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What do you need to know about using (or not) your BlackBerry on an airplane? The short answer is that you will be directed to turn off your cellular telephone shortly before take-off, and you will be allowed to turn it on shortly after landing. But…your BlackBerry is a smartphone, not just a cellular telephone! There are different rules for “portable electronic devices” (e.g., laptop computers, handheld games, MP3 players, video cameras, and PDAs). What if you want to use your phone like a portable electronic device to listen to music, watch a video, compose a message to send later, take pictures, play a game, run an application, etc.? This post digs a bit deeper into the issue than your airline crew or their in-flight information magazine will explain. Read more »

A media card is one of the most important accessories you need for your BlackBerry (BB). There is simply not enough memory in the phone alone to fully enjoy some of the coolest features that come with your BB: beautiful music playback, crystal-clear photos and videos, voice recording, etc. This article answers some basic but critical questions:

• Why exactly do I need a media card?
• Will a media card help with my low memory problems?
• Which card should I buy? Where? For how much?
• What can I store on the media card? What can I not store on it?
• How do I manage the media content on the card?
• Are there any “secret” tricks I should know?
• What are common problems and solutions with media cards?

Read more »

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 »

Your BlackBerry Pearl has GPS (built-in or external Bluetooth), so you know where you are. But what if you want others to know where you are? Here is just the application you need: Blip by BlackLine GPS. In this article, I’ll review how to install Blip on your BlackBerry, create a Blip account on the web, and share on the web with others where you are: all for free! 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 »

This is extremely cool: The Pearl 8130 can be programmed to turn its power on and off with separate ”on” and “off” times for weekdays and weekends.

Do: Options (main screen icon) > Auto On/Off. Read more »

AutoText is accessed from the Options icon on the display. Here is an excerpt from the BlackBerry Pearl 8130 Smartphone User Guide:

AutoText is designed to replace specific text that you type with preloaded AutoText entries. If you type text that can be replaced with an AutoText entry, the text changes after you press the Space key.

Your BlackBerry® device has built-in AutoText entries that correct common mistakes. For example, AutoText changes hte to the. You can create AutoText entries for your common typing mistakes or for abbreviations. For example, you might create an AutoText entry that replaces ttyl with talk to you later. Read more »

bold   /bohld/

• not fearful in the face of actual or possible danger.
• necessitating courage and daring; challenging.
• beyond the usual limits of conventional thought or action; imaginative.
• striking or conspicuous to the eye; flashy; showy.

Source: paraphrased from an entry in Dictionary.com.

In the face of competition from Apple’s iPhone™, Research in Motion (RIM) made a daring response to that challenge. Fighting fire with fire, RIM made a leap of imagination in engineering and product design to create the Bold™. Read more »