BETA 3 Launches on BlackBerry
On Friday we launched BETA 3 of Viigo 3.0.
Although there is lots of new stuff to play with in this new version, we’re especially excited to announce that BETA 3 will now be available in co-brand format from all of our Partners.
Core Updates
We have implemented the second stage of our memory and performance optimizations in this release.
We have reduced the amount of memory used by Viigo, both at run-time and in the data store when the app is closed.
We have also made the communications and updating mechanism more robust, equipping it with the ability to self correct when communications timeouts or disruptions occur.
Stay tuned for more, as we will be rolling out additional memory and performance improvements in the next release.
We have also added the ability for you to customize your home screen, adding or removing the services you wish. But we have lots more coming here too, as we will shortly allow you to order your home screen to suit your needs.
We have also addressed a number of usability issues reported by our beta testers, including ensuring that the proper menu options are defaulted in order to reduce the need for our click-wheel users to scroll. We have also added feedback mechanisms such as progress bars, to let you know how much of the background channel update has been completed.
New Services
We have a couple of exciting new services and some enhancements to announce to existing services.
Flights and Travel – Search for flights by route or by flight number, do quick flight status lookups, or build itineraries that will allow Viigo to track the status of these flights automatically.
Kijiji Classifieds – Access to the full Kijiji classifieds service. Select your city, select from the list of categories, and enter your search term and we’ll keep a list of matching results up to date for you. You can find this under Local Interest.
Enhanced Sports Service – We have made a number of improvements to the sports service, including a new multi-select sports channel library, and the ability for the application to group multiple feeds for each sport together (i.e. scores, standings, etc.). We have also added new sports, including NCAA football, and have more to come (including English Premiership) in the next few days. We are working on more enhancements here for future releases, including the ability to sort sport scores according to your date preference.
Enhanced Elections Service – We have added a number of polls to the US Elections service , including Senate and Governor races, and have added coverage too for the upcoming Canadian election.
Stocks and Finance – We have added a number of sector portfolios for those of you who want to keep track of the leading industries in each sector. We have also added a currency exchange rate service, so you can keep track of current rates for the location you’re heading to next.
To get the new beta, simply click on http://Getviigo.com/beta from your BlackBerry, or head over to one of our partner sites (BB Geeks, BerryReview, BlackBerry Cool, Blackberry Forums, Crackberry, Pinstack, Pocket PC Magazine, CFL, CNW Group, Groupe CNW, Cool Smartphone, Exclaim, La Tercera, Mashable, National Post, PureGrainAudio, Stockhouse, The Globe and Mail, The Phone Store, The Walrus, Eye Weekly, SingTel and Yorkshire Post) to get your favorite co-branded version.
We have lots more in store for you in the next release, much of which has been driven by user feedback, so keep the suggestions coming.
Mark Ruddock
CEO
Viigo