With the Blackberry reliant on always-on data for its Push email services, including the extended social networking angle in the shape of Facebook and Twitter. The battery is more likely to take a hit when working for extended periods away from the office with no access to a mains point. So you’ll need to ensure that there’s enough left in the tank to make calls or to get you home at the end of the day (GPS). In this tutorial we show you how easy it to conserve battery life by following these simple steps.

Step 1: Adjust your backlight
The first step is to head to the main menu and look for the options icon (spanner), select this by pushing down on your trackball/pad and then scroll down to find the Screen/Keyboard sub-menu. Inside this menu look for the Backlight brightness field. Now highlight the number and with the trackball/pad choose a lower value. However move to step 2 before saving.

Step 2: Adjust your backlight timeout
Whilst in the above screen from step 1 you can also adjust your backlight time out. Simply use your trackball/pad again to scroll to where it says ‘Backlight Timeout’ and reduce the timeout to suite. The Automatically Dim Backlight option can also be left on to improve battery life. Once you are happy with your selection press the menu key and click save.

Step 3: Enable Auto on/off
The best way to conserve battery power is to simply turn the phone off and the Blackberry has a handy Auto on/off setting that you can use to do just that. Head to the options menu and then scroll down to access the Auto on/off menu. Once inside you can specify what times to turn on and off the phone during weekdays or weekends. Press the menu key to save your changes.

Step 4: Turn off your GPS
Another way to save battery life is to turn off your GPS location service and turn this back on when required. Once more you need to head to the options menu and scroll to Advanced options and select this. Locate the GPS sub-option and enter this. Next to where it says ‘GPS Services’ highlight the option and push down on the trackball/pad to change this to Location Off. Press the menu key to save the changes before exiting.

Step 5: Turn off Data/Wi-Fi
The biggest drain on your battery life will be Wi-Fi and mobile data, so if you are simply making calls you can disable these to prolong battery life. Head to the main menu and look for the ‘Manage Connections’ icon. Select this and you’ll see the Wi-Fi option listed. Highlight this and push down on the trackball/pad to remove the tick – thus turning it off. Data services are held under the Mobile Network Option so choose this to quickly turn off the data services. Press the menu key to save any changes (before exit move to step 6).

Step 6: Turn off Bluetooth
Another source of constant battery drain is Bluetooth and you’ll find the option to turn this off in the steps shown in Step 5. Essentially all you need to do is scroll to where it says Bluetooth and once again push down on the trackball/pad to disable it. Press the back button to exit and return to the main menu.

Step 7: Close down running programs
Similar to a lot of smartphones the Blackberry can perform multi-tasking operations. Unfortunately a lot of the programs don’t close properly, so you’ll find these can be running in the background zapping battery life. To ensure they are closed properly go to the main menu and press the menu key. From the drop down menu choose ‘Switch Application’. This will then produce a list of all the programs currently running. Using the trackball/pad move to the required application and select it. Now press the menu key and choose close to exit the application.

Step 8: Keep an eye on data-enabled applications
Applications such as Facebook and Twitter can send notifications to your phone, which of course uses data to do so. With this in mind it’s a good idea to check the settings of each applications to control how often updates are sent. Taking UberTwitter – as an example – launch the program and press the menu key. Now go to options and run through the wizard until you get to ‘Timeline Refresh Delay and adjust the time to suite. Note if you prefer you can also un-tick the option ‘Add location to every tweet’ and use your cell tower for location, this way you are not using the GPS which will help reduce power consumption (though at the cost of accuracy of course).

Step 9: Download 3^rd party battery monitoring software
The default battery icon is not allays the best method of visualising your phones battery life, so instead you could download an alternative from the Blackberry App store. Simply launch the App Store and do a search for battery status. You’ll then get various paid for apps and one free program called battery watch which is what we installed. You can launch the software via the download folder – held under the main menu – or move the icon to your home screen if you prefer. This will then provide you with quicker access to battery status.

Step 1: Media Sync

Start by connecting your BlackBerry to a Mac or PC via a USB lead and then boot up the BlackBerry Desktop Software. Perform a data sync and then under the Media Sync heading, select the Music link. Media Sync will now display all the music (artists, playlists and genres) stored on your desktop computer.

Step 2: All Music?

The next step is to transfer some music to your BlackBerry’s media card. If you have enough space, you may want to sync all your music. If so, check the All Music box at the top of the screen. To check if there is enough memory available, take a look at the memory bar at the bottom of the screen. You will be warned if you are about to exceed available space (Fig 2).

