Mind maps on the Blackberry with Mindberry

On March 24th, MindBerry launched version 1 of the first mind mapping application for the BlackBerry phone. The MindBerry team listened to the world’s reaction and heard quite clearly the demand for integration with MindManager.

Yesterday, a new version was released that includes an export to MindManager! Now that’s a great turn-around time!

I just finished taking the new version out for a short test drive. My first try at exporting led to an error, but then MindBerry’s Luong Quoc Dat (@luongdat on Twitter) shared with me the secret…email the map in .xmmap format. My second attempt was a success.

Here’s a MindManager snapshot of a map that I created on my phone… (larger image)

Here are the basic features:

• Navigate with trackball or the numeric keys
• Fold /Unfold branches with Spacebar
• Use keyboard shortcuts to access editing features
• Drag and Drop capability to move selected nodes
• Cut and paste selected nodes
• Format with icons, colors, fonts, styles
• Attach note to mindmap
• Edit multiline nodes
• Store maps on BlackBerry’s media card or in device memory
• Send maps to yourself or others via email
• Import and export MindManager and Freemind maps

Here’s what I liked:

• Basic Mapping – I enjoyed making my first map and found it easy to use and navigate. I tested pretty much all the basics including adding map icons, notes and adjusting colors for fonts, lines.
• Reflect a Topic – move an entire branch from one side of the map to the other side.
• Preview changes – see the changes on your map as you’re scrolling through choices like font & line color, font type, etc…
• Keyboard shortcuts – accomplish most tasks with keyboard shortcuts.
• Fast to learn – The only thing I didn’t find on the help that was useful was that you can use the enter key instead of the trackball to finish adding or editing topic text.

Here’s what I disliked:

• At first it felt like a multi-step process to accomplish many tasks like adding and editing topic text, notes, etc… I figured out that you do not have to scroll to say "OK" after adding text to a topic. You can just type enter.
• Only 1 icon per topic allowed.
• Icons didn’t export to MindManager.
• Default settings for Fonts are likely to be too small for many users. They can be reset by adjusting the options settings.
• I could not increase a font in the map beyond the current default settings even though it is possible to go into the options menu and set the default higher.

Some Reader Questions

• What smartphone do you use (Blackberry, iPhone, other)?
• What are you looking for in a phone-based mind mapping application?
• When, where, and why would you map on your phone?

Add your answers into the comments!

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About the Author: Michael Deutch is Mindjet’s Chief Evangelist, content contributor for the Mindjet Blog and the Mindjet Connections newsletter. Get more from Michael on Twitter.