Industry coverage, news, original feature articles, how to guides, videos, podcasts and reviews of BlackBerry service providers, software, accessories, hosted exchange providers and more

Welcome back all you BBGeeks to our monthly roundup of the BBGeeks Twitter Help activities. If you have been following us for a while now you no doubt know about our account on Twitter.com.

Each and every Friday we reach out to other Twitter users and ask them what kind of problems they are experiencing with their BlackBerry devices. The response is always good. Some do not have problems at all, but just need some advice about BlackBerry software or accessories that would help them increase their productivity.

jamesorlowski says:
The GPS on my VZW8130 worked yesterday after I updated to 4.5, but today, it can’t find any satellites. Did VZW change something?

BBGeeks Answered:

Verizon has recently “unlocked” their GPS functionality on the Curve and the Pearl. That being said, they may be mucking with things behind the scenes in order to provide full service to their customers. We suggested re-sending the service books and doing a hard battery pull just in case it is just a glitch.

lovinkat says:
I do two Twitter feeds. Can I add a second Twitter app to my BB Pearl? Already have Twitterberry. Any ideas?

BBGeeks Answered:

You can absolutely have multiple Twitter applications running on one device. Some of the more popular options are TwitterBerry, Tiny Twitter and Twibble

conedude13 says:
Is there an app for the BlackBerry that uses the camera to scan a normal upc and can port that to a mobile friendly price search.

BBGeeks Answered:

This was a new concept for us as far a BlackBerry usage is concerned. Once it was brought to our attention though it made perfect sense to be able to snap a picture with your camera and have the product recognized and cross referenced in some type of pricing guide. Can you imagine all the ultra savvy shoppers?

we did a bit of searching and came up with a couple possible solutions. The first was Neoreader adn the second one was a program called Shop Savvy.

conedude13 weighed in with his opinion of Neoreader and said it was really not worth while after all and unfortunately the Shop Savvy application for BlackBerry devices is still in the works.

RobinBryce says:
I deleted version 6 (TwitterBerry) from 8100 Pearl downloaded 8 and get error message. I deleted bb cache, did over, same error! WHAT can I do?

BBGeeks Answered:

we looked high and low for an older copy of version 6 of TwitterBerry for RobinBryce but we couldn’t track it down anywhere. We suggested updating her firmware as the errors might have to do with some type of incompatibility between an older OS and the most recent version of TwitterBerry. This conversation evolved into finding out how she could get an OS upgrade without having the Desktop Manager software or a PC to run it on.

Since in many cases it is not possible to upgrade your BlackBerry OS OTA, our suggestion was to either buy a ultra cheap PC for this purpose only or to set up a Windows installation on her Mac using Parallels or VMware Fusion. One other possible solution would be to take your BlackBerry into an authorized dealer with a tech support member on site that could perform the OS upgrade for you.

bentley007 says:
Is there any way to set Opera Mini as the default BlackBerry browser?

BBGeeks Answered:

Unfortunately there is no way to set the Opera Mini browser as your default browsing option for your BlackBerry device. They are working on a solution though and we may see this functionality (or dare I say a partnership) in the near future.

alexmendoza says:
Hey I just got a crackberry 8310. Is there anything I should know about it. It seems awesome so far.

BBGeeks Answered:

All you need to know is that you have bought yourself a killer device and as you get to learn everything it can do and begin to have questions about the finer points of BlackBerry productivity, BBGeeks will be here to help make sense of it all =)

texbird says:
I find that my assigned ringtones switch back to the “active” profile after they work right once. Any idea why?

BBGeeks Answered:

Sounds to us like this is a hardware glitch that may be solved by doing a battery pull (hey what isn’t). If that is not the case, we suggested checking out this post on BBGeeks.com which discusses assigning ringtones and alerts to specific BlackBerry contacts.

cmaddison says:
Any ideas how to forward specific numbers to voicemail on 8820? You guys are my last hope!!

BBGeeks Answered:

This functionality is missing on your BlackBerry out of the box and is considered by many people to be a huge oversight by RIM which they seem content to leave unaddressed. If you want to set up advanced contact profiles on your BlackBerry we suggest using Antair BB Call Screener which is available at the BBGeeks Store.

TONYKNUCKLES says:
Found you through Twitter Grader!

