Cheap (~$350), Hackable Linux Smartphone Due Soon

FIC introduced the "Neo1973" Smartphone at the Open Source in Mobile conference yesterday in Amsterdam. Linux Devices, in an article yesterday, reported that the company will be releasing the device, which features an open-source, Linux-based "OpenMoKo" platform. The device will also support Windows Mobile, making it one of (possibly the) first dual-OS mobile device.

The Neo1973 will also include a GPS receiver, and it is a quad-band GSM/GPRS "world phone". The main weaknesses in the device (that I can see) are is the design of the unit, which resembles a large pill, and the fact that is does not appear to have any hardware buttons--everything seems to be controlled via a touch screen, and the fact that it doesn't include EDGE data--GPRS-only data rates are going to be a serious impediment to the acceptance of this unit by early adopters, geeks, and the like.







Nonetheless, the Neo sounds like a really great idea...and hopefully the price, which at $350 is hardly "cheap," will come down as they move into volume production. The carriers, if they decide to pick up the phone, will of course offer steep discounts in exchange for a contract commitment--the key, of course, is if this phone goes mainstream enough for that to happen.

The full article on LinuxDevices may be found here.

An excellent review on one of the new crop of standalone phones that use Skype over WiFi connections. Nice idea, but it sounds like it's not quite ready for prime time--missing features like a Web browser (for authenticating with hotspots like the T-Mobile network), a keypad lock, text messaging, no support for 802.1x and WPA2 security and a high price (~$200 street) will doom this device to being used only by early adopters. Still....the ability to make Skype calls from virtually any open hotspot, without booting a PC is compelling. Perhaps the next generation of this phone will have the magic combination of ingredients, but for now I'm keeping my money in the bank.

Netgear Skype WiFi Phone SPH101 > JiWire's Review

The Greenphone - User-modifiable Linux Phone

Trolltech has introduced the Qtopia Greenphone, a $700 Linux-based GSM/GPRS mobile phone that includes an SDK so that users can easily develop their own applications that run on the phone.

From the press release:
-----------------------

Trolltech®, the company that makes software faster to build and easier to use, announced the pricing and availability of Qtopia® Greenphone™, the first open Linux mobile device for application developers.

Greenphone is offered as part of a complete software development kit (SDK) enabling application developers to utilize communication functions and features found in today’s sophisticated smartphones in developing their own innovative applications in addition to modifying those that Trolltech provides.

----------------------


Cool idea, but at that price point they will only attract serious gadget geeks (probably not their target market) and independent software vendors (ISVs) that desire a mobile phone platform that's easy to develop on (probably their target market). There could also be a market in the enterprise space--large companies that desire 100% control over the mobile phones that their employees use, all the way down to the OS.

Hopefully they come up with different colors--the Greenphone's puke green is not going to attract many people on wow factor! Of course, one might expect nasty things to come from a company called TrollTech...makes me wonder what it smells like! (?)

New Multimedia BlackBerry - The Pearl


RIM has announced its first consumer-targeted device, known as the BlackBerry Pearl. From the outside, it looks very much like the other "compact" BlackBerry devices, aka the 7100 series.

Inside, however, it sports two firsts for a BlackBerry: an MP3 player and an integrated 1.3 megapixel digital camera. It also has a new slot for a microXD memory card, which can be used for storing photos and music. Also very important: this unit supports both GPRS and EDGE data standards, the latter of which provides data rates up to three times faster than GPRS. As far as I know, this is the first BlackBerry in the "compact" form factor to support EDGE.

I haven't seen one of these units up close yet, but it looks like RIM could very well have a runaway hit on its hands. With a street price of $200-$300 (depending on plan and carrier discounts), weighing in at only 3.1 ounces and with a form factor that is as thin as a closed RAZR and as narrow as a normal "candy bar" phone, this unit sounds like a winner to me.

It does not appear to be available quite yet--T-Mobile, for example, it taking pre-orders at this time, but I'm sure we'll be seeing Pearls all over in a very short period of time.

RIM BlackBerry Pearl review by PC Magazine

Netgear WPN824 WiFi Router with MIMO

I acquired this unit for my office about two weeks ago from Office Depot for $89, and so far I am very pleased with it. This is an 802.11b/g WiFi router that features MIMO (Multi-In/Multi-Out) technology, which selects a combination of seven different internal antennas to provide the best coverage, depending on environmental factors such as the location of the wireless client devices. The router continuously monitors the environment, choosing the right channel and antennas to provide the best coverage.

