If your BlackBerry Messenger Contact list seems to be growing out of control, or you just want to keep things a bit more organized, you can create contact categories to help you out. This is a simple feature that just requires a few menu clicks to get up and running. You can use contact categories to organize your contacts by family members, work contacts, friends or whatever suits your fancy. Keep reading to find out how to create your own contact categories in BlackBerry Messenger.
Looking to maximize your BlackBerry battery life? We've got TEN simple tricks you can use that will help to ensure you are getting the most out of your much needed battery power. While BlackBerry Smartphones have historically been known for their awesome battery life, we've seen the natural battery life take a hit on some of the new BlackBerry 7 Smartphones to hit the market. For example, on the BlackBerry Bold 9900 the battery was reduced from the predecessor Bold 9700 from a 1500mAh battery to 1230mAh. With less juice to work with and a bigger display and faster processor to power, if you're a power user you *could* be finding that your old habits put you into the low or dead battery zone before the day is done.
So if you're finding yourself low on power sooner than you'd like to see and are looking to extend the battery life on your BlackBerry Bold 9900, Bold 9930 or other OS 7 device, there are plenty of settings you can tweak and battery-healthy habits you can form to get the job done. From dimming the backlight to tweaking up some network settings, a little bit goes a long way. These tips work for improving battery life on OS 6 and lower devices as well (although menus may be a bit different) so if you're looking to get the most our of your BlackBerry battery, keep reading for our top ten tricks to improve battery life on your BlackBerry Smartphone.
Don't tell anybody, but I'm a bit of a geek. I frequently make technology perform in ways the average person would never consider. Others may ask why?, and my response is usually, "because I can." The true answer is that whatever supposedly "geeky" thing I'm doing also happens to be the most efficient and effective way of doing something; bonus points if I don't have to get off the couch. Though it may not look like it now, what I'm doing will save me time and headaches in the future. It's just a little difficult to say that without sounding like a snotty jerk.
Ringtones work for me; ever since my first wireless phone, I've used ‘em. I liked knowing who was calling just by listening. It's a fact of modern wireless life that some calls get answered faster than others. Now that I have a BlackBerry, the type of communiqués has increased exponentially. It's only natural that my "ringtones" use expanded as well. Using only an extra email account; message notifiers; and BeBuzz, I know what message is waiting for me without looking at the screen. The notification sounds and notifier LED are all I need to figure out whether that email is really important or not.
I am always excited to find out how I can improve the functionalities of my 8700 and am constantly on the lookout for new 3rd party software. Last week, I found a couple of new applications I wanted to try. As usual, I downloaded a zip package that included a “.alx” and a “.cod” file. Next step, I launched the Blackberry Desktop Manager and uploaded the application on the device. I remember this last step quite well, it was 10:30am and I was about to waste an entire day.
This isn’t exactly BlackBerry specific, but it was so cool I thought it would be interesting to talk about anyway. Google Labs has a new (experimental) service to search for local businesses over the phone. It works from any phone and it’s a free service.
Just dial 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411) and say the city and state you want a listing from. Then just say what you are looking for. You can be specific, “Paul’s Pizza Palace”, or general, “Pizza”. You pick the one you want from the results that are read to you, and you can be connected, or get the phone number, or have the details text messaged to your mobile device.
Currently it’s only available in English in the US. They also warn that the service is still experimental and may not always be available.
Check it out here: http://labs.google.com/goog411/
## This Article Was Originally Published by AllBlackBerry.com
Each and every day here at CrackBerry.com we hear stories from members and non-members regarding their addiction to BlackBerry devices.
Some of the stories are humerous, (for example, how one of our members places his BlackBerry next to his ear while sleeping so that his alarm will wake him up... apparently he's a deep sleeper.) and other stories shed light on perhaps a more serious problem (i.e. a member that told us he's gone through 5 devices because he brings his BlackBerry into the squash and racquetball courts he plays at...inevitably the BlackBerry gets stomped or crushed, and he has to get a new one.)
