Since I’ve been using my BlackBerry Z10 for some time now, I’ve had the chance to try out lots of new apps. While my BlackBerry Z10 is a productivity workhorse, I’m also having a lot of fun with the games, music and photo apps available in BlackBerry World. I wanted to share a few of my top apps to get everyone as excited as I am, so read below for details on apps that will truly rock your device!

For games, one of my favorites is Snake by Jan Hoffmann. The interface stays true to the game’s original build, but has the enhanced experience of the touchscreen on the BlackBerry Z10. I also like to remember my days in grade school by playing The Oregon Trail American Settler by Gameloft inc. – a game about conquering the Oregon frontier. While the interface on the BlackBerry Z10 is slick, it’s still challenging to cross rivers to take care of your oxen. And when you want to stay inside on a rainy day, try WordHero, a great cross-word puzzle app by Sven Studios.

When it comes to music, there are tons of options for finding your favorite artists and songs. You can download full albums or songs directly from BlackBerry World or stream music through free apps like Songza by Songza Media, Inc., a must for those who love curated playlists. You can also use Slacker Radio by Slacker Inc. for access to a great radio stations from across the globe.

You know I like to take photos, as evidenced by the many appearances of my dog George on Twitter and here on the Inside BlackBerry Blog. Now, my BlackBerry Z10 has some great native photo editing capabilities, but I also like using Photo Studio PRO by KVADGroup. I love the filters like “Old School” and “blur” (plus more than 100 other options), frames, and even making collages. And because every artist needs an audience, I’ve used BBM Integration to share my masterpieces with my social networks.

These are just a few of my favorite BlackBerry Z10 apps. Based on what you’ve seen so far, what are your favorites? And remember, you can create your own favorite app for BlackBerry 10 using the BlackBerry App Generator!

If you always have the Music app playing your favorite tunes whenever you are using your BlackBerry Z10, you should consider turning on Music Shortcuts. Doing so will allow you to switch between the previous and next songs in your playlist whenever you press and hold volume up, or volume down. To turn on Music Shortcuts:

1. While viewing your Home screen, swipe down from the top and tap Settings
2. Tap System Volume and set Music Shortcuts to On.

After doing this, to skip to the next track, press and hold the Volume Up key, to go back to the previous song, press and hold the Volume Down key

To learn about a feature on your BlackBerry 10 smartphone or troubleshoot an issue, there are several great options available to help. Visit www.blackberry.com/support for access to product manuals, how-to demos, tips and tricks, YouTube videos, support forums, knowledge base articles, Twitter support, and contact information for your region.

Image by fauxto_digit via flickr creative commons

Movie fans, rejoice – this is a big weekend for you. With all eyes on the Hollywood film industry, where will you be tuning in on Sunday night to see who walks home with an award? (Topical: in case you missed it earlier this week, we talked about which BlackBerry apps we would turn into feature films!)

If I could assign a trophy for “best gadget,” it would undoubtedly go to my new BlackBerry Z10. I’m having so much fun with it, and like a lot of you, I enjoy using my BlackBerry device to BBM, tweet and download apps while I’m watching TV. This Sunday will be no exception. With movies on the brain, I wanted to share great apps, wallpapers and music that play into the glamour of this annual event.

I kicked off the award show weekend early by listening to the Academy Studio Orchestra soundtrack. It includes lots of songs from this year’s Best Picture contenders. Next, I downloaded the Popup for IMDb app for quick access to info on actors, directors and movies. Even a film buff like me gets rusty on her trivia! On Sunday afternoon, I’ll start checking out the trending topics on my Twitter app so I can start taking part in the conversation – from the red carpet to the after-parties.

What will you be doing Sunday night? If you’re looking for new media, check out BlackBerry World before the big event. And don’t forget to leave us a comment to tell us what you found!

I’ve got to say, my BlackBerry Z10 is amazing, and with BlackBerry World it’s truly a pocket-size tour de force. BlackBerry World brings movies, music, games, apps and themes – in other words, a comprehensive gateway to all of my media needs.

With so much new content in BlackBerry World, I thought you might enjoy a rundown of what I’ve been downloading and how I use the platform. While Melanie and I recently told you about the first apps we downloaded on our new BlackBerry Z10 smartphones, I wanted to share some of the new movies and music you can download from BlackBerry World.

Since I was getting ready for my trip to Amsterdam for BlackBerry Jam Europe, I was excited to download the first four seasons of Modern Family. (I also downloaded Flight, but then realized it might not be the best movie to watch while flying overseas.) Luckily I downloaded some of my favorite music and checked out some new albums, and of course songs from our very own Global Creative Director at BlackBerry, Alicia Keys. No matter your taste in music and movies, you’ll find what you want in BlackBerry World.

