50. Install a New Application Over-the-Air  BEFORE YOU BEGIN 48 Navigate to a Web Page
 SEE ALSO 11 Install a New Application to Your Device 12 Remove an Application from Your Device
The standard approach to installing a new application on your BlackBerry device is to transfer the application to your device from your desktop PC using the BlackBerry Desktop Manager. Although this approach works great, it requires the assistance of your desktop PC, which isn't ideal. Besides, the idea of using a BlackBerry device is to accomplish more of your electronic tasks while on the go. You shouldn't have to be tethered to your desktop PC any time you want to install a new application to your device. This is where over-the-air application installation enters the picture. Over-the-air (OTA) application installation involves downloading and installing an application directly to your device wirelessly . Your desktop PC and the BlackBerry Desktop Manager are eliminated from the installation equation entirely. The obvious upside to this approach to application installation is that you can do it from anywhere you have wireless coverage. Because you sometimes might be traveling and have limited access to your desktop PC, OTA application installation is useful and can in fact be a necessity. Ideally, all applications would be installed OTA, but we don't live in an ideal worldmany applications simply aren't available for OTA installation.  KEY TERM Over-the-air (OTA) This refers to the type of application installation that takes place over a wireless network connection to an application provider. The application is being installed wirelessly "over the air," as opposed to using a direct connection with a desktop PC.
| 1. | Open the BlackBerry Web Browser Scroll to the Browser icon on the Home screen and click the trackwheel. The Bookmarks screen appears and displays a list of websites you can visit using the BlackBerry web browser. 50. Install a New Application Over-the-Air  TIP The Convenience key on your device also serves as a shortcut to the Bookmarks screen. The Convenience key is the large key on the top of the keyboard between the Send and End keys. | | 2. | Navigate to the Application Web Page You might already have a website in mind from which you want to download BlackBerry applications OTA. If not, I have a good suggestion to try for games. A company called Magmic develops games for wireless devices, and I like its site because it offers a variety of games , each of which is available in a trial format as an OTA download. The URL for the site is http://bb.magmic.com/. To navigate to the Magmic web page, click the trackwheel and scroll to select Go To from the menu that appears. Click the trackwheel; a dialog box appears and prompts you to enter the URL. Because http:// is already provided, type bb.magmic.com, scroll the trackwheel to select the OK button in the dialog box, and click. The browser opens the Magmic website, where several games are available for OTA download. Scroll around to find a game you like. TIP To make entering a URL easier, hold down the Next key for a moment to switch into multitap mode; SureType can make URLs more difficult to enter. To enter a dot (.) in a URL, press the Space key. Forward slashes often appear in URLs, and you can quickly enter one by pressing the Shift key followed by the Space key. | | 3. | Follow the Link to Access the Application
After selecting the game (or other application) you want to download, click the trackwheel, select Get Link from the menu that appears, and click again. Another page appears that provides more details about the application, including links for either downloading a trial version or purchasing the full version. In the example, I've selected the poker card game Texas Hold'em King.
| | 4. | Follow the Link to Download the Application To download the trial version of the game, scroll the trackwheel down the page to select Download Trial (or a similar link provided on the screen for the application you want to download) and click. Select Get Link from the menu that appears, and click again. One more page appears, this time with specific information about what you are downloading, including the size of the file. To download the game, scroll to select the Download button and click. The application begins downloading. NOTE If you later choose to purchase a game from the Magmic website, you'll be prompted to enter contact information, credit card information, and your BlackBerry PIN. Then you can download the full version of the game OTA to your device. The good news is that mobile games tend to cost less than their desktop counterparts. When the download finishes, you are prompted with a dialog box that lets you know the download and installation are complete. Just click the OK button. The application (the game in this case) is now installed on your device and ready to run. | | 5. | Launch the Application
To try the application, close or hide the browser (click the trackwheel, select Close from the menu, and click again) and open the Applications folderpress the End key, scroll to the Applications icon, and click the trackwheel. You see the icon for the newly installed application, which in this example is Texas Hold'em King. Scroll to select the application icon and click to launch it.
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