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Category: BlackBerry Tips

Created: 13 March 2010

It is a good idea to take active measures to maximize the BlackBerry smartphone's available flash memory, and thus, prolong the time before the operating system starts the Low Memory Manager application.

The following are suggestions on how to maximize available flash memory on the BlackBerry smartphone.

Use a media card

Media cards are especially useful for BlackBerry smartphone users who want to store media files like songs, pictures, videos, voice notes, and ring tones, or who want to store pictures they take with the built-in cameras. Built-in video cameras on BlackBerry smartphones require a media card to function.

To make sure the built-in camera is set up to save picture files on the media card, complete the following steps:

1. Install the media card in the BlackBerry smartphone.
2. Open the Camera application (for BlackBerry Device Software 6.0, tap All, then open theCamera application).
3. Display the menu and select Options.

4. Set the Store Pictures field to On Media Card. You can also change the folder setting to the particular folder in which you want to save pictures.
   Note: For BlackBerry Device Software 6.0, this option has been removed. However a different location can be specified when the file is renamed after image capture.

Remove unnecessary items

Removing features and applications that are underused increases the available flash memory on the BlackBerry smartphone.

• Use the Setup Wizard application to remove languages that you do not use from the BlackBerry smartphone. Removing languages is highly recommended because it is one of the most significant ways to increase available flash memory.

To remove languages from the BlackBerry smartphone, complete the following steps.

For BlackBerry Device Software 5.0 and earlier

Remove underused applications.

• To remove applications from the BlackBerry smartphone, complete the following steps.

For BlackBerry Device Software 5.0 and earlier

1. On the Home screen of the BlackBerry smartphone, open Options.
2. Select Advanced Options.
3. Select Applications. The BlackBerry smartphone takes time to build a comprehensive list of the installed applications.
4. Highlight the application you want to delete, display the menu and select Delete.

• Minimize the number of contacts stored in the Address Book on the BlackBerry smartphone.

  One way to minimize the number of contacts stored in the Address Book is to use the remote address lookup feature when you need to send an email message rather than store company contacts in the Address Book. You can use this feature if your BlackBerry smartphone uses BlackBerry Device Software 4.0 and later and one of BlackBerry® Enterprise Server 3.5 or later for Microsoft® Exchange or BlackBerry Enterprise Server 2.2 or later for IBM® Lotus® Domino®.

Delete old items

The BlackBerry smartphone user can delete old and unused items and also adjust settings so that the BlackBerry smartphone deletes old items as part of its regular routine maintenance.

• Delete Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) messages that are no longer needed. Because MMS messages can contain large media files and cannot be stored on a media card, MMS messages can use a lot of flash memory. If you do not want to delete the media files in an MMS message, open the MMS message and save the media files on the media card before you delete the MMS message.
• Change the Keep Messages setting on the BlackBerry smartphone to reduce the number of old messages using flash memory.

To change the Keep Messages setting, complete the following steps.

For BlackBerry Device Software 5.0 and earlier

1. On the Home screen of the BlackBerry smartphone, open Messages.
2. Display the menu and select Options.
3. Select General Options. For BlackBerry Device Software 6.0, select Message Display and Actions.
4. Set the Keep Messages field to either 15 Days or 30 Days.

• Change the Keep Appointments setting to reduce the number of old calendar events using flash memory.

To change the Keep Appointments setting, complete the following steps:

For BlackBerry Device Software 5.0 and earlier

1. On the Home screen of the BlackBerry smartphone, open Calendar.
2. Display the menu and select Options.
3. Select General Options.
4. Set the Keep Appointments field to either 15 Days or 30 Days.

Note: Email messages and appointments are only removed from the BlackBerry smartphone. The email messaging application and the appointment application the BlackBerry smartphone is associated with will retain the email messages and appointments that are removed from the BlackBerry smartphone after the time period that is specified.

 

• Clear the browser cache often.

To clear the browser cache, complete the following steps:

For BlackBerry Device Software 5.0 and earlier

1. On the Home screen of the BlackBerry smartphone, open Browser.
2. Display the menu and select Options.
3. Select Cache Operations.
4. Select Clear for Content Cache. (You can increase the amount of flash memory by also selectingClear for Pushed Content.)

Adjust settings for optimal storage efficiency

Adjust the following settings for optimal storage efficiency on your BlackBerry smartphone:

• In BlackBerry Desktop Software, set messages to stop being forwarded to the BlackBerry smartphone when it is cradled.

  To adjust this setting, complete these steps:

  1. In BlackBerry Desktop Manager, open Email Settings.
  2. Select the check box beside Disable message redirection while your device is connected.

• Set messages to prompt you when deleting an email message on the BlackBerry smartphone. The prompt allows you to choose to either delete the message on the BlackBerry smartphone only or on the BlackBerry smartphone and the messaging server, which deletes the email message on both the BlackBerry smartphone and the email application with which it is associated.