We’re constantly working with great developers to bring BlackBerry 10 apps to BlackBerry World, so keep checking back for new additions! What apps do you want to see?

Music lovers rejoice! Today, the popular music streaming service Spotify™ is officially available in the BlackBerry® App World™ storefront. With access to a global music library, Spotify is designed to be one of the best ways for you to have the world’s music collection at your fingertips. BlackBerry smartphone users can now play, discover, and share their favorite tunes right from their device.

With your Spotify account accessible on your smartphone, you’ll be able to take your tracks with you while on the go — it’s like having millions of songs in your pocket. I know I’ll be using this app along with the BlackBerry® Music Gateway to discover new tunes (and play them loudly through my home stereo system). There are tons of songs to choose from and approximately 20,000 more are added each day.

The Spotify service is currently available in 15 countries around the world, and Spotify is compatible with a range of devices running BlackBerry® OS 5.0 and higher. As with all Spotify mobile apps, users will need a Spotify Premium subscription to stream on-demand from their catalogue. Non-Premium users can take advantage of a 48-hour free trial directly from the app or sign up to a 30-day free trial to give it a spin. Download the app at BlackBerry App World and be sure to tell us what you think in the comments.

Have you had dreams of becoming a DJ ever since laying eyes on this video from BlackBerry® World™ 2012? Well, your day has arrived. Time to get out your BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet and your biggest pair of headphones, because Pacemaker® app is now available in BlackBerry App World™. Pacemaker app transforms the internationally awarded user interface from the Pacemaker mobile DJ device to an outstanding touch experience on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet.

To bring this app out in true DJ style, we’re warming up the crowds with live demonstrations at the Sonar electronic music festival in Barcelona, Spain. We’ve got a correspondent live on the ground to capture all the action. He grabbed some sweet shots of the demos and here’s what he had to say about his experience so far.

“We’re set up right in the middle of the main hall where all visitors go through to access the main stages. The doors to Sonar have only been open for a few hours and we’ve already seen a ton of people come through. There’s a sense of excitement as people get to use Pacemaker app for the first time — and the common word of the day seems to be ‘wow!’ People are loving how fun and easy it is to use.”

Sounds like there are definitely good vibrations happening at Sonar with Pacemaker app, now available on BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. Be sure to head to BlackBerry App World to check it out today and get busy mixing your favorite tracks.

Broadcasting your tunes from your Bluetooth®-enabled BlackBerry® smartphone to your home or portable audio system has never been easier. We introduced the BlackBerry® Music Gateway to you during BlackBerry World™ 2012, and I’m happy to announce that it’s now available at ShopBlackBerry.com.

The BlackBerry Music Gateway uses NFC to connect your BlackBerry smartphone via Bluetooth. If you don’t have NFC, no worries — the process for pairing your smartphone to the BlackBerry Music Gateway is almost as simple. It’s always better to see it in action, so check it out:

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

Be sure to pick up a BlackBerry Music Gateway today, and let us know what you think of it in the comments!

The BBM™ Music team has been very busy over the last few months launching our BBM-connected social music service in eight different countries around the world. We are excited that BBM Music* is now available for download in Canada, the United States, Mexico, United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Netherlands and Australia – with more regions still to come, so stay tuned! If you haven’t yet tried BBM Music, we are even more excited to let you know that in the month of February 2012, you can download BBM Music FREE for up to 4 months** in Canada or the US, or FREE for up to 6 months** in the UK, Spain & Italy.

Along with the free trials, we’ve added some new features to BBM Music v1.1 that we wanted to share with you.

Invite friends on Facebook & Twitter

We’re making it easier for you to reach out to more friends so that you can grow your music collections together! BBM Music users can now invite their friends on Facebook® and followers on Twitter® to be a BBM Music contact. This option is available from the “Add Friends” tab (along with the existing options: BBM Contacts, Email, BBM Group and PIN). Personally, I can’t stop recommending BBM Music to friends on my social channels – it’s amazing how much you can learn about someone through their song choices, and now I’ve got access to hundreds of songs I would have never discovered on my own.

Show What I’m Listening To with BBM Music v1.1

We know how much you like the “Show What I’m Listening To” feature, and now you can let your BBM friends see what you’re playing on BBM Music by opting to share through Profile Updates. I’m finding that many of my BBM conversations with friends are now initiated by what song selections each one of us has made, and by the memories associated with some of our favorite songs.

