Boost Your Blackberry

Many of us would be lost without our Blackberry Smart Phones. Of course, many of us are lost with our Blackberries too. With so many features, it's often difficult to know where to begin to utilize its power to the fullest. Some of us just start pushing buttons to see what happens while others read the manual from front to back, hoping to get an understanding of all the neat things it can do. While I definitely don't want to re-write the owner's manual here, we could all use a little help with these fussy functions. Here are some tips to making your Blackberry work for you:

Dialing Letters

Something that seriously confused me the first few times I tried to dial a number that had letters in it (such as 1-800-Flowers), I thought my brain would die trying to figure out which number corresponded to the appropriate letter. Luckily, it's way easier than doing that. First, dial the numbers as they are. Then, when you're ready for the letters, simply hit the "ALT" button located on the left hand side of the keyboard, above the "Shift" or "Caps" button. NOTE: You'll have to hit it again for each letter.

Reboot

It's likely that we've all experienced strange hiccups with the Blackberry every once in a while. I've had to take my battery out on more than one occasion just because my phone was acting up. But, there's another way to reboot the Blackberry and it's much like a computer. Hitting "Shift" (also the "Caps" button), "ALT" and "Delete" at the same time will reboot your phone.

Inserting @

If pressing "ALT P" is too difficult when trying to insert the @ sign, there's another way to do it. Simply hit the space bar to enter the @ symbol when composing an email or hit it twice to insert a period. This is essentially a shortcut to avoiding the "ALT" key.

Bookmark Shortcuts

When you're browsing the web, you're probably hitting the Blackberry button, then scrolling to either "Bookmarks" or "Add Bookmark" to get to your favorite websites. But, as you can imagine, there's an easier way. When you're on a webpage, press the letter "K" to view your bookmarks or the letter "A" to add a bookmark.

Speed Up Your Browser

It's a simple trick but worth doing. Downloading images on a page is probably what's slowing your browser down, so turn off the images. From a webpage, click the Blackberry button. Then, scroll all the way down to "Options". Next, go to "Browser Configuration" and change the settings under "Show Images" to "No". Now, I wouldn't normally suggest you do something like this, but it's super simple to correct: when you're on the browser page, press "M" for the main images and "Q" for all images.

Wet Blackberry Trick

Hopefully none of you will ever have to go through the heart pounding devastation of dropping your Blackberry in water. But, accidents do happen. If your Blackberry happens to get soaked, drop it into a bowl of uncooked rice and let it sit overnight. The rice should soak up the water and get your phone working again. NOTE: Be sure to turn the device off before putting it into the rice.

Calendar Shortcuts

If you haven't figured it out by now, the calendar is a little complicated. But, here are a few shortcuts for getting around with ease. First, go into your calendar and hit the Blackberry button. Make sure "Enable Quick Entry" is active by checking that it says "Yes". Then, go back to your calendar and use the "D" key for day, "M" key for month, "W" key for week and "A" key for agenda.

There are a ton of cool things that the Blackberry can do, but many include manipulating your operating system and essentially hacking the phone. Messing with this kind of stuff can be dangerous to your phone and can void your warranty as well. So, for now, we'll keep it squeaky clean. If you have your own tips, post them in the discussion.
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