Anecdotally, the new router does seem to provide better coverage in our office, with stronger signal in the furthest corners. An additional challenge of our office is the fact that we're in a highly dense area (downtown Denver), with many different APs from many different companies in the same area. Since this device automatically picks the best channel, it can dynamically change its configuration as the wireless dynamics in our building change.

So far, I am very pleased with the device and would recommend it to others. The price is a bit high, but it seems to be worth it for people that have coverage problems. My only complaint so far is the configuration of the unit, which required installation of a CD on the PC, along with a hard-wired connection to the router. While this wasn't a big deal for the initial configuration, I have been unable to manage the unit over the wireless, which is annoying--the last thing I want to do is to have to walk a laptop over to the unit to connect to the wired Ethernet just to be able to manage the device. Hopefully it will be very stable and I won't have to manage it!

Oh, and one more benefit--the unit has a very cool array of blue LEDs that shows which antennae are in use--a definite "thumbs up" on the geek factor!

A new generation of ultra-mobile PCs

There is a great slideshow on the eWeek Web site that depicts the new generation of ultra-mobile PCs from Sony and OQO which run Windows XP and typically weigh 1-2 pounds. Some have slide-out keyboards, and a number of people that have reviewed these devices have been none too pleased with them...that said, I'm sure there is a market for these devices in sales and executive types that are always on the search for the smallest, lightest laptop that still runs XP.

My main problem with these devices is that the keyboards are usually just awful--like trying to type on a bunch of chiclets--and the manufacturers often compromise sturdiness (and roadworthiness) in lieu of weight and size. As always, it will be very interesting to watch these devices hit the market, and to see who is buying them.

Attention Crackberry Addicts: Nasty Bug in Blackberry Desktop / Intellisync

I recently discovered a really nasty bug in the Blackberry Desktop/Intellisync (version 4.1.1.9, dated February 2006) that you might want to be aware of. A couple of times over the past six months, Intellisync has crashed during calendar sync, leaving absolutely no trace as to why it crashed and taking Outlook down with it for good measure. About six months ago I was able to work around the problem after many hours of tinkering by figuring out approximately which range of calendar entries was causing the problem and “brute-forcing” a solution by deleting all calendar entries around the problem date.

The problem occurred again today, and fortunately I was able to remember a particular change that I made to my calendar, which as it turns out, was the cause of the problem. I had pasted a graphic image (JPG) (a map, actually) into the calendar entry notes page, after which Intellisync crashed over and over again, repeatedly on the same calendar entry (which of course was only shown as 'now reading calendar entry xxx').

After remembering that I had created the calendar entry with the image in it earlier today, I decided to remove the image from the notes page and re-sync--and wha-la! Everything worked OK again.

So—don’t paste graphics into your calendar notes!

For the record, I have a T-Mobile Blackberry 7105t with the latest OS and Desktop Sync patches installed.

roofnet - DIY Open Source ISP using 802.11 Technology

This is really awesome--a group at MIT has created a public domain, open source mesh network based on standard 802.11 b/g technology. A mesh network enables a single node with Internet access, such as a house, to share that access with a number of adjacent locations. The mesh involves packets being able to hop from 802.11 node to node, and so long as each node is within the standard range for 802.11 (which is around two miles, if memory serves), there is no conceivable limit to the size of the mesh other than the fact that propagation delay would make performance at the end nodes intolerable after a certain number of hops.

This concept brings high-speed Internet access to many areas that could otherwise not receive it, such as mountainous areas that don't have access to cable modem or DSL and that do not have the exposure needed for satellite Internet. I have heard of some communitities doing this as "homebrew" experiments, but I have not run into an open source alternative until now.

Kudos to the roofnet group--keep up the good work!

T-Mobile BlackBerry 8700g

This appears to be the latest-and-greatest BlackBerry offered by T-Mobile. At present it shows as being out-of-stock, with no price, but it looks like a great machine--enhanced 3G data speeds thanks to EDGE support, and even though it's the classic "brick" form factor, it appears to be somewhat narrower than its predecessors.

The the other recent BlackBerry devices, it supports Bluetooth, has an HTML Web browswer, and includes instant messaging software. Now if they'd only make one that could use WiFi and would run Skype....!

