Poynt review

Simon Bisson

We review Poynt, an app that lets you use your BlackBerry to find nearby shops, services and events

Published on Aug 19, 2009

We’re all familiar with searching the Internet. It’s become second nature - using a search engine to find that special snippet of information. We do it on our desktop PCs, on laptops and even on our phones. But there’s one thing that a smartphone like a BlackBerry knows that our desktops don’t: where you are.

With GPS built into many of the latest BlackBerrys, and cell tower location services for when you can’t get a GPS fix, it’s easy to pinpoint just where you are with a BlackBerry. But can you use that information to make it easier to find what you want? Well, that’s where Poynt comes in, a local search engine focused on delivering results that point you to nearby business and services.

If you’re late coming home and you need to pick up a takeaway (or some flowers) you can find the nearest relevant businesses. Poynt not only lists them, it also shows them on a map. You can choose to use RIM’s BlackBerry Maps, or if you’ve got Google Maps installed you can use that instead.

You don’t have to search around where you are – you can use any address. Poynt integrates BlackBerry functions nicely, linking into the dialler, as well as letting you save locations into your address book. Search results can also be emailed to friends and colleagues.

Poynt also helps find out what’s going on around you. Its event search only lets you see what’s on at the cinema at the moment, but that’s useful enough when you’re trying to track down a showing of a film that hasn’t made to every screen in your area. You also get to see trailers and can even buy tickets online – or just phone the cinema box office.

There is one feature missing in the UK version: there’s no people search. That’s not really an issue, though the reverse number lookup could have helped show just who didn’t leave a message when they called.

There are a lot of nice features in Poynt. The application designers have worked hard to integrate it with various BlackBerry applications – adding to the utility of an already useful application. There’s also some of the best design we’ve seen on a BlackBerry. Screens are clean and crisp, with some excellent graphic design, as well as an understanding of just how local search information should be presented.

There aren’t many BlackBerry applications that are must-haves, but this is definitely one. It’s easy to use, and results are delivered quickly and accurately. If your BlackBerry is part of your business life, Poynt makes it part of the rest of it.