Wireless World Of Ramsey

Bonjour #TeamBlackBerry! For those of you who speak two or more languages: Did you know that you can change your BlackBerry® smartphone’s typing input language on the fly? A friend of mine recently asked me if there was a way to change the typing input language between French and English while composing an email. He explained that his job often requires him to answer emails in both English and French and that he was looking for an efficient way to change input language on their BlackBerry smartphone. My answer was a resounding yes – and here’s how to do it!

Before we begin, something to keep in mind is that if you do not have more than one language installed on your smartphone, the following shortcut will not work because only currently installed languages will appear. For more information on installing languages on your BlackBerry smartphone, see our blog post about how to install additional languages on your BlackBerry smartphone.

Switch Typing Input Language Using Shortcut Keys

1. Hold the Alt key and then press the Enter key
2. Select the desired input language from the listing that appears
3. When prompted to confirm the change of the input method select “Yes”.

Tip: Select the “Do not show this message again” checkbox to remove the confirmation going forward.

Customizing the Input Language Shortcut Keys

You should also know that the shortcut key to change input languages can be changed or disabled. Complete the steps below depending on which version of BlackBerry smartphone OS you are currently using. Not sure which BlackBerry OS you have? Read our blog post on how to identify BlackBerry Device Software versions.

BlackBerry® 7 to 7.1 OS

1. From the Home screen or a folder select “Options” and then “Typing and Language”
2. Select “Language”
3. Under Keyboard Language Switcher, select the desired setting

4. Press the Menu key and select “Save”.

BlackBerry® 6

1. From the Home screen or a folder select “Options” and then “Typing and Input”
2. Select “Language”
3. Under Language Switcher, select the desired setting
4. Press the Menu key and select “Save”.

BlackBerry® Device Software 4 to 5

1. From the Home screen or a folder Select “Options” and then “Language and Text Input”
2. In the Input Language Selection Shortcut field select the desired setting.
3. Press the Menu key and select “Save”.

For more information on switching typing input language, take a look at the product documentation for your BlackBerry smartphone at the BlackBerry Manuals and Help page.

Have a question or comment, mes amis? Please leave a comment below.

Inside BlackBerry Help Blog

It wasn’t all music and photos on stage at the BlackBerry World™ 2012 keynote – gaming was also a huge theme. As a gamer myself, I couldn’t have been more excited to see what Fishlabs have up their sleeves for the BlackBerry PlayBook. Gamers know that graphics and deeply integrated play are must-have game features – looks like Galaxy on Fire HD has it all.

Watch Fishlabs CEO Michael Schade PlayBook demo Galaxy on Fire HD here:

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

Inside BlackBerry

Although the BlackBerry World 2012 keynote presentation is always a big highlight, there’s a lot more going on at the show. Each day is filled with panels, breakout sessions and guest speakers. This year, Spencer West of Free the Children spoke to attendees and shared lessons he’s learned along his inspirational journey.

Spencer is a fascinating guy. Yes, he’s a diehard BlackBerry smartphone user, but he’s also an accomplished speaker. A university graduate. A natural prankster. A former cheerleader. And a young man without legs who refuses to let that stop him from redefining possible. I had the chance to sit down with Spencer at the show and ask him a few questions. Take a look – I’m sure you’ll be as impressed as we are:

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

Inside BlackBerry

Just in time for the holiday season, you can now use Avatar Builder Guys Edition and Girls Edition with BlackBerry® 7 OS smartphones, in addition to BlackBerry ® 6 OS and smartphones using BlackBerry® Device Software 5! To help get you in the holiday spirit, we are also happy to announce the Ugly Sweater Expansion Pack as well, which allows you to celebrate the holidays in decidedly unstylish sweaters available in a wide variety of colors and looks.

Here’s an overview of how to get started with Avatar Builder if you haven’t used it previously, as well as instructions on how to install the Ugly Sweater Expansion Pack if you have the Guys or Girls Edition of Avatar Builder.

