[Jimberry Storm]

All these posts are very helpful. I do have a question though, does anyone know of an app. that would fix this? (I have some employees that are smart phone challanged)

[harley2ride]

Just adding my 2cents worth, that it SUCKS that blackberry has no way to show what time zone you are in. Last week I drove to Las Vegas. I was an hour off on a couple of events that I went to (had to wait around 1hr.). It ticked me off that there is nothing on the blackberry to show the current time.

I have read all the posts, and to a point, I understand why, I just don't get how other phones like palm can do it, but blackberry can't. At the very least, there should be an app you can run to see what time zone you are in, and the current time there.

[jeffh]

You can always see the network time by looking in Options / Date/Time. You just can't get the BlackBerry to display that on the Home Screen. I even bought an app that claimed to adjust for time zone, but it still required you to manually change it in Options.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[lookingglass4]

Without the dig at Jeff for the "crackberry pipe", I agree with BG123.

If this issue comes up so often, why not create a fix for it? Simply an explaination of "That's just the way it is... so get over it" is not acceptable to me. We are a community of programmers, and application writers. Let's put an end to the "monthly questions" and create a patch. C'mon folks... do you always conform???

[lookingglass4]

Good Point. Pro Choice.

[wig2ish]

I need some help with an issue I think was caused by time zone settings. After an update of a Blackberry Bold a sync was completed as usual but now all recurring events such as B days span 2 days. The times seems to have shifted 4am to 4am rather than 12 to 12. There are many of them, so what would be the easiest fix for my issue? I don't understand why this happened. The phone had been synced hundreds of times with the same settings in desktop manager, but after this update this occurred.

I have the exact same problem and it may be related to time zones. I've not changed the time zone when the contact info was added to the device. I've looked all over the Storm for settings to address this and I'm at a loss.

I'm seeing birthday calendar entries that span two days in the Storm. The entry appears on the correct day and the next day. If I delete one entry it goes away from both days. The birthdays are set in the individuals contact info. When the birthday is selected in each day it shows the correct day even on the wrong day (if the birthday is on the 3rd it will show the 3rd even on the 4th). It shows an all day event and for the event to just be one day (not spanning two days).

I do not wireless sync. I do my data entry on my Storm and when I sync I have it set to overwrite Outlook. Outlook displays the birthday spanning over two days as well. I've updated the OS from .75 to .122 to .148 so there were restores from Outlook.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

BTW, for those who posted about the Treo and TZ - I agree with the ease at which the Treo handled this. I miss the ability to color appointments and icons to quickly see events in a month view. I don't miss the hardware!

[Grumpy Old Tom]

I've read pretty much the entire thread, YOW! I'm not so important - scheduling meetings and what-not. But I'm sitting here in Phoenix with my BB time still at ET because I am lazy beyond all belief!

It seems one simple solution - a patch, an OS update, an application, whatever - would be to show both on the front screen.

For me, that's enough. Aw, no, wait, I could get fancy... Let's have the user select a "home" time zone. He/she shouldn't have to change that unless they move. Now on the main screen, you show Home time and Local (network) time. Clicking one would cause it to grow larger, bold whatever - and update your (time zone specific) appointments to that zone.

Anybody see any holes in that? Other than RIM not (currently) providing the programming "hooks"?

I mean, gee whiz folks - these Storms even have a GPS, we have enough storage memory to hold hours upon hours of music, etc, and the app memory is none too slight either. Plus there's pleny of real estate on the screen. I say call'em up, let's get this started!

As an aside, I'm a real noob here, why do people display their device PIN?

[Grumpy Old Tom]

Sorry, DP! - And as a second aside, someone up the thread said that the clock on the Storm could be configured to show both time zones at once, I think. I couldn't find that setting, but am still at Verizon's official 4.7.0.75 software on my Storm.

Thanks!

Grump Old Tom

[jeffh]

I can't help you with your Storm-specific question, but why haven't you changed your time zone? All-day events get spread across two days. That's a bug, but is ignorable for a temporary time zone change on a trip. If you're permanently in Arizona, then fix them. The only other problem will be if you assumed a 1:00 pm ET appointment was the same time as 1:00 pm MT. But once you correct those mistakes, your calendar will be right for both time zones.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Grumpy Old Tom]

Jeff,

I haven't changed it because I'm just lazy. Plus, if I don't change the time, it reminds me of what time it is on the East Coast so I don't call my wife too late! Either situation (+/- 3 hrs) could be handled easily in my li'l punkin head! My watch band broke and so I'm traveling without a watch.

