BB Geeks » BlackBerry Issues

Be careful when changing application permissions on your BlackBerry

Joe — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:30:22 +0000

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.

Tyler Shields, a senior researcher at the Veracode Research Lab, recently demonstrated just how easy it is to write code for mobile spyware. Using only a mobile provider’s API, he crafted software that could allow a malicious coder to gain access to personal and supposedly secure information from another person’s BlackBerry. Specifically:

I could have seen a log of all his calls, monitored his inbound text messages, tracked his location in real-time based on the GPS (Global Positioning System) in his device and turned his microphone on to listen to conversations in the room and record them.

That’s quite a scary proposition. Thankfully, as RIM is quick to point out, the only way a user can fall victim to this type of attack is if they install an application and allow it the right permissions. Unfortunately, many popular applications require permissions changes. So how do you avoid this risk? The only answer I can provide is by remaining cautious about software not recommended by a reliable source.

If you want to check on which applications on your BlackBerry have altered permissions, head to Options, Advanced Options, Applications. As you can see in the above screenshot, some applications are bolded. Those run with altered permissions. If you see any on the list that you don’t trust and are worried about the possibility of a spyware attack, you can delete them. I will add, though, that I’m not sure how common this type of attack is. It’s all a judgment call on your part.

For the super-geeky, here’s a video demo:

Via jkOnTheRun

This post originated at BBGeeks.com - home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about AT&T BlackBerry.

Be careful when changing application permissions on your BlackBerry

T-Mobile replacing BlackBerry Pearl trackballs

Joe — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 13:30:37 +0000

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.

If you have a Pearl 8100 or 8120, or a Curve 8320, and you purchased the handset from T-Mobile, you can bring it to a retail outlet and they’ll pop in a new one for free. This covers most T-Mobile BlackBerry models with a trackball, though it does leave out the 8820. A replacement trackball should tide you over until you’re eligible for an upgrade, at which time you can treat yourself to a brand new Berry, complete with trackpad.

I think it wold behoove other carriers to offer a similar deal. This goes especially for Verizon and Sprint, which carry the BlackBerry Tour. I don’t know if it’s the different housing on the Tour, but the trackball just doesn’t work the same. Both carriers faced complaints over the summer about faulty trackballs, though they both pronounced the problem behind them. That’s pretty convenient, though I don’t buy it. I’ve had a Tour for a little over two months now, and I can already feel the trackball slipping at points. I’m certain I’ll have to visit a Verizon store in the near future and talk them into replacing it.

Soon enough, this shouldn’t be a problem. Instead, we’ll be dealing with the issues the trackpads eventually present — they’re not perfect, after all. But, for now, it seems like a trackball replacement program would be cheap enough for carriers and nice enough to customers.

This post originated at BBGeeks.com - home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about AT&T BlackBerry.

T-Mobile replacing BlackBerry Pearl trackballs

Boost Mobile revisits the prepaid BlackBerry question

Joe — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 13:30:26 +0000

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?

MetroPCS started the prepaid BlackBerry movement a little over a year ago when it launched the Curve 8330. The offering is far from perfect. First, it only works in MetroPCS’s legacy markets, so it won’t work in its AWS areas, which include New York City and Boston. Second, as previously noted the price is well higher than most consumers are used to paying. The device started at $449, or about $250 more than the Tour on contract. MetroPCS now offers a $100 instant rebate, and apparently reduced the price at another point, leaving it at $299. That’s still steep, but a bit more manageable. The service costs $60 per month.

After it announced it’s Complete line of plans, T-Mobile also announced a prepaid BlackBerry plan. Available exclusively at Best Buy and Wal-Mart (now Amazon.com, it appears), Complete prepaid offers service with the BlackBerry Curve 8520. That’s a bit exciting because it’s a relatively new handset. Unfortunately, we run into the same problem as MetroPCS. The device costs $299.99 at a retail outlet, though it’s on Amazon for $250. The service — unlimited everything — costs $80 per month. Yes, that gets you a lot, but altogether it’s a bit steep. Again, this is the issue with every prepaid BlackBerry.

The latest to offer prepaid BlackBerry services is Boost Mobile. They plan to launch the BlackBerry Curve 8330, among other devices, on January 15. Despite the Curve being far out of date, it will still cost $249. The service, which does include unlimited everything on Sprint’s CDMA network, will cost $60 per month. So this plan is somewhere in between T-Mobile’s and MetroPCS’s prepaid BlackBerry plans. As long as you want unlimited services, the plan prices are pretty fair. Is that worth the downside of the up-front cost? If you don’t want a contract, I suppose it’s your only option.

Do any BBGeeks readers have prepaid BlackBerry devices? If so, care to share your experience? You can leave it in the comments, and if you want to talk about it at length, we can set something up for the BBGeekcast. Just email me, jpawlikowski at bbgeeks.

This post originated at BBGeeks.com - home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about AT&T BlackBerry.

Boost Mobile revisits the prepaid BlackBerry question

Why would Verizon limit your BlackBerry search options?

Joe — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 13:30:50 +0000

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.

