Round Robin Thread: n00b questions you've answered before
View Poll Results: Which computer should Mike use to sync?
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Use the BB with Windows, the better desktop client
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Use the BB with Mac and suffer like a 2nd class citizen
- This is an official Smartphone Experts Round Robin thread and stuff.
Hi! I'm Mike Overbo, I blog and write over at Phone different, Smartphone Experts' iPhone site. I'm also a regular contributor to TreoCentral, mostly through the TreoCentral TreoCast, a podcast I do with Dieter of WMExperts about things related to all things Palm.
And I've said some, ah, unfairly venemous things about BlackBerry in the past. ok, the very recent past. Some of my gripes will still hold true at the end of the week, but it's been a good couple of days on the BlackBerry. It's surprised me so far.
But, I haven't been using it to its full potential. There are a few questions that I have that I'd like to ask, and I have to ask them in a public forum, so here goes:
- how do I get contacts into bb messenger (or the BB in general) from gmail?
- how do I wipe the 8310, making it a blank slate for the next person to use it?
- I'm just syncing to the cloud just now, but will set up computer syncing in a few hours. I've downloaded the mac client (and use a mac as my primary machine), but the blackberry will probably get a fairer shake if I test it on Windows. Which one do you think I should test?
here's what I installed so far in terms of 3rd party software. I'm not looking to spend any cash, since it's not likely that I'd be using it for more than a few days, but if there's some freeware app that's a "must-have", please let me know about it.
- I have my email accounts all set up (all IMAP, I don't have any Exchange access)
- Yahoo! Go
- Google Maps for Mobile
- Ramble from SRA.com for AIM
- Opera Mini
Anything obvious that I've missed?10-29-07 02:35 PMLike 0 - how do I get contacts into bb messenger (or the BB in general) from gmail?
how do I wipe the 8310, making it a blank slate for the next person to use it?
I'm just syncing to the cloud just now, but will set up computer syncing in a few hours. I've downloaded the mac client (and use a mac as my primary machine), but the blackberry will probably get a fairer shake if I test it on Windows. Which one do you think I should test?
as far as 3rd party apps ...
google maps
JiveTalk
operamini beta 310-29-07 02:59 PMLike 0 - 1. BB Messenger is PIN-to-PIN, so it only works with other BlackBerry users. You have any friends with BlackBerries?
You can add anyone to your BB address book by opening one of their e-mails in your Messages folder, hilighting their e-mail address in the From line, and hitting Menu>Add to Address Book. If they actually have a BlackBerry, make sure you add their PIN.
To add a PIN contact from your address book, open BB Messenger. Hit Menu>Add a Contact. Hilight the contact you want to add, hit Menu>Request (PIN) {person}.
To add a PIN contact to Messenger WITHOUT putting them in your address book, open BB Messenger and hit Menu>Add a Contact. Scroll up to hilight [Use Once]. Hit Menu>Request by PIN...
2. To wipe your BlackBerry, set a password in the security options. Now lock the handheld and enter the WRONG password 10 times. That should wipe the device. BES admins may be able to send a remote "kill handheld" command to do the same thing.
3. Both. It's a good comparison to test it in your preferred, native environment, and one you might be less familiar with.
Apps:
You pretty much have the biggies. I use Yahoo and MSN, and I'm on AT&T, which doesn't like Yahoo, so early on I paid for JiveTalk, hands down the best IM client for BB. Other than that, I have Opera Mini, Google Maps, and haven't found many other things I need. RSS users seem to like Viigo.10-29-07 03:01 PMLike 0 - [B]
- how do I get contacts into bb messenger (or the BB in general) from gmail?
- how do I wipe the 8310, making it a blank slate for the next person to use it?
- I'm just syncing to the cloud just now, but will set up computer syncing in a few hours. I've downloaded the mac client (and use a mac as my primary machine), but the blackberry will probably get a fairer shake if I test it on Windows. Which one do you think I should test?
here's what I installed so far in terms of 3rd party software. I'm not looking to spend any cash, since it's not likely that I'd be using it for more than a few days, but if there's some freeware app that's a "must-have", please let me know about it.