But as I said, I don't use the calendar at all, so the appointment thing is no big deal for me. I just wondered if my suggestion (home time, local time) would be a better algorithm to follow. It seems like it has merits, it's only using the information that is already there, and it could, if implemented as I described, give the user control over how how they want to see their appointments displayed. - I mean, someday I may need to start making appointments!

Thanks for the reply.

[TwinkleFingers]

One problem I'm finding is that the BB doesn't retain the time zone setting for each appointment. The offset from GMT is correct, but if I go in to edit the appointment, the time zone is automatically switched to the current device time zone

I live in New York, but work every summer in California. So any appointments I've put in for the summer I entered in Outlook specifying Pacific Time are switched to Eastern Time (the time of my device) when I sync. For example, if I enter something for 2:30pm Pacific Time (through the BB or through Outlook) it shows with the correct 3 hour offset, at 5:30pm Eastern, but if I go back in to edit it, the time it shows isn't the Pacific Time I entered, but the Eastern Time equivalent. That makes editing a REAL pain because I have to remember to keep changing the time zone, instead of just entering it once and having it retained.

I just switched (very happily, I might add) to the BB from a Palm TX, and that handled the display of time zones much better (even if it would get fubar when syncing after changing the PC and Palm time zones). If I had an appointment entered for 2:30pm Pacific Time, with the Palm still set to Eastern time, it would show:

5:30pm (2:30 PT).

That seems like a solution that would satisfy most of the complaints I read here, I think. Too bad Palm didn't live up to what I needed in other ways, but then again, if it had, I wouldn't have become a crackberry addict.

[jeffh]

I like your proposed solution. It would also be nice if you could tell the BB to use PT for all appointments from 6/1 to 8/31. Then you could look ahead while still in ET and see your appointments correctly in PT.

[TwinkleFingers]

I love that idea, too, Jeff. I'm usually in one location for 6-10 weeks, so putting a "change time zone" event in the calendar would be a nice thing. Don't know if there are enough other people out there who want it to make it worth anyone's while to do, but it would help me a LOT.

About the problem of not retaining time zone in the events, is that how BB has always been? It would really be nice if events retained the time zone I'd entered, so I don't have to remember to change when I go in to edit.

Come to think of it, that could also allow a "local time" zone, so that the people who have daily alarms and want to keep them at the same local time, no matter what zone, would have what they want, too.

[jeffh]

...About the problem of not retaining time zone in the events, is that how BB has always been? It would really be nice if events retained the time zone I'd entered, so I don't have to remember to change when I go in to edit....

To retain the time zone on the appointment would require you to be able to display the time zone on the calendar. Then you'd have lots of people looking at the 3:00 and ignoring the (PT) beside it and getting even more confused. I agree, though, it makes editing a bit of a hassle until you get used to it. It's easier with Outlook 2007, since it gives you drop-down boxes for selecting the time zone on an appointment-by-appointment basis.

[pmwriter]

I suppose the thing that confuses me the most about this is that I used a Palm Treo smartphone for several years. It was able to reset the time, as a "dumbphone" would do, without affecting the calendar at all. Why can't RIM do the same thing? Why is the time on the phone tied into the calendar? Can they not be separated? It seems to me that would be a simple fix; phone time does not equal calendar time. This is just my opinion.

[dtubbs06]

I suppose the thing that confuses me the most about this is that I used a Palm Treo smartphone for several years. It was able to reset the time, as a "dumbphone" would do, without affecting the calendar at all. Why can't RIM do the same thing? Why is the time on the phone tied into the calendar? Can they not be separated? It seems to me that would be a simple fix; phone time does not equal calendar time. This is just my opinion.

Your's and MANY other people who have posted here agree with you. Though tying the system time zone to the calendar time zone may be helpful for some, it is not for others. (Again as others have asked) Why not allow us, the user, to decide whether it is tied to the calendar or not.

Unfortunately, I don't think RIM will be changing this anytime soon.

I think there may be people in Palm or WinMo forums asking the exact opposite question of why their device DOESN'T tie the system time zone to the calendar, and wishing (like us) that they could change it.

[pmwriter]

I think there may be people in Palm or WinMo forums asking the exact opposite question of why their device DOESN'T tie the system time zone to the calendar, and wishing (like us) that they could change it.

