So you got a new BlackBerry PlayBook for Christmas and aren't sure where to begin? Not to worry -- we have plenty of help and how-to guides to get you up and running. If you've never touched a tablet before or just aren't sure where to begin, we have plenty of info at hand to get you going. You can start with something as simple as finding a new wallpaper or jump right in to sharing files over wifi from your PC. Keep reading to find all you need to know about your new BlackBerry PlayBook tablet!

Read More »

Here's a fun tip from the Adam arsenal. One thing that I always do before upgrading or reloading my BlackBerry OS is take a screencap of all my screens and folders. Why? Just in case something happens and I have to start over again. I have OCD when it comes to my home screen and icon setup, so I always want things just the way I like them. Having a screencap saved to your memory card (don't save it to your device or it may go missing when you upgrade) will help you not only see how your icons were arranged, but also know if you need to download any apps again after an update. All in all it's a great way to do things - it only takes a few seconds to snap the screen and it can be a real life saver should something get screwed up. If you don't have a good screenshot app for your phone, you can grab our old favorite Capture It from the link below. On your BlackBerry PlayBook just hit both volume buttons at the same time to grab the screen. 

More information/Download Capture It 

If you're like me and switch devices a lot, you may find yourself losing contacts in your address book from time to time. This doesn't happen as much as it used to thanks to the many sync options on BlackBerry however. If you want to be sure you carry your contacts along when you switch devices, simply save them to your SIM card and they'll always be with you. Unfortunately there is no decent way to copy all of your contacts over to your SIM at once, so you'll have to do it one by one for each contact. The process is super easy and will only take you a few clicks, so keep reading and see how to make it happen!

Read More »

Out of the box, the 4G LTE BlackBerry PlayBook is fairly easy to set-up. If you managed to place your SIM card in the device already, it will pretty much just take control over the situation and connect you right away.

However, given that the 4G LTE BlackBerry PlayBook also has HSPA+ built into it and LTE is not exactly everywhere at the moment, maybe you don't want it to constantly be search for an LTE network to connect to?

In that case, there are some options available to help you address that situation. Go ahead and jump below for the full details on how to get connected and enable and disable certain networks, should the need to arise.

Read More »

Microsoft's Hotmail was once a widely used email service, but in recent years has been relegated to the same place of GeoCities, Angelfire and the like. Today, Hotmail was rebranded and relaunched as Outlook.com, and it just might give other email services a run for their money. The minimalist design is giving new life to the old Hotmail and could have some users picking it up full time.

If you are thinking of grabbing an Outlook.com email address - you don't have to worry because it will certainly work on your BlackBerry smartphone. Keep reading and we'll look at just how easy it is to add your new email address to your BlackBerry.

Read More »

Everyone loves to be able to do things quickly, and jumping between applications with ease on your BlackBerry smartphone is something that is already pretty easy. It is common knowledge that pressing and holding the menu key on your BlackBerry will bring up your open applications to easily switch between. To me, long pressing the menu key is less than an ideal solution, and recently I stumbled across a great alternative that works very well.

Instead of having to long press the menu key, scroll around and then press the trackpad to launch, there is another way that works a bit faster. The process is quite simple -- press and hold the Alt key and then press the back key to engage the multitasking menu. From here you can press the back key to navigate between the applications that are open and to select an application all you have to do is ensure it is highlighted and then let go of the Alt key.

While you do need both hands to do this combination, I do find it to be faster and easier to use and now I actually use the options as they were intended. No more jumping to the home screen to gain access to the applications I want, instead I jump into them right from the application that I am in currently.  

Having data issues on your BlackBerry? We take a look at some common issues and how to fix them.

One of the common problems BlackBerry users face is data issues. The issues can be caused by various things in either the RIM or carrier network, and they usually hinder your device in some way. Data issues ranges from not being able to send/receive email to no BBM to no signal. When these things occur it's really hard to pin down just what the cause is, but with a few steps you can troubleshoot some common data issues on your own and most times be back up and running on your own (or at least get a better idea of the issue). Keep reading and we'll check out some common issues and their fixes.

Read More »

Another great way you can customize your BlackBerry is by adjusting the amount of time before the screen dims (or "times out"). Depending on your needs, you can have this option set anywhere from 10 seconds up to 2 minutes. If you're not familiar with the term, the backlight timeout is the time in which it takes your screen to dim after you last touch the screen, trackpad or a key on the device. Personally, I like to keep mine at 10 or 20 seconds to save battery, but I'm sure some have it set at high as 90 seconds or even a full 2 minutes. Keep reading and we'll look at how easy it is to change the backlight timeout on your BlackBerry.

Read More »

Having a touchscreen on your BlackBerry can be a real time saver. The ability to tap icons or swipe to scroll just gives you that much more control and helps you do. On old devices you had to read messages one by one, or use keyboard shortcuts to jump between them. While this is fairly quick, wouldn't swiping between them be much easier? Thankfully if your BlackBerry has a touch screen you can do just that. Keep reading to find out how to enable Swipe Between Messages on your BlackBerry smartphone.

