RIM Offers Downgrade Steps from PlayBook OS 2.0 Beta to v1.0.7

This has been floating around for at least a week now in the official RIM forums but now RIM has spelled out. Some users have wanted to downgrade from the PlayBook OS 2.0 beta back to the official v1.0.7. RIM has been kind enough to detail the steps in a blog post on the BlackBerry Help blog. The main thing you need to know is that it can take 24 hours waiting to get back to the previous version.

Check out the full instructions here or below. Personally I am very curious to know why users are downgrading. Is it because of BlackBerry Bridge?

Provided 24 hours have passed since signing up and installing the Developer Beta OS, complete the following steps using BlackBerry® Desktop Software to return to the current non-beta release (v1.0.7) of the BlackBerry PlayBook OS.

Tip: BlackBerry Desktop Software is available for PC and Mac users, and the latest version can be downloaded from the BlackBerry Desktop Software website.

Restoring the BlackBerry PlayBook OS to v1.0.7 will erase everything on the tablet, so make sure that you back up any important documents and files before proceeding. Important: If you backup your PlayBook while it is running the Developer Beta OS, you’ll be unable to restore this backup file to your PlayBook once you’ve loaded OS v1.0.7. This is in reference to running a general back up using the BlackBerry Desktop Manager. What you can back up safely are specific documents, photos, or other files – and then reload them once you’ve restored OS v1.0.7. There are several methods to accomplish this; consider using USB File Sharing, or Wi-Fi® File Sharing to backup important documents, photos, or other files before proceeding with the steps below.

Requirements:

Instructions:

After clicking one of the above options, your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet should have the current non-beta release of the BlackBerry PlayBook OS installed (v1.0.7). After the OS is restored to v1.0.7, you’ll be presented with the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet Setup Wizard, which will allow you to setup the tablet again. While setting up your tablet again, you can check out the BlackBerry PlayBook category of the Inside BlackBerry Help Blog to learn more about your tablet.

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RIM Explains how to Secure Your BlackBerry PlayBook & Wi-Fi Sharing

I still remember when RIM was handing out BlackBerry PlayBook’s at BlackBerry World many of them were setup by users to share files over Wi-Fi with no passwords. While some users may be smart enough to set a device password on their PlayBook it may not be necessary for all users. On the other hand Wi-Fi sharing passwords should be turned on for 99% of use cases. If you turn on Wi-Fi sharing on your BlackBerry PlayBook to share files over Wi-Fi and don’t setup a password then anybody on the same Wi-Fi network can access your PlayBooks media files including pictures, documents, videos, etc. Not good…

RIM was kind enough to put together a simple graphical tutorial on how to setup a BlackBerry PlayBook devices password and Wi-Fi sharing password. If you need help setting one up after reading their guide on it let us know in the comments.

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BlackBerry Smartphone Models and their Codenames in One Chart (FAQ)

I cannot count the times that I have been asked for a chart of the different BlackBerry models and the codenames associated with them. I finally got some free time on the train earlier this week and started compiling a list of the codenames I remembered off the top of my head. They should all be right but I am counting on all of you to keep me honest. There are also new unannounced models like the upcoming Curve “All Touch” Malibu (CDMA) and others that are not 100% confirmed yet but let us know in the comments if we missed any. I am also blanking on the codename for the original BlackBerry Bold 9900…

Check out the full chart below:

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RIM Makes BIS 4.1 Features Official – New Process for Selling Old BlackBerrys

 

We have already heard about the BIS 4.1 rollout a few times unofficially and now we have the official specs from RIM thanks to their knowledge base. Nothing really new to see here its just nice to see it confirmed since the launch dates are rumored for Asia Pacific on Sept 10th, Europe on Sept 23rd, and North America on October 11th. RIM also points out that a change in how BIS is setup for BlackBerry OS 7 devices requires you to perform a different process when you sell or give you device to another person.

It used to be if you changed SIM cards then you BIS email would stop being delivered. As of OS 7.0 you now need to wipe the device for that to happen or else another person will continue getting your email since the BlackBerry ID is assigned to the device not the SIM card. Check out the details here.