- I have my email accounts all set up (all IMAP, I don't have any Exchange access)
- Yahoo! Go
- Google Maps for Mobile
- Ramble from SRA.com for AIM
- Opera Mini
Anything obvious that I've missed?
Any other questions, shoot away. This will be like shooting fish in a barrel.10-29-07 03:15 PMLike 0 - I'd like to see a link to some of these gripes as I'm always up for a good debate . I've used WM5/6 devices, Palm Devices and Blackberry's. I tried the iPhone when a co-worker had one but that lasted about 3hr's for me max before I couldn't take it anymore.10-29-07 03:18 PMLike 0
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- no touchscreen
- j2me: while I applaud it for being open, it's not a good mobile development platform. it's a very far cry from what java is supposed to be: write once, run anywhere. from my experience, j2me has been a software mgmt nightmare for multiple featurephones. Note that this isn't a knock against Java, it's a knock against J2ME.
- cluttered interface. Kevin has already told me about sorting and hiding icons, but I shouldn't have to theme before I have a useful UI -- it should be intuitive out of the box (can you tell I come from the palm world?). I have a problem with the default theme (blue/white clouds, blue/white icons), which I'm guessing a lot of BB newbs out there will stick with. The busy background leads to poor contrast, and with the music notes and gears all over the place, I can't really tell what does what without reading. Sure, I know, I can read, but it would be better if I didn't have to. Worst, the text color is the shadow effect, the inner color of the font is the *same color* as the background.
- the BB standard theme is 6 rows of 6 -- too dense to provide detail for what they represent, and enough that they wouldn't fit on one screen. Long story short, I'm desperate for a more sensible default theme, or a better way to present apps, a menu system, anything. If there's a theme anyone could suggest to alleviate this based off what I wrote here, I'd really appreciate it.
- ridiculously poor media capabilities. behind even windows mobile. I think blackberry is going to see some real growing pains here.
- settings: all over the place. categorization is weak, very obviously designed to be centrally managed from the enterprise. of course, this is also a strength within that market segment, but it's a weakness for the individual consumer.
- case in point, ringtones inside of profiles. Like hiding applications, I had to be told this one.
- the BB OS, as it appears to the (novice?) BB user, appears a lot like very advanced featurephone OS. multitasking is clearly present but not to all apps; I have a task switcher but not everything gets to use it -- 3rd party apps being the biggie here. Would be nice to switch from opera mini to GMM, for example. If the big guns aren't multitasking and there are APIs present for it, there's probably something wrong with the API.
Of course, you could say that last one is pretty much all crocodile tears coming from a Palm/iPhone user, and you'd be right: iPhone prevents me from actively multitasking even though it exists, it only allows passive multitasking and then only in certain apps (and 3rd party apps are only available via hacking the device).10-29-07 06:37 PMLike 0 -
- Good, then people with Oily skin don't need to worry about cleaning the screen all the time. I don't have oily skin but you can imagine what people that do have it would make the screen look like. Not to mention the fact that putting it in your pocket or case, you won't launch a app by mistake.
- j2me: while I applaud it for being open, it's not a good mobile development platform. it's a very far cry from what java is supposed to be: write once, run anywhere. from my experience, j2me has been a software mgmt nightmare for multiple featurephones. Note that this isn't a knock against Java, it's a knock against J2ME.
- cluttered interface. Kevin has already told me about sorting and hiding icons, but I shouldn't have to theme before I have a useful UI -- it should be intuitive out of the box (can you tell I come from the palm world?). I have a problem with the default theme (blue/white clouds, blue/white icons), which I'm guessing a lot of BB newbs out there will stick with. The busy background leads to poor contrast, and with the music notes and gears all over the place, I can't really tell what does what without reading. Sure, I know, I can read, but it would be better if I didn't have to. Worst, the text color is the shadow effect, the inner color of the font is the *same color* as the background.
- the BB standard theme is 6 rows of 6 -- too dense to provide detail for what they represent, and enough that they wouldn't fit on one screen. Long story short, I'm desperate for a more sensible default theme, or a better way to present apps, a menu system, anything. If there's a theme anyone could suggest to alleviate this based off what I wrote here, I'd really appreciate it.
- ridiculously poor media capabilities. behind even windows mobile. I think blackberry is going to see some real growing pains here.
