Author: Joe

If you tether your BlackBerry smartphone to your laptop for data usage, you might have heard of TetherBerry. Last year we wrote about the company, noting how they could help Mac users in particular. A few things have changed since then, most notably their name. They’re now just plain Tether, though they’re offering the same great tethering service. The company recently turned one year old, and they’re celebrating in grand fashion. They’ve given us 25 copies of the application, which we’re giving away to our readers. Plus, they’re also holding a contest where you can win one of three BlackBerry smartphones, or, if you’re so inclined, one of three Android handsets.

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Your wireless carrier does not want you to leave. It likes your predictable monthly payments, and loves that you’re under contract for two years. The contract isn’t the only measure your carrier takes to retain its existing customers. It also locks handsets to its network. This, it hopes, makes you think twice about leaving. Who wants to pay for a new device, even when subsidized, when you have a perfectly good, working device already? Many people will stay with their current wireless carrier because of just this reason. Thankfully, this is not a necessity. If you feel your wireless carrier has wronged you, or else you just want to take your phone to another network, you might be in luck. There are ways to break the carrier’s lock on your BlackBerry.

NOTE: Read all the way to the end for an incredible offer from BBGeeks and CarrierUnlock.com
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Encountering a BlackBerry error can be the most frustrating experience. Many of us rely on our devices, and to have it down even for a day can be a catastrophe. When you see an error message, you know you’re in for some pain. They don’t just appear for no reason, and oftentimes it’s not something you can fix yourself. Take, for instance, JVM Error 102. The blackberry.com description claims that, “The only recovery method is to wipe the device and restore a new system.” Yikes. That means you have no chance to backup any of your information. Gone are your applications, your emails, your contacts — everything. Thankfully, it appears there is a workaround for this one.

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Your BlackBerry address book is boring. It just lists your contacts in alphabetical order, like every other address book on the planet. Wouldn’t it make sense to have different organization options? I’d like, for instance, to have my address book by default sort my contacts by the frequency with which I contact them. That would make things a little easier. If you’re among those who don’t think that is a trivial functionality, you can check out SwooshContact. It’s a new application that gives you greater control over your address book.

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It’s not every week that we’re expose to a new BlackBerry model. But when we are we tend to yap about it. This time it’s a BlackBerry touchscreen slider, a device we’ve been hearing about for years now. In fact, it was just about two years ago that we saw a patent application for a slider, though this one’s a bit different.

So click on over here to hear the BBGeekcast (7 min, 26 sec)

And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast so you won’t miss future episodes!

You can also subscribe to the BBGeekcast in iTunes.

Highlights include:
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As Apple will remind you, there is an app for nearly everything. If you look through the BBGeeks Store or App World you’ll find thousands of apps that can accomplish everything from making your BlackBerry glow to performing advanced calculations. This is mostly great, but like all good things it also comes with drawbacks. Your device has limited memory, so it can only store so many applications. Many of these apps cost money, and most people only have a limited amount of disposable income for software. The developers at VersatileMonkey know how you feel, and they’ve done something about it. Their new app, VersaTool, combines the functionality of multiple applications into one.

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It seems that at every year at this time we’re anxiously awaiting a few new BlackBerry devices. Last year it was the Curve 8900, though by this point it was already released, and the Tour, which was still a ways off. This year the Pearl 9100 is like the Curve, and I suppose the 9650 is like the Tour. Ah, but it seems RIM is doing us one better. This week we’ve seen pictures of a new kind of BlackBerry. A touchscreen with a slide-out, portrait keyboard, the device could be the next in the Bold or the Storm lines. Either way, it’s sure to get BlackBerry geeks talking.

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Yesterday at 1 p.m. I let out a sigh of relief. For the first time in four months, I watched live baseball. Granted, it was a spring training game, and it’s not nearly the same pleasure as a regular season game. But it was baseball. If you had the same feeling, you’ll be happy to hear that MLB has released its At Bat application for the BlackBerry. That is, if you’re a Storm user. The rest of us are out of luck, at least for the time being.

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It might only be March 10, but I’m already dreading the unsavory date that lies just a month away. Sometime between now and then, I have to go through all of my 2009 records so I can optimally configure my tax return. Problem is, my finances are so disorganized that getting everything together becomes a task itself. Even if I had someone do my taxes for me — and they’re not complicated enough to warrant that — I would still have to figure out what in the world I did the previous year. This year, however, it might be a bit easier. I started using my BlackBerry to keep track of my finances, and I’ve found that it has enabled me to make a habit of it. Before, when I used a pen an paper, I’d always forget to write down my transactions when I got home. Now, though, it’s a reflex to reach for my Berry when I buy something or take cash out of the ATM.

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Managing files on my memory card is easy enough. I can just plug my BlackBerry into my Mac, click on the drive icon, and manipulate the files in almost any way. Clearly, though, that requires being near my computer. It also doesn’t help me with device memory. RIM has an on-board file manager, but it’s not quite as robust as I’d like. For example, it doesn’t even let you sort the contents of a directory. As an old-school computer geek, I like to have free reign over my files. To attain that on my BlackBerry, I’ve come to enjoy FileScout. It’s a file management application that has just seen an upgrade — one that introduces a free version, too.

