Updating your BlackBerry OS: Wireless vs. Destkop Manager

Last week I noticed something new and strange with my BlackBerry. Stacked among my messages was a notification that I could upgrade to the latest OS over the air. That seemed odd to me for a couple of reasons. For starters, it’s the first time Verizon has sent me such a wireless update. Second, it came just a couple of weeks after I updated my OS via Desktop Manager for Mac. Curious, I decided to examine the process. Sure, I could have just plugged my BlackBerry into my computer and updated that way, but considering my experience the last time I wasn’t exactly excited to try it that way again. Just to share my frustration with everyone, I had quite a mishap a couple of weeks ago while updating my BlackBerry. I plugged it in to pull some pictures, and when Desktop Manager launched it informed me of an OS update. Since I like to keep my software up to date, I said yes and prepared for the process. It took the normal 30 or so minutes, maybe a little less. When it was done it went through the whole boot process and showed me the familiar prompt. Do I want to automatically detect CDMA and GSM? No, thank you. That’s when things went haywire. My screen went blank. Desktop Manager, still connected to the Berry, informed me that I had no operating system on the device. This scared me for a second, but since it gave me the option to install the OS I had just downloaded, I was good. Again the process plodded on, ending at the same point. I let it sit for a minute on the prompt screen, but eventually said no, I don’t want my Berry to automatically detect the network. Again the screen went blank. This time I got an error 503. There was no easy recovery, since Desktop Manager for Mac lacks many essential features. Distraught, I hijacked my roommate’s PC and started the process of recovering my BlackBerry. Since I had just written about error codes and recovery processes, this didn’t take too long. A pain, sure, but it was a relatively quick recovery. Still, I didn’t want to go through that again. Last week, when I got the wireless update option, I proceeded cautiously. I figured that I wouldn’t face any of the issues, since there was only one point of installation. Before it was my computer to my Berry. This was all Berry. It did inform me that it could take up to two hours, so I braced myself for some time in front of my computer. Yet I didn’t really need to. RIM clearly overestimates the time. It also recovered seamlessly. Clearly, wireless update worked best for me. Will it work best for you? I suggest that it will. The key, I think, is in what I wrote in the above paragraph. There is only one point of installation when upgrading wirelessly, so you have less to worry about. I’m convinced that my earlier mishap occurred because my computer and my BlackBerry weren’t on the same page. This issues goes out the window when you’re updating wirelessly. That isn’t to say that you shouldn’t updated via USB connection. It’s just that if you do have the option to update wirelessly, I’d suggest you take it. The experience, at least for me, was quite pleasant.

About the Author

Joe Pawlikowski is the Senior Editor at MobileMoo.com and has been covering the mobile industry full time since 2007. When he's not writing about the tech scene, he can be found discussing his personal love - baseball (and more specifically the New York Yankees) as well as writing on his personal blog.