Keeping Your BlackBerry Bold Safe

The folks at RIM take security seriously, and so should you. Always set up a password on your BlackBerry Bold. If your BlackBerry Bold hasn’t prompted you to set up a password, you should immediately do so. Here’s how it’s done:


1. From the BlackBerry Bold Home screen, select the Options (wrench) icon.
2. Select the Password option.
3. Highlight the Password field, and then select Enabled. All this does for now is enable the Password feature. You won’t be prompted to type a password until you save the changes you just made.
4. Click the Set Password button. At this time, you should be prompted to enter a new password.
If you have set a password before, the button will be called Change Password.
5. Type a password, and then type it again for verification.
From this point on, whenever you lock your BlackBerry Bold and want to use it again, you have to type the password. How do you lock your BlackBerry Bold? Good question. Keep reading.


When you set your password on a BlackBerry Bold, you must make sure that you know what letters your password uses and not just which keys you pressed. You need the same password if you link your BlackBerry Bold with BlackBerry Bold Desktop Manager for synchronization.


Setting up your password is a good first step, but just having a password won’t help much if you don’t take the further step of locking your BlackBerry Bold when you aren’t using it. (You don’t want people at the office or sitting at the next table at the coffee shop checking out your e-mails or phone history when you take a bathroom break, do you?) So, how do you lock your BlackBerry Bold? Let us count the ways. . . . we came up with two.


You can go the Autolock after Timeout (also known as Security Timeout) route by following these steps:


1. From the BlackBerry Bold Home screen, select the Options icon.
2. Select the Password option.
The Password screen appears.
3. Highlight the Security Timeout field, and then select the desired minutes.
The preset times range from 1 minute to 1 hour.
4. Press the Menu key, and then select Save.

If you’re more the hands-on kind of person, you can go the Manual Lockout route by scrolling to the keyboard Lock icon on your Home screen and pressing the trackball. (Pressing K while at the Home screen does the same thing.Make sure to turn off the Dial from Home Screen option.

Let Blackberry Bold freedom ring

The whole appeal of the BlackBerry Bold phenomenon is the idea that this little electronic device can make your life easier. One of the ways it accomplishes this is by acting as your personal reminder service — letting you know when an appointment is coming up, a phone call is coming in, an e-mail has arrived, and so on. Basically, your BlackBerry Bold is set to bark at you if it knows something it thinks you should know, too. Figure 3-6 lists the kinds of things your BlackBerry Bold considers bark-worthy, ranging from browser alerts to tasks deadlines.

Different people react differently to different sounds. Some BlackBerry Bold barks would be greatly appreciated by certain segments of the population, whereas other segments might react to the same sound by pitching their BlackBerry Bold under the nearest bus. The folks at Research In Motion are well aware of this and have devised a great way for you to customize how you want your BlackBerry Bold to bark at you — they call it your profile.

You can jump right into things by using a predefined profile, or you can create your own profile. The upcoming sections take a look at both approaches. Whether you create your own profile or customize a predefined profile, each profile is divided into several categories that represent the application for which you can define alerts.

In BlackBerry OS 4.6, the application to set your profiles is named Profiles and includes the following categorizations:


✓ BlackBerry Messenger Alert: Alerts you when BlackBerry Messenger has something to notify you regarding new contact notification.
✓ BlackBerry Messenger New Message: Alerts you when BlackBerry Messenger has a new message from a BlackBerry Messenger contact.
✓ Browser: Alerts you when you receive a new channel push, which is just a Web page sent to your BlackBerry Bold.
✓ Calendar: Alerts you when you have upcoming appointments.
✓ Level 1 (urgent e-mail messages): Alerts you with a special tone when you have an urgent e-mail: urgent, as defined by your sender. Also, a BlackBerry PIN-to-PIN message can be considered urgent. For more on PIN-to-PIN, see Chapter 9.
✓ Messages [Email]: Alerts you when a new e-mail message is in your inbox.
✓ Phone: Alerts you if you have an incoming call or a new voice mail.
✓ SMS Text: Alerts you when you have an SMS message.
✓ Tasks: Alerts you of an upcoming to-do deadline.

In BlackBerry OS 5.0, profiles can be found in the Sounds application, and Sound items are organized into the following categories:


✓ Phone: Alerts you if you have an incoming call or voice mail.
✓ Messages: Alerts you if you have an incoming e-mail, SMS, MMS, or BlackBerry PIN messages. Also, you can set different alerts for each individual e-mail account.
✓ Instant Messages: Alerts you if you have any BlackBerry Messenger Alerts; if you have third-party instant message installed (such as Google Talk), you can set the alerts here as well.
✓ Reminders: Alerts you if you have set up calendar reminders, tasks reminders, or e-mail Follow Up Flags.
✓ Other: Alerts you when there is a new browser channel message or other third-party applications.

