Alec Satin’s Soft Skills Blog for IT Leaders

Are you enjoying your BlackBerry smartphone? I’ve had mine for a few weeks now, and find it a real pleasure to use. It’s elegant, works well as a phone and provides 24/7 online access. Here are two add-ons and one built-in feature that can save you time and increase your enjoyment of this excellent tool.

1.  Install the Opera Mini Browser

According to the Opera website, more than 20 million people use the Opera Mini browser on their mobile phones.  You’ll like it because it is faster than the default BlackBerry browser.  (Opera compresses data before downloading.)  It’s also better organized, easier and more fun to use.

To install:

From the built in BlackBerry browser on your phone, visit mini.opera.com and follow the instructions to download.  In a few moments the new version of Opera will be installed and you’ll be ready to go.

2.  Keep your calendar and contacts synced with Google

Even if you don’t normally use these products, Google Sync for BlackBerry is worth installing.  It will keep a complete and automatic backup of all your contacts and calendar entries.  In case you lose your BlackBerry or have to turn it back to your company on short notice, your contacts will be preserved.

To install:

From your BlackBerry visit m.google.com/sync and follow the instructions.  You’ll need your google or gmail userid and password.  The first sync takes about 10 minutes.  After that, your BlackBerry calendar and/or contacts will be kept in sync with your Google calendar and contacts automatically.

3.  Use SMS Autotext

The autotext feature in your BlackBerry can save you a great deal of time, even if you only send occassional text messages.  The built-in autotext shortcuts fix some common transposition errors.  It can also be used to make it easy to type contractions.  For example, try the following from your SMS compose message screen (SMS and MMS -> Compose SMS Text -> Choose recipient)

• Type il(space) – You’ll see I’ll
• Type shel(space) – You’ll see she’ll
• Type hel(space) – You’ll see he’ll
• Type wel(space) – You’ll see we’ll
• Type wer(space) – You’ll see we’re

You can easily add the current date and time

• Type ld(space) – You’ll see the current date
• Type lt(space) – You’ll see the current time

Add Custom Autotext

If you find yourself typing the same words or phrases in multiple text messages, it makes sense to add custom autotext entries.  You may want to adopt a naming scheme to more easily keep track of your custom entries.  I tend to start all of my custom entries with 0.  This places them in a group at the top of the list.  The 0 key also does not require the ALT key.

For example:
0in(space) -> In a meeting, get back to you later.
0tt(space) -> Talk to you later.

To add a new autotext entry, from your SMS compose message screen (SMS and MMS -> Compose SMS text -> Choose recipient), open autotext (menu button ->  Edit Autotext -> menu button -> new).  In the replace field enter the autotext shortcut (e.g. 0tt).  In the with field enter the full text (e.g. Talk to you later.)  Save and you are ready to go.

Enjoy!
Alec
(Photo credit: ifatma)

Tagged as: BlackBerry, Google Calendar, Google Contacts, Google Sync, Opera Mini, Smartphone

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