BlackBerry Playbook SideLoading Tutorial and Resources

Although the Playbook doesn’t have OTA capabilities there is another way  users can load non App World applications. This method, perfected by Keeper (Berry Review Forums), is ideal for sharing ported  applications and, in case you are a developer, allowing Playbookers to beta test your applications. Side Loading, as it’s come to be called, requires a PC and a few programs. Here is my attempt to create a tutorial for the process. Hopefully RIM simplifies this process but until then this is what we have.

First (on your PC) download and install JRE (Java Runtime Environment)

• http://www.mediafire.com/?siwn5so7n66oqi6 (Windows 32)
• http://www.mediafire.com/?4qkn7qwdho6cil9 (Windows 64)

Then download and install the  Development Mode Installer which is used to load applications on your Playbook.

• http://www.mediafire.com/?od4fft3qm2ai4sx

Blackberry 101: BlackBerry Device Shortcuts

This list of shortcuts was pulled directly from the forum. If you find these useful, you can bookmark this link and refer to it whenever necessary.

Enterprise Activation (Options->Advanced)

ALT+CNFG – Settings for Enterprise Activation

Address Book

ALT+VALD – Validate the data structure and look for inconsistencies

ALT+RBLD – Force a data structure rebuild

Browser

ALT+RBVS – View web page source code

from the Options menu, type the following (No ALT+ required)

SYNC – Enable Calendar slow sync

RSET – Will prompt for a reload of the calendar from the BES

RCFG – Request BES configuration

SCFG – Send device configuration

DCFG – Get CICAL configuration

SUPD – Enable detailed Cal. report for backup

SUPS – Disable detailed Cal. report for backup

SUPN – Disable Cal. report databaseLUID – Enable view by UID

SRSL – Show Reminder status log

Messaging

ALT+VIEW – For messages, displays the RefId and FolderId for that particular message. For PIM items, displays only the RefId.

Search Application

ALT+ADVM Search Application Enabled Advanced Global Search

Home Screen

ALT(left)+Shift(right)+Del – Restart the Blackberry (only for full-keyboard Blackberries)

ALT+JKVV – Display cause of PDP reject

ALT+CAP+ H – Displays the Help Me screen

ALT + EACE – Displays the Help Me screen

ALT + ESCR – Displays the Help Me screen

ALT + NMLL – Switches the signal strength from bars to a numeric value.

ALT + LGLG – Displays the Java™ event log.

 

WLAN (WLAN wizard screen)

ALT-SMON WLAN – Enable simulated Wizard mode

ALT-SMOF WLAN – Disable simulated Wizard mode

 

Theme (from theme menu)

ALT-THMN – Change to no theme (B&W)

ALT-THMD – Change to default theme

 

Date/Time (Date/Time menu – No ALT+ required)

LOLO – Date/Time Show Network time values

SIM Card (Options->Advanced->SIM card – No ALT+ required)

MEPD – Display MEP infoMEP1 – Disable SIM personalization

MEP2 – Disable Network personalization

MEP3 – Disable Network subset personalization

MEP4 – Disable Service provider personalization

MEP5 – Disable Corporate personalization

 

Status (Options->Status)

BUYR – Data & Voice Usage

TEST – start a device test (Keyboard, GPS, RF, Audio (Handset,headset,bluetooth, Misc)

Blackberry 101: Word Substitution: possibly the best feature on a BlackBerry

BlackBerry 101: Word Substitution/AutoText

For me I’m asked one question almost every day “Why do you use a BlackBerry?”  I’m asked it by friends, family members, clients and in radio interviews. Unlike many people I can’t give the easy answer “It’s what my company gave me” no, I need a real answer.  I fully understand the question from those who don’t know how cool a BlackBerry really is.  I have strayed over to other devices over the years but my BlackBerry has always been near by.  Last summer I wrote an article that was well received about my unexplainable love affair with BlackBerry Messenger.

Side-by-Side to many an iPhone looks shinier and more sexy but there are still a few things that other platforms just don’t have.  This week Apple rolled out iMessage and other enhancements to iOS at their ‘iClone’ event in San Francisco, but in my opinion still fell a little short.  Kevin did a head to head video with Rene from TiPb and speed wise BBM and iMessage pretty much tied, but BBM stayed out front with a more feature rich experience that comes from BBM being a mature platform.

For my money, the real killer app in the BlackBerry is AutoText, now called Word Substitution.

Back in 1998 I got my first RIM handheld called the Interactive Messenger which was quickly replaced with the BlackBerry 950.  Even back than my Interactive Messenger and BlackBerry had AutoText and what’s really incredible is the number of people that own BlackBerry devices and don’t know what it is.

         

Even if you’re not clear on what Word Substitution is, you’ve used it.  My pal Joseph scratched the surface on a recent rant about his BlackBerry PlayBook typing skills; press the space bar twice and the BlackBerry inserts the period and auto-capitalizes the first letter of the next sentence for you.  It will also complete your contractions for you – cant becomes can’t.  Or my favorite is when someone asks for my PIN to add me to BBM, reply to their message with mypin and press space and pin:1a2a3a4a appears as if by pure magic.

