Last time we met for our bi-weekly theme review, we covered a number of Storm themes. Those tend to get neglected, so the post dedicated to just Storm themes made sense. To balance things a bit we’re going with some Curve themes this week, for all of you OS 4.5ers out there. Next time we’ll hit some Curve 8900 and Bold themes. The Tour should be out around then, and you can bet we’ll do up a bunch of themes for that, too. We should also probably work on some reviews for Pearl themes. After Storm users, I think they’re the most neglected of the BlackBerry users.
Sunny Days
Whenever I do a theme review, I always head over to Themes4bb. They’ve got a great collection of themes from all different platforms. Not only that, but they also always seem to feature new themes, so I’m not going over the same themes twice. This time, the Sunny Days theme caught me eye right off the bat. After a rainy month in New York, the sight of blue skies and vibrant flowers is a welcome one. Pastels are normally eye-catching, and this theme is no exception. It’s not perfect, though. While I enjoy the pastel colors and the flowers in the wallpaper, they don’t lend themselves well to contrast. The icons, which are enjoyably original, get hiddien among the whites and yellows of the flowers which line the bottom of the screen. The text indicator for applications on the Home Screen is a bit blended with the background too, but that’s nothing more than a nitpick. One real problem I have with the theme, though, is the font. Again, I like my fonts straight forward. The Sunny Days font gets a little cute, making it a bit harder to read for hardcore BlackBerry users. You can get the Sunny Days theme from Themes4BB for $5.99. That’s a link to the TodayPlus version. You can find the simple Bottom Dock version here.
Rocker Chic
For our second theme this week, we’re going with yet another one which stands out visually. It’s called Rocker Chic, and it’s from the folks at Cocky Culture. Strange to the eye at first, it quickly becomes apparent that Rocker Chic is an aesthetically pleasing, easy to navigate Bottom Dock theme. In fact, the visuals are handled so well that the theme looks just as smooth as some of the more traditional themes. The Home Screen features a typical rocket image: a heart with a skull on one side, surrounded by angel wings. It’s like the logos for every rock band in existence rolled into one. It even has an alternate wallpaper, for those who don’t dig the skulls (count me as one who does). Below the image is a simple Bottom Dock. The best part about the icons here and in the Applications menu is that they’re surrounded by a black outline, so they’re easy to pick up. The icons are intuitive, too. The font is basic, matching up white on red and black on red when appropriate. You can get the Rocker chic theme at the BBGeeks Store for just $3.95.
BB Pre
With the Palm Pre having been released recently, it was inevitable that someone would develop a BlackBerry theme which mimics the Pre’s style. After all, it worked well enough for the iPhone, which remains our best-selling BlackBerry theme. This one comes courtesy of VistoThemes, and despite the fact that it’s modeled after a BlackBerry competitor, it’s actually a pretty neat theme. The icons, of course, match those of the Pre. That seems to be the calling card of these emulation themes. While it’s difficult, if not impossible, to capture the nature of the UI, the icons are one area which theme developers can duplicate. These are easy to recognize icons. The text is sleek, and the menus are basically the same. The default wallpaper is the same as the Pre snapshots we’ve seen, but like the Pre it’s just as easy to change your wallpaper. You can get the BB Pre theme for $7. It’s quickly moving up our best seller list.
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