To adjust this setting on the BlackBerry smartphone, complete the following steps:

1. On the Home screen, open Messages.
2. Display the menu and select Options.
3. Select Email Reconciliation.
4. Select Prompt for the Delete On setting. (You can also select Handheld rather than Prompt, which will delete messages on the BlackBerry smartphone without a prompt, when you choose to delete messages.)

• Flash memory is used to download and display email messages on the BlackBerry smartphone. Set the Auto More option to No to make sure that only the sections of the email message that you want to read on the BlackBerry smartphone are downloaded, displayed, and thus, stored in flash memory. By setting the Auto More option to No, the BlackBerry smartphone displays approximately the first 2 KB of an email message; you can display more of the email message by selecting More on the menu.
  

Note: If the Auto More option is set to Yes, scrolling automatically displays more of the email message. Be aware that you may be dowloading large email messages by scrolling through an email message on the BlackBerry smartphone.

Note: The size of the entire email message is displayed at the bottom of the email message screen. Average messages are usually no larger than 2 KB.

 

By setting the Auto More option to No, you can make sure the flash memory is not unnecessarily used on the BlackBerry smartphone by disallowing the automatic download option.

To set the Auto More option to No, complete the following steps:

For BlackBerry Device Software 5.0 and earlier

1. On the Home screen of the BlackBerry smartphone, open Messages.
2. Display the menu and select Options.
3. Select General Options.
4. In the Auto More field, select No.
   

Caution: The More All option on the menu gives you the choice of downloading the entire email message at once, no matter how the Auto More setting is configured.

The More All option should be used with caution since the BlackBerry smartphone uses flash memory to store email messages that have been displayed.

• For BlackBerry smartphones running BlackBerry Device Software 3.8 or 4.0, set the BlackBerry smartphone to allow content compression. Although content compression causes the BlackBerry smartphone to work harder (thus, using more battery power), it will make sure that email messages use the least amount of flash memory that is possible.

  To set the BlackBerry smartphone to allow content compression, complete the following steps:

  1. On the Home screen of the BlackBerry smartphone, open Options.
  2. Select Security Options.
  3. Select General Settings.
  4. Set the Content Compression field to Enabled.
     
     
• For BlackBerry smartphones running BlackBerry Device Software 4.5 to 6.0, turn off HTML support since plain text messages are smaller in size.

To turn off HTML support on the BlackBerry smartphone, complete the following steps:

For BlackBerry Device Software 5.0 and earlier

1. On the Home screen of the BlackBerry smartphone, open Messages.
2. Display the menu and select Options.
3. Select Email Settings.
4. Change the Enable HTML Email field to No.

Details

Category: BlackBerry Tips

Created: 06 March 2010

To see the approximate amount of occupied flash memory on the BlackBerry smartphone, complete the following steps.

For BlackBerry Device Software 5.0 and earlier

1. On the Home screen of the BlackBerry smartphone, open Options.
2. Select Status.
   

The File Free field shows the approximate amount of available flash memory available for data. To make sure that this value is as accurate as possible, restart the BlackBerry smartphone to initiate a full garbage collection.

From the Status screen, press the Menu key, to the right of the green phone key, and select Database Sizes to view the number of objects and size of databases on the BlackBerry smartphone.

Details

Category: BlackBerry Tips

Created: 17 January 2010

Upgrading your BlackBerry operating system is fairly simple. The good news is even if your carrier doesn’t offer the latest OS updates you can still install them on your device from another carrier. Your first step is to visit RIM’s carrier download page and find the latest OS you want. Just make sure you device model matches.

For example: I currently have a Vodafone BlackBerry Storm 9530 and am running MTS Mobility Handheld Software v5.0.0.674 on my device.

We will explain how to upgrade your OS below.

Step 1: Download the latest OS from RIM (Check here for our latest OS news)

Step 2: Install the .exe file that you downloaded from RIM

Step 3: BACKUP YOUR BLACKBERRY – this is very important (open Desktop Manager software and connect your device).

Step 4: Open this folder (c:\program files\common files\research in motion\apploader) and delete the file vendor.xml

Step 5: Plug in your device into the computer and re-open Desktop Manager select Application loader

Step 6: Select upgrade as prompted

Now the entire process can take between 20 and 30 minutes. Make sure you do a full backup before doing a software upgrade in case you get an error and have to wipe your device.

Please also note that we are not responsible for any problems that you incure while upgrading your device software.

Details

Category: BlackBerry Tips

Created: 16 January 2010

Depending on the wireless service plan associated with the BlackBerry smartphone, the BlackBerry smartphone user might be able to turn off data services on their BlackBerry smartphone, such as email, personal identification number (PIN), and Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) messaging, as well as the browser service.

When data services are turned off, only the phone and Short Message Service (SMS) text messaging services are available on the BlackBerry smartphone. To determine if you are able to turn off data services on the BlackBerry smartphone, contact your wireless service provider.

To turn off data services on a Blackberry smartphone complete the following steps:

1. From the Home screen of the BlackBerry smartphone, select Options > Mobile Network.
2. Perform one of the following actions:

• To turn off data service, change the Data Services field to Off.
• To turn off data service when roaming, change the Data Services field to Off When Roaming.

