David Pollitt

Blackberry Storm Tip: How to turn your Storm into a flashlight

// September 7th, 2009 // View Comments // Blackberry, Software

Flashlight Storm

Sure, you might be saying, turn on the screen and its a great flashlight. Well, there is a better way. If you have played with the camera at all, you know that the flash is extremely bright. But you only get the flash for a second or two before you take the picture. What if you want to keep the flash on for 20seconds? The trick is to head to the Video Camera function, then to Options. From there select the option that says “Video Light” and set this to On. It will warn you that your battery life will be impacted by this, give it a “Yes“, and now you are set.

Now you will get a seriously bright flashlight.  If you rotate the phone, it will delay for a second while it rotates the screen, but the light will come back on.  Now if you add a shortcut on your home screen to the Video Camera, you’ll have a free built in flashlight app!

-DPollitt

BlackBerry Storm 9530 OS 5.0.0.140 Leaked

// July 25th, 2009 // View Comments // Blackberry, Software

Pretty big news on the Blackberry Storm front.  If you have a 9530, and have eagerly been awaiting a leak of the 5.x software, it is finally here.  I haven’t had a chance to download it myself, but it sounds like you’ll want to delete some of the RIM specific reporting files, as well as change a few settings.  Default the OS will send out error report messages to RIM.  You also might want to update your keyboard settings via this post: Keyboard Settings: Key Rate, Tap Interval, Hover Period, Swipe Sensitivity Explained

Download the OS and get more info here: Crackberry.com

-DPollitt

Blackberry Storm 9530 OS 4.7.0.148 Official

// June 12th, 2009 // View Comments // Blackberry

I’m a bit late on releasing this news, but either way RIM and Verizon finally came together to release a new OS for the Verizon Blackberry Storm.  It has been months since we last saw the release of the .75 edition of the software.  Users who have not tried any of the beta releases will find a new feature that helps with selecting characters or highlighting text.

Users should now be able to update via RIM’s website www.blackberry.com/update  Verizon users can also download the update over the air using their phones.  Go to options> Advanced Options> Wireless Updates to get it now.

I have been giving this software a try for a few weeks now, and have found it to be very stable, and without large memory leaks.

-DPollitt

RIM Ending development of 4.x OS in favor of 5.x

// April 29th, 2009 // View Comments // Blackberry

According to sources familiar with the situation(hey o) RIM has ended internal development of the 4.x series of their operating system. What this means is that we will likely see far fewer leaks for the time being, while they ramp up testing on the 5.x OS.  I’m all for dropping the 5.x series sooner rather then later.  It should bring many of the Storm only OS features to other devices as well.  Plus from what I’ve heard quite a few other nice additions.
Source: Crackberry.com Forums

-DPollitt

Blackberry Software updates using Windows 7

// April 28th, 2009 // View Comments // Blackberry, Windows

After Windows 7 Beta 1 came out many people were experiencing issues with OS updates on their Blackberries.  Most would end up temporarily bricking their phone till they did the full restore.  Now user bmerdinian via the crackberry.com forums has found a solution for us all.

Apparently the following fix applies to both Windows Vista and Windows 7.  I have been updating my Storm via Vista since the first leak came out, and have had no issues.  So for me at least, I’m just using this fix on my Windows 7 install.

Method 1

-Click Start, and type “device manager” in the Start Search box.
-Click Device Manager in the Programs list.
-If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type your password or click Continue.
-In the Device Manager dialog box, expand Universal Serial Bus controllers.
-Right-click USB Root Hub, and then click Properties.
-In the USB Root Hub Properties dialog box, click the Power Management tab.
-Remove the check from the Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power check box.Repeat steps 1 through 4 for each USB Root Hub listed in the Device Manager.
-Under Power settings, check the ‘USB settings’ -> ‘USB selective suspend settings’ and make sure it is disabled.

-Check Thumbnail, highlited: Open Deivce manager, Double click on Universal Serial Bus controler at teh bottom, Double Click USB Root Hub, Click Power Management on top right, Uncheck Allow Power…

Method 2

-You can disable the USB Selective Suspend feature as a workaround by editing the registry. The USB device may become unresponsive because of a rare issue in the Selective Suspend feature. The Selective Suspend feature suspends the USB device to efficiently maintain battery power by enabling the computer to turn off the USB device. However, sometimes this feature may not correctly wake up the USB device. Therefore, the USB device is unresponsive when you try to use it.
You might want to disable this feature for server products where power management is not important or required.
-To disable the Selective Suspend feature, follow these steps:
-Click Start, and then click Run.
-Note If you are running Windows Vista, click Start, and then use the Start Search box.
-Type regedit, and then click OK. Registry Editor opens.
-Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\USB
-If the DisableSelectiveSuspend registry entry is present, double-click it. If it is not present, create the entry. To create the entry, follow these steps:
-On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD.
-Type DisableSelectiveSuspend, and then press ENTER.
-On the Edit menu, click Modify.
-In the Value data field, type 1 to disable the Selective Suspend feature, and then click OK.

According to resident experts on the Crackberry.com forums – Updating your Blackberry on Windows 7 is still not recommended.  But hey, it’s a Beta OS, and you are probably trying to install a piece of leaked Beta software on your Berry, so you know how it goes.  Just be ready to do a recovery if you brick your phone.

Source:  Crackberry.com forum thread

-DPollitt

Vlingo for Blackberry Storm and iPhone

// April 10th, 2009 // View Comments // Blackberry, Popular

The other day Keal found this awesome program for Blackberries(and iPhones) called vlingo.  Essentially the software allows you to do accomplish many tasks on your phone using voice commands.  Sure, we are all familiar with voice activated dialing, but how about updating your Twitter or Facebook status using only your voice?  I’ve also found it very handy to create a quick email to myself, using only voice dictation.  Sure, the software isn’t perfect, but it learns from you and over time it becomes more useful and accurate.  Another trick – just say “Google Minneapolis State Capital” and the software automatically brings up a browser with the search term you requested.  Quite handy if you ask me.  The most amazing thing, it is completely free to use this application.  Just head on over to vlingo.com and they will send you a message to download the software.

Blackberry Storm users will have to make a few tweaks to the settings due to the fact that they don not yet officially support this device.  Simply do the following:

Go to Options – Advanced Options – Applications
Highlight vlingo but don’t click.  Press BB (menu) button
Disable Compatability Mode.

Same as above, instead of Disable Compatability mode now Edit Perrmissions,
Scroll down to Interactions, Recording, Set to Allow.

-DPollitt