Tweaks, speedups, shortcuts and extra features for your BlackBerry - and they're all free
You probably bought a BlackBerry for the keyboard and fantastic battery life but there's more to it than that.
You
can just pick a BlackBerry up and start using it, because all you need
to do is press the Menu key to get the main options on every screen -
but the BlackBerry OS hides a huge number of clever tricks and shortcuts
that make it faster and simpler to get things done.
There
are some tips you won't need often - like pressing Alt, Del and the
right-hand Caps key at the same time to reboot instead of just
restarting; others you'll use all the time, like pressing the red 'hang
up' key to get back to the home screen and clicking the spanner icon on
the home screen to open Options. Here are our top 25 Blackberry tips.
1. Use the keyboard less
BlackBerry
has always had a QWERTY keyboard and you can type everything out in
full - but you can save time with the built-in shortcuts. Press space
twice at the end of a sentence to get the full stop and an automatic
capital on the next word.
Don't bother with apostrophes in words
like I'm and isn't (type im and the BlackBerry will correct it for you);
there are other handy abbreviations like 'wel' to get 'we'll' and 'il'
to get 'I'll' and you can add your own with Options > AutoText.
AUTOTEXT: Speed up typing by creating your own abbreviations and corrections
2. Quick capitals
You don't need Shift - press and hold a letter key to type the upper case letter.
3. Skip Symbol
If
you're typing an email address into a field that expects an email
address, don't bother looking for how to type the @; just hit space and
BlackBerry with put the @ in for you. Press space when you need the . in
the middle of the email address and it will fill that in, too. Do the
same for URLs in the browser; pressing space fills in the periods faster
than typing them by hand.
4. Fast select
There's
a Select command on the menu for choosing what to copy and paste - but
you can make a selection just by holding down the Shift key as you
scroll the trackball.
5. Keyboard shortcuts
Save
on scrolling by using 't' to get to the top of any email message, web
page or other long screen and 'b' to get to the bottom. There are
specific shortcuts for all the built-in apps like using the Mute button
to pause videos or music or skipping to the next or previous track by
pressing and holding the volume up and down keys (which also zoom in and
out in the camera - although many apps use I and O to zoom); there's a
list in the Help tool.
SAVE TIME: Put the keyboard to work with shortcuts in every built-in app
6. Choose dialling or shortcuts
Under
Options > Phone Options > General Options you can set Dial From
Home Screen to Yes or No; if you set it to Yes you can start typing a
name to dial the number on the home screen, if you set it to No you can
type the first letter of apps on the home screen to open them (M for
Mail, B for browser, C to compose email - and oddly N for Messenger, L
for Calendar and U for Calculator).
7. Web columns
Press
Z in the web browser to reflow the page into a column the size of the
BlackBerry screen so it's easier to read; press Z again to go back to a
normal page view you can scroll around.
EASY READING: Switch between seeing the original layout and a version of the page reformatted as one long BlackBerry-sized column
8. Turn on JavaScript
To
save memory and make pages load faster, the BlackBerry browser usually
has JavaScript turned off by default; use Options > Browser
Configuration > Support JavaScript to turn it back on and make more
pages load correctly.
9. Which browser?
There
are three different browsers on the BlackBerry; a WAP browser for
viewing content from your mobile network, the BlackBerry HTML browser
(and a hotspot browser that prioritises the Wi-Fi connection). If you
have problems accessing or loading Web pages, choose Options >
Browser Configuration and set Browser to BlackBerry Browser and make
sure Options > General Properties > Default Browser is also set to
BlackBerry Browser.
10. Don't get mobile Web sites
You
can also try changing Browser Identification from BlackBerry to Firefox
or IE to force the full versions of specific pages to load instead of
the cut-down mobile versions - but they might be slow or not load fully.
BROWSER SWAP: The
BBC web site always loads the mobile version on BlackBerry; if you want
to see the full site, have your BlackBerry pretend to run Firefox or IE
11. Fast search
You
can search for contacts, messages and inside files and web pages -
press S to search in contacts and messages and F to search in other
apps.
