Blackberry
Tips, Ideas and Suggestions
Readers share their thoughts and
suggestions
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Being a combination of
phone, PDA, email manager, plus various other capabilities
make a Blackberry, Palm Treo, or other similar unit a
potentially invaluable mobile tool.
But such units inevitably
suffer from necessary design compromises. Here are
comments from readers as to what they've found good and bad
in such units.
Part 3 of a four part
series on Blackberry and other personal email units - please
also visit
1.
Blackberry 8700 review
2. Reader survey
results on personal email units
3. Reader feedback and
comments/suggestions about Blackberry, Treo, and other units
4. Blackberry 8800
review
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If you don't already have a
Blackberry or similar type of combined PDA/phone/email manager,
the information below will be helpful in assisting you decide if
you should get one, and in choosing which unit would be best for
your needs.
And if you do already have such
a unit, the chances are some of the ideas and comments below
will help you to get better use out of your unit.
Reader Commentary - Some
Surprising Comments
We received a lot of helpful
comments from readers, telling us about features they liked and
didn't like on their handheld email units.
Some readers reported on
things they didn't like with their units, but these negative
features were actually mistakes by the readers. For
example, one reader said he couldn't go back to correct a
mistake when composing an email with his Blackberry - this is
indeed possible - use the scroll wheel to go up or down, line by
line, and then Alt-Scroll to move the cursor along each line.
If you think your Blackberry
(or other device) can't do something, you might be correct, but
you also may not be. Check the manual,
and/or call up your wireless company's technical support and,
rather than negatively asking them to confirm that something is
impossible, positively phrase the question 'how do I do - - -'
and you might be pleasantly surprised to discover what you wanted to do can indeed
be done.
Sometimes the way things are done, eg on the Blackberry, are far from
intuitive, but the chances are that most things you might want
to do are indeed possible.
Reader Commentary - Best and
Worst Features
Touchscreens
The Blackberry does not have
a touchscreen, but the Treo and some other units do.
Readers were of mixed
opinion about touchscreens. Some liked them, but others
reported problems due to all sorts of objects accidentally
touching the screen and causing inadvertent commands to be
executed.
Higher Speed Data Access
There was - unsurprisingly -
a universal consensus on this point. Everyone liked systems that used
EDGE or some other form of faster than regular GPRS data, and
many people complained at how slow GPRS based systems were,
particularly for web browsing.
Faster connection speeds
aren't so obviously beneficial when reading emails but are
highly desirable when connecting to web pages.
The Blackberry 8700 does
support EDGE and this is a strong point it its favor.
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi was not a feature many
readers were excited about, and some pointed out the downside to
Wi-Fi support - much shorter battery life.
For most users, regular GPRS
or EDGE data speeds are more than sufficient, most of the time.
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is increasingly
popular and increasingly considered a must-have feature.
Unfortunately, Blackberry have severely limited the range of
Bluetooth connectivity functions supported by their units.
Ostensibly this is for security purposes, but the end result is
that things which could be very much simpler - for example
synchronizing calendar and contact details between the unit and
your main computer - do not take advantage of the Bluetooth
capability.
Handwriting recognition
Treo units have handwriting
recognition, Blackberry units don't. But no readers seemed
keen on the handwriting recognition feature, with most
preferring to use the keyboard.
Built in camera
Treo units have built in
cameras - the 600 and 650 have low resolution (VGA) cameras and
the 700 has a much better 1.3 megapixel camera. These
cameras can be used for still shots and also for short video
clips.
Unfortunately, the
Blackberry units don't have cameras.
Several readers liked the
'all in one' convenience of having a built in camera, and
particularly liked being able to take a picture and then attach
it to an email message. But a couple of other readers felt
the camera was unnecessary and were pleased to not have it on
their Blackberry unit.
Battery life
As units get more features,
and bigger brighter color screens, battery life drops.