I use the Go To option in the BlackBerry browser constantly (when I’m using the BlackBerry browser at all, that is). It has my bookmarks and most recently viewed pages, so I can jump to pages with ease. It also remembers addresses I’ve entered, so it only takes one or two keystrokes to bring up the page I want. Below the address bar is a spot for Google searches, another feature I use frequently. I’d have to click into the Go To screen to visit Google.com anyway, so the search bar helps greatly — much like the Google search bar in Firefox.

Users on BlackBerry.com forums and VZW’s forums are complaining about the issue. Verizon did announce an exclusive search deal with Bing, but that was for the BlackBerry application, not the Web search feature. That’s one thing, to push users an icon that they can use to install an application. It’s quite another to remove choices where they once existed.

The fear, of course, is that Verizon will push this update to all of their BlackBerry users. Judging by the response to the limited roll-out, that won’t go over well. I don’t use Bing, and I don’t plan to use it just because Verizon wants me to. Hopefully this is just a glitch. Or else a trial run that goes horribly wrong. In any case, please, Verizon, do not force search engines on me. I do a good job of choosing myself.

This post originated at BBGeeks.com - home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about AT&T BlackBerry.

Why would Verizon limit your BlackBerry search options?

Making the font smaller on your BlackBerry Tour

Joe — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:50:23 +0000

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.

I’m a pretty big BlackBerry Gmail user, and it appears that the font issue has something to do with that. While email appears normal on some emails, on others it’s gigantic. This might be a benefit for some, and I’m not saying it’s necessarily a bad thing, but I prefer a smaller font, especially with the high-res screen. But going to Options – Screen/Keyboard and changing the font to the lowest setting, 7, still didn’t accomplish anything. I was still getting large font emails from some users.

Unfortunately, it appears that this occurs between Gmail users. This is a problem, because some of the people I contact most frequently use Gmail. A user on BlackBerry Forums, ran through the technical part of the issue, but that doesn’t really help. I want to read emails from my Gmail contacts the same way I do everyone else.

The only solution I can find is to hit Menu and select Get Plain Text. That takes off all HTML coding, but that’s not a big issue from my Gmail contacts. It’s a slight nuisance to do this for every Gmail message of more than a sentence or two, but it’s better than constantly scrolling through a 500-word email. Anyone else have a way of solving this, other than using the Gmail app?

This post originated at BBGeeks.com - home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about AT&T BlackBerry.

Making the font smaller on your BlackBerry Tour

CashForBerrys.com is an alternative to BlackBerry repair

Joe — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:30:55 +0000

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.

The site is CashForBerrys.com, and after reading about it yesterday I did a quick search around to find out about potential scams. I didn’t find any, though I didn’t find many review. It is part of the Cash For Laptops family.

The above image is what they offered me for my Curve 8330. It’s worth more than $60 to me, so I’m not even considering it. But if you have a BlackBerry that you don’t need any more, that $60 can come in handy, especially if you’re putting it towards the purchase of a new model, subsidized or not. The only problem is that if your BlackBerry has serious electronic defects, you’ll get less. If my Curve had a defective screen, I’d get just $10. That’s probably not worth the effort of shipping it.

It comes down to a cost-benefit analysis. You have to factor in the repair price, the time your BlackBerry will not be of use to you, how much a new model would cost, how much you can get from CashForBerrys, etc. There’s also the issue of market price. CashForBerrys has an easy system for getting money for your device, but you might be getting less than you can. Selling your BlackBerry on eBay, while a longer and more complicated process, can get you more money.

If anyone has used CashForBerrys, please leave a review.

This post originated at BBGeeks.com - home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about AT&T BlackBerry.

CashForBerrys.com is an alternative to BlackBerry repair

Delayed screen backlight in OS 4.5

Joe — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:30:49 +0000

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.

The issue is nothing more than an annoyance, and a relatively minor one at that. Still, I’d like to not be annoyed when working with my BlackBerry. I searched around the net for possible solutions, but found none. It’s just an issue with the OS build, and we probably won’t see a fix until RIM sends out another 4.5 upgrade. While that’s disappointing, there is one thing that can mitigate the problem.

(Bonus bug: If you let the screen go black while in the applications menu, when you click a button to turn on the backlight again, you’ll be at the home screen. I’m not sure how universal that problem is, but it’s something I noticed. For reference, I’m using a custom theme, but now that I’ve consciously noticed the issue, I have vague memories of the same issue cropping up with my standard Verizon theme.)

When I go to wake up my BlackBerry, I usually depress the trackball. That’s what seemingly causes the delay. If you instead hit another key — space bar seems to work as well as any — the delay is much shorter. In fact, it seems like when I press the space bar, the screen comes back just about normally. So this isn’t a huge problem with .138 in general, just a problem with the trackball function.

Again, it might seem like a minor issue, but it’s slightly annoying to press the trackball and have nothing happen. If you look closely, you can see the screen turn on after you depress the trackball — the real delay is in the backlight. So if you press the trackball to restore the backlight, but then press it again (because you think you missed the key), you’ll launch the application you’re hovering over. It’s a pain, and while minor I’ll be glad when RIM introduces a fix.

