How to Use a Blackberry for a Beginner

1. Locate all of the materials that came in the box of your Blackberry. The two items you'll use most often with the blackberry are the leather case and the wall charger. There are also headphones in case you want to use the Blackberry 'hands-free.' The first step in using your Blackberry is turning it on. To do this, press the button with the picture of the red phone, located just below the bottom-right corner of the Blackberry's screen. This is also the button you can press if you ever want to turn your Blackberry off (hold for a few seconds), to disconnect from calls, or to return to the main screen.

2. Educate yourself about all of the keys on the Blackberry. The most important row is the one just below the Blackberry's screen. From left to right, these buttons are the Send key (or Call button), Menu key, Trackball, Escape key and End/Power key. These buttons will see the most use on your Blackberry. The most important key below the top five is the ALT key located at the bottom-left corner of the Blackberry. This enables you to switch between the two characters on the rest of the Blackberry's buttons. Immediately to the right of the ALT key is a small field of numbers. These act just as any other phone, and by pressing these number keys you can input a phone number. To make the call, press the green Send key. To end the call, press the red End/Power key.

3. There are many other options on a Blackberry screen, to access them you need to roll your thumb across the Trackball. To select a menu item, press down on the Trackball once the item has been highlighted. If you want to leave an application, press the Escape key (this is similar to the Back function in an Internet browser).