Downtown Denver Partnership Free WiFi Zone

The Downtown Denver Partnership announced yesterday that it has created a free WiFi (as in wireless 802.11 network) zone that stretches along the 16th Street pedestrian mall from the "top" (Civic Center Station) to LoDo (Union Station), including Skyline Park at 16th and Arapahoe (which happens to be next Green Fine Salad Company, one of my favorite restaurants!). Interestingly enough, I had a very hard time finding any further information on it (including no mention whatsoever on the Partnership's web site) until I stumbled across an article in the Denver Post (from which most of this information came).

The free WiFi is limited to two hours out of each 24, and according to a report in the Denver Post, the coverage and signal strength is excellent--one person reported a very strong signal while using it inside of Starbucks at 16th and Court Place.

The network, which was designed, implemented and will be maintained by Kiva Networks out of Broomfield, CO, is being provided free to the city. Kiva will reportedly earn some ad revenue from a Web page that displays when users first log on (and they are quite obviously getting some serious free PR out of the deal too!).

The network is based out of the Downtown Denver Partnership's HQ at 16th St and Glenarm Place, where Kiva has located a central server and a wireless antenna. Antennas are located atop 16 light poles along the mall, along with a solar powered access point at the Denver Pavilions mall.

This is a great way to make the city much more traveller-friendly, IMHO--instead of paying $10-$20/day for wireless access at places such as Starbucks, people can get access for free (even while still buying Starbucks coffee!). The only losers in the equation are the WISPs (Wireless Internet Access Providers) that stand to lose out on the revenue they would otherwise be getting from those users.

I applaud the move, which follows on the heels of a similar move made by Boulder's Downtown Business Improvement District, which provides free (entirely solar powered--it's Boulder, after all!) WiFi access along the Pearl Street Mall.

For what it's worth, the network name (SSID) of the Boulder network is 'PEARL', and I will post the 16th Street network information when I get it. Curiously, the Kiva Networks Web site has to be one of the most content free that I've run into--seems they're keeping themselves busy putting in free networks or something. :-)

Update (4/19/06): I tried to connect to the free Denver network today from the Starbucks at 16th and Blake; nothing showed up on my network list other than the Starbucks T-Mobile network--and this was sitting by a window right on the mall. Hmm....seems they might need a few more APs, as the coverage is clearly not seamless from one end of the mall to the other.

Dell Latitude D620: my new laptop

After an exhaustive review, we recently made the decision to go with Dell again to replace a number of aging "power user" laptops. The unit of choice is the Latitude D620, which is a brand-new corporate quality laptop designed for road warrior power users.

As spec'ed, the D620s we've ordered have Intel Core Duo 2 GHz processors, 2GB RAM, 80GB hard drives, wide screen 14" SXGA+ screens and DVD+/-R drives. Weight should come in around 5.5 pounds with the extra life 9 cell battery, which is reported to provide around 7 hours (!) of battery life.

eWeek recently reviewed the D620 and gave it very good marks, especially for the price, which came in at $2,119, including all of the options mentioned above plus a 3 year next business day service plan, accidental damage protection, shipping and tax.

As far as reliability, ComputerWorld Australia recently stress tested one of the new Latitude models (not sure exactly which one), but they came through with shining colors. Their tests included dropping the unit onto carpeted and hard floors (from desktop height, both open and closed), as well as standing on the unit and actually pouring an entire cup of coffee on the keyboard. The unit survived all tests with flying colors due to the magnesium reinforced case, liquid resistant keyboard and hard drive "shock zones" that protect the drive if the unit is dropped. While this falls short of Lenovo's "air bag" technology, which relies on a motion sensor that automatically parks the hard drive, and liquid drain channels under the keyboard, the price of the unit came in much less than a similarly configured ThinkPad T60.

Dell estimates that we will receive the units in about 2 weeks, and I will post an evaluation of my unit after I've had a chance to use it for a few weeks. Compared with the cranky, heavy (8.5 pound) Dell Inspiron 8500 that I'm currently using, the new D620 promises to be a vast improvement. Hopefully Dell's new US-based support and overall system reliability have improved beyond the current unit!

Aruba Networks: Secure WiFi/VPN Solution in One

I attended Forrester's IT Forum 2006 this week in Las Vegas, and one of the vendors exhibiting there is Aruba Networks (http://www.arubanetworks.com).

