Tag: blackberry

在黑莓8900上显示中文MP3曲名和专辑封面

黑莓8900内置的播放器还不错，除了有时候反应慢点之外其它都还好。经过一番折腾发现不仅能显示中文曲名还能显示专辑封面，挺不错的。

8900的播放器可以读ID3v2的MP3 tag，要显示中文曲名就要把中文曲名以UTF-8编码写在tag里面。ID3v1的tag不支持UTF-8编码，最好用ID3v2.4 UTF8编码来写tag。修改MP3 tag和对tag进行转码的工具很多，推荐MP3tag这个软件。在Option里面对读写和移除tag都做好设置就行了，如下图：

MP3TAG Config
MP3TAG Config

然后基本的操作步骤就是在这个软件里面打开一堆MP3，全选中之后先Ctrl + S保存一下，这样就写入了ID3v2.4的tag，然后再remove tag一下，这样就去掉了其他捣乱的tag，就OK了。

至于显示专辑封面的功能，本来看到这篇文章以为需要把封面图片写到tag里面，觉得这样太麻烦了就没弄。结果无意中发现只要在目录里面把封面图片命名成Folder.jpg就行了，8900自带的播放器可以找到并且显示出来 :)

另外就是注意如果这些MP3已经被黑莓扫描过了，会生成一个BBThumbs文件，重写MP3 tag或者更换专辑封面之后要删掉这个文件让BB重新生成。

Updated BlackBerry 8900 to OS 4.6.1.199

Before I bought the Blackberry I heard a real BB fan should addict to updating the operating system of BB. From the news/blogs about BB I also noticed new version OSs are officially released or unofficially leaked very often. However my 8900 came to my hands with a very new OS version (4.6.1.144) so I didn’t feel very motivated to update it until yesterday.

The weird network broken problem on 8900 had been annoying me very much these days : GPRS/EDGE network connection broke periodically (once 1 day or even more often), the only way to recover the connection is to restart the machine. This is ridiculous! I searched a lot and asked the seller but got no convincing answer.  Yesterday I decided to update the OS to see if this problem would be fixed.

The updating procedure is kinda straightforward with BB 8900 and Desktop Manager 4.7. 1. Download an updating package (.exe) and intall it; 2. Rename/remove the file “c:\Program Files\Common Files\Research In Motion\AppLoader\Vendor.xml” (maybe because the downloaded package usually doesn’t match the vendor of the machine); 3. Open the Desktop Manager, it will automatically scan the system update and prompt you to update. It costs quite a few minutes (5-10 mintues on 8900) to backup personal files, updating system files and restore personal files. After it’s finished, I’ve got a new OS with most configuration unchanged, though most application settings and a few system configurations are lost…

The 4.6.1.199 OS has not much difference with 144, actually I didn’t feel any except the network broken problem seems improved now :) I only got it once after taking subway. 5.0 OS has been leaked online, with a lot of new features. I guess I’ll update my BB again when a good 5.0 OS is available.

Getting a Taste of Blackberry 8900

My Blackberry has been staying in my hands for a few days. Playing with numerous software on it brought me a lot of fun. Some software rock and some other suck. I’ll sum it up here. In a word, 8900 is awesome!

  • Google Sync: this is the No. 1 reason I want a smart cellphone, now my contacts dwell in Google Contacts and my calendar are synced among GCalendar/Outlook/Blackberry. I can update cellphone number of a friend on the web and it will be automatically updated to my phone. And by sharing the calendar to my close friend,  they can “book” me an appointment which will magically appear on my Blackberry calendar, very cool :)
  • Built-in tasks and memos: simple and useful.
  • GMail: since my main mailbox is GMail, this software enables me to do any necessary things about email.
  • Yatca: for twitter. I tried TwitterBerry, and found Yatca cooler and better for a light twitter user such as me.
  • BerryDict: having a dict in pocket is good.
  • BBWeather: I like weather.com, so I like this tool.
  • Instango: enables me to use gtalk over GPRS network.
  • GReader: actually just a webpage in browser, no need to tell how great it is.
  • DianXun Input: a much better Chinese input method than built-in one. At first it looks troublesome to enter and quit DXInput, but after mapping DXNotepad to the application key, the process becomes acceptable: “Call DXNotepad => Input Chinese => Quit DXNotepad => Paste”, hmm, hope it could be even easier.
  • MiniMonitor: used it to monitor GPRS usage
  • Built-in autotext is convenient. When I input “mymail” and space almost anywhere, it will be converted to my mail address automatically.
  • Camera of 8900 is very nice, however I’m not getting used to taking photos with cellphone yet  ;)

Besides software and functions, I’m pretty satisified with the workmanship and user experience of 8900. The size is perfect for my hand and the screen is very nice. The trackball is surprisingly comfortable and looks very beautiful. So it is very attractive to hold and play with it, sometimes I prefer to use GReader on it while leaving my laptop aside…

Finally Got a Blackberry 8900

After hesitating for a whole month (or even longer?), I finally bought a Blackberry Curve 8900 for myself!

Blackberry 8900

I have to say 8900 attracted me deeply from the first sight, though it doesn’t have touch screen or 3G support. It has all functions I care and a just-my-type shape. I like full QWERTY keyboard and want WIFI/GPS both enabled machine. The system/software style of blackberry is also fitting my appetite :) Some article used the word “sexy” on this phone, I strongly agree.

After some basic configuration, my first work on this baby is to install a bunch of Google softwares. Google Sync make my contacts stored in the “Clouds”, and the 3 calendars (Google/Outlook/Blackberry) can finally be syncronized seamlessly with the help of Google Calendar Sync. Google Talk is surely another must-install software for me. It’s very late now but I still have a long list of software that I want to give them a try: twitter, rememberthemilk, DianXun Chinese input method, and so on…. Let’s do it tomorrow~