iPhone versus bPhone (a theme)
February 10, 2008 by Kelly Carter
Please read this article in its new location: newBBie.com.
Want to make your 8130 look as cool as an iPhone? Well, a theme named bPhone created by the very talented designer Matt Rogers of RogersMJ.com is just what you need! RogersMJ offers three versions of the bPhone theme: Icon, Zen, and Today. See some screenshoots below…
First is the bPhone Icon theme, with large icons. This theme looks closest to the iPhone. I like the larger icons but I hate that it hides the beautiful wallpaper.
Next is the bPhone Zen theme, with smaller icons arranged along the left side. That allows you to see the wallpaper almost fully. Pressing the Menu (BlackBerry) key fills the screen with small icons.
Last is the bPhone Today theme, with “at-a-glance” notification of messages, calendar events, and calls. Pressing the Menu (BlackBerry) key fills the screen with small icons.
These themes can be downloaded OTA (easier) or downloaded to your desktop (if this will be your first desktop installation of a theme or app, read my post on that first). If you do download bPhone, please consider a donation here. Matt asks for only $1, $2, $5, or $10.
Be sure to choose the 8100 (Pearl) series like shown in the screenshot excerpt below. Use an email address that is routed to your BlackBerry. You have to repeat this process for each theme. (Shown is OTA not desktop download.)
No, really–if you decide to keep the theme, please donate a few bucks to Matt. We want to reward and encourage him to develop even more cool themes for our BlackBerries!
72 Responses to “iPhone versus bPhone (a theme)”
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Hey,
I downloaded the theme a few days ago but I don’t have the Maps icon. Did you do something else?
Jean,
No, I didn’t do anything special. I had the Maps icon (I’m assuming you mean BlackBerry Maps versus Google Maps) before the theme switch, and it remained afterward. Are you sure you had it before? You might want to use Desktop Manager to see if BlackBerry Maps was installed before but removed. If so, you might be able to restore it. Let me know what you find.
Kelly
Thanks for the review, Kelly! It’s nice to know so many people enjoy the theme. I look forward to updating it and making it even better once Plazmic releases a new version of their BlackBerry theme editor that will give me some more flexibility.
Kelley;
Cool site. i just picked up my 8130, so I’m looking forward to reading more of your website! My question may be better directed to matt rogers, but maybe you can help.
I downloaded the bPhone theme. Looks great and i’m very impressed. But, when i am in camera mode, the phone freezes up! Screen goes black and the LED indicator light turns red & then re-boots? What gives?
Chris
Chris,
I don’t think your camera/freeze problem has anything to do with the theme. If the problem is consistent with bPhone theme installed, try changing to a non-bPhone theme and test the camera. My guess is you’ll still have the freeze problem. I’m going to speculate that you have too many applications running in the background and there is insufficient free memory for the camera app to run.
In any case, try what I recommended to felix in comment #9 here: http://blackberry8130.wordpress.com/getting-started-guide/. It solved his problem–see comment #11. See if you don’t have a bunch of apps hogging the memory that your camera app needs. Please let me know how it works out.
Kelly
@Matthew,
Thanks for visiting my blog. My review of your bPhone theme has been by far my most popular post to date (in existence only 3 months): 426 views in the first two days it was online, leading to 153 clicks to RogersMJ.com. I hope a good percentage of those downloaded bPhone and also made a donation.
Hey, I’d love to get an early crack at reviewing your next theme or project for the Pearl. Please stay in touch.
Kelly
I just got my 8130 and LOVE you site. Bookmarked!
I just downloaded the ZEN theme and I LOVE IT!!!
I will be making a donation. Please keep looking for new apps, as I will be back to your site and recommend it to all BB 8130 users.
on a side note, have you had any experience with connecting your BB to an apple machine?
I’ve used the software provided by sprint and I havent yet gotten it to sync… any ideas?
federico,
Gracias for the kind palabras, amigo. I do not have any experience using my 8130 with an Apple. But I do work with several Apple experts if we can come up with some questions for them. Are you trying to sync your Address Book? What are you trying to sync with?
Kelly
P.S.–¿De dónde es?
is it possable to get this theme without having the internet option on my phone..? im assuming not, but its worth asking.
@Federico I heard there was an application called PocketMac that will let you sync your BB with a Mac. I don’t know if it works though as I don’t have a Mac. Hope this helps.
