[tintin123456]

Hello Everyone,

Greetings! I just bought my 1st BB. Its a 9700, and I need your help. I am coming from Nokia E61i. BB seems both similar and different from Symbian S60 3rd Ed phones. Here are a few things that I am trying to short out.

I bought my 9700 in eBay. It was advertised as a sim-free model from RIM without any career branding, but of course, it is not. I am lucky though. It is unlocked, PIN/IMEI is working fine, there was no IT profile. I registered with AT&T's BIS and all (e-mail, browser etc.) works fine. So, that is a good news.

Q1) The Vendor ID is 612. Anyone know its original carrer? When I turn it on, it does not show any career logo. Goes directly to the home screen.

Q2) It comes with only one Theme: Precision Zen. Here is the funny thing. Icons in this theme are identical to the icons you get in AT&T branded 9700 (such as, AT&T Mall, Media Net, Get AT&T Nevigator etc.). There is no BB Maps available. How is this possible?

Q3) About BB Maps: BB Maps is available in this phone. I can see it in the Service Books and within the GPS options. But I cannot get the application running. The compas like icon to launch Maps is missing. My guess is, if I can install the generic RIM's 9700 theme or some other theme without restriction then I will be able to get back the Maps. Am I right? Where can I find the generic theme that apperas in the RIM's pictures?

Q4) I cannot find an option to change the homescreen icons. How do I do it?

Q5) Can you recommend me a theme that has "Today Screen"? I like BB icons, and I don't wany something funcky. Precision Zen is pretty good. Is there anything similar that you would recommed? Is there anything with 2 lines (6 in total) of homescreen icons?

Q6) Where is the "Send Items" in mailbox? I cannot find the e-mails that I send.

Q7) What is the best Weather App for 9700? I used Handy Weather in E61i, which I liked a lot.

Q8) Anyone use Worldmate? WM seems very expansive for BB devices. Any other alternative?

Q9) What is the most recent software version?

I will have lots of other questions. Thanks everyone for your help.

By the way, here are some details about the phone I bought. I am totally noob about BlackBerry. So I will greatly appreciate any other help and/or any other point/issue that I should know.

The phone came in original black color RIM BlackBerry box. The white sticker on the side of the box have IMEI, PIN etc. Everything looks fine. I looked-up the IMEI information in the following website:

International Numbering Plans, © 2001-2010

IMEI analysis looks perfect. The box contain the phone and 8 accesorries: a poutch, charger, USB cable, battery, BB UK clip, BB US clip, BB Europe clip, and an Earpiece -- all of them are in sealed BB plastic packages with barcodes and other details. The phone looks absolutely barnd new from factory with intact screen cover, backside cover, camera cover (the clear plastic protectors). No career logo/information anywhere at all. There is also a packet of documents in a sealed plastic package (such as, "Start Here..." etc) with real BB barcodes and logos.

Thanks everyone,
Tintin

[Rootbrian]

It looks to be a blackberry right off the assembly line! Also, that seller didn't describe it well, it was sounding like misleading description. I would be skeptical about them not describing it well. The latest OS is at the top of the 9700 forums, go to the first post though.

Best weather app: weathereye.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[kailashr]

How much did u buy it for?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Andiio]

A theme I would recommend similar to precision zen is called Imagining theme. There's a number of other themes that would fit your criteria, but for ease of use the theme I've recommended can be found on the BB App World.

Changes to your homescreen icons is to do with the positioning of icons in your menu. Hit the BB button and move them about, the first row will display on your homescreen.

Although not exactly what you asked for, you could just use google maps instead of BB maps, I find it to be a far superior alternative.

Best of luck

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[mke67]

For BB Maps you will need to download the lbs_ribbon file from blackberry.com to get the icon to show up. It is about 10k in size.

I use weatherbug.

You can't really change how the icons look and there are really no other icons to choose from, but you can kinda change the way they are grouped. Go to OPTIONS, ADANCED OPTIONS, ACCESSIBILITY and choose the grid layout and color contrast.

Hope this helps.