- settings: all over the place. categorization is weak, very obviously designed to be centrally managed from the enterprise. of course, this is also a strength within that market segment, but it's a weakness for the individual consumer.
- case in point, ring tones inside of profiles. Like hiding applications, I had to be told this one.
- the BB OS, as it appears to the (novice?) BB user, appears a lot like very advanced featurephone OS. multitasking is clearly present but not to all apps; I have a task switcher but not everything gets to use it -- 3rd party apps being the biggie here. Would be nice to switch from opera mini to GMM, for example. If the big guns aren't multitasking and there are APIs present for it, there's probably something wrong with the API.
Of course, you could say that last one is pretty much all crocodile tears coming from a Palm/iPhone user, and you'd be right
Next round is after the bell, I'll let the membership decide if we're ready for round 2 or if we have either a TKO or do you want to just toss in the towel now?
I'd be more then happy to debate this for one of your Podcasts also if your ever interested. I'm a little off my game right now since my Parkinson's meds have me a little off tonight.Last edited by audit; 10-29-07 at 08:18 PM. Reason: spelling errors. Told ya I was off tonight.
10-29-07 07:33 PMLike 0 - Good, then people with Oily skin don't need to worry about cleaning the screen all the time. I don't have oily skin but you can imagine what people that do have it would make the screen look like. Not to mention the fact that putting it in your pocket or case, you won't launch a app by mistake.
- Good, then people with Oily skin don't need to worry about cleaning the screen all the time. I don't have oily skin but you can imagine what people that do have it would make the screen look like. Not to mention the fact that putting it in your pocket or case, you won't launch a app by mistake.
Every modern smartphone OS has safeguards like key locks, etc. to prevent app launches and pocket dials by mistake. BB isn't unique in this regard.
The write once, run everywhere doesn't and won't fly with me. I work around a few hundered Java developers all day long and I just showed that paragraph to a few of them and I think one pissed his pants laughing so hard.
I remember the PALM TREO having icon's all over the place also. The first thing I did was create a junk subcategories and moved all the apps that I didn't use in that. Not to mention the apps that weren't in the correct categories by default.
You won't find 1 theme that fits everyone's tastes by default. I like the Dimension Icon theme for me but that's just me, we have people that like the today theme, Zen themes, etc. If you can design a theme that EVERYONE will love, make sure that Bill Gates gives you all the access codes to his mountain house since you'll be the new owner.
What's the problem with the Media? Music is great as well as Video's. IMHO they are above the Palm Media. So some devices don't have video recording, there's enough different BB's out there to please the people that need those different apps.
All over the place? Your kidding right? It's in one place called PROFILES. I suggest you spend some time getting failure to that before you comment on the settings being all over the place.
You really need to do better then this. Every Palm user that I've converted over love the fact they didn't need a 3rd party app for MP3 ringtones and how they could customize different profiles.
It's not too hard to have a phone conversation and look at your calender or look up a phone number in contacts. It's a simple button push and scroll the wheel to what you want open. Your boring me here with this stuff. Sorry.
I'd say they are all croc tears. I'm buying stock in Kleenex this week and feel that based on you using a Blackberry, I'll do pretty good. Make sure you get the soft tissue.
Next round is after the bell, I'll let the membership decide if we're ready for round 2 or if we have either a TKO or do you want to just toss in the towel now?
I'd be more then happy to debate this for one of your Podcasts also if your ever interested. I'm a little off my game right now since my Parkinson's meds have me a little off tonight.10-29-07 08:18 PMLike 0 -
Also, I'm not here to dis the BB or score points for Palm. I'm here to learn about the BB, write about my perspective when I begin using it, and write about my perspective when my time with the BB is done.10-29-07 08:24 PMLike 0 - 10-29-07 08:45 PMLike 0
- FYI, I chose the windows route. I pulled contacts and calendar from Yahoo!. Pretty slick... I was happy to see a 'pull from the cloud' option, I wasn't excited about doing a bunch of CSV wizardry.10-29-07 11:30 PMLike 0
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- I'm definitely going to have to read all of the posts in this thread to get more familiar with Blackberrys. How much fun would these things be without the support of these great forums?10-30-07 08:56 PMLike 0
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Round Robin Thread: n00b questions you've answered before
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