With the pitiful effort that RIM has put into Mac support I applaud the Barry team for paving their own way with Linux support for their Berrys. Josep let me know that Barry has released version 0.14 which fixes a couple of bugs that had come up. This is totally still a work in progress but it is amazing how far they have come.

Main features in this release:

• memory exhaustion bug fixed in opensync plugin
• documentation updates, including pre-built doxygen output in source tar
• new field support: Birthday, Location, Description, Anniversary
• new TMobile US ppp script
• fixed error message in breset
• binary packages now have proper names (libbarry0)
• backup GUI can now reference multiple devices by name instead of PIN

Check out the full changelog and release notes at this link or you can download the latest version at this link.

Josep sent me a link to a thread on BBForums where guru John Clark spotted a cool Device Hardware Test knowledgebase article. Essentially its a built in application that has been around since 4.2 or so that has not received much attention. I remember reading about it on the forums a bit back but this is the first time I have seen anything about it officially. It includes tests for your:

• Keyboard & Trackball
• Misc – vibe
• Handset Audio
• Headset Audio
• Bluetooth Audio
• RF Components
• GPS

You just select the tests you want to run. You can access the test menu by going to your homescreen and then going to Options>Status and typing in the word test.

I have never really caught anything wrong on the test but I guess people always like to learn new hiddent tricks. It reminds me of the cell tower diagnostic application on old Nokias…

Check out the knowledgebase article at this link.

Thanks DavidB for also sending this in!

Many people are still skeptical on the way the touchscreen Storm will perform. The nice part is that the leaks keep getting better and better. The latest images which have sprung up on the web are some of the best ones yet. The OS seems to be shaping up, check out the images for your self. Verizon may have a real contender on their hands!

At first when I heard of the rumors of a touch screen BB I though it was a joke but I am slowly becoming a fan. The images of it keep making their way on the forums of the blackberry world.  I was going to settle for a Bold but these new images have me sold. I am surprised that this one has not made its way on to eBay yet considering how that has been going. I can’t imagine how much it would go for.

Thanks to the guys at ww.crackberry.com for posting this up and who ever leaked them.

Theme developers will appreciate the latest guide provided by one of our secret agents. This 9 page guide is a basic starting point for creating themes for the BlackBerry Bold based on the precision theme. It details everything from some best practices to the color palette of the Bold. The document is a bit old (April) but it seems to be up to date. It might help some developers with questions they are having with the Plazmic 4.6 CDK.

All the rest of the images are after the jump. Let us know if you notice anything!

Read the rest of this article

Dr. Devious recently posted a theme on Themes4BB called ‘Google Android’ for the Blackberry Curve. I like the pretty main page image of a tranquil sunset along with the cool looking icons. The top bar clearly shows battery and network indicator along with the time and date. Very easy to read. According to Dr. Devious, updates will be made although I’m not sure why because the theme is pretty cool as it is. Anyway, you can access it for free as an OTA via this link at Themes4BB.Com

I came across a superb knowledgebase article on RIM’s website that describes the encryption of the internal and external file systems on your BlackBerry. Internal means the internal memory and the external is your MicroSD card. It even specifies which folders on the memory card are encrypted.

I highly recommend reading this if you are interested in encrypting your memory card.

The reason I mention this is because there are two gotchas that people run into with encrypting their memory card. First of all you need to realize that when you encrypt the memory card it will not automatically encrypt files if you transfer them off using USB mass storage support. Also when you transfer off encrypted files using USB mass storage they will not be readable. To deal with this you must use the built in media manager in desktop manager.

The second source of confusion stems from the different encryption modes. If you use device encryption then it will us a randomly generated device key to encrypt files. The problem is that you will not be able to read this memory card on any other device. If you use the Security Password mode then it will encrypt the files using the BlackBerry device password. This will allow you to transfer the card to another BlackBerry most of the time. If you use both then you need to combine both restrictions.

The knowledgebase article also has a great list of what content is encrypted on your internal memory.

It looks like carriers are on a roll with official OS 4.5 releases this week. JSanders spotted OS 4.5.0.77 officially on the Cellular South website for the 8330 with the help of Garz08 on BBForums. Sadly the 8830 received no such love but hopefully that is coming soon. Got to love how these unofficial betas become official releases…

Check it out at:
https://www.blackberry.com/Downloads/entry.do?code=C6BFF625BDB0393992C9D4DB0C6BBE45

Thanks to DavidB for sending this one in!

Walter just let me know that Vodafone Australia and Fiji released OS 4.5.0.81 for the 8300, 8310, & 8320.

Pick it up at:
https://www.blackberry.com/Downloads/entry.do?code=B86E8D03FE992D1B0E19656875EE557C

Happy downloading guys and thanks Walter!