Step 3: Random Music

If memory is limited, either manually select which artists or genres that you wish to sync or click Random Music (Fig 3). This feature will fill all available space with a random selection of tracks from your music library. It’s certainly our preferred method of transferring music to a BlackBerry. When you have made your choice, click Sync and your selection will be transferred to your smartphone and you will be notified when the process has completed.

Step 4: Audio player

Disconnect your BlackBerry, plug in a headset (optional but recommended) and click Media and then Music. You can now view your music library in one of five ways: All Songs, Artists, Albums, Genres or Playlists. Select a song to play it or click Shuffle Songs to play songs randomly. Spend a few moments familiarising yourself with the audio player. All the usual controls are present and you can play, pause, skip tracks or adjust the volume. If you have album art, it will be displayed along with the name of the track playing and the album it originates from (Fig 4).

Step 5: Create playlist

It’s now time to create a playlist. Let’s start with what is termed a standard playlist. Return to the main music library screen and select Playlists. Now press the Menu key and select New Playlist. When you are prompted to select which type of playlist you would like to create, choose Standard Playlist (Fig 5).

Step 6: Add songs

Enter a name for your new playlist and click OK. As you can see we have decided to call ours Gym Workout (Fig 6). The next step is to add songs. Press the Menu key, click Add Songs and select the music that you wish to include in your new playlist. As ours is for a workout, we select songs that are aimed to motivate! When you have finished creating the playlist you will be prompted to save the changes.

Step 7: Automatic playlist

Now let’s create what is termed an automatic playlist. Click New Playlist again, but this time select the Automatic Playlist option. When prompted, give your playlist a name and then select OK.

Step 8: Add music

You are now given the option to add music by Artist, Album or Genre (Fig 8). Click the plus (+) sign next to ‘Songs by these Artists’ and select one or more artists to include. Now press the plus sign next to ‘In these Albums’ and choose one or more albums to include. Don’t worry if you want to make changes as clicking the minus (-) sign will remove items. Finally,  highlight ‘Of these Genres’, click the plus key and select the genre(s) you wish to include in your new playlist.

Step 9: Save changes

That’s all there is to it. Save you changes, return to the Playlists screen and click the first song in a new playlist to start listening to your custom music selection.

Although BlackBerry Maps is a fairly basic mapping application, it still has a number of useful navigation features. You can pinpoint your current location, get step-by-step route directions and access a local search feature. If that’s not enough, you can enhance your smartphone’s mapping and navigation capabilities with third-party solutions.

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Step 1: BlackBerry Maps

BlackBerry Maps includes a number of useful mapping navigation features (Fig 1). Fire it up and start by finding your current location. Press the Menu key, click Find Location and you will see where you are on a map. The maps are interactive and you can pan left, right, up or down, or zoom in and out.

Step 2: GPS functionality

Your location is pinpointed more accurately if your BlackBerry has built-in GPS. If it doesn’t, you will still get an approximate location as Maps uses the nearest mobile phone mast to locate your smartphone.

Step 3: Plan a route

BlackBerry Maps lets you quickly and easily plan a route from one place to another. Enter a start location or select a contact address, location that is already stored as a favourite or recently entered local search location.

Step 4: Step-by-step directions

Enter your intended destination and then select your route preferences. You can choose the fastest or shortest route, or a route that avoids motorways. Hit the Search button and you will see a list of step-by-step directions that take you to your chosen destination (Fig 4). Note the route distance and duration are displayed at the top of the screen.

Step 5: Route map

Click View on Map to see your route on an interactive map. To zoom in, bring up the menu, click Zoom and use your trackball or trackpad to move the slider up to zoom in or down to zoom out.

Step 6: Local Search

One of BlackBerry Maps’ most notable features is Local Search as this lets you pinpoint nearby businesses such as coffee shops or petrol stations. Click the Menu key and then Local Search. If you are low on fuel, type ‘petrol’ in the ‘What’ field, click your trackball and you will see a list of nearby petrol stations. Select one and you can choose to call the establishment, get the postal address or view its location on a map (Fig 6).

Step 7: Google Maps

BlackBerry Maps does an admirable job, but if it doesn’t meet your requirements point Browser to m.google.com/maps and download a free copy of Google Maps. This handy app provides you with very clear and detailed maps (Fig 7). Fire it up, click My Location and even if you don’t have built-in GPS, your location will be pinpointed to within a few metres.

Step 8: Satellite view

You can also opt to view your location on a satellite map (Fig and then zoom in to get a closer look. Other features include the ability to be able to plan routes, share your location with friends via the Google Latitude feature, perform voice searches, see business listings and view real-time traffic on a map – great if you want to avoid traffic jams!