Several readers wrote longingly of the better battery life they
had experienced on older model Blackberry phones - some would
last a week or two between charges, whereas now (depending of
course on how much you use it) it is more common to only have a
day or two between charges, and some units (not Blackberry or
Treo) went through their batteries in less than half a day if
the email was being accessed fairly extensively.
Add on Software
This is seen as a great
strength of the Treo units. There are literally thousands
of programs written for the Palm OS, enabling a Treo unit to
become a very versatile unit capable of helping you better
accomplish many tasks.
A growing number of programs
are being written for the Windows Mobile OS as well.
There are far fewer add-on
programs for the Blackberry system.
Size of Unit
There is a paradox in
designing these handheld email units. The smaller you make
them, the less convenient the keyboards become.
Blackberry tried an
innovative way to beat this limitation by making each key
represent two letters rather than one with their 7100 series of
phones (see the picture at the top of this page).
Unfortunately this two
letter per key compromise has only been moderately successful
and many readers have found it unsatisfactory.
The unavoidable fact seems
to be that a phone with keyboard and decent sized screen is
going to be larger than a simple cell phone without a keyboard
and without the need for as large a screen. But this fact
didn't stop many readers from complaining that their units were
too large, and the Treo, for once, scored particularly poorly
here, it being somewhat bulkier than most of the Blackberry
units.
Internal storage
Most Blackberry units have
32 MB of memory to hold all user data, email, and additional
programs. The new 8700 models have 64 MB.
Treo units have less than 32
MB, but can also have an extra plug in memory card to greatly
increase their capacity, and to make it easier to transfer data
to or from the unit. Blackberry units don't have plug in
memory cards.
Some users reported problems
with running out of memory on their Treo units, with the Treos
becoming unstable when their memory was nearly full.
No-one reported problems running out of memory with the
Blackberry units.
Phone functions
No-one much liked using
their unit as a phone, whether they had a Palm Treo or a
Blackberry unit. In fairness, it seems the latest
Blackberry 8700 units have much better phone audio quality than
earlier units, but even those were generally not considered to
be as good as a regular cell phone.
A common suggestion was to
use the unit with an headset - either Bluetooth or a regular
wired headset. This seemed to improve the audio quality.
Another reason for using a
headset is that it allows you to then look at the unit and
access its various functions while also talking on the phone
(although in most cases, while the unit is being used as a phone
it will suspend the sending and receiving of emails).
One person even reported
they found holding an 8700 was too heavy. Being as how the
8700 weighs only 5 ounces, that would seem a slightly unfair
comment!
Reliability
The Blackberry units were
viewed as much more reliable. No-one complained about the
units, and several people praised the ability of the Blackberry
units to get email even in poor signal areas.
On the other hand, several
people reported reliability issues with their Treos, with
crashes occasionally occurring for some people.
Reader Suggestions and Helpful
Hints
User Forums
A consistent suggestion was
to visit some of the user forums on the internet to get new
ideas, and to find solutions to problems you might be
experiencing.
For the Treo,
blog.treonauts.com/ and
www.treocentral.com/ are recommended.
For the Blackberry,
www.blackberryforums.com/ and
www.blackberrytoday.com/ and
blackberrygoodies.com/index2.php are helpful sites.
Books
Consider buying a book on
how to get the best use out of your new handheld unit.
I've looked at several books for
the Blackberry, and perhaps surprisingly, my favorite is the
Blackberry for Dummies title. Another good book, but
written for the more technical user and developer is
Blackberry Hacks.
Internet Capabilities
Don't just consider your
Blackberry as a means of receiving and sending emails and phone
calls.
One of its greatest
conveniences is the ability to act as an internet browser.
As one reader said, 'I can Google anytime a question comes up'.
Whether you're using Google or the resources conveniently placed
in the Berry 411 program (see next section), whenever you have
your Blackberry with you, you're only a few clicks away from
almost anything you might need on the internet as a whole.
Make a point of copying over
favorites from your main computer, and be sure to save logins
and password details for sites that require them, too.