Before we begin, if you have already installed Avatar Builder and would like to get the Ugly Sweater Expansion Pack, click here!

Note: It may take up to 24 hours for these new apps to appear for all users.

Installing Avatar Builder Guys or Girls Edition

In order to use Avatar Builder, you must meet the following requirements:

• Are you using a supported BlackBerry® smartphone?
• Are you using the required BlackBerry® Device Software version?
• Are you located in a supported country?

All of this information can be found on the Avatar Builder page that’s available in the BlackBerry App World™ desktop storefront using the links below.

• Avatar Builder Guys Edition
• Avatar Builder Girls Edition

Tip: If you don’t know which version of BlackBerry Device Software you are using, click for information on how to identify which version of BlackBerry Device Software you are currently using.

Provided you meet the requirements to use Avatar Builder, the next step is to download it from BlackBerry App World. You can install it using the BlackBerry App World application on your BlackBerry smartphone and by searching for Avatar Builder, or by visiting the BlackBerry App World desktop storefront for each application linked above. If you cannot find Avatar Builder while using BlackBerry App World on your BlackBerry smartphone, make sure you meet the requirements that are listed in the BlackBerry App World desktop storefront page for the Avatar Builder app.

Note: You can install both the Guys and Girls version of the Avatar Builder in case you want both!

After the installation of Avatar Builder is complete, move onto the next section for instructions on how to install the Ugly Sweater Expansion Pack.

Installing the Ugly Sweater Expansion Pack

For those who have previously installed the Avatar Builder app (as well as those who just installed it now), in order to dress up your avatar in an ugly sweater for the holidays, complete the following steps:

1. Launch BlackBerry App World and search for ‘Ugly Sweater Expansion Pack’, or scan the QR code below by pressing the Menu key and selecting “Scan a Barcode” within BlackBerry App World on your BlackBerry smartphone.

2. Select “Download” and enter your login credentials if prompted to complete the install.
3. Launch Avatar Builder Guys or Girls edition and start dressing up your avatar!

After installing the Ugly Sweater Expansion Pack, open Avatar Builder, create a new avatar or edit an existing one – and you’ll notice a new option along the bottom for the Ugly Sweater Expansion Pack. After selecting the new icon, you can choose a snazzy new sweater followed by adding a personal touch; in my case below, a snowman.

After creating your new avatar, make sure you share it with friends and family! To learn more about sharing your Avatars, check out my previous post on how to create and share a BlackBerry Avatar. Make sure you visit the Inside BlackBerry Blog as well and let Mitchell know how you like his stylish holiday sweater!

Got a question about BlackBerry Avatar Builder? Leave a comment and let me know.

Happy holidays, #TeamBlackBerry!

The Avatar Builder (Girls and Boys Editions) apps and add-ons (“Apps”) are available as free downloads from BlackBerry App World™. Depending on how you connect to your network, data charges may apply to download these Apps. Consult your carrier/network provider for details.

Inside BlackBerry Help Blog

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

Hi everyone! We’ve got a special treat for you today – Mathias and Fredrik, our friends at The Astonishing Tribe, have put together a great blog post about the Arduino™ platform. If you’re searching for E.T., this might be your best weapon – how? Find out below… – Ed.

Today’s consumer devices pack an unparalleled bang-for-your-buck, giving end users blazing-fast and high-performing products. This is more than “fine and dandy” for users in the intended demographic of the device, but what about users like ‘The Prototyper,’ ‘The Hobbyist,’ and ‘The Startup Techie,’ to name a few? You recognize them from their desire to change the way that we use devices; to disrupt the established models; to get their hands dirty and create something new.

Yep, people like us are especially excited by new devices, and in our experience the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet’s power and performance has no equal for tinkerers.

With the relative complexity of today’s electronics, it’s not feasible to start from scratch; you need good building blocks to implement your vision. You’ll want to use commercial off- the-shelf (COTS) components as much as possible and you most likely don’t want to be bound to a bulky PC.

