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Although Verizon Wireless, my carrier for a BlackBerry Pearl 8130 and a BlackBerry Curve 8330, isn’t ready for me to update to the latest version of Desktop Manager (version 4.5), I found a download for it and am going to test drive it anyway.

Part 1 of this series shows the downloading and installation of this software. At the end of the article, I look ahead to what I hope to learn by running this newer version. This article is a quick read–mostly pictures. I also reveal where you can download this software if you want to try this for yourself. But be forewarned that there are risks!

Download

If I follow the normal links to do a software download for my Verizon Wireless (VZW) BlackBerry, I get taken to here: http://vzw.smithmicro.com/blackberry/. If I go there, I am not offered a choice to download Desktop Manager 4.5, only 4.3.

But, I found a Software Download page without that restriction on BlackBerry.com here:

https://www.blackberry.com/Downloads/entry.do?code=A8BAA56554F96369AB93E4F3BB068C22

The screenshot below shows that you can download the newest as well as many older versions of Desktop Manager (DM), as well as some other software products. There is a warning that if you did not purchase your BlackBerry directly from Research in Motion (RIM), you should contact your service provider to determine which software has been authorized for your phone. So, I realize I’m taking a risk if I use this software with my VZW phone. And you will be, too, if you try this, so be advised!

The file I downloaded was named 450_b016_english.exe, and was 197MB in size.

Installation

The screenshots below were made on a computer running Windows Vista Business Edition, so it looks a bit different than on Windows XP, and naturally, different from a Mac.

First, I located the downloaded file, a Windows executable.

A security warning asked if I really wanted to run a file downloaded from the Internet.

The program itself tells me it’s going to install BlackBerry Desktop Software 4.5.

I get to select my country.

The inevitable license agreement. I didn’t read it–who ever does? I accepted it.

I chose to let anyone who could log into my computer use Desktop Manager.

I chose a Typical install. I think a custom install just lets you choose a different folder to install it in. If I had wanted two version of DM on my computer, I’d probably have chosen Custom and installed in a folder named to indicated its version. But I deleted the earlier version in case the two might conflict.

Here is a choice determined by whether you’re a personal BlackBerry user or a corporate BlackBerry user. By corporate, I mean your company has a BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES), and your phone has been issued to you with a special configuration for working with the BES. Mine is purely a personal phone, so I selected personal.

I don’t want DM to start up when I turn on or reboot my computer. Windows already takes an eternity to start up as it is. So I unchecked that box. But I left the other two boxes checked.

The install took a few minutes…

…and then it was done.

I had to restart my computer before I could use DM 4.5.

After the restart, I ran DM and saw a familiar, although slightly more slick and appealing interface.

Conclusion

I found absolutely nothing surprising about the installation of BlackBerry Desktop Manager 4.5.0.15. Questions I’ll be taking into Part 2 of this series include:

• Will there be any new major features?
• Will the basic features still work about the same?
• Will I notice any improvement in performance? in usability?
• Will I have any problems due to Windows Vista? (I’ll be testing DM 4.5 on Windows XP, also, so I can make a comparison.)
• Will the Application Loader give me problems like I had in my older version of DM?
• Will the Roxio Media Manager be changed in this new version?
• Will it work equally well with my BlackBerry Pearl 8130 and BlackBerry Curve 8330?

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