You can create your own personal Word Substitutions as well.  Think “bb” becomes “BlackBerry” or “pb” becomes “PlayBook”.  The sky is the limit, you can create as many as you like and they can be as long as you like.  For example say I was telling someone about a new OS leak available on CrackBerry.com and I wanted them to remember the ‘leaked OS disclaimer’ and I’ll be damned if I’m going to type all the out.  I create a Word Substitution called “osdisclaim” and simply type osdisclaim plus the space key and voila!

        

So how do you create this BlackBerry Magic?  It’s actually quite simple and can be quickly explained.

OS 6 – using Universal Search type “Word Sub” and tap on the wrench “options” and tap “Word Substitution
OS 5 and lower – from the Home Screen scroll to and select the wrench “options” and in the options list select “AutoText”

From here press the BlackBerry Menu button and select “New” and you should see something that looks like this:

Now in the “Replace” field enter what you’re going to be typing in the message screen to trigger the Word Substitution.  For example “bb” or “osdisclaim” or “pb” – again you can put anything here.

In the “With” field this the the text you want.  Again for example “BlackBerry” or “PlayBook”, I’ve never typed an entire novel here but have never been constrained by the number of characters here.  I’ve had 9 paragraph canned messages here before.  Perhaps I’ll attempt paste Kevin’s PlayBook review in my device one day to test worst case scenario.

The last option here of note is the “Using”, you have two options “SmartCase” or Specified Case”.  The difference being how you want the BlackBerry to deal with capital letters.  If you select “SmartCase” if the Word Substitution occurs at the beginning of a sentence it will capitalize the first letter and if it is in the middle of a sentence than it will leave it not capitalized.  For Word Substitutions using product names like say BlackBerry, the case is specific regardless of where it finds itself in a paragraph, so you would want to select “Specified Case”.

OK! So that’s Word Substition/AutoText (one of my most favorite BlackBerry features) in a nutshell.  Look for Steve Jobs to ‘invent’ this feature at a future WWDC event 🙂

Via:cb

How to make your own visual address book on your BlackBerry smartphone

NHCBBA Tip of the Day!

BlackBerry OS6 makes it easy to add any contact to the home screen. This means you can turn any of your contacts into a shortcut that goes on the home screen (with their picture on it and everything). The shortcut will allow you to message your contact in a variety of ways, all from the home screen. But, let’s take that one step further. Instead of just storing your contact shortcuts on the All pane or in Favorites, you can make a visual address book by creating a folder and saving your most-used contacts there. No reason to go to the trouble of putting everyone in there, just the people you message the most.

Start by creating a new folder; you can only create new ones from the All pane (tray). You can’t make folders anywhere else. Make sure one of the visible icons is highlighted. It doesn’t matter which one, but the Add folder option won’t appear in the menu if nothing is highlighted. Press the menu key and select Add folder. Give your folder a name, and we’re ready to add some contacts to it.

Go to your contacts on your BlackBerry and highlight (don’t select) one you’d like to add to your visual address book. Press the menu key and choose Add to Home Screen. In the dialog box that opens, you’ll get options to rename your shortcut, mark it as a favorite, and choose what in folder to save the shortcut. Unless you want your shortcut in two different places, uncheck the box next to Mark as Favorite. Next to location, you’ll see the default setting is “Home.” We want to change that to the name of your new folder. Click Add, and your shortcut will be in your new folder.

Repeat as necessary to add more contacts. Once you’re done, you’ll have a quick list of all your most used contacts. At a glance, you’ll be able to find who you’re looking for. Unlike the actual Contacts, you can order your shortcuts any way you’d like. Clicking or touching the link will open their contact information. In addition, you’ll also get the person’s recent activity. Emails, Facebook posts, and tweets can all be found here. Select a shortcut and click & hold or open the menu to get a whole hosts of ways to contact your…er, contact.

Though this visual address book does the exact same thing as contacts, it makes things easier. Instead of cluttered with dozens of names, our project only contains those contacted most. We get a friendly face (or icon) to represent our contact; and because the shortcut is in a folder, you can put them in any order you desire. Most importantly, with a little practice, it becomes a super-fast way of connecting with someone…in a variety of ways

Please if away one else that might have any good tips please pass them our way to TIPS@NHCBBA.COM

 

Thanks from CB

BlackBerry PlayBook OS v1.0.3 update details – BBM, Video Chat and more

We heard earlier today that a new OS update for the BlackBerry PlayBook would be made available as early tonight and now we have some details as to just what will be included in the new software. OS 1.0.3 will include both the much anticipated video chat as well as BBM (via Bridge). Document editing via Bridge is a new feature that will allow users to edit documents stored on your phone via the PlayBook, and also users will now have the ability to create browser bookmarks on the homescreen for one-click access.

