We are inching ever so close to the 1.0 release, with today’s beta version 0.9.0.169 update available at http://blackberry.wordpress.org/install

Here is what’s new:

• Based on all the great feedback, we reworked much of the UI layout for the main view, blog view, and media view
• Ability to upload videos from your media library
• New option to set media file properties (filename, caption, title, and position)
• Created a new file browser that resembles the native BlackBerry file browser
• Big improvements in the speed at which you can view and manage comments
• Lots of optimizations for uploading photos and videos using base64 encoding
• Indonesian language support updated thanks to Kate of Pixel Insert
• Improved French language support thanks to Yann Nave of blog.onbebop.net

Here are a few screenshots of the new beta:

If you are running one of the latest versions of the app, it should prompt you to upgrade. If not, you can always download the latest version by pointing your mobile browser to: http://blackberry.wordpress.org/install

And always, if you have any issues, please post to the forums so we can effectively track and respond to the issue:  http://blackberry.forums.wordpress.org/

We’ve been diligently working on a slew of new features for the latest v.157 beta which is available now. Lots going on, and really happy with the feedback and participation in the community as we get close to a 1.0 release. Here’s what’s new:

We’ve updated the comments UI and also added:

• Gravatar support
• Ability to open the URL of the author into the BB browser
• A reply to comment feature, so you can moderate and respond all from the mobile device.

On the Post and Page screens we’ve also updated the UI and added:

• The ability to open the comment list for a specific post
• Support for the post excerpt field
• Support for custom fields

Internationalization:

• Added French support, thanks to Yannn Nave of of blog.onbebop.net
• Added Italian support, thanks to Sandro Lusvardi of Danais

We’ve also added support for SD cards which should help with memory issues and also multimedia files.

If you are running one of the latest versions of the app, it should prompt you to upgrade. If not, you can always download the latest version by pointing your mobile browser to: http://blackberry.wordpress.org/install

And always, if you have any issues, please post to the forums so we can effectively track and respond to the issue:  http://blackberry.forums.wordpress.org/

Thanks to all your feedback, we have a new beta available for download today.

The most requested feature that we’ve been working on, is support for BIS via the BIS-B connection layer. We’d love feedback in the forums on how BIS is working for people on various devices and with different providers.

In addition to BIS support, the new beta includes the following:

• Added support for the “more” tag in both pages and posts
• Tweaks to the UI based on user feedback
• Most error messages are now localized
• App now work even when the device memory is set to “encryption mode on”

Looking forward to all of your feedback.

And a special thanks to Schalk Neethling of OpenSource Release Feed for his contributions and recent help on this app.

Hi everyone ! Things are progressing nicely with this beta test thanks to everyone who has posted on the forums and on trac. We really appreciate all the feedback and time spent by all of you beta testers.

Today we have a new beta, version 0.9.0.140 for you to download. Changes include:

• Improving response time of the user interface (ticket #58 UI response time)
• Removingthe photo multimedia option in the app because photo settings are managed in the main BlackBerry camera app
• Fixing a bug with local drafts (ticket #57)
• Adding prompts to save post when clicking “Back” button (ticket #59)
• Fixing a bug involving categories (ticket #60)
• Fixing how private posts were not publishing correctly (ticket #61)

We are also aware that some of you prefer to use this app connecting with BIS. We are actively working on a solution for this with RIM, but currently don’t have an ETA for that.

And as always, please do no post comments to this post involving support or troubleshooting. If you are having issues, please first review the FAQ, and if you are still stuck, then head over to the forums and post as many details as possible so we can help track down the issue.

A new week, a new beta ! Beta release version 0.9.0.134 is available now: http://blackberry.wordpress.org/install.

This releases introduces a big upgrade on how the app finds your site via XML-RPC. If you’ve had trouble adding your sites with the previous betas, it’s time to upgrade and try this one out. Here is the full list of changes with this release:

• XML-RPC discovery upgrade
• Fix for the category field not being focusable
• Added a paste option to the link assistant (thanks acedanger)
• Added menu item to check if there is a newer version of the app
• Big improvements on how the app handles images. App can now work with jpeg and png image, without format conversion.

If you have any issues, please head over to the forums.

New beta release v 0.9.0.129 is available now: http://blackberry.wordpress.org/install.

This releases fixes a few character encoding issues including the double encoded Ampersand bug. This new beta also has improved error handling and more intuitive error messages to assist with the initial setup.

If you have any issues, please head over to the forums.

New release v 0.9.0.125: http://blackberry.wordpress.org/install.

This releases deals specifically with text encoding. The app now properly displays text encoded with the following character sets including:

• ISO-8859-1
• UTF-8
• UTF-16BE
• US-ASCII

This should fix the issue that some Chinese language users were reporting. In addition, this beta now handle “Precompound Unicode”. We are also including support for “Composite Unicode” but it’s not 100% tested yet.

If you still see any character issues please open up a ticket or head to the forums for details.

New beta is available right now: http://blackberry.wordpress.org/install.

This new version addresses the following:

• Better handling of XML-RPC endpoint, including the ability to enter in the exact location if the app isn’t able to identify it on it’s own
• Proper identification of the user agent which should allow this to work with plugins such as Bad Behavior
• Various copy tweaks

For troubleshooting and discussion of ideas, please continue to use the forums.

As you can tell, we are pushing out updates as quickly as possible here. Beta 0.9.0.121 is now available from http://blackberry.wordpress.org/install, and addresses the following issues:

• Corrects a problem with some self-hosted WordPress sites with version < 2.7
• Fixes an issue with WordPress installs in subfolders
• A few spelling / copy issues
• Fixes a categories issue

If you have any questions please visit the new WordPress for BlackBerry Forums, and for bugs, please submit tickets over on blackberry.trac.wordpress.org.

Thanks for all the great feedback so far. To help facilitate all the conversations, we have opened up the WordPress for BlackBerry Forums. There you can post about getting help troubleshooting issues and also discuss new features and enhancements. To participate you’ll need a WordPress.org username which takes 2 seconds if you need to register for one.

If you are having any problems with the app during this beta phase, please use the forums instead of leaving a comment here on the blog.

And if you find bugs: Review the How To Report a Bug documentation and submit tickets over on blackberry.trac.wordpress.org.