Fix My Berry

I’ve been asked many times “What is this icon?”, and over the phone some of the descriptions people will tell me are amazingly hard to decipher. So I’ve put together a list of different icons as they are shown on different devices, now these icons are for the default theme for blackberry’s, and your provider may have different default theme, or yours may differ completely from what is shown, but this list should give you a pretty good idea of what an icon is for.

Notifacations:
-These icons appear at the top of your home screen where the time usually is. I’ve taking a picture of that area encase your not familiar with it:

Message Notifacations:

	New Message
	New High Importance message
	New SMS (Text) Message
	New MMS (Multimedia) Message
	New Browser Push Message (usually a text message with a link to a website)
	New Blackberry Messenger Message

These Icons will have a number beside them indicating how many messages are unread. The Icons will also have a red asterisk (*) on top if you have recieved any new messages since the last time you went in to your messages folder.

General Notifacations:

	Missed Call
	Text telephone (TTY) is enabled
	New Voicemail

General Information Icons
This icons are found in the same general area as the notifacations, yet are not notifying you of a “New phone event”. Once again heres picture of that area encase your not familiar with it:

Signal Indicator and Type:
These icons are in the top right corner of the above picture, heres a cropping of the area:

	Connected to RIM, this icon only appears when you have a full data connection to the RIM servers, as well it will only appear when you are using 3G.
	This indicates you are connected to 3G, and have access to voice and data functions.
	These indicate that you have a FULL data connection to the RIM severs, and access to both voice and data services.
	All of these icons mean you have voice services, but no data connection. Note that with the exception of GSM, its safe to say if its not capital letters, you have no data connection.
	This is your signal indicator, 5 bars is the best signal possable, and 1 bar is the worst possable, while still being able to operate.
	This indicator appears when you are out of a serviceable area, also known as “No Service”.
	This indicator usually appears when you don’t have an active SIM card in your phone, or your phone is not active on a cell network (for those networks that do not use SIM cards). SOS appears because you will still be able to call 911 in emergency situations, but thats all. (Please do not test this unless you have a real emergency.)
	You’ll see this if the radio (also know as the antenna), is turned off. you might see this if your battery is really really low.

Other:

	This icon indicates that the Bluetooth function of the phone is turned on. if a blue dot appears to the side, that means theres a Bluetooth connection present.
	This is the Wifi Icon in both of its states.
If its White and theres is a wifi network name beside the cell network name, than there is a full connection, via wifi, to the RIM servers If its Gray and theres is a wifi network name beside the cell network name, than that means while you have a conneciton to the internet, some data functions may not work, emails and pins for example. these functions will then resort to the cell network. If its Gray and no network is present beside the cell network name, than the wifi is on, but not connected to any wifi network.
	This icon appears when you are roaming on a network other then your own providers.

Sending and receiving information:

	This icon appears in the top right corner of your screen, and means your berry is sending information to the cell tower.
	This icon appears right beside the top icon, and means your berry is receiving information from the cell towers.

I’ve put these two last for a reason, I want to settle a common mis conception. I’ve heard many customer complain even call me a liar when i say that these icons do not mean you are being charged for data. These icons simply indicate when your phone is communicating with a local cellular tower, this can be an incoming phone call, a Text message, data(yes the chargeable kind), OR simply checking with the tower to make sure its still with in range. I’ve tested and confirm this many times myself, including with a berry whose data was turned off both on the phone and on the mobile network, so there was no possible way for it to be using internet data, and the arrows still appeared.

You can see a longer, more device specific list offered by AT&T, remember this is for their default theme, so it may not match up to yours exactly, AT&T’s list

If you are a new BlackBerry owner, or an old owner experiencing low battery issues, read through these tips:

First of all, modern BlackBerrys come with Lithium-Ion batteries, or Li-Ion for short. Some older models used Nickel Metal Hydride batteries, or NiMH for short.

MYTH: You do NOT need to break in the Li-Ion BlackBerry battery. Lithium-Ion battery do not require conditioning as you might have experienced with other cell phones and batteries.

