BlackBerry PlayBook Tips and Tricks

If you have picked up a PlayBook you know there are more things to do than press a single button.  Some may think the device is complex after their first encounter with it however, after reading the following post you will feel more comfortable with this device than you ever thought possible!

OS Tips:

  • Swipe UP from the bottom bezel to bring up the home screen.
  • Swipe LEFT or RIGHT from the size bezels to switch between open apps.
  • Swipe DOWN from the top bezel to bring up the system menu or an app specific menu if you are in an open app.
  • Wake Up Your PlayBook – Swipe from Bezel to opposite Bezel (Left to Right, Right to Left, Top to Bottom, or Bottom to Top)
  • Mute – Hold the “Play/Pause” Button.
  • Hard Reset – Press and Hold the Power Button along with the Volume Up and Down Buttons.
  • Show Status Bar from Inside App – Swipe diagnally from either top corner.

  • If you hold the uppercase button on the keyboard, it will border it blue, now you can type everything uppercase.
  • Besides tapping in a text field to bring up the keyboard, you can bring it up anytime, any app, by swiping up from the bottom left corner – basically where the little keyboard icon sits when the keyboard is up.
  • By tapping the clock/date on the home screen you can bring up the calendar and then swiping up within the calendar takes you to the Date and Time screen in settings.
  • Auto capitalization, periods, and spell check work in the bridged apps and Docs to Go. Possibly a hint at whats to come system wide.
  • Your PlayBook must be powered on in order to charge it.
Media Tips:
  • Screen Capture – Press Volume Up and Volume Down simultaneously.
  • A quick way to crop an image is to zoom in on the image how you want it cropped and take a screen shot of the zoomed in image.
  • Push and hold the volume up or down key to skip forward or back through your media.

Browser Tips:

  • Open a link in a new tab. Press and hold a link and a menu appears.
  • If your in the browser and your trying to enter a address that doesnt end in “.com”, you can press the “.com” button and hold it – this will bring up a menu with the following extensions that you can select: “.net”, “.org”, “.edu”, “.gov”, “.ca”, and “.biz”.
  • Double tapping videos from youtube and embedded vids on BlackBerry Empire makes them go full screen.
  • To Access Files on your PlayBook, type “file:///accounts/1000/shared” into your browser

If you are experiencing Bridge issues, please try the following:

– Delete Bluetooth pairs on both the BlackBerry Smartphone and the PlayBook
– Go to Options
– Go to Network and Connections
– Go to Bluetooth Connections
– Press the menu key and choose MAP Options
– Uncheck all options under Message Services
– Press the Back button and choose to Save
– Within the Bluetooth Connections screen, press the menu key
– Select Options
– Under Serial Port Profile, uncheck everything but Data Transfer
– Press the Back button and choose Save

After going through these steps, please restart both the BlackBerry Smartphone and the PlayBook then attempt to use BlackBerry Bridge again.