BlackBerry

A BlackBerry is a smartphone made by a Canadian company called RIM, an acronym for "Research In Motion." It is a handheld wireless device that can read email and calendars from enterprise-class email systems as well as operate as a cellular phone. BlackBerries come with complete alphanumeric keyboards, whereas many PDAs do not.

The first BlackBerry device was not a cellular phone. Early models were two-way pagers with full QWERTY keyboards. The first BlackBerry cellular phone was the model BlackBerry 5810 which was introduced in 2002. It required an extermal headset and microphone to make voice calls, as the speaker was not built in.

As of 2010 two of the most popular model classes are the BlackBerry Bold and the BlackBerry Curve 8900. The BlackBerry Bold 9650 is an example of a modern BlackBerry device. These Cellular Phone and PDA combination devices have been dubbed "Smart Phones."

First Model 850 introduced in 1996

The BlackBerry Bold 9650

The Modern BlackBerry

As of 2011 the modern SmartPhone BlackBerry device comes with Apps (short for Applications). This refers to software written and designed to run on your blackberry device under the blackberry operating system. A BlackBerry comes with certain built in applications that can be found on every blackberry. Then the carrier (phone company) will include additional Apps that they put on all of their customer's BlackBerry phones. Finally, you have a massive selection of 3rd party Apps that you can choose from and install on your Blackberry phone.

Backup and Restore

When you use the BDM, BlackBerry Desktop Manager, to backup your blackberry phone, even when doing a full backup, you should keep in mind that no 3rd party Apps will be included in this type of backup.

Each BlackBerry phone has a unique PIN ID which is like a fingerprint, it makes your BlackBerry identifiable. When using BDM you can observe your PIN in the bottom left of the BDM home screen.

Using the Device Switch Wizard in BDM you will be able to preserve 3rd party Apps in a backup.

note: Tested this and apparently the newer BSM is not the same, making the following process deprecated. A new process is being investigated.

1. Under "Switch BlackBerry devices," click Start.
2. Under Options, CLEAR the check mark for "Device data and options," LEAVE the check mark for "Third-party applications," and CLEAR the check mark for "Update the software on my device."
3. Click Next. The Device Switch Wizard will run, copying all your third party applications.
4. When it reaches the point where it asks you to connect your new device, STOP.
5. Click on the Start button and in the "Search programs and files" box, enter %temp% and press Enter. (This assumes you're running Windows. If you're running a Mac, that's great for you, but I don't know how to do this on Mac OS, sorry.)
6. This should open a folder view of your temporary files folder, no matter where that sucker happens to be. Inside, you should see a folder that is named with your BlackBerry's PIN.
7. COPY that folder (do NOT move it) to another place on your hard drive. I happen to put mine in my Downloads folder.
8. This step is important. RENAME the folder that you copied. If you don't, you won't get a complete copy of all third party applications when you do this again in the future.

If your Blackberry device requires a restoration of data after a serious crash, in BDM click on the Application Loader at the main menu, then click Start under "Update Software."

• Click Start under "Add / Remove Applications."
• Wait for the applications list to load
• Click Browse
• Locate a file with name matching your BlackBerry's PIN and an extension of ALX - double click it
• Select the 3rd party Apps in the Applications List (now visible)

source for the above procedure: An article on The Gray Geek titled More BlackBerry Shenanigans, credit to author Mark Lautenschlager.

Apps

You can install third party applications directly on your BlackBerry from your Blackberry over the air. Most application developers will provide direct links to the .jad or .jar files required for internal installation on your BlackBerry. There is usually a second option for download to your desktop and installation via the BlackBerry Desktop Manager.

The Various File Types You Will Encounter

• .JAD files: An application descriptor that stores information about the application itself and the location of .COD files
• .JAR files: a JAR file (or Java ARchive) is used for aggregating many files into one. It is generally used to distribute Java classes and associated metadata.
• .COD files: A COD file is a proprietary file format developed by RIM that contains compiled and packaged application code.
• .ALX files: Similar to the .JAD file, in that it holds information about where the installation files for the application are located

source: BlackBerry Guide: How to Install 3rd Party Applications on Your BlackBerry

Control BlackBerry from PC

• http://forums.crackberry.com/f35/control-blackberry-pc-79665/

Text Editor / Memo

BBNotePad can be used as a replacement for the BlackBerry installed MemoPad. With BBNotepad you can open entries from the Memopad in the app as well as same them to your memory card, or back to Memopad. It is Free.

• BBNotePad 1.1.3 Final From BlackBerry Web Browser click to download BBNotePad.jad

PDF Viewer

For a PDF sent as an attachment to an email, the native BlackBerry OS will read it, for free. If you need to view PDF files on your Media Card you have mostly PDF viewers out there that are not free.

