BlackBerryThemes.tv

By Daniel Swensen

So you’re in the market for a smartphone, and you’ve finally decided to take the plunge, and you’re down to two fine offerings: the Blackberry Pearl, or the newer, slimmer, Blackberry 8800. Which one will suit your needs and personality best? A quick comparison will tell the tale.

The Blackberry Basics

First impressions are often the most important, and at a glance, these two Blackberries are quite similar. Both the Blackberry Pearl and the Blackberry 8800 feature the distinctive RIM Blackberry candy-bar design, with smooth, rounded edges and chrome accents. The Blackberry Pearl is slightly narrower than the 8800, although the Blackberry 8800 has a slightly slimmer profile. Both smartphones are outfitted with a keyboard, although the 8800’s is a full-sized QWERTY keyboard, compared to the Pearl’s truncated (but fully functional) SureType keyboard. Both feature a 240 x 260 pixel, 65,000 color display and the new Blackberry trackball navigation (as compared to the jog dial of older Blackberry models).

The Blackberry Pearl: Superior Messaging, Superior Style

Both the Blackberry 8800 and the Blackberry Pearl feature mobile web browsing, with full HTML and one-touch access, as well as multimedia messaging (with an optional add-on plan). Text / SMS messaging and email are also fully supported on both Blackberries. The Blackberry 8800 features RIM’s trademark “push” real-time email, and has the ability to integrate with up to ten POP, IMAP, or SMTP accounts. As far as instant messaging is concerned, the Blackberry 8800 comes with Blackberry Messenger, whereas the Pearl adds Yahoo! Messenger and Google Talk pre-loaded with the smartphone. If you’re a heavy user of Google Talk or Yahoo! Messenger, this gives the Blackberry Pearl a definite edge. The Blackberry Pearl also wins on style points, as it comes in several distinctive colors, including black, white, and a vibrant red.

The GPS Advantage: Blackberry 8800

In terms of office capabilities, both the Blackberry Pearl and the Blackberry 8800 can open Word and Excel documents, PDFs, and PowerPoint presentations that are attached to emails. Both cell phones come with full Bluetooth hands-free support and are data-capable, meaning either cell phone can be used as a wireless modem.

Now that we’ve firmly established that these two Blackberries have plenty in common, let’s talk about where they part ways. The Blackberry Pearl’s most immediate advantage over the 8800 would have to be the built-in digital camera. The Pearl’s built-in camera phone is 1.3 megapixels, with a 1280 x 1040 maximum resolution, built-in flash, and 5x digital zoom.

However, the Pearl lacks a built-in GPS solution, which is where the Blackberry 8800 really shines. While the Blackberry Pearl can be made GPS-capable with a separate TeleNav GPS receiver, the Blackberry 8800 comes with integrated GPS built into the smartphone. The 8800 requires no extra equipment — only access to a location-based service like TeleNav GPS Navigator. The Blackberry 8800 also features color maps and text or voice-guided driving directions right on the cell phone, making it invaluable for travelers. (The service does cost extra, $9.99 a month or $5.99 for 10 trips.)

If you’re planning on using your Blackberry to listen to music, you’ll find either model will suit your needs. The Blackberry 8800 and the Blackberry Pearl both play music and video files, supporting MPEG4, H.263 video formats and MP3 and AAC (iTunes Music Store) formats. Note that while the 8800 will play video files, it can’t actually capture any; if you want to watch video on your Blackberry, you can use a MicroSD memory card or USB 2.0 to transfer files to it.

The Smart(phone) Choice

Plainly, both Blackberries have plenty to offer the business or casual user. The Blackberry Pearl’s inclusion of a digital camera does aim it slightly more towards everyday use, while the Blackberry 8800’s GPS capabilities make it the perfect choice for someone who’s on the road a great deal. The Blackberry 8800 is also ideal if your workplace prohibits the use of camera phones. With the rich features available on both models, however, both are excellent choices.

Daniel Swensen is a freelance writer who covers websites like Wirefly.

