Industry coverage, news, original feature articles, how to guides, videos, podcasts and reviews of BlackBerry service providers, software, accessories, hosted exchange providers and more

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There are many great websites out there that cater to BlackBerry users, whether they’re geared towards useful applications, dressing up your BlackBerry with wallpapers and ringtones, or focused on creating an expansive knowledge base for both newbies and pros alike.

BBGeeks is just such a website, providing in-depth reviews of all major service providers and Exchange Hosting providers. I am sure you each have a favorite destination on the web to feed your BlackBerry addiction. Hopefully, BBGeeks will be that resource for you going forward.

In the interest of spreading the love and shedding some light on some of the lesser-known BlackBerry online resources, we here at BBGeeks have decided to start reviewing websites we think will be of use to a wide variety of BlackBerry enthusiasts.

Today we are going to review a great website, one that provides a valuable resource to all BlackBerry users, particularly those with unlimited data plans. Videos4Blackberry.info was designed to bring you some of the best media on the web to your Blackberry. This media is in the form of video clips of all your favorite television shows and online video content, compressed for viewing on your BlackBerry.

Videos4BlackBerry - Initial Impressions

Upon first loading the Videos4BlackBerry website, you are presented with an overwhelmingly dark color scheme. While this has nothing to do with the actual functionality of the website itself, I would love to see some brighter colors and white space incorporated.

The navigation for this website is easily identified, with all of the expected categories presented in a logical manner across the top of the page and down the left rail. A listing of the latest news and video offerings is made available to you from the homepage, as well as a list of the more popular downloads. Navigation links include: Home, Videos, News, Links, FAQs, Feedback, Disclaimer/DMCA and a search box.

There is also a cool feature located in the top right-hand corner of the website. You will see a series of 3 grey bars. Clicking each of these will resize the site architecture to fit a variety of screen resolutions.

There is a clear indication from the polls and other calls to action that the people operating this website are interested in hearing feedback from their visitors. They want to know what type of content you would like to see more of and will even go the extra mile to ensure the visitors are satisfied. If there is a video available online that you would like to view on the go, simply send the team an email with a link to the desired video and they will compress it and post it online for convenient downloading to your BlackBerry.

Site Features

Mobile Access
Videos4BlackBerry is available in the standard web format, as well as being accessible through the mobile browser via FeedM8. In order to view the Videos4BlackBerry website on the go, simply navigate to the following URL http://feedm8.com/videos4blackberry. There is a button on the homepage which, when clicked, will provide these instructions, alongside an option to send the link to your phone via SMS.

News
The news section on Videos4BlackBerry.info contains all the latest and greatest tidbits of information concerning the RIM/BlackBerry world. Everything is covered here, from equipment sales that are currently going on to industry events taking place. There even seems to be coverage of the global markets, shedding light on data plans, new phones being issued, efforts by other industry websites and even select contest coverage.

The team of writers at Videos4BlackBerry is consistent with their postings, usually uploading news three to four times a week.

Links
This area of the website contains a selection of links that are all related to RIM/BlackBerry devices. There is a total of six links currently that cover everything from the official RIM BlackBerry site to destinations for themes and multimedia resources.

Other notable links are to CrackBerry, RIMarkable and the BlackBerry Forums. All are highly respected destinations on the web for BlackBerry enthusiasts.

FAQs
This section is set up to help Videos4BlackBerry members with any questions or problems they may be facing while trying to access the hosted video content. All of the right bases are covered here, from supported devices to common error messages received. Other topics covered include questions of legality, pricing and the video request process.

Disclaimers and DMCA
This is, considering the nature of the website, the most important page to visit. Videos4blackberry states in no uncertain terms that it does not support copyright infringement and will comply with any and all requests by exclusive rights holders to remove content from their website.

Terms and conditions for filing notice of a copyright challenge are stated in detail, ensuring that all parties are aware of the exact process required to issue a challenge.

Videos
Clicking the videos tab in the global navigation takes you to the videos page. The heading reads “Latest News”, however, so it is slightly misleading. A quick scroll down to look at the list of available links clears up any doubt as to which section you are viewing. There are a ton of videos here to download!