The whole point I'm trying to make here is that we never want your BlackBerry use to become a full-out addiction (well, I don't want it to anyway!).
To help curb addiction, we have put together a 13-step plan to fight BlackBerry Addiction.
If you've already read this, GREAT! Spread the word or share the link with anyone you think might need help.
If you haven't checked it out, do so now by clicking here!
I know a lot of people who own a BlackBerry. And thus I receive a lot of email sent from a BlackBerry. There are some people who can type pretty efficiently on the BlackBerry keyboard, but most of the people I know aren’t among them.
I get emails all the time that are lacking some of the niceties that are usually (or should be) found in emails sent from a PC. I understand why. When you are typing with your thumbs, brevity is a virtue. The problem is that courtesy is often left out. Things like “please” and “thank you” are important in email messages. Necessary because the written word lacks the subtle and polite cues that voice inflection can provide.
Let’s take a look at a hypothetical email sent from a BlackBerry.
Google has just released Google Sync, an application that let’s you synchronize your BlackBerry calendar with your Google calendar.
Using your BlackBerry’s native calendar, you can now access your Google calendar even when you don’t have network coverage and be alerted for upcoming appointments with sound or vibration.
Your Google Calendar stays synchronized whether you access it from your computer or your phone. You can add or edit entries on your BlackBerry or on your Google Calendar on the web.
For more information, check out the google sync page here.
To install it, just visit mobile.google.com on your BlackBerry browser.
## This Article Was Originally Published by AllBlackBerry.com
Recently I’ve heard of some issues popping up with the new BlackBerry Curve. It seems that some versions of the Curve were shipped with a bug in the OS that causes some synchronization issues with the Calendar, including duplicate Calendar entries being created, and entries created on the device not being synchronized with the desktop email software.
Do you get too much e-mail? Are you overloaded with text messages? Will another cc’d message drive you over the edge? Will one more spam message that snuck by your filter force you to lob your BlackBerry into orbit? Yes, the number e-mails can be overwhelming.
I know it is a problem for me. I have a couple of e-mail addresses forwarded to my CrackBerry and I get way more e-mails than I want. In addition to ‘ringxiety’ and being addicted to my Berry, I also have the anxiety that I will miss an important e-mail while mass deleting a bunch of crap.
And I am not alone. A survey conducted last year found that half of all senior executives said they receive too many e-mails and text messages. It is interesting to note that most of them also felt they sent the just right amount of e-mail. In another survey, 75 percent of Blackberry users said they receive too much e-mail.
Some executives spend a significant amount of their workday dealing with e-mail and many are of the opinion that dealing with it negatively affects their productivity. Some report spending as much as four hours a day reading and responding to e-mails.
Managing e-mail
You can manage the volume of e-mail you receive in a number of ways:
Utilize management tools in e-mail programs such as Microsoft Outlook that can be used to organize e-mails.
Another method of managing e-mail is called the “Triage” approach. In this method you only deal with message once. All messages are read and then either deleted or responded to immediately.
You can also organize e-mails deadline or subject.
Practice effective time management by scheduling specific times to deal with e-mail. Either turn off your BlackBerry between these times or put it out of site and turn vibration off.
Two of the worst sources for extraneous e-mail are external news sources and professional subscriptions, so cut down on the number of feeds you subscribe to.
Better e-mail habits
Of course, one of the main complaints about BlackBerries is the increased expectation that e-mails need instant responses. One way of dealing with this is for companies to set policies for e-mail usage. Some companies have instituted training courses that emphasize the need for e-mailers to respect the productively needs and time management requirements of others.
Some other tricks
Use clear subject lines, and indicate if the message is for action now or FYI.
Eliminate distribution lists of more than five names.
Cease the use of the cc, bcc, forwarding and "reply to all" functions.
For short messages, put all the information in the subject line, ending with "EOM" (end of message.
For non-urgent information, consider bundling information into an informal newsletter.
The more e-mail you send, the more you are going to receive. Try using the phone or actually walk to the colleague's office, it might be faster.
