[TheHeartlessHero]

Here is a rundown of some tips learned so far in the forums since the Storm2's release. Feel free to add your own. Credits to everyone providing tips or files. I will list everyone after I clean up this post later on.

If you wish to convert any videos to your Blackberry Storm2 or any Blackberry device, I recommend EncodeHD, a free open source encoding program that features one click encoding to a number of popular devices. This is the simplest, quickest, easiest, way of getting those pesky videos to work correctly. And the end result is fantastic. Just open the program, select the device from the drop down menu (Storm will work, same resolution) and then start. Works rather quickly as well. You can find the link below. Note that I have nothing to do with the project but I feel this kind of project is worth promoting. EncodeHD Download Link

I've divided them into categories so everything is a bit spaced out.

BLACKBERRY MAPS FIX
-Download the following file and install it via the restore function in Blackberry Desktop Manager
-Available as a download attached to this post in a zip file.
-Uploaded to MediaFire map settings.ipd (credit to theanswer3)
-Hosted on http://www.ramicom.com/bb/ (credit to Nethfel)


Hardware Fixes
1) Screen is too mushy or bouncy or anything else.
-There is a torx screw visible with the battery cover removed, tightening or loosening it has an affect on the screen.

2) Battery door is loose or too tight. Try these solutions at your own risk!
-Try to remove it, put the top in first, lay it down and press the side bottom down till it clicks.
-Just need to bend the 2 little tabs on to upper part of the door slightly

3) Battery draining too fast. How to improve?
-Change mobile network to 1xEV instead of Global.
-Turn Wi-Fi and Bluetooth off
-Reduce screen brightness

4) The 4 main buttons aren't clicking correctly.
-Make sure that you are pressing the button correctly near the center. Sometimes when trying to press between 2 buttons, it will be solid and unable to click. Same when pressing to high or too low on the button.

5) Battery charging advice
-For newer lithium ion batteries (as in the Storm2) there's no such thing as conditioning. Just take it out of the box and use it.

keep her topped off and never let it fully discharge. also dont keep it plugged in too long past fully charged. over night is fine.

OS Tips & Tweaks
1) Only sure-type in portrait mode.
-You can change to any keyboard type by pressing the BB Menu key and selecting from there.

2) The application I installed is tiny with a keyboard I can't remove
-Go into Options>Applications>Highlight Program>Menu>Disable Compatibility Mode. You may be unable to use the application anyways though if it does not support touch interface.

3) What is my PRL and what is the latest?
-To find out your PRL number press #4357*>SEND
-As of now, the most current is 51611 (10/31/09)
-A 65xxx PRL is a hybrid PRL, Hybrid PRL's are mainly for those customers who came over from Alltel..it basically looks for alltel towers before it does VZW's...but in another year or less all Alltel's towers will be VZW towers and vice versa...thats why doing a *228 update is a good idea while towers are constantly being updated...

4) How do I select a set of messages to delete at once?
-Use 2 fingers and touch each on the screen, one at the top of what you want to select, and the other at the bottom. You can then adjust as necessary. Same principle for Cut or Copy & Pasting.

5) Set any song as a ringtone. If file is on sd card, ringtone will only work while sd card is inserted into the phone.
-Go to Media > Music and highlight the file>Hit BB Menu button > Set as Ring Tone

6) Find all items associated with someone on your phone
-Under messages, Tap and hold (don't click) on the name and it will auto-search and display all messages/calls/texts/etc to/from that name. You can do the same on a subject line of an email to search and display all emails in that conversation.

7) To erase the entire field of text you are typing, do any of the following
-Hold down the backspace button
-Hit the bb menu->clear field
-Take advantage of the multi click by pressing the Capitalize button and hitting backspace

8) How to bring up the App Switcher without a convienance key
-Push and hold the BB button for a second or 2 and the app switcher will come up.

9) Exit the browser completely and quickly
-Hold the back button for a second or 2 and the browser will close

10) Testing and Status Tips
-Dial #4357* for a full status / setup menu
-Go to options-->status type test test screen comes up

11) Hide the keyboard without bring up the menu
-Set a convenience key
-Swipe down on the middle of the keyboard

12) My email is displaying separate from my SMS, how can I combine them?
-Go into Messages
-Bring up the Menu
-Options>General Options
-Change SMS and Email Inboxes from Separate to Combined.

