‘Architecture’ Wallpapers for BlackBerry

The following images are ‘resized’ version of Windows 7 RC1 (Build 7100) Architecture theme wallpapers. If you already installed Windows 7, you can find the original images from C:\Windows\Web\Wallpaper\Architecture. You can use any program, including Windows Paint to resize the images.

By resizing the images to 512x320 pixels, we can use the images to any kind of devices that fit within the 512x320 pixels. For BlackBerry bold, the proper wallpaper size should be 480x320 pixels. However it can accept larger images by cropping or hiding invisible area.

To use the image as BlackBerry wallpaper, click on the individual image to display the 512x320 pixels version, and then download it to your BlackBerry device. Then you can set it as Home Screen Image.

The following figure shows an example of BlackBerry Home Screen Image using one of the figures above.

Nice and sweet!

Using Facebook Mobile for BlackBerry

After writing how to install Facebook Mobile for BlackBerry, in this post I will describe how to use it. If we are already familiar with the web version of Facebook, running the Facebook Mobile on BlackBerry should be very easy. The intuitive Facebook icons for both the web version and mobile version are the same.

The basic differences between the web running on laptop or desktop and mobile device is the screen resolution. With only 480x320 pixels on BlackBerry mobile device, the mobile version have to be designed in such a way that the only most basic information that should be presented in the screen. Yet, Facebook mobile is one of some mobile applications that is convenient enough to use.

OK, let’s start the demo. I will start from the condition where we are already logon to Facebook via its logon screen. This logon process is performed once, after installation. The next time we use the Facebook Mobile, it will directly display the Status screen, like the one displayed in the following figure.

To update our Facebook status, just type any text into the status text box. The following figure shows my status text box already filled with some words before I submitted into Facebook. To submit it, just click on the Share link. This is maybe the most frequent task we will perform on Facebook Mobile. That’s the most logical reason why this text box is available right after we open the Facebook Mobile for BlackBerry.

The next button is the Notifications button. Click on the button to show all notifications we’ve already received via Facebook Mobile. Status updates, friend’s comments, new messages, friend requests, are some sample of Facebook notifications that can be displayed on the Notifications screen. The following figure shows my Notifications’s screen.

The BlackBerry device is equipped with a camera. This is just like pocket camera which is very handy to use although it is not the best tool to perform the task. This functionality is extended by Facebook Mobile which allows us to upload the Photo to Facebook right after we took it.

Uploading a photo from Facebook Mobile is easy. Just click on the Upload a Photo button next to the Notifications button. After clicking this button, an image chooser will be pop up letting us choose the photo to upload. The following figure shows the image chooser on my Facebook mobile.

The next button is the Friends button. It simply displays all our Facebook friends. We can scroll down the list to find a particular friend, or find the friend by typing some part of the friend’s name. Clicking on a particular friend will pop up menu containing all tasks we can perform to the friend like writing on his/her wall, poke him/her, etc.

The next button is the Add Friend button. We can invite a friend by typing his/her email address and an optional message on the Add Friend screen. To start inviting a friend, just click on the Invite link. The following figure shows the Add Friend screen.

The next button is the Wall button. Using this screen we can write on our friend’s wall by selecting a friend than typing the text to write on his/her wall. The following figure shows the Wall screen on my Facebook Mobile.

 

And the last one is the Message button. This button will open the Message screen where we can send a message to our particular friend. Just type the friend’s name, message subject, and message body, and then click on the Send link. The message will be sent to our friend’s inbox in his/her Facebook.

OK, in this posting I’ve covered most of the Facebook Mobile for BlackBerry functions. Once we try all those functions I think we should agree that using the Facebook Mobile for BlackBerry is very easy.

Facebook Mobile for BlackBerry Setup

Facebook Mobile is an application that can run in a BlackBerry device, connects to facebook server, and allows us to access and perform some tasks in facebook. In this post I will explain how to install facebook mobile for BlackBerry. I’m using the BlackBerry Bold for this demo, but I think the step-by-step on how to install and use it should be no different on other BlackBerry device series.

The following figure shows the Facebook Mobile for BlackBerry displaying Friends module.

At least there are two strong points of the Facebook Mobile for BlackBerry. First, it is easy to use. Just like the facebook website which is easy to use, the Facebook Mobile for Blackberry maintains this philosophy. Second, it is real-time. The push-service nature of BlackBerry services is also applied to its Facebook Mobile. Notifications, whether it is a status comment, a facebook message, a friend request , etc are delivered to the device on real-time basis.

OK, so now let’s get started. I’m starting from the condition that there is no Facebook Mobile in my BlackBerry Bold. Follow the following step-by-step to install Facebook Mobile for Blackberry.

First, open the BlackBerry browser, and point to http://mobile.blackberry.com. After loading, scroll down the browser a little bit until you find ‘IM & Social Networking’ menu. The following figure shows the menu. Click on the ‘IM & Social Networking’ menu.

On the next screen, there will be quite a lot of applications listed in the ‘IM & Social Networking’. Scroll down a little bit until we find Facebook, like the one displayed in the following figure. Find the Download link which should be located below the image, then click on it.

Follow the next step-by-step instructions before starting the download. When download already in progress, the BlackBerry device will show the download progress, like the one displayed in the following figure. Wait until download complete, and then close the browser.