It is a reflection of the maturation of the mobile phone that it is increasingly being seen as a tool to accompany our daily life, over and above the expected tasks.

We all take for granted the voice call facility and the texting. We don’t even blink at the thought of the phone being able to send emails or scan the internet. Using the phone for more lateral means, however, is a real eye-opener for many.

Utilising your phone to save you money in non-mobile areas, for example, is a concept that is still foreign to many. The great thing is, if you target a few specific apps and keep your eyes open, you could save yourself a packet.

Here’s how.

Probably one of the most effective methods of saving money with your mobile phone is the virtual coupon. We’re all familiar with paper coupons being posted through our doors offering money off groceries at our local supermarket and maybe even the odd offer emailed to you direct but the coupon that is sent to you via an app or text can be very efficient indeed.

Targeting not only your specific tastes, wants and needs but also locating those offers to specific retailers in your area – whether that be in the vicinity of your home or where you happen to be staying on holiday, for example.

There are many apps out there that cater for this service. Some of the best are the free apps from Groupon, Vouchercode and Shop, Scan, Save. Vouchercloud recently released figures relating to how many of the coupons they issued were actually redeemed. Bear in mind that, for those offers shoved through your letterbox, less than 1% were actually redeemed last year.

Vouchercloud declared that 42% of their vouchers were redeemed. The best campaigns offered by these apps, however, were those where coupons needed to be requested or pulled by the consumer, so they knew upfront what was on offer.

“We have run ‘Pull’ campaigns with 100% redemption rates and that’s not as staggering as it sounds. Why would you make the effort to fetch a coupon if you weren’t going to use it?” said managing director of Mobilize, the Shop Scan Save app creator.

This point highlights the second strength of the mobile as a coupon delivery medium: convenience. Because it is easy to use a voucher application to fetch offers on nearby items that you are interested in, there is a high probability that you will use the vouchers it provides.

Around 3 millions mobile users utilised discount coupons last year, according to analysts Juniper Research, saving around £1.7 billion. That figure is predicated to increase to a massive £3.7 billion in another three years. Part of the reason for this is because Apple’s iPhone is the king of the coupon, at the moment but Blackberry and Android-related phones are catching up fast. Vouchercloud, for example, was launched on the iPhone but an Android version is now available.

Another useful app is the price comparison app with a twist. With either Red Laser (free) or iBarcode (69p), you can use your phone’s camera to scan a barcode and then produce a price comparison list of online and local companies. Once you find the one for you, just select the best deal and you will be taken straight to the relevant product page, ready to place it into the shop‘s basket.

But what happens if the product you want to investigate doesn’t have a barcode? Just enter the brand and model number and it will perform the same operation.

Ever been stung when you make an ATM cash withdrawal? Where the machine charges you a couple of pound to withdraw a tenner? UK ATM Locator, a free app, has a database of 66,000 ATMS in the UK so if you’re about to push your card into a charging ATM, do a quick search and you will be able to find the nearest ‘free’ machine.

The next money saving app is aimed at drivers who spend half of a day (while using half a tank of petrol) trying to find a parking space and, when they eventually find it, are charged a high fee. Nosey Parker (£2.99) aims to remove that car parking stress by not only finding the nearest car parking spaces from your own location but the cheapest too.

The app has a database of 1.8 million car parking spaces with 5000 free car parks. There are some excellent filters too including finding spaces with parent and toddler spaces, disabled spaces and those that accept debit and credit cards.

Only some of us drive but all of us make phone calls, sometimes to companies that use 0870, 0845 or 0800 numbers for customer service. For mobile users these numbers cost…a lot: around 35p/min. This app converts these 08 numbers to 01, 02 or lower cost 08 numbers to save you money. We all know how long it’s possible to wait to be successfully dealt with on these customer services, so this app could be worth its weight (wait?) in gold.

These are just a few of the apps out there that you can use to save you money and, sometimes lots of it. For example, Petrol Cost (free) is a useful app to tell you just how much your forthcoming journey will cost you. You just enter the cost of the fuel, your car’s MPG and distance and the app will do the rest.

Then there’s Skype (free), the VoIP call service to provide free phone calls. Finally, Meter Readings (£2.99) monitors your household energy and water usage, displaying the results as graphs. You can also compare usage and costs against competing energy suppers in your area to help you find the best tariff deal.

These are just a handful of the apps out there that can turn your phone into a real bargain finder. So start downloading and start saving!

Written by Paul Rigby.

