One of the questions I get asked frequently is: “How can I wirelessly synchronize my Gmail Calendar and Contacts with my BlackBerry® smartphone?” With a BlackBerry smartphone data plan and BlackBerry® Device Software 5.0 or higher, this simple to do!

The first thing you want to do is make sure you have the right software on your BlackBerry smartphone. To do this, navigate to Options and click About. On the third line down, there will be a number like 5.0 Bundle 1602. This tells you are running BlackBerry Device Software 5.0. If you are using 4.7.1 or lower, you should check to see if there is an upgrade available for your device.

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry Help Blog »

After getting a new BlackBerry® smartphone, one of the first things you’ll want to do is add your email address so you can receive email on your device. Integrating your email address will allow you to receive messages in near real-time, reply and forward, filter message by sender or subject, and much more.

To integrate an email address with your BlackBerry smartphone, just complete the following steps:

1. Locate and click on the Setup folder.
2. Within the Setup folder, click on Email Settings and if prompted, review the Terms of Agreement.
3. A listing of various email providers will now be displayed:
• If you are integrating a Yahoo!, Gmail, AOL or Windows Live email address, highlight the appropriate icon and click Next.
• If you are integrating an email address from another provider, select Other.
4. Provide the email address and password and in most cases, you’re done!

For example, let’s say you want to integrate your Hotmail email address with your new BlackBerry smartphone. The steps to complete this would be as easy as selecting Windows Live™ (Hotmail, MSN®, Live) from the listing that appears after selecting Email Settings and specifying your Hotmail user name and password. After entering this information and clicking Next, you will have successfully integrated your Hotmail email address. It really is that easy to get your email delivered to your device!

Do you have a question? If so, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment!