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BlackBerry Curve: Tips and Tricks


In this post, I will discuss about some of the tips and tricks which can be useful while using BlackBerry. We will focus more on BlackBerry Curve 8520 which is common across Infosys and is introduced by RIM in July 2009. It supports EDGE, Wi-Fi but does not come with a GPS. Some of you may not find anything new in this article since most of this information is available out there and I am not adding anything new from my experience since BlackBerry never excites me unlike other smart phones in the market. Moreover Infosys Policy prevents us from installing any applications, so we are forced to swallow the ice Cream without enjoying licking it. And writing about Blackberry is something which I promised in the beginning to the organizers of this column! So here it goes.

Make sure to download all the cool free BlackBerry applications for your BlackBerry device. There are so many cool, fun, and entertaining apps to download for your mobile device.

Now, lets discuss those features, we can use within our corporate policy and those are not very obvious but will be very handy. It may cover only a few aspects of the phone and try to answer some of the questions below. If you like to know more it is better to read the manual.

Do you know there are two convenience keys one on left and one on right? Find out where is the Speakerphone button and mute button? Do you know how to transfer your media files into your BlackBerry?

Multitasking with Menu Keys?

While you are on a task to bring up another apps just press and hold menu key which pops up the menu shown below so that you can switch over to the other.Some of the important keyboard shortcuts:

You can jump to any menu list by pressing the first letter of the menu.

You can jump to top of the message by pressing T and bottom by pressing B. Press C to compile a new message..

Space Key

Space key is very versatile in BB which can be used for different purpose depending on the context.
  1. You can insert @ symbol in an email address by pressing the space key or inserting a dot for example bob@infosys.com can be typed as bob space Infosys space com
  2. Space key can be used for jumping months while inserting dates
  3. Space key can be used for page down while reading a mail, viewing attachments and while scrolling a webpage.
Quickly typing Accentuated keys

Normally you use Sym key for this. But you can type it faster by holding the key and scrolling the trackpad. For example while holding key A and scrolling through trackpad you get the following symbols.


Letters which work on this way are E, R, T, Y, U, I, O, P, A, S, D, K, C, V, B,N, M.

CAP LOCK

If you want to continuously type CAPS press ALT key and right shift key, To turn it off tap either of the shift key

Entering Standby Mode:

Just press and hold the Mute button on the top of your BB. It enters the standby mode. To end standby mode press it again. You won’t miss calls even in Standby mode, it wakes up and rings.

Themes

If you are fond of themes you can download these from
  1. CrackBerry.com: www.crackberry.com
  2. BlackBerry Forums: www.blackberryforums.com
  3. BerryReview: www.berryreview.com
  4. BlackBerry Cool: http://www.blackberrycool.com/
Changing your convenience key

There are two convenience keys in your BB, one in the right and one in the left. Default settings may vary depends on the model. By default left is configured for profile settings and may be very handy at times. But the right one is configured for Find which can be changed to something more useful, may be use it as a camera button. To change press Options-S-and set your preference from the list.

What is your Phone number?

There may be many people like me who forgets our own number. It is sometimes embarrassing to give a miss call and share it. In BlackBerry just press the green phone symbol and it displays your number at the top.

Muting a Ringing Call

If you want to mute the ringing but wants it to continue just press the mute button. You can use this feature if you prefer not to attend the call but do not want to appear to be rude by cutting the call. In a meeting it will not disturb others and at the same time the caller will not get offended.

Navigating an excel sheet attachment
  1. Move to a specific cell, Press G
  2. View the content of a cell, space key
  3. Switch worksheets, press V
  4. View hidden columns or rows, press H
  5. Hide the columns or rows, Press H
How do you transfer your media files to BB?

To convert your favorite media files to a BB friendly format, use handbrake, an open source transcoder http://www.handbrake.com/ . Transfer the converted files stored in your PC using BlackBerry Desktop Manager (Media manager).

Tethering

BlackBerry can be used for tethering connecting to USB port of your Laptop and use it as a modem for browsing. But I think this feature is disabled for our phones.
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