The BlackBerry is no exception. In fact, far from it. In addition to the usual suspects of email, web browsing, connectivity options and multimedia support, you'll also find many built-in shortcuts.
Designed to make using the Blackberry as quick and simple as possible, such shortcuts will help you to speed up typing, navigation and file access, indeed, there are so many goodies on offer that some of them even remain undocumented by the manufacturer.
These are largely features left over from the testing process or are engineering functions that serve no useful purpose for everyday users. But that doesn't mean that they aren't of use full stop. In fact, they are certainly worth having a play with and will tell you more about how your device works and whether it is running in optimum condition, the benefit of which can certainly not be underestimated.
The 'Status' feature in the Options menu provides basic information about the state of your device and its connection to the network. But there is much more information?on on offer, for example, logs that detail problems and operations that could help identify any issues you might be having or explain what your device is doing when you are not using it. This is known as the Event Log.
TO ACCESS THE EVENT LOG
1Go to the home Applications screen and hold down the ALT key while entering the key sequence LGLG.
2 After a second or two, the Event Log will appear.
3 Within the Event Log, select an individual entry and click on the trackball or wheel to view more details. You can also clear the log, which will free up a small amount of memory on your BlackBerry, or go into the Options menu to configure the types of event that are recorded in the log.
4 To close the Event Log and return to your home screen, choose 'Close' from the menu.
The next piece of 'hidden' information is not a secret feature, but it is one frequently overlooked by users. The 'Help Me' screen gathers key information about your device and displays, in one place, your operating system version, battery level, wireless signal strength and available storage.
TO ACCESS THE HELP ME SCREEN
1 Go to the home Applications screen and hold down the ALT+CAP+H keys - the Help Me screen will appear.2 To close the screen, select 'Close' from the menu or press the back button.
The standard signal-strength display on a BlackBerry uses five bars to represent how much mobile network signal is available at any particular time. However, it isn't very precise and your BlackBerry is capable of giving you far more detailed signal information. If nothing else, this information could eliminate/confirm a weak signal as the cause of odd device behaviour, such as a refusal to load web pages.
TO ACCESS THE MORE DETAILED SIGNAL DISPLAY
1 On the home Applications screen, hold down the
ALT key while entering the key sequence NMLL.
2 The signal-strength display will change from the five-bar, graphical view to a more precise numerical value. This represents your signal strength in decibels .
3 To return to the standard display, enter the same key sequence, ALT+IMMLL.
Another way of getting information about your BlackBerry from the device is by using Smart System Codes. Whenever you work in a default BlackBerry application {rather than a third-party application you have installed), you can enter a Smart System Code into a text field. After entering the code and pressing 'Enter' or 'Space', the corresponding piece of information is displayed in a box on the screen.
There are numerous keyboard shortcuts available that will help improve navigation and automate certain multistage tasks.
In addition to the general purpose shortcuts listed elsewhere in this bookazine, many BlackBerry keyboard shortcuts are specific to the built-in applications, such as the email client, the calendar, address book and web browser.
The BlackBerry home Application screen also supports several shortcut letters to enable you to jump to different pieces of software. To use these on newer devices, you will first need to disable the 'Dial from Home Screen' option under Options > General Options > Phone.
This feature is on by default, allowing you to press keys to dial numbers or bring up address-book contacts. Turning it off means you will have to go into the Phone application (press the green dial button once) before typing in a phone number or contact name. When this feature is off, you are free to use the following keyboard shortcuts:
It's possible to customise the main home Application screen and any sub folders. And there's no need to keep the icons in the order in which they first appeared.
The standby screen is the one your mobile reverts to after a period of inactivity, with six icons along the bottom, your wallpaper in the background and basic phone data (battery, signal, network information, time and date) along the top. You can have your most-used icons positioned here for easy access and, in the case of email, to see which mailboxes have new messages in them.
The icons on either screen can be rearranged, moved into folders or hidden. Here is one method that lets you move an application {in this case, the Contacts) from one part of the home Applications screen to another.
1 Highlight the Contacts application on the home screen and press the menu button.
2 Select 'Move' from the menu.
3 Move the icon around the home screen using the trackball or wheel. When you have found a suitable location, click the trackball to confirm.
4 The application is saved in the new icon location
The process is the same if you want to move icons into or out of folders; simply select 'Move to Folder' from the menu and choose the folder into which you wish to move the icon. To move an icon out of a folder, do the same thing, but select 'Applications' as the folder to move it to - this puts the icon back on the home Application screen.
The menu can also be used to hide icons you don't use, thereby reducing junk. Here, we will hide the Contacts application.
1 Highlight the Contacts application on the home screen and press the menu button.
2 Select 'Hide' from the menu.
3 The application is now hidden from view - but it is still there.
To bring a hidden application icon back, press ALT+trackwheel and choose the Show All menu option. This restores all of the hidden icons.
SWITCHING BETWEEN RUNNING APPLICATIONS
A BlackBerry can have multiple applications running at the same time.
and you can switch between them in a similar way to on a Windows PC or Mac. For example, if you are writing an email and need to query some information on the web or call someone, there are two ways you can swap between applications or return to the home Application screen to launch a new program.
1 Within most standard applications (the ones pre-installed on your BlackBerry) there is a?menu option 'Switch Applications' (usually above the 'Close' option). Select this to bring up a ribbon display that shows currently running applications, along with the home Application Screen.
Simply highlight the item you want and click on it.
2 if the application you are running doesn't include the Switch Applications option - or it isn't convenient to access the menu display - there is a keyboard shortcut. Press and hold the ALT key and then press ESC (the back button). This will bring up the same ribbon of icons as the Switch Applications option.
AUTOMATING YOUR TEXT
This is one of the easiest and most beneficial shortcuts, but, although it is a documented feature, it often gets forgotten by BlackBerry users. By using the AutoText feature, common typographical errors or shorthand can be automatically replaced witha full word or words. It is a huge timesaver and can be used to avoid having to type punctuation in commonly used words, as well as for correction purposes.
TO ADD AN ENTRY TO AUTOTEXT
1 When typing an email or typing in any other standard application, press the menu key and select 'Edit AutoText' to get a list of pre-defined AutoText mappings.
2 Press the menu again and select 'New'.
3 Fill in the word you want to replace - let's say the word 'eBay' has been typed as 'eBya'.
4 Fill in the word you want to replace it with - in this case, eBay.
5 Select 'Save' from the menu and hey presto!
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