Throwing My Blackberry 8800 Series Into A Wall

It’s getting close to that time again. What time is that you asked? It’s time to get a replacement for my Blackberry 8800. After today, I am considering whether or not just to throw the 8800 against a wall and smash it into 100 pieces. But before I do that, I need to find out if it is under warranty.

Why is it time? Well, let’s just say that today was a bad Blackberry day. Here are all the problems that I experienced with my Blackberry 8800 today:

• Rebooted it, some reason would not sync up with the GPS satellites on my way to the airport this morning.
• Rebooted it again when I landed in Salt Lake City, Utah. I have to reboot it after every flight in order to get the GPS to work. I was then able to find my way to the office.
• Missed several calls today, they went directly to voicemail without ringing. Discovered it in the afternoon, rebooted it again. Calls seem to be coming in again.
• All the applications are running really slow – freezing for a couple of minutes at a time. When holstering, the screen never goes to the default screen. Reboot again.
• Guessing I will have to reboot again when I land in Los Angeles.

That’s 5 reboots in a day – almost enough for the Blackberry to be considered a Windows 3.1 release. Frustrating to say the least since the device takes 10 minutes to reboot, verify security, and organize the call logs. Way too long these days.

Hey RIM, why don’t you think about beefing up the processors in these things? The performance is awful. Ashley’s iPhone never has these kinds of issues. Never.

However, I am hopefully that this device is still under warranty -- bought it last March -- as I have had it for less than a year. Perhaps after a call to support – I can have a replacement and perhaps even the 8830 with Wifi capability sent on to me.

Has anyone else had this kind of problem? I am considering reloading the system software to see if anything improves. Perhaps I will give that a try this weekend. It'll be the first time for me on the 8800 series.

‎ Read more of this post!

Using the Blackberry 8800 as an USB Tethered Modem

Several months ago, my post on using the Blackberry 8800 wirelessly via a bluetooth modem was the first on the RIM Blackberry 8800 series of phones. With the tips in the post, you could easily get your RIM Blackberry 8800, 8820, or 8830 device working as a high-speed wireless modem for your laptop or even desktop computer. In fact the post quickly became one of the more popular posts on my blog, and the number of people that visit the post each day is in the 100's.

Recently, Matt Silverman let me know about his post in which he was able to use his Blackberry 8800 series phone as a tethered USB modem. Since I just got my new Lenovo (no IBM label interestingly) T61 laptop computer, I thought I would give it a try since I had not yet setup Bluetooth.

Matt's guide was pretty good and with a few tweaks, I was able to get my Blackberry 8800 to work. I've combined his steps and my guide here to make it as straight-forward and easy for your setup your Blackberry as the tethered USB modem.

Here are a couple of reasons why you might prefer a USB tethered solution to the Bluetooth wireless solution:
1. You laptop does not have Bluetooth setup or you are having problems configuring it.
2. You need to conserve battery usage on your Blackberry. The wireless mode consumes significantly more battery than the USB mode. If you need to use the modem for any length of time, the USB tethered modem option is preferred.

This guide should be compatible with the following Blackberry models: Blackberry 8800, Blackberry 8820, Blackberry 8830, Blackberry Pearl, Blackberry Curve. In addition to the Blackberry device installed, you will also need the Blackberry Desktop Manager software installed (I have 4.2.2.14 installed), and AT&T wireless with unlimited data. This may work with other cell phone providers such as T-Mobile or Verizon, but has not been tested. This guide was composed using Windows XP, so other operating systems may have slight differences.

Here is the step-by-step guide:
1. First you need to configure the "Standard Modem" that is installed with your Blackberry Desktop software. Do get to it quickly, right click on "My Computer" from the desktop and select "Manage Computer".

2. Click on "Device Manager" in the left hand pane.

3. Click on the plus (+) sign next to modems to expand them.

4. Right click on "Standard Modem" and select properties.

5. Go to the Advanced tab under Extra Settings and enter the following "Extra initialization commmands" without any leading spaces: AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","wap.cingular"

6. Click "Ok" to save the settings.

7. Now start the "Create a new connection" wizard from Network connections by right clicking on "My Network Places" and selecting properties. In the left pane under "Network Taks" click on "Create a new connection."

8. Click on 'Next' from the 'Welcome to the New Connection Wizard' screen.


9. Select the 'Connect to the Internet' Radio button and click 'Next'.


10. Select the 'Set up my connection manually' radio button and click 'Next'.


11. Select 'Connect using a dial-up modem' radio button and click 'Next'.


12. Select the 'Modem - Standard Modem' as device and click 'Next'.


13. Name your connection as you desire. I choose 'Blackberry Tethered USB Modem' as my name and click 'Next'.


14. For the phone number, enter the follow string without the quotes "*99***1#" and click on 'Next'.


15. Select the connection's availability for 'Anyone's use' unless you have a reason to lock it down. Then click 'Next'.


16. Enter the username and password information. For 'User name' enter "ISP@CINGULARGPRS.COM" without the quotes, and for the 'Password' enter "CINGULAR1" without the quotes. Enter the password again to confirm and click on 'Next'.