When the Facebook Mobile for BlackBerry already installed, the well-known facebook icon should be added to the BlackBerry icon collections, like the one displayed in the following figure.

Click on the facebook icon to start using Facebook for BlackBerry. Before we can use it, we have to logon to facebook using credential that we have set up before. If we haven’t registered to facebook, just click on the Sign-up link and follow the registration wizard. After we fill the required logon information, click on the Login link.

After successful logon, we are ready to use Facebook Mobile for BlackBerry. I will write separate post about how to use Facebook Mobile for BlackBerry.

BlackBerry Email Accounts Setup

With BlackBerry services, our BlackBerry device can receive emails as if they are pushed from the server to the device, just like ‘push email’ service does. We can setup our existing email accounts in gmail, yahoo, live, and any other email services in BlackBerry device. To enable this feature, we have to be subscribed to a service provided by BlackBerry via the mobile service provider we are using.

In this post, I will describe how to setup our email account in BlackBerry device. I will use my existing email account in gmail. This email account will be set up in my BlackBerry Bold device, connected to XL mobile service provider in Indonesia. You can do these steps with your mobile service provider in your country as long as they provide the BlackBerry services.

Here is the step by step on how to do it:

Open the BlackBerry device, choose the Setup icon. The following figure shows my BlackBerry screen capture with the Setup icon already selected.

Next, the Setup screen will be displayed. In this screen, we can setup many BlackBerry features. For this demo purpose, choose the E-mail Settings icon. The following figure shows the E-mail Settings icon already selected in the Setup screen.

Then the screen will be redirected to BlackBerry browser. The browser is automatically loaded with the page from mobile service provider to setup email. In the following figure, my BlackBerry screen shows the Email Setup page from XL mobile operator. The content of the Email Setup program should vary among mobile operators.

The XL operator requires us to have an account in order to use the email service. I already created one before, so I don’t create a new one again this time. All I need to do now is logon using my account credential. Scroll down the screen in the figure above to find the ‘logon’ form (user name and password combination). The following screen is displayed after successful logon.

I already added two email account before doing this demo. To add a new one, just click on the ‘Add My Existing Email Account’. Now I’m going to add my other gmail account to my BlackBerry device. The following figure shows the next screen, where I fill the form with my existing email account information. Press the Next link.

Next, a notification screen is displayed telling me that the new email account has been successfully created. Then an email icon is added to the BlackBerry icons collection. Close the browser, go to the Home screen and chose the newly created email icon to open it. The following screen shows the content of the new email account. There’s one new message from Activation Server telling us that the account is now ready to accept incoming message in the next 20 minutes.

OK, that’s all we have to do to setup email account in a BlackBerry device using BlackBerry email services.

BlackBerry Bold Basics

I’m now using BlackBerry 9000 (Bold) as my primary cell phone. In this posting I will share the basic usages of BlackBerry 9000 (Bold). This posting is targeted for you who never see the BlackBerry Bold before (and considering to use it). The following figure shows the appearance of the BlackBerry Bold.

As you can see from the figure above, BlackBerry Bold applies QWERTY keyboard system instead of touch screen. If you miss the touch screen features you’d better choose BlackBerry Storm or Apple iPhone. But if you prefer the QWERTY keyboard, just like me, the BlackBerry Bold’s keyboard system is one of the most convenient QWERTY keyboard systems I ever used.

The BlackBerry Bold’s main navigation system is the trackball. In my opinion, trackball is one of the strong points of the non-touch-screen BlackBerry phone series. It works just like an inversed computer trackball mouse. By rolling the trackball at any direction, you can easily navigate the screen of BlackBerry Bold in a convenient and fast way.

Now, let me show you the basic usage of this cell phone. The most basic usage is of course for phone communication (talking over the phone). Using this main feature is very easy. When the BlackBerry Bold is in standby state, just dial the number, followed by the dial button (the button with a green phone image symbol). We can also perform the same task by navigating its Contacts list, choose one contact from the list, and then press the dial button. The voice command is available as an alternative way of dialing a contact.

Recently I’ve got a tool (software) that can capture the screen of BlackBerry Bold from a desktop computer. The following figures are the result of this tool when capturing my BlackBerry Bold main screens. The first figure shows the main screen (just like computer’s Desktop view):

The BlackBerry Bold’s screen resolution is quite high, it is 480x320 pixels. You can watch a video on its screen and still can see it clearly from 1 m (about 3.3 feet) distance. The following figure shows the same screen when I press the menu button on the keyboard. Look at those shiny icons of the BlackBerry bold. 

I’ll use the capture tool to demonstrate the next basic usage of BlackBerry Bold: sending a short message service (SMS). Look at the following figure, the screen-shot of BlackBerry Bold screen area when I’m about to send an SMS. Typing the SMS is very convenient using its QWERY keyboard system.

If sending an SMS can take up to 160 characters, sending an email can take far more characters than that. Although the QWERTY keyboard is quite convenient, but it is still not as convenient as the laptop’s or desktop’s keyboard. So, sending an email in BlackBerry is still just like sending an SMS. In the following figure I show the screen capture of sending an email from BlackBerry Bold.

So, in this post, I’ve shown you the most basic phone functions in BlackBerry Bold. In summary, I’m satisfied with the performance of BlackBerry Bold when fulfilling these basic functions. In the next posting I will cover more functions about BlackBerry Bold in more specific areas.