Well, I guess I am proving that I can teach myself new tricks. My on-loan Blackberry cell phone and I are learning to co-exist with one another. At least there seem to be similarities from cell phone to cell phone - important little/big similarities like the send button is green and is on the left of the space that you hit to say "OK" in cell phone language. The "end" button is red and is on the right of the space that you hit to say "OK" in cell phone language. That much I've discerned. The keyboard, as far as the alphabet goes, is identical, although the keys are much smaller than my former phone's. My old keyboard had the numbers across the top, just like the keyboard on a computer. The Blackberry has the numbers all on the left, in a vertical arrangement rather than horizontal.
Finding other keys has been a bit slower in coming. Last night, after an hour or more entering some basic contacts in the Blackberry, I finally saw the delete key, which would have saved me many minutes of, after making an entry error, deleting the entire contact and beginning again because I only wanted to fix one letter or number but could not figure out how. I still have not figured out how to create the @ sign. Every time I push "sym", which should mean symbol, then push the key where the @ icon is, I get a % sign. After repeatedly reaching the same end, I have temporarily given up. I have also not discovered how to make capital letters. The Blackberry automatically creates a capital letter following an ending punctuation mark, but to capitalize any other letter, mid-sentence or last name, seems to be another elusive keystroke at the moment.
I am able to text but it is certainly more complicated than my "old" phone's procedure. The whole "sms" and "mms" thing is presently a mystery to me. At least I know that, in order to text, "sms" has to be involved somehow. I have successfully sent about ten texts.....this is after about forty attempts to do so.
Lest the reader thinks I am complaining, please know that I am not. I am eternally grateful to our
friends who lent me one of their "spare" Blackberrys. I would be thrilled if I had two spares at my disposal. I would have been excited to have one space SmartPhone at my fingertips.
Blackberry Red and I are becoming acquainted, although it is a slow process to warm-up to one another. And, there is always another avenue - another back-up plan - for success.........
READ THE OPERATING MANUAL.
Ancora imparo
