The Blackberry Unite software is a free application aimed at the connected family or small office. Installed on a Windows XP or Windows Vista-based PC, it enables up to 5 users to share Contact and Calendar information from their Blackberry handheld devices, as well as providing access to any files held on that PC. Users can also transfer videos, photos and movie files from their Blackberry handhelds to the Unite PC. The administrator of the Unite PC also has the ability to control what services the 5 connected handheld devices are allowed to access, including SMS, MMS, Internet browsing, phone usage, application downloads and attachment viewing.

It can be downloaded completely free from the Blackberry web site, here:

http://eu.blackberry.com/eng/services/blackberryunite/

To enjoy full functionality, the handheld used should be running version 4.3 of the device software. Versions 4.0 to 4.21 are supported, but functionality is limited.
NOTE – the SIM card in the Blackberry handheld can be enabled for either BES or BIS service, but the Unite! software itself does not provide any email functionality – home users should sign up for a POP email account with a provider and configure it with a BIS connection. Your network provider will be able to provide more information.

The download is a 98MB executable self-extracting archive file, which when run displays the following:

Click Next to begin the installation wizard, you will be prompted to select your country and read the corresponding license agreement:

Accept the terms and click Next. The following window will be displayed:

Any prerequisite components that are not present on the PC will be downloaded: my test machine downloaded the latest version of Java as well as the MSDE SQL Desktop Engine, so ensure that your PC is connected to the Internet before beginning the installation:

Once downloaded, the components will all be installed. This took approximately 10 minutes on my machine. Once complete, click Finish:

Internet Explorer should now launch automatically, if not double click the icon that will have been added to your desktop for the ‘Blackberry Unite! Web Admin’, the following window will be displayed:

At this point you should connect your Blackberry handheld to the PC via the USB cable. Windows will detect the new hardware automatically. The software will now need to be registered, click Next to continue. The following window will be displayed:

Complete the required fields and click Next.

The software will now be registered:

When the registration is complete, the following window will be displayed:

Click Launch to access the main admin interface for the Unite! Software:

Click on the button to Add A New User, the following window will be displayed:

Enter the required details and click Add.
NOTE – an email address is not strictly speaking required – you can use the Unite! Software to only share contacts and calendar information, and configure email account information on the handheld device, but should you be configuring the handheld for the first time it may be easier to configure the information on the PC rather than on the handheld.
Only POP and IMAP email accounts are supported (unless the handheld is already associated with a BES account).
Based on the email address you entered, the Unite! Software will determine the correct POP /IMAP and SMTP server settings to use:

If the software is not able to determine the settings automatically you will be prompted to enter them manually.
Once all of the settings have been entered, you will be prompted to activate the device against the user account:

Click on the text link to activate the device. Once complete, the following window will be displayed:

The user will now be listed:

The handheld device can now be disconnected from the PC.
Selecting the Device Management option enabled the administrator to enable and disable services on the handheld remotely, including:

• Phone
• Internet Browsing
• File Transfer
• Application Downloading
• Attachment Viewing
• Short Message Service (SMS)
• Multimedia Message Service (MMS)
• Remote Administration

If the administrator restricts phone usage, the options are available to restrict all outgoing calls, restrict all outgoing calls, or allow either incoming or outgoing calls from either specific area codes or from individual numbers.

Internet access can be restricted to individual web sites, or individual web sites can be explicitly blocked.

From this view the administrator can also view information on calls made from the handhelds as well as web pages viewed:

The First Aid section allows the administrator to remotely change the handheld password information or ‘kill’ the handheld