Seems like BlackBerryForums Member lintakoc has been having a rough patch insofar as his BlackBerry is concerned.

Maybe not just a rough patch. A wet one.

In fact, linkatoc started a thread yesterday morning entitled, Help! Lost My Phone In Rain 7105t. (Link below)

Here's prob:

"PLEASE HELP ME. THe battery has the red mark and the phone does too, i think that means water damage.....obviously. umm is there any chance it might still work if it dries off?," writes linkatoc, who is from College Station, Texas (where it rains a lot).

"It has been outside for a long time, 8hrs probably with drizzling rain. I blew it dry with a hairdryer, but when I shook it, i heard water moving inside. how do i get this case off ASAP?"

Well, lintatoc, help is on the way from one of BlackBerry Forums most frequent posters of helpful info.

That'd be John Clark, who is from Oregon where it rains a hell of a lot (including right at this very sec. outside my Oregon door on the cliffside here in Portland).

In Bryson Gilbert's Flickr photostream (linked below this post) he now has three photos of his new T-Mobile BlackBerry Pearl 8100 lined up with his old T-Mobile BlackBerry 7100t.

The photo you are looking at above shows the Pearl on top of the 7100t. Plainly, the Pearl is smaller.

The front view of both devices side by side points out the size difference even more definitively.

Over the last three months or so, I've been spotlighting the ten most viewed questions and answers on  the BlackBerry section of the technology advice site Experts-Exchange. I am doing this because I believe this a good place to gage what imponderables are on the minds of BlackBerry users.

As new questions are added and build up a reservoir of page views, the Top Ten is subject to changes. Every time a new BlackBerry question reaches Experts-Exchange's top ten, I will deal with it here.

I see that the #1 asked question now is 7100t Device Error 322 Reset.

"I receive 'Device Error 322 Reset' on blackberry intermittently when connecting to desktop manager," writes user JoelPeppers.  "Desktop Manager is version 4.0 and this is for a 7100t blackberry.  What does this message mean and how can this error be fixed?"

Top rated Experts-Exchange BlackBerry expert JConchie has the answer.

 

 

Pinstacker Erica has posted a review of the Krussel Classic Multiadapt Swivel Clip Case for BlackBerry.

She draws from her experiences not just testing the case, but using it since last year for her BlackBerry 7100t.

Interesting to note that Erica is not all that crazy about this case. She gives it only three of five stars.

Erica writes that a few months after starting to use the case, complications started to develop. 

"First I realized that the case was actually not keeping the screen clean. I began to notice dust, food and case particles on the screen. I also began to develop BlackBerry thumb from having problems using the scroll wheel, escape key, power button and keypad while in the case," she writes. "I also was not using the clip that came with the case (this is due to the fact that I am not ambulatory and had limited access for a case clip)."

Erica writes that eventually, she ended up taking the clip off and shoving the entire case in her backpack.

"After continuous struggles with the case," she adds, "I ended up taking the phones out of the case completely."

 

Telmap Navigator is showing their BlackBerry solution at CeBit, a trade show that opened in Berlin, Germany today.

The offering feaures turn-by-turn navigation with map, text and voice instructions. 

The content specifically spotlights  "Points of Interest," restaurant reviews, hot spots, as well as hotel and theater listings. 

Telmap Navigator is compatible with all BlackBerry 7100 phones, as well as with BlackBerry8700.

 

 

Several security experts think that because of the increasing number of smartphone users as well as the comparative ease of spreading viruses across these platforms, that smartphone security will be tested this year.

Attacks on smartphones haven’t reached the critical mass needed but it will happen sooner rather than later,” antivirus firm Kaspersky Lab CEO Eugene Kaspersky, tells Red Herring.

"Mobile phone attacks scale very well for fraud," Internet Security Systems chief technology officer Chris Rouland also tells the publication.

"Phone viruses are propagating quickly and they have only been gated by the fact that there are not enough smartphone users today," he told the magazine. 

Rouland added that because phone carriers would likely have to bear the $100-per-incident cost of cleaning infected handhelds, only a few hundred infected phones are enough to cause a problem. 

Yet network security executive Simon Klalaf disagrees. The Vernier Networks CEO tells Red Herring that the financial incentives that spur malware writers to develop viruses are not there for smartphones.

“Putting a worm on laptops where the objective is to steal financial or personal data is a bigger problem for everyone,” he tells Red Herring.

 

BlackBerry-enthusiast site BlackBerry Cool had these first, but I ain't above spreadin' the link love about GUI eye candy.

Like these pretty BlackBerry 7100 themes from Keith.

Keith didn't design these themes, but he is making them available for free. These theme screens aren't downloadable individually, but they can be downloaded as a grouped Zip file.

I like them is what I think.

What do you think?

Boris Boege of Skylab Mobile Systems writes to tell me that their GPS mapping tool "Spot for Blackberry" now supports all Bluetooth enabled Blackberry devices in combination with a Bluetooth GPS receiver.

Former versions were only compatible with BlackBerry 7520 and BlackBerry 7100i. Both of those models have an integrated GPS receiver.