• Don’t get in the habit of fully discharging the battery every time. Lithium batteries can be damaged with excessive deep discharges.
• When breaking in the battery, make sure you keep it plugged in long after the battery says it is fully charged (i.e. overnight).
• Lithium batteries LOVE to be topped-off. Plug it in whenever you have the opportunity and keep the battery life maxed out for those days you really need long battery life.
• Consider purchasing a car charger, or an office charger/cable. That way, you have more opportunities to top-off your BlackBerry battery.
• Searching for a signal will drain a battery quite quickly. If you must conserve the battery, turn the wireless or radio off.
• Keep your Bluetooth turned OFF when not in use.
• Keep your Wi-Fi turned OFF when not in use.
• Keep the backlight turned low or off whenever possible (rather than bright mode). A backlight setting of 60%-80% is wise.
• If you use instant messaging software, leaving it running in the background is a battery-killer. Sign off  and log yourself out when not in use.
• Big suprise, making a phone call made on your BlackBerry is the biggest consumer of battery life. If you make lots of phone calls for hours, then expect your battery life can be extremely short.
• Making phone calls in areas of weak reception will use up even more battery power.

What is running in the background of your BB? There are commonly 4-5 applications that will ALWAYS be running i.e. Messages, Phone, BBMessenger, Homescreen, and the Browser.

• Make certain that the browser is NOT on an active webpage (say with animated radar or a live webpage such as a news website that is constantly updating to the current news. Close it on the bookmarks page, which is static).
• Close any other applications that do not need to be running (like the camera or a game).

Not sure what going on behind the screen?

• Press Alt + Escape (the key to the right of the trackball) to bring up the Application Switcher and scroll through that list to see what is running in the background.  Close whatever is not neccessary.

This article was originally posted on BlackBerryForums.com and edited for content.

Okay, lets imagine the image to left is your blackberry…

Now that you’ve stopped crying; read on:

Do NOT attempt to turn on your BlackBerry.

Remove the battery immediately!!

Leave the plastic casing covering the back on the BlackBerry OFF.

Let the device dry in a warm place for 3 to 5 days, open and with the battery out.

Place the BB in a sealed container with UNcooked rice, and then leave it to dry in some of these suggested areas:

• If the device is warm, let it cool to room temperature.
• On top of a TV cabinet or CRT, LCD or plasma monitor.
• On top of a cable TV/Satellite converter box.
• On the dashboard of your car on a sunny day.

Getting a device like a Blackberry wet is always risky business. The are no guarantees that drying the device out will bring it back to life.

Sometimes there are issues with the BlackBerry devices that can be easily remedied before resorting to an OS reload. Simple troubleshooting steps may resolve alot quicker and with less hassle. 

After these troubleshooting steps have been completed and if the issue is still not resolved, contact your wireless service provider first before attempting the OS reload. Most providers have a technical support department that may have additional insight into the issues you are having.

And of coarse, if all else fails, process the OS reload…

Often times, when an issues arises, the hardest part about troubleshooting is to know where to start looking.

The following chart will break down where we should be looking when a certain issue occurs. Hopefully it helps.

There are 2 options for uninstalling applications on a BlackBerry; though the device using the menu options or using Blackberry Desktop manager on a PC.

•  Uninstalling using the BlackBerry device:
  • Using the device: go to Options/Advanced Options/Applications. The list of applications that are on the device will appear on the screen.
  • Select the application from the list that you want to delete and press the Menu button.
  • Select Delete from the list. Device will display a pop-up message confirming the Delete request. Choose either Delete or Cancel.
  • Device will display another pop-up message confirming that the application will be deleted when the BlackBerry is restarted. The user will have an option to restart the device now or at a later time. Choose either Yes to restart or No to restart at a later time.
    • FYI: It is recommended to restart the device at this point in time to confirm removal of the application and to ensure the device is running properly.

• Uninstalling using the BlackBerry Desktop Manager (see above 4.2, other versions should be similar):
  • Plug BlackBerry device into a PC using USB cable.
  • Open the BlackBerry Desktop Manager program. The program will connect to the BlackBerry device and display the PIN number of the device.
  • Click on the icon for the Application Loader.
  • Click the Next button.
  • The Application Loader Wizard pop-up will appear and a list will populate in the window. De-select the applications that you would like to remove and then click on Next.
  • This screen will confirm the applications being removed. Click on Finish to continue with application(s) removal.
  • Updating Device screen will appear and then will confirm if the loading operation was successful.
    • FYI: On the BlackBerry device and hourglass will appear on the screen dutring the update process. Do not unplug USB cable  until update is complete and the screen goes back to main menu.