There is no sent folder. Mail keeps a copy of sent messages. The ones on the list with a check mark are the ones YOU sent. The ones with an envelope are the ones you received.

[aNYthing24]

I think AT&T blocks you off from using BB Maps as a way to get you to use their Navigator. I don't know how to get around that as AT&T isn't my carrier, but try using Google Maps. It's actually better than BB Maps.

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[trego]

I too picked up a bold 9700 from ebay. When I got it I put my sim card in and was able to make calls etc but had to call AT&T to change to a blacberry plan noadded cost. This enabled the personal e-mail setup that was missing when I got the phone. Then I downloaded and installed the latest verison of the desktop manager to my pc connected my phone and was infiormed there was a update available for my phone which I let install and all is well but mine was a AT&T phone from the gitgo.

[aNYthing24]

If you can't find emails you send, go to your messages inbox > BB key > options > general options > hide sent messages > no.

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[tintin123456]

Hello Everyone,

Greart help. Thank you very much. Let me respond to your questions first:

Rootbrian: I think the eBay seller was honest. He had several original pictures in the listing, and he didn't wanted to insert the SIM/battery in the phone b/c he wantd to sell it as 'brand new, never used'. What do you mean by "blackberry right off the assembly line"? This is my 1st BB. In the past I always used Nokia E series phones which are always sold sim-free directly by Nokia. It shows Vendor ID = 612 in the 'Help Me" screen (ALT+CAPS+H). What does it mean? Thanks for the weather app recommendation.

Kailashr: I paid US$475 - 2% Fatwallet cashback. I used "buy-it-now" option.

Andiio: Thanks for the tips. I looked at the screenshots of Imagining theme. Looks great. Regrading maps, I will get the Google maps. I am trying to figure out the 'type' of my phone. It is supposed to be a career unbranded sim-free phone directly from RIM. But, its engineering screen is locked, vendor ID is 612 (not AT&T), the Precision Zen theme (only available theme in the phone) shows identical icons of AT&T branded 9700 (including AT&T mall). Very surprsing, right? It has BB Maps service book, GPS etc. in the options menu, but I cannot launch the app!!!!

mke67: Thank you very much. These are very helpful. I think lbs_ribbon is already in my phone, but the pre-installed theme is ripped from AT&T and so it only shows AT&T authorized apps. Do you know what phone did I bought? It looks like a SIM-free career unbranded phone from RIM, but it has a vendr ID of 612 an so on. Will you please take a look at the description I posted in my posts and give me some feedback on this? Did I really bought a carrer unbraned phone?

Karmaloop: Thanks very much. Any thought about the 'type' of my phone?

trego: I also called AT&T to provision BIS in my SIM. My phone works fine, but I am trying to figure out its 'type'. It looks like a SIM-free phone from RIM, but it has AT&T type icons and apps. Very strange.


Anyone here have a true career unbranded SIM-free 9700 from RIM? If you have one then will you please post the screenshots of its various pages (home, options, advanced options etc)? What happes if you press ALT+CAPS+H in this phone?

Thanks everyone,
Tintin

[aNYthing24]

I think when you put your AT&T SIM into the device and asked AT&T to add BIS to it, it might have blocked off BB maps and added the AT&T icons and such. I forgot to answer you about WorldMate, but the site says it's free. I don't know if this is a good enough alternative, but this is the closest thing I could find to it.

BlackBerry App World - KAYAK Travel search Flights Hotels Cars Flight Status Trips

I looked up your vendor ID, and apparently the ID is used for these carriers: Celluar One, i wireless, Viaero, Antel, Mobility, UTS, BTC Bahamas, Telecom Personal, Telem, SETAR, and West Central Wireless. I honestly can't tell you which one your phone is from or if it is indeed straight from RIM.

[tintin123456]

Updates: I just installed Imaging theme. Looks great. But installing a carrer-free theme does not enable BB Maps (does not get rid of AT&T mall etc).

I found this BB Map Launcher App for AT&T in our forum:

http://forums.crackberry.com/f152/bb...cher-t-369440/

This works! It adds a Compass icon the the download folder. Click on it and you get the BB Maps!

