[Tourcracker]

Ok never had a blackberry before and honestly I'm in love with it. Here are some random thoughts that I have ( not all positive) and maybe someone can help me with it? I will say the phone worked wonderfully in England and in Guernsey.

1) The ear volume ( not when on speaker phone) when listening to someone seems lower than the average phone? Is this just me or is this a common complaint?

2) The battery life is weak. Going with the new extended battery that crackberry is selling for like $50.00 . Anyone try it yet?

3) Any decent application that lets me verbally text? Nothing wrong with safety and this keyboard doesn't seem to be a texters dream.
My texting speed is like a 3rd grader on this keyboard. I wish the keyboard was a bit bigger and softer.

5) Ok dumb question, whats the diff between SMS and MMS text ?

6) Anyone use the Quick Text app along with Beyond 100? These seem to be my first two purchases from the app store

Anyway to have the front display dim ( especially at night) to preserve battery life?

7) Any alarm clock applications that allow multiple alarms?

8) Is there a one touch way to delete all your message without dragging and high lighting all of them?

Thank you for your input in advance.

[Lynx]

Ok never had a blackberry before and honestly I'm in love with it. Here are some random thoughts that I have ( not all positive) and maybe someone can help me with it? I will say the phone worked wonderfully in England and in Guernsey.

1) The ear volume ( not when on speaker phone) when listening to someone seems lower than the average phone? Is this just me or is this a common complaint?

2) The battery life is weak. Going with the new extended battery that crackberry is selling for like $50.00 . Anyone try it yet?

3) Any decent application that lets me verbally text? Nothing wrong with safety and this keyboard doesn't seem to be a texters dream.
My texting speed is like a 3rd grader on this keyboard. I wish the keyboard was a bit bigger and softer.

5) Ok dumb question, whats the diff between SMS and MMS text ?

6) Anyone use the Quick Text app along with Beyond 100? These seem to be my first two purchases from the app store

Anyway to have the front display dim ( especially at night) to preserve battery life?

7) Any alarm clock applications that allow multiple alarms?

8) Is there a one touch way to delete all your message without dragging and high lighting all of them?

Thank you for your input in advance.

1. Ear volume doesnt seem to be an issue with me.
2. The biggest mistake of new blackberry owners is simply hitting the end button to close out an app. You need to hit the BB button and scroll to close. I can get a full weekend out of one charge with the normal battery.
3. No idea on this at all. But I will tell you that you get blazing fast with the keyboard over time. I hated it when I first got it, but now im incredibly fast typing on it and almost error free.
4.?
5. SMS is a short message (160 characters max) MMS is multimedia message can be up to 1000 characters, or video/picture etc etc
6. I use both of those and love them. Another fantastic purchase for me was BerryPopUp. You can change the backlight under Option> screen keyboard. I have mine set to like 20% to help conserve battery also.
7. I think BB alarms pro will do what your looking for.
8. Scroll to the very top of the messages, hit the BB button and click "delete prior".

Hope this helps!

[Dsmithjr]

One thing I've noticed about the volume from the ear piece on all of my BB is that it really matters how you're holding the phone up to your ear. Really try moving the phone around while you're talking on it to see if the volume improves from one position to the next.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Tourcracker]

Thanks! The delete message thing is a big help lol. I will check out the alarm application too. Getting in the habit of closing the stuff will take some getting used to. I doubt you can do this but anyway to take songs from ITUNES over to the blackberry

[mjs31]

I had an issue with my ear volume on my first Tour. Surprisingly it got better. Much better on my second one.

Battery life...no complaint at all, but you need to make sure you are not leaving battery eating apps open all day. After my brief stint with the Iphone recently...this battery life seems like a week. Dont get me wrong...not an Iphone slam since I really liked the phone for what it does, but battery life is horrid.

Thing to note...may seem like a no brainer to just send MMS instead of sms, but some cannot receive mms and others pay more to get them.

BBAlarms Pro...great app.

Yeah....you can delete any messages below a certain date. Just be on that date and click options. It will give you the delete all below option and also mark all read option.

[Lynx]

Thanks! The delete message thing is a big help lol. I will check out the alarm application too. Getting in the habit of closing the stuff will take some getting used to. I doubt you can do this but anyway to take songs from ITUNES over to the blackberry

Not sure about the iTunes thing. But if you have mp3's that you got from a different source (torrents, ares, limewire) you can put those on your memory card.

[Asperse]

Yes, you can use BlackBerry Media Sync to synchronise your iTunes library with your BlackBerry.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Tourcracker]

This forum rocks. Thank you. Just brought over like 10 songs from my itunes and set them up as ring tones. Neat. Will bring over a few more but worried about memory too. Atleast no need to purchase music ring tones. Thank you.

Next dumb question

What's the best way to buy applications, like BBAlarm pro, Quick text and beyond 160? from crackberry here or another place?

[ross778]

I'm new to the Blackberry also, I got my first one about 3 weeks ago. I'm from a long line of Palms, 600, 650, 700p 700wx, 755, 800w and the Pro, plus an HTC Mogul. I'm really impressed with the stability of the platform.

I've noticed the same problem with the phone volume. I came from a Treo Pro, the volume was the best on it than any phone I've ever had.

