How to: Capitalize a letter on your Blackberry Keyboard

I am sure every knows to use the Shift aA to capitalize a letter on your Blackberry keyboard, but did you know you can also hold down any letter for 2 seconds and it will automatically capitalize the letter for you? another neat new trick to show your bb friends =)

Blackberry Shortcuts

• Perform a soft reset/reboot your BlackBerry
• Press ALT+CAPS LOCK+DELETE
• To display your PIN number
• Type mypin and press the space key in any text field
• Display your phone number
• Type mynumber and press the space key in any text field
• Display the version of BlackBerry Device Software that you are running
• Type myver and press the space key in any text field
• Display your signal strength as a numeric value
• On the Home screen of the BlackBerry smartphone press and hold the Alt key and type nmll. For BlackBerry smartphones using SureType technology, type nnmll.
• Confirm message delivery to another BlackBerry
• Compose an email message and type at the start of the subject line. If the email message has been delivered to the Blackberry smartphone, an email message appears in your inbox with the subject line BlackBerry Delivery Confirmation.

How do I downgrade the OS on my BlackBerry?

From BlackBerryFAQ

1. Delete the newer OS from your PC by going to Control Panel >Add/Remove Programs.
2. Then download and install the older version of the OS. BlackBerry Operating System Downloads
3. Then locate and delete the file named “vendor.xml”
4. When that’s done, simply plug in your device, open Desktop Manager and run Application Loader. The loader will downgrade the OS

How to Install/Upgrade your Blackberry OS

These directions I pulled and modified from the Pinstack forums, I always refer to them when upgrading my OS on my Blackberry since they are legitimate and work:

Follow these instructions and you should be able to have OS 4.x working for you too.

1.) BACK UP YOUR DATA! – I can’t stress how important it is to get a good backup in the event you need to retore your data.

2.) Download lastest OS 4.x

3.) Install 4.x using the .exe file you just downloaded.

4.) Delete the ‘Vendor.xml’ file ( C:\Program Files\Common Files\Research In Motion\AppLoader ) Or search your computer’s hard drive for the “vendor.xml” file. Once you find it, delete it.

5.) Connect your device to your PC via the USB cable. 

6.) Open Desktop Manager. It should recognize that there is an upgrade for your device. (‘Vendor.xml’ must be deleted for this step to work) Follow the prompts and you will have OS 4.x installed in about 15 to 20 minutes.

Good luck! 

How To: Install new OS on your Blackberry

you can’t do this on the work computer because you cant install, but when you get home, you can follow these steps to install the new os.

1. make sure  you have a data cable for the blackberry and the desktop manager software  (the cd that came with it has the desktop software on it) installed on your PC (not mac).

2. then go to this website, and choose the blackberry color and software to download to your computer. 

https://www.blackberry.com/Downloads/entry.do?code=577BCC914F9E55D5E4E4F82F9F00E7D4

3. after downloading the software (the new os) to your PC, open up your desktop manager for your pearl and CONNECT your pearl to your computer at this point.

4. the next step is optional, but highly recommended: do a backup of your blackberry. it is the second icon (of four) on your desktop manager window. its really easy, just click the icon and save the file. it will save EVERYTHING you had on your bb (except for third party applications) 

5.  ok, now you want to click the first icon which is application loader, the new os should already be in there after you click next. it should be automatically checked as the software you want to install. you can scroll down and check off any other software add ons you want to install. 

6. click next and let it run, this will wipe your BB and install the new os. this should take about 20 min.

7. after the new os installs completely, it will look like brand new factory settings. 

8. then click the backup and restore icon and choose to restore your BB, it should automatically set to reload your previously saved file. if not, find the file and select it. it will then load your BB to how you had it before minus any third party software. even the profile settings are the same. its great!!

Best Blackberry Shortcuts

Here is a compiled list of helpful blackberry shortcuts:

Typing Shortcuts

1) To capitalize a letter with one click, hold down the letter key.

2) To insert a period, click the Space key twice.

3) Turn CAP Lock on by pressing the ALT key followed by the right Shift key. Turn it off by pressing either Shift key

BlackBerry Curve 8320

4) Turn Number Lock on by pressing the ALT key followed by the left Shift key. Turn it off by pressing either Shift key.