The update is scheduled to roll out later this evening and should be fully available by Tuesday. To check for the update, go to Settings > Software Update on your PlayBook (or just wait for the notification). Keep reading for full details on all the included features.

Source: Inside BlackBerry

Stocks+ updated to 1.2 With Portolio Customization

BerryBlow has just upgraded their Stocks+ app to 1.2.  One of the highlighted features of this release is the addition of Portfolio customization, which really makes managing your stocks easy.  If you are unfamiliar with Stocks+, it is a very powerful simple app that lets you monitor stock markets from around the world, create your own portfolio within the application, and also set alerts from user inputted variables, such as a set sell price.

 

BerryBlow’s Stocks+ also lets you display your portfolio on your homescreen with a customizable display, and it also will only update during the market hours you have set via the settings menu.  Another nice feature of this app is that it uses Yahoo Finance as its information backbone so stocks from around the world are supported.  And if you don’t fully remember the symbol name, it has real time search as you’re inputting the stock symbol showing related matches.

Key Features of Stocks+

• Easy to use user interface. Just start the application and you will see a base set of stock quotes.
• Live Home Screen with stock quotes list. You can set in settings to display the list of stock on your Home Screen as wallpaper. Depends on your preferences you can customize widget position, width, height and transparency.
• Stocks automatically Updated in background. You can set an update interval with 1, 3, 10, 30 minutes and 1 hour. You don’t need to run application all day. Stocks+ engine runs as a system hidden application that efficiently use a CPU time.
• Add your stocks. Easy to add a new stocks. Use a stock lookup feature or add it directly.
• Get advanced stock information: “Last Trade, Day’s Range, Day’s High, Day’s Low, Trade Time, 52 week Range, Previous Close, Volume, Open, Market Cap, Bid, P/E (ttm), Ask, 1y Target”.
• Support all connection types. Application supports connection via BES, BIS, TCP and Wi-Fi.

Highlighted features of the 1.2 update:

– Portfolio.
Portfolio: simplifies and improves your ability to manage your investment portfolio

– Updated UI.
New user interface theme, usability improvements etc.

– New version notifications
Application displays popup alerts if new version is available for download.

BerryBlow has done a really nice job this past year with this app, and keep adding great features, a 10 day free trial is available as well as the full version for $4.99 in the NHCBBA App Store

How to extend the battery life of your BlackBerry OS 6

Ever wonder how you can get even more battery life out of your BlackBerry 6 OS smartphone? I found a excellent tutorial via the official RIM BlackBerry HelpBlog on just how to get the most out of your BlackBerry’s battery life.

To keep your device running in top shape, make sure your battery is fully charged whenever possible. Whether you’re at your desk, in your car or relaxing at home, keeping your device plugged in will ensure the battery is ready to go when you are. 

Quick Tip: Wall chargers are the preferable method of charging as it is a direct electrical current to your battery which allows it to recharge quicker.

For MORE click the button BELOW

How to wirelessly update your BlackBerry smartphone to the latest available software version

In order to get the most out of your BlackBerry® smartphone experience, I highly recommend making sure your device software is up-to-date. In this post, I’ll be specifically talking about how to update the BlackBerry® Torch™ 9800 smartphone, but the steps below can be used to upgrade other BlackBerry smartphones as well. Let’s get started!

RIM Releases a Few Details About the BlackBerry Torch OS 6.0.0.246 Improvements

We recently wrote about the official OS 6.0.0.246 for the BlackBerry Torch and RIM has sent over a few vague yet helpful notes about the latest update. It’s hard to be motivated to update your OS when RIM or the carriers don’t tell you what has been improved, but it looks like .246 has some worthwhile improvements. Some of the performance improvements include:

• Browser – faster page loading and improved panning
• User input – handled more efficiently, improved responsiveness after unlocking device
• Applications – faster launching, exiting and switching
• Home Screen – faster rendering and smoother transitions when switching between panes
• Media – faster rendering of thumbnails in picture application
• Email/Messaging – faster and smoother scrolling in message list and when reading email
• Voice- Software improvements for improved audio quality

To grab the update for your Torch, head over to blackberry.com/updates.

Press Release: Research In Motion unleashes BlackBerry 6

[ youtube video link for mobile viewing ]

Along with the announcement of the BlackBerry Torch 9800 came the announcement of BlackBerry 6. Since the BlackBerry Torch 9800 will be the first device running on BlackBerry 6 a press release for BlackBerry 6 in general has been released on it’s own. Hit the jump for the full details from that release. The news we all wanted can be found in this statement:

BlackBerry 6 will debut on the new BlackBerry® Torch™ smartphone (announced today) available from AT&T on August 12 and it is also designed to run on select BlackBerry smartphones already in market. Subject to carrier certifications in the months ahead, the new OS is expected to be available for the BlackBerry® Bold™ 9700, BlackBerry® Bold™ 9650 and BlackBerry® Pearl™ 3G, as well as future BlackBerry smartphones.

Now all we need is a really fast roll out to other devices and even faster carrier adoption.