I downloaded your theme onto my phone but it still looks the same. I downloaded the one for the 8300 series. Anyone else having trouble?
@Laura,
It’s not my theme–it belongs to Matt Rogers of RogersMJ.com. But for your theme to “show up,” you have to do Options > Theme > (scroll to new theme) > (click).
Kelly
hi!
I’m trying to put the bphone theme on my new blackberry 8130 and it aint working!
HELP! lol
sam,
Where are you having trouble: getting it downloaded? Downloaded but can’t get it installed? Installed but can’t get it to show up? Leave me answers and I can help more.
Kelly
well im having trouble getting it on the phone …it says that it dosent want to install the application because its not compatible! …(ive unziped the file)
sam,
If you’ve unzipped the file, you must have downloaded it onto your computer, right? That would mean you’re trying to use the Desktop Manager to install it. I have instructions* on the blog to help with that approach, but it’s 10 times easier if you can download it over-the-air (OTA). Can your phone get on the Internet (such as do email or surf the web)?
Kelly
* Here: http://blackberry8130.wordpress.com/2007/12/31/blackberry-desktop-manager-wouldnt-install-applications/
yes it can but i only took the IM and Email data…i have internet but it would cost…
yes i downloaded the file on my computer…it was ziped, so i unziped it (extract) with winzip…and after transfered the file in my phone with the desktop manager application loader and when i press ADD…it says…..
no additional applications designed for your device were found
Sam,
You need to read my post titled “Desktop Manager Wouldn’t Install Applications.” You need to install the Device Software.
Kelly
How do you install it over the desktop
Meghan,
I revised the article above to provide a link for installing the bPhone theme(s) from your desktop.
Kelly
Hi,
I already had the bPhone Zen theme in my Blackberry 8100 but I want to change the background image. I saw another blackberry with this theme and I love how look this becasuse the background image doesn’t show the fishes, do you know how I can change the defualt background image? and put a simple color un the background?
Thanks
Ana,
I’m glad you asked because I was wondering myself. Turns out it’s easy as pie. You just go into Media > Pictures, select a picture you want to use as a background. Do Menu > Fill Screen, then Menu > Set as Home Screen Image. If you ever want to go back to the original bPhone Zen image, I think you would change the theme to “anything else” then change back to Zen. The “fishes” background should return.
Kelly
i love your site!!! my boyfriend and i both have blackberrys and i’m the one in charge of finding cool stuff for them. i just experience the memory glitch and your other article helped out a lot!! i’ve recieved the link to download the “today” bphone theme. i get it to download but when i go to the menu>theme it won’t come up. i don’t know where it saved it. help!
Mary,
Glad you like the site. Glad the memory article helped you, too.
If you’ve been having memory problems and the theme didn’t install, it may be that you don’t have enough free space, so it quietly refuses to install. The bPhone themes are HUGE (for some reason). Sometime the quickest way to free up some memory is to shut down, pull your battery, wait 10 seconds, then reinstall the battery. Then try the download link again and see if you can get it installed.
Now, if the above works, I’m afraid you need to work on freeing up some memory or you’re going to have worse memory problems than before. So, maybe you have some other themes, or games, or apps that you can do without (delete).
Let me know how my advice works for you.
Kelly
K.C.
I just came across your site…thanks for all your input! It should help out a lot of us who have just purchased a b8130.
I’mjust curious before I download the theme that Matt R made…
Is the theme compromised with the wallpaper or can you download keeping the icons and upld your own wallpaper?
Thanks for your input again and I believe.
p.s. I’m allergic to seafood!
MCR/PHX
K.C.
One more question on the icons. I noticed that the date shows a “9″ but the day says Tuesday. It doesn’t coincide with the bphones day, which shows Saturday. Is this just a glitch in what you are showing us or does it actually show the correct day with the date?
Thanks again!
Mike/PHX
Mike,
Bummer about the seafood allergy. I hope you’re not asking for medical advice. My blog lawyer won’t allow me to treat readers unless they sign a waiver. But he doesn’t give a rip what kind of advice I give about cell phones.