You can personalize all the listed applications according to how you want to be alerted. Because how you customize them is similar, we use one application, Messages, as an example in the text that follows.

Wallpaper for your BlackBerry Bold

Like your desktop PC, you can customize the BlackBerry Bold Home screen with personalized wallpaper. You set an image to be your BlackBerry Bold Home screen background by using the BlackBerry Bold Media application. Follow these steps:


1. From the Home screen, press the Menu key, and then select the Media application.
In Media are these categories: Music, Video, Ring Tones, and Pictures.
2. Scroll to and select the Picture category.
Doing so brings up two folders: The Preloaded Media folder stores pictures that came with your BlackBerry Bold, and the Device Memory folder stores pictures that you took with your camera.
3. Scroll to and select one of the folders.
This lists all the pictures in the folder.
4. Select the picture you want to use for your Home screen background.
The selected picture appears in full-screen view.
5. Press the Menu key, and then select Set as Home Screen Image.
The picture is now your new Home screen wallpaper.
6. Press and hold the Escape key (to the right of the trackball) to return to the Home screen and see the result.

You can download free wallpapers from the following Web sites (as long as you use your BlackBerry Bold, not your PC, to access the URLs):

✓ http://mobile.blackberry.com

✓ www.blackberrywallpapers.com

✓ www.crackberry.com/free-wallpapers

After you have your BlackBerry Bold’s look and feel just the way you want, there’s just one thing left to do before you can move on. You need to get your BlackBerry Bold to sound how you want it to.

How to Choose themes for your BlackBerry Bold ?

Right up there with making sure that your date and time settings are accurate is getting the display font, font size, and screen contrast to your liking. Now we know that some of you don’t give a hoot if your fonts are Batang or Bookman as long as you can read the text, but we also know that some of you won’t stop configuring the fonts until you get them absolutely right.

Your BlackBerry Bold is preloaded with different themes, which are predefined sets of looks (wallpaper, fonts, menu layout). You can download themes from BlackBerry Bold’s mobile Web site.
Follow these steps to change your theme:


1. Press the Menu key, and then select the Options icon.
2. Select the Theme setting.
You see a list of available themes.
3. Scroll to and select the theme you want.
You see a preview of the theme you selected.
4. Press the Menu key, and then select Activate.
You should be able to see the change immediately.

You can download other themes. Just remember that you have to use your BlackBerry Bold, not your PC, to access the following URL:
http://mobile.blackberry.com

Get your BlackBerry Bold dates and times lined up

Having the correct date, time, and time zone is important when it comes to your BlackBerry Bold for, we hope, obvious reasons. Many of the fine features that make up the BlackBerry Bold core experience, as it were, depend on the time, date, and time zone being accurate.

Need an example? How about your BlackBerry Bold calendar events? Imagine, if you will, that you have a make-or-break meeting set for 9 a.m. (in your time zone) with a client in Paris, France, who is in who-knows-what time zone. You definitely want to be on time for that appointment, but you probably won’t be if you’re planning on having your BlackBerry Bold remind you — that is, if you haven’t set up the appropriate date, time, and time zone. Follow these steps to do that:

1. Press the Menu key, scroll to the Options icon, and then press the trackball.
2. Scroll to the Date/Time setting, and then press the trackball. The Date/Time screen appears.
3. Scroll to your time zone, and then press the trackball. The Date/Time screen confirms the time zone that you chose.
4. Scroll to the Time field and use the trackball to adjust the proper hour and minutes.

5. Scroll to the Date field and use the trackball to adjust the date appropriately.


6. Scroll to the Date/Time Source field, and then press the trackball.This sets your date and time source to your service provider’s server time.


7. To confirm your changes, press the Menu key, and then select Save.
Doing so saves your date and time settings in perpetuity — a really long time, in other words.

How to Type with ease using AutoText on BlackBerry Bold

Even the most devoted BlackBerry Bold user has to admit that typing on a full keyboard is easier than thumb-typing on a BlackBerry Bold. In an attempt to even the score a bit, your BlackBerry Bold comes equipped with an AutoText feature, which is a kind of shorthand that can cut down on how much you have to type.

AutoText basically works with a pool of abbreviations that you set up. You then just type an abbreviation to get the word you associated with that abbreviation. For example, after setting up b/c as an AutoText word for because, anytime you type b/c, you automatically get because onscreen.

Your BlackBerry Bold comes with a few default AutoText entries. Here are some useful ones:
✓ mypin: Displays your BlackBerry PIN
✓ mynumber: Displays your BlackBerry phone number
✓ myver: Displays your BlackBerry model number and OS version

The whole AutoText thing works best if you set up your own personal code, mapping your abbreviations to their meanings. (This is why we discuss AutoText as part of personalization.)

