One of the things that I miss from way back in the day when I was as die-hard about Windows Mobile devices as I am now about BlackBerry devices is the ease that you could “beam” your contact information to another WinMo or Palm user. Devices where equipped with infra-red sensors and all you had to do to quickly give or get contact information from someone was pair your device with theirs and beam it to them.
I know that there are security risks (gaping holes in security) with infra red and this is a big reason why most wireless devices no longer have it, however, the downside of no infra red is that exchanging contact info can be a bit of a chore… That is unless you’ve got a few BlackBerry tricks up your sleeve.
A question that I regularly get from new BlackBerry users, especially new consumer BlackBerry users, is “Is there an easy way to share contact information with someone?” The short answer is “Yes, just send them a vCard”, but, that is usually followed by a look of confusion and possibly, ” What is a vCard?”.
A vCard is basically an electronic business card. It is comprised of any information that you enter into a contact on your BlackBerry. If you want to easily send your contact information to someone else, simply create a contact for yourself adding all the information that you would like to share, i.e., address, email, PIN, telephone number, etc., and save it. To send a vCard to someone:
- Go to your contacts on your BlackBerry
- Highlight your name in the contacts list
- Hit the BlackBerry menu button
- Select “Send As Attachment”
- Type in the email address or name (if already in your contacts) of the person you want to send your vCard to and send.
The one caveat to sending a vCard is that you must already have the PIN (if they’re a BlackBerry user) or email address of the person that you are trying to send your contact information to. In an upcoming BlackBerry Tip we’ll show you how to quickly exchange PINs with another BlackBerry user.