13 May 2008
My BlackBerry Pearl Calls 911…
Posted by Jeremy under: BC; Business; Computers; Personal; Vancouver; Web Related .
I’ve had my Pearl for a little over a year now…actually, I’ve had a Pearl for a little over a year now - my first BlackBerry Pearl was recently replaced on warranty due to a sticky little Pearl (rollerball). Apparently it’s a common problem.
Since I got my phone, it has called 911 from my pocket between 10-20 times. This is because of emergency access when the phone is locked. When the Pearl is in locked mode, touching the rollerball will bring up a menu that says: “unlock”, “emergency call”, and “cancel”. Touching the rollerball when on this menu has a 33% chance of dialing 911.
This always happened to me when I was out of the house and my BlackBerry was in my pocket, where it usually lives when I’m on the go. So I always forgot to resolve the issue when I’d get home - eventually getting another call from 911 asking if there was an emergency. The same way you always forget that you don’t have any butter until you need butter.
I did a quick search on Google for: “disable emergency call blackberry pearl” and the first page returned gave me the answer I was looking for: The Pearl has a standby mode, which you access by holding the “mute” button down for 2 seconds - it’s on the top left of your Pearl. This will allow you to receive calls but it deactivates any input from the user’s end, so you can carry it in your pocket without any call-out consequence. It was exactly what I was looking for.
…I also use the “standby” mode. My phone is always in my pocket and I find the “standby” mode to be much easier to use and pushing a button, while in standby, doesn’t flash the screen and wear the battery down while sitting in your pocket. Just hold the “mute” button on the top for 2 seconds and press the same button once to get it out…
5 Comments so far...
Deron Sizemore
Says:
15 May 2008 at 8:00 pm.
I have the Pearl also and I don’t use the standby mode. I find it to be a pain in the butt personally. Of course, the amount of email, text messages, and phone calls I receive make standby annoying. Every message I have to bring it out of standby to check it.
I’ve never locked my Pearl or put it in standby and I’ve never had a problem with dialing random numbers.
PS: When your trackball starts sticking or not scrolling, a little cotton swab with some rubbing alcohol usually does the trick. 
Raul
Says:
18 May 2008 at 3:49 am.
I am sorry to read about this Jeremy, because I can totally understand the frustration. That’s why I have a VERY basic cell phone. Oh and by the way, welcome to the blogo-world again 
We missed you!
Jeremy
Says:
19 May 2008 at 12:21 pm.
@Deron: Re: sticky Pearl - I did the q-tip/alcohol thing the first few times it stuck, but this was a case of the ball rolling but not being read! Do you carry your pearl in your pocket?
@Raul: Thanks!
Blackberry-Pearl-Man
Says:
20 May 2008 at 4:34 pm.
I love my Pearl but have the Blackberry case which magnetically ’shuts down’ the keyboard/input when it’s in the case…..so I’ve never had that problem. Knock on wood, but my trackball is still working fine as well.
Jeremy Says:
2 June 2008 at 11:59 am.
@BPM: My girlfriends Pearl died a tragic death and I’ve since inherited her magnetic case, which has solved the problem.
@Deron: Standby was a pain after a while - for sure!
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