Five BlackBerry Shortcuts for Newbies

The backlight is the light that displays on the screen and allows you to see the contents on the screen if it is dark. You can also use the backlight as a flashlight when you need to walk around or see in the dark and you have no other source of light. You can activate the BlackBerry backlight several different ways. Some of these ways include: pressing the "back arrow" button on the phone, pressing any key on the phone or by pressing any side button on the device.

You may want to switch back and forth between applications while you are using your BlackBerry. You may have several applications such as "email," "text messages," "pictures" and the "Internet" that you need to toggle back and forth between. To switch applications, press the "BlackBerry" button on your device. You may need to press the BlackBerry button twice to get to the second menu options if you are not on the second menu. Scroll down and highlight "Switch Application." Press the scroll button in to select this choice. Use your "Scroll" button to scroll to the right or left and view the applications you may switch to. Highlight and select the application of your choice. To switch to a new application, repeat the process again.

You may realize that on the BlackBerry keyboard there are no letters that correspond to the numbers. This is due to the fact that the BlackBerry keyboard is a QWERTY keyboard, which means the letters are laid out, like on a regular keyboard. If you need to dial a number that includes letters, this may be difficult for you if you do not know what letter goes with what number. To make this simple, simply start typing the regular numbers in the phone number. When you get to the letter part, click the "aA" button and type the letter as you see it in the number. Then once you finish, simply click the green "Phone" button to dial the number.

Press the shift key then roll your trackball across the lines that you want to highlight. This is pretty much inline with the use of a mouse on a computer, you can then copy the text and paste it as needed.

You may want to quickly review a long page of text or a long Internet page that has several pages attached. However, your thumb may become exhausted from scrolling down through each page. There is a quicker way to review all the pages. To page down to the next page without using the scroll button, simply press the "Space" button. To scroll up simply press the "aA" button and the "Space" button at the same time.

Those are five BlackBerry tips and tricks that can be used for easy shortcut functions you may want to use everyday. There are of course many other options available, however, these tips are tips that you will find yourself frequenting more often. There are many other hidden functions and you may have to play with your device to find out what those are. Once you become familiar with a few shortcuts on your BlackBerry, navigating it will become second nature to you in no time.

Do you have any more useful tips you think our readers should know? If you do then please post a comment.

Author's own experience.