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Installing BBWeather on the Pearl

October 17, 2006 by Tom

17 Comments

I just spent about an hour researching how to install BBWeather, a weather program on my new Blackberry Pearl. The application itself is great, but there is a huge lack of documentation on the application.

Anyways, I thought I’d share my process to get this working so maybe it will save someone out there from a headache. I have the Blackberry Unlimited plan and I would recommend having the same if you’re going to let an application continuously update in the background. Keep in mind I have T-Mobile as my provider so your mileage may vary with different providers.

  1. Install BBWeather. I did it by simply entering the URL for the app into the Blackberry browser and downloading it over the air. You can find the latest version at http://blackberrytools.sourceforge.net/OverTheAir/
  2. Once BBWeather downloads and installs, go ahead and open it. It will throw an error that there are no profiles. No shit! We haven’t configured one yet! Do not press any keys. It will lock the 8100.
  3. Press the Pearl/Trackball in. Now you can select “Options” and create a profile. Call it whatever you want and if you’re in the U.S. just enter your zip code for the location ID.
  4. Check the box for “Disable MDS Proxy”.
  5. BBWeather will throw another error about an open tunnel. Awesome. Exit the application. Now on your Pearl go to Options, Advanced Options, TCP and enter wap.voicestream.com as the APN. Leave the username and password blank.
  6. Go back to BBWeather and you should finally see a forecast for your zip code. At least I did.

The biggest problem I had was that I kept trying to press the menu button after opening BBWeather, but any key besides the Pearl key itself will lock up the phone which is obnoxious to say the least. After BBWeather is configured correctly you can use the any key inside of it, but it’s terrible that the application locks before it is configured correctly.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 17, 2006 at 5:54 pm

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17 Comments

  1. This worked perfectly. Thanks!

    Dave December 12, 2006 at 11:25 am

  2. Thanks for the tip. Maybe the developer should fix that little “quirk”

    Scott December 16, 2006 at 2:52 pm

  3. […] Installing BBWeather on the Pearl | Slight Right You don’t have to change the APN . . . the Cingular one works just fine. Other than that, the info in this link is dead-on and worked perfectly for me. […]

    BB Weather for Cingular Pearl - BlackBerryForums.com : Your Number One BlackBerry Community December 29, 2006 at 1:47 am

  4. Thanks for this manual. It wokrs on my Pearl (t-mobile)

    Rafal January 8, 2007 at 1:44 pm

  5. Thank you very much! It worked. (T-mobile)

    Eddy January 9, 2007 at 12:21 pm

  6. […] This should work I had problems getting bbweather installed as well. Found this site, followed his suggestions, and now everything works fine: Installing BBWeather on the Pearl | Slight Right […]

    Problems with BBWeather. - BlackBerryForums.com : Your Number One BlackBerry Community January 14, 2007 at 12:13 am

  7. You, sir, are a genius.

    Wayne February 2, 2007 at 12:44 am

  8. Tom,
    I greatly appreciate your efforts with this, but your proceedure on my TMO Pearl didn’t work for me. I hold the Pearl in but do not get the Options menu–either if I just hold it in or if I hold it and press the menu key. The, when I let go of the pearl, it locks up. I’ve reinstalled OTA and no change. Any other suggestions? (Running software version .64)
    thanks!

    tony February 4, 2007 at 9:51 am

  9. UPDATE!

    I had to press the Pearl twice to get the Options Menu. Works like a champ now. Thanks!

    tony February 4, 2007 at 10:06 am

  10. There is an updated version of this which you can get at my tips site. It’s an unofficial .75 which ads ALT-space as an update mechanism and also puts the proiles in alpha order.

    Stinsonddog February 6, 2007 at 11:54 am

  11. The Website becomes my sig on this page but here it is: http://home.comcast.net/~tamsterra/OP/MustHave.htm

    Stinsonddog February 6, 2007 at 11:55 am

  12. 1) Note: pressing andholding the space button on teh Pearl/800 for a second switches between Current Weather and Weather Forecast.

    2)Pressing the key you set as the “shortcut” for any location will switch to the weather for that location. Be careful that the letter that appears in teh option is the first one on the key (that is, it seems to work in multitap mode).

    LSR April 19, 2007 at 10:17 am

  13. Thanks a lot - worked like a charm. That locking up thing is a horrible bug in an otherwise nice app

    true June 5, 2007 at 6:49 am

  14. […] Today, 03:15 PM I’m trying to get BBWeather to work. I’m using the following directions: Installing BBWeather on the Pearl | Slight Right I get stock here: Now on your Pearl go to Options, Advanced Options, TCP Where is TCP setting ? […]

    BB Weather install question - BlackBerryForums.com : Your Number One BlackBerry Community November 16, 2007 at 2:15 pm

  15. Hi Tom,
    Thanks for going through the trouble of sharing your info, I have t-mobile & I followed ur directions 100% but I still keep getting an error expecting prompt. Do you know a resolution? If so please e-mail me. Thanks in advance.
    subieschooler@hotmail.com

    walt January 7, 2008 at 10:31 pm

  16. wow very cool! thanks I was having such issues with this app.

    Thanks for sharing your research.

    C. Weber
    Miami, FL

    C. Weber January 20, 2008 at 11:44 pm

  17. Are there different instructions for an 8830? I still can’t get it to work. Thanks

    Roger June 1, 2008 at 5:31 am

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