5) Type an accented letter or special character by holding the corresponding letter and scrolling left or right with the trackball.

6) Insert the current date into a message or document by pressing the L key followed by the D key

and Space key.

7) Insert the current time into a message or document by pressing the L key followed by the T key and Space key.

Messaging (E-mail and SMS)

1) In e-mail inbox, press the S key to search for a sender or a word within a subject line, and any mail folder regardless of message was sent or received.

2) Within inbox, access the complete list of messages sent by hitting the ALT key followed by the O key.

3) Within inbox, access the complete list of messages received by hitting the ALT key followed by the I key.

4) Within inbox, access the complete list of SMS text messages received by hitting the ALT key followed by the S key.

5) Within inbox, access phone log by hitting the ALT key followed by the P key.

6) Within inbox, access voicemail log by hitting the ALT key followed by the V key.

7) To delete all messages sent or received before a specific date, highlight that date with the cursor, hit the BlackBerry Menu key, select Delete Prior and confirm selection.

8) To enable automatic spell checking of e-mail messages, click the Options icon on BlackBerry home screen. Then click Spell Check and select the Spell Check E-Mail Before Sending option.

9) To do a manual spell check, click the BlackBerry Menu key within a composed message and select Check Spelling.

10) When a message is being spell checked, suggested fixes to unrecognized words can be ignored by clicking the escape key.

Spreadsheet Attachments:

1) Change the size of a column by pushing the W key.

2) Go to a specific cell by pressing the G key.

3) View contents of a cell by pressing the Space key.

4) Search for text by clicking the F key, and then type the desired word.

5) Switch to a different worksheet by pressing V and selecting the desired sheet.

Presentation Attachments:

1) Skip to the next slide by pressing the N key.

2) Return to the previous slide by clicking the P key.

3) Start slideshow by pushing the S key.

4) Stop slideshow by clicking the Escape key.

5) Switch to a new view of the slideshow by clicking the M key.

Phone Functions

1) Multitask while on phone calls by hitting the BlackBerry menu key during a call and then selecting Home Screen. You’ll then have access to e-mail and other documents–though most BlackBerrys don’t allow for simultaneous voice and data transfer, so Internet access is unavailable while on calls.

2) Find specific contacts from your BlackBerry home screen by pressing keys for first and last initials, with a space between them. If more than one contact has the same initials, scroll to the appropriate contact.

BlackBerry Browser

1) Bring up the Enter Web Address field from any Web page by pressing the G key.

2) Insert a period in Web address by clicking the Space key.

3) Insert a back slash in Web address by clicking either the Left Shift or Right Shift keys and then hitting Space.

4) Add an item to bookmarks list by clicking the A key.

5) Bring up your bookmark list by clicking the K key.

6) Refresh a Web page by clicking the R key.

7) Display a list of the last 20 pages visited by hitting the I key.

8) Open browser options with the O key.

Back to Basics: Starts and Stops

1) To put device into Standby Mode so keys cannot be pressed while it’s not in use, hold down the Mute key for a second or two. Undo Standby Mode by holding Mute for another couple of seconds.

2) If BlackBerry slows down, starts malfunctioning or freezing, always try removing the battery and SIM card–if the device has one–and waiting a few seconds before reinserting it. Ninety-five percent of the issues Aflac BlackBerry users experience are resolved by simply removing the battery, according to Genet.

How To: Setup email on your new AT&T Blackberry

* Make sure you have a Blackberry data plan on your account. 

* go to

<http://www.cingular.com/blackberrystart > > www.cingular.com/blackberrystart < http://www.cingular.com/blackberrystart>  on your computer

 * click on the link in the middle of the page which says

<http://bis.na.blackberry.com/html?brand=mycingular > > Click here to continue directly to BlackBerry Internet Service Login page 

* select register blackberry

* type in the PIN and IMEI of your blackberry (this is located on the side of the blackberry box in the serial number portion)

* create a login and password. (make sure you write this down somewhere for further reference) 

* create a new email address with your blackberry or skip and choose to add an existing email address

* type in your existing email and password that you want registered to your blackberry

* shortly you should receive a text to your blackberry that lets you know that the email address was registered to your blackberry 

 Make sure that you enable forwarding to mobile device or pda on your email account. To do so, log into your email account and go into settings to ENABLE the forwarding.