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We’ve received questions on Twitter relating to BBM symbols for a while now, so I figure I’d take the time to go over the best way to get them for your own device. A big thanks goes to TheOnlyJrod at BBOS, because I only thought of the post because he did up his own guide yesterday. The idea, basically, is to copy and paste characters from a source outside your BlackBerry, email them to yourself, and then copy and paste them to the appropriate spots on your BBM display name. There are a couple of ways you can go about this.

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How many apps do you have installed on your BlackBerry? That’s not a question designed to find out how hardcore a user you are. Instead, it’s to gauge how close you are to filling your device memory. While your BlackBerry might tell you that it have multiple gigabytes of free space, that considers the memory card. But you can’t store applications on and run them from an SD card. They have to be present in the device memory, which currently stands at 256MB for the most recent models. What to do, then, if you run out of space? You could use Aerize Card Loader, but if you get most of your apps from BlackBerry App World, you can also take advantage of their free archiving service.

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We usually cover news and developments related to new BlackBerry devices in this space, but this week we look at it from a different angle. We didn’t hear much, if anything, new about the 9650 or the 9100 this week, but we did hear about the retirement of old devices. Hey, you can’t support them forever.

So click on over here to hear the BBGeekcast (9 min, 35 sec)

And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast so you won’t miss future episodes!

You can also subscribe to the BBGeekcast in iTunes.

Highlights include:
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It has been a while since we discussed listening to audiobooks on your BlackBerry, and I’ve been meaning to take a look at some developments since we originally published that article a year and a half ago. We did learn about an Audible BlackBerry app, but that’s a somewhat restricted platform. For people looking for further-reaching options, OverDrive has released an audiobook application for BlackBerry, dubbed Media Console. With it you can manage your audiobooks, playing them on the go, whenever you want.

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It seems like we’re seeing new BlackBerry devices released more frequently than ever. RIM has set a number of model lines — the Bold, the Curve, the Pearl, the Storm — and has been pumping out more and more, for both CDMA and GSM networks. Eventually, once they hit a certain pace they have to start phasing out the old models. The Curve might be the top-selling smartphone in America, but that’s not going to last forever. Newer devices will eventually catch it on the list, perhaps as soon as this quarter. This week, we learn that Verizon might be retiring a few of its devices to make room for the new.

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We frequently feature useful applications on BBGeeks, so it surprised me that when I saw up update for SugarSync, I also saw that we hand’t covered the application before. We did cover Dropbox though, and the two services are somewhat similar. The biggest difference, right now, is that SugarSync has a BlackBerry application. It’s a cloud storage service that syncs your account between your computer and your mobile device. You can upload files from either source and then edit and view them from anywhere. Their newest feature caught my eye. It allows you to easily upload email file attachments, so that you can view them from anywhere. All you have to do is send an email.

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We’ve gotten to the point of theme design where nearly every new theme comes with certain features. While with older operating systems users had a choice of a Zen, L, TodayPlus, etc., theme, nowadays we see many of those forms lumped into a single theme. TodayPlus has turned into a less-intrusive preview, so many more developers have included it. We’ve also seen formerly static icons — battery, signal, clock — start to open corresponding applications. I think it’s given theme developers a lot more to work with. We’ll see some of those features at work this week.

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I’m admittedly a Pandora for BlackBerry kinda guy, but if you prefer Slacker for your streaming radio purposes you just got some good news. They have released version 3.0 of their popular application, and it adds a few key features. Chief among them is a user interface overhaul that makes it a bit easier to navigate. You might also enjoy the faster startup time, which stems from the overall small application size. It also leads to less battery usage, which is important for a streaming audio application. The constant data transfer can take a battery from full to low in what feels like no time. There’s more, too.

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Different themes have different lock screens, and some are more interesting than others. For the most part, though, they all contain the same basic information: date and time, message count, signal strength, battery life, and owner name. For some that’s enough. The lock screen, after all, isn’t something you look at very often — if you’re looking at your Berry chances are you’ve unlocked it. If you often pull your Berry out of your pocket, though — perhaps to check the time, perhaps to check for new messages — you might get sick of seeing the same old thing. In that case, you might want to check out Office Hot Shot, an app that gives some life, and some fun, to your lock screen.

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In the past we’ve explained how to clean your BlackBerry trackball if it’s starting to stick or otherwise malfunction. Problem is, you can’t use the same method for the Tour 9630. The housing is a bit different, and it doesn’t allow you to remove the ball. Thankfully, CrackBerry forums user kingzee made a video showing you how to clean the trackball using just a strip of paper. If you’re having problems with yours, or just want to keep yours in good repair so you don’t face issues in the future, check out this video.

This post originated at BBGeeks.com – home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about AT&T BlackBerry.

Cleaning your Tour 9630 trackball

This post originated at BBGeeks.com – home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about AT&T BlackBerry.

Cleaning your Tour 9630 trackball