Section 5. Lock and Unlock Your Device

5. Lock and Unlock Your Device

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

1 About the BlackBerry User Interface

SEE ALSO

4 Make Yourself the Owner

6 Password-Protect Your Device

BlackBerry 7100 series devices don't have protected keyboards that are hidden away when not in use (as is the case with flip phones), so you will likely need to lock your device to prevent accidental key presses when you aren't using the device. You might also opt to password-protect your device; if you then lock your device, you will have to enter the password before you can use the BlackBerry unit. Although entering a password every time you want to use your device can be cumbersome, it's a handy way to kill two birds with one stone (keyboard lock and password protection). See 6 Password-Protect Your Device .

5. Lock and Unlock Your Device

1.

Lock the Device Scroll to the Keyboard Lock icon on the Home screen and click the trackwheel. Optionally, in many circumstances you can simply hold down the Next key (the key with the asterisk on it) to lock the device. The Owner screen appears to indicate that the device is locked. TIP Lock your device whenever you don't plan to use it for a while or before you put it in an outside coat pocket or a purse where it might be subjected to bumps. Locking your BlackBerry unit prevents the keyboard and trackwheel from inadvertently sending commands to the device so that it accidentally dials someone from your address book while you discuss business strategy at lunch . I have a friend who inadvertently overheard harsh criticism of himself from a customer who didn't lock her mobile phone and dialed my friend by accident . Ouch! TIP You can configure your device so that it automatically locks itself when you place it in its holster. See 6 Password-Protect Your Device to learn how to enable this option.

2.

Unlock the Device Click the trackwheel and a pop-up menu appears with a default option of Unlock . Click the Unlock option; because Unlock is the default option on the menu, this action is equivalent to double-clicking the trackwheel to unlock your device. Alternatively, you can simply press the Next key followed by the Send key to unlock the device. If you have password-protected your device ( see 6 Password-Protect Your Device ), you must type your password before you can resume using your device.