a more usable address book. ($2.99)

3. Business Card Reader. If you saw our run down of top iPhone apps, you would notice just how many business card readers landed on the top list. Take a photo of a business card and let the Business Card Reader app put its text recognition to work to import the data into your address book. It's way more fun than manually entering all that information, especially after a big event where you have 50 cards in your pocket. ($9.99)

4. BuzzOff. Unwanted sales calls or calls from people you would rather not hear from can take up your valuable time. Put an end to it with BuzzOff. Block individual phone numbers or block whole area codes. The Pickup and Hangup feature even ensures the caller can't leave a voice mail. ($2.99)

5. Remote Print. BlackBerrys are little computers. That means you sometimes want to print a file, photo or e-mail from your smartphone. The Remote Print app comes in two parts. Download the app onto your BlackBerry, then download the associated Remote Print Server onto a desktop or laptop. Send your files over Wi-Fi to print from any printer connected to that computer. It only works for PCs at the moment. (Current pricing is $4.99, but it usually runs $12.99.)

Tags: best BlackBerry apps, BlackBerry, BlackBerry app store, BlackBerry apps, Business Trends, free BlackBerry apps, iPhone apps, Mobile, top BlackBerry apps

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