Read More »

Customizations all around! When it comes to BlackBerry, there are soooo many tweaks you can do on your device to truly make it your own. One (of many) that resides in the BlackBerry browser is the ability to change your startup page between List View and Thumbnail View. So depending on what you fancy, you'll have easy access to your favorite pages right off the bat when you fire up the browser - either in a text-only list format, or fun-to-tap thumbnail view. Keep reading and we'll show you just how easy it is to pick the one that fits you best!

Read More »

There are numerous times per week when I need to quickly get an image or screenshot from my BlackBerry to my computer. For years I used the old method of emailing the file to myself, but after a while that gets to be a chore. It wasn't until I discovered Dropbox that I found I could easily move images from my BlackBerry to my computer with just a few clicks. Granted you can use Dropbox for more than just image transfer, but for this tutorial that's all we'll be getting into. Keep reading to see just how easy it is to transfer photos from your BlackBerry to your PC using Dropbox.

Read More »

If you are a new BlackBerry user or one that isn't too familiar with all the features deep within, you may be interested to hear that the BlackBerry has its own memory cleaner. I often see on Twitter people complaining that they are seeing the spinning clock way to often or their device is laggy. Memory Cleaning will help, but for some strange reason it isn't enabled by default.

As you will see in the above video enabling the feature is dead easy and can be done in just a few seconds. If you wish you can even place the Memory Cleaning icon on your homescreen for easy access. If you ask me you would be crazy not to have it enabled -- trust me, it makes a difference.

That said though; some folks mention this may actually increase the amount of lag on your device. It's a mixed bag. Either way, give it a go and see if you see improvements. If not, you can always disable it again and go back to how it was set up previously. I hope this short video may solve a few BlackBerry frustrations.

Head into the CrackBerry forums for more help and discussion

In the latest version of foursquare for BlackBerry, you now have the ability to use the included inbox integration. That means you may choose to have alerts from the app show in your integrated message box - a very cool feature for foursquare lovers. Now while there are some notifications you may want to see like friend requests or comments, there are probably some others you don't (like every single check-in). Thankfully foursquare lets you choose between various alerts and pick what you see and what you don't. Keep reading and we'll look at how to setup and manage notifications in foursquare for BlackBerry.

Read More »

If you've ever struggled with the BlackBerry keyboard either being too slow or too fast, there is a simple solution. Thankfully buried in the settings is the Key Rate option that allows you to raise or lower the speed of the keyboard. Depending on your device and/or OS, you may find that you often make typos when typing too fast and want to slow things down, or you're just a typing wizard and need the keboard to keep up with your magical fingers. Whatever your case may be, you can easily change the key rate on your BlackBerry. Keep reading to find out how.

Read More »

Sometimes you may go a bit overboard when it comes to customizing the icon arrangement, wallpaper or themes on your BlackBerry. You may reach that point when you say "I really wish I could just start over". Well if you aren't ready to totally restore your device to it's factory settings, you can easily reset some options. Your BlackBerry has a built-in Reset to Default Settings option that lets you get some things back to stock so you can start fresh.

To access this option, simply press the Menu key from the home screen, then choose Options. Scroll down to the bottom and choose Reset Settings. From here you have the option to restore your wallpaper, downloads folder, icon arrangement and home screen panels. Check the box next to the item(s) you want to reset and then choose Apply. That's it! Head back to the home screen and you can start customizing things all over again :-)

For more discussion on this and other tips, head into the CrackBerry forums.

For quite a while now RIM has had a recent contacts option (Messages > Options > Messages Displays and Actions > Show Recent Contacts When Composing Email) available for email. When enabled, this option lets you choose recent contacts when sending emails, much like Gmail and other email clients. It's a pretty sweet feature if you don't like to have a crazy contact list but email certain people often. Sometimes it's a hassle if you have contacts pop up which you no longer want to see or just want to keep things a bit cleaner.

Fortunately there is a built-in option to do a bit of housekeeping. Simply head to your Messages app, then press the Menu key and choose Options > Recent Contact Management. From here you can add people to contacts, remove items from your recent contacts list or clear the list out entirely. If you use the recent contacts option, this can be a good way to further tweak things to your liking. *While it's been available since OS 6, this feature may not be available in all OS versions.*

Cloud storage is all the rage. On the surface, it seems like PlayBook owners have been left out in the cold. When we look closely, however, we can see that it is easy and powerful to manage all our cloud storage needs right from the PlayBook.

We know that we need more native apps for our beloved PlayBooks. We also know (even more so after BlackBerry World 2012) the BlackBerrys are for people who need to get stuff done. In today's world - no matter what business you are in - getting stuff done means having access to cloud storage.

For some platforms, there is an app for everything - including cloud storage. Our sister site (iMore) ran a great article on all the available apps for cloud storage on iOS, and it is worth a read.  For us PlayBook owners, we need to get a bit more creative. The good news, however, is that we can access all major cloud storage services on our PlayBook as easily and as effectively as any other platform...we just need to work a bit harder at it!

Read More »

 

The Messaging app in PlayBook 2.0 is one of the most welcomed new features. From one, central location, you can check, respond and compose messages. Both Email and Social Networking messages can now be handled in one app.

