Tag Archives: Blackberry

Phone as a Toolbox

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Something a I learned a long time ago was that the right tool for the job makes things go much smoother.   When I Purchased my first Blackberry it was awesome.  My Blackberry Torch was even better.  The problem is the tools I want to have on my phone are not available for the Blackberry.

I have held off buying an iPhone because I didn’t buy in to the Cult of Steve.   It’s starting to seem like that’s not reason enough to stick with the Blackberry.   The photo apps alone make the iPhone very appealing for a photographer.

I’ll have my Torch for a while yet but I’ll be giving an iPhone serious consideration when it comes time to switch.    I’ve tried to be loyal but you lost your way.   A friend once said to me that when your only tool is a hammer all your problems look like nails.  I think this is what happened to RIM.  When all you have is the phone you want to solve all your problems with a better phone.  Unfortunately for RIM the phone is just a platform.  The apps are driving my decision to contemplate the iPhone. Sorry RIM.

Shortcut Keys BlackBerry Gmail Client

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I recently switched my email client from Outlook to Gmail.  As part of that move I set up forward to my old email addresses that now send those messages directly to my Gmail address and my BlackBerry address.  In doing so I now get my email much faster as Gmail and BlackBerry don’t have to poll my accounts.  An unintended consequence of this is that I’m now getting more spam on my BlackBerry.  Gmail has better filters and is catching the spam.

To reduce the noise created by all these spam messages I’ve switched to using the BlackBerry Gmail client.  Gmail for the BlackBerry doesn’t poll for mail very often which is a bit of a negative but then who really needs mail faster then every five minutes?  I can always hit the refresh button if I need the mail sooner.

To make my life easier I thought I’d look up some shortcut keys for the BlackBerry Gmail client.  Turns out the only shortcuts I could find were for the Gmail desktop client.  There is some overlap with these keys but there are many ommissions.  I’ve compiled the following list of shortcut keys that worked on my BlackBerry Gmail client.

Feel free to leave comments if I left any out.

Gmail Shortcut keys from the inbox:

  • o – open
  • t – top of inbox
  • b – bottom of inbox
  • j – moves to older message
  • k – moves to newer item
  • m – mutes a conversation (bypasses the inbox)
  • c – compose new message
  • s – add remove star to message

Dangerous Shortcuts –  Using these keys will remove messages from your Inbox.  The only saving grace is that they messages are still in your Gmail account which means you can retreive them from a desktop.

  • d – deletes message without confirmation
  • y- moves messages to the archive

Shortcut keys from a message:

  • u-  returns to inbox
  • i – returns to inbox
  • n – moves to next message in conversation
  • p – moves to previous message in conversation
  • t – top of conversation
  • b – bottom of conversation

Follow this link for the list of desktop Gmail client shortcut keys

10 Reasons I love my Blackberry

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I’ve been using my Blackberry Curve for about two years now.   I’m still amazed at how useful the device is.  Of course there are all the standard reasons for loving a Blackberry like getting your email but there is a lot more to it than just email.

You may have a different list or you may prefer some other device.  Here is my list of 10 reasons why I love my Blackberry.

  1. It has a real keyboard.  You have to use your thumbs but once you are used to that you can pound out short messages very easily.
  2. The built in camera is very handy.  I’ve used it to take pictures of my kids, grab pics of a whiteboard diagram, everyday dramas.  It just comes in so handy, especially on the social web.
  3. Geocaching software.  Don’t know what geocaching is then jump over to Cachemania to find out – What is Geocaching?  Not only is it paperless geocaching it also allows you to geocache anywhere, anytime without preperation.  Get to an intersting spot where you think there might be a geocache?  Spark up the Blackberry and Geocache Navigator to find out.
  4. Google Maps.   I can’t count how many times I’ve used Google Maps to either help me find where I”m going or even to help me find a place that I didn’t realize I needed to go until I was in a different city.  Buying roses for my wife comes to mind.   I was out geocaching and realized I needed to get the flowers for our 15th Anniversary the next day (give me some credit it wasn’t a last minute decision).  I dropped florist into a Google Map search and it lead me over to the Florist in Barrie.  That was handy.
  5. Google Latitude. This one creeps a lot of people out but it is not as creepy as you might think.  Google Latitude allows me to share my location with my friends.  I chose who gets to see where I am and when.  Adoption on this feature is bound to be slow.  I”m sure some people don’t even realize but I know use it to automatically post what city I”m in to my Google Talk status.
  6. Twitter Tools.  Whether it’s Twitterberry or Twitpic both of which beneifit from being accessable from my Blackberry.   I posted pictures from a major traffic jam on the 401 to my Twitpic account.  That wouldn’t have been possible without the Blackberry.
  7. Bright enough to be an impromptu flashlight.   My wife and I were at concert featuring Squeeze when she managed to knock her glasses off.  Try finding those on the dancefloor of a club without illumination!
  8. Speaking of music, now that there is a Blackberry Application store I’ve been able to install Shazam for my Blackberry.  So to all you iPhone users that thought you were special, not anymore.
  9. Even more music.  RIM has updated their Blackberry synchronization software so that now I can sync playlists from my iTunes directly to my Blackberry.  That has been so very helpful.   I still use my iPod as my main music listening device, in the old days we called them Walkmans, but having a subset of my music everywhere I go has allowed me to carry two devices less often.
  10. I can get email, addressbook and calendar while I’m mobile.  We shouldn’t underestimate how powerful it is to remain that connected when your business is you.  I have no receptionist, I have not assistant, it’s just me.  The need to stay connected is compounded when your business runs on Internet time.  There are no timezones, there is no business day when you are operating on Internet time.

So what did I miss?  I’m sure you have your reasons for liking the Blackberry or for you Apple fans your iPhone.  Tell me what you think I missed by posting a comment.

Should I keep using Outlook or switch entirely to Gmail?

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For more than 10 years Outlook as been my base of operations for email communications.  I loved Outlook.  It was feature rich and it there were third party applications that made it even more useful.  For years my biggest fear was was losing my email either from data corruption or a lost laptop.  About six months ago I started copying all of my email to my gmail account.  In this way I had a copy of all my incoming mail.  That didn’t help with outgoing mail so about 2 months ago I started working in Gmail about 80% of the time.  I think I am just about ready to abandon Outlook entirely.

Now that Google has Calendering, email and an address book it looks like there are fewer reasons to stay on Outlook.  I’m not sure what I’ll do about some of the tools I use with Outlook like Anagram.  That will be one application I’m not sure I can live without.  Send Personally from Mapilabs is another.  Gmail has forgotton attachment protection so that’s an applet I won’t need. 

A major benefit to using gmail exclusively is that all of my mail will now live in the Cloud.  No more worries about hardware failure or lost laptops.   I’m sure there are some new concerns but those don’t seem to worry me as much as the everyday problems encountered when your data lives on one harddrive.  

Google will soon offer Blackberry support via Gmail.  That means syncing of contacts, addressbook and emails between Gmail and your Blackberry.  That alone might justify the move to premium Google Apps. 

Have you ditched Outlook in favour of Gmail?