Matt Rogers’ bPhone theme comes with the “fish” wallpaper but you can change it any time you like just like you would without the theme: Go into your Pictures, choose one, and do Menu > Fill Screen, then Menu > Set as Home Screen Image. You can return to the fish wallpaper by doing Menu > Reset Home Screen Image. I’m embarrassed to say I didn’t figure that out till a reader pushed me on it, then it seemed so obvious, after-the-fact.
About theme icons (for any theme), they never change other than “highlighting” when you roll over them. The Calendar icon is stuck on the number 9. Another thing about the icons, if you use the bPhone Icon theme, most app icons get stretched to the “large print” size and look a little bad. Matt’s look good, but 3rd-party app icons don’t so much. I still prefer the bPhone Icon theme because I can see them without putting on glasses (age!). But I wish app designers would provide higher-quality icons for cases like these.
Thanks for visiting the blog.
Kelly
I love your site! I just donwloaded the bphone theme(today) and I know that it did download, but I can’t find it or select it. I went to options>themes>….. and I can’t find it! Help!
Eve,
I’ve had this same report before but wasn’t absolutely sure what the problem was. I know the bPhone theme is very large, so if your phone is short on memory, it might seem to download but actually failed at the end. To test that theory, try pulling your battery, wait 10 seconds, and replace your battery. That should free up some memory. Download the theme again, and see if it “sticks” this time. Please return to let me know if that works or not.
Kelly
how come i can only get the jad file when i try to download the bphone?
i can’t put it on my phone.. =(
ryan,
Are you trying the download to your computer or the OTA download? I’m guessing not OTA; maybe you don’t have a data plan. If you do, OTA is way easier.
If you select model 8100 series and download, you get a ZIP file. If you extract all files from that, you get one .alx file and one .cod file. I’m not sure how you’re ending up with a .jad file. Are you making the right selection before you do the download? Are you mistakenly looking at the wrong file after download or extraction?
I’m sure my info is correct because I just tried it (since I had used OTA download–I wanted to see for myself).
Let me know how it works the next try.
Kelly
Just left you a post under the BBlight subject regarding my menu fonts changing when I installed bPhone. I just switched back to a preload theme, and my menu fonts changed back to what they were before. So for me, using the bPhone theme significantly changed my menu fonts and the fonts of my main listing of address, tasks, and memos. Not sure if I like that. Maybe I should leave a note with the developer?
David,
Kelly
We seem to be chasing each other around this blog tonight. I left you a response back at the BBLight post. You’re right that the bPhone theme acts differently than the standard BB Dimension theme. Not sure if Matt Rogers (developer) would change that. I would possibly leave him a note IF I had given him a donation for his theme. If not, MAAAAAAYBE I’d just keep my complaint to myself.
Hi Kelly, piling on… awesome site, love the tips and appreciate the time you spend on your reviews!
I had a general question about changing themes, which you may or may not have answered in another blog. After spending time moving my icons (programs) around so that the most used were on top as desired, I noticed that a change in theme totally reset the icon positions.
Is there an option that I am not aware of to save icon positions or to sort by use, or something along those lines? Not that I would change themes often, but curious as to a potential solution for this reshuffling (real word?) business.
Thanks again for your time!
P.S. Quick follow-up: Do you know of any recommended sites for other high-quality, hi-res themes (free or paid)? I’ve found some online but not a nice as bPhone (props M.R.!).
Dan,
Thanks for your support. It IS a lot of work.
Oddly, I don’t think I’ve experienced the problem you have. I am pretty well set on the bPhone Icon theme, but I occasionally switch to other themes to test some things, or to do screenshots for my blog articles. I know my icons are where I left them every time I return to bPhone. I seem to remember that my icons have always stayed where I put them, but I’ve never put that to a serious test. I just remember being pleased when I’ve seen that the DID stay where I wanted them. I can’t account for what you’re seeing. If you discover anything, please share it. Next chance I get to do a test, I’ll try to remember to do it.
A site I haven’t nearly explored enough is Pinstack.com. It has over 300,000 registered BlackBerry users, so it’s HUGE. It seems to have a nice offering of free themes, games, wallpapers, etc. More than I’ve had time to explore.
I’m still sold on bPhone as my favorite theme. I hope one day to learn to create themes myself, not that I’m that artistic, but it would be fun to make one just for myself.