1. Press the Menu key.
2. Click Save.

Details

Category: BlackBerry Tips

Created: 12 January 2010

BlackBerry Dispatcher, Synchronization, and Policy services do not start after applying Microsoft Security Update MS06-071

The Microsoft security update MS06-071 applies a patch to the Microsoft XML Parser (MSXML).

Complete the following steps to help resolve this problem.

1. Uninstall all versions of MSXML, including patches.
2. Delete msxml4.dll from the %systemroot%\system32 folder.
3. Set all BlackBerry services to Manual in the Windows Services screen.
4. Restart the BlackBerry Enterprise Server.
5. Install MSXML 4.0 Service Pack 2.
6. Restart the BlackBerry Enterprise Server.
7. Set all BlackBerry services back to Automatic in the Windows Services screen.

Details

Category: BlackBerry Tips

Created: 09 January 2010

• Open the Messages application.
• Press the Menu key.
• Select Search.
• If you wish to search a specific folder then scroll to the Folder option.
• Press the trackball or trackpad.
• Select the desired folder.
• Scroll to the Show option.
• Press the trackball or trackpad.
• Select Unopened Only.
• Scroll to the Type option.
• Press the trackball or trackpad.
• Select the desired message type.
• Press the Menu key.
• Select Search.

Details

Category: BlackBerry Tips

Created: 02 January 2010

This article describes shortcuts and tips for the BlackBerry Storm smartphone.

The following graphic highlights some important keys on your BlackBerry Storm smartphone.

 

Select and highlight

• To select an item, click the item by pressing the screen.
• To highlight an item or to place the cursor, touch the screen lightly.

Move vertically and horizontally

• To scroll down, slide your finger up. To move down a screen, slide your finger up quickly.
• To scroll up, slide your finger down. To move up a screen, slide your finger down quickly.

Move between items (email messages and pictures)

• If you are in an open message or a picture, you can move to the next message or picture by sliding your finger to the left quickly.
• If you are in an open message or a picture, you can move to the previous message or picture by sliding your finger to the right quickly.

Zoom and pan

• To zoom in to a picture, web page, or map, touch the screen twice quickly. To zoom out, press the Escape key.
• To pan a picture, slide your finger in any direction.

Display a shortcut bar and shortcut names

• To display or hide a shortcut bar in web pages, maps, or pictures, tap the screen.
• To display the name of a shortcut, touch and hold the shortcut button until the shortcut name appears.

Play songs and videos

• To play the next or previous song, hold the Volume Up key or the Volume Down key.
  
• To pause or resume playing a song or video, press the Mute key.
• To increase or decrease the volume, press the Volume Up key or the Volume Down key.
• To display the audio menu while playing a song, tap the screen once.

Take a picture

• To zoom in to or out from a subject, press the Volume Up key or the Volume Down key.
• To lock focus on a subject before you take a picture, press the Right Convenience key halfway.
• To take a picture, press the Right Convenience key.

Copy or cut text

To copy or cut text, complete the following steps:

1. Put two fingers on the screen simultaneously to highlight text between the touches.
   
   
   • To adjust the start of the highlight, touch and drag at the top.
   • To adjust the end of the highlight, touch and drag at the bottom.
   
   
2. To copy text, click in the middle of the highlighted text, this opens a menu with the Copy option, or display the menu and select Copy.
   

Tip: To remove the highlight, press the Escape key.

Use menus and keys

• To view menu options in an application, press the Menu key.
• To close a menu or move back a screen, press the Escape key.
• To lock the BlackBerry smartphone, press the Lock key.
• To return to the Home screen, press the End key.

Hide the keyboard

• To hide the keyboard, slide your finger down, or select Hide Keyboard from the menu.

For more navigation tips, see the Setup Wizard application on your BlackBerry smartphone.

 

Details

Category: BlackBerry Tips

Created: 28 December 2009

For BlackBerry Enterprise Server 4.1 to 4.1 SP7

1. Open BlackBerry Manager.
2. In the explorer view, select the BlackBerry Enterprise Server that you want to change.
3. Select the Server Configuration tab, and click Edit Properties.
4. In the IT Admin property, double-click Policy Resend Interval.
5. Type the interval, in hours, at which you want automatic resends to occur.
6. Click OK.

For BlackBerry Enterprise Server 4.0 to 4.0 SP7

1. Open BlackBerry Manager.
2. In the Explorer view, right-click the BlackBerry Enterprise Server that you want to change, and select Properties.
3. Select the IT Admin tab.
4. In the IT Policy field, type the interval, in hours, at which you want automatic resends to occur.
5. Click OK.

For BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0.x

1. In the BlackBerry Administration Service, on the left pane, expand BlackBerry Solution Topology > BlackBerry Domain > Component View.
2. Expand Policy and select <Instance Name_POLC>.
3. Scroll to the bottom and select Edit Instance.
4. Modify the Policy Resend Interval value.