Details

Category: BlackBerry Tips

Created: 10 April 2008

With so much squeezed into such a small unit, the BlackBerry Pearl has some surprises tucked away. The mute button, for example, on the top of the unit, doubles as the one you press to enter Stand-by mode.

Press and hold the Mute button and a message pops up indicating the unit is in Stand-by. In this mode, calls will still come through, and the unit lights up so you can answer.

When you disconnect from the call, the unit stays on. If you don't answer the phone, however, the until will revert to Stand-by after two rings or when the incoming call is terminated by the caller.

To come out of Stand-by when there's no call coming in, you again press the mute button. In this way, Stand-by also serves as a simple way to lock your buttons so you don't accidentally dial someone when the phone presses against your pocket.

Details

Category: BlackBerry Tips

Created: 06 April 2008

Question: The BBMaps icon will not show on my device. I see BlackberryMaps in my application list but can’t find it on my device.

Answer: AT&T and some other European carriers have decided that they make more money selling Mapping subscriptions than allowing you access to BBMaps. Here is how to make BBMaps show on your device:

• Make sure you have Desktop Manager installed to your PC. It can be downloaded from HERE
  
  
• Make sure that the OS is installed to your PC.
  
  
• Delete the vendor.xml file located in c:\program files\common files\research in motion\apploader
  
  
• Find the LBS.alx file located in C:\Program Files\Common Files\Research In Motion\Shared\Loader Files\8700-v4.2.1.96_P2.3.0.79. Note: The folder name under Loader Files may differ depending on the OS version installed on your device
  
  
• Open the LBS.alx file with a text editor such as WordPad.
  
  
• Scroll down until you find lines similar to this: (Note: each devices version may have differing lines of code.)

<!-- For 8800 series, hide the icon for Cingular (102), Vodafone Germany (124), Vodafone Austria (137) and all Orange properties. -->
<fileset SystemSize="normal" Colour="True" Java="1.0" _vendorID="~102|124|137|119|162|142|183|147|217" series="8800">
  <files>
    net_rim_bb_lbs_ribbon.cod
  </files>
</fileset>
<!-- For non-8800 series, show the icon for all carriers except Vodafone Germany (124), Vodafone Austria (137) and all Orange properties. -->
<fileset SystemSize="normal" Colour="True" Java="1.0" '''series="8800'''">
  <files>
    net_rim_bb_lbs_internal_gps.cod
  </files>
</fileset>
<fileset SystemSize="normal" Java="1.0">
  <files>
    net_rim_bb_lbs_resource_en.cod
  </files>
</fileset>

 

• Remove all references to “_vendorID=...” and device codes. Remove the text in bold as shown above and leave the > symbol at the end.

The above code would be changed to the following:

<!-- For 8800 series, hide the icon for Cingular (102), Vodafone Germany (124), Vodafone Austria (137) and all Orange properties. -->
<fileset SystemSize="normal" Colour="True" Java="1.0">
  <files>
    net_rim_bb_lbs_ribbon.cod
  </files>
</fileset>
<!-- For non-8800 series, show the icon for all carriers except Vodafone Germany (124), Vodafone Austria (137) and all Orange properties. -->
<fileset SystemSize="normal" Colour="True" Java="1.0">
  <files>
    net_rim_bb_lbs_internal_gps.cod
  </files>
</fileset>
<fileset SystemSize="normal" Java="1.0">
  <files>
    net_rim_bb_lbs_resource_en.cod
  </files>
</fileset>

Save the file with the same LBS.alx name.

Again, each devices' .alx is slightly different but removing any references to vendor codes and device codes in the lines as above will do the trick.

• Now plug in the BB, open Desktop Manager and run Application Loader. Make sure BBMaps is checked and continue through to finish the process.

• BBMaps should now have an icon on your home screen.

Details

Category: BlackBerry Tips

Created: 01 April 2008

First, take a deep breath and don't panic.

Next, verify there really is a problem. Send yourself a test email, text message someone, try to load a webpage, and try to send a BlackBerry Messenger message. This will give you an idea of what is going on.

In the outage on April 17th and 18th text messaging and phone calls worked fine, but there was no e-mail and the BlackBerry browser couldn’t connect. That’s because the outage was on RIMs side and they do not handle the phone calls or texts, as those are taken care of by your Service Provider, like AT&T or T-Mobile.

If you have a group of BlackBerry buddies check with them to see if they are having problems too. For example, this morning my e-mail and browser stopped working, so I sent a text to a friend, who said his was working fine.

A battery pull later I was back on track. Sometimes the problem is just your BlackBerry and not the network. Usually you can tell pretty fast by talking to others if it is your service provider or RIM. Once it is clear what the problem is and who is causing it feel free to report it and share it with others.

Now comes the worst part: What to do while waiting for it to work again.

In the last outage you could still use some third party applications. It was reported Opera Mini worked, along with mirc chat via the BlackBerry. Of course, any games on your BlackBerry are going to work just fine to. It is a great time to work on the BrickBreaker high score you want or work out the brain with a little Sudoku.

When you need a break from games you can load a new OS on your BlackBerry, if there is one available. And if there is not a new OS, it would be a perfect time to back up your data just in case you ever need it.

Also since I find that my internet e-mail accounts sometimes get very unorganized now that I read all e-mails on the BlackBerry, the outage was a great time to clean up my accounts.

Most importantly, remember service will come back. There are people scrambling to try and locate and fix the problem. Networks go down, and outages happen, no matter how hard a company tries to avoid them. It is just a part of the technology age.

No need to worry about missing an important e-mail if no e-mails are coming through, right? With an outage, millions of other people are the same position as you. They should understand your predicament.

Details

Category: BlackBerry Tips

Created: 21 March 2008

Below are a series of tips and tricks to help you "advance your BlackBerry handheld skills" posted on RIM's Web site. We list the first ten, after which you can head over here for just as many more.

1. Hold the ALT key while you roll the trackwheel to scroll horizontally in any field where you can enter or view text.
   
   
2. Hold the ALT key while you roll the trackwheel to scroll through a field to view options.
   
   
3. Hold the SHIFT key while you roll the trackwheel to select multiple items in a list.
   
   
4. Type the first letter of an item in an options list or menu to jump directly to that item.
   
   
5. Type the first letters of a name or the initials separated by a space to find a contact in the Address Book screen.
   
   
6. To cut and paste text, hold the ALT key and click the trackwheel, then roll the trackwheel to highlight text. Click and scroll to Cut Selection or Copy Selection. To paste the selected text, place the cursor in an editable field and click. Scroll to Paste Selection and click.
   
   
7. Press and hold a letter to capitalize it (with Key Rate enabled).
   
   
8. Press the SPACE key twice to insert a period and capitalize the next letter.
   
   
9. Press the SPACE key to insert the "@" and "." characters in an Email field.
   
   
10. Press and hold a letter key and roll the trackwheel to scroll through international characters,
    equation symbols and other marks

 

Details

Category: BlackBerry Tips

Created: 25 November 2006

You can Enterprise Activate a BlackBerry smartphone on only one BlackBerry Enterprise Server at a time.

It is not possible to Activate a BlackBerry smartphone on multiple BlackBerry Enterprise Servers as the subsequent activation process would overwrite the previous activation data.