Now, Spot for BlackBerry has been rev'd to support the BlackBerry 7100 Series, the BlackBerry 8700 Series as well as the BlackBerry 7250 and BlackBerry 7290.

"Spot for Blackberry" costs $49. A time limited demo version is available free for download.

Further information is available at: http://www.skylabmobilesystems.com/en/products/spot_bb.html

A usability consulting and research firm called the Usable Products Company has surveyed U.S.-based cellular phone users on which handsets are easiest and most difficult for purchase and installation of enhancements such as wallpaper and ring tones.

The survey was based on a series of 20 one-hour usability interviews conducted late last year. Thirteen handsets were studied.

Of the 13 handsets studied, the T-Mobile BlackBerry 7100t finished 10th. The handset was the only BlackBerry included in the study.

The winner, incidentally, was the Sprint Samsung a680.

Last place: the Cingular Nokia 6620.

 

With MiniRingtone for BlackBerry, you can create your personalized ringones from your (legally, of course) downloaded music files on your PC or from CD tracks.

You choose your favorite .mp3, .wav and.aiff audio, import it into the MiniRingtone utility on your PC, edit your selection and then synch up your BlackBerry to your PC to import your new ringtone.

MiniRingtone for BlackBerry works on all 7xxx series BlackBerrys. The utilty costs $24.75, but Club Handango Members pay $22.28.

Click the Read link below this post and your browser will take you to the MiniRingtone for BlackBerry page on Handango.com.

A few weeks ago, guests on Oprah Winfrey "won free "(ba-da-boom, ba-da-bing) T-Mobile BlackBerry 7105t's.

Now, according to eBay Marketplace Research, the 7105t's have enjoyed a 26% increase in sales over the last two weeks, compared to the previous two weeks before Oprah's big giveaway.

Over the last seven days, the average price on eBay for the T-Mobile 7105t has been $250.

Wireless device information and e-commerce site Mobiledia is out with their Top 10 Cell Phones list for this Holiday shopping season.

Mobiledia ranks the T-Mobile BlackBerry 7105t as number five.

"The RIM BlackBerry 7105t is the successor to the 7100t, adding enhanced Yahoo! Mail access allowing customers to manage their personal and corporate e-mail with real-time push-based delivery," Mobiledia notes. "The BlackBerry 7105t also puts top-of-the-line features, such as speakerphone and Bluetooth technology into a sleek and stylish handset."

Just in case you are interested, here's the rest of Mobiledia's top five:

1. Motorola RAZR V3c
2. Sony Ericsson Z520a
3. Samsung SCH-A950
4. Sony Ericsson W600i

Over on the Yahoo! BlackBerry Users' Group, there's a post from a Member who lost his BlackBerry over the weekend. Somewhere down there in Solvang, California, as depicted on Google Earth.

Come let us read this tale of woe, and go, there but for fortune (and a good BlackBerry holster) go you or I:

"Dang, my Thanksgiving weekend was wrecked yesterday.I only had my BlackBerry 7100T for a month," Harry Myhre writes. "Thursday I was walking around Solvang (little town north of santa barbara) and my Blackberry slipped off my belt. I really doubt that someone stole it, because Solvang was pretty much empty on Thanksgiving day."

Rather than stay (bad pun alert) "mired" in self-pity, Myhre blames no one but himself:

"This happens all the time with me and cellphones...I really enjoy carrying the phone around on my belt, because it's always there, always available," Myhre said. "But the darn things always seem to wiggle off my belt somehow.

"Anyways, I'm going over to T-Mobile this afternoon to get another phone," he adds. Luckily
I had equipment protection and the phone is covered."

A true student of life, Harry ends his post with a teachable moment.

HINT- always get equipment protection for a cellphone," he writes. Out of all the things you can get equipment protection for - cellphones and laptop computers are MUSTS."

I've placed a link to the "Carrying Solutions" section of the official BlackBerry Accessories Store below.

I was thinking about those Overstock.com ads with the tagline, "It's all about the O." Oh, what were you thinking?

But now I am thinking about a free T-Mobile BlackBerry 7100t or BlackBerry 7290 with the purchase of four new tires from, uh, Big O Tires.

You gotta do a two-year plan with T-Mobile.

You could try to get there via YourFreeBlackBerry.com, but then there would be that pesky promo order number and all that stuff. Robb of RIMarkable has done some of the work - and even has a code for you to enter.

I'll send you there now.

On the CIO Today enterprise computing news site, reviewer Mark Long doesn't appear to be a huge fan of the T-Mobile BlackBerry 7105t. He gives it 3.5 out of a possible 5 stars.

While he gives the dvice credit for a "svelte form factor with scratch-resistant screen and good tactile feedback," he's disappointed with the 7105t's limited onboard memory, lack of an expansion card slot, and data speeds capped to GSM/GPRS rates.
 
"The BlackBerry 7105t is an acceptable choice for buyers looking for a slim and trim handset that can place calls as well as send and receive e-mail," Long writes. "However, the BlackBerry 8700 might be the better choice for those looking for a more capable processor and more memory."