If you are a new Blackberry user, you probably navigate through your messages with the trackball. And you probably love it. We all love the trackball. And if you are lazy like most people, you still didn’t read the online help system to learn all the great keyboard shortcuts your Blackberry has. Well, here is your chance to learn some.

The most common shortcut used by any Berry addict is probably the Space key. It lets you scroll down one page at a time, good for skimming through a long list quickly. It’s too bad the shortcut for going up is Shift+Space. That is very inconvenient.

There are better keys. For example, whenever you are reading a message, you don’t have to close the message just to scroll up or down and click-open the next one. Instead, two shortcut keys come to rescue: N and P, which stand for Next and Previous. In other words, press N to jump to the next message and press P to jump back to the previous one. And there is also the U key, which lets you jump to the next Unread message.

These shortcuts are nice, but look at this screenshot:

It’s a discussion list we have in the BerryReview team, and the messages you can see belong to what are known as “threads”: several messages, usually comments and replies, regarding one specific topic by several people interested in it. In that case, navigating with N and P is usually not good enough because the messages are interspersed and you’ll end up reading one message from one topic, then one message from another topic, then another message from the first topic then maybe one from a third topic… a mess! How about reading each topic separately in its proper sequence before jumping to the next one?

The relatively new operating system 4.5 introduced two new shortcuts: J and K. You might see mention of them in the help system of 4.2 devices, but they didn’t work properly until 4.5.

Open the first message. When you’re done reading it, press J and you will be shown the next message in the current thread. In the screenshot example, after reading Ronen’s message about “Re: Luc, Greg - post for…”, I can press J and skip to Vicky’s message. Pressing J again will let me see another message by Ronen (I have newer messages at the top). In case I need to go back and recheck something, I can press K, which opens the previous message in that thread only.

After pressing J so many times, you will eventually reach the end of the thread and be shown the first message again. Then it is a good idea to press U, because you will be shown the next Unread message, which should belong to another thread. From there, you might as well use the J and K pair again to navigate across that new thread.

That’s it, happy hopping!

After reading about the crapgadget Bold dock on Engadget I was glad to find an official one available for sale. I didn’t even realize that those little weird things on the bottom corners of the Bold were charging contacts… I was so used to the gold colored ones on the previous generation devices. As usual it only charges and does not sync but it really makes the slick new clock on the Bold stick out.

The Bold charging pod is available now for $19.99 + $6.99 shipping at Newegg. It is available from quite a few other places but Newegg was the largest retailer I found.

After getting back from my holiday I was reading a post by Kevin @ CrackBerry that DavidB sent me. It looks like Kevin’s visit to NYC with his Rogers Bold was a nightmare. This is kind of odd for me since I have been using an unlocked Rogers Bold on AT&T and it has been a true pleasure. Other than not having 3G in my apartment (bad reception in my apartment in general) the Bold has been working like a charm for me in Manhattan.

After speaking to Kevin I found that he was roaming in NYC with a Rogers SIM. Maybe that is the problem AT&T is having? He gave the phone to Craig after who is using an AT&T SIM and has not been having as many problems but it still seeing random reboots and dropped calls. Kevin also told me that the original OS from Rogers sucked when it came to viewing regular websites with javascript enabled but has improved since.

I am running OS 4.6.0.154 on my Bold and have been getting 3G practically everywhere in NYC. The browser has not given me one problem yet… (Crossing my fingers) The battery life is decent at about a day and a half of heavy use. There is still a memory leak but with 32MB of free memory I don’t feel it as much.

The craziest part is that the Bold has the best reception in my apartment compared to ANY OTHER DEVICE I have ever used! I get 3-4 bars in my apartment where my AT&T 8310 only had 0-2 bars. Even Verizon & Sprint only have 1-2 bars in my apartment. I thought it was a fluke but I can now make crystal clear phone calls where previously I sounded like a tin can! The only downside is that in my apartment I can only pick up EDGE and not 3G but WiFi more than makes up for it.

So I have to ask. Did I just get lucky with my Bold? If you are using an unlocked Bold on AT&T let us know what you have seen in the comments!

YouGetItBack let me know that they have added GPS tracking to the list of new features we mentioned before. This essentially uses the GPS in your GPS enabled BlackBerry to help you track your Berry if you lost it or if you just feel like knowing where it is…

As long as you have OS 4.2+ you should be good to go if you are interested. Not much else new but it looks like you can track the device using Google Maps.

Check it out at www.yougetitback.com. There is a 7 day free trial option if you want to give it a spin.

via Press Release

Shim sent in the knowledgebase article detailing how the 8220 will be able to view video in landscape mode. That means you will be able to turn your Flip to the side and watch widescreen video. Smart move on RIM’s part.

The almost part is that according to RIM you have to transfer the video using Roxio Media Manager to get it to play in landscape mode… If you transfer it any other way it will not work.

Check out the details at this link

Also of note is the new details that Cherrichiodo scored on PinStack of the T-Mobile Pearl 8220 Flip Product & Service Guide. The preloaded games are now:

• Trooper Typing
• Sudoku
• Klondike
• Texas Hold’em

Sadly it looks like Wordmole is not included…

T-Mobile is even describing the device:

The Pearl Flip has very similar features to the Pearl 8120, the main difference is that it’s a flip design instead of a bar.

Check out the details at PinStack

I came across priceline.mobi on WapReview and thought it was worth mentioning. The mobile version of Priceline is actually quite unimpressive. It does not let you bid for flights or hotels which is the bread and butter for Priceline. All it lets you do is search for available hotels and call them using click to call to reserve. They also have a watered down ZAGAT guide available but nothing special. Check it out at www.priceline.mobi

I usually mention mobile sites to recommend them but I decided to mention this one to point out how useless one can be. I have yet to find a good site that lets you search and book hotels and flights on the go kind of like Orbitz on your BlackBerry. The only ones I have found to date are airline or hotel chain specific.

If you find one let me know…

Josep let me know that Fortte has officially released their line of cases for the BlackBerry Bold. Fortte makes some slick BlackBerry cases out of quality leather so I am glad they are staying on top of newer devices. I just hate the bulky blocky case that came with the Bold. Now if only Seidio would release the holster clip for the Bold…

Fortte now has 7 different customizable cases for the Bold. You can check the whole line out at this link.

WildCharge is really starting to yank my chain. Almost a year ago to this day WildCharge promised a slightly convoluted wireless charging solution for the BlackBerry. It was promised to come soon on October 19th 2007!!! Just to give you an idea their promotional images back then showed the 7130 with a custom battery cover.

Today I just read a press release from them that their wireless charging solution will be released for the Curve and the Pearl on October 6th. Can’t say I believe them but is this really worth the mouth watering it caused a year ago?

They are promising a protective gel case that builds in the WildCharge solution. You then put your Berry on their charging pad and it will charge by contact…

All I can say is what is taking so long!!!