Aaron Hollman's Blog

TwitterBerry

facebook For BlackBerry

After almost a weeks worth of experience with my new BlackBerry I thought I’d jot down a few things and explain how I set it up. The first and most important thing that I should mention is that I needed my BlackBerry to be able to sync with my Mac OS X 10.5 machine. This did not go very well at first as BlackBerry Mac Support Sucks.  After finally finding The Missing Sync for BlackBerry, I was able to sync it with my Mac almost flawlessly.

I did have a few issues with The Missing Sync, they are as follows:

- I kept getting a java.lang.nullpointerexception error on the BlackBerry
- I kept getting a java.lang.IndexOutOfBoundsException when trying to sync with The Missing Sync.

Both of these errors were related to the call log. The error occurred on the BlackBerry when I tried to access the call log and occurred with The Missing Sync when the call log plugin tried to access the call log on the BlackBerry.

If I had a lawyer watching over my shoulder, I’m certain s/he would want me to add this disclaimer:

The following will remove all data from your phone. Don’t do this unless you know what you are doing. I am not responsible for you fracking up your phone. If you are worried, take it to your carrier dealer to have them reset it.

The solution that worked for me was to wipe the data off the BlackBerry. I did this by going to Options -> Security Options -> General Settings then bringing up the menu. In the menu, there is an option called Wipe Handheld. Once the data was erased, I was able to access the call log without the java error. I was also able to do a full sync with The Missing Sync without seeing the error pop up there. And all was good again.

I think the problem with the call log might have been related to when my phone was first activated. There were a couple of calls in the call log dated December 31, 1969 (the calls were set up calls made before the time had a chance to set itself) which is when Unix time began; it might have been choking on the date variation.

After getting that figured out, I began to set up the phone how I’d like it. Here is a list of applications and settings I decided to install on the phone:

- Facebook App that is included on the phone
- TwitterBerry, a twitter client which can be downloaded from your phones browser from http://orangatame.com/ota/twitterberry/
- E-Mail accounts that I might want to be able to access on the go, I obviously don’t want to be alerted to every little e-mail I get.

And really that is about it. I will keep you all up to day if anything major happens with my BlackBerry or I change anything else on it.

aaron

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BlackBerry Curve 8330

BlackBerry Mac support really sucks. I just got a new BlackBerry and, like most tech geeks, I wanted to sync the phone and do all that stuff you want to do with a smart phone (sync contacts, pictures, music, calendars, yadi-yada) but, alas, I ran into so many problems it was driving me nuts.

The first problem was that the software install disk that came with the phone did absolutely nothing. Sure, it showed up in the Finder as a Mac OS X formatted disc with an application on it. (I forget the name, I gave up on that one almost too soon) When I launched the application, a blank window showed up and nothing else. Obviously, this was not going to work.

So I hit Google with a ’sync blackberry curve 8330 mac os x 10.5′ query and was immediately rewarded for my efforts with links to download an application called PocketMac, it looked promising, so I went for it.

What a stinking pile of manure application that was! It synced once (sort of) except it corrupted my iCal calendars, and wouldn’t sync again after that. In addition to that, it also would not sync via BlueTooth even though it claimed it could. So today, I finally gave up on it and downloaded another application called ‘The Missing Sync’ for BlackBerry.

I was a little leary about this at first since it did not have very good reviews but at this point, I figured it couldn’t be any worse than the nest of dung I had so carefully laid my new BlackBerry into with PocketMac. I download it.

First impression, THANK YOU MARKSPACE! This think syncs seamlessly! The contacts and calendars all synced without any issues. And, as an added bonus, bluetooth syncing works flawlessly as well.

It is at this point I think I need to put a disclaimer. I have only used the application for a total of five minutes and have not had time to run into any other issues, but, as far as first impressions go, this is the best way to sync a BlackBerry to a Mac OS X machine. I think it will be worth the money.

aaron

BlackBerry Sync Mac – Bluetooth sync for BlackBerry and Mac with iTunes, Entourage, iCal and iPhoto

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