12.2) In newer OS, the previous instructions .428+ weren't working due to rearranged settings.
-Go into Messages
-Bring up the Menu
-Options>Inbox Settings
-Select the items to include in the main message lists.
-SMS MMS and Emails will be in there

13) Separate colors for emails from different accounts
-Go to Options -> Security Options -> Information.
-Look at Message Outline Colors and choose your color for each message option

14) Reset device without 3rd party programs
-press the green talk button
-dial ##000000 then press green button again
-scroll down to "SIP Password"
-type "vzw"
-press the blackberry menu button
-select "Save"

15) Have voicemail password entered automatically.
-Go to the dialpad
-hit the BB button and select "options".
-Select "voice mail" and enter your voicemail pin
-Phone will automatically enter pin when voicemail is dialed.


Wi-Fi Advice
1) Wifi is not White, only Grey
-Resend your service books. This problem has been fixed by RIM and an update has been pushed.
-A grey logo can mean you are connected to your router but not to Blackberry Services.

2) How do I connect to a WPA/2 wireless connection?
-Choose PSK and enter your key.

3) I have a Blue Checkmark next to Wi-Fi under manage connections.
-Your blackberry has connected to the router but is unable to obtain an outgoing internet connection. Check your internet, router for mac filtering, and try restarting the router and reconnecting.

4) Browse the internet faster using wifi when 3G is default enabled
-In the Blackberry Browser, go to options then Browser Configuration
-Change Browser from Internet Browser to Hotspot Browser
-You should now notice a WiFi symbol in the top right corner if wifi is enabled and connected.


Application Specific
1) Where can I download Bing? It wasn't preinstalled and it's not on their website.
-You can download it here
http://static.appserver.m.bing.net/b.../9550/bing.jad

2) How to download Pandora. How to skip tracks in pandora without using the screen.
-Go to Pandora Radio - Listen to Free Internet Radio, Find New Music from your blackberry browser
-Skip a song by holding the up vol button for a couple seconds. Instead of increasing volume, it will skip a song.

3) I can't download Poynt from the app store, how do I get it?
-An update for Poynt has made it accessible and downloadable through App World

4) Where can I get the Youtube App for the Storm2? *Does not work over wifi*
-http://www.p3designs.info/files/youtube.jad
-May appear in the Downloads or Applications folder after installation

5) How to get QuickPull working on the Storm2
-An update for QuickPull has made it accessible and downloadable through the App World then do the following
--1. Go to Options > Applications
--2. Press Menu > "Edit *Default* Permissions". Note the "Default".
--3. Set all three categories to "Allow"
--4. Menu > Save
--5. Do a real battery pull.

6) How to sync Facebook with your Contacts manually
-In the facebook app click on the icon to view your friends list.
-You select each friend you think you have an associated number with and highlight.
-Click on them then choose the Connect BlackBerry Contact option.


SWIPE GESTURES
The following gestures can be made using the screen for shortcuts.

Swipe left or right in Messages to show previous and next messages
Swipe up or down in Calendar to change months
Swipe down on the keyboard to hide it

[jlsparks]

Thanks for getting this started!

[wolverine318]

yeah, but how do I update the bb maps ipd file using a mac...

[Storm2]

yeah, but how do I update the bb maps ipd file using a mac...

get the mac version of desktop manager?

[wolverine318]

nm...figured it out on my own...

[jayharper08]

Very nice thread. Will come in handy for a lot. Thank you.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[MartyMcfly]

Props i should bookmark this since i get my s2 on tuesday..

[NetNurse]

How to get most themes to work on the Storm2 without the white lines in landscape view.....

Install the theme and re-boot
In portrait view click the blackberry button twice then select options
Change the wallpaper and change homescreen layout to 1 row
Save these settings then tilt screen to landscape and back to portrait view
In portrait view click on the blackberry button twice then select options
Change home screen layout back to 2 rows then save

This should fix the white line issue on most Storm themes so they can be used with the Storm2

[The Antagonist]

Just posted this in another thread, but I assume some folks new to BB may not know that any music file playable by the BB can be set as a ring tone.

Save music file to your memory card
Then go to Media > Music and highlight the file
Hit BB Menu button > Set as Ring Tone

[Masahiro]

Cool avatar, HeartlessHero. I like that show.

