Review: GesturePad for BlackBerry

I love my Torch. I really do. Years ago, when the first BlackBerry Storm came out, I swore up and down that I would never, ever, own a touch screen BlackBerry. It was go keyboard or go home. I never thought it would be as efficient. I can admit I was wrong, well, partially wrong, as I now have the best of both worlds. Being able to swoosh between screens or pinch to zoom is simply fantastic. Of course my ever inquisitive mind always wonders what else I could do with it…If you don’t know by now, I’m all about finding shortcuts. What could you do with other types of gestures? After ruling out some gestures, like a thumbs up and flipping my BlackBerry off, I thought I would check out an application which had a bit more experience with gesture based controls.

GesturePad is here to help out those itchy trigger fingers (and BlackBerry thumbs) by providing unique shortcuts. Ignoring traditional shortcut icons, GesturePad instead lets you access apps, and other commands, with a simple gesture. You choose what gestures/patterns to use, truly making your BlackBerry experience your own. Now allow me to gesture you towards the review.

About GesturePad

GesturePad was developed by Tafasa, no stranger to touch screen apps and games. Other products from Tafasa include; PatternLock, Bubble Burst and Parking Lot. The GesturePad application is compatible with Storm 1, Storm 2 and the Torch. The current version of GesturePad is 1.1 and has a file size of a mere 46.8 KB.

Cost: $0.99- no free trial

CrackBerry App Store Rating: 5/5

BlackBerry App World Rating: 4/5

Basically, the idea behind GesturePad is to eliminate scrolling through applications, bookmarks or contact entries to find what you are looking for. OS 6 includes the fantastically awesome Universal Search feature. Though it’s quick, it’s not always easily accessible. When you’re driving, do you want to have to read and look though to find the right contact, or do you want to make a call without even looking at the screen?

Various commands to choose from.

GesturePad is able to handle gestures to give you quick access to composing an email or sms to a specific contact, call a specific number, show details of a particular address book entry, launch an app or open a specific website. The application provides a link to your address book to quickly choose which person you want to assign a gesture to. Alternatively, you can also manually enter in contact information. Both third party and native applications are able to be “gesturized”. The application can handle an unlimited number of gestures. The only limitation is your brain and how many gestures IT can remember.

Gee, I wonder what I can use this gesture for?

To actually use gestures, you need to open the application. As gestures are created, the main screen changes from the Options menu, to the gesture capturing screen. This screen is where you draw out the gestures to perform commands. Before carrying out the command you have entered, GesturePad displays a popup that details what you are requesting. You have a few seconds to press cancel before the command is executed.

GesturePad - CrackBerry style!

The application is quite simple and straightforward to use. Under the settings, you can assign GesturePad to a convenience key; enabling you to truly limit the need to look at the screen at all. Other settings, including the option to change the text, background and path colour, are available, but doesn’t necessarily enhance the performance of the application.

Conclusion

The ability to perform commands with a simple gesture is amazing- almost magical (abracadabra) It’s a good thing I could only remember a few gestures, or else I would end up spraining my finger or thumb. The application offers little bells and whistles, enabling it to focus on the job at hand – which it does very well. My only suggestion would be allowing a setting that can lengthen the time of the confirmation popup before the command is executed. You can pick up GesturePad, for $0.99, from the CrackBerry App Store.