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It’s time again for us to take a look at a few BlackBerry themes. Today’s batch come from BlackBerry ThemePark. They’ve just done a re-design, and everything seems to be up and running well. Like most theme sites, they specialize in Curve and Pearl themes. Also, many of their themes are OS 4.5 only. So if you’re like me and haven’t yet upgraded your device, the pickings can be a bit slim. Yet, we’re going over those themes today since, you know, I can’t really test 4.5 ones.

Purple Desktop Zen

Honestly, when I downloaded this one I didn’t expect much. Most of ThemePark’s non-4.5 content involves football teams I don’t like (let’s go Jets!) and video games I don’t particularly care for. I have to say, though, that this one is kind of cool. If I wasn’t so attached to my Today Plus theme, I might actually use it.

First, a word on OTA downloads from ThemePark. You need a membership to be able to do this, which is a novel idea. Instead of paying $7 or $8 for a theme, you can get unlimited theme downloads for $15.99 per year. That’s less than most magazine subscriptions and can give you more entertainment value. Whenever I clicked on an OTA download link, I got hit with the “Save As” dialog box, so it’s likely you just have to visit from your BlackBerry. Me? I just copied the link and emailed it to myself.

The home screen looks like the Matrix. Or is it brain cells? In any case, it’s a cool design done in a sharp purple. Purple and black are always a cool color combination. The full applications menu is also clean and easy to read. There’s a bar on the bottom for the names of the icons, so there’s no chance of the text blending with the background. That’s one of my pet peeves of user-created themes.

Purple Desktop Zen brings a ton of new icons to the table, including the Firefox logo for your browser. I suppose that might get confusing once Firefox actually launches their mobile browser. Everything was decently easy to figure out…except the calculator. None of you actually think that looks like a calculator right? Maybe it’s just embedded in a Jello mold.

Original Transformers Optimus Prime

Transformers were the “it” thing back when the movie was released, but for many of us, they were the “it” thing when we were four, five, six years old. Plus, there was no crappy Michael Bay around back then to go and screw things up. Okay. Now that we’re past that, let’s move onto the Optimus Prime theme.

The main screen features a rendition of the original Optimus, complete with his awesomely large gun. It’s fairly easy to read thanks to the dark blue text on a mostly white background. For added effect, this theme replaces the typical Application menu icon — the BlackBerry icon — with the Autobots logo. Any chance we can get a Megatron version with the Deceptacon logo?

Once we get down into the main menu, things might get a little messy. This theme uses the same icons as the Purple theme, calculator Jello mold and all. Problem is, many of those icons are hidden by Optimus. The way this set up by default, the messages icon blends in with Optimus’s chest/windshield, and the Maps icon is difficult to see. You can move things around, sure, but it’s tough to not have icons blend in with the drawing.

Still, nostalgia counts for a lot. I dug this theme despite its shortcomings. One quick observation, though. When I’m in the applications menu and let the backlight go out, when I click it back on I’m in the main menu. I haven’t noticed this in other themes, and it’s actually a tick annoying. Not that it’s a deal breaker. Just, you know, an inconvenience sometimes.

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