Messaging


Several kinds of messaging are available on the Pearl, including SMS, MMS, and IM (instant messaging). Text messaging (SMS) and its more elaborate cousin, MMS, are both accessible through the menu in the Messages area of the Pearl; IM is available from the main menu.

This section takes a look at SMS and MMS messaging, as well as IM messaging, with the Pearl. You can see how messaging works, what makes it useful, and how you can use it with ease to help your business or impress your friends.

Text Messaging (SMS)

Text messaging is a handy way to send short and sweet text messages from one phone to another. As a general rule, text messages are addressed to phone numbers. Although they can also be sent to email addresses, most often they are used to communicate with cellular telephones and devices like the BlackBerry Pearl.

To send a text message, simply press the Menu key when you are in the Messages area and then select Compose SMS Text. You are taken to your Address Book's list of contacts (Figure 4.4); you can select the recipient there or enter a different recipient.

Figure 4.4. Choose the person you want to send the message to


If you don't want to send the message to someone in your Address Book, you can instead enter the phone number that you want the text message to go to and create your message right there and then. When the message is created to your satisfaction, you can send it by pressing the Menu button and then choosing Send from the resulting menu.

If you want to keep records of all the messages you've ever sent, you can save a draft of each message by selecting Save Draft just below Send in the menu. Then, if you want to store the records on your computer, use BlackBerry Desktop Manager to pull the files off the Pearl and put them on your computer's hard drive.


When a text message arrives, you are alerted (depending on how you've set up the Pearl to alert you). To view the message, simply use the trackball to move over to the Messages area and select the newly arrived message. Text messages appear in the same area where email messages are located, so it's easy to keep track of all messages in one place.

Text-Messaging Lingo

The world of text messaging has developed its own special syntax that allows the sender to communicate with a bare minimum of typing. These abbreviations are as varied as the words in the English language (or any other), but I've included a list here to show you some common abbreviations and tricks for creating text messages.

These abbreviations can help you create effective and stylish messages like "R U going 2 the park? If U R, C U there L8r" (translation: "Are you going to the park? If you are, I'll see you there later").

A3

Anytime, anywhere, and anyplace

MYOB

Mind your own business

R

Are

U

You

2

Two, too, to

NE1

Anyone

NVM

Never mind

OMG

Oh, my God

OIC

Oh, I see

OMW

On my way

C

See

CUL8R

See you later

BRB

Be right back

IMHO

In my humble opinion

BFD

(I think you can figure this one out without my help)

AFK

Away from keyboard

LOL

Laughing out loud (although I usually interpret it as "lots of laughs")

WU

What's up?

WTF

A pleasant way of saying "What the *&$@?"

IYSS

If you say so


These are just a few of the many abbreviations used in text messages and even instant messages. Many locations on the World Wide Web have lists of these abbreviations; just type text messaging abbreviations in a search engine, and you're bound to get at least a dozen good lists. A few of those mentioned above were spotted on the Webopedia site (www.webopedia.com).


Multimedia Messaging (MMS)

Multimedia messaging is similar to text messaging except that the content of the messages includes some multimedia element: a recording of someone's voice, a bit of music, or even a picture. Usually, it contains a text message of some type as well.

To compose a message, you can go to the Messages area or the Address Book and choose the address you'd like to send to, or you can press the Menu key and choose Compose MMS. When you've done that, move up and select the picture, ringtone, song, or file that you want to send along with the message (Figure 4.5). Then you can fill in the text portion of the message and send it along.

Figure 4.5. Choose the item you want to send with the message


The other option is to send a file that you are looking at or that you just captured (as in the case of the built-in camera). As an example, I took a picture of my coffee cup today and plan to send it to my wife. By pressing the right convenience key twice, I activated the camera and took a picture of the cup. You can follow these instructions after you've taken your own picture.

When the picture is completed, click the Send As button (the envelope icon in the bottom-right corner of the screen; Figure 4.6). Then click the Send As MMS button (Figure 4.7) to get to the message-construction screen.

Figure 4.6. Take the picture; then click the Send As button


Figure 4.7. Click Send As MMS


Now all that's left is to enter a subject and any text message that you want to include.

You can send this message to an email address or to a phone number.


When the message is complete, press the Menu key and select Send to get the message on its way to its destination.

Instant Messaging

At this point, you may well be asking, "What the heck is the difference between instant messaging, text messaging, and MMS messaging?" This is a fair question indeed, but the situation is not as confusing as it may seem at first glance.

Text messaging and multimedia messaging are sort of like two-way radios; the person sending the message has to stop and say "Over" so that the other person can talk. With text messaging, the messages are akin to email, in that they may or may not be read right at that moment, and they are saved in your Messages area as they arrive.

Instant messaging, on the other hand, is very different, in that the communication is dynamic and immediate. In other words, IM conversations are happening live, much like a telephone conversation, but in this case the information being exchanged is typed instead of spoken.

In the worlds of business and even personal communication, instant messaging is quickly becoming a standard form of communication. As a personal example, I sometimes work for a company in China called Digital Bamboo. This work involves communicating with Chinese-speaking employees of the company who are in Beijing while I am in Canada. Although these folks do have some command of spoken English, it's actually much easier for us to communicate via instant messaging because of the time differences, the cost, and the fact that they can communicate in the written word more easily than trying to speak to me directly.