Aruba, which calls themselves the "Mobile Edge Company" have a line of VPN/wireless “switch” appliances that are really cool. You buy a "mobiliy controller", which is a switch-like device that can control between 6 and 512 Aruba access points (which are very small, 802.11 a/b/g devices).

The mobility controller is much more than just a switch, however. The idea is that you place the controller in the data center, and it then not only controls the access points, but it also serves as an identity-based security gateway (wired and wireless), plus a VPN server.

After you configure one or more wireless access points with private IPs, you can plug them in virtually anywhere with connectivity to the Internet (like mobile users, branch offices, or even locations in the same building). The APs connect back to the "mother ship" (mobility controller) via an encrypted VPN tunnel, providing a secure connection from virtually anywhere (like hotel rooms, for example). The access points also support WiFi security like WPA, so in effect, you get fully secured end-to-end wireless communications from virtually anywhere....and once it's set up, it's virtually plug-and-play.

This solution solves a multitude of remote access problems, including the classic problem where an employee connects back to the corporate network with a VPN tunnel from home, and yet since they have an unsecure (or improperly secured) access point, they've just created an opening into the corporate network that is virtually impossible for the IT organization to detect.

I especially like the remote office / mobile worker aspects of this solution. An IT department could send the smallest AP (around $200 if memory serves) to these users, and they only need to plug the unit into a network connection to gain instant secure wireless connectivity to the corporate network. Super cool!

The total solution scales very well also--they have controllers that scale up to the largest of deployments, and they also have a very good line of access points that even include outdoor environments. I have recommended that our IT person take a look at their solution--it could solve a multitude of problems for us with not a large amount of work and for just a few thousand dollars' investment.



Not only do the APs provide a secure plug-and-play VPN, they also provide secure wireless access that will work in our various office locations as well as home offices and even hotel rooms. Cool idea!



The price doesn’t look too bad—the appliance starts around $1,700 (US) and the APs are around $200 (if memory serves).

Wi-Spy: $99 USB 2.4GHz Spectrum Analyzer

While this isn't everyone's cup-o-tea, those of us that are radio geeks could have a lot of fun with this. It shows frequency activity in the 2.4 GHz band, which can be useful in troubleshooting interference problems between WiFi, Bluetooth, Microwave ovens and the like.

If it was around $50, I'd think about getting one, but $99 is a little too steep for just a toy. This would come in useful for those of you that have a need to do some troubleshooting at work, however.

New phone uses world's smallest disk - vnunet.com: "Toshiba has designed a mobile phone using the world's smallest disk drive, according to Japanese sources. The 2.1cm drive, also made by Toshiba, is so small that six would fit on a business card."

Wow--that is amazing. The article has a photo of the disk next to a six-sided die; it's just barely bigger!

Supreme Court rejects BlackBerry patent appeal - Wireless World - MSNBC.com: "WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear an appeal from the maker of the BlackBerry in the long-running battle over patents for the wildly popular, handheld wireless e-mail device.

The high court’s refusal to hear Canada-based Research In Motion Ltd.’s appeal means that a trial judge in Richmond, Va., could impose an injunction against the company and block BlackBerry use among many of its owners in the United States."

This isn't good for the ~4M Blackberry users out there--if RIM doesn't ante up an estimated $700M-$1B to NTP, it looks like there very well may be a shutdown of their network. Even though RIM claims to have implemented a work-around if that happens, I'm pretty skeptical that it will be as seamless as they say--otherwise, why wouldn't they have already done it?

The Palm 700w: Windows OS; 500 Kbps download speed

A good review of the first device to contain the unholy alliance between Palm and Microsoft: a device running Windows Mobile that, combined with Verizon's EV-DO data network, reaches 400-700 Kbps download speed. Looks intriguing, but I'll stick with my Blackberry for now.

How to Squelch Your Inner Jackass

An absolutely brilliant treatise on how mobile technology gets abused; and a wake-up call to all of us to be more compassionate of our fellow beings...especially at the local coffee shop!

Vodaberry Update

Update: Thursday Jan 19: I received an email from the Vodaberry folks; apparently they were moving their web site. All appears to be normal now.