17. Click on 'Finish' to complete the wizard.


18. While this configuration with very little advanced settings will work, you need to adjust a couple of the settings to optimize the connection speed. Go to the properties of your new connection by clicking the properties button. Select the modem that is being used via the USB tethered modem, and click on 'Configure'.


19. Now change the Maximum speed (bps) to 921600 from the default 115200 (EDGE can operate faster) and also select the checkboxes for 'Enable modem error control' and 'Enable modem compression' for the best results. Click on 'Ok' twice to complete.


Now you can connect your computer to the internet via the Blackberry USB tethered modem connection. To do so, make sure you Blackberry is connected via USB cable, and that the Blackberry Desktop Manager is running with you modem connected. Then connect to the AT&T/Cingular/Edge network and enjoy high-speed access!

Did this guide work for you? If so, please leave a comment and let me know!

‎ Read more of this post!

Working! Blackberry 8800 GPS Internationally in India

Great news to report on my recent trip to India in terms of the GPS working internationally on my Blackberry 8800 (Other models include the 8820, & 8830). If you recall from my trip back in July, I tried several times -- but could never get an accurate GPS signal in either Germany or India. After the success I had in Cancun, Mexico -- I decided it was worth another try in India to get some sort of GPS signal reception.

This time, after some fiddling with -- I was able to get the GPS to work. However, it was not easy...the good news is that once I finally located the GPS signal, it worked consistently.

When I walked off the plane, I immediately had phone service in Germany (Vodafone) and India (Air-Tel) along with data service. But GPS did not work immediately in either location.

How did I get it to work?

Well, the famous Blackberry 3-finger salute. A reset of the entire device by simultaneously holding down ALT+CAP+DEL seemed to resolve the issue. After approximately one minute for the device to reset, it started to pick up the necessary GPS signals from the satellite and I was live in India!

I ended up using the GPS device with Google Maps for the majority of the trip in Bangalore. While I was not driving, it gave me a much better perspective of where I was in the city of Bangalore. For how chaotic the city was -- the Google maps were very detailed, even down to many of the side or unlabled roads. This makes it easy to understand where you are in the city. An added benefit of the mapping in Bangalore, India is that it includes a number of notable sites as icons on the maps such as temples, parks and other places of note. Great, especially if you are out sight-seeing.

In some of the more remote areas of the country such as Coimbatore, the maps are no where near as developed. Some of the main routes into and out of the cities are included, but not a lot of the streets around town.

Still, it was a great relief to get ths Blackberry 8800's GPS working in India. It only took me two trips. If you are running into any problems with your GPS internationally, I would recommend the ALT+CAP+DEL 3-finger salute a try before you get too frustrated!

‎ Read more of this post!

People, Listen. GPS on Blackberry is FREE.

Has the Blackberry 8800 series (8830 on Verizon) become more widely used and more mainstream in the last couple of weeks? The reason I ask is that I have heard the same exact conversation in airports and other locations the last two weeks repeated at least three different times. This was repeated again today on the bus to the car rental area at the San Jose Airport.

Person asking about Blackberry 8800: “Hey, is that the new Blackberry 8800 you have there?”

Person with the Blackberry 8800: “Yeah, it’s a great device – everything is built right in.”

Person asking about Blackberry 8800: “I heard it also has a GPS feature in it, how does that work?”

Person with the Blackberry 8800: “Yes it has the GPS feature, however I have not used it.”

Person asking about the Blackberry 8800: “Really, why not? I would use that all the time.”

Person with the Blackberry 8800: “Me too, however it costs $9.95 a month to use it.”

Person asking about the Blackberry 8800: “Wow. That’s a bummer.”

Conversation ends. Houston, we have a problem – more specifically, RIM Blackberry has a marketing problem. Let me clear this up.....

People, please listen to me. You really do not have to do anything to get the GPS (Global Positioning System) working on that Blackberry 8800 or 8830 that you are carrying on your hip. You do not have to register for anything. You do not have to activate anything. You do not need pay one dime to get that little GPS device working. You can go to Options --> Advanced Options --> GPS, you can pull up your current location really quickly.

Now yes, you might want to install Google Maps (install guide here), as it can show you where you are at and even provide directions to where you are going. And if you really want turn-by-turn directions then the value that TeleNAV (install guide here) provides for $9.95 is a really good one. A similar device from Garmin, Tom-Tom or Pharos will set you back $400 or more – about 3+ years worth of TeleNAV service.

Hey RIM, you should consider promoting this better – get people to use the basic Google Maps GPS (like me) and then end up signing up for TeleNAV service indefinitely (like me).

‎ Read more of this post!