Because IMs are so useful and powerful, the folks at RIM made sure that the Pearl came fully equipped to function as a true-to-life IM device. The Pearl can use four of the most popular IM clients (Figure 4.8): AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, MSN Messenger, and Yahoo Messenger (the Yahoo IM client). In addition, the Pearl can use BlackBerry Messenger, which is designed specifically to communicate between BlackBerry devices. The following sections look at these messengers to give you an idea of their advantages and disadvantages.

Figure 4.8. Your Pearl has access to the four "big name" IM clients


BlackBerry Messenger (BBM)

BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) is the IM client that comes preinstalled on your BlackBerry Pearl. BBM is designed specifically for communication among existing BlackBerry users, creating a dedicated network for chatting. BBM is particularly useful in companies where all employees have BlackBerries or in groups of friends who have BlackBerries, because it allows everyone to communicate without outside interference. Some services, such as AOL Instant Messenger, can have unsolicited messages going out to try to sell a product or even help the user claim millions of dollars that are locked in a Nigerian bank because the prince can't claim it. The advantage of BBM is that you can avoid unsolicited messages with greater ease than you can on the other public IM clients.

To get up and running with BBM, simply go to the main screen and press the Menu key to bring up a list of applications, one of which is BlackBerry Messenger (Figure 4.9). Select BBM to move to the contact screen, where you can press the Menu key and change various parameters, such as what the Pearl does when a message arrives. You can also edit your personal information, check your status, and add people or groups to your Contact List. To communicate with someone in your list, merely click that person's name and start typing away!

Figure 4.9. You can access BlackBerry Messenger from the main menu


AOL Instant Messenger

One of the most popular of the IM clients, AOL Instant Messenger is the messaging software from the America Online giant. This easy-to-use IM client can be used on just about any platform, from cell phones to BlackBerries to Windows PCs, Linux PCs, and even the Macintosh. To set up AOL Instant Messenger, access the Instant Messaging area by clicking its icon in the main menu; then select AOL Instant Messenger and press the Menu key to bring up a menu where you can sign on.

After you have your pertinent information entered, AOL Instant Messenger logs on, and your buddy list appears before your eyes. Then you can send messages, receive messages, and do anything else that you would do with this IM client on your home or work computer (Figure 4.10).

Figure 4.10. When you're up and running, the Menu key gets you the options you need to start communicating with ease


ICQ

ICQ is one of the oldest IM clients out there, arriving on the scene in 1996. It's said that the name "ICQ" is an abbreviated way of saying "I seek you"which, considering the nature of text messaging and the community that uses it, is not a difficult anecdote to believe.

To log onto ICQ, you need only get to the Instant Messenger area of the Pearl, select ICQ, and press the Menu key. Next, log on in the ICQ page (Figure 4.11) with your account number and password, and use ICQ just like you would on your computer at home or in the office.

Figure 4.11. Enter your account number and password to start chatting


MSN Messenger

MSN Messenger is Microsoft's entry in the IM realm, and it's an effective messenger service. Unfortunately, there have been problems with spam. But even with that said, MSN Messenger is an IM excellent client, and if it's the one you use, you have access to it on your Pearl.

As you do with the other IM clients, you access MSN Messenger from the Instant Messenger menu. When you hit the main page, you need only enter the email address attached to your account and your password (Figure 4.12) before you can begin to chat away with your good-time buddies.

Figure 4.12. Enter the email address attached to your MSN account and the password to get the ball rolling


Yahoo Messenger

Yahoo Messenger, Yahoo's instant-messenger client, is an easy-to-use client for instant messaging. Logging on (Figure 4.13) is as simple as entering your account name and password.

Figure 4.13. Sign into Yahoo Messenger as you would in any other IM client


Tweaking the IM Experience

No matter which IM client you are using, hidden in the Pearl's menus are a few helpful features that let you tweak the IM experience to make it as easy and useful for you as possible.

Join an ongoing conversation. To get into an ongoing conversation, from the main screen of the IM client (Figure 4.14), click the Menu button and then select Open to see active conversations.

Figure 4.14. Active conversations are shown below the Conversations heading

Change the notification settings. You are not always looking at the screen or even holding the Pearl in your hand, so you may want to change the notification settings. To do this, select them from the main menu of the IM client's main screen. In the resulting screen, you can assign new IM messages a specific sound or piece of music, a vibration, or an LED notification (on the exterior of the Pearl), as shown in Figure 4.15.

Figure 4.15. You can change the tones, lights, and vibrations associated with incoming messages

End conversations. Once you are in a specific conversation, many options are available to you. If you want to leave a conversation or just close the window, for example, select End conversation from the menu inside the conversation.

Use IM tools. The menu inside a conversation also gives you access to Quick Text (Figure 4.16) and emoticons, which allow you to add emotion to your instant messages (Figure 4.17). Quick Text is very handy because it supplies a list of common questions and comments, such as "Meet me at" and "I can't message right now. Hold on." Using these shorthand and canned tools can help make using instant messaging much more efficient, enjoyable, and even useful, so take the time to practice with them.

Figure 4.16. Quick Text has many handy lines that save you a ton of time typing

Figure 4.17. Emoticons help you overcome the lack of emotion in instant messaging




The BlackBerry Pearl Pocket Guide, 1/e
Blackberry Pearl Pocket Guide
ISBN: 032149699X
EAN: 2147483647
Year: N/A
Pages: 67

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