7 Hacks to Make Your BlackBerry Bold Faster and Better

Not everyone loves the BlackBerry mobile, but for those who do, there are still a few things that drive him or her crazy. Fortunately most of those things are relatively easy to fix with a few simple adjustments to the settings. These aren’t high level technical things, so even the most basic users can quickly and easily update their handsets to take advantage of the improvements in use. Some will make your phone or browser faster, while others will improve memory or let you switch browsers (most of the time anyway).

These tips and tricks work on a wide range of BlackBerry devices, from the older 8000 series to the newer 9900 BlackBerry Bold mobiles. If you’re not sure how to tell which BlackBerry device you have, just nose around some of the better mobile phone sites out there and have a look at their models. You’ll be able to compare your device to the ones they have for sale, and visually determine which model you’ve got. However, the tips and tricks we’ve listed below work on any modern BlackBerry phone, so you should have no problems.

1) Slow Web Browsing: Many users complain that web browsing takes forever. This is because Java support has been enabled, which slows everything down. Just open your browser options and uncheck Java support. Once that’s done, restart the browser and you’ll be getting much speedier search results.

2) Memory is Always Low: Older BlackBerry mobiles sometimes won’t release memory, which causes them to slowly run out of memory until the phone barely works. Generally users end up pulling out their batteries to work around this, but that’s only a temporary fix. Instead, go to Options, then Status, and then Database Sizes. This will let you see what us chewing up all of your memory. From there, you can adjust the data settings and free up memory permanently. You can also download some apps to help with memory, but we prefer a more hands on approach to keeping things in order.

3) Choose Your Own Browser: Many users don’t like the built in BlackBerry web browser, but aren’t aware that it can be changed. All you have to do is open the Options setting, then go to Advanced Options, and finally Browser. From here you can change the default browser configuration you’d like to use, such as the Bolt Browser, or Opera Mini. Just keep in mind that downloads will still usually default to your BlackBerry browser, so don’t be surprised when it shows up every now and then if you download a lot of apps.

4) Battery Cover is Loose: Many users find that over time their battery cover no longer fits as snugly as it did when the device was new. This is especially true of those users who’ve been taking their battery out from time to time in order to free up memory (we showed you how to fix this in step two). To correct the battery cover problem, just put a little piece of folded paper behind the cover when you close it. A good idea is to include your name, phone number, and a reward offer on the paper as well. That way if you ever lose your phone, you’re much more likely to get it back.

5) BlackBerry Trackball Always Gets Stuck: One of the most annoying things about any BlackBerry mobile with the trackball is that it is a magnet for dust and dirt. However, it’s actually much easier to clean than you might realise. Just set your phone face down on a clean sheet of paper, and rub it back and forth (seriously). This will cause a lot of the gunk to come out, and unstick your trackball.

6) Battery Life is Pants: If your battery life is that bad, it’s likely because you’re using 3G to access data. Most of the time 2G is just fine, and you can enable it instead of using 3G. While this isn’t the workaround most of you wanted to hear, it works, and will make your battery last much longer. You can always enable it again when you want to browse the web, and then turn it back off. Email messages and such will come through almost just as fast on 2G as 3G, unless they are image heavy or have big files attached.

7) MMS and SMS Messages Crowd the Inbox: This is another common problem that frustrates many people, and sometimes even causes them to miss important messages. However, it’s easy to fix. Just go to the Options Menu in your messaging, and then select ‘Main Message List Settings’. From here you will need to uncheck the SMS and MMS box, which will move these messages to separate areas going forward. Of course, there’s still BlackBerry Intercept to think about, but only if you’re not an angel.

These are some of the most common problems one can find with BlackBerry and their mobile device settings. While we haven’t covered everything, we have covered those things that should help you to fix the biggest and most frustrating issues on your mobile. It doesn’t matter if you’re using an older model, or the newer BlackBerry 9900, as these work on any device.