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As a BlackBerry geek, I value efficiency. Give me the fewest number of clicks to perform a task and I’m a happy geek. I mean, who else thinks to eliminate one click when marking prior messages open? Who else fills a blog with BlackBerry quick tips? So when I see an app which can boost efficiency even further, I’m obviously going to cover it on BBGeeks. Today we take a peek at IntelliBerry, a personal productivity application from Steelthorn Software. It can make your BlackBerry experience just a bit easier to navigate.

Running IntelliBerry

After downloading and installing IntelliBerry, the next step, of course, is to run it. Since we’re going with efficiency here, I’m going to recommend you set it as one of your convenience keys. This way you can call up the IntelliBerry menu from any screen, rather than having to jog through the Applications Menu — the very thing IntelliBerry tries to help you avoid.

From the menu you can do a number of things, such as searching through your applications, contacts, and files. This is a great feature for newer devices like the Bold, which have a lot of on-board memory and therefore can hold a lot of applications. Because of the little memory available on my Curve 8330, I didn’t find the application search of very much use; most of the apps I actually use are in my Home Screen dock. It works well if you have a ton of contacts, and it allows the quick ability to SMS or call the contact. It’s not a ton more efficient than the normal address book, but it’s at least a little easier. Finally, you can run through the files on your Berry, both on device memory and on the memory card. This is a most welcome and useful feature.

Easy search

My favorite feature of IntelliBerry is its ability to conduct a quick Web search right from the menu. They call these Magic Words, though they’re really just magic letters. For instance, you can type the letter g, a space, and then a phrase (e.g., “g Arlen Specter”). This will launch a browser window and will run a Google search for the subsequent term. Similarly, you can do the same with w and Wikipedia and a for Amazon.com. On top of that you can add your own Magic Words, making that much easier to navigate to your favorite Web pages.

The convenience in this isn’t necessarily in the search itself, but in the convenience of being able to do it all from one menu. By just clicking the convenience key you can open an application, text message a contact, run a Web search, and find a document on your memory card. The best part is that by using the convenience key you can access IntelliBerry from any menu, so you can skip going back and forth between the applications. Just hit the convenience key and you’re on to the next task.

Adaptable search

As if the main features of IntelliBerry aren’t productivity-enhancing, the application also adapts to your tendencies. When you start to type your search term, IntelliBerry will begin populating a list of suggested results. The more you use the application, the better it will be able to predict what it is you’re searching for. So now not only can you search out apps, contacts, and/or files on your BlackBerry, but as you search you’ll be able to find them with fewer keystrokes.

We can liken it to Firefox’s search. When you start to type an address into Firefox, the browser doesn’t just bring up a list of sites you’ve visited which start with the string. Rather, it brings up sites you’ve visited frequently which contain that string — and which you’ve already used to find such site. For example, when I type the letter W into Firefox, the first thing that comes up is the BBGeeks admin page. It doesn’t start with W, but because I go there often and because it contains a W, that’s the first place Firefox goes. I could find a new favorite site that starts with W, and it would take a long time for Firefox to finally go to that first, rather than the BBGeeks page.

Get IntelliBerry

Until April 30, you can get IntelliBerry from the BBGeeks Store for just $4.95, down from $6.95. They also offer a four-day free trial, which should be enough time for you to evaluate it. I’m not sure if you can get the trial now and still get the $4.95 price in four days. If you get it today, though, you can test it through Thursday for free, at least.

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