Mobile Apptitude

Here are some tips for getting your voice mail messages more quickly:

One-touch voicemail access – Hold down the number one. OK, you probably knew that.

Pre-program your voicemail password – By pre-programming your voicemail password, you can have one-touch access directly to your recent messages. Keep in mind that anyone who picks up your phone can now easily get into your VM:

• From your main screen, hit the green button to get to your calling menu
• Hit the Blackberry button (the one with seven dots)
• Select “Options”
• Select “Voice Mail”
• In the Password field, type your voicemail password followed by “#1″. The “#” is a 3-second pause – this allows your voicemail to accept your password before automatically asking to play back messages.
• Hit the Blackberry button and choose “Save”
• Now, you should get right to new messages when you hold down the “1″ key

. . . or stop using a voicemail password – If your initials aren’t POTUS and you don’t care about the security of your voicemail, you can remove requiring a password for access:

• Enter voicemail
• Press 3 for Personal Options
• Press 1 for Settings
• Press 1 to skip your password

Streamline voicemail menus - If you have used voicemail before, turn on Expert Mode. This will simplify the often lengthy instructions from the voicemail lady:

• Enter voicemail
• Press 3 for Personal Options
• Press 3 for Expert Mode
• Press 1 to turn on Expert Mode

Stop playback of VM date and time info - If you don’t care much about when someone called (you can always look in your call log), you can stop playback of this info:

• Enter voicemail
• Press 3 for Personal Options
• Press 1 for Settings
• Press 3 to turn off message date and time. (You can still hear this info during the call as necessary, however, by hitting 1)

Put your time savings to good use - Now that you have so much more free time in your life, call your Members of Congress and ask them to support a public option!