There is clearly an ongoing effort to keep the video files available on Videos4blackberry current. An attempt is made to convert all of your favorite television shows into a format which is viewable on your BlackBerry. These guys are so on the ball that I can download the entire lineup from Monday night on Tuesday morning. They do this for every day of the week except Saturday (do people even watch TV on Saturday anymore?). This is nothing to sneeze at, folks.

Other notable video offerings include specific uploads of TV series episodes, music specials, and podcasts. All of these videos are available at no charge to the downloader, aside from any airtime charges levied by their cellphone provider. This is VALUE.

Videos4Blackberry does all of the hard work and makes it incredibly easy to keep up with your weekly TV schedule while on the go.

The quality of the video downloads is excellent, with clean audio throughout every file I tested.

Here is a screenshot of a randomly selected video download, along with its size and format.

2 and a half men — 34.7 MB — 3GP format

Battery Life
At first, having never watched video on my BlackBerry, I assumed that my battery life would take a serious hit. This, however, was far from the truth. After 2 hours of continuous viewing with the volume set at a moderate level, I saw minimal battery drain.

I have to say I am impressed with this outcome. Rest assured, folks, you can safely plan to watch your favorite television programs on your BlackBerry, knowing that you will still have all kinds of battery life to check your Facebook profile.

Storage
The average size for videos offered on the Videos4BlackBerry website is 60MB. Chances are you will not have enough space to store a complete night’s television lineup all at once. Depending on how much space you have available on your BlackBerry media card (micro SD format), you may have to put some thought into which episode gets downloaded when, and perhaps even sort out an “On the Go” viewing schedule.

NOTE: Depending on your service provider, you may have certain limitations on how large a file you can transfer over their network. In the event that you get an error code while trying to download a video directly to your BlackBerry, you will instead have to bypass the limitations by downloading the file to your PC first. Once you have downloaded the video file to your PC, use the BlackBerry Desktop Manager to transfer the files to your phone. This process will also apply to those of you who are using your BlackBerry in Canada or any other country which does not currently offer unlimited data plans.

What you will need

In order to utilize the Videos4BlackBerry website and all the content made available to you, you will require a few additions to your standard BlackBerry. These include:

Micro SD card

Micro SD cards are very small cards that, when inserted into your BlackBerry, will expand its memory significantly. Micro SD cards are available in a variety of sizes, most commonly 1GB and 2GB. Purchase micro SD cards from our BBGeeks Store

Headphones for your BlackBerry
Unless you plan on annoying everyone around you with the sounds of your favorite television shows, you will want to pick up a pair of headphones. There are a large number of manufacturers worldwide creating BlackBerry headphones. In the interest of saving you some legwork, we have listed a couple options below.

New OEM Rim Blackberry Stereo Hands Free Headset

Original accessories for your BlackBerry … Direct from RIM. OEMs design and manufacture accessories to match the specific requirements of their devices, satisfying the most demanding customer. You can trust the high quality and performance of BlackBerry accessories from RIM. Stereo Headset with answer/end and mute controls. Compatible With: Rim Blackberry 8100, 8100c, 8800
Purchase these BlackBerry headphones from the BBGeeks.com Store

New OEM Rim Blackberry Stereo Hands Free Headset

Blackberry Stereo Earbud Headset with WindSmart. WindSmart technology provides distinct sound clarity and wind-noise reduction. In-line answer/end button . Discreet in-ear design engineered with reliable audio
Purchase these BlackBerry headphones from the BBGeeks Store

There you go, folks - an incredible resource for video compressed specifically for your BlackBerry. Having the ability to keep up with all of your favorite television shows and online content will result in some hefty data usage, so you had better have an unlimited data plan to take advantage of the Videos4blackberry offerings.

UPDATE: It has come to my attention that some of you will be using the Videos4BlackBerry services to watch video on your BlackBerry during office hours or during dinner with the in-laws. If you ever find yourself in a situation where you have to exit the video player immediately and appear to be doing real work, simply press the hang up button to quit the video to the background. The video you are watching will stay paused and remain ready for you to pick up where you left off.

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