Kelly
Kelly,
Thanks so much for all your hard work. I love your site. After reading this thread, I downloaded bPhone. Looking great but only thing I don’t like it about is that the top part showing the time covers wallpapers too much. It looks a little odd to me. I always like today’s themes and appointment schedules covers most wallpapers anyway but…. I just downloaded the theme called Real World. I love Today theme and it also includes address book in the main screen (which most today themes miss). Looking professional and as you did for bPhone, you can change the background if you like… and the top part doesn’t cover it up much.
Keep up your great works. Thank you again.
Brian
Thanks, Brian. I may have to search for Real World theme.
Kelly
Love the site, but I was wondering if there was any way of making a Zen theme for bphone but with large Icons when it fills the screen instead of small icons.
Thanks
Shezan
P.S. Donation on its way
Shezan,
Nice idea. You’d get to display a nice wallpaper AND have larger easy-to-see icons when you wanted them. You would need to suggest that to the designer of the theme, Matt Rogers, of http://www.RogersMJ.com.
Kelly
Ladies and gents,
I think some people still think this theme belongs to Kelly - as Kelly said many times, the developer is Matt Rogers http://www.RogersMJ.com. He kindly offers us many good tips and help but for all technical questions, we should go directly to Matt. Again, it is a free theme so let’s not be too demanding…. if there are any tips and suggestions, let’s share here. Kelly, you are just too kind and patient….
Brian,
It doesn’t bother me to be confused with a young, highly-talented and artistic designer. Not as much as being confused for that aging, balding white guy whose picture shows up all over this blog. Now THAT ticks me off.
Kelly
I downloaded the bPhone theme and cannot get it to work through the desktop manager it says its not compatible..
i cant even get the ota one due to my phone currently not being activated….please help me..!!!
John,
I responded to you earlier but discovered that (1) my solution was flawed, and (2) even if my instructions were correct, there is a problem–possibly only with the 8130, or the new version of the BB OS–that is causing a failure. So I just deleted my comment and replaced it with this one. Anyone who read my original comment before I deleted it, please forget you ever saw it!
So, for now, I don’t have a solution with you.
My investigation might have been complicated today because there was a scheduled RIM/BlackBerry outage for today, March 22. There are some fundamental things not working right with my BlackBerry today (e.g., emails not being received). I don’t know if that factored into my wierd experiences today or not. Time will tell.
Kelly
The Today doesn’t work on my 8130, it has a glitch at the top with the messages icon when in the main menu, and when on the home screen(today screen) The icons only show 3 quarters of them? hard to explain.
Matt,
I use the Icon version of bPhone and have never spent much time using the Today or Zen, so I haven’t seen that. The only “glitch” I’ve seen in bPhone Icon seems related to font (point) sizes.
Kelly
Love the new background theme. With this theme is there a way to increase the font size in the menus and in the emails? Thank you! Love your postings!
Alicia,
Make sure you give credit for the theme to Matt Rogers, not me. I just wrote a review on it. And I use it (bPhone Icon) and donated for it.
If you do Options > Screen/Keyboard, you can change various font typefaces, point sizes, etc.
Kelly
I had the bphone theme on my handheld, a Blackberry pearl 8100 thenmy brother went to delete some stuff and i try to install it, follow instructions from the net and it is still not poping up on the phone under themes. There is not a add new theme option. but the theme is in the applications menu and i am unable to do anything about it. HELP!
Kiki,
If you reinstalled it and it doesn’t show up, pull the battery, wait 10 seconds, replace the battery, and look to see if theme now shows up. Let me know.
Kelly
Whenever I try the link to download the theme my computer brings me to an Internal Error page. Can you send me the desktop download file by e-mail? Thanks.
Michael,
There are 3 different themes and several models of phone, and you didn’t tell me which.
Perhaps the server was having a problem at the time you clicked the link. Matt Rogers’ site does hundreds, if not thousands, of downloads every day. Why don’t you try again?
Let me know how it works out.
Kelly
Kelly,
Downloaded Bphone today. Its very cool. Very big (as far as phone apps go).
While I was surprised at its size, I’ll use it for as long as my memory holds out.
Great find.
BTW, thanks for the heads up on how to configure the calendar view. I love the weekly view. You should try it.
Bob
Bob,
bPhone is huge, isn’t it? For a while I had all 3 bPhone themes, but I finally chose the Icon one (kinda like the “large print” edition of books for people with declining eyesight).
