BlackBerry, the highly successful business-oriented device, has just got a new version of the Ascendo Money. The money managing application has reached version 3.1.2, which is a major upgrade that includes many new features and a completely reshaped interface.

Obviously, one of the most popular categories of third party applications for BlackBerry smartphones is personal finance, namely expense trackers, loan calculators, account manager and money managers. If you are a business person always on the road, or simply don't have the time to keep track of your expenses, then Ascendo Money can help you maintain your cash flow on the positive side and never be worried that you spend more than you actually earn.

If you put Ascendo Money on your shopping list, then you'll have to pay $29.95 to have full access to the application. Still, I suggest you to download the trial version of the software that can be found here. It doesn't have any restrictions, apart from the time limit (25 days), so it's a good idea to try the software before actually buying it.

I didn't have any problem installing the application on my BlackBerry, and immediately after the registration screen appears, you see the program's features. The main screen is split in two - Account Name and Balance, and features three categories: Checking, Savings and Visa. Setting up new accounts is very easy by selecting New account. Your account needs some money, so you are invited to enter the amount of cash that you have in the currency that you have chosen when you created your account.

From there, things get a little complicated but, trust me, it will greatly ease your life. You can make personalized deposits or withdrawals, choose a name for every transaction and attach it to the right category. All the transactions can be viewed in detail and edited later if it's required. Also, if you have to make payments regularly like mortgage, loans and such, you have the option to set 'rules', so the application can take it into account for the next months. Every transaction that you add has a checkmark next to it so that each time you make a payment, you are able to check the result of the transaction.

All the transactions can be filtered by status (paid/unpaid), amount or date, and can even be deleted. The auto-complete system will decrease the time needed for every entry to be added, while the reports, bar charts and pie graphs will make users better understand their budget status.

The application isn't limited to only one account and can take care of multiple ones, either personal or business-related. If you have multiple accounts, you can easily make transfers between them. Moreover, the application maintains every account's balance and can make financial forecasts up to a given date and keep track of the bank reconciliations.

There's one more important feature that Ascendo Money has been gifted with: complete security. It doesn't matter that your device got in the wrong hands as the application is secured after having set up a password.

The application can be synchronized with a PC using the Desktop Ascendo Money application and the information can be exported in .CSV files.

The Good

One of the few financial management applications available for the BlackBerry, Ascendo Money includes lots of features and polished interface. Starting with v3 numerous useful characteristics have been implemented and improved such as: extension of the database for payees, improvements to payment methods, categories and types, auto-complete for payee names, horizontal and vertical scroll through account register, and many others. Ascendo Money can be considered a complete financial tool that will greatly help business people, but also users that want to preserve their monetary mastery.

The Bad

Even if the interface has been improved and you can now choose from several skins, I believe that a more 'eye-candy' one would have definitely attracted more buyers. I know that the application is mostly targeted at business people but, these days, the trend is looks over functionality. Also, I would've liked to see more languages available, that would've surely been interesting for people who do not speak English very well (are there any?).

The Truth

Ascendo Money has to battle hard for supremacy, its rivals Splash Money for Windows Mobile Pocket PCs and Mobile Checkbook for Java are still solid competitors. In the end, the application has earned lots of fans, who are helping the developer improve it and raising its functionality with each new version. Anyway, I recommend trying this finance manager before buying it, as it will definitely save you from being buried under bank statements, cheque books or scraps of paper of various expenses. The trial version is available here.

Important note: Softpedia offers a 20% discount for the purchase of this 5 star application. After clicking the 'Buy now' button, click on the circle next to Gift Certificates and enter SOFTPEDIAM20 as the promotion code. Then click on the Recalculate button and verify your total.