This post originated at BBGeeks.com - home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about AT&T BlackBerry.

Delayed screen backlight in OS 4.5

My Curve died this weekend…

Joe — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:30:35 +0000

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.

From there I could only hope that someone had either written about the issue, or else posted about it on a message board. That yielded a quick match: apparently there is an issue with third party themes while rebooting with unread messages. It’s not clear how widespread the problem is, but if you have a third party theme and you reset your device with unread messages in your inbox, you can cause your device to hang on the carrier logo screen. I have a third party theme, so this seemed like the solution.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the trick. The instructions say to hold down the End button while on the carrier logo screen, which will power down the phone. But when I pressed and held the button on that screen, it did nothing. That was greatly disheartening. I though I had found the exact situation and the exact solution, but it didn’t work out. It was back to Google for me.

I tried plugging the phone into my Mac, but it wouldn’t recognize the device. No matter what I tried — rebooting the device while connected, pulling the battery while hooked up (though not connected) — I could not get past the carrier logo screen. My Mac, with BlackBerry Desktop Manager for Mac, wasn’t going to be of much help. As I learned in another tutorial, I’d probably need a PC.

I had family in town for the weekend, so I knew I could use the PC at my parents’ house. So I switched my account and BIS to my old 8830 and dealt with the device for the weekend. Not that it’s bad. My only complaint about the device, really, is that it doesn’t have a standard headphone jack. I mean, who designed that? Horribly annoying, especially because it meant no Pandora on the train ride home.

Once home I hooked up the phone to Desktop Manager I got some responsiveness. I tried to re-load the OS, thinking that might be the issue, but it would always get stuck at one point or another. After it was clear that Desktop Manager wouldn’t work, I followed the BlackBerry 101 instructions and tried to connect through App Loader. This worked to an extent, but I never got the PIN:unknown screen (nor was I in a reboot cycle), so I couldn’t follow the instructions exactly as printed.

Here I decided to combine the two ideas. Once App Loader listed my apps, I deleted all my third party themes. A few minutes later, I was past the Verizon screen and back into my BlackBerry. It was quite a miracle, but not perfect. The device ran slow and froze frequently. That meant one thing: back it up and wipe it. I did just that, and once I re-downloaded my theme I was in business. The BlackBerry is back and good as new.

A dead BlackBerry is a scary proposition. It can mean lost data and lost communication. Thankfully, there are plenty of resources available online to help you with most any problem you have. If you have any BlackBerry problems like the one I had, you can email me at jpawlikowski at bbgeeks dot com, and I’ll see if we can track down a potential solution.

This post originated at BBGeeks.com - home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about AT&T BlackBerry.

My Curve died this weekend…

Use a Bheestie Bag to dry out a wet BlackBerry

Joe — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 12:30:53 +0000

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.

Outside, it looks like any normal bag, but inside it contains drying agents which absorb the moisture from your electronics. All you do is cut off the top, unseal the zipper, drop in your device, and seal it back up. As with most drying agents, it can take 24 to 48 hours to fully dry your device.

You can buy the Bheestie Bag for $20 from their website. It might seem like a lot, but the bag is not a one-time use item. As long as the bag stays sealed (even when not in use), the Bheestie Bag can last for up to a year. The more you use it the more frequently it will need replacing. Thankfully, they’ve put blue indicators on the pouch, which will turn gray when it’s time for a replacement.

Here’s a demo of the bag in action:

And just because I think about this every time I hear the name Bheestie Bag:

This post originated at BBGeeks.com - home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about AT&T BlackBerry.

Use a Bheestie Bag to dry out a wet BlackBerry

RIM reveals security issue with BlackBerry browser

Joe — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:30:04 +0000

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.

The image to the right shows a sample security certificate error dialog. Notice that the domain the browser is attempting to open matches the domain on the security certificate. That looks fine, and most people would choose to continue. The problem is that the BlackBerry browser doesn’t show any possible null characters, so while the domain names might appear the same, they might not actually be.

Your carrier should have a software update out sometime this week. Make sure you’re running the following OS version in order to have the most secure version:

BlackBerry Device Software v4.5.0.x to v4.5.0.173 or later
BlackBerry Device Software v4.6.0.x to v4.6.0.303 or later
BlackBerry Device Software v4.6.1.x to v4.6.1.309 or later
BlackBerry Device Software v4.7.0.x to v4.7.0.179 or later
BlackBerry Device Software v4.7.1.x to v4.7.1.57 or later

Again, check your carrier’s page for the latest OS update. As Sacco notes, it is not yet available for some carriers, so be sure to check back frequently. I’ll agree with Ronen of BerryReview that the carrier approval system of OS patches might not be the best mode of distribution. This goes especially for security breaches. RIM needs to find a way to get these out to users quickly and simply.

In any case, here are the links to some carriers’ software update pages:

You can find any others by Googling “[carrier name] blackberry software”. Again, until you have an OS version listed above (or higher), be careful when clicking links, and especially when you see a security certificate dialog.

This post originated at BBGeeks.com - home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about AT&T BlackBerry.

RIM reveals security issue with BlackBerry browser