Available on a free download, the RBS and Natwest mobile banking apps will allow its customers to do a variety of things relevant to their account while away from a computer.

The announcement of the news apps means that BlackBerry users will now be able to:

• See all the accounts they hold for both Natwest and RBS
• Transfer money between accounts
• View their 6 latest transactions
• Top-up mobile accounts
• Manage SMS banking messages

Both of the apps are aimed to make managing RBS and Natwest bank accounts a lot simpler, and Satyendra Chelvendra, Managing Director of Consumer Distribution commented: “We’ve been working hard to provide the most advanced banking apps for our customers, so we’re thrilled that we can the lead the way once more as we launch one of the first mobile banking apps for the BlackBerry.”

The BlackBerry version of the apps, will join the already released iPad and iPhone versions.

BlackBerry Travel – FREE

BlackBerry Travel is an official RIM app that has been recently developed by WorldMate, one of the most notable and longstanding developers of mobile travel application and itinerary planning solutions.

In short, the app makes it easy to plan, book, manage and share your travel activities. For example, if you are looking for flights or places to stay, BlackBerry Travel will help you find flight schedules and hotel options using nothing but your smartphone. The automatic trip scanning feature will recognise itineraries that you receive by email and then push them to your BlackBerry. The service can even identify gaps in your itinerary, like a hotel stay that ends a night earlier than it should. It also pushes notification alerts to your BlackBerry in order to keep you informed of any flight delays or connection changes.

Other features include the mandatory currency converter, a weather forecasting tool and local search functionality. On a final note, sharing your travel plans with others is a breeze and the app lets you do this via email or over the business networking service LinkedIn.

Overall score: 8/10

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Bubble Birds 2 – £0.99

There is a plethora of games available for the BlackBerry but few sport the polished graphics of Bubble Birds 2. With a new design, more levels and some novel new characters, the game is certainly fun to play. The objective is simple; match three or more birds of the same colour to remove them from the field and to score as many points as possible in doing so.

Overall score: 8/10

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SugarSync – FREE

The ability to be able to back up files to the cloud certainly enhances productivity and SugarSync and Dropbox are two of the most popular cloud-based syncing solutions available. There are really only minor differences between the two. For instance, SugarSync doesn’t support Linux, whereas Dropbox does.

The primary task of the SugarSync BlackBerry client is to ensure that your files, photos and music are accessible while away from the desktop. You can back up photos taken with your Blackberry, share files via email or grab a link to a photo or other file and share it with others via Facebook. You can also stream your music collection, edit documents locally (using a document editor) and then sync the changes with your other computers.

Overall score: 8

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For more reviews of the latest apps to hit the BlackBerry app world, as well as new apps for Android and iPhone and handsets, pick up a copy of Smartphone Essentials: Issue 118 (on-sale from Thursday onwards).

The BackBeat 903+ is a set of Bluetooth headphones that make an immediate impression. They can be considered contemporary and sleek or big, bulky hearing aid wannabe’s.

The style straight out of the box is subject to opinion, but slip the earpieces over the ear and opinion changes. They sit comfortably and securely on the ear and in the ear helping to eliminate a lot of external noise.

The right earpiece boasts all the music controls, while the opposite earpiece boasts the call button. The relative controls are on the outside of the earpieces and are not the easiest to operate. They are small and not immediately instinctive. However, after using the units for a while the operations become second nature.

Getting connected, via an iPhone, was quick, simple and straightforward. Plus, a neat battery level indicator icon appears on the iPhone giving a quick visual on headphone power.

Primarily the Plantronics are a set of headphones for music playback. The default sound output is strong and there is a bass boost to give the audio an extra kick. The headphones switch seamlessly to incoming calls and the sound, while not as sharp as music playback, is perfectly acceptable for a conversation.

Web: www.plantronics.com
Price: £69.99
Rating: 8/10

Inevitably, most households are going to have more than one device that needs a battery boost. And, it is almost inevitable that devices are going to need to different connectors.

This presents a host of standard issue connectors which will get either lost or be unavailable when most needed. The Varta Home Station resolves the issue and provides a neat and tidy recharging solution for the home.

The Home Station is a multi-functional unit with a collection of adaptors, USB port and an in-built battery charger. The unit is decked in a clean white casing with a neat footprint and support for up to 3 adaptors.

The package includes eight adaptors offering compatibility with Samsung, Sony Ericsson, LG, Nokia, Sony PSP, Micro USB, mini USB and an Apple connector for iPod, iPhone and iPad. In addition there is a standard USB port for recharging any supported devices.

