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Foursquare just released their application for the BlackBerry as a public beta, giving the largest number of smartphone owners access to the location based social network that iPhone and Android users have had for awhile. Foursquare members who have been using the mobile site on the BlackBerry will be very, very happy with the new app that makes checkins and keeping tabs on friends so much easier and engaging. I was lucky enough to be chosen as a beta tester and have been using iterations of the app for a month. Trust me BlackBerry users you will be happy.

To start with finding a venue for checking in is a breeze since the app uses the BlackBerry’s GPS or cell phone triangulation to determine nearby locations. The app even let’s you know where it thinks you are with a blue bar at the bottom of the Places screen, which can be helpful for realizing that the reason distant venues are appearing is because the cell phone tower triangulation is way off.

Favorite locations are listed at the top of the screen with other nearby locations beneath. If the GPS fails to turn up the venue where you are you can search for it by name and if it still can’t be found you can just check in or add it as a new venue, which I’m doing less and less as the number of Foursquare users in Boston grows.

The venue page is nicely detailed with a map of where the venue is located (powered by Google), a link to view tweets nearby and to the venue’s page on Yelp.  With Yelp encroaching on Foursquare by adding check-ins I wonder how long that link will last?  The venue also lists the mayor and anyone else there with links to their information and finally venue tips with the option to add a tip or to-do and mark the location as closed.  I think that the order of these options is a little skewed and I think that the Twitter and Yelp links invite less engagement with the app and Foursquare in general than information on the people in the social network around the venue and tips.

Checking-in is as simple as selecting your venue and then clicking the Check-in button. Your check-in can be customized with a lot of information or you can keep all of your information private and remain “off the grid.”  You can write a shout to your social network, basically a Foursquare status update, do can select whether or not to tell your friends where your are and whether to update Twitter with your location as well.  I imagine that if you have Facebook notifications set up for Foursquare there is also an option to send your location to Facebook.  When the check-in is complete the confirmation screen will let you know the number of points you’ve earned for checking-in and who is mayor of the venue.

Of course Foursquare is a social network and the home/ Friends screen lets you know where your friends have checked in most recently. It also has optional popups alerting you to real time check-ins. From the Friends screen you can click through to more detail about your friends, the venue where they are, email, text, phone and Twitter contact information, and their badges.

If you are looking for the leaderboard I’m afraid that it is accessible from the More screen as a link to the mobile website. Personally I’m more interested in badges and mayorships than the points, but it is one of the game elements of Foursquare and it seems odd to have it relegated to the website.

Overall I’m really pleased with the Foursquare BlackBerry app. It makes checking in easy, helps you keep track of friends and you can get venue information and add venue information in a snap. Foursquare is a simple concept and their BlackBerry app follows that model with quick access to core features and overall ease of use.

(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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