REVIEW: A bit raw, Beyond411 provides some useful results

Editor’s Note: Welcome to our weekly feature, Yay or Nay. Every week we’ll review a new wireless application or service from the user’s point of view, with the goal of highlighting what works and what doesn’t. If you wish to submit your application or service for review, please contact us atrcrwebhelp@crain.com.
Application: Beyond411
Running on: BlackBerry Pearl 8130 on Verizon Wireless’ EV-DO network
Yay: We loved Beyond411’s simple concept, and the application delivered accurate, usable results based on pre-set locations. And yes, it’s free.
Nay: While we didn’t mind the no-frills user interface, Beyond411’s simplicity factor seemed to vanish when we began exploring some of its other offerings. Controls aren’t always intuitive, and a couple of interesting menu options simply led to dead ends.
We say: A few glitches aside, Beyond411 effectively serves as a kind of shortcut to the mobile Internet, using selected information and a barebones search user interface to access information quickly and minimize keystrokes. With a little more polish, Beyond411 could become a go-to app on our BlackBerry.
Review: We’re strong believers that simpler = better when it comes to mobile applications. Which is why we’re so drawn to Beyond411.
The application, which is available here, serves as kind of mobile gateway to a few selected Internet services. After a 20-second download, users are asked to input just a few bits of information including an e-mail address and can enter up to three locations – home, work and “other” – that are used to access location-based information. (The app can also leverage GPS on devices that support third-party applications of the technology.)
Beyond411’s user interface is minimalist to the point of being stark. A home screen – what there is of it, anyway – consists of the following: a cute logo in the upper left, a search box at the top center and a three-menu option on the right allowing users to choose their location. Search topics are displayed below the search box as letters are typed in via Google Suggest, allowing users to click a few keystrokes and then scroll down and click on the terms they’re looking for.
Single-clicking on a topic prompts a pop-up screen with several non-search choices (check spelling, clear field, enable BlackBerry’s SureType) as well as a host of search options. Users looking for business listings can look for information through the Yellow Pages, while those who want the home phone number of a friend can access the White Pages. A general Web search is offered (apparently directing users to Google.com), and searchers can also look for local weather (also through Google), shopping information (through Yokel), sports (reportedly from 4INFO) and more than 400 plug-ins.
Most of the default search sources were well-integrated and displayed cleanly on our device. The sports option, though, rendered horribly and appeared to deliver us to a page that allowed us to link directly to 4INFO – without using our search term. Personalizing the app with plug-ins seemed unnecessarily difficult, too: We couldn’t find a way to simply click on a link to add it to our list (which essentially creates bookmarks), but instead had to type in full names to add them. And unlike many similar offerings, we couldn’t add plug-ins on the PC and have them transfer automatically to our handset. Other features from the plug-ins were helpful, though: Not only can users create their own plug-ins and share them with other users, Beyond411’s Web site included important information such as who created them, whether they had been formatted by Skweezer and whether the mobile version strips headers and images from the page. And a neat “tell a friend” feature encourages you to send information about the offering to people from your contact list.
We found Beyond411’s controls to be less than intuitive, also. While the trackball helped us navigate the app easily when we could use it, it took us a while to learn how to access the pop-up menu. But a help screen proved, well, helpful, and even offered some shortcuts to ease the navigation process.
Beyond411 was just enough of a hassle to keep us from using the app regularly. (We are admittedly less than persistent when it comes to figuring out new applications, however.) But we’re fond of the concept behind the offering, and with a few tweaks Beyond411 could become one of our favorite ways to access information on the go.