When you see that blinking red light, a simple touch of the Messages icon will allow to you to see your new Email, Twitter Direct Messages, LinkedIn messages and Facebook messages. We will show you how to check your messages, read them, reply and start a new message for any one of your connected accounts right from the Messages app. Read on for all the answers to your Messaging questions! 

Read More »

The Unified Inbox may very well be the "killer feature" of Playbook 2.0. Having one place in which to read and send all your messages is the future of mobile communication.

Prior to the OS 2.0 upgrade, the only way to email or message was to "Bridge" your BlackBerry to the Playbook. Even when bridged, you only had access to your various email accounts that were on your BlackBerry.

The Playbook surpasses virtually every other platform with the inclusion of a unified messaging inbox. What that means is that in one place - the Messages app - goes not only your email, but also Facebook messages, LinkedIn messages and Twitter Direct Messages.

Read More »

Threaded email is a life saver for me, and a must have for my organizational needs both on device and on my computer. When I lauched the email on my BlackBerry PlayBook after updating to OS 2.0 and I saw individual emails instead of threads, I immediately went into panic mode. That was until I remembered there are settings for a reason, and probably a way for that to be changed. Luckily once I calmed down changing the way the emails appeared in the inbox was a breeze, so let's take a minute to look at how it is done.

1. Launch your email inbox
2. Swipe down from top bezel
3. Tap on settings icon
4. Click on "Display As" under Message List
5. Change from Single Message to Conversation
6. Click Back in top left corner

Just like that, problem solved. The emails will automatically group themselves up just as they would on the computer, and back in business you are. Toggling between the two options is extrememly easy, and something you can do while on the go if needed. For more tutorials hit our BlackBerry Help page or jump into our BlackBerry PlayBook Forums to ask your question and get help from the community.

 

We all love the ability to open a message, read it and then be able to quickly respond with our BlackBerry devices, right? Well what if you could make responding on your BlackBerry even quicker with predictive text? Yes, even for devices with a full QWERTY keyboard. Luckily for us the option is built right into the OS and it can be enabled and disabled on the go with just a few easy steps.

1. Open device settings
2. Scroll to Typing and Language
3. Open Typing
4. Scroll to style and select predictive to enable / direct to disable then save

Predictive text won't be for everyone, depending on your typing and grammar styles this may be more of a hinderance than a benefit, so be sure to check it out and decide for yourself. 

Getting a new BlackBerry is always fun, but having your device look just like everyone elses makes it way less awesome. Odds are you want to add some custom touches to the device by changing the ringtone, setting a new wallpaper, arranging your icons to your preference and making some new folders. 

How to download and set a new ringtone
How to download and set new wallpapers
How to make a custom folders

Sure it may seem like some pretty basic stuff, but if you are new to BlackBerry devices (welcome!) or have just yet to try to change yours to make it really your own this may not be common knowledge. Now, get to personalizing your BlackBerry and be sure to hop in the forums and show us your home screens once you get it all set up! 

 

Just got your hands on a shiny new BlackBerry PlayBook due to the recent drop in price, but now you are left wondering where to begin with it? Anytime you get a new device it is always fun to play around with it, and try to learn things on your own, but with everyone being so busy, and little time left in the day to learn all this own your own we wanted to help you out with some helpful hints, tips, and tricks to make your experience even better.

Read More »

When you become a BlackBerry owner, it's like you learn a whole new language. Not only is there new terminology to learn, but your screen will soon be home to all kinds of icons and notifications. Most of them are pretty self-explanatory, but others aren't so obvious to new users, and sometimes getting rid of notifications can be just as confusing.

The picture above has been floating around the forums for quite some time (thanks to ifarlow for putting it together way back when), and those of you running older OS' are likely familiar with several of them. For the most part, notifiers haven't changed a whole lot from OS to OS, though there have been some notable changes. After the break you can see a list of more recent notifiers, from OS 5-7, as well as a list of several things that can have an effect on how notifiers look on your device.

Read More »

So as I was getting ready to hit the sack last night, I decided to give my 9930 a battery pull. It had been a bit sluggish for the last hour and I figured it couldn't hurt right? I was wrong. I set my BlackBerry down while it rebooted and went to turn off the hall light. When I came back, my beloved BlackBerry was showing me the white screen of death. I hadn't installed or deleted any apps in the last day so I was completely at a loss as to what had happened. I broke out into a cold sweat, my entire life is on that thing! Of course I hadn't backed up my device in over 2 weeks (this would've never happened if I regularly backed it up I'm sure). It was almost midnight and I had pretty much resigned myself to a long night of reinstalling when I recalled seeing something on the net about not having to wipe your device when given error 102. I trotted downstairs to my laptop and whipped out my trusty USB cable. Within half an hour, my 9930 was back up and running, no wipe or reinstall needed. Keep reading to find out how.

Read More »

Whether you need to verify your OS version to ensure compatability with an application, or just for your own personal knowledge finding the information is quite simple to do from your device. There are two different ways to check the information, both take only a few seconds and the information you need will be right at your fingertips. Let's take a quick look after the break at how to verify the OS version of your BlackBerry.

Read More »