Viira 2.2 has been released and is ready for download. This update is chock-full of productivity enhancements more than any point update in Viira’s history, so make sure to check it out!

You can download Viira 2.2 from your computer, or point your BlackBerry’s browser to our mobile site www.kartamobile.com/bb and download Viira 2.2 OTA.

Here is what is new in Viira 2.2:

• SMS Tasks. Add text messages to your portable GTD system directly from your BlackBerry’s Inbox and don’t let important information sent over SMS ever slip through the cracks. Quickly reply or pull the sender’s contact information with a click of a button!
• Enhanced UI. We have enhanced Viira’s UI to make it even more intuitive and added a navigation tabs for quicker transitions between Viira’s views. Some screenshots here, here and here.
• Fast Startup. Our engineers have drastically improved Viira’s startup time to make Viira available almost instantly after you start it!
• Touchscreen navigation. Owners of a BlackBerry Torch or Storm can now quickly switch between Viira’s views by tapping on Viira’s new navigation tabs.
• View Contact. Quickly view the full contact information of the sender of an email task with a click of a button. (OS 5.0 or later)
• Delegate a task. You requested it, we listened! In addition to being able to delegate an entire project or context, Viira now lets you delegate a single task.
• Quick link to “Today” in Day View. Quickly navigate back to your today’s commitments by selecting “Today” from the context menu in Viira’s Day View.

We have also included several small updates:

• Removed italics for Calendar appointments. Previously, Viira’s Day View displayed all calendar appointments that weren’t included in your GTD system (e.g. by giving them a project or context) in italics. We don’t feel this distinction is adding any value, so now all appointments appear the same.
• Overdue tasks do not appear in the future. Let’s face it, no one likes to be reminded of things they forgot or didn’t get to do in the past. And being reminded of what you didn’t get to complete yesterday when you are looking in the future is somewhat counterproductive. Starting with Viira 2.2, overdue tasks only appear in the Day View for today or days in the past.

As always, Viira 2.2 comes as free upgrade to all buyers of Viira 2.0 and Viira 2.1. Viira 2.2 also offers a free trial so give it a try and see for yourself how Viira can help you get things done in your day-to-day life!

Download the Viira 2.2 Free Trial

Viira 2.2 is supported on all modern BlackBerries all the way back to OS 4.6. Older versions of Viira that support OS 4.5 and earlier devices will be available for download through our mobile site, though any future feature additions will not be ported back.

A month and half after the release of version 1.0 of the Viira Outlook Suite, we are very glad to hear that many of you are using its unique capabilities to  stay on top of your commitments and get things done. As this is the first step in what will be a long journey of bringing you the most powerful Getting Things Done-based personal organization system for Outlook and BlackBerry, we wanted to share with you what we are working on and give you a glimpse of what will be coming out next.

• Outlook 2010 support. With teams and organization around the world slowly but surely migrating to the latest version of MS Office, Outlook 2010 integration is at the very top of our to-do list. Outlook 2010 support will be available in the Viira Outlook Suite 1.1, and all buyers of version 1.0 will receive it as a complimentary upgrade.
• Email integration. Incorporating your email in your Getting Things Done organization system is a must-have for many of you who receive dozens, sometimes hundreds of emails a day. We are actively working on email integration and will be rolling it out in the Viira Outlook Suite 1.1.
• Faster startup. Speed of access to your GTD-based organizational system is a critical aspect that we never loose sight of. We constantly strive to make things faster and more efficient and will be rolling out performance enhancements starting with the upcoming Viira Outlook Suite version 1.1. Our internal benchmarks show our enhanced designs having drastic improvements for both the Outlook Suite plugin and the BlackBerry client - so stay tuned!
• The Viira Outlook Suite plugin - accessible from anywhere. We know that many of you power users of Outlook regularly switch between the multiple view in Outlook - Tasks, Email, Contacts, etc. We are actively working on integrating the Viira Outlook Suite plugin with different areas inside MS Outlook in order to provide you with quick, one-click access to you trusted GTD system and all your Viira Outlook Suite data.

We are all very excited for the upcoming 1.1 release, so stay tuned! If you haven`t already done so, you can sign up for updates and be among the first ones to know when the 1.1 is available for download. As we always do with any of our software products, the 1.1 release comes as a complimentary upgrade to all buyers of version 1.0.

Every year the BlackBerry developer community gathers for a week-long conference to discuss the leading-edge of BlackBerry technology as well as to catch a glimpse of the future of the BlackBerry platform. For the third year in a row, Karta Mobile was among the proud attendees, and we were particularly thrilled to have been there during one of the most exciting announcements ever made at DevCon.

During the conference keynote to DevCon 2010 at the Moscone Center in downtown San Francisco, Mike Lazaridis, the Co-CEO of RIM unveiled the next frontier for the BlackBerry platform - the BlackBerry PlayBook. Rumours about a BlackBerry tablet had been swirling around for some time leading up to the conference, from sites like biygeniusreports.com to mainstream media, so it wasn’t entirely a surprise for many there.

While a lot can be said about the PlayBook’s fascinating hardware - the dual core 1GHz processor, 1GB RAM, 1080p HD video - what we found most fascinating is the ability to pair a PlayBook to a connected BlackBerry. The pairing will be secure and done via Bluetooth, essentially empowering a PlayBook to become an extension to your BlackBerry. In addition to making email attachments instantly viewable on a larger screen, the PlayBook will no doubt enable a new class of mobile applications based on this PlayBook - BlackBerry pairing. One thing for sure, we are all very excited to port Viira to the PlayBook as soon as the device becomes available!

Full press release of the BlackBerry PlayBook announcement can found here.