I do like the weekly view of the calendar, too. Except it reminds me how blasted little free time I have every week.
Kelly
its not giving me the option to download any of the three themse for my 8130
help
ok i got a new problem now…. i have all 3 themes on my phone, i go back and forth between today and zen.. now the today theme on the home screen, all the icons on the home scrren are like cut in half and thewy wont change back, and i changed the background picture from the fish andi want the fish back but i dont knwo how to do that please huryry back with post kelly
adam,
It’s a little hard to follow what’s going on with your phone. You can reset your theme to its default to get fish wallpaper back. Do Options > Themes > (press Menu key) > Reset Theme Defaults.
Kelly
can you get this on the 8100 or only 8130???
Mike,
The bPhone theme is available for the entire 81xx series.
Kelly
why in the world cant blackberry become fully compatible with mac computers? pocket mac limits you to only syncing contacts and date book.Any other applications available for a price totally does not work with verizon’s version of the pearl 8130.
The other issue I have is that even though I have selected the
‘’save my appointments forever option” my appointmens on my calender keep dissapearing.
Kelly can you help?
jeff,
If Mac developers would write software for the BlackBerry, Mac owners would have compatible software. RIM could do it, too, but the Mac community should be strong enough to pressure developers to create products for the BlackBerry.
If calendar events are disappearing, it is possibly due to memory shortage. When memory is dangerously short, the BlackBerry OS starts by deleting old, expired calendar events. Then it moves to old messages, etc. Read my articles about memory problems, disappearing emails, etc.
Kelly
do you have to download this directly to blackberry?? or can u download to desktop and transfer??..
i went to the site so i got my answer…thx
Lovely site–extremely helpful!
Is there a way to change the look of the message screen?
Kris10,
I don’t know of any way to change the look of the message screen other than changing your overall theme or just the fonts. However, you can change a few things in Messages > Options > General Options. Same thing in Phone (Log) > Options > General Options.
Kelly
I have downloaded the desktop install for all 3 themes for my 8100 and installed them without issue. However, the today theme doesn’t show any of the details under each of the sections (under messages, calendar, phone. What do I need to do? Thanks!
aaron,
Back when I wrote the article, I played with the Today version of bPhone. I remember it showing details. You do have to have details PRESENT for them to show: messages to be read, phone calls missed, calendar events nearly due, etc. Maybe your details will show up when they’re “there” to show up.
If not, please know that I am not the developer of bPhone. Matt Rogers of RogersMJ.com is. I don’t think he offers support for bPhone, though.
Let me know if you get it resolved or not.
Kelly
Hey there, so I sent myself the link to my black berry, and when I went to get the link, it came up with an error in my browser saying access denied?
Any help would be great. Also, when I plug my phone into my computer it is never recognized, and when it is and I go to install and app via app uploader or what ever, I will select the thing I want to put on and it tells me “there is no applications available”
Any help woud be greatly appreciated.
Steve,
The bPhone OTA link should work. Maybe there was a temporary problem with their server. Please try again. Maybe it would be good to re-request the OTA link.
The 2nd question is answered by this article: http://blackberry8130.wordpress.com/2007/12/31/blackberry-desktop-manager-wouldnt-install-applications/. It’s my most popular article because almost everybody has this problem.
Let me know how the above work out for you.
Kelly
Apparently it just wont work for the 8130 Bell/Telus, i used OTA and it gives me a HTTP 403 Error, me and a blackberry technician went through and tired everything and just couldnt get it to work. i’ve tried going through my app. loader and couldnt get that one either. any help with this would be great thanks.
Shane,
I don’t have time right now very extensive instructions, but I recommend you think about using JL_CMDer (http://www.blackberryfreaks.com/JL_Cmder.html). Download it and see if you can get it to connect to your phone. You can test it by just pulling “deviceinfo.” If that works, you need to look up the command to load a .COD module. The bPhone “desktop” download, when unzipped, gives you a .COD file (plus a .ALX file). JL_CMDer can be used to add the bPhone .COD file. You probably have to reset the phone for the theme to be recognized.
JL_CMDer really does what Desktop Manager does with a graphical interface, but uses an old-fashioned command line interface.
Let me know if you decide to try this. I might be able to help later.
Kelly