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It’s the second Wednesday of the month, which means it’s time to dig into three BlackBerry themes. You know, when we started running this semi-monthly feature, I wasn’t sure it would last long. A theme is a theme is a theme, right? I thought so at the time, but I’ve really enjoyed going through everything these find developers have to offer. While I constantly go back to my own favorite theme, I’ve had fun testing out what else is out there. So, without further ado, here are this week’s lucky themes.

OSXLike

You might notice that when we do these reviews, there always seems to be one from Hedone Design. Why? Because not only do they come out with a new theme once a week or once every other week, but because I really enjoy the designs. On the last Theme Reviews Wednesdays we touched on their Windows Se7en theme. This week it’s for the Mac people, as they’ve come up with an OSXLike theme.

As the name suggests, this mimics a Mac OSX-style layout. This includes the default background as well as your typical Mac icons. The layout is crisp and clean, with nothing blending into the background. Best of all, they’ve created multiple versions of the theme, something I’d like to see other developers do in the future. It includes a Zen version, TodayPlus, TodayPlus for just messages, and TodayPlus for just calendar. With the Zen version on the OS 4.6 and up platform there’s an integrated TodayPlus preview, meaning if you scroll over your message icon on the home screen, your messages will be listed where they would normally in a TodayPlus theme. Yet another great feature I hope to see pop up more with these OS 4.6 themes.

As always, you can get the OSXLike theme at the BBGeeks Store. All versions are under this URL, yet another excellent change in how we list themes at the store. You can choose from the aforementioned theme styles on three different platforms: Bold, 82xx, 88xx, and 83xx.

Cipher Bounce

Another designer regularly appearing in this space is JC Designs, a/k/a Gadgetbean. They constantly pump out quality themes, and it will be quite a long time before we come close to getting through all of them. Today we’re looking at their Cipher theme, specifically the Bounce edition, though it doesn’t appear to be much different than their Xtreme edition. As always, Gadgetbean brings a sleek theme to the table, offering easy navigation combined with an aesthetically-pleasing layout.

What I like best about this theme is the complete absence of a background. They use every bit of the screen, so that the only background that makes sense is a solid color. I know some people enjoy graphics on their wallpaper, which is just fine, but as I harp on constantly it can often mean a lower level of functionality. When it comes to themes, I value functionality far more than aesthetics, so keep that in mind as you keep reading. Anyway…the theme provides six slots on the home screen for your favorite icons. They run across the top of the screen, which is a bit different. Below that you’ve got your typical TodayPlus listings.

As with the OSXLike theme, the Cipher Bounce theme is available at the BBGeeks Store. Also like the OSXLike theme, you can choose from different platforms when downloading it. This specific one includes OS 4.5, 4.3, and 4.2.2. You can also check out the Cipher Xtreme theme.

Shamrock

We’re not even at Valentine’s Day, and already we’re prepping ourselves for perhaps the most universally-celebrated holiday in the country: St. Patrick’s Day. This theme just came out, so why not dig into it and see what it’s all about. It comes from BlackBerry ThemePark, which appears frequently on our theme reviews. They’ve not only got a huge selection of themes on all BlackBerry platforms, but they offer a yearly subscription plan, so you can change your theme with the season and not pay for each individual one.

This theme is a pretty basic bottom dock theme, allowing for five icons on the home screen. It has the requisite shamrock on the same screen, though it goes away when you navigate to the applications menu. I dig this, of course, because it allows for a greater level of visibility. This is even more important with the Shamrock theme, because it does not use typical icons. They’re all custom, so visibility is key. Thankfully, it’s not an issue here. It appears, though, that there is a shamrock on just about every other screen, from the dialog boxes to the calling screen. It even shows a patch of shamrocks when you have an incoming call.

You can head over to BlackBerry ThemePark if you want a better look at the theme, or if you want to check out their subscription plan. This one is available for the 8100-series Pearls and the 8300-series Curves.

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