Gift Request Feature with BBM Music v1.1

Wish someone would gift you a BBM Music subscription? Well, now we’ve got that covered! You can ask your BBM contacts for a subscription to BBM Music through a ‘Gift Request’***. Here’s how it works:

• If your trial is over, you can access Gift Request by clicking on the grey “Upgrade to BBM Music Premium” banner.
• If your trial isn’t over, you can go to the “Account Information” tab within the Options menu. From there you can select ‘Gift request’, and select a BBM contact from whom to request the subscription and send the gift request.
• Your BBM contact will receive the gift request within a BBM chat, where they can open the request and choose to accept or decline to “Gift” you a subscription.

So if you haven’t already, download BBM Music today and take advantage of the February free trial offer. For more info on how to use BBM Music – whether it’s adding a friend, sharing a playlist or finding more tracks – check out this BBM Music how to video. Once you’ve downloaded BBM Music, don’t forget to let us know what you think!

* BlackBerry ID and data service required. Monthly subscription required for full track access. Songs must be available in BBM Music catalog in user’s home country. Users can have up to 50 songs in their profile and change up to 25 songs per month. Friends must be using BBM Music and have a monthly subscription for you to access their full tracks. Limit of 50 songs per friend. Accessing the service while roaming may incur additional data charges. When traveling outside of home country, only songs available in user’s home country BBM Music catalog are accessible. Songs may be cached to play off-network. Storage card and sufficient available memory required for caching. Songs will only play within the BBM Music app. When users change songs in their profile, deleted songs, included cached copies on their device, are no longer accessible. See http://www.blackberry.com/bbmmusic/legal for complete details and restrictions. Terms subject to change.

** New BBM Music users only. May not be combined with other offers. Payment information required to receive full trial period. Following trial user placed into automatically renewing monthly paid subscription plan unless cancelled before end of trial period. Limited time introductory offer may vary by BlackBerry device or carrier. Additional charges may apply. Subject to change. See www.blackberry.com/bbmmusic for complete details and restrictions.

*** Can only request gift from existing BBM contacts. Gift is reoccurring monthly subscription which continues until cancelled by gift giver.

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

With the release of BBM™ Music you can now listen to your favorite songs, share music with your BBM friends and even receive recommendations on new music you might be interested in right on your BlackBerry® smartphone¹. The best part of all is you can try BBM Music for free².! The length of the free trial will vary by carrier – so, check with your carrier for details!

As of today, if you use a BlackBerry® 7 smartphone with data service provided by AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile or Verizon, an icon for the BBM Music application will now appear on your smartphone. If you are interested in installing the app from the BlackBerry App World™ storefront in order to start listening to and sharing music with your BBM friends who also have the app , open the Media folder on your smartphone and select the BBM Music icon. If you cannot see the icon for BBM Music, your BlackBerry smartphone may be associated with a BlackBerry® Enterprise Server. If this is the case, please contact your BlackBerry administrator for assistance with installing the BBM Music app. If you do not have a BlackBerry administrator, follow the instructions below to scan the QR code for the BBM Music app.

Note: AT&T customers using BlackBerry® 6 and BlackBerry® Device Software 5.0 will also have this icon appear on BlackBerry® Bold™ 9000 and 9700 smartphones as well as the BlackBerry® Curve™ 9300 smartphone. The icon will appear on your home screen or in the Downloads folder on your BlackBerry smartphone. Selecting this icon will open BlackBerry App World which will allow you to download and install the BBM Music app.
For those using a different wireless service provider or if the icon for BBM Music cannot be found on your BlackBerry smartphone, open BlackBerry App World and search for BBM Music, or scan the QR code below while browsing BlackBerry App World (Menu key > Scan A Barcode).

After installing BBM Music, check out the post, Getting Started with BBM Music over at the Inside BlackBerry Help Blog to learn more about BBM Music such as the minimum requirements your smartphone needs to meet in order to install the app, subscription fees as well how to share music with BBM friends and other features such as being able to listen to music when you don’t have a wireless network connection.

1. BlackBerry ID and data service required. Monthly subscription required for full track access. Songs must be available in BBM Music catalog in user’s home country. Users can have up to 50 songs in their profile and change up to 25 songs per month. Friends must be using BBM Music and have a monthly subscription for you to access their full tracks. Limit of 50 songs per friend. Accessing the service while roaming may incur additional data charges. When traveling outside of home country, only songs available in user’s home country BBM Music catalog are accessible. Songs may be cached to play off-network. Storage card and sufficient available memory required for caching. Songs will only play within the BBM Music app. When users change songs in their profile, deleted songs, included cached copies on their device, are no longer accessible. See http://www.blackberry.com/bbmmusic/legal for complete details and restrictions. Terms subject to change.
2. New BBM Music users only. May not be combined with other offers. Payment information required to receive full trial period. Following trial user placed into automatically renewing monthly paid subscription plan unless cancelled before end of trial period. Limited time introductory offer may vary by BlackBerry device or carrier. Additional charges may apply. Subject to change. See http://www.blackberry.com/bbmmusic/legal for complete details and restrictions.