To set up your own code, do the following:
1. From the Home screen, press the Menu key, scroll to the Options icon, and then press the trackball.
2. Scroll to the AutoText option, and then press the trackball. Here, you can choose to see (or search for) existing AutoText words or create new ones.
3. Press the Menu key, scroll to New, and then press the trackball.
4. In the Replace field, enter the characters that you want to replace (in this example, b/c). In the With field, type what replaces your characters (in this example, because).
5. In the Using field, choose between the SmartCase and Specified Case options. • SmartCase capitalizes the first letter when the context calls for that, such as the first word in a sentence. • Specified Case replaces your AutoText with the exact text found in the With field. For example, say you have the AutoText bbg set up for the term blackberryGoodies.com and you want it to appear as is, in terms of letter cases (the first b isn’t capitalized). If you were to choose SmartCase for this particular AutoText, it would be capitalized as the first word in a sentence, which isn’t what you want. On the other hand, if you use Specified Case, your AutoText always appears as blackberryGoodies.com no matter where it is in the sentence.
6. Scroll to the Language field, and then select All Locales from the list of options. Our preference for this setting for any self-created AutoText is All Locales. What this means is that regardless of the language input method (for example, English U.K., English U.S., or French), any self-created AutoText is available for you to use. So, in the case of the AutoText bbg (BlackBerryGoodies.com), whether you are typing in French or Chinese, you can use this AutoText. On the other hand, if you select only the French input method for bbg as the Language field, you would be able to use this only if your input method is set to French in the Language option. You can choose the input method in the Language options. We go over choosing a language input method next.
7. Confirm your changes by pressing the trackball, and then choosing Save.
If you specify a language input method other than All Locales, your input method setting in the Language option must match the Language field in AutoText to use your newly created AutoText. Follow these steps:
1. Press the Menu key, scroll to the Options icon, and then press the trackball.
2. Scroll through the list of options until you find the Language setting; then press the trackball. Here you can choose the language and input method.
3. Select the Input Method field, and then select the input method you need from the list. For your new AutoText setting to work (assuming that you didn’t choose All Locales as the language for your AutoText), this option needs to match the input method set in your Language option.
4. Confirm your changes by pressing the trackball, and then choosing Save.

Choose a language, any language on BlackBerry Bold

Branding your BlackBerry Bold with your own John Hancock is a good start, but setting the language to your native tongue so that you don’t need to hire a translator to use your BlackBerry Bold is equally important — and equally easy. You can also set your input method of choice here, which can affect whether AutoText shows up.


Here’s how you choose a language:

1. Press the Menu key, scroll to the Options (wrench) icon, and then press the trackball.

2. Scroll through the list of options until you find the Language setting, and then press the trackball. Here you can choose the language and input method of your choice.

3. Select the Language field, and then scroll the drop-down menu to select your native tongue. Depending on your network provider, as well as what region (North America, Europe, and so on) you’re in, the language choices you have can vary. Most handhelds sold in North America default to English or English (United States). If your network provider supports it, you can install more languages into your BlackBerry Bold by using Application Loader in BlackBerry Bold Desktop Manager (BDM).

4. Confirm your changes by pressing the trackball, and then choosing Save. Isn’t it great when you can actually read what’s onscreen? But don’t think that you’re finished quite yet. You still have some personalizing to do.

How to Brand your BlackBerry Bold ?

Like any number of other electronic gadgets that you could possibly own, your BlackBerry Bold comes to you off the shelf fitted with a collection of white-bread factory settings. This section helps you put your name on your BlackBerry Bold, figuratively and literally. You can start by branding your name on your BlackBerry Bold. Follow these steps:

1. Press the Menu key, scroll to the Options icon, and then press the trackball.

2. Scroll through the list of options until you find the Owner setting; then press the trackball. You see places to enter your owner information.

3. Enter your name in the Name field and your contact information in the Information field. The idea here is to phrase a message that would make sense to any possible Good Samaritan who might find your lost BlackBerry Bold and want to get it back to you. If you lock or don’t use your BlackBerry Bold for a while, the standby screen comes on, displaying the owner information that you entered. Read how to lock your BlackBerry Bold, either manually or by using an auto setting, in the later section “Keeping Your BlackBerry Bold Safe.”

4. Confirm your changes by pressing the trackball and then choosing Save from the menu that appears.

How does BlackBerry Bold Put a sentry on duty ?

The virtual world isn’t exempt from general human nastiness; in fact, every day a battle is fought between those trying to attack a system and those trying to protect it.

A computer connected to the Internet faces an extra risk of being cracked by a hacker or infected by a virus. (Viruses try to replicate themselves and generally bug you.)

Fortunately, security is a BlackBerry strong point. Viruses often come as e-mail attachments. However, BlackBerry supports very few file types out of the box (mostly images and documents). You won’t face threats from e-mails with these attachments. And in an enterprise environment, the data that you send to or get from the PDA is encrypted (coded) to prevent snooping.