[mred13]

I have deleted my gmail account from my Storm2, but the Enhanced Gmail Plug-in is still showing as running in the background. Found this out by holding the menu button for a couple of seconds. How do I delete this plug-in?

[TheHeartlessHero]

Thanks masahiro =P Yeah, it's a good show.

mred13, I'm not too sure about the Enhanced Gmail Plug-in, I'm sure you've already checked under applications? I am about to head into work but I'll bump this for others to see and maybe they can help you. If not, I'll look into it when I get home.

I'll also organize my initial post better later today as well.

This post I am going to make as the Thanks post and continuation post. I will try to include everyone I got information from and that has helped, but if I miss you, feel free to leave a message. There is no particular order or specific info as to who supplied what, this will keep the character count down.

So special thanks to all members contributing to the knowledge of the Storm2 including but not limited to:
-dave1812
-theanswer3
-Nethfel
-BKVic
-6014
-xAGx
-pi_admin
-trojin1
-Steelr
-nasmith7

[Nethfel]

Also if you don't want to deal with the ads at mediafire to get the .ipd file to fix maps, I put the files up for download at one of my domains. You can find it here:

http://www.ramicom.com/bb/

[TheHeartlessHero]

Don't even need that really, I attached it to the main post as a zip file which I'm wondering why others didn't do as well =P

It's nice to have other links though. I will add yours as well.

[Nethfel]

Don't even need that really, I attached it to the main post as a zip file which I'm wondering why others didn't do as well =P

It's nice to have other links though. I will add yours as well.

Oops, lol yeah, sorry - I didn't even notice the attached file in your post, my bad

Really like the post tho, lots of good information - especially since I'm new to storm (although had a BB before the storm) I really like learning better ways/new ways/things I didn't know before about my phones

[NobleSix]

Nicely done Hero!

[1812dave]

Pandora tip: skip a song by holding the up vol button for a couple seconds. Instead of increasing volume, it will skip a song. If the screen is dark, I believe one must hit the vol button to get the screen up, before Pandora will respond to a skip-song function from the vol key. ie, with black screen, hit vol, screen shows, hold vol for about 1-2 sec

[bshpmark]

Anyone having trouble syncing contacts with Outlook? I am using DM with SP1 and I either lose contacts on the Storm or some contacts end up missing info.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[6014]

Messages tip:
Tap and hold (don't click) on the name and it will auto-search and display all messages/calls/texts/etc to/from that name.
You can do the same on a subject line of an email to search and display all emails in that conversation.

[pkcable]

Cool thread We'll get it to the Tips, How To and FAQ area once we get the forum set up decided. I'm not sure if we will have sub forums here, or combined with the Storm 1.

For now as someone suggested bookmark or subscribe to the thread.

[TheHeartlessHero]

So I updated the initial post and it's layout into color coded sections. And I will be updating them with tips as I read them so that people don't have to keep going through pages to find them.

I am also working on an Icon for the Storm2 similar to the other ones in another thread by me listed in my sig. It'll work the same way once I figure it out.

[AlX Boi]

2) The application I installed is tiny with a keyboard I can't remove
-Go into Options>Applications>Highlight Program>Menu>Disable Compatibility Mode. You may be unable to use the application anyways though if it does not support touch interface.

When you say Disable Compatibility, do you mean have it as the set option (which means Enable Compatibility is displayed on the menu) or have it be what's displayed on the menu?

[Nethfel]

Two other tips - related to themes:

If you have a theme that has the lovely white bars on the edges I've found one post that described a method on how to fix it here (although this didn't work for me, and I don't know why):

{{{S.A.B.L.T}}} Awesome storm theme

and what I did that made the bars vanish:

I (I believe while in landscape mode) changed the background image to something different then in the theme (I was using the SABLT theme) - in my case I chose the lightning background - let it load the image, and the bars were gone.

Maybe if someone else can test either of these methods and see if either works for them as well, one or both methods could be added to the tips until the bug with themes is fixed...

[TheHeartlessHero]

Have Disabled as the set option so that Enable will be shown in the menu as the option to select.

[AG212]

New thing I found, well, new for me atleast, but if youre in a text and want to clear out everything youve just typed, instead of holding down the backspace button or hitting bb menu->clear field, you can take advantage of the multi click by pressing the Capitalize button and hitting backspace.

I like this method better to be honest, seems more fun.