Plus, there is the in-built battery charger which offers room for a couple of AA and AAA batteries. To make sure that the additional adaptors stay close a four component, attachable storage unit is included.

The Varta has most bases covered but one gripe we have is the lack of options on the adaptors. Four never got to be used while more than one Apple connector would have been great.

Web: www.varta-consumer.co.uk
Price: £49.99
Rating: 8/10

RIM’s BlackBerry Torch finally brings version 6 of the BlackBerry OS out into the light. That’s a first, but it is not the only first this handset offers – there are two others to consider.

The second innovation is the touch screen. RIM has struggled with touchscreens in the past with its Storm and Storm2, but it’s having another crack at getting it right. This time, instead of using the Storm’s gimmicky technology of a fully depressing screen, we are in standard touchscreen mode here, with a capacitive screen that supports pinch to zoom. It is a joy to use as it is extremely responsive.

The screen is large at 3.2 inches across diagonal corners and delivers 480 x 360 pixels. This resolution isn’t particularly high by modern standards, and we’d have liked a few more pixels on offer.

The other innovation is the way RIM has handled its miniature Qwerty keyboard. At first glance it seems as though there isn’t one. Underneath the screen is a panel containing Call and End buttons, RIM’s menu and back buttons, and the optical trackpad sensor that RIM likes to use on its smartphones these days. No keyboard.

But the Torch 9800 is a slider. Raise the base section and you’ll see a small qwerty keyboard ready for use. We aren’t entirely sure we like this arrangement for several reasons. It is quite tricky to flick the upper section of the handset out of the way and reveal the keyboard without either tapping a button or touching an icon on screen. Either way you can do something unintended.

The keyboard itself is isn’t that great to use. It is surrounded by a ridge which makes it a little tricky to hit the keys on the outer edges.

Keys are smaller than we are used to, and because of the weighting of the handset we felt it was a little insecure in our hands when typing one handed. The keys don’t depress very far, which meant we had to type a little more slowly than we are used to on BlackBerry devices to be sure we were typing accurately.

You don’t have to use the slide-out keyboard, though as there are tall and wide on screen touch keyboards too. The tall screen one is a bit cramped, but both are responsive.

The final negative about the slide format is the overall size of the Torch. Both closed and opened this is greater than the norm. Closed the Torch is notably thick at 14.6mm though its width and height are fine at 62mm and 111mm. Opened it grows to a massive 148mm which makes it feel like you are holding something very substantial to your ear. It weighs fairly heavy at 161.1g too.

BlackBerry OS 6 makes its debut on the Torch and the good news is that it doesn’t look or feel hugely different to what’s gone before so the learning curve is not vast, but there are lots of tweeks and tricks.

So some examples. The main apps menu can be swept left and right to get to favourites, media, downloads and frequently used apps as well as the full apps list. Tap the status bar at the top of the screen and you get a new settings area for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and alarm settings.

Tap the search icon below this for the new universal search tool, or tap the bar its sits on to see notifications that include missed calls, RSS feeds, social media alerts and upcoming diary events. Tap and hold something in icon or thumbnail display – an app or a picture for example, for context sensitive menus.

A new Social Feeds app brings together Twitter, Facebook, Google Talk, MySpace and other notifications in one place making it easy to see what your friends are up to.

And there is plenty more, with the same solidly reliable business functions and improved multimedia performance, although RIM still hasn’t mastered the art of putting a decent camera in its phones.

Overall we like OS6 a lot and think it is a good, positive step forward for RIM. The Torch hardware we aren’t so sure about, though.

Price: £457 SIM-free
Web: www.blackberry.com

Essential Verdict
Performance: 8/10
Design: 7/10
Features: 9/10
Value for Money: 7/10
Overall score: 8/10

Written by Sandra Vogel. Originally published in Smartphone Essentials magazine.

A range of BlackBerry smartphones are now available to O2 pay and go customers. The network has made five popular handsets available on the service, each set to bring BBM (BlackBerry Messenger) to a new audience.

The range includes the BlackBerry Pearl 3G – the smallest BlackBerry smartphone ever, available in black or purple, exclusively on O2 – at £249.99, the BlackBerry Curve 8520 at £149.99 or the hugely popular BlackBerry Bold 9700 at £349.99.

O2’s Pay & Go tariff for BlackBerry smartphones gives customers inclusive BBM and 500MB data access when they top up with a minimum of £15 per month. Customers also get 500 texts per month when they top up between £15 and £29 per month or unlimited texts when they top up £30 or more each month.

For more information visit www.o2.co.uk