Here is the official specs for BIS 4.1 from RIM:

The BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) is designed to provide BlackBerry smartphone users with access to email messaging, instant messaging, Internet browsing, and more. BlackBerry Internet Service subscribers can receive automatic delivery of email messages from up to ten email accounts on their BlackBerry smartphones.
The following is a list of new features being introduced with BlackBerry Internet Service 4.1:
Improved large email and native attachment support

Subscribers using BlackBerry smartphones with BlackBerry® 7 installed can:

No interruption to email flow on SIM swap

Subscribers who insert a new SIM card in to their BlackBerry smartphone, including SIM cards from a different wireless service provider, no longer experience email flow interruptions. The BlackBerry Internet Service only stops sending email to a smartphone when the subscriber deletes all data from the smartphone, not when a new SIM card is inserted in to the smartphone.

Due to this change, before selling a smartphone, subscribers must delete all data from the smartphone (security wipe) to protect personal information, including email messages and synchronized contacts and calendar events. For more information on performing a security wipe, please see KB28225.

Note: This functionality will be available when BlackBerry Internet Service 4.1 is released in all regions.

Inbox priming for new account integrations

When a subscriber adds an email address to a smartphone, the inbox on the subscriber’s smartphone is pre-populated with up to 20 existing email messages from the email account.

Additional language support

Latvian and Lithuanian are supported by the BlackBerry Internet Service. Emails received in these languages can now be viewed on BlackBerry smartphones.

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Change Default Search to Bing in BlackBerry 7 Browser on Verizon & Other Carriers

 

We told you earlier this week that the BlackBerry 7 browser now allows you to add custom search engines and change the default search engine. What we couldn’t tell you back then is that this lets you bypass the Verizon and other carriers default setting of Bing as the default browser search option and set to to whatever you want like Google or even BerryReview. This is surprisingly easy in BlackBerry OS 7. All you need to do is follow these steps:

1. Open the web browser
2. Hit the menu button and select options
3. Click on Manage Search Engines
4. Hit the menu button and select New
5. Enter in the name (Google) and for the address copy and paste one of the following:
1. To search Google Mobile Search use: http://www.google.com/m/search?q=%s
2. To search BerryReview articles use: http://www.berryreview.com/index.php?s=%s
3. To search BerryReview Forum posts use: http://www.berryreview.com/forums/search.php?q=%s
   NOTE: The way this works is you simply copy the URL from a search you would normally use and notice where the URL has your search term.
6. You can then click on any of the available search engines to change your default search provider!

Let us know how it works for you!

   

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How to Diagnose Your PlayBook Wi-Fi Connection & View Status

  

I have had quite a few users ask me similar questions in the last few weeks so I thought I would address it with a simple post. There is a nice and slightly hidden set of features in the Options->Wi-Fi menu that you can access if you click on the little Wi-Fi icon with the question mark at the bottom left of the Options->Wi-Fi menu pane.

Say for example you want to know what the current speed of your connection is to your access point then hit the drop down menu and select “Wi-Fi Information.” Then scroll down to connection data rate. For some reason mine always shows 24Mbps even though my laptop is reporting 130Mbps in the same location.

From that dropdown menu you can also access you Wi-Fi logs to see what is going on. You can also diagnose your PlayBook Wi-Fi internet connection by testing it out with a Ping or checking on the routing with a traceroute or DNS Lookup. I don’t understand why RIM didn’t make that option button a bit bigger but there is a load of information in here.

Let us know if you find any other tips like this!

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How to Install Country Restricted PlayBook Apps in App World

Most people who live outside of the US and Canada have usually experienced BlackBerry smartphone and PlayBook apps that are not available in their country. While there are a few drastic things you can do to change that on BlackBerry smartphones there is a relatively easy way to bypass this restriction on the BlackBerry PlayBook. It all involves using HTTP proxies to make RIM’s App World servers think you are in the country where the app is restricted to.

Keeper was kind enough to list out how exactly to pull this off in the forums and I highly recommend you check it out if you have a PlayBook and live outside the US. It involves using free or paid HTTP proxies and is pretty easy to setup. Let us know if it works for you!

PS: If you already pay for a VPN service to access content in the US (Hulu, Pandora, etc) you may want to try it out instead.

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