The battery to me seems about average for a windows phone. I was really expecting something huge from what others had told me about Blackberries. I get about a day. I had Sprint replace the battery and it still doesn't do any better. I thought it would get better after a few days of cycling it in the charger, but as I've looked at the forums, I've noticed that this seems to be an issue with the tour. My wife has a Curve that gets alot better battery life.

You can either get apps here or with blackberry app store, both are about the same price.

You really do get hooked. I'm always looking for something newer and better, thats my downfall according to my wife anyway. I just upgraded to OS 5. Love it so far, the threaded sms is fantastic. That was the thing that I missed the most.

[Lynx]

This forum rocks. Thank you. Just brought over like 10 songs from my itunes and set them up as ring tones. Neat. Will bring over a few more but worried about memory too. Atleast no need to purchase music ring tones. Thank you.

Next dumb question

What's the best way to buy applications, like BBAlarm pro, Quick text and beyond 160? from crackberry here or another place?

Id do it through here only because they are easy to manage, and very helpful when you switch a device type (Tour to Storm etc etc). When you switch through crackberry it will show you what apps are compatible and whatnot. Plus if you are patient you will get them for 50% through deals and specials Also note that right now there is an app similar to quicktext on sale on the crackberry main page right now. Its only 2.99

[tscharf]

Your battery issue will be solved with OS 5.0.

My current discharge rate is 1.7% per hour, running multiple apps in the background and pretty heavy usage.

I can easily go 1.5-2 days on a single charge ow that I've been running the 5.0 OS.

[Tourcracker]

Ok, what is a threaded SMS? And any word on when Verizon is going with the 5.0. ? Even with being careful today with closing applications, something that i wasn't originally doing, I would call the battery fair. Certainly better but not fantastic. How do you find out your battery discharge rate? I went with the quick text app and its great!

[WayneN]

2) The battery life is weak. Going with the new extended battery that crackberry is selling for like $50.00 . Anyone try it yet?

Definitely make sure you close apps that are using the GPS. Better yet, turn your GPS off except for when you need it.

Put your phone in standby mode as often as possible (button on top right of phone). Standby mode saves the battery a lot.

An app that I really like is called AutoStandby. It automatically puts your phone into standby mode X seconds after the screen goes blank.

I use the phone quite a bit, and even being careful closing apps and using AutoStandby, the battery barely gets me through the day. For that reason, I am going to purchase a spare cheapo battery/charger off of ebay. I did that the same thing when I had my Curve, and having the spare battery/charger basically solved any battery issues that I was having.

3) Any decent application that lets me verbally text? Nothing wrong with safety and this keyboard doesn't seem to be a texters dream.
My texting speed is like a 3rd grader on this keyboard. I wish the keyboard was a bit bigger and softer.

I liked Vlingo when it was free. I think they're trying to charge something like $20 for it now. I don't think that it works in BB messenger though, and that's where I could really use it.

Good luck with your new gizmo!

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[ross778]

Your battery issue will be solved with OS 5.0.

My current discharge rate is 1.7% per hour, running multiple apps in the background and pretty heavy usage.

I can easily go 1.5-2 days on a single charge ow that I've been running the 5.0 OS.

I installed 5.0 today, so far I haven't experienced any difference in battery usage. I've heard several people say that it should get better, I'm hoping so. My wife's curve gets much better battery life. I figured that this is due to the different types of phones.

[Lynx]

Ok, what is a threaded SMS? And any word on when Verizon is going with the 5.0. ? Even with being careful today with closing applications, something that i wasn't originally doing, I would call the battery fair. Certainly better but not fantastic. How do you find out your battery discharge rate? I went with the quick text app and its great!

you can get 5.0 on this forum already. I believe there are 3 leaks of 5.0 for the tour .140, .191, and .230. I am using .230 and in no way will I ever downgrade to 4.7 again. Check the OS Hybrid/Beta part of the forums, you will find it. For me the battery life increased slightly with 5.0. I have basically been on my phone since 7:30am EST, and my discharge rate for today is 6% an hour. Not to bad considering I have been using GPS alot today. You can find out your discharge rate with an app called "Meterberry" its a cool little app, I bought it when it was on sale, I wouldnt pay full price for it. Just my 2 cents on it.

[In2uition]

Ok, what is a threaded SMS? And any word on when Verizon is going with the 5.0. ?

Here is a screenshot of threaded SMS:


It's easier to show you than explain it. As you can tell its a lot better than what is currently available on 4.7.


No word on with OS 5.0 will be officially available. So far people on this forum have been using beta versions of the OS. I tired it too, but I like Blackberry Messenger 5.0 & Facebook and so far it doesn't work with the beta versions of OS 5.0

[Lynx]

Here is a screenshot of threaded SMS:


It's easier to show you than explain it. As you can tell its a lot better than what is currently available on 4.7.


No word on with OS 5.0 will be officially available. So far people on this forum have been using beta versions of the OS. I tired it too, but I like Blackberry Messenger 5.0 & Facebook and so far it doesn't work with the beta versions of OS 5.0

Facebook works with 5.0.

[Versedboi]

ok whats a pimm message for the slow ones like myself