Blackberry: Change Push to Talk Button / Convenience Key

For some time I had been searching for a way to turn off the "Push-To-Talk" button as it is useless to me, and many others. In fact, yesterday I got a question from one reader of my other posts asking if I knew how to disable the button. Having looked before and not finding anything -- I figured it was time to have another look.

After taking another look, I almost felt silly that I missed it earlier. It is very easy to change the Push-To-Talk (PTT) button on your Blackberry to another function. The actual key is called the convenience key and here are the instructions on the easiest way to change it.

From your Blackberry device do the following:
1. Go to options.

2. Choose Screen/Keyboard.

3. Scroll down to "Convenience Key Opens"

4. Choose which function you want your Blackberry to perform when you hit the convenience button / key.

The list includes:
Nothing (!)
Address Book
Alarm
Application Switcher
Blackberry Messenger
BrickBreaker
Browser
Calculator
Callendar
Call Log
Compose
Help
Lock
Manage Connections
Media
MemoPad
Messages
Options
Password Keeper
Push to Talk
Saved Messages
Search
Send Voice Note
Setup Bluetooth
Setup Wizard
Tasks
TeleNav GPS Navigator
Voice Dialing

5. Choose your feature and exit to save the settings.

Congratulation, you have not changed your convenience button key setting on your Blackberry 8800, 8830, Pearl, and Curve devices.

‎ Read more of this post!

BlackBerry 8800 Series Lambskin Leather Swivel Holster Replacement

After seven months of heavily use my AT&T (formerly Cingular) Blackberry 8800, it is still ticking away an is little worse for the wear. Despite a couple of minor issues with the GPS in foreign countries, the device has been quite resilient to travel and the numerous drops and bumps it has received.

One of the main reasons for this is the new leather case that comes with it. With the inclusion of the new magnetic flap on the standard leather case, your Blackberry 8800 is easily secured. This is a huge improvement from the prior included versions.

Previous Blackberry devices has a plastic clip-in case that worked some of the time. There were a couple of major problem with it though. First, with minor bumps or twists, the Blackberry would get ejected from the case and generally fall from you belt line gouging the the case, or risking cracking your LCD screen on the Blackberry. The second was the more you used the case, the more lose the plastic clips got, increasing the change the Blackberry would be dropped.

That being said, this past week the clip on the belt clip broke without warning. Not from a bump that I can remember, but basically the plastic piece where the pin that holds the clip in cracked and the clip disassembled. The top the case flap that makes this case so successful was cracking as well -- so maybe it was time for it to go.

No, this is not a repair guide on how to fix the belt clip. Rather, I ended up ordering a couple of new cases from Webtreo through Amazon.com at $7.79. Today I received my new genuine OEM BlackBerry 8800 Series Lambskin Leather Swivel Holster, Pitch Black and it was just as expected. Not to mention, it is a great savings over the retail price of $29.99 from most places. So if you need a new one, now you know where to get it.

‎ Read more of this post!

Blackberry 8800 – GPS Works in Mexico. Kind Of.

I made two recent postings regarding some of the problems I had experienced with getting the Blackberry 8800’s GPS to work internationally. First it was India, where I could not get a signal for the life of me. Then in Frankfurt, Germany – it was the exact same problem, signal too weak for to pinpoint my location.

Based on some of the comments from the posts, others were having more success with their attempts to use the GPS functionality in their Blackberry 8800. Reports from several countries across Europe included successful connections and uses with their GPS. So, with that in mind – I was determined to give it another try on my visit to Cancun, Mexico last week.

First the good news, I was able to get a signal on a couple of occasions along the Yucatan peninsula. While taking a little bit longer than it does here, I was able to get a signal from the GPS satellites and call it my location within 4 meters on Google Maps. The only problem that even in a high-tourist area like Cancun, Mexico – Google Mobile Maps only supports satellite imagery, no maps or mapping options are available. A little frustrating to say the least.

And in terms of the performance of the GPS on the Blackberry 8800, it continues to perform rather poorly for me. In between uses, if I use any other applications – I have to use the ALT+CAP+DEL tool to reset the Blackberry in order to get the GPS to pick up.

Anyone else have similar problems?

‎ Read more of this post!

Blackberry 8800 – Will my GPS Work Internationally? Not in Germany Either!

Yesterday I mentioned the problems I had with getting my GPS to work in India with Google Maps.

Well, now it appears that the problem is more world-wide with the Blackberry 8800 and that the GPS functionality will only work in the United States.

Why am I suggesting this? Well, during my lay-over in Frankfurt on Sunday -- I decided to test out the GPS (Gobal Positioning System) function on my Blackberry 8800 while connected to the German networks. While wandering around the International terminals at the Frankfurt airport, I tried several different times to locate a GPS signal.

However, each time I attempted to connect -- I received the same old message -- Signal to weak to pinpoint location. Assumption is now that the GPS functionality only works in the United States which is a complete bummer.

I'm going to give it a final try in Cancun & Cozumel, Mexico next week. Let's hope it works.

Have you had the GPS functionality work for you outside of the United States?

‎ Read more of this post!