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So I was playing around with my voice dial functionality and I am actually impressed. I mentioned in an earlier post how you can change the sensitivity but here are some other things I like about it.

1.Speak the number

So maybe this isn’t new but its new to me. I always assumed that you had to say a name from your phone book and it would only pull it up by name but you can say “call” and then say the number (in your phone book or not) and it will dial that number.

2.Check Battery

For those of you who are to lazy to look at the screen or maybe can’t read a battery meter, you can just say “Check Battery” and it will announce whether the battery is low, medium, high.

3. Check Signal Strength

Saying “Check Signal” will give you your current signal strength. The only thing better would be to tell you if you are roaming or not but honestly I can’t remember a time when I’ve been in roam.

4. Find your phone number

I personally never have a problem recalling what my phone number is but for those of you that do, try saying “Check Phone Number” and it will say your phone number out loud for you.

I find that most people don’t want to sit down and read a manual when they get a new electronic device and because of this they don’t use a lot of the cool features built in. Here are a few of my favorites from the Blackberry 8100 (Pearl). All of these are found under options unless otherwise stated.

1.Add words to the custom word list.

Your custom word list is found under options menu. The only words I really added were curse words but that’s because when I am trying to cuss in text messages, I don’t want to actually cuss in real life trying to type it.

2.Audible Roll.

This little gem is hidden under the screen/keyboard options of your options menu. At the very bottom you can turn off the audible clicking of rolling the trackball.

3.Voice Dialing Sensitivity.

Under Voice dialing on the options menu there is a sensitivity level. I changed mine to reject more names because I always got a large list of possible things I said when using the voice dial. If your voice dial never seems to work, try lowering the sensitivity to reject less.

4.Owner

This may not be a big deal for many, but in a corporate environment I think this option is nice. Here you can put in your name and some information (such as a contact number other than your cell) in case your device gets lost or misplaced.

5.Auto On/Off

This feature is quite handy for those of us who have an unhealthy addiction to our phone. My blackberry goes off all night with emails and text messages. If you are trying to get a good night sleep, you can have your blackberry power off and on at set times. Unfortunately you only have two options, weekday and weekend.

So I have a blackberry 8100 (Pearl) that has been issued to me from work. I can honestly say, this is one of the best phones I have ever owned. The only downside I have had is that we use T-mobile and coverage just plain sucks. For those of you with the Pearl, here are a couple little tricks that I have found useful.

To view a comprehensive list of your phone calls including time called, sorted by date: Open up your messages folder and press the alt key (little up and down arrows found at the bottom left of the keypad) and then press the “op” button.

To view a list of just sms text messages: Open up your messages folder and press the alt key and then press the “as” key

To lock your phone: Hold down the “*/sym” button on the phone until it locks. Way easier than using the menu.

Fast scrolling in Message folder: You can use “3″ and “9″ to scroll up and down entire pages at a time. “1″ and “7″ will take you to the very top or very bottom of the list. “*” will take you to the first unread message.

Here’s a list of a few apps I recommend as well as links to download them.

1.Gtalk

I’m a big fan of Google so it should be no surprise that I use Google Talk. The blackberry version is quite awesome and lets me keep in touch when I am on the go. Point your blackberry browser to mobile.blackberry.com and try it yourself.

2.Facebook for Blackberry

I like Facebook but I don’t like logging in everytime I get a message. With the Facebook app for blackberry, responding to wallposts and messages is as easy as a text message. It also lets you upload photos from your phone and change your status on the go. If I want to tell you I’m using the bathroom at Wal-mart, I can do that now. To download it just goto facebook.com on your blackberry and you will be presented with a link. The downside is that it is a huge draw on your battery.

3.Color Pearl

This app doesn’t really add to functionality but adds a slight wow factor. Once installed you go into options and choose color pearl. You can choose from a predefined color, create your own, or randomize to get a different color each time you use it. For the files to install it using desktop manager click here, or to install OTA from your blackberry, click here.

4. Blackberry Video

Great utility to convert movies to avi files sized for your pearl. It converted the movie 300 from 4GB down to 255MB that fit easily onto my media card. You can pick up a copy of this from here.