Fortunately, we have the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. It’s a powerful and portable consumer tablet, with a great user interface and an open SDK. We find it is an ideal platform to host your UI, crunch data, and more.

So how do we get started prototyping our ideas with the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet? For electronics concepts: enter Arduino.

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry Developer’s Blog »

Inside BlackBerry

Personalizing your BlackBerry® smartphone is really easy thanks to the Avatar Builder application – Guys Edition and Girls Edition – that’s available in BlackBerry App World™. By using the Avatar Builder app, you’ll be able to create and customize an avatar to look just like you, or anyone you want it to be!

Today I’ll be providing an overview of how to install the Avatar Builder app on your BlackBerry smartphone and showing you several ways you can share your avatar with friends and family.

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry Help Blog »

Inside BlackBerry

It is my extreme pleasure to give you an inside look at the BBM™ Music app Research In Motion (RIM) announced today. Hot on the heels of our BBM 6 launch in the BlackBerry App World™ storefront, BBM Music is expected to be available later this year for a monthly subscription fee of $ 4.99 USD, plus tax (to sign up to get more details later on availability and free trial in your country, please visit www.blackberry.com/bbmmusic).

BBM Music is a BBM-connected social music service that allows BlackBerry® smartphone users to share and discover music through your BBM Music friends (note: users must also have BBM 6 installed). Once you have created a BBM Music sharing friendship with a BBM contact, you can make use of all that BBM Music has to offer (like other BBM-connected apps, BBM Music was built using the same BBM SDKs extended to the BlackBerry developer community. To see a list of other great BBM-connected apps, check out our BBM 6: Apps Made Social post).

BBM Music has been designed to allow you to:

• Build your music profile from a Catalog of millions of tracks (with more to be added over the coming weeks)
• Invite friends to BBM Music from your BBM contacts and gain access to their music and share your music (once they subscribe or join the free trial)
• Create playlists from your BBM Music songs plus your friends’ songs
• Share playlists or single songs with BBM Music friends
• Follow your friends’ BBM Music activity via timelines and comments, or start up a BBM chat about your favorite bands
• Cache music for easy offline listening
• Seamless integration with other BlackBerry music services

Let’s dig deeper into how BBM Music works and why it might become the must-have app for audiophiles and the über-social.

More friends = more music

What if every new friend came with a new favorite song? With BBM Music, they could, as long as they have agreed to share their music with you! Each BBM Music user can create a profile of up to 50 songs from the millions of tracks available in the BBM Music Catalog. In addition to those 50 songs in your profile, the more BBM Music friends you have, the more songs you can add and enjoy! In other words, your BBM Music friend’s music library = your music library.

BBM Music paid subscribers will get to discover, select and share full audio tracks. This includes not only the tracks in your 50-song profile, but also all the music in your BBM Music friends’ profiles, too (if they are paid subscribers or using the trial version).

A great way to stay up on what your BBM Music friends are listening to is by viewing the activity timeline on the Home tab. From there, you can see what playlists your BBM Music friends are creating, what songs they’ve added to their profiles, and the comments friends are posting on your track selections (BTW: My coworkers at RIM seem to really enjoy my addiction to indie rock =D).

From the Me tab, you can see your own BBM Music profile, including your 50-tracks and playlists, as well as the comments you’ve posted. You can also quickly see how many listens your music selections have received from your BBM Music friends, or shuffle your track list.

The Friends tab is the place to go to see your BBM Music friends and discover what they’re listening to. You can view specific friend’s playlists and tracks, add them to your own playlists, or post a comment. This is also the place to accept new BBM Music friend requests or send out some requests of your own. Of course, because BBM Music is a BBM-connected app, you can also start a BBM chat with any of your BBM Music friends from this tab.

Even more ways to discover music

If you’re looking to branch out and try something new, the Catalog tab is the place to go to find new tracks to add to your 50-song profile. Besides a general artist, album, song search, the Catalog tab also features preset song suggestions based upon genre, what’s new, top and most recommended tracks, and even picks from the BBM Music team. BBM Music will also tell you if a song of your choosing is in one of your friend’s music profiles, so you can grab it from them and not subtract from your 50-song total.