By Mark Thomas Walters

The great thing about BlackBerries is that not only are they great straight out of the box, but that there are lots of ways that you can personalize and improve them, with themes being a perfect example. Basically, themes offer a way, along with BlackBerry accessories, to make your BlackBerry stand out from the crowd.

By installing a theme on to your BlackBerry, you can specify precisely the way that almost everything on it is displayed. They work in much the same way as the theme system used on Microsoft Windows – literally one click gives a totally different look and feel.

There’s a range of unique themes available to suit your tastes and interests – some being free and needing to be paid for. Visit an online BlackBerry accessories and application store and you’ll see that there are hundreds and hundreds to choose from. You’ll be able to find every look and style imaginable. They have everything from elegant and classy business themes to fun and quirky entertainment related ones. Alternatively, if you’re the creative type, you can also make your own themes.

The software (BlackBerry Theme Studio v5.0) needed to create your own theme is easy enough to use and, best of all, it’s free. All you need is some creativity and some skill with graphics software. On downloading BlackBerry Theme Studio, you’ll see that there are two products contained within the suite – BlackBerry Composer and BlackBerry Theme Builder.

Graphic creation and editing is done within the BlackBerry Composer. It’s a useful piece of graphic design software that has the basic features of the standard graphics packages that most people have on their computer. You can use it to create all the images for your theme, though you can import them from elsewhere should you wish to do so.

The actual designing of the theme is done within the Theme Builder. The selection and allocation of the images is done from here. It’s also where you can decide what, if any, sounds and animations are used, which fonts to use, and whereabouts on the screen your menus and icons are displayed.

If you fancy making some extra money for yourself, and there is even the potential to make some seriously big money, then you can sell the themes that you create on BlackBerry accessories and applications stores. These online stores can also be used to get inspiration for creating themes. Browse through the list of top sellers and most sought after themes and you’ll have no shortage of ideas – you could even use them as templates for your own ones.

To summarize, if you’re someone that wants to make your BlackBerry truly your own, then installing a theme, to go along with some cool BlackBerry accessories, is the way to go.

By Rod Lowery

STEP 1: How to Change the Default Theme on Your BlackBerry

A theme is like the wallpaper on your PC. Adding a theme to your BlackBerry is a great way personalize your device. To find and change the themes, click your Options icon and go to Theme. Then select the theme you want and click on that theme and your “home screen” will be changed.

STEP 2: Finding BlackBerry Themes on the Internet

There are many premium third party software developers that offer high quality themes that can be downloaded either for a fee or for free. In our opinion, downloading FREE themes can disable up your BlackBerry, so purchase BlackBerry apps and themes from reputable providers only or from a source you trust.

STEP 3: Preparing Before Downloading and Installing a BlackBerry Theme

When shopping for Themes, verify your Operating System (OS) on your BlackBerry by selecting the Options icon on your BlackBerry and choosing About. The OS version looks like v4.6.0.167; your OS version will vary depending on your device. Before downloading a BlackBerry theme and installing it onto your device simply verify the OS and install only a compatible theme.

STEP 4: Download BlackBerry Themes over the Air (Emailed To Your Device) *** Recommended ***

Most Theme providers allow for easy Over The Air installation of BlackBerry Themes. An email is sent to your device that contains the link to download your new Theme. From the email, simply click the link and your BlackBerry will begin to download the Theme onto your device.

To find your newly downloaded Theme, Click the Options icon on your BlackBerry. Then click Theme and select the newly downloaded theme.

STEP 5: Download BlackBerry Theme to your PC then to to your Device

Purchase a Theme from a website you trust and select ‘download to PC’ or something similar that indicates you want to download the Theme to your PC rather than have it delivered by SMS or email to your BlackBerry. Download the Theme to your PC. The file will zipped (.zip) so you will need to unzip the file on your PC’s Desktop. Connect your Blackberry to your computer (with a BlackBerry data/sync cable). Open up the BlackBerry Desktop Manager, and then open Application Loader. Then find the unzipped Theme file and hit “OK”, after the installation finishes. Now, change the theme by going to Settings. Click Options. Then click Themes and select the new theme.

Written by Rod Lowery
Entrepreneur, Internet Visionary & BlackBerry Aficionado at QWERTYgadgets.com