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Your BlackBerry can perform a great number of tasks, but unless you give it permission only native applications can access the truly sensitive information. When a third party application requires access to this walled information, it requires you to change the application permissions. This happens when you first run the application after installation. You can either grant the application the proper permissions and start using, or deny the changes and not use the application. I’m as guilty as anyone else of blindly accepting permission changes from time to time. Like everyone else, I should stop and pay more attention. Grant the wrong application certain permissions, and you can compromise your device’s security.

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Have you experienced problems with your BlackBerry’s trackball? I wouldn’t be surprised if you did. The trackball mechanism is composed of a number of small parts, and that leaves plenty of room for things to go wrong. In the past we’ve gone over how to clean your trackball and, if it comes down to it, how to replace your trackball. Thankfully, new models now feature the trackpad, which figures to have fewer problems because it doesn’t have moving parts. But for those of us with trackball devices, we can certainly run into issues. Thankfully, T-Mobile gets this — at least in some small way. They’re offering in-store replacement for certain BlackBerry trackballs.

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No one likes a wireless contract. It restricts our freedom as consumers (e.g., no class action lawsuits) and binds us to a single carrier for two years at a time. So why do we sign them? We don’t have much of a choice, since that’s the way America’s major carriers operate. But even if offered the option, many of us would still sign a contract, because that grants us a subsidy on a handset. While a BlackBerry normally retails for between $400 and $600, a subsidy gets that price below $200. Over the past year we’ve seen three prominent players in the U.S. introduce prepaid BlackBerry services. As expected, they all involve paying a heavy up front fee for the device. Is that a worthy trade-off?

Read the rest of Boost Mobile revisits the prepaid BlackBerry question…

How do you search the Internet? Most use Google, but there are alternatives, especially now that Microsoft has launched Bing. Both search engines have their ups and downs, but that’s fine. Both exist, so if you don’t like one you can use the other. Unless you’re a Verizon BlackBerry user, though. Or, should I say, a certain Verizon BlackBerry user. It’s come to light that some users no longer see Google search options in their Go To screen. Instead, their searches are limited to Bing. This comes as an odd development, especially because it doesn’t apply to everyone. Both James Kendrick (of jkOnTheRun) and I still have normal search options. It appears that others, though, aren’t as lucky any more.

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What at one point appeared to be another frustrating BlackBerry weekend turned into a pleasant surprise. After upgrading the BlackBerry WordPress app, I rebooted my Curve, as required. The next time I checked it, it was frozen. I rebooted again, but soon found myself in the same situation as a few weeks ago, when my Curve died. This time I took it to the Verizon store, knowing that even if I fixed it again, I’d get the same problem again eventually. The rep was receptive to my plight, and offered to exchange my Curve for a Tour. I couldn’t say no. Immediately after booting up and activating, I noticed an issue with the font.

Read the rest of Making the font smaller on your BlackBerry Tour…

I’ve been unfortunate over the past few years to have BlackBerry devices with properly functioning hardware. My screen, battery, and other parts have continued working (though I have had multiple software issues). There are a few options if your BlackBerry is damaged, though none of them are attractive. The two most common: get it fixed or get a new one. I’m sure you can see the dollar signs already. Buying a new BlackBerry, especially without the subsidy of an upgrade, can be expensive, but repair can be an even bigger relative cost. In my daily BlackBerry reading, I came across a site that gives you a third option: sell your defective model and put that money towards a new model.

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One of the steps in my weekend BlackBerry saga was to wipe the device. I didn’t want to do it, but given how slow the device was running after I restored it, I had no choice. After the wipe, I finally decided to upgrade from OS 4.5.0.77 to 4.5.0.138. After doing this, I found something not quite right about the Berry. When the backlight was out, there was a noticeable delay between when I pressed the trackball and when the screen lit up. I thought this was a lingering problem from my weekend issues, but after some searching it appears this is a general problem for .138.

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A minor catastrophe struck on Thursday. After getting some breakfast in the city, I took the subway back to Queens. Once we came above ground I checked my BlackBerry, only to find it stuck in a reboot cycle. After fidgeting with it for a while, a logo with a battery and a lightning bolt appeared. So I did what most BlackBerry geeks would do: I pulled the battery. But as in many situations, it did nothing. The phone would go through the boot sequence and hang up on the carrier logo screen, frozen.

Read the rest of My Curve died this weekend……

It can happen any number of ways. Something might spill on it; you might accidentally drop it into a glass of water; your friends might throw you into a pool. No matter how it happens, there are few things worse for your BlackBerry than getting it wet. It’s a pretty serious topic, and we’ve covered mainly in two posts: What to do if your BlackBerry gets wet and What not to do when your BlackBerry gets wet. While there are plenty of home remedies, like putting the device in a bucket of rice, I heard of a new product recently dedicated to just this cause. It’s called a Bheestie Bag, and it’s only purpose is to get all the moisture out of your valuable electronic devices.

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Maybe you’ve seen it on your desktop browser before. You click a link to a website and instead of loading the page your web browser calls up a dialog box. There’s a problem with the certificate: your browser is trying to open a certain domain, but the server’s certificate indicates a different domain name. On your normal browser you can see if the discrepancy, and if you’re not satisfied you can cancel the connection. There’s a chance that there’s a phishing scam behind that wall. Al Sacco explains. A software update is on the way, but until then it’s recommended that anyone who sees a security certificate dialog box selects Close Connection, even if it looks perfectly safe.

Read the rest of RIM reveals security issue with BlackBerry browser…