Section 55. Make and Receive Phone Calls


55. Make and Receive Phone Calls

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

54 About the BlackBerry Phone


SEE ALSO

56 Make a Conference Call

57 Forward Calls

58 Manage the Speed Dial List

59 Take Advantage of Smart Dialing

68 Create and Manage Contacts


Sure, it sounds like something a toddler should be able to master in a few minutes, but there's more to it than you might think. I'm referring to making and receiving phone calls on your BlackBerry 7100 device. Although your device certainly serves as a traditional mobile phone that isn't difficult to use, it is more advanced than many mobile phones in terms of how you make and receive calls. For example, you can either dial a number manually or dial a contact from the address book. You can also put a call on hold and mute a call, not to mention switch between the handset, speakerphone, and an optional Bluetooth headset or car kit. These features are all reasonably intuitive, but you'll find that some handy shortcuts allow you to make and receive calls using the BlackBerry phone with the utmost efficiency.

1.
Open the Phone Screen

Scroll to the Phone icon on the Home screen and click the trackwheel. The Phone screen appears, displaying a dialing area and a list of recently made and received phone calls.

TIP

You can quickly jump to the Phone screen from any location on your phone by simply pressing the Send key.

2.
Dial a Number Manually

To manually dial a number from the Phone screen, press the desired number keys on the keyboard to enter the number into the BlackBerry phone. To insert a wait when typing the number, press the Q W key. A wait results in the phone waiting for you to enter numbers . This can be helpful if you want to dial a security code of some sort after the initial number is dialed . Similarly, insert a pause into the number by pressing the L key. A pause waits a brief amount of time and continues dialing any other numbers you've specified. And finally, to insert a + in the numbernecessary in making an international callhold down the Space key ( key). When you finish entering the number, press the Send key to dial it and initiate a phone call.

55. Make and Receive Phone Calls


TIPS

You can type letters while dialing a phone number (or during a call) by holding down the Alt key while typing the letters. Optionally, you can switch the entry mode to alphabetic multitap mode by holding down the Next key for a few seconds. To return to numeric input mode, hold down the Next key again.

To enter an extension when dialing a phone number, enter the number and then press the Z X key followed by the extension. The number is dialed; when the call is connected, your BlackBerry device waits for a specified amount of time and then dials the extension.

3.
Dial a Contact from the Address Book

If you've synchronized contacts from a desktop client application such as Microsoft Outlook (see 10 Synchronize PIM Data with Your PC ) or have manually entered contacts into the BlackBerry address book, you'll find it handy to dial contacts directly from the address book, as opposed to dialing manually. To dial a contact from the address book, click the trackwheel within the Phone application and select Call From Address Book from the menu that appears. Click once more to open the address book.

TIP

To return to the Home screen during a phone call, click the trackwheel, select Home Screen from the menu that appears, and click again.

The address book opens and allows you to select any of the contacts in the contact list. After scrolling to select a contact, click the trackwheel, select Call Contact Name from the menu that appears, and click again. If the contact has more than one phone number assigned to him, you are prompted to select which number to call. After selecting the number and clicking the trackwheel, you return to the Phone application from which the call is then made.

TIP

You can call a contact directly from the address book without ever opening the Phone application. Just scroll to select a contact in the contact list, click the trackwheel, and select Call Contact Name from the menu that appears. Click once more and the phone opens to initiate the call.

4.
Hold and Resume the Call

While you are connected on a call, you can easily put the person on hold. This can be useful if you must take a moment to carry out a task without the person hearing you. You can also use the hold feature to initiate another call and ultimately join the two people for a conference call (see 56 Make a Conference Call ). To put a call on hold, click the trackwheel, select Hold from the menu that appears, and click again. The current call is placed on hold, and you can carry out other BlackBerry tasks without the person on the call hearing what you're doing.

TIP

To change the volume during a call, simply scroll the trackwheel.

To resume a call you've placed on hold, click the trackwheel, select Resume from the menu that appears, and click once more. The call is resumed and the person on the other end can hear you again.

5.
Mute the Call

If you want to prevent the person on the other end of a call from hearing you but still be able to hear him, you can mute a call instead of putting the call on hold. Muting a call simply mutes your side of the conversation but otherwise keeps the call active. You can mute and unmute calls as you see fit to prevent yourself from being heard . This comes in handy if you need to cough, sneeze, or generally prevent noises on your end of the conversation from being heard on the other end. To mute the call, click the trackwheel, select Mute from the menu that appears, and click again.

NOTE

Be very careful to make sure that mute is on if you intend to make noises you don't want heard on the other end of the conversation. I personally heard a recorded call from a call center agent in which the agent thought mute was turned on and handled the tech support call in the restroom. It's fairly standard for call centers to record calls for quality assurance purposes, but this particular agent became infamous for his accidental misuse of the mute feature.

Unmuting a call is as simple as clicking, selecting Turn Mute Off from the menu, and clicking once more.

TIP

To quickly turn mute on and off during a call, press the Q W key. And don't forget, you can adjust the call volume by scrolling the trackwheel.

6.
Activate the Speakerphone or Headset

The speakerphone feature on the BlackBerry 7100 series of devices is useful in that it allows you to carry on a conversation without having to hold the device up to your ear. To switch from the handset to the speakerphone, click the trackwheel, select Activate Speakerphone , and click again. You can switch back to the handset by clicking, selecting Active Handset , and clicking again.

TIP

To quickly switch between the speakerphone and handset during a call, press the O P key.

If you have a Bluetooth headset or car kit, you also have an option on the Phone menu for activating the headset or car kit. Bluetooth headsets and car kits enable you to carry on a hands-free conversation without any wires between the headset/car kit and your device. See 63 About Bluetooth and 65 Pair Up with a Bluetooth Headset or Car Kit to find out more about using a Bluetooth device with your BlackBerry 7100.

7.
Answer or Ignore a Call

The other side of the BlackBerry phone equation involves answering calls you receive on your device. When a call is received, your device typically alerts you by vibrating and playing an alert tune; this action depends on the profile you currently have set (see 18 Tweak the Profiles ). If your device isn't in the holster, the incoming phone number is displayed on the screen, along with the name of the caller (if the number matches a contact in the address book). To answer the call, press the Send key. If you're already on a call, you can scroll the trackwheel to select whether you want to hold the current call or drop the current call to answer the new call. If you'd rather ignore the call, just press the End key.

8.
End the Call and Exit

To end the call, simply press the End key. There is also an End Call command on the Phone menu, but the End key is more convenient . Press the Escape button to exit the phone and return to the Home screen.



BlackBerry in a Snap
BlackBerry in a Snap
ISBN: 0672326701
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 149

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