News flash: it appears that the Vodaberry service (www.vodaberry.com) may be out of business--their email messages are bouncing and their Web site has some sort of error message, but in German. Either that, or their domain was hijacked by someone. In any event, I wouldn't recommend anyone give them their money for Blackberry ringtones! I suppose I'll just have to figure out how to convert and post them myself.

My Review of Blackberry 7105t

This is a review that I posted on epinions.com this morning:

Pros

- Bluetooth headset support, small/light form factor, beautiful screen, polyphonic ringtones

Cons

- Small keyboard, difficult ringtone transfer, battery life, handicapped Bluetooth, screen dark unless active

The Bottom Line
Hard-core Blackberry users should try the keyboard before buying. Overall, a great unit combining the advantages of Blackberry with a traditional phone form factor and features.

Full Review
The Blackberry 7100 is a major step forward for the Blackberry community, although it is also a step back. I'll explain.

RIM introduced the 7100 series, which is basically the same phone for all carriers (the letter after the model indicates which carrier -- t, for example, for T-Mobile), in late 2004. I have been a user of the 'classic' brick-style Blackberry for a number of years but always desired the features and form factor of a classic mobile phone--the 7100 series seemed to be the answer.

I should mention that I use the T-Mobile network in the Denver area, although I travel globally.

I received the 7105t (which is a close cousin to the 7100--the only real difference is the screen, which is easier to read in daylight) about 3 weeks ago, and have been mostly happy with it. It is clearly a major improvement over the old line of Blackberries, but people that do a lot of text input should carefully consider the keyboard on the 7100 series.

Improvements of the 7100 series:

- Phone-like form factor (bar vs. brick); much easier to use as a phone;
- Excellent phone quality - Beautiful color screen (240x260, 65K colors)
- Bluetooth support (headset and wireless sync);
- Polyphonic ringtones (32 chords);
- Quad-band GSM world phone (works anywhere that has GSM coverage);
- Instant messaging client: supports all major IM clients (Yahoo, MSN, AOL)
- Skins: ability to change the look-and-feel of the user interface;

Drawbacks of the 7100 series:
- Handicapped Bluetooth--file transfer not supported; wireless sync only works with PC Bluetooth adapters on the Microsoft hardware compatibility list (HCL);
- Keyboard: due to the smaller form factor, RIM had to combine two letters on most keys. The 7100s do have a predictive typing system with a 35,000 word dictionary that anticipates the word being typed. This takes a bit of getting used to but works reasonably well (clearly better than other systems, such as T9), but the classic RIM keyboard is still easier and faster.
- Ringtones: The 7100 only uses ADPCM ringtones, which require conversion from standard formats. The only way to get a ringtone into the phone is to load from a Web site (e.g. you cannot transfer tones from the desktop; nor can you email a tone to yourself). The ringtones sound great, but it's much to difficult to get them there. Many phones today will accept MP3 format--not the 7100.
- Battery life: while decent, much less than the brick-style Blackberries. In real use, the 7100 lasted only 4 days on standby (much less than the 10 days standby reported by RIM); talk time is close to RIM's specs (3-4 hours).
- Screen: dark unless active (prior models were readable at all times); 7100 difficult to see in bright sunlight (corrected in 7105 model)

Overall, I'm very happy with the phone--the screen is beautiful, ringtones sound good and I love the form factor. Since I don't spend a lot of time doing text entry (mostly reading), the keyboard is fine for me, and I also love being able to use a wireless Bluetooth headset. The inability to sync via Bluetooth is not a big factor, as the phone must be plugged into USB to charge anyway.

Recommended for: Business Executives - Powerful and Professional

Blackberry News

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) rejected two more of NTP, Inc.'s patent claims against RIM. Unfortunately for BlackBerry users, however, a new security vulnerability was detailed this week.

The vulnerability allows a specially-crafted TIFF file to be used to execute code on the BlackBerry Enterprise Server 4.0 or the latter's BlackBerry Attachment Service running atop IBM Corp. Lotus Domino, Microsoft Exchange, or Novell Inc.'s Groupwise. The vulnerability prevents a user from viewing all attachments. While RIM has not announced when a patch will be available, it suggests a workaround of blocking all TIFF images or disabling the Attachment Service altogether.

The vulnerability reportedly has no impacts on other BlackBerry functionalities, such as making phone calls, sending and receiving e-mail, or Web browsing.