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

Inside BlackBerry® Blog readers! We’ve got a new post for you from Sonia, announcing yet another great app for #TeamBlackBerry…read on for more! – Ed.

The BBM™ Music app is finally here, and will be available for downloading within the next 24 hours in Canada, the United States and Australia (more regions will be launching shortly, so stay tuned).

First, let’s clarify one misconception: with a BBM Music Premium subscription, you can access far more than 50 songs. To start your BBM Music profile, you can choose up to 50 songs from the millions in our catalog. But, that’s just the beginning! Add more music to your library by adding friends and get access to your BBM friends’ music profile songs. The more BBM friends with BBM Music Premium subscriptions you have, the more songs you can share! And the sharing goes both ways. Your BBM friends with BBM Music Premium subscriptions will have access to your profile music too, and can access it anytime.

So, let’s say you have 10 BBM friends with BBM Music subscriptions, and they each have 50 songs in their music profiles. From those friends alone, plus the 50 songs you downloaded to start your profile, you could have 550 songs in no time, right on your BlackBerry® smartphone!

Now, how about a quick refresh on the beta release: BBM Music is a BBM-connected social music service that allows BBM and BlackBerry smartphone users to discover, play and grow their music collections together. In other words, BBM Music helps you connect with your friends around music on a whole new level.

Turn your friend list into a playlist

With BBM Music, you can grow and keep your music selection fresh by swapping songs every month and by inviting friends to gain access to your music. And remember, when you invite friends to BBM Music, you get access to their musical playlist (which means you get access to more songs); you can build new playlists that include your songs and their songs, you can comment on your friends’ music and you can start a chat with any of your BBM friends from within the BBM Music app in real time. All of this music activity is automatically posted to the homescreen timeline so that you can keep up with friends without missing a beat (literally)!

What’s more, you can cache your BBM music (or save your music to your microSD card) for easy offline listening. Choose the full track experience via the Premium Subscription version or the Free Subscription version – here’s what those options include:

• PREMIUM SUBSCRIPTION: The Premium ‘full track’ BBM Music experience is available for a monthly subscription of $4.99 USD ($4.99 CDN and $5.99 AUD). The Premium version will feature a free Premium trial offer.
• Free Premium trial offer*: With the free Premium trial offer, you can use all the features of a Premium subscription for a limited time. Get up to 2 months* free in US and Canada, and one month free in Australia.
• FREE SUBSCRIPTION: There will also be a Free subscription to the service that delivers the same social experience as the Premium subscription, but with 30 second song previews versus full song tracks. After your Free Premium trial offer period ends, you can opt to continue using BBM Music without a paid subscription by using this Free subscription. You can upgrade from a Free subscription to a Premium subscription at any time.

What BBM Music Beta users like most

We’ve received tons of great feedback and suggestions from our beta participants – 8 out of 10 said they would recommend this service to a friend. Sharing songs with others is one of the most popular features, as is ease of use. Here’s what some of BBM Music users have to say:

“This app is by far the best music app out there… I love the way we can share music with friends!”

“I like the feature of sharing your music with your friends.”

Based on feedback from Beta users we have added a “stop” button alongside the “pause” button, enhanced music discovery by presenting sorting options in all music and contacts screens and improved conversation around music by adding an external notification icon when you receive a comment about your BBM Music. We thank you for your feedback!

Download BBM Music today

I have admittedly become addicted to the beta version of BBM Music, and I’m very excited for this to officially launch. I’ve quickly amassed well over 1,800 songs (a combination of my own song downloads and my friends’), and I have hours’ worth of music that I’ve sorted into Indie, Jazz and Chill playlists, among others. Even my kids have their own playlists (which were handy on the beach this summer), and I’m constantly checking in for new music and updates from BBM friends. In short, I think you’re going to like it.

Download BBM Music today, and stay tuned for more blog posts on BBM Music as the service continues to evolve and becomes available in more regions.

*New BBM Music users only. May not be combined with other offers. Payment information required to receive full trial period. Following trial user placed into automatically renewing monthly subscription plan unless cancelled before end of trial period. Limited time introductory offer may vary by BlackBerry device or carrier. Additional charges may apply. Subject to change. See us.blackberry.com/legal/bbmmusic.jsp for complete details and restrictions.