Black berry, more than just a fruit

One of the newest crazes in today's technology is the BlackBerry. The BlackBerry is a handheld PDA device that was engineered from the ground up for email. The BlackBerry is a great device for both businesses and personal users whose emails are a vital part of their life, meaning they need to get their emails the second that they arrive rather than having to wait to access the internet from home or at work. A great thing about BlackBerry's is that it has push email capabilities, which allows a user to receive their email messages the instant they are received in your inbox, even if you are out of cellular coverage. But the best thing about the BlackBerry is it can now be used for almost anything that you can think of.

Here are some reasons why BlackBerry's are a true productivity tool.

Reason one:
As mentioned above BlackBerry is a great tool for sending and receiving email because you can receive your email messages no matter where you are at. Like a cell phone you will have to establish service with a wireless carrier, but you will also need to obtain a BlackBerry data plan. You will receive an email address for your BlackBerry once you have established service, so you can simply start using that email address or you can simply integrate your BlackBerry account with your exisiting email accounts.

Reason two:
Another great feature of the BlackBerry is that its form and keyboard style make it as easy to use as any other handheld device. Because of the limited set of keys more then one letter has to be one each key but the BlackBerry comes with a feature known as SureType that predicts the words you are going to type which will help save you time, and the keyboard is set up in the exact same order as other keyboards which makes it easier to find your way around, as well as providing numerous shortcut keys that provides quick access to common programs and functions.

Reason three:
The web browser that comes with the BlackBerry allows you to access a variety of formats including HTML, XHTML, WML, SVG and common image types. The BlackBerry can also be equipped with a server-side component called the BlackBerry Enterprise server that provides secure access to intranet sites. The BlackBerry also supports JavaScript which allows the user to access even more websites, and you can control what functions you want to enable and change your settings to fit your needs.

Reason four:
Some features that are important for corporate users is that using the BlackBerry Enterprise Server all of the communications occur through a single TCP port which makes configuring a firewall rather easy and all of the data is encrypted, which is a nice security feature. You can also synchronize your data between your computer and the BlackBerry, so no matter where you make changes it is automatically changed on the other device.

Reason five:
Another great thing about the BlackBerry's is third parties are constantly developing applications that can be used with the BlackBerry, which opens up the possibilities of using your BlackBerry for entertainment purposes as well. Some other applications that have been added to the BlackBerry are Bluetooth and GPS. The Bluetooth allows you to type wirelessly and print out pages from any Bluetooth-enabled printer. The GPS feature provides programs that will recite driving directions.

If you have never used a BlackBerry before here are some useful tips to help get you started.
- Use Alt-Esc to switch between applications
- Learn to use the shortcut keys and create AutoText entries for commonly typed phrases or words you usually misspell
- You can send PIN to PIN messages without any SMS text charges
- Set a security time-out and password to protect your data
- Check your wireless provider's website regularly for BlackBerry software upgrades. Keep in mind that updates are released fairly often and new features are usually being added.