BBM 6.0 and 7.0 OTA list for OS 5, OS 6, and OS 7.

This post is dedicated to those who have to upgrade or downgrade his or her (or his or her mom's, girlfriend's, wife's, or that cute girl in the office). YOU ROCK! Really!

Also check out my post on how to move from Blackberry to Android BBM, (and back... as it is in my case).

BBM 6.0 OTA LIST: (from ota.santo.asia)

for OS 5 - BBM 6.1.0.71

for OS 6 - BBM 6.1.0.71

for OS 7 - BBM 6.1.0.71

for OS 7.1 - BBM 6.1.0.49


BBM 7.0 OTA LIST (from sb-sahil.blogspot.com)

for OS 5 - BBM 7.0.1.23

for OS 6 - BBM 7.0.1.126

for OS 7 - BBM 7.0.1.126

for OS 7.1 - BBM 7.0.1.126

How to migrate / move your Blackberry Messenger 6.0 or 5.0 to BBM for Android without reinviting all your friends and groups.

I'm sure you BBM die-hard users have seen it tons of time recently. Your friends asked you to re-add them on a new BB PIN as they moved from their Blackberry to a BBM App in iPhone and Android. Its annoying, it clutters up the BBM contact list with old, now dead, PINs, and, for those of you with a "Geeky" reputation to protect (like me), its just not cool.

I'm sure you've also seen half of your friends who smoothly migrate their old BBM to the BBM app, without any need for those "re-add" requests. And you'd probably know how its done. If your COntact List and Blackberry Groups have been saved to your Blackberry ID by your BBM (7.0 or above), You simply login to your Blackberry ID in your new BBM App, and your BBM contacts and groups are recoverd correctly.

Now, if you, like me, are one of those unlucky fellow to have an old BB with an old BBM 5.0 or 6.0... This path is not so smooth. and filled with tons of pitfalls, and dead ends. That is why I am writing this blog entry.

Now, I have a:
 - Blackberry 9700 (from Orange, but used in Telkomsel's network)
 - BB OS 5.0 (App version 5.0.0.446 (726)
 - Blackberry Messenger 5.0
 - 4000+ Phone book contacts
 - 240 groups contacts
 - 10 bbm groups
The last 3 may be the reason why it takes a lot of waiting for me to complete the tasks.

A. The steps are quite simple, but TIME CONSUMING, and PRONE TO FATAL ERROR. So proceed with caution!

1. Backup your Blackberry using Blackberry Desktop Manager!
2. Upgrade your BBM to BBM 7.0 using a site that archive old BBM apk.
3. Create your Blackberry ID in BBM 7.0
4. Wait a few hours, to make sure your BBM contact lists AND GROUPS are all there, then turn off your Blackberry for the last time.
5. Load BBM for Android (or IPhone) in your other device
6. Login to the BBM for Android with your Blackberry ID
7. Lastly, wait a few more hours to make sure all is synchronized.

Yes, there are a lot of waitings.

for detail of Step A1-A7

B. Now, if somewhere along the line you screwed up (as I did). I will also show you how to recover by:
1a. Factory Reset using BBSAK to unstuck you from any "hang" condition
1b. Or, in less dire scenario. simply delete the current BBM app from your Blackberry
2. Reload OS 5.0 with BBM 5.0 into your hardware
3. Recover your data from the backup made in step A1 above
4. Optionaly (maybe) upgrade your BBM to BBM 6.0
5. Follow step A2-A7 as listed above.

for detail of Step B1-B5

I hope this will be useful to people. I welcome comments and corrections. As I certainly have not tried every possible scenario.

Regards

Donald

Clearing ALL Contacts in Blackberry

Well, after many attempt of trying to sync contact wirelessly between my Laptop, Blackberry, Galaxy Tab, (and google and yahoo), I end up with double my contact entry (each about 4500 contacts), one from yahoo and one from google. (long story, not relevant right now)

I have decided that Google is "it". so I am going to synch all my clean-ed up contact in outlook, to Blackberry and Google, then let that sync to my Android.

Now its time to wipe them out. and end up with only 1 entry per contact.

1. Connect your device to your computer
2. Open the Blackberry Desktop Manager software
3. Click on Device menu on top
4. Click on Delete data...
5 Choose Selected Data
6 Choose "Address Book" and Address Book - All"
7. For safety, choose also (optionally)
8. Now with “Address Book” highlighted hit the Clear button

This will clear all the contact from the device.

Cheers,

D

How to backup your Blackberry's Contact

This is for all my friends

You've heard your friend's Blackberry crashed, and he/she has begged you to resend your contact details. You pray it will never happen to you. Well, guess what. Most likely, it will, and it will happened in the most unfortunate time.

If you're lucky enough (like all of you PMG guys :) and you use BES (and pay an arm an a leg every month for it) oh well, you're covered. just call helpdesk and tell them to reactivate your bb.

