Alert = a buddy might send you an alert to get your attention
New Message = somewhat self-explanatory, is it?
In and out of holster and separate settings for your BB to use if it is IN the holster or OUT. With the BB placed IN its holster, it goes in a battery-saving sleep mode. So the alerts are different than if it is OUT of the holser.
I have google talk on my 8310. I'd like to set up a very loud alert when someone sends me a new message, and not so loud when there is a message in an existing conversation. I thought that was the difference between these two alerts. I guess not.
How would someone send me an alert to get my attention? I can't find a way to use that function.