12. Colour-code messages
If you get
both work and personal email on your BlackBerry, you can change the
colour of either set of messages. Choose Options > Security Options
>Information> Message Outline Colours and either Enterprise
Messages or Other Messages.
COLOUR-CODED: Show work and personal messages in different colours
13. Menu multi-tasking
BlackBerry
has had multitasking for years but it's subtly done; apps stay running
so you can switch back to them (unless you run out of memory when
they're closed automatically). To get back to another app, press and
hold the Menu button to get the task switcher.
14. Lock with mute
Some
BlackBerrys have both a lock and a mute button on the top edge, others -
like the original Bold - only have a mute button. You can always lock
the screen by scrolling down to the Lock icon but it's faster to just
press and hold mute until the screen locks (do the same to unlock it).
15. Real convenience
There
are two 'convenience keys' - one on each side of the BlackBerry; you've
probably found one of them by knocking it and hearing that irritating
'say a command' message. If you never use voice command, choose Options
> Screen/Keyboard to change the buttons to something more useful -
starting the camera, opening the music player or launching your
favourite app.
QUICK START: Put two apps or commands you use all the time at your fingertips
16. Tweak your trackball
Use
Options > Screen/Keyboard and scroll to the bottom of the page to
choose the horizontal and vertical sensitivity (how far it moves across
the screen when you move it) and whether you hear a click as it rolls.
17. Turn off speakerphone
The
slightly confusing way to put a call on speakerphone is to use Menu
> Activate Speakerphone; the even more confusing way to turn it off
is Menu > Activate Handset - or you can use the $ key to turn it on
and off. (And the $ key produces the $ sign in email, use Options >
Screen/Keyboard > Currency key to set it to £ instead).
18. Say a command
Voice
command does more than voice dialling; if you want to check your signal
and battery strength you can wade through the Options menu or you can
hit the voice command button and say 'status' or 'check battery' and
'check signal strength'.
19. Say it again
Voice
recognition works quite well, but you can train it by reading a list of
numbers and words; choose Options > Voice Dialing> Adapt Voice.
VOICE TRAINING: Choose Adapt Voice and your BlackBerry will ask you to read a list of sample names and numbers
20. Hidden Help
The
hidden 'Help Me!' screen shows the signal strength, battery level,
device PIN, free space, space in use, IMEI, OS version, how long the
BlackBerry has been on and some other info that can be useful for
troubleshooting. View it by pressing Alt + Caps + H.
MORE INFO: The Help Me! Screen collects key information together
21. Archive, don't uninstall
Only
the very latest BlackBerry models have anything like enough memory for
all the apps you want. When you run out of space, pick the ones you use
least and archive them to your microSD card (this only works with apps
from App World). Select the app in the My World sections of App World
and choose Menu > Archive; archived apps have a green arrow on their
icons and you can click them to reinstall - but you may have to restart
to archive or restore an app.
ARCHIVE APPS: You can't run apps from the SD card but you can archive them to save space
22. Save power overnight
BlackBerry
is very frugal on battery life and you can make it last even longer by
having yours turn itself off overnight and back on in the morning.
Choose Options > Auto On/Off; you can have different on and off times
for weekdays and weekends.
23. Master Control Program
Use the free third-party tool MCP (
http://mcpfx.com)
for tweaking your BlackBerry, doing a factory reset in an emergency -
or just installing updates more easily than with the sprawling and
inefficient BlackBerry Desktop software.
TWEAK BLACKBERRY: Install a new OS or tweak the modules on your BlackBerry with the excellent Master Control Program
24. Install any app
If
you want to run an app that doesn't have an installer - including
alternative email clients like Astrasync and NotifySync which RIM won't
sign for installation - connect your BlackBerry by USB, switch to mass
storage mode so it shows up on your PC as a drive and copy the JAR file
to the root folder. On your BlackBerry use the Media app to open the
folder and select the JAR file to install it.
25. Save money on texts
If you're sending a message to another BlackBerry user, BlackBerry Messenger is free -but you need to know their BlackBerry
PIN.The easiest way to get someone in your contact list is to invite them.