Extra Software
One of the exciting things
about these units is their potential to have considerably more
functionality added to them in the form of extra software.
Some software improves on already existing functions (eg, better
IM chat clients) and other software adds completely new
functionality (eg mapping and GPS capabilities), while still
more software provides better management of the unit and its
various capabilities (for example, 'Pref Doctor' for the Treo).
There's an excellent site
with a huge range of software for Blackberries, Treos, and most
other handheld mobile devices -
www.handango.com. You're sure to find plenty to tempt
you there - software ranging from spell checkers and business
applications to travel reference material, ringtones and games.
Many of the products include free trials that allow you to try
before you buy, and most are reasonably priced.
One of the most popular
Blackberry add-on programs is Berry 411, and it is offered free
by the developer
from his website.
Another add-on that works
for a range of different handheld units is
Google Maps. This is a wonderful program that in
addition to simply displaying maps can also show traffic
conditions and direct you to addresses, help you find stores,
and much more.
Auto Text
One of the great
productivity enhancements of the Blackberry units is the ability
to create Auto Text entries. If you find you are often
typing very similar emails, you can set up auto text -
boilerplate text entries that you generate by entering a short
abbreviation.
For example, on my
Blackberry, if I type the three letters 'sch' the following text
displays :
Hi
Thanks for your enquiry. Unfortunately we can't
currently help with that model phone.
You might want to continue to check back with us from time
to time because we are adding extra models to our unlocking
capabilities on a regular basis.
David.
Chances are you can think of
some things you often type, too, and auto text entries can save
you a lot of repeat typing.
GPS
Some handheld units can be
connected to a GPS antenna, and will run a GPS mapping/tracking
program to enable you to see exactly where you are on a map.
We generally don't recommend
you use such devices - the screen size of the handheld unit is
usually too small to conveniently read, especially when you're
driving at the same time.
'Sent from my Blackberry'
tagline
Some users don't like having
this default tagline added to the end of their emails.
Perhaps they don't want people to know they're not in their
office.
It is possible to turn this
out - in the case of T-mobile service, it is an option you can
set through their web configuration program.
But I generally like to
leave it in place, because it explains to people why they're
just getting a very brief reply from me rather than my usual
more lengthy response.
External Keyboard
Even the most ardent fan of
their Blackberry or other handheld device will readily concede
the keyboard is a barrier to being able to type long emails
quickly and conveniently.
Various different models of
external keyboards are available for
Palm Treo units, and there are now keyboards available for
Blackberry units too.
These keyboards are usually
slightly smaller than a full sized computer keyboard, and have
the usual typewriter set of keys (ie no separate number pad).
They typically fold up into a compact size (some even fold in
four) making them easy to travel with, and if you're settling
down for an extended session of writing emails, you would find
one of these keyboards invaluable.
Some Blackberry Specific Tips
-
If you don't plan to use the
unit outside of work, you can use the Auto On-Off feature to
have it turn off at the end of your work day and turn on
again the next morning.
-
Most users end up turning off
most of the notification alarms and vibrate signals.
This slightly extends battery life and makes the unit's
presence less annoying to others around you.
-
Consider turning off the
'Dial from Homescreen' option (in the General Options part
of the Phone menu). This will allow you to use
shortcut keps to jump between homescreen applications (eg m
for memos, a for addresses, p for phone, etc)
-
Most newer Blackberries allow
you to change font sizes, and you might wish to change from
the default system font. You might prefer a
bigger/bolder font, or if your eyesight is keen enough, you
might prefer a smaller font.
-
Move the home screen icons so
that the ones you use the most are at the beginning.
-
Be sure to switch on password
protection for your phone. You can vary how long
before the unit locks itself automatically. And at the
same time, enter in your name, address, and contact
information, so that if your unit is found, the finder will
know how to reach you.
-
Add a line that says
something like 'Generous Reward Paid to Finder, No Questions
Asked' to the owner information that appears on the screen
when the unit is locked. This may encourage the unit's
finder to contact you.