Sprint Refuses To Reveal Location Of Cell Phone In Carjacked SUV

Sprint demanded a $25 subpoena fee and application to start service before they would help rescue a kidnapped child. According to Sprint, they already have an emergency protocol in place, but the employee did not follow it. Doh!

I'll bet some Sprint PR folks are spending a little overtime this week! Wow.

FORTUNE: Review of the Treo 700w Smartphone

According to Bill Gates, this will be his next phone. Unfortunately, at the present time it's only available on Verizon (cross off using the phone outside of the US), and VZW's EV-DO data plan runs $60/month in addition to the voice plan. The other downside is cost: $599 without a service contract; $399 with a two-year contract.

Is this the "perfect storm" of convergence? We'll see, but it looks pretty cool so far. I'm sure a GSM version isn't far behind, but at this point I'm so happy with my Blackberry 7105t, it would take a lot to get me to switch.

Google Local for mobile

They've done it now--Google maps available on your mobile, and they work really well on my Blackberry 7105! GLM installs as an app on the Blackberry, supports satellite and map views, and even gives directions...all free. Google rocks!

BlackberryTunes

BlackberryTunes.com: Eases the pain of creating 7100/7105 ringtones

I went ahead and subscribed to this service ($20 a year through Handango) last Friday. The idea is simple: you send them an audio file (MP3 or WAV) that you want converted into a ringtone, and they convert it to the Blackberry ADP format and put it up on their website for you to download from your Blackberry...you can even send them an entire song in MP3 and they'll edit it down to a ringtone.

In RIM's infinite wisdom (or lack thereof), the only way to get a new ringtone on your 710x is to download it from a Web site, and since ADP files require a custom MIME filetype, this precludes using most commercial Web hosters (without jumping through a lot of hoops to get them to add the MIME type to their server). Since I use Yahoo for my hosting, and I really didn't want to go through the pain of getting them to handle the file type, I chose to pay these guys instead.

I sent them a ringtone last Friday evening (an already edited version of U2's Vertigo), and as of this morning (Tuesday), I hadn't heard a word from them. After sending a semi-threatening email, I received the download link from them about 30 minutes later. I'm going to try sending some more over this evening; we'll see if their response time gets any better (I sure hope so). I'll post an update to this entry after I've had some more time with their service.

Update: I've now been using the service for nearly a week, and my requests have been handled very quickly. I've also been able to give my ringtone URL to other people, who have also been able to enjoy my ringtones. Cool service--much easier than trying to do it on your own.

Favorite Blackberry Tips

This is my not-so-comprehensive list of Blackberry Hacks and Shortcuts, gained through experience and trolling through other people’s lists of hacks and shortcuts, plus my personal experience with Blackberry 7230 and 7105 units. These shortcuts and hacks will work for virtually any 7100 series Blackberry, and many will work for other models as well. I will continue to update this posting as I discover new and interesting things.

Keyboard Shortcuts
One of the most useful yet least used Blackberry productivity enhancers are the plethora of keyboard shortcuts. While most of these are actually documented, few people actually take the time to RTFM (myself included). These are my favorites:

Home Screen
From the home screen, the following keys are really useful:

• Lock the phone: press and hold the ‘*’


• Unlock the phone: / double-click the click wheel


• Turn vibrate mode on/off quickly: Press and hold ‘#’


• Move or hide an icon on the screen: Press Alt and click the wheel; select hide or move and click


• (Note: I haven’t figured out how to move icons from one of the sub-menus to the home menu, and vice versa (yet))


• Unhide icons: Alt plus wheel click; select ‘Unhide’


• Return to home screen: press [End Call] button


• Switch applications: press and hold alt key + press escape button


• Note: this is really useful during phone calls or while you wait for a slow web page to load


• Show Blackberry event log: Alt-L Alt-G Alt-L Alt-G (press [Enter] on log entries for more info)


• Change signal strength to number: Alt-B-B-M-L-L (note: larger numbers indicate worse signal; 40 is perfect, 120 is worst, and > 100 you’ll notice signal problems)

Message Screen
While reading messages, the following shortcuts come in really handy:

• Delete multiple messages (two ways):
• To delete all messages prior to a certain date, move the cursor until it's on the date bar (e.g. 'Mon Jan 9, 2006') and select 'Delete Prior' from the menu. This will delete all messages from the selected date and prior.
• To delete multiple messages from the inbox, hold down the alt key and roll the wheel; select the messages you wish to delete and press the [del] key.
  
