Smartphones and BlackBerries have become an indispensable part of our lives. A lot of us these days spend plenty of time staring at the small screen in our hands, surfing the web, sending emails, or chatting with friends. We use them for both work and play, sometimes more than we should (think “CrackBerry”).
These devices are especially useful for communicating with friends and colleagues, and some people have taken their chatting to a new level, using icons and characters that normal users do not know about. Have you ever been chatting with someone on your BlackBerry or smartphone, and he or she sends you an icon you have never seen before, one that really communicates the message?
In addition to using special icons for chatting, there are also other tricks you can use to make your phone handier. These tricks are often called Easter eggs, since they are treasures hidden out of plain sight. They can be used to make your life easier and impress your friends with your phone skills.
Include Your Friends
Trying to make a group decision about where to meet-up for an after-work social gathering can be a hassle, especially if you are trying to harmonize more than two opinions. You could send a text to each one of your friends and forward their responses to the other invitees, but that would soon get tedious, especially if there were any disagreement about where to go. With its group chat function, BlackBerry Messenger helps you simplify group decisions. Instead of sending out individual messages to each person, you can add them all to a group conversation. Open a new chat, then push the BlackBerry’s Menu key and click on Invite Others. Select the people you want to add to the conversation and click OK. With everyone in on the discussion, you can quickly make sure that everyone is in agreement. [1]
Share Your Location
Instead of discussing where to meet with your friends, you might just want to tell them where you are, so they can drop by if they want to. An easy way to do this in a BlackBerry chat is to press Menu=>Send Location. Your friends will be notified about where you are, and you won’t have to send them directions on how to meet you. [2]
Show Your National Pride
When you are feeling extra proud of your country, you can add your country’s flag to your chat. It is easy to do. During a chat, type in the special country code inside two asterisks, and BlackBerry automatically inserts it. For example, if you want an American flag, you type *US,* and the Stars and Stripes pops up. This simple tip ads a bit of color (and national pride) to your communications. [3]
Don’t Fight It, Just Buy It
If you want to expand the variety of the icons you use, but do not want to take the time to learn the secret codes, you can always buy an app that does it for you. There is no sense in struggling to find all of the secret characters hidden inside your phone. An app like Fancy Characters, for example, has a wide variety of characters that you can drop into your chats.
Solving BB Behavioral Issues
Occasionally, your BlackBerry may start acting funny because it is low on memory, or because an application installation did not go very well. If you want to run a diagnostic test to figure out what is going on, go to Option/Status area and type “test” in the box. This brings up a list of diagnostic tests you can run to help you figure out what the problem is. [4]
Often, the easiest way to fix BlackBerry problems is to simply reset the device. Taking the battery out is one option, but this requires taking the phone apart. Instead of pulling the battery out, you can reboot the device by pressing the ALT, Right Shift and Del keys all at once. [5]
Tips for the Non-BlackBerry Club
If you have an Android phone instead of a BlackBerry, there are also plenty of tricks out there to make your phone more useful. For example, one of the challenges of smartphones is managing their battery life. The various wireless services (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc.) all use significant amounts of battery, and turning them off when you are not using them is an effective way to extend your battery life. The Android system has a widget you can place on the menu that allows you to quickly turn on and off each of these services.
The power management icon extends across the entire screen, so you need to make sure you have an empty row. Touch and hold the screen until the Add to Home program pops up. Under Widget, scroll down and tap Power Control. The widget appears on your screen. [6]
Hide From Prying Eyes
Prying eyes can be tempted to sneak a peek at your phone, so you might want to lock your phone to keep unwanted people out. When you lock your phone, it requires you to swipe an unlock pattern to gain access to the home screen. To enable this feature, go to Settings=>Security and click the Use visible pattern button. Next, tap Set up screen lock and enter your secret swipe pattern. Remember to not make the pattern so complicated that you forget how to unlock it yourself!
Show Your Skills, Impress Your Friends
By using these tips, you can make your chats more dynamic and your phone more useful. Your friends and colleagues will be impressed by your newly discovered skills. Be careful, though. None of the tricks are going to help you reduce the amount of time you break spend staring at that screen. In fact, they might make you want to use your BlackBerry or smartphone even more.
