Wicked review

Simon Bisson

We review Wicked, which lets you manage Wordpress blogs from your BlackBerry

Published on Nov 26, 2009

Blogging on the go has always been a problem. Blog web user interfaces don’t work well with mobile browsers, and those pesky intermittent connections get in the way of composing a long and coherent entry. Some blog platforms support posting by email (ideal for most BlackBerry users), but you can’t guarantee that your blog host has configured it for you.

One of the most popular blog platforms is the open source WordPress. Whether you’re using the Wordpress.com service or are using a standalone copy of WordPress on your own server, you can use your own blog editing tools alongside WordPress’s web user interface. That’s where Screaming Toaster’s Wicked comes in – it’s a BlackBerry WordPress client (with support for Blogger and Tumblr planned for future releases).

Setting up Wicked is easy. First create a Wicked account. This is where your blog settings will be stored – so if you get a new BlackBerry, all you need to do is download and install Wicked, log in and you’ll be ready to post.

Once you’ve created an account, you’ll be prompted to connect to a blog. You can use Wicked with several different blogs at once – making it a tool for the dedicated blogger as well as the average user. All you need it the blog URL and a username and password. Wicked will test the connection before making a blog account.

Once you’re connected to a blog, you’re able to see and edit earlier entries and current comments, as well as creating new content in a simple text editor. You can also run a to-do list, hosted on the Wicked service, where you can keep notes for future posts.

You’ll need to have some familiarity with HTML if you want to add links and images to a post – Wicked is not a WYSIWYG editor. One useful feature is the built-in geocoding. Wicked will add a link to Google maps to every post you make, so you (and your readers) can see just where you were when you posted a particular entry.

Blogging is becoming increasingly social, and Wicked is also a Twitter client, so you quickly post short thoughts and links to images hosted on TwitPic. You can also use the Wicked web service to see other Wicked users near you. You can choose whether other users can see you or not – sensibly the default setting keeps your location private. Update your Wicked status or user image to post a Twitter update.

There’s a 2-day free trial for the BlackBerry application and the associated cloud service. If you decide you like it, you can subscribe without leaving Wicked for $10 a year. If you’re serious about blogging, this could well be the app for you.