I suspect that you're right. Still, it would be nice to have the option to choose. I really suck at trying to figure out where a time zone changes and it was nice to just be able to rely on my phone to handle that for me. Not to mention that I don't like having to re-set my watch or remember how many hours to add or subtract to get the correct time. I may have to invest in the app that changes the time on the BB for you, it's only about $10. Has anyone tried this, any opinions?

trish

[bberrydevice86]

Definitely a wealth of information that can be understood thanks jeff

[jeffh]

I suspect that you're right. Still, it would be nice to have the option to choose. I really suck at trying to figure out where a time zone changes and it was nice to just be able to rely on my phone to handle that for me. Not to mention that I don't like having to re-set my watch or remember how many hours to add or subtract to get the correct time. I may have to invest in the app that changes the time on the BB for you, it's only about $10. Has anyone tried this, any opinions?

trish

I purchased "TrackIt: Time Zone Edition." It's a nice app for displaying multiple time zones at once, and it displays what it calls "Local Time" at the top of the screen, but you still have to manually change the time zone to the correct zone in the Date/Time screen on the BlackBerry before the "Local Time" will be correct. I'm not aware of any app that will automatically change time zones on a BlackBerry, but I have not done an exhaustive search. If anybody finds one, please post the name and where you found it here.

[pmwriter]

I'll keep watching the thread, and searching through the apps, for one that will do what I'm looking for. I'm also surprised at how few apps seem available for the BB, as compared to what I'm used to for the Palm, but that's a different thread. :-)

trish

[aguden]

I need some help with an issue I think was caused by time zone settings. After an update of a Blackberry Bold a sync was completed as usual but now all recurring events such as B days span 2 days. The times seems to have shifted 4am to 4am rather than 12 to 12. There are many of them, so what would be the easiest fix for my issue? I don't understand why this happened. The phone had been synced hundreds of times with the same settings in desktop manager, but after this update this occurred.

I have the same problem with my Bold and Outlook 2007. I updated the BB operating system last week and when I did a sync the Outlook recurring all day appointments were all either from 4:00 AM to 4:00 PM (for those during EDT) or 5:00 AM to 5:00 PM during EST. Fixed all of the Outlook eappointments and the synchs were fine. Then updated the Desktop Manager software and the same thing happened again! Bummer.

[jeffh]

I don't see this as a time zone issue. It sounds like a bug.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[martijn55]

In one of the many threads dealing with and/or complaining about this behavior, someone mentioned that the way to avoid this TZ shifting and appt ambiguity is that rather than change the TZ when you arrive in a new location, rather just use the Date/Time function and JUST CHANGE THE TIME - leave the TZ as it is (wrong). Your appts would not be time shifted but your device will show the correct time.

I was disappointed that my new Blackberry did the same weird thing to my calendar as my old Nokia Communicators: change Time Zone and your calendar becomes a mess. But F2's suggestion solved that for me.
When the plane lands just change the BB to the time announced by the flight attendant (Options > Date/Time > Time), like you change your watch. The BB Clock will now indicate local time, and can safely be used to wake you up in the morning. Thanks, F2.

[Barry41561]

Your's and MANY other people who have posted here agree with you. Though tying the system time zone to the calendar time zone may be helpful for some, it is not for others. (Again as others have asked) Why not allow us, the user, to decide whether it is tied to the calendar or not.

Unfortunately, I don't think RIM will be changing this anytime soon.

I think there may be people in Palm or WinMo forums asking the exact opposite question of why their device DOESN'T tie the system time zone to the calendar, and wishing (like us) that they could change it.

Good day all -- and much thanks to you Jeff for all the time you spend on this issue.

I had a Verizon issue earlier today, that wound up being a RIM issue. Once the RIM tech was finished with my issue, I spoke to him about the time zone / calender issue (bug, to me). His response was rather surprising -- he told me that RIM is working on some sort of modification to correct this.

So -- has anyone out there heard anything from anyone about this?

As I've previously written -- this 'problem' is the one issue keeping me looking for other smartphone options....

[dahorror]

JeffH, thank you for posting this. I am not yet a BB user but expect to be receiving one in the next few days and wanted to try to educate myself on its use.

This is a problem that I had heard about from associates and did not understand how it could be that the time did not change on their device.

Even reading through this entire post, I wasn't getting it. In my mind, the calendar entries and the clock were separate issues. Some of the problems seemed that they could be resolved if RIM would just put in some new choices and configuration setting (i.e., One of the time zones could be simply to set a local time, you can set config so that you can set the clock and/or calendar to specific setting to use local time or home time, etc.).

The thing that finally turned on the lightbulb for me was your disclaimer on the first entry of this post stating "Disclaimer: I am not an expert on network time formats. I don't know what the carrier cell site broadcasts. The time code may include time zone information. If it does, the Blackberry doesn't appear to know it."

Following one of the links that you posted in this string stated that the time zone was optional. That was the point where I got it.

Even if the time changed, the time zone setting would be inconsistant, at best. Then you would be really messed up on appointments because it would act one way sometimes and differently others.

Thank you again. It makes more sense to me now. Unless both the calendar and the clock know what time zone times/appts are in, the calendar COULD be messed up which, in my mind, is worse than inconsistancy and knowing how it will act.