buzzd, a location-based city guide and social network, has launched a native app made for BlackBerry smartphones, which brings many features of its mobile Web version to a native mobile application. The network was one of the recipients of the first round of investments from the BlackBerry Partners Fund (similar to Facebook’s fb Fund) last October. Previously only available via a mobile web browser, buzzd has also launched a companion website (for a computer browser) that offers the same information.
buzzd’s app answers the question, “What’s going on around me right now?” Buzzd will tell you which bands are playing at local bars, the location of a four-star eatery, which bar is most popular and other similar information. The interface lets the user share information with others on buzzd, so people can setup their own social networks.
With this app, users can browse and search continuously updated event feeds, which include pricing, location, and event details, and access ratings and reviews on restaurants and bars. buzzd aggregates information from other event and review sites including Citysearch, Flavorpill, Time Out, MyOpenBar, last.fm, and Clubvibes. User-generated feedback from the buzzd community for “real-time” activity about events, restaurants and bars is also included in the mashup of information.
The application also allows you to automatically add events to your Blackberry Calendar, add venues to your Blackberry contacts, broadcast updates from buzzd to Twitter, and features integration with maps to provide you exact locations of venues.
Instead of using GPS (which navigates positioning based on global positioning satellite technology), the app claims to be one of the first of its kind in the BlackBerry AppWorld to use Cell ID, which buzzd says is faster than GPS and works more efficiently in concentrated areas (like clubs and bars), where buzzd is likely to be used. Cells are the hundreds of radio base stations that make up a mobile network in any given city. Each base station or cell covers a physical area and these cells connect together to make up the entire network. The size of cells depends on the density of base stations installed in a given area. A mobile phone connects to the network using the cell in which it is located.
As the mobile phone moves, it leaves one cell and joins another. The new cell then takes responsibility for connecting the phone to the network. Every time the cell that “owns” the mobile changes, buzzd reads the cell id and cell name and delivers these to the device.
Cell ID is a common back-up for geo-location services when GPS is not available. For instance, the mobile versions of Google Maps uses it, even on the BlackBerry. Google uses its own Cell ID database, built up every time somebody uses Google Maps on their cell phone. In order for mobile app developers to tap into this database, they ar erequired to use Google Gears, which sometimes limits the functionality of the app. Buzzd is creating its own database of cell base stations, and currently has about 500,000. The more people who use buzzd, which is approaching one million active users per month, the bigger the database becomes and the more accurate buzzd can pinpoint a user’s location. To get even more cell base stations into its database, buzzd is planning on opening up its database for free to other mobile app developers.
Founded in 2007, buzzd has previously partnered with Virgin Mobile to equip Virgin’s phones with a native app. Interestingly, Yahoo Mobile recently abandoned its Smartphone app to focus on the iPhone market.
Poynt a location based directory application has cell ID on appworld for a while now. buzz’d not first
Not the first and certainly not even close to the best.
The best part of Buzz’d are the zzzzz for the lack of experience.
Don’t leave the day job, fellas.
are you joking? poynt’s cell id triangulation is crud. their app is great through wifi and over GPS and i love poynt’s movie times and directory listings but overall their cell id positioning could use A LOT of work and doesn’t compare…
i just started playing with buzzd and wow! this thing has already saved me a bunch of times while going out
last week i got off the plane and opened up buzzd and low and behold, it found my location in dallas texas and showed me 3 bars and 2 great events in the area.
this thing is sweet and solid!
LBS for entertainment is a good idea.
BTW, check out ETGG ticker this morning. Looks like quick climb.
While this application seems useful for someone living in a city I do not get the whole need for location. I know where everything is in my city and where my friends are.
You’re saying, you know where everything is happening at all times and are completely aware of your friends movements at any moment in your city. I’m going to guess you reside in one of New Orleans’ Cities of the Dead, and you’re a zombie! Right?
The cool people already know where to go;)
dumb name with an interesting product. imagine telling others to visit your buzzd profile online. not gonna happen.
Slogan “Get Mobile, Get Buzzd”. sounds like a promotion to drink or party. dumb.
these mobile apps are a dime a dozen. what is valuable is the company that bridges the internet and mobile in a uniform, cohesive, natural language fashion where users embed themselves and never leave.
EntertainmentLocator.com – find fun
Just your totally objective view. As some kind of – let’s guess – MyLocator principal.
So, partying, drinking being dumb, you “embed people” in a neverland they don’t ever want to leave by inviting them to…church meetings? Bake sales? Republican youth rallies? Tupperware experiences?
EntertainmentLocator.com is so *easy* for the mobile keyboard. I’d type that over & over & over, instead of using one of those dime-a-dozen mobile apps that you push one time. Where’s the challenge in that?
Please, please do tell what MyLocator sees as responsible fun, and also, if you will, this elixir language bridge where unicorns play – where can we find it?
as a standard typing on a keyboard will not be necessary in the near future for mobile and the internet.
“click, click, click, bingo.”
your close but no cigar. this is how you bridge the internet and mobile language bridge and forever embed users in a universal internet and mobile media empire-
MeetingLocator.com
ReligionLocator.com
RepublicanLocator.com
KitchenLocator.com
the exilir language bridge has yet to be fully developed. we own the best strategic raw land and building materials you could ever own. when you go out into the night sky pick out a thousand of the brightest stars shining brighter than all the res and think of me, i own’em.
FindaLocator.com – adoption is everything
If it’s anything like their mobile web app, I won’t be using it. That’s crap.
what’s so bad about their mobile web app??
I’ve used it and its great!! A few kinks here and there like any other site but for the most part, it does what its supposed to do.
The concept is intriguing and has potential. I tried app – buzzd (counter intuitive name)… the app is barely average, feels like bunch of diff things slapped together without much thought about user experience or value to user. 95% of the time, i dont need reviews, b/c i know moist places i hang oput and/.oir if my frnds are hanging out, i can just find out from them, it is not like there is lot of my friends ugc there alrealy… Lattitude is sufficient for me, gives me lbs and loopt is decent.
If an app were to tell me the % of hot girls in a bar at any given time I would pay for it.
your definition of hot or my definition of hot???
That is where they are.
this is a bust for two main reasons – lack of wide distribution and poor user retention. I think they launched around Dec07, how many active users do they have to show for, would bet it is less than 200K, this is just another hype
after all this realtime stuff, location based + realtime will be the next big thing.
Haven’t checked out the app, but a great idea. The bigger challenge is bubbling up relevant information.
My experience with this app and it’s use of Cell ID has not been very good, I wish they had included an option for the user to select their internal GPS if they’re getting inaccurate results with the Cell ID like I was they should be able to change the setting to use GPS. I live in Monterey CA and it [buzzd] would give me results for a city 35 miles away. Then it would tell me that a location was 15 miles away when I know the place wasn’t more than 5 miles from me. Buzzed is a perfect name for an app that sends you 35 miles out of your way . If they update it to include a GPS option, I may give it another try, until then I’ll be removing it from my BB.