But, enabling BB Maps isn't the solution. Why I have Vendor ID 612 and the phone is like having locked to AT&T? Something must be going on here! Anyone???

Karmaloop: I just saw your new post. Wow! The Vendor ID seems strange at the least. Thanks very much for looking into it. You might be right - AT&T might have made the changes during the OTA. Isn't that strange? This is not AT&T's IMEI. There is also another possibility: Someone unlocked the phone from 612 Vendors. They might have changed the software during the process. May be? Is there any way to wipe off everything from the phone and install a generic BB software?

Thanks for WM info and recommendation. I guess the WM basic is free, but WM Gold is a subscription servive used to be $100+ for BB (only $9.99 for Nokia E series). I have to look into it.

Thanks everyone,
Tintin

[tintin123456]

update:
One more observation. My phone's web browser have the following 'User Agent':

BlackBerry9700/5.0.0.442 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/612

It also shows the Vendor ID = 612. But, when I click on the web browser, I get the "at&t HTML Internet Browser" screen as the home page. Very very strange.

If you are interested, you can check your BB's user agent by visiting the following website from your phone's web browser:

Find your browser's User Agent - GetRight Download Manager

OK, one more question:

Q) Where are the Access Points stored in the phone? How do I access them? More importantly, how the phone received them? I didn't enter them manually.

Any thought?

Tintin

[tintin123456]

One More Question:

Turned off and then turned on my BB 9700, and observed this funny thing! Some of the icons (such as, Make-UR-Tones, Brain Challange 2, Get AT&T Navigator, Scrabble (in download folder), Tetris (in download foldder) etc) turnes into the generic globe like icon identical to the Browser icon. After a while (or after a re-start of the phone), some of the icons turned into their original icons (no longer Browser's globe icon), but some (such as, Make-UR-Tones) didn't.

Isn't this strange? What is happening here?

Tintin

[tintin123456]

Come on guys, no answer to my questions?

My impression about 9700 so far: 9700 has an awesome keyboard - by far the BEST, and also the display, just simply brilliant. But, its handling of apps and access points, settings, browser etc etc are way behind even Nokia's 2006 model E61i (Symbian S60 3rd ed). I used Nokia for the last 6 years, and kind of started to miss it. You can customize almost anything, and you can control the device. Such as, there is no 'app manager' in 9700 - where are my apps? Can I install apps in the memory card - I cannot find that option. Can I download the install files and keep them in my PC (in case I need to wipe the phone in future)? Are they .sis files (like in Nokia) or .exe or something else - how to find them?

Plus, no e-mail folders? Such as, no send folder, no outbox folder, no report folder, for a dedicated business e-mail device? That blows. In E61i, there is one 'messaging' icon and then you get into a 'tabbed view' where each tab is a folder.

I am missing my Nokia a bit. I feel Nokia is TOO POOR in marketing. You guys would have loved E61i if you knew about it.

Anyway, BerryWeather looks awesome (trial version) in 9700. It has a home screen weather wallpaper, which looks brilliant.

WorldMate looks crappy in 9700. Also, 'weathercaster' is missing in BB version. Plus $99 for Gold????? I always paid $9.99 during X-mas holidays for the Symbian version (which seems much better in functionality and looks).

No .zip file opener. Any recommendation?

Any recommendation about a File Manager? Is there a .pdf viewer included (such as documents-to-go's pdf viewer)?

Any phone/sms/mms blacklist or advanced call manager app?

Thanks everone.

Tintin

[aNYthing24]

On the icons: I think that has something to do with service books. For example, I have a hotmail account setup. When I first added it, it had it's own type of icon -- not the generic BlackBerry email icon. However, when I restart the phone the icon goes to the generic one. What I do to correct this is just resend the service books.

Access points: Just go to manage connections. It's all there...bluetooth, wifi.

Apps: Whatever you download usually ends up in your download folder. You can change that by going to your theme options. To see what apps are running and switch between them, just hold down the BlackBerry key and a sort of sub-menu will pop up. You cannot install/run apps from your memory card, but you can keep them on there.

