The BlackBerry OS is filled with features and configurations that would make any advanced geek user drool. That is if you really wanted to jump into the depths of what is available. Fortunately, BlackBerry also comes pre-configured in a very reasonable and intuitive kind of way so that you don’t actually need to- it just works (or at least, that has been my experience- others may differ). Even Grandma can use one “as is”. One of the really cool features that is worth spending some time on is the AutoText.
On your BlackBerry go to: Options > AutoText
The AutoText feature is useful for two situations, out the box: typos and macros. Typos such as ‘hte’ become ‘the’ and ‘acn’ become can. Let me guess, you thought it was a built-in spell-checker, right? Then there are other macros like ‘mypin’ or ‘myver’ which automatically become replaced with your BB pin number or OS version and device model. Well, these are both possible thanks to the AutoText application.
In a world filled with SMS-speak abounding with abbreviations, there is now no reason to communicate ambiguously or without vowels. SMS-speak taught us (out of necessity) to limit our characters and given the nature of language, “a sntnc abbvd cn stil mk sns” (sic), we could get away with it- mostly. Evidently, Twitter is re-inforcing this new dialect. Of course, there is also the other issue of actually physically typing out all the required vowels and letters which just takes too long. However, on the BlackBerry, you can both have your cake and eat it. You can still type SMS-speak while actually communicating “proper” native tongue.
All you need to do is add AutoText options like:
tx = thank you
cn = can
e = the
ha = hahaha
btw = by the way
And so on, as you require and pretty soon, you will type out:
tx! btw, cn you pop pick it up 4 me? ha
But be communicating:
Thank you! By the way, can you pick it up 4 me? Hahaha
Of course, when it comes to SMSs you might get slightly annoyed at having to correct the abbreviations again- but why would you need to SMS? Oh, wait. Let me guess. You still have friends on iPhone, right? 😉