• Move to top/bottom of screen: 1 / 7


• Page up(screen up)/page down(screen up): [3] / [9]


• Compose new message from inbox: [L]


• Forward a message from inbox: [OP]


• Reply to sender: [QW]


• Reply all: [AS]


• Show phone log: Alt-P (press ESC to return)


• View voice messages: press and hold Alt-[CV]

Calendar

• Go to next day, week, month: [space]


• Previous day, week, month: [#]


• Create new appointment: [.]

Typing

• Switch between SureType and multi-tap input: hold ‘*’ until indicator changes (upper right corner of screen)


• Capitalize a letter: press and hold the key


• NUM lock: # + alt (press alt to turn off)


• Insert a period: press [space] twice

Phone

• Open phone application: press [Send] (green phone)


• Voicemail: press and hold [1] key


• Redial: press [Send] key twice


• Mute: [!] (toggle)


• Speakerphone: [.] (toggle)


• Switch to Bluetooth headset: click wheel and select ‘Enable’ for the device


• Assign speed dial: press and hold number key; follow menus


• Dial speed dial: press and hold assigned number key

Bluetooth Tips

Blackberries that have bluetooth exhibit one very annoying characteristic when used with a wireless headset: when you press the button on the headset, it automatically re-dials the last person you called (not what most people intend, especially when the headset is in a purse or pocket!). The workaround is as follows:

• From the home screen, select Settings...Options...Bluetooth
• Click the wheel and select Options
• Select 'Allow outgoing calls' and change to 'Never' or 'If unlocked' (the latter will allow auto-redial only if the unit is unlocked, which still won't totally prevent the problem). I suggest you select 'Never' to be absolutely sure your BB doesn't make crank phone calls.

Using your PC headset with the Blackberry

I discovered another interesting Bluetooth feature last night: if you pair your Blackberry (well, the 7105 anyway) with your PC (assuming you have a Bluetooth adapter in your PC), you can take advance of the 'Audio Gateway' profile. What this means is that you can establish a connection between your Blackberry and the PC, and when you activate the Audio Gateway profile (usually found under Bluetooth services), the Blackberry will then use the PC as its headset. In my case, since I have a high-quality USB headset on my PC, it means that I can use my PC headset when people call my cell--very useful when working from home or in an instance where I'm going to be on the phone for a long time (PC headsets are generally more comfortable than the standard Bluetooth headset). Not for everyone, but kind of fun nonetheless.

Now if I could just figure out how to get the Blackberry Desktop software to recognize my PC Bluetooth adapter, so I could sync wirelessly.....

BlackberryTunes.com: 7100t ringtones made easy

These guys charge $20 a year and will convert an unlimited number of MP3s to 7100 polyphonic ringtones for you; they then put them up on a Web site for download. Seems well worth the $$$, as doing it yourself is a real pain in the ass.

I went ahead and subscribed; will update this post after I've had a chance to try them out.

How To - Set up Blackberry Bluetooth PC connectivity

A useful tutorial on setting up Bluetooth connectivity with a Blackberry.

Hacking the Blackberry 7105

A few more hacks that I have discovered for the 7100/7105:

• BB event log: press Alt-L Alt-G Alt-L Alt-G ; press enter to get more detail on an event
  
• Take notes during a call: press the click wheel and select 'Notes'--will allow you to jot down notes that become attached to that call in the call log.
• Press Alt-P from the message screen--shows the call log; press Esc to get back to regular messages
  
• Play Zork on the Blackberry: if you know what Zork is, you'll know why you'll want to play it on the BB
• Develop your own BB apps: you can download the BB Java Development Kit for free

How to use the Blackberry 710x as a GPRS Modem

Great work-around that allows you to use a Blackberry as a modem, although it does require a USB connection (no Bluetooth). I tried it, and it works as advertised. The only problem I ran into was that the Blackberry desktop software has to be running and connected to the BB before the modem connection goes through--not a huge deal, but nothing works until it's running. Very cool!

The New Treo 700W, as in Windows

Who woulda thunk it--a Palm device running Windows, and Palm OS going the way of the dodo? It's true--and all of the issues with the Windows Mobile OS have found their way to the Treo, including mucho feature bloat.

I'll stick with my Blackberry--at least for a while longer!