Emails: There's no tabbed feature, I guess BB is lacking in that department.

zip files: you can't create them, but you can open them if they are sent as attachments in your emails.

You can check this out, but it costs money.

Ziplorer – Open & Create ZIP Files From Your BlackBerry | BerryReview.com

PDF viewer: PDA Software - BlackBerry Software, iPhone Software, iPod touch Software, Palm OS Software, webOS Software, Google Android Software, Windows Mobile Software, Windows Smartphone Software, Symbian S60 Software - Developed By DataViz OR BlackBerry App World - BeamReader PDF Viewer (with File Manager)

Data Viz was purchased by RIM, so those products may become native...but there is no timetable.

Block SMS/MMS: go to options > security options > firewall and pick and choose what numbers, etc.

Call blocker: BlackBerry App World - BuzzOff - Best call blocker. Block unwanted calls and do not allow caller to leave a voicemail

Hope I helped.

[tintin123456]

Hi Karmaloop: Thank you. These are very useful. I am learning how to use BB devices.

Is there any good (free or paid) theme with: (1)well-organized clean 'today screen' with at least one mailbox (customizable) and calendar, and (2)weather plug-in?

Is there any Task Manager and File Manager?

Thanks,
Tintin

[aNYthing24]

You know, you could pick and choose what icons you have on your home screen. Just press the BB button when your hovering over and icon and press move and you can move it wherever. For your theme request, I recommend BlackBerry 6 Zen. There's a free and paid version of it. I think this version would work well for you: BlackBerry 6 Zen with HIDDEN TODAY and WEATHER SLOT OTA Download

I am not sure what you mean by task/file manager, can you elaborate?

[tintin123456]

Karmaloop: GREAT theme. Works fantastic. Thanks about the tips to move icons around. In this theme, the 1st and the 6th icones on the homescreen cannot be used for 'today information' on homescreen.

Regarding File Manager: It let you access all the directories and files on your drives (phone and micro sdhc card). Something like windows 'Documents' in PC. Nokia have a 'File Manager' build-in (inside 'office' folder) and also you can get 3rd partty apps to access the hidden and system files. File manager let you see and open and edit and copy-paste-cut all your folders and files at one place. Usually a tabbed view with Phone and sd card in separte tabs.

Regarding Task Manager: It is like windows task manager (alt-crtl-del -> task manager in PC) which lets you see, open, close, kill all the running processes. It shows you memory allocations, RAM usuage etc. etc. So you can kill the memory hogging apps running in the bnackground. 'Handy Taskman' is a simple 3rd party app for Nokia devices. There are other apps with much more and much deeper system control. The main use of it is to kill memory hogging proceeses/apps running in the background.

I have to tell you - I love 9700 very much, but Symbian S60 3rd Ed is a much much much better OS. Nokia is really DUMB in marketing, and making attractive looking phones, they swallowed what Steve Jobs feed them. My E61i even have Blackberry Connect (blackberry mail software license) running.

Thanks very much,
Tintin

[aNYthing24]

I'm glad you liked it. Are you able to use the other icons for the today information?

Files manager: Just go to applications and there should be an icon that looks like a cabinet box that shows the files you have on your computer. I'm not sure if it's that in depth, but it works.

Task manager: hold down the BB button to see what is running. It doesn't show how much memory it's taking up and etc, but lets you switch between apps and close them as you please. However, you cannot close the Browser, BlackBerry Messenger, Messages, Phone, or Home Screen. Those are always running. To monitor how much memory you are using, I recommend downloading this app: BlackBerry App World - MemoryUp Personal. It also optimizes your memory.

I think the new Nokia N8 and E7 look like great devices. The N900 is also nice...very powerful device. The problem with Nokia is that they usually sell their phones unlocked and not through a carrier so their smartphones don't get too much exposure in the US. On the OS front, the 9700 is OS 6 compatible so just be patient for it to be leaked/released by a carrier. It'll improve your experience a lot.