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Most everyone I know uses the consolidated message application to deal with their emails and SMS. While each email address comes with its own icon, it seems more expedient to hide those icons and just use the consolidated version. However, what if you want to keep email and SMS separate? I’ve seen this question posed quite a few times, so I thought I’d give it a whirl here. We’ll get to business after the jump.

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Much hoopla was made this week about one tech writer’s frustration with the BlackBerry trackball, as we mentioned in this week’s News From The Wire. So I figured today was as good as any to throw up a quick tip on how to clean your BlackBerry trackball. Yes, it’s a quick tip because it’s rather simple. After the jump, we’ll guide you through with some pictures. For now, get yourself a dry rag and a small screwdriver.

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I don’t know about you guys, but I have a ton of items on my BlackBerry desktop. So many, actually, that I don’t want to display all of them. Too much scrolling, you know? The Today Plus theme eliminates some of my unnecessary icons, but I could do to hide some more. Thankfully, it’s simple. Just scroll to the application when the full menu is open and highlight the icon you want to hide. Select, of course, Hide. If you want to unhide the icon, hit the Menu key and select Show All. Hidden icons will then appear, so you can scroll to any icon, hit the Menu key, and uncheck the Hide option. Screenshot guide after the jump.

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We turn to BerryReview.com this morning to check in on a popular topic: Do your carrier and device support an upgrade to the newest BlackBerry OS? That question can be answered just by knowing your PIN. Head to https://www.blackberry.com/hhupgrade/, and enter it in the field. You’ll then be taken to your carrier’s home page, which will be waiting with further instructions.

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Today we continue dropping some basic BlackBerry knowledge. Yesterday we discussed how to move icons on your desktop. Today, we’ll discover where to find your BlackBerry PIN. This can be an important number to know, or at least be able to locate. The easiest method of adding BlackBerry Messenger contacts is with your PIN.

Open up your full applications menu, and go to Options. Then go to Status. Your PIN is right there. I wish it was more complicated, so I could explain it a bit further. Alas, it’s that simple. A couple of screenshots after the jump.

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This might seem obvious to you BlackBerry vets out there. After talking to my Verizon rep this weekend, though, I think it’s a worthy post. In shooting the breeze about new BlackBerry developments, we got to talking about troubleshooting. She then said something that kinda shocked me.

“You know, the most frequent question I get is, how do you move icons on the desktop?”

So today we’ll go over this question. Hopefully anyone looking for an answer will find this useful.

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For some BlackBerry owners, typing speed is a point of pride. How fast can you tap out a message? Even if it’s not a matter of ego, it just pays to get messages out faster, especially if you know what you want to say. What follows are three quick tips for better messaging.

Don’t use a period

If you want to end a sentence, it is grammatically correct to use a period. It actually bugs the crap out of me when people decide not to use the most common form of punctuation. Yeah, it’s a pain to hit alt+m, but hey, you’ve got to parse your words somehow. Or you could do it another way. Hit space bar twice after a sentence. It’ll put the period in for you AND capitalize the first letter of the next word.

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Panic. It’s the first emotion you’ll feel if you ever see your BlackBerry immersed in water — or worse, soda or another sugary liquid. If it’s the latter, well, you might be out of luck. I’ll give a suggestion later on, but it’s really for the device-savvy only. For now, let’s stick with the problem at hand.

The first thing to do, obviously, is to get your BlackBerry out of the water as soon as possible. Next, pull the battery and wipe it dry. Make sure to store it in a cool, dry place. Then it’s on to your device. I would suggest taking out a dish towel and laying the BlackBerry on it, screen up. After 10 or so minutes, flip it over. This will drain some of the water out of the device. It won’t get it dry, but it’s a start.

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Do you use voice dialing on your BlackBerry? Most people I’ve talked to do not. So what’s the up with the convenience key on the side of your BlackBerry? I’ve talked to many people who think it’s just a useless feature. That is, until I let them know you can use it for a number of functions. I’ve been using it for Vlingo, but that’s not all you can do with your convenience key.

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