newBBie.com

A unique theme or wallpaper expresses who you are or what you’re about. Having trouble finding one that fits you? Well, let me introduce you to an artist who defies a simple description: she’s Texas-born but a California hippie at heart, with flaming red hair and a temper to match, loves rock’n'roll and chihuahuas, rides dirt bikes and plays poker, a devoted mom and wife,…and did I mention: an incredibly talented artist. Let’s take a quick look at a sample of amazing work by Cherri Chiodo. Read more »

When one of your contacts calls, you can be alerted to their identity through a custom ringtone, and/or with name and photo flashed on the screen of your BlackBerry.

But what if your contact sends your BlackBerry an email or text message? Your phone can alert you that a message has arrived, but can’t help you identify who the sender is until you actually open the message.

Aerize Email Alerts brings the convenience of Caller ID to email and text messages (SMS).

Read more »

Ever tried to watch a video and your display kept going dark because of the backlight timeout? The maximum time you can set it for is 2 minutes but normally I have mine set to 30 seconds to save on battery charge. What about when you’re a passenger* in a car using Google Maps or BlackBerry Maps to help with directions–same problem? Have to keep clicking the trackball to get the display to come back on? Well, there is an old BlackBerry app from years ago that I dug up that surprisingly works for the new 8130: BBLight. This app gives you several ways to keep your display lit when you want but with enough safeguard to keep from draining your battery. Read more »

Ever misplaced your cellphone? Of course you have.

Tried calling it with another phone and listening for the ring, only to remember you had left it in vibrate or silent mode? A helpless feeling, isn’t it?

“Find My Berry” is an application (”app”) that is really helpful in this situation. A $4.95 purchase from Mobireport, you almost can’t afford NOT to have this app. So, how does it work? Read more »

One of the most popular and useful smartphone applications (”apps”) is Google Maps for Mobile. And a hugely popular new feature (in beta) is My Location. If you’re a new BlackBerry Pearl owner, you simply must check this out. In this post, I’ll cover the basic features, a ton of screenshots, and even some photos of how I have jury-rigged my 8130 to serve like a regular GPS navigator in my car. Read more »

Colleagues at work insist that the best group calendaring solution is Google Calendar. When I learned that I could sync Google calendars with my BlackBerry Calendar, I decided to take the plunge. In this article I explain how to install Google Sync on your 8130 and show you how to use it. Read more »

Ever needed to send a message to someone, a group of people, or even yourself, but were driving and didn’t want to take your eyes off the road? Ever wanted to broadcast a message from your phone to a large group of subscribers in a way that brought them all into one conversation? If you ever thought your cell phone was not a messaging powerhouse–you were wrong. Just wait till you see what these products will let you do. Read more »

When I decided to take the plunge and install my first application (”app”) on my 8130, I googled to find out what other BlackBerry owners considered was a “must have” app. Opera Mini™ 4 turned out to be perhaps the most highly recommended. Having developed web pages for years, I know that no single browser is perfect. When a web page doesn’t seem to be rendering or functioning correctly, it’s always good to try that same page under a different browser. Often, the page works/renders correctly, or at least better, under another browser.

However, when I visited the Opera Mini web site, and scanned the list of “supported” phones, it was implied that only the Pearl 8100, not the 8130, was supported, and Verizon not at all. I later discovered that “not supported” means “not yet fully tested by Opera Software ASA and verified to fully work correctly.” So, I decided to do as much of that testing as possible on my own. Here’s what I found… Read more »

In folklore, a silver bullet can kill all kinds of nasty things like werewolves, witches, and vampires. We BlackBerry owners need a silver bullet to kill problems like:

• low memory
• frozen applications
• email malfunctions
• sluggish or quirky phone performance
• installed themes not showing up

A common recommendation is to “pull the battery” (meaning remove it, wait, then replace it). But what about wear-and-tear from doing that over-and-over? And what if my phone is in a protective skin that must be removed? Surely there must be a better way? There is–and it’s soooo simple! Read more »