-
The 8700 has two programmable
keys - one on the left of the unit and one in the center.
Assign these to common functions.
-
Holding down a letter for a
couple of seconds will convert it to upper case.
-
Turn your wireless off and
you can legally use the unit on the plane without the danger
of interfering with the plane's electronics. This
allows you to read emails and prepare replies that will be
sent once you turn the wireless back on again after landing.
-
Delete multiple consecutive
emails by holding down the shift key while selecting the
emails.
-
When in an email address
field, and typing the address, you can type the name, then
hit the space bar and the '@' symbol will be inserted for
you; then type the domain, hit space again and the '.' will
be inserted, and then type com or net, etc to finish the
address.
The Blackberry Mindset
A Blackberry (or Treo, etc)
shouldn't supplant your usual email management methods.
Rather, it can add to it. For example, one reader said he
likes to check his email first thing in the morning at home
before going in to work. He doesn't reply to any emails
then, but this gives him a 'heads up' and a chance to think
about issues while traveling to work.
Another reader referred to
using his Blackberry as a means to triage his email. He
can immediately respond to the most urgent issues, send one
liner responses to other issues, and defer less important things
until at his regular computer.
Other readers commented that
their Blackberry could save them from needing to take a laptop
computer with them while traveling on short trips out of town.
These three strategies
illustrate the best ways to add a Blackberry to your life.
Having a Blackberry means you can always know what is coming in
to your email box, while not obliging you to have to be always
responding to the emails.
There's a fourth strategy as
well. You can use your Blackberry to manage your email at
times that would otherwise be wasted time. If you're
waiting in line at your local supermarket or bank, if you arrive
at a concert or movie early, anywhere when you'd normally be
just wasting time, you can now use your Blackberry to catch up
on emails.
Before I had my Blackberry,
and while traveling, I
would typically need to set aside an hour or more in the morning before
breakfast and leaving the hotel for the day to work through
emails, and then another hour or more in the evening to work through more
emails. Now, with my Blackberry, I've been able to save at
least one and possibly two of those hours, because I've been
able to steal one and two and five minute slices of time during
the day - while waiting to meet a client, when waiting to
collect luggage at the end of a flight, while stuck in traffic
in the back of a cab, and so on all through the day.
My Blackberry has given me
back than an hour or more of extra time every day, and rather
than getting frustrated at delays and wasted time, I'm now
relaxed and unworried
because it is no longer wasted time.
So next time you see people
flicking through their emails in what you think to be
inappropriate places, don't feel superior and make a joke about
those people being addicted to their Crackberry. They're
not addicted. They're just sensibly using wasted time -
the time that would otherwise have been wasted is now being used
to give them more quality free time back at home that evening.
If email takes up a large
slice of your day, don't you think you should consider a
Blackberry (or other PDA email device) too?
Summary
The preceding section on 'The
Blackberry Mindset' is of perhaps greatest relevance to
people considering if they should purchase a Blackberry or
similar type unit.
If you do get such a unit,
then be prepared to invest extra time in learning how to use it
most effectively, and consider investing extra money in buying
extra programs to use on the unit, and perhaps to get a well
written instruction manual book as well.
With a bit of extra effort
and investment, chances are you too will become a devotee and
beneficiary of the Blackberry's enormous capabilities.
Bottom line - well, for me,
my Blackberry saves me at least an hour of quality time every
day, and ensures I never miss any important or urgent
communication. I'm a convert.
Part 3 of a three part
series on Blackberry and other personal email units - please
also visit
1.
Blackberry 8700 review
2. Reader survey
results on personal email units
3. Reader feedback and
comments/suggestions about Blackberry, Treo, and other units
Related Articles, etc
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Originally published
4 August 2006, last update
21 Jul 2020
You may freely reproduce or distribute this article for noncommercial purposes as long as you give credit to me as original writer.
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