hi experts..

i am new here and new bb user.
can someone tell me if BB Desktop Software is the same as the BB handheld software?

I am so confused and don't know if i need to download both, i have the BB 5.0.1 Desktop manager, but not sure if need to download the BB handheld v.4.6.1 multilanguage?

Thanks.

Desktop Manager goes on your PC. It is used to backup your handheld BlackBerry, sync your contacts and calendar to your PC, and other functions.

The BlackBerry handheld software is loaded to your device, but can be loaded using the Desktop Manager.

thank you.

so just to be clear, i need to download the handheld software to the desktop manager then right?

and also why do we need to updated the handheld software in the first place? what benefits or disadvantages if we do not update?

Sorry for the questions, i am really new to bb. .like only a few days.. so much to learn.
thanks in advance.

No, you don't download the handheld software TO the Desktop Manager, but to your PC, separately from Desktop Manager.

Why upgrade or update your handheld software: There could be various reasons such as bugs and fixes made in newer releases, new functions added, or even just to fix some odd issue you might be having on your device. Or, just because you want to do so.

And, if you don't need to, don't want to, and are having no issues on your device, you don't need to upgrade.

thanks for the information. greatly appreciate it.

is there a way that the handheld software can be updated automatically instead of having to check with the wireless carrier or the forum to see if using the most updated handheld software version?

and is the bb device software same as bb handheld software right?

Yes, you can be alerted for OS upgrades from your carrier when you connect your device to the Desktop Manager, or by visiting this website:
BlackBerry - Update your Device Software

ALWAYS, do a backup of your device using Desktop Manager first.

And yes, device software = handheld software.

thank you JSanders, you are awesome! now i am less confused.

oh something unrelated to this topic, not sure if i need to start new thread or can put it here in this thread.

Contacts!! gives me such a headache. i have a sony ericsson t700, and have more then 500 contacts, and sim card can only save 250 contacts, what is the best way to move all the existing contacts from sony ericsson to blackberry?

also, stupid me loaded the 250 contacts from SIM to BB already, but now i want to delete them all.. can you tell me how i can delete all contacts (one time) instead of one by one.. ??

thank you so much.

Wirelessly posted

Both questions have the same answer. Sync your sony to your email client contact list, then set the desktop soft to sync with the email client. When you sync your bb to dm (Desktop Manager) they will be added.

In case you didn't follow that, there are several 3rd party programs that communicate with the Blackberry Desktop Manager and then with your phone. The best known is Microsoft Outlook. So if your Sony will sych with that and store all of your contacts there, you can tell DM to synch Outlook with your Blackberry every time you plug it in to Desktop Manager. The calendar and Memo and Task functions will synch too (both ways). I think Gmail works too, and a couple of others.

u are right, i didn't follow the email client part..
so u mean i have to sync all sony contacts with outlook first then sync outlook with bb? but i have a different set of contacts, emails only on outlook and i dont want to sync that with bb..

also, how do i sync sony with the outlook in the first place.. ?? sorry for all the questions, i am really a newbie to all this..

oh btw, when i try to set up email on outlook with bb, it won't connect to internet at all ( i have the data plan ).. anyone can tell me why that is?

thanks so much.

I'm sorry I didn't make it easy enough to understand. Your sony should have come with software to allow you to sync items from your phone to your computer and vise versa. You should be able to select which items they are, as in just contacts, or just email, or calendar, tasks, memo's and a combination of. If you have seperated contacts you should be able to make a new contacts list in outlook and sync your sony to that. So now your choosen contacts are on your computer also, within outlook. Now you use Desktop Manager to tell it to look at your email client (Outlook) when it sync's. Within Desktop Manager you have the same abilities as in you can choose which portions of outlook to sync, i.e. contacts, emails, calendars...etc.
I didn't quite understand the second part of your request of "when i try to set up email on outlook with bb, it won't connect to internet at all" Outlook is not an application on your bb.

Thanks for the clarifications. let me try your instructions and see if i will be successful.

about the second question, i mean when i try to set up my email addresss on bb , it tried to connect to internet, but it saids not available, so wondering whats going on. the wireless provider said to set up email in outlook will need internet first, and i have all the data plan ready so not sure why it won't connect to internet... any thoughts?

thanks again.