BBGeeks Answered:

A couple days ago there was a big thing going around Twitter with regards to someone claiming they were the best marketer in the world because of their Twitter Grader score. We had a look at our score on there and hey – what do you know – BBGeeks is #4 in all of Canada. While we are highly skeptical of the Twitter Grader stat collecting and ultimately our position on the list, I would like to say thank you to all of our followers who have contributed just as much as I have towards making the BBGeeks account the #1 resource for BlackBerry information on Twitter!

Thanks for finding us TONYKNUCLES!

LesleyLambert says:
Help! My scroll button on my curve won’t scroll up!

BBGeeks Answered:

Our initial suggestion here was to do a hard battery pull as we have experienced the “trackball glitch” on numerous occasions. When that did not sort out the problem for LesleyLambert we suggested giving the BlackBerry trackball a good cleaning and pointed her to a great post on just this topic by Joe.

goldensnitch says:
Do you know if there’s a way to remove the Setup Wizard on a 8330? I would like to have that extra memory.

BBGeeks Answered:

We did some snooping around and didn’t find any way to delete the setup wizard specifically. That being said we let goldensnitch know that it is possible to hide it within certain Dimension Zen themes. As far as freeing up some much needed memory on the BlackBerry we suggested reading the 8 ways to trim the fat on your BlackBerry post from a short while back.

ccarmichael says:
Random question: is there a way to switch my 8703e to “phone-only” mode to avoid roaming data charges?

BBGeeks Answered:

For most BlackBerry devices you will be able to disable your data transmissions in the event that you are traveling far from home and do not wish to incur the extortion rates of international roaming. For some carriers however this option is not available.

For BlackBerry owners who would like to turn their data off they can follow this process: To turn off data try – options > Mobile Network > (change Data Services to “off”). For those who find that option suspiciously missing, you will have to contact your carrier and ask very nicely =)

rickt says:
Is there software for BB that lets me set arbitrary key shortcuts? like i can press M to start Messages, etc.?

BBGeeks Answered:

Unfortunately at this time we are not aware of any application that would let you define your own shortcuts on the BlackBerry =(

melissaruth says:
Love the iLane but have a ??-according to demo, when it replies to an email does it send the recorded voice or txt?

BBGeeks Answered:

Currently the iLane will send a mp3 attachment as a reply to an email. They are working on voice 2 text transcription.

The iLane is still in it’s beginning stages as a product. It currently has a huge benefit for all BlackBerry owners who wish to drive a little safer on the road while having their email and other news items read to them. That being said however, there is still quite a bit of functionality that can and will be implemented in the near future which will make the iLane practically indespensible for any working professional with a BlackBerry.

jamesuccpa says:
Other than CompanionLink, what other software will sync ACT with BB?

BBGeeks Answered:

We have never has a reason to use CompanionLink or ACT software for that matter but a little research dug up the following options for other BlackBerry users who do. The first was HandHeldContact and the second option is actually a function of the BlackBerry Desktop Manager.

cjweb says:
I need help; I need to fix my trackball, but haven’t had time. is there a way to move around menu screens with keyboard keys?

BBGeeks Answered:

This is quite the pain for any BlackBerry user who is heavily dependent on their trackball for navigation. The good news is that you can definitely get around your device using only the keys on your QWERTY keyboard. Here is a list of BlackBerry Shortcuts that were provided by @TheMadHat who has been using his BlackBerry with no trackball for months!

deedubya says:
I have a bb curve 8310? and my trackball just gave out – it won’t let me scroll left (other 3 ways work). any ideas, please?

BBGeeks Answered:

This is definitely a time to do a tried and true batter pull to get you BlackBerry out of it’s much hated “glitch mode”.

lewiswhelchel says:
Is there a way to create an icon for bookmark that didn’t come with one?

BBGeeks Answered:

This utility will do the trick. Creating custom web shortcuts on your BlackBerry is actually a simple process.

BBProductivity says:
Hey, i just saw yesterday that you started bb geeks in august 2007, is that right? i think you have done an amazing job!

BBGeeks Answered:

Thank you kindly, we have a small team of people who work very hard at making BBGeeks.com the number one resource for BlackBerry information. We welcome all comments and criticisms of the site and would love to hear from all our readers as far as what they would like to see incorporated into our daily writings.

atuarre says:
You know anything about Otterboxes?

BBGeeks Answered:

Otterboxes rock in our opinion. They are kind of bulky so they are difficult to slip in and out of your pocket on a regular basis, but if you are looking for supreme BlackBerry protection then you will not go wrong with an Share on Facebook | Add to De.licio.us | Digg This! | Technorati