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Copyright © 2010 by Que Publishing
All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher. No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of the information contained herein. Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Nor is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.
ISBN-13: 978-0-7897-4285-8
ISBN-10: 0-7897-4285-3
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Johnston, Craig James, 1967-
My BlackBerry Curve / Craig James Johnston.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-7897-4285-8
1. BlackBerry Curve (Smartphone) 2. Smartphones. 3. Pocket computers. I. Title.
QA76.8.B52J65 2010
004.1675—dc22
2009042361
Printed in the United States of America
First Printing: December 2009
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
Greg Wiegand
ACQUISITIONS EDITOR
Michelle Newcomb
DEVELOPMENT EDITOR
Kevin Howard
MANAGING EDITOR
Kristy Hart
PROJECT EDITOR
Anne Goebel
COPY EDITORS
Gayle Johnson
San Dee Phillips
INDEXER
Cheryl Lenser
PROOFREADER
Debbie Williams
TECHNICAL EDITOR
Don Schauer
PUBLISHING COORDINATOR
Cindy Teeters
BOOK DESIGNER
Anne Jones
COMPOSITOR
Nonie Ratcliff
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To those who work tirelessly with loyalty and dedication but who are not recognized because they do not know the art of pretending to like the office bullies.
Prologue Getting to Know the BlackBerry Curve
Chapter 1 Making, Receiving, and Managing Calls
Chapter 3 Listening to Audio and Watching Video
Chapter 4 Connecting: Internet, Bluetooth, and VPNs
Chapter 7 Text Messaging, Multimedia Messaging, and BlackBerry PIN Messaging
Chapter 8 Working with Date and Time and the Calendar
Chapter 9 Working with BlackBerry Applications
Chapter 10 Social Networking and Instant Messaging on Your BlackBerry Curve
Chapter 11 Customizing Your BlackBerry Curve
Chapter 12 Maintaining Your BlackBerry Curve and Solving Problems
P Prologue: Getting to Know the BlackBerry Curve Models
The BlackBerry Curve’s External Features
BlackBerry Curve 8300 Series (8300, 8310, 8320, 8330, 8350i)
Installing the BlackBerry Desktop Software on Your Computer
Installing BlackBerry Desktop Manager on Microsoft Windows
Installing PocketMac for BlackBerry and Missing Sync for BlackBerry on the Apple Macintosh OS X
1 Making, Receiving, and Managing Calls
Creating Ring Tones with Mobicious
Specifying a Ring Tone by Creating an Exception
Specifying a Ring Tone Without Creating an Exception
Other Ways of Dialing with the Phone Application
Making Free Calls with Your BlackBerry Curve
Which BlackBerry Curves Support UMA
Getting Contacts onto Your BlackBerry Curve
Synchronizing with a Windows Computer
Customizing How the Contacts Are Synchronized
Synchronizing with an Apple Mac
Manually Entering Contact Information
Adding a Contact from an Email
Adding a Picture for One of Your Contacts
Adding a Custom Ring Tone for One of Your Contacts
Configuring the Contacts Application
Changing How the Contacts Application Works
Synchronizing Contacts with Online Services
3 Listening to Audio and Watching Video
Using Roxio Media Manager (Windows)
Working with Roxio Media Manager
Configuring Roxio Media Manager
Using BlackBerry Media Sync (Windows)
Using PocketMac and Missing Sync for BlackBerry (Mac OS X)
Synchronizing Photos with Missing Sync
Synchronizing Videos with Missing Sync
Enjoying Multimedia on Your BlackBerry Curve
The BlackBerry Curve Media Player
4 Connecting: Internet, Bluetooth, and VPNs
Connecting to the Internet Via Wi-Fi
Connecting to an Invisible Wi-Fi Network
Diagnosing Wi-Fi Network Issues
Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)
Setting Up Personal Email Accounts
Setting Up a Corporate Email Account
AutoText and Other Typing Tips
Symbols and Accented Characters
Change the Type of Messages Listed
Email Cleanup, Searching, and Management
Corporate BlackBerry Email Settings
Personal BlackBerry Email Settings
Synchronizing BlackBerry Email Via a Mac
PocketMac for BlackBerry Email Synchronization
The Different BlackBerry Browsers
Searching Using the Web Browser
Browsing with Only Wi-Fi Coverage
7 Text Messaging, Multimedia Messaging, and BlackBerry PIN Messaging
Configuring the New Text Message Sound
Receiving and Replying to SMS Text Messages
Configuring the New Multimedia Message Sound
Sending Multimedia Messages from the Messages Application
Sending Multimedia Messages Directly
Receiving and Replying to Multimedia Messages
8 Working with Date and Time and the Calendar
Configuring Time, Date, and Calendar
Creating and Sending an Appointment
Receiving and Responding to Appointments
Synchronizing the Calendar with a PC and Mac