RIM also has a Signature process for application developers that forces developers to identify themselves and their programs if they’re developing any applications for the BlackBerry that need to integrate with either BlackBerry core applications or the OS.

Remember the I love you and Anna Kournikova viruses? These are virtual evils transmitted through e-mail, scripts, or sets of instructions in the e-mail body or attachment that can be executed either by the host e-mail program — or, in the case of an attachment, by the program associated with the attached file. Fortunately, BlackBerry’s Messages doesn’t support scripting languages. BlackBerry’s viewer for such files doesn’t support scripting either, so you won’t be facing threats from e-mails having these attachments.

The security measures that RIM implemented on the BlackBerry platform have gained the trust of the U.S. government as well as many of the Forbes Top 500 enterprises in the financial and health industries.

BlackBerry Bold --A computer in the palm of your hand

Remarkable communication device? Check.

Full-fledged PDA? Check.

Full-featured media player? Check.

These capabilities are just the tip of the iceberg. Don’t underestimate the device because of its size: Your BlackBerry Bold is also a powerful computer.


Need convincing? Here goes. Out of the box, with no fiddling, it comes with a great set of organizational and productivity tools. Software developers besides RIM are taking advantage of this growing market, which means that hundreds of applications are out there for you. For example, you can download graphics-intensive games or a mortgage calculator.

Download? Absolutely! BlackBerry Bold supports the downloading of applications through BlackBerry Bold Browser. And of course, downloading the application can be done both wired and wireless (or over the air; OTA). In April 2009, RIM rolled out BlackBerry App World, the company’s response to the popular iPhone App Store, which allows BlackBerry owners to easily browse for BlackBerry applications on their device and download them directly. Other third-party BlackBerry application stores are tremendously popular in the BlackBerry community, such as the CrackBerry.com App Store powered by MobiHand.

What’s the difference between BlackBerry App World and BlackBerry Application Center?

BlackBerry Application Center most likely came with your BlackBerry Bold. Application Center contains only applications that your network service provider want you to see.

App World needs to be manually downloaded by you from RIM’s Web site. App World has an unfiltered list of BlackBerry applications for you

Know your BlackBerry history

Your BlackBerry Bold is truly a wondrous thing, boasting many features beyond your ordinary mobile phone. And its “sudden” popularity didn’t happen overnight. Like any other good product, BlackBerry has come a long way from its (relatively humble) beginnings.

In the days when the PalmPilot ruled the PDA world, RIM was busy in its lab, ignoring the then-popular graffiti input method, and designing a device with a QWERTY keyboard (the kind of keyboard people were already used to from working on their computers). RIM didn’t stop there, however. It added an always-connected e-mail capability, making this device a musthave among government officials as well as finance and health professionals.

To meet the needs of government officials and industry professionals, RIM made reliability, security, and durability the priorities when manufacturing its devices. Today, the BlackBerry Bold comes from the same line of RIM family products, inheriting all the good genes while boosting usability and adding more functions to its core BlackBerry applications. As a result, BlackBerry is popular among both prosumers (professional customers) and consumers. Starting with BlackBerry Pearl, RIM has been targeting the mainstream consumer market. Clearly, with BlackBerry Bold, RIM is winning the hearts of consumers while maintaining its hold on the enterprise market.

The Basic Knowledge of your BlackBerry Bold

If you got your BlackBerry Bold from AT&T, chances are that your BlackBerry Bold will continue to work when you travel to, say, London or Beijing. All you need to worry about is remembering to turn on your BlackBerry Bold (and maybe the extra roaming charges).


Because your BlackBerry Bold is quad band, it works in more than 90 countries. What is quad band? Basically, different cellphone networks in different countries operate on different frequencies. For example, the United States and Canada operate on 850 and 1900 MHz, and Europe and Asia Pacific operate on 900 and 1800 MHz.


Your quad-band BlackBerry Bold is designed to work on 850 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, and 1900 MHz, so you’re covered almost wherever you go. Check with your network service provider to see whether your BlackBerry Bold will work at your destination before you hop on a plane, just to be sure.


Nothing stands still in this world, and this saying is proven by the fact that Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) has spawned High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), which are technologies that have been growing because they work on the same GSM phone infrastructure. This HSDPA is now available in the United States through most major network service providers. HSDPA competes in the marketplace against Code Division Multiple Access’s (CDMA) EvDo.


What’s all this alphabet soup mean to you? CDMA and GSM aren’t compatible. Your phone works on only one technology. When you travel outside North America, you face the burning question: CDMA or GSM?


Your BlackBerry Bold runs on GSM, so you should be okay to travel outside the United States. Most non–North American countries are on GSM networks. If you’re a CDMA kind of person, you might have some “issues,” as they say. When in doubt, talk to your network service provider.