Tips and Tricks

CIO.com's Al Sacco offers advice on one way to help ensure you never find yourself with a BlackBerry that's stuck in an endless reboot cycle or frozen on a BlackBerry error screen.

Got yourself a shiny new BlackBerry PlayBook? Learn how to get more done in less time, boost tablet security, manage applications and more, using these seven easy PlayBook tips and tricks, courtesy of CIO.com's Al Sacco.

BlackBerry PlayBook with Battery Life Indicator

Boost your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet security and protect your personal privacy with these simple tips and tricks, from CIO.com's mobile maestro Al Sacco.

A recent BlackBerry PlayBook OS update has weakened overall tablet battery life for many RIM PlayBook owners. Here are six quick and easy PlayBook battery tips and tricks to help counteract the update's negative effects and boost your tablet's battery life.

Research In Motion (RIM) has posted information for IT admins to help ensure BlackBerry PlayBook tablet Video Chat functions properly via firewall-protected corporate networks.

CIO.com's BlackBerry black belt Al Sacco shares his 10 favorite and most frequently used BlackBerry keyboard shortcuts, tips and tricks.

The longer your smartphone lasts on a single charge, the better, right? CIO.com's mobile expert Al Sacco details the techniques power users swear by to boost BlackBerry longevity.

The BlackBerry Torch 9800 Slider (Image Credit: Brian Sacco)

CIO.com's mobile watcher Al Sacco explains how to create custom speed-dial lists using RIM's BlackBerry OS 6, so BlackBerry smartphone users need only press and hold one key to call important contacts.

CIO.com's mobile master Al Sacco explains how to change and set custom BlackBerry notification- and alert-settings for RIM smartphones when used along with compatible holsters, cases and pockets.

CIO.com's Al Sacco offers up this step-by-step tutorial on how to "downgrade" or return to an older version of the OS software on a BlackBerry smartphone.

CIO.com's BlackBerry black belt Al Sacco details the process to security wipe a BlackBerry smartphone running RIM's latest mobile OS, BlackBerry 6.

RIM's BlackBerry-specific mobile IM service, BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), is an easy and effective way to keep in touch with other RIM smartphone users. CIO.com's BlackBerry beat-reporter Al Sacco shares tips on getting the most from BBM.

Al Sacco explains how to add slang, proper names or misspelled words to your BlackBerry's custom dictionary so they're not flagged during spell-checks.

Get Internet connectivity via PC anywhere using your BlackBerry. CIO.com's BlackBerry black belt Al Sacco explains how to "tether" a Windows PC to the Internet using your RIM smartphone's wireless network connection.

CIO.com's BlackBerry beat-reporter Al Sacco details the process for transferring media and other files wirelessly via Bluetooth between BlackBerry smartphones running OS 5.0.

CIO.com's BlackBerry black belt Al Sacco shares tips and tricks on how to get the most from BlackBerry applications, while at the same time ensuring those apps don't negatively affect your smartphone's performance.

CIO.com's Al Sacco shares tips on how to get more from RIM's BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) mobile IM app, avoid common pitfalls and keep your device protected from related security threats.

BlackBerry devices used to be renowned for their impressively long battery lives. But with all the features and functionalities packed into modern RIM smartphones during the past couple of years, some of that battery longevity has vanished. CIO.com's Al Sacco offers up seven advanced tips that he regularly employs to ensure his BlackBerry keeps on ticking...and ticking and ticking.

BlackBerry Bold Batteries

BlackBerry smartphones are known for security, but if you don't know the common gotchas, your new or "unsecured" BlackBerry device could be a disaster waiting to happen. CIO.com's "CrackBerry" addict Al Sacco offers five BlackBerry security tips to fix your smartphone security holes and reduce unnecessary risk.

CIO.com's BlackBerry watcher Al Sacco details two different ways to create separate e-mail inboxes for personal (BIS) and corporate (BES) mail in BlackBerry OS 5.0.

A new feature within RIM's recently released BlackBerry handheld OS 5.0 lets BlackBerry users "flag" e-mail messages for follow-up, set custom reminders, assign different color flags to specific messages and edit detailed flag properties. Here's how to effectively use the new BlackBerry e-mail flags.

BlackBerry smartphone users can free up valuable software storage space by "archiving" App World mobile applications they don't use frequently on external memory cards for easy future access. Here's how to archive those apps, as well as how to keep such apps in order.

BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion (RIM) offers up ten smartphone troubleshooting tips and tricks for CrackBerry addicts of all ilk.

Got a shiny new BlackBerry? Want to use it on another carrier in the United States? Or a GSM carrier overseas? No worries. Here are two methods for unlocking your BlackBerry--one of which is completely free, though it's not guaranteed to work for everyone.

Unlocked Verizon Wireless BlackBerry Tour Running on AT&T

CIO.com's Al Sacco explains why certain apps within BlackBerry users' Applications lists are bolded, while others appear in normal, non-bold lettering.

Research In Motion's (RIM) latest slogan is "Life on BlackBerry." And rightly so; BlackBerry owners turn to the devices to store more and more data and applications for life inside the corporate walls and out. Here's how to use BlackBerry folders to organize and manage all that clutter.

Boost your BlackBerry Web browsing experience with these can't-miss keyboard shortcuts, for newbies and power-users alike.

Aflac's BlackBerry guru shares power tips and tricks for your RIM smartphone. Here's how to improve your typing, messaging, browsing, attachment handling and more.