Configuring the Clock Application
9 Working with BlackBerry Applications
Installing BlackBerry App World
BlackBerry Applications Not in BlackBerry App World
Installing Applications Over the Air (OTA)
Installing Applications Using a Computer
Deleting BlackBerry Applications
Deleting Applications on the Device
Deleting Applications Using Your Desktop
Deleting Applications Using PocketMac for BlackBerry
Send Someone Your Location or Any Location
Finding Places of Interest Around You
10 Social Networking and Instant Messaging on Your BlackBerry Curve
11 Customizing Your BlackBerry Curve
Changing the Home Screen Image (Wallpaper)
Securing Your BlackBerry Curve
12 Maintaining Your BlackBerry Curve and Solving Problems
Turn Your Radio Off in Low Signal Areas
Keeping Your BlackBerry Curve Clean and Safe
Keeping Your BlackBerry Curve Up to Date
Updating with BlackBerry Desktop Manager
Solving BlackBerry Curve Problems
Getting Help with Your BlackBerry Curve
Craig James Johnston has been involved with technology since his school days at Glenwood High in Durban, South Africa, when his school was given some Apple II Europluses. From that moment technology captivated him, and he has owned, supported, evangelized, and written about it ever since.
Craig has been involved in designing and supporting large-scale enterprise networks with integrated email and directory services since 1989. Although he has owned many PDAs, Craig was drawn in by the BlackBerry in 2000 and started down the path of supporting it almost exclusively by 2005. He has held many different IT-related positions in his career, ranging from sales support engineer to mobile-engineering an infrastructure with 35,000 BlackBerrys at a large bank.
In addition to designing and supporting mobile computing environments, Craig writes about these topics for Smartphone and PDA Essentials magazine and CrackBerry.com, a leading BlackBerry blog. He also cohosts the CrackBerry.com podcast and his own Mobile Computing Authority podcast. He also wrote the book Professional BlackBerry.
Craig enjoys high horsepower and high-speed vehicles, and he tries very hard to obey the speed limits while driving them.
Originally from Durban, South Africa, Craig has lived in the United Kingdom, the San Francisco Bay Area, and New Jersey, where he now lives with his wife, Karen, and a couple of cats.
Craig would love to hear from you. Feel free to contact him about your experiences with this book at http://www.MyBlackBerryCurve.info. All comments, suggestions, and feedback are welcome—positive and negative.
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the following people on the My BlackBerry Curve team, who all worked extremely hard on this book:
Michelle Newcomb, my acquisitions editor, who worked with me to give this project an edge.
Kevin Howard, my development editor, who made sure we stuck to the successful My series format.
Don Schauer, my technical editor, who checked through my work to make sure it was accurate, and who also helped enhance it.
Anne Goebel, my project editor, who managed the review process and rushed me the chapters to review.
Gayle Johnson and San Dee Phillips, my copy editors, who checked and re-checked my text and corrected errors.
In addition to the team at Pearson, I must also thank the following people:
Victoria Berry from Research In Motion, who rushed me a BlackBerry Curve 8900 so that I could take all the screen shots.
Amanda Ginther from Waggener Edstrom Worldwide, who got me a BlackBerry Curve 8520 early on so I could include it in the book.
As the reader of this book, you are our most important critic and commentator. We value your opinion and want to know what we’re doing right, what we could do better, what areas you’d like to see us publish in, and any other words of wisdom you’re willing to pass our way.
As an associate publisher for Que Publishing, I welcome your comments. You can email or write me directly to let me know what you did or didn’t like about this book—as well as what we can do to make our books better.
Please note that I cannot help you with technical problems related to the topic of this book. We do have a User Services group, however, where I will forward specific technical questions related to the book.
When you write, please be sure to include this book’s title and author as well as your name, email address, and phone number. I will carefully review your comments and share them with the author and editors who worked on the book.
Email: [email protected]
Mail: Greg Wiegand
Associate Publisher
Que Publishing
800 East 96th Street
Indianapolis, IN 46240 USA
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