Pay Applications:

• BeamReader
• Repligo
• PDFtoGo

Free Option:

• The native email attachment PDF view will not view PDF files saved on the memory card. It also does not zoom well. It has no "read" mode so when zoomed in you may find the image to blurry if there is text to read.
• Docs2Go doesn't include a PDF reader unless you register it. Register it and you'll get a PDF viewer. Yes it's free. source

Resources

BBGeeks (BlackBerry Geeks) is a website focused on BlackBerry Users.

• New to BlackBerry?
• BBGeeks Store

CrackBerry is an extremely popular BlackBerry portal with downloads, instructional videos, and a support forum. The CrackBerry support forum is superior to the BlackBerry official support forum. There are a lot of educated BlackBerry users on the CrackBerry Support Forum.

• CrackBerry Forum
• Software and Apps

Troubleshooting and Support

Issues that impact several or all current BlackBerry device models. BlackBerry software issues included, and BlackBerry OS.

Terminology: Talk Button is synonymous with Send Button. Mouse button is synonymous track button.

blackberry app world missing after update

articles:

• How to get back your missing AppWorld on your Blackberry

AutoText

When I type lt in text it gets converted to the date and time. How to disable this? Answer: AutoText entry that is causing that behavior. It is under OPTIONS, TYPING AND INPUT, WORD SUBSTITUTION. Delete entry for lt

Call History in Version 6

Hold down the TALK button to view a partial call history. (v6.0)

• does NOT show missed calls Sometimes won't show missed calls depending on factors:

will not show calls from PRIVATE or blocked caller ID.

missed calls may not be visible if they are consumed by the dreaded thread monster (see below).

• only shows 1 entry for multiple calls from same number

BlackBerry calls this "threaded," it should actually be called "Stupid Annoying."

Pressing the track/mouse button on a thread will cause your phone to call the number. If you want to see all calls from a repeat caller in the call history DO NOT CLICK THE MOUSE BUTTON while the history item is highlighted or it will CALL THEM. (also Stupid Annoying). (v6.0)

• highlight the caller in the call history, press the blackberry button, choose VIEW, HISTORY.

Dreaded Thread Monster: When you hold down the Talk button to see your daily call history, you will notice that multiple call activity for the same number is absent, only the last call entry for the number is visible. So, if Joe calls you 5 times today, only the most recent will be visible in this call history view. BlackBerry calls this threading. All call activity for a given number will be combined in a thread, and that will be presented to you by showing only the most recent activity. You have to press the BlackBerry Button, choose VIEW, and in the sub menu choose HISTORY. The Thread Monster will devour entries including previously missed calls from the same number if you have attempted to call, or received a call from the same number later in the day. To avoid the thread monster try the Messages, Alt + P trick described below.

Missed call -w- voicemail - visible under "messages". (v6.0)

Another call history view is achieved by going to MESSAGES, then click the blackberry button and choose VIEW FOLDERS, and CALL LOGS. See Call History on the blackberry forum. The method to get to CALL LOGS has changed slightly with the latest blackberry upgrade (from v5 to v6). This shows a call history without the annoying grouping of same number callers, however, it doesn't seem to show missed calls. (v6.0)

What types of calls do you want to show up in the messages view?

• Go to the call history by holding down the talk button, move the cursor over the search box at the top (so no call log entry is highlighted) and press the blackberry button, OPTIONS, CALL LOGS AND LISTS, and set the Message List to any one of the following "Missed Calls, All Calls, None" (v6.0)

COMPLETE CALL HISTORY: MESSAGES, ALT + P

Show only a call history in messages by going to messages and press ALT + P - this hides all messages in the messages view except for the call history. Oddly enough this works even if "Call Logs and Lists" is configured to show NONE in the messages view. See Viewing Call History Only On Your Blackberry from blackberrycool.com .

Contact Recent Activity

When viewing a contact, below the contact phone numbers, you will observe an area called "Recent Activity" which will show a brief history of the last few calls or text messages sent to or received from that particular contact.

There's a glitch in v6 (v6.0.0.436) which sometimes causes text conversations with other contacts to appear in an unrelated contact recent activity.

No Known Resolution.

Blackberry Running Slowly

Clear Out the Event Log

From your Home Screen of icons, press and hold the ALT key and type “LGLG” (Do not press the SHIFT key at the same time) to bring up the Event Log screen as shown. Press the MENU key and select “Clear Log”. Then select “Delete” when it asks you to confirm and finally press the ESCAPE key to get back to your Home Screen.

Automatic Memory Cleaning

Options icon and click on “Security Options.” Glide down and click on “Memory Cleaning” Change the “Status” to “Enabled.” Once enabled, you will see more options. I recommend leaving the first two as “Yes” and adjusting the Idle Timeout down from 5 minutes to 1 or 2 minutes. Finally, if you want, you can “Show Icon on Home Screen.” Save your changes.

Close Apps

Hold the menu key find some apps in this list that you aren’t using, open them and close the app. Remember, an app is still running unless you open the app, press menu and select “close” or “exit”. Alt + Esc also shows running apps.