BBM Music also provides easy access to and from other BlackBerry music services for additional discovery and purchase. For example, if there are songs you love so much you’d like to purchase them, you can select the buy option and purchase directly from the Amazon MP3 Music Store.

No coverage = no problem

BBM Music tracks are cached to your SD card for offline listening, and you can do this for playlists, too, via the Options menu. This is a great feature for commuters, as you can access your music library even when you’re travelling to out of coverage areas. BBM Music also allows for music streaming over Wi-Fi, which together with the cache storage helps save on data usage.

BBM Music strikes a personal chord with me for two reasons. First, mobile music typically tends to be a solitary experience. BBM Music takes that solitary experience and makes it social with the people that matter to me most. Secondly, as life gets busier, I have less time to discover music (sad, but true). BBM Music allows my BBM friends to introduce me to the tunes I’m missing, and vice versa. I think BBM Music could become the “mixtape” for a new generation of mobile music users.

Stay tuned for more blog posts on BBM Music. Also, be sure to head over to the BBM Music page and sign up to be notified once the service launches.

For now, post a comment and let us know what you think (and maybe post a list of your all-time favorite songs or some great new indie bands I should be adding to my profile). I look forward to reading and hearing what you think!

Inside BlackBerry

Your employees and colleagues want devices that balance work life and home life. They want to manage their documents and email, and manage soccer practice. And a little BrickBreaker would be nice, too.

These needs are motivating the growing mobile workforce to insist on devices that can balance and multi-task. So, what can your organization do?

The “Consumerization of Business,” often referred to as “the “Consumerization of IT,” is a trend representing a shift of mobile technology ownership and responsibility from corporate to personal. This is not without its challenges for all involved. I recently had the opportunity to speak with Brock of the Global Analyst Insights team at Research In Motion® (RIM®), who reached out to Philippe Winthrop of the Enterprise Mobility Foundation to discuss this trend.

Philippe is the Founder and Managing Director of the Enterprise Mobility Foundation, the organization behind the popular Enterprise Mobility Forum – one of the fastest-growing content and social networks exclusively dedicated to enterprise mobility. It was a pleasure to tap into Philippe’s experience, as he has spent his entire career researching emerging technologies and their impact on the corporate value chain. Check out the discussion below:

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog »

Inside BlackBerry

If you own a BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet, you can easily ensure the information stored on it is recoverable by using the backup capabilities built into BlackBerry® Desktop Software for PC 6.1. Doing so will allow you to restore information such as your media, settings and application data, which can get you up and running again if you encounter any unforeseen issues.

The first thing you need to do is install BlackBerry Desktop Software for PC 6.1, which can be downloaded from the BlackBerry Desktop Software for PC website. While you are installing it, make sure you check out the website for information on other features such as media synchronization.

Once you have installed BlackBerry Desktop Software for PC 6.1, creating a backup file is really easy using the following steps:

Creating a backup file

1. Open BlackBerry Desktop Software for PC 6.1.
2. Connect the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet to your desktop.

• If this is the first time you have connected the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, the Add a new BlackBerry device wizard will appear on your desktop screen, which allows you to specify backup options as per the following screenshot. For those that have previously connected a BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, to access these options, select Device Options as shown in the previous screenshot.

3. In BlackBerry Desktop Software, select Back up Now.

4. Select one of the following options:

• To back up all your tablet data, click Full.
• To select which types tablet data to back up, click Custom followed by checking the box next to the data you want to back up such as Application Data, Media or Settings.

5. After specifying which type of backup file will be created, do any of the following:

• To change the default name for the backup file, type a new name in the File name field (by default it will be the current day).
• To change the default backup file save location, select Browse and specify the folder where you would like to save backup files to (by default My Documents\BlackBerry\Backup).
• To encrypt your data, select the Encrypt backup file check box and enter a password.
• To save these settings so that you aren’t prompted to set these options again when you back up your tablet, select the Don’t ask for these settings again check box.

