Day: February 4, 2009

Slacker, Inc. today announced the availability of the free Slacker Mobile application for the BlackBerry Storm smartphone from Research In Motion (RIM). BlackBerry Storm users* can now listen to their favorite Slacker radio stations anywhere they go, whether they are connected to a wireless network or not – a Slacker Mobile feature exclusive to BlackBerry smartphones. The application, which is optimized for the handset’s unique touch screen, is available as a free download by visiting Slacker.com from your BlackBerry Storm. The Slacker Mobile application provides BlackBerry Storm smartphone users in the U.S. with a personalized music discovery and listening experience, pulling from over 100 expert-programmed Slacker stations, over 10,000 artist stations or a nearly unlimited number of the listener’s own custom-created stations. Features include vertical as well as horizontal modes, an intuitive interface optimized for touch operation, as well as “peek ahead”, allowing the listener to see a preview of the next artist and album in their stations’ rotation. Slacker station caching, an exclusive feature for BlackBerry smartphones, enables listeners to store favorite stations on a memory card, allowing the Slacker Mobile application to play without a network connection, reducing battery life consumption by up to 5 times that of streaming playback and enhancing application performance. In addition, BlackBerry smartphone enthusiasts can enjoy Slacker Personal Radio while doing other tasks such as emailing, instant messaging or web browsing. The Slacker application for the BlackBerry Storm smartphone includes detailed artist bios and album reviews for each song, providing the ultimate resource for music discovery. The Slacker Mobile application works with the free Slacker Basic Radio service, along with Slacker Radio Plus and Slacker Premium Radio subscription offerings. “The Slacker Mobile application for the BlackBerry Storm offers an engaging and intuitive mobile listening experience that takes full advantage of its unique features,” said Dennis Mudd, CEO of Slacker. “With an intuitive touch screen interface as well as station caching, BlackBerry Storm owners can now easily enjoy their favorite music wherever they go.” Slacker Personal Radio, available online at www.Slacker.com, enables listeners to personalize over 100 professionally programmed stations or create, edit and share their own Personal Radio stations. Slacker listeners also have easy access to artist profiles, album reviews and cover art on the web, with the Slacker G2 portable and now on the BlackBerry Storm smartphone.
Slacker Mobile for the BlackBerry Storm offers:

• Free music library featuring millions of songs
• Optimized for Storm Touch Screen operation
• Vertical and Horizontal modes
• High-quality stereo playback from cached stations and all streaming wireless connections
• Over 100 professionally programmed genre stations
• Create custom artist stations
• Station caching for music playback anywhere, greatly improved battery life and accelerated application performance
• Multi-tasking – listen to music while doing email
• View artist biographies and photos
• View album art and reviews
• “Peek Ahead” artist and album preview
• Pause and skip songs
• Rate songs as favorites
• Ban songs and artists you don’t like

Pricing and Availability
The Slacker Radio application, now available for the BlackBerry Storm as a free download, is compatible with all BlackBerry smartphones using operating system 4.3 or greater. This release includes full support for the BlackBerry Storm along with additional improvements to the previously released application for all other supported BlackBerry smartphones. To download for free, visit Slacker.com from the browser on your BlackBerry smartphone or visit www.slacker.com/BlackBerry for more details.

“When I first handled the device, I was amazed by how light it is, at only 4.59 ounces — I figured at first that the battery must be lurking in the bottom of the box, but it was already installed. The main reason is that the phone is made almost entirely of plastic. That could set off warning bells for some consumers, but I found the device to be solid and well made. There is no flexing or creaking, and the device feels good in the hand. All of the edges and corners are slightly rounded for comfort. The device measures 4.9 inches tall, 2.5 inches wide, and just a hair over 0.5 inches thick. The device is predominantly blue, with black accents around the edge of the screen and the sides of the device. The front of the Saga is dominated by the 2.55-inch 65K TFT LCD touchscreen running at 320 x 320 resolution. It is flush mounted, so the entire top portion of the device is smooth. Just above the screen on the right-hand side there is a colored indicator light for charging status, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth status, and shutter release/video recording status in camera mode. ” Read more here: