One very exciting addition to the BlackBerry 8800 is the MicroSD card slot. MicroSD is a small, removable flash memory card format. The cards are small, about the size of a fingernail, or about one quarter the size of a standard SD card. All devices which support SD cards can support microSD cards using an SD card adapter, which is often included in the package of a microSD card.  Unfortunately, the Blackberry 8800 is limited to 1GB due to OS limitations of reading past 1024.  Perhaps there will be an update in the future, but it’s unlikely.

The MicroSD card slot is located beneath the battery cover. This is a huge improvement over the Pearl, which had the slot located actually beneath the battery, but not as easy to get to as some other models which have the slot accessible externally. To remove a media card safely, you must close the connection between the media card and your BlackBerry device. If you do not close the connection, data that is stored on the media card might be lost or corrupted.

1. Go to Device Options – Advanced Options – Media Card.

2. Select “Remove Media Card” from the Menu

For the security conscious, the files on your MicroSD card may also be encrypted. To encrypt files on the media card that is inserted in your BlackBerry device using your device password, verify that you have set a device password.

1. Go to Device Options  – Advanced Options  – Media Card.

2. Perform one of the following actions:

• To encrypt files using an encryption key that your device generates for your media card, set the Encryption Mode field to Device.
• To encrypt files using your device password, set the Encryption Mode field to Security Password.
• To encrypt files using a media card encryption key and your device password, set the Encryption Mode field to Security Password & Device.

3. To encrypt media files on your media card, set the Encrypt Media Files field to Yes.

4. Press the Menu key and click Save.

To turn off media card encryption, set the Encryption Mode field to None.

Media Card Advanced Options

Just like the Pearl, RIM includes a Media Manager utility to import music, photos, and videos to the device. The 8800’s media player lets you play .avi, .mov, .mp4, or .3gp video files. It also lets you play audio files, such as .aac, .amr, .m4a, .midi, .mp3, and .wav files.

The music player is functional but basic, letting you Play, Pause, Shuffle, and Repeat your songs. There is some serious room here for a 3rd party developer to come up with a good music player.  I also found that if you are playing large video files, especially compressed files like DivX or Xvid, the player tends to stutter and pause, making the experience almost not worth it.

From the BlackBerry.com website, here are a few Media tips:

• To zoom in to a picture, press the - , key.

• To zoom out from a picture, press + 0 key.

• To zoom to the original picture size, press W.

• To pause/resume a slide show, press the SPACE key.

• To pause/resume a video or song, press the Mute key.

There is a nice player from www.dollars5.com that offers Full screen Video playback on v4.2.1 OS, Searching Media, Trackball dancing lights and the code is optimized for Pearl and 8800.  There is a price tag though, it is $19.95 US, but I found it was well worth it.

Tags | Mobile