6. Click Back up to start the backup process.

7. After the backup process is complete, the following dialog will appear.

At this point you have two options for making backup files going forward:

• Option 1 – Perform a manual backup whenever you connect the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet by selecting Back Up Now from the main screen of BlackBerry Desktop Software for PC 6.1.
• Option 2 – Use the When I connect my device option, which allows a backup file to be created on a daily, weekly, bi-weekly or monthly frequency. If you combine this with the Don’t ask for these settings again option that appears when you are configuring your backup options (figure 3), the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet could get automatically backed up daily, for example (this is my preferred method – Ed.). To access this option, select Device Options followed by selecting the General tab. Make sure you check out the Backup tab as well for some other useful settings.

Restoring a backup file

Now that we have backup files, let’s take a peek at how to restore everything or just a few things from the backup files. A very important thing to remember whenever restoring information from a backup file is that all files that are stored on your tablet are deleted before the backup file is restored. If there is data on your tablet that is not in the backup file, this data will be lost. For example, if you do a selective restore of just your Media, any Media on the tablet will get removed and replaced by the Media content within the backup file.

With this being said, to restore a backup file to your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, complete the following steps:

1. Open BlackBerry Desktop Software for PC 6.1.
2. Connect the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet.
3. Click Device followed by Restore.

4. A window will appear that will list backup files you’ve made previously. If the backup file you’d like to use isn’t displayed, click Browse and manually locate the backup file.

• NOTE: Since the backup file I created earlier was encrypted, in order to view the contents of the backup before restoring it, choose the option of Select device data and settings followed by selecting Click to view its contents. You can then enter the password used to encrypt the backup file and optionally restore all, or select device data and settings.

5. After determining if you’d like to restore All device data and settings or Select device data and settings select Restore.

6. As soon as the restore process is completed, disconnect the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet to complete the restore process as per the following screenshot.

As you can see, creating a backup file – including setting up automatic backup options – is a really easy way to ensure your information is recoverable in the event you encounter an unexpected issue, such as losing your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet.

Got a question about BlackBerry Desktop Software for PC 6.1 or the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet? Leave a comment and let me know.

Inside BlackBerry Help Blog

I come to work every day excited to work for a company driven to help our customers. I’m especially proud of the BlackBerry® community’s loyal and helpful Support Community experts.

As you may remember, a few months back, our BlackBerry Support Community had a facelift. What was once a basic support forum has been effectively transformed into a dynamic site that not only provides answers to customer inquiries, but also allows members to engage in active conversation with our BlackBerry experts, more formally referred to as Super Users.

We LOVE our Super Users, without whom the BlackBerry Support Community would not be the valuable resource that it is. Their BlackBerry expertise and enthusiasm is irreplaceable, and many community members may not realize exactly who they are. Our Super Users are BlackBerry volunteer advocates who contribute the most to our BlackBerry Support Community, some spending nearly 40 hours a week assisting others in the Community. . They have special access to the Support Community and are frequently in direct contact with many of us on our internal team here at Research In Motion® (RIM®). If I may say so, our Super User program is unique and inspirational; it allows us the opportunity to empower our community members with BlackBerry knowledge.

As a result of our growing community – much of which we owe to our Super Users – we were recognized this year at both the Shorty Awards and the Social Customer Excellence Awards. And now our Support Community and our Super Users are up for two Forrester Groundswell Awards, for “Supporting” and “Embracing”.

Both of these awards are currently going through a voting process, so if you have ever visited the Support Community, I encourage you to cast your vote* and submit a review in honor of Team BlackBerry! See below for our submissions:

• How BlackBerry Turned a Discussion Forum into a Social Community
• The Power of Advocacy: BlackBerry’s Super User Program

* To vote, you can rate the award using the stars in the bottom right corner, and to write a review, click the orange box to the right of the stars.

Thanks for your ongoing support!

Inside BlackBerry Help Blog