Last Tuesday, tens of thousands of Blackberry users across the island and the region were without internet service due to a system wide outage from RIM (Research In Motion). This was the second such outage in a week. In a statement, RIM attributed the outage to the recent Messenger upgrade following preliminary investigations. In addition to moving ‘swiftly’ to restore full services, RIM introduced an update.
Many of us saw the announcements in mainstream media, received Messenger Broadcasts and then an official message from our service providers (in that order). Avid Tech Time listeners waited to install the update to prevent the possibility of crashes that non-listeners experienced when they rushed to upgrade BBM with cracked software. You were smart! But, now it’s time to upgrade.
Step 1: Backup Your Phone
I can’t stress this enough. Using the provided, free Blackberry Desktop Manager make a full backup copy of the data on your phone, even if you have used BBM to back up your contacts. This is your best way defence against data loss.
Step 2: Check Your Settings
Click on the ‘Options’ Icon (usually a wrench), click ‘About’ and then ensure your Blackberry is using OS v. 4.5 or higher.
Step 3: Download Messenger
In your BB browser, visit: www.blackberry.com/blackberrymessenger and select download. The newest version will download directly to your phone. You may be required to restart your phone, after which you are ready to go.
Optionally, you can download Messenger and thousands of other really cool apps from the Blackberry App Store. In your browser visit: www.appworld.blackberry.com
Visit the official Blackberry site for more information on what Messenger can do: http://na.blackberry.com/eng/devices/features/im/blackberry_messenger.jsp
Another great upgrade to consider from your Blackberry is the Bolt Browser. Bolt loads pages faster than the default Blackberry browser, can stream videos and displays pages as desktop browsers would. This is significant because it makes it easier to go shopping or banking online using your phone. I will install on my phone this week and give a full report in the coming weeks.
Special thanks to all the Tech Time consultants that contribute to my learning experience:
- Dale Stephenson
- Jamie Ranston
- Hamilton Brown
- Noel Andrew Bennett
- Serchen Morris
- Troy Cocking
- Jerome Hamilton
For 2010 we’ll explore new frontiers like Home 3D, Windows 7, Internet Banking, project Natal, Backing up to the Cloud and so much more. Thank you for taking time to explore tech with me, our journey continues.
Interface with us:
Online: trivialonfame.blogspot.com
On email: famefm@rjrgroup.com
On SMS: 876-878-FAME (18768783263)