I am porting an application from iPhone to BlackBerry. BlackBerry apps tend not to look as polished as iPhone, but naturally, I would like to maintain as much polish as I can, without breaking any important UI conventions. Are there any UI components that can help with this?
NB. I am planning to follow all important UI conventions. For example, I will use the BlackBerry Menu instead of a tab bar for providing access to help and some other advanced options.
Links
You can extend blackberry controls with custom drawing, or implement own one extending Field class. Also you may draw a bitmap background (skin) for each control state.
See also
UPDATE How to – Implement advanced buttons, fields and managers
naviina - iPhone-style Field for Blackberry
SO - Blackberry User Interface Design - Customizable UI
This is one of those instances where providing the answer to the question you have asked is tantamount to helping commit a crime!
That sounds dramatic but as developers we have a responsibility to provide the user with a good experience - this means an experience that conforms to their expectations and makes it easy for them to Get Things Done!
I know how pissed off I get when developers implemented custom interfaces in desktop applications and there I have an entire keyboard and mouse to help me navigate!
If all I have is a touchscreen or a tiny trackball and buttons then I am going to be even more pissed off.
Unless you are revolutionising user input and design on Blackberry devices - which, no offence, I doubt you are - then stick to the conventions and guidelines for that platform.
Make your software easy to use and easy to learn - do not ask a user to relearn their own platform to use your app!