by Sean Devlin, Front Rush 

There has been a lot of media coverage in the past couple of weeks about the new iphone release.  And as a result, we are seeing many coaches switching out their blackberries and treo's for the new apple product. 

But what about the rest of us who are staying strong and keeping our blackberries in our holsters on our hip?  The iphone users have this fancy internet connection which allows them to see websites just as if they were on their desktops.  Blackberry users still have this archaic experience as they peruse the web and access their recruiting software.  Well there is hope.  There are a couple of nice add-ons that we can download so you can much better access the web. 

Opera Mini
This is the standard download for Blackberry users and should be the first place you go.  By downloading Opera Mini on your blackberry, your mobile internet experience will be very much like your desktop experience and certainly very competitive with iphone users.  If your recruiting software does not have a blackberry application, then this is the next best thing.  All that you need to do is download Opera Mini and then the next time you access the web from your blackberry, you will access it through the Opera Mini icon.  You can download Opera Mini by going to www.mini.opera.com

Bolt
Bolt is the new blackberry browser that is getting a lot of press.  Bolt is similar to the Opera Mini accept they are the new guys at the table.  Bolt is a very quick mobile browser and they do a great job making the experience on the blackberry very fast and user friendly.  The biggest difference between the Bolt browser and the Opera Mini browser really comes down to user preference.  We recommend downloading Bolt if you try out Opera Mini and are not 100% satisfied.  Similar to Opera Mini, you will download bolt to your blackberry and then access the web from the Bolt icon.  You can download Bolt at www.boltbrowser.com

Skyfire (everybody else)
For anybody that is not running an iphone or blackberry, the best option out there is Skyfire.  Skyfire is arguably the most revolutionary mobile browser and its being highly touted as the next big thing.  They focus on speed as well as usability along with allowing for technologies such as flash (think anytime you see a website with moving pictures and video).  This is a great option for anybody who has stayed away from the blackberry and iphone but still want a great mobile experience.  You can grab Skyfire at www.skyfire.com

All of the options above are great alternatives to the standard blackberry and non-iphone browsers.  They are quick to download and will improve your mobile internet experience tremendously.  We highly recommend it for our clients that use the Front Rush web-based recruiting tracking system, as we do for customers of competitive products that we help and advise. 

Sean Devlin is one of the technical geniuses behind Front Rush, the leading recruiting contact management systems available to college coaches.  To email Sean with any and all technical performance questions, even if you aren't yet a Front Rush client, he is available to help.  Just email him at sdevlin@frontrush.com or call 866.634.1186 to get personalized technical assistance and answers to your questions.