As expected, the newest update to the BlackBerry App World is now available. The big thing is support for European countries (Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Ireland, Austria, Luxembourg, Belgium, Netherlands, Portugal and the Channel Islands) but some much-needed sorting options (newest, highest rated, price, developer, app name) are also welcome additions in 1.1. You can also filter free and paid apps, as well as peruse a variety of new categories.
The last, and most contentious new feature, is SD card archiving for apps, so you can reinstall deleted applications from your memory card, saving on connectivity hassles. It’s not quite as handy as, say, running apps from the microSD card, but it’s certainly a start in that direction. BlackBerry app memory is pretty tight, so this kind of solution will help users relax at least a little bit on that front.
Hit up BlackBerry.com/AppWorld on your mobile browser to get updating.
UPDATE: Here are a bundle of screenshots showing some of the new features in App World 1.1. Following Inside BlackBerry’s directions it’s a breeze to archive apps (and even self-evident to a lot of hardened users). I did get a fairly ugly error message after the post-archive reboot, but I’m willing to let that slide as a one-off occurrence.
Oh, and another significant change is how App World handles trial versions of software. There used to be no category for trials, resulting in multiple entries of the same app or misleading price listings – both gone now. Woo!
