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How do you use your BlackBerry: How do you access Universal Search?

by Adam Zeis on 3 Feb 2011 01:57 PM
18
 
 Unviersal Search  

To tie in with our quick tip from yesterday I was curious to know just how OS6 users access Universal Search. I've swapped methods more than a few times, but now I seem to stick to the shortcut key. Out of the box on OS6 devices you can access Universal Search just by typing on the keyboard, but as I found out a few weeks into my OS6 experience, you can also turn off Universal Search from the homescreen (Options > Display > Home Screen Preferences) in favor of application shortcuts. I actually prefer to have my homsecreen keyboard shortcuts instead of Universal Search and all I have to do is hit "S" to start searching.

So what do you do? Do you have your homescreen set to Universal Search or do you use application shortcuts? Cast your vote in the poll and leave a comment below! Thanks MrCippy!

Filed Under: CrackBerry Polls; Tags: How Do You Use Your BlackBerry
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18 Comments

Posted by kmbauer Thursday, Feb 03, 2011 476 days ago

Is there a way to set universal search as a convenience key?

 
 
Posted by sf49ers Thursday, Feb 03, 2011 476 days ago

to all those people who don't use universal search, it is one of the best features in OS 6 apart from webkit engine.

 
 
Posted by amazinglygraceless Thursday, Feb 03, 2011 476 days ago

One man's best is another man's useless.

Your and my or anyone elses opinions are not absolutes. Let's try not telling people what is "best"

 
 
Posted by nashstruck Thursday, Feb 03, 2011 476 days ago

he's only expressing his opinion :S

 
 
Posted by johntkong Saturday, Feb 05, 2011 474 days ago

When an overwhelming amount of tech reviews laud the universal search as the best thing since slice bread then by all counts it is! I absolutely love it!

 
 
Posted by DustBow Thursday, Feb 03, 2011 476 days ago

I don't have OS6 on my 9700 yet, but I can say that I will never lose the home screen shortcut keys. They are just too ingrained in my way of navigating at this point.

 
 
Posted by MADBRADNYC Thursday, Feb 03, 2011 476 days ago

Totally agree! I use it just like Adam. That's what makes a BlackBerry such a powerhouse. I will never give up a physical keyboard or the shortcuts for it. Power users unite!

 
 
Posted by amazinglygraceless Thursday, Feb 03, 2011 476 days ago

I know I will be a minority view but I find Universal Search to be a bigger annoyance than benefit.

In the time I have had the 9800 (week after launch) I have used it maybe ten (10) times and found it to be an absolute useless PITA.

Thankfully, I figured out how to remove it from the OS.

 
 
Posted by MADBRADNYC Thursday, Feb 03, 2011 476 days ago

US has it's place. But only when needed. If you actually are paying attention to your device during daily use, you pretty much know where everything is. As an avid beta tester, I've found it to be useless as well because it doesn't even search for things that are "natively" ingrained. Such as the event logs. Why have mandatory events logged on the device which cannot utilize such a touted function? Meh.

 
 
Posted by gthoffman Thursday, Feb 03, 2011 476 days ago

I've used the search function once a week or so, but my method wasn't necessarily outlined in the choices above. I just start typing, from anywhere other than a message box (SMS, email, etc) and let it search for something I need. I'm not sure if that's what you meant by "keyboard shortcut" but I didn't think that's it. Anyway, I find it helpful, especially when trying to find something buried in an email somewhere.

 
 
Posted by MADBRADNYC Thursday, Feb 03, 2011 476 days ago

Especially when its not available on the new themes made with this "much" anticipated theme builder for OS6. Also, if I get a java.lang error, why can't I search for it in my event logs using US?!?! Noooo. Ya gotta go in and start scrollin' baby. Some things are so Bass Ackwards.

 
 
Posted by Chronos88 Thursday, Feb 03, 2011 476 days ago

I just start typing and it shows up.

Pretty handy, although I didn't use it much until I figured out you could put the Google Mobile App as one of the options. Since I'm on Verizon, I'm stuck with Bing as the browser search so the ability to use Google with Universal Search has made it a lot more valuable.

 
 
Posted by 3Dee Thursday, Feb 03, 2011 476 days ago

I have OS5 but use universal search a lot. How? Through the universal search function in ShortcutMe! If the OS6 US is half as good then I'm sure I'll use it all the time.

 
 
Posted by robill100 Thursday, Feb 03, 2011 476 days ago

I'm on verizon so have to use bing as browser search. but use google universal search with it.

 
 
Posted by rrrebo Thursday, Feb 03, 2011 476 days ago

I'm also a keyboard shortcut nut, and there seems to be a "feature" in Theme Studio 6 that makes US non-functional if the box is removed. Even the "S" shortcut doesn't work. However, I've added it in Quick Launch. I would go without it to keep my keyboard shortcuts, if I had to, though. Google is my homepage, so I just have to hit "B" then type in my search.

 
 
Posted by Zipper Thursday, Feb 03, 2011 476 days ago

I barely use the feature at all either. In short, I just know where stuff is that I need. Its a fast way around at times but meh...

 
 
Posted by Another_Chris Thursday, Feb 03, 2011 476 days ago

Maybe if I sat down and took a good long while to work on my shortcut keys I might prefer that system. But I much prefer just typing and having search pop up. It hasn't let me down yet. It's by far one of my favourite features of the Torch.

 
 
Posted by pastorz Friday, Feb 04, 2011 475 days ago

Temporarily downgraded my 9700 to OS5 so I could install the OS6 beta, and realized just how often I was using Universal Search.