InsideCRM has just busted out a great list of resources spanning the whole BlackBerry community, and covering topics from simple keyboard shortcuts to highly recommended software. There are a lot of layers of functionality to a BlackBerry, and this list of links is a great tool to help you dig through ‘em. One new tidbit I found out was how to dial letter numbers like 1-800-GOOG-411 by holding down the ALT key. There was also a guide on there for installing BlackBerry apps through Mac OS X, which I’m sure some Mac users out there would appreciate. I’m a little sad not to see Viigo on that list, though… Thanks Amy!
Tag: Tips-TricksPage 2 of 13
121 BlackBerry Tips
14 Comments
Just stumbled on this solid guide to conserving battery life on mobiles. One of BlackBerry’s big selling points is killer battery life, but that’s no excuse to get lazy – you can stretch it even farther by following some of these easy-to-remember tips. A no-brainer is to turn off extra wireless functions like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS or dual-mode roaming on the World Edition, and turning off vibrating alerts.
Some lesser-known tips include only using your BlackBerry in areas where you have a strong signal, since more battery life is used up trying to establish connections over weak signals. Initializing a new battery with 5-6 hours of juice before using it should also increase the maximum capacity in the long run. The guide also suggests cleaning battery contacts every once in awhile in order to keep power transfer optimized. There’s plenty more there, so take a look.
Margaret Genet is an operations analyst at the insurance company Aflac who doubles as a tech concierge, teaching BlackBerry tips and tricks to other members of the company. CIO.com got her to share some of her secrets with them and posted the results. The tricks are organized by category: typing tricks, such as holding down a key to type a capitalized letter or inserting the date by hitting the L key followed by D and then space; messaging tips like how to turn on automatic spellchecking; phone suggestions, including how to access email and other documents during a call; and even a few solutions for common problems or errors. All in all, there’s a wealth of information even for BlackBerry gurus, with the only caveat being that some of the methods might not work on older models. Between this guide and our other tips, anyone can get the most out of their phone.
Josep just pointed us to a way of updating your Facebook status message through your BlackBerry’s GTalk client. Now, why you wouldn’t just get the Facebook application is beyond me, but maybe you spend a lot of time on GTalk and not much on Facebook. I don’t know. Anyway, FON Labs is behind this, and seem to have a few cool projects under their belt.
1. Add facebook@fon.com to your Gtalk contact list
2. Type help in the chat window to receive instructions
3. Get your identification code clicking on the link in the message
4. Type “identify facebook code” in the chat window
5. Type your status message in the chat window
6. Click on the link to authorize the application to update your Facebook status in the future (this will be asked you just the first time).
Speaking of Viigo, they’ve recently posted a tip on how to keep an eye on a bunch of your networks on your BlackBerry through a little something called Plaxo. What Plaxo does is tap into your various online services like Facebook, Digg, Yelp, Twitter, and the like, and funnels all the events happening in them to a feed called the Pulse, which can be broken up into Friends, Family, Business and Me streams. From Plaxo you can create RSS feeds which you can pop into Viigo via the Add Web Feed option. Since I started using the Flock browser, I’ve gotten a nice taste of this growing multi-network shtick, and it’s hard to deny the appeal if you use any one of them. In fact, having a bunch of services under one roof often gets you involved with new networks you hadn’t known about before.
A reader just let us know about a Zenprise report they were going over, which included some crazy numbers about e-mail and stress in the workplace.
The survey found that 36% of respondents indicated that their job is ‘stressful’ or ‘extremely stressful’. However, when email is down, 74% of respondents indicated that their job is ‘stressful’ or ‘extremely stressful’. Only air traffic controllers and police officers were viewed as having jobs more stressful than that of an IT administator whose email system is down!
Wow. Respect to the IT admins out there who are dealing with stress levels comparable to that of cops. The report had a few pointers that might help keep that blood pressure down, like “be ready to assemble a cross-functional SWAT team to quickly resolve BlackBerry issues” and “consistently monitor & audit your Active Directory infrastructure”.
Thanks, Chris!
PDAStreet just let us in on a tip they found on how to ensure you’re still getting your e-mail alerts if your device is holstered. It’s just a quick setting switch, but if you’ve been having trouble, you wouldn’t know where to look anyhow.
Question and answer behind the jump, cowboy.
There’s a great, well-explained article on PCAuthority that lays out the broad strokes of BIS, BES, NOCs and push e-mail that’s useful to anyone trying to figure out what’s happening behind the scenes. Winder and Ockenden take the time to explain how to set up a BIS account to receive e-mails as fast as BES, as well as comparing Windows Mobile’s services against RIM’s. Not only is it a read that can give you some practical hints, but for those of us who aren’t entirely in the know, it feels good to have the backend technology demystified a bit.
After reading our post yesterday about a tethering to a Mac to a BlackBerry, Tom at Enterprise Mac has one more way of doing the job that he’s been using since May. He’s confirmed the process to work on a BlackBerry 8800 on the T-Mobile network, and we encourage any other Mac users in the house to give it a shot. It looks like it would take some work to get done, pasting scripts, and tweaking configuration, but the majority of testers claim successful tethering. Thanks to Fibble forum admin, Grant, for writing up the script!
Washington will slap you with a $101 fine for texting while driving. Not quite jail, but it’s a start. While it’s probably more of a temptation for Pearl users who can one-hand it, any QWERTY-pad thumbers out there actually try to write e-mails while they drive? The motion passed by 90-8, and is being proceeded by a motion to make hands-free functions mandatory to make any calls while in a car. Good thing we’ve got some of those kicking around. Gotta wonder who those other 8 speakers were.