So you’ve discovered the joy of trying out free demo apps on your BlackBerry, and you went a little nuts. You’ve filled up your BlackBerry with demos galore. But now it’s time to clean things up a little. How do you get all that stuff off of there?
There are two main methods for uninstalling software. The first is to connect your BlackBerry to your PC, and uninstall using the RIM Desktop Manager Application Loader. The second is to just remove the application directly from your device.
[Editor’s Note]I received an interesting essay from someone who does Customer Support for a BlackBerry software company.
They didn’t want to reveal their identity, or their company identity. But I thought the essay offered an interesting perspective, so I agreed to publish it for the greater good of the BlackBerry software community. The links in the essay below are mine. And so here it goes…
Hi, my name is Cynthia, and I write applications for BlackBerry and answer customer support emails for a BlackBerry software company. I’m here to tell you that despite what many of the people who write in with angry letters think, no software company makes money by intentionally ripping off customers. No one tries to sell incompatible software in order to collect your $5.00 and laugh maniacally at your installation troubles.
I am always shocked when I see how many BlackBerry devices are being sold on eBay. At any point in time, there are over 2,000 actions taking place around BlackBerries. Last week, I got myself a nice Red BlackBerry Pearl on eBay. A couple of days later, I was opening the FedEx package and popping in the battery. The device turned on and I discovered some things maybe the previous owner wouldn’t have wanted me to see…an address book containing about 80 records, many emails and a long call log list.
There are a number of tricks to save battery life and adjustments you can make to your BlackBerry that will increase performance and put less stress on your battery.
Here are some easy tips:
• The Auto On/Off feature is designed to program the device to automatically power off and power on. On the Home screen, click the Options application. Select Auto On/Off to select the time the device will turn off and on.
• When wireless coverage is not needed, “Turn Wireless Off” to avoid unnecessary attempts by the radio to find coverage.
• For Bluetooth enabled BlackBerry devices, “Turn Bluetooth Off”, if it is not in use.
• BlackBerry devices should be kept in their holsters when not in use because this will turn off the LCD screen.
• Don't use the backlight. This isn’t always an option, but if you have a version of the device that allows you to avoid using the backlight, then avoid it when you can. Your backlight eats up a huge amount of battery life.
• Recharge often. Unlike some mobile batteries you don’t need to fully discharge the battery packs frequently. Several partial discharges with frequent recharges are better for lithium-ion batteries than one total discharge.
• Use BlackBerry shortcuts to access common system features quickly.
There are some other things you can do to optimize battery power. For example, if you are using BlackBerry Desktop Software, disable the forwarding option of messages to the BlackBerry when it is cradled. This will avoid duplication of e-mails to both the desktop computer as well as
the device, while you are working on the desktop computer. To do this go to your ‘Desktop Manager,’ click ‘Redirector Settings.’ Then select the ‘Disable e-mail redirection’ while your handheld is connected. Checkbox and click ‘OK.’
• Set the 'Wireless Email Reconciliation' option to 'Prompt' for deletions. This option allows you to delete e-mails locally to save space on the device without necessarily deleting the emails from the original mailbox. In the 'Messages' application, click the trackwheel and select 'Options' from the menu. In the 'Messages Options' screen, select 'Email Reconciliation' and change the 'Delete On' setting to 'Prompt.' Click 'Save.'
• For large messages, the 'More' and 'More All' features are available for up to 32KB of a message; however, these features should only be used when necessary. Disable the 'Auto More' function. In the 'Messages' application, click the trackwheel and select 'Options' from the menu. In the 'Messages Options' screen, click 'General Options' and change the 'Auto More' setting to 'No.'
• For BlackBerry devices running version 3.8 or 4.0 handheld software, disabling Content Protection and/or Content Compression will allow for improved system performance. However, using this option will eliminate additional security for stored data and will decrease file system space. From the handheld 'Home' screen, click 'Options' and click 'Security' from the 'Options' screen. In the 'Security' screen, change the 'Content Protection' and the 'Content Compression' options to 'Disabled.'
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