If not, then you better backup your blackberry. and yes, do it now. RIGHT NOW. please!

You got two options.

If you still have your original blackberry CD, that cd contains the Blackberry Desktop Manager. Use that. it will backup everything. Contacts, Applications, the works.

And Its easy enought to use, So... I won't be covering that today.

For a quick alternative, use Google Synch.

This will only backup your contacts. But well, for a free solution, its not bad.

Step 1

Get a Gmail account: http://www.gmail.com

Step 2

Install Google Mobile App: http://www.google.com/mobile/synch

PS. you should do this while you're on the fastest internet connection possible: 3G or even WIFI if possible. I won't cover how to connect to WIFI on your BB, but if you need to know, just ask me.

1. Open your Internet Browser on your BB

2. goto http://www.google.com/mobile/synch

3. Choose "SYNC" in one of the list shown (bukan Google Mobile App)

4. Choose "Install This"

5. Choose "Download" and wait for your application to download

6. Once downloaded, choose "Run"

7. Enter your gmail Email and Password and click "Sign In"

8. Read the Welcome screen, and Click "Configure Synch".

9. Configure these options:
- When to Synch: Automatic
- [X] Sync Contacts
- [ ] Synch Calendar (unless you do want to save your calendar)

10. Click the [BB] (menu) button and choose "Save"

11. it will show when was the last successful sync

12. Now find a quiet spot with good internet connection where you can be there for hours. Maybe you should wait till you're at home at night with your BB plugged in

13. Click the [BB] (menu) button and choose "Sync Now"

14. and wait.

This will backup your entire contact to your Gmail account. and keep them synchronized.

If and when your BB crashed. you just reset it (or even buy a new BB), and then install the Google Sync again. following these same steps will recover you all your contacts.

Donald

Setup Blackberry as a Modem (for Telkomsel Flash)

I have always told people that the day of slow, "fake" 56Kbps broadband in Jakarta, and beyond, is over. We Indonesian have true broadband now, all over the place, (thanks to my fiber optic cable project, or so I'd like to believe, ha ha ha).

As proof of that, I always like to point out to Telkomsel Flash, which I like to demo with my blackberry. But unfortunately, I kept changing (or reconfiguring) my computer, and I kept forgetting how to set up my bb as a tethered modem. So hey, why not write my own blog about it.

Many blogs have been written on making a BB a tethered modem. If you use Blackberry Desktop Manager 5.0.1, it comes ALMOST preconfigured for Telkomsel Flash. (for those who still use older BDM 4.x.x, see here). I said ALMOST, because if you want to use basic Telkomsel 3G/GPRS "Internet" setting, it is one of the default setting in BDM 5.0.1. (see here for another step by step instruction)

Telkomsel Flash

Telkomsel has TWO types of GPRS/3G connection (actually 2 APN, 3 if you count Blackberry). the "internet" way sells internet in a per kilobyte fashion. But using this setting can be very dangerous to your wallet.

Telkomsel "Flash" is a more economical way to use internet. It has a PREPAID TIME BASED option, that you can even use with a standard throwaway prepaid card. It has a 3 hour package that's valid for a 24 hour period (that means any 180 minutes of use in a 24 hour period). or my personal favorite: the 24 hour (1440 minutes) valid for 7 days.

Now the thing is, in many place in Jakarta, and Bali (where I am now), this time base package delivers 3Mbps download / 300Kbps upload. I tried. Speedtest. Rapidshare (for all 24 hours). you named it, it passed it. Now THAT's (at least in Indonesian standard) BROADBAND.

How To Setup

Anyways, enough rambling. How do you set up the Telkomsel Flash version of the tethered blackberry.

1. Install Blackberry Desktop Manager 5.0.1 (or above). You can download this (its a 100MB file, sorry) from blackberry.com

2. Startup the Blackberry Desktop Manager, and plug in your Blackberry to your laptop via USB. Make sure the Desktop Manager recognize the Blackberry. You can see it in the bottom that your blackberry PIN is displayed under the "device connected".

3. Choose the IP Modem option

4. Click the Configure Button

5. A Set Up Connection screen will pop up. Similar to this one below.

6. Click the "Add Custom Profile" button, and enter the name "TelkomselFlash" as the new Profile.

7. in the entry of "Access Point" enter "flash".

8. click "OK" to save.

9. You should now be back in the IP Modem screen. Now click the "Connect" button.

10. The modem would start dialing, and you will end up with an active connection.

11. You still need to pick and buy the flash package.

12. Open a browser and browse anything, like www.google.com for example.

13. The Telkomsel Flash screen will open.

14. Choose a package you like.

15. Then you're free to use the internet.

16. REMEMBER to close down your connection whenever you stop using it, to stop the time based usage so you can use it later.

You're DONE!

Enjoy, and let me know what you think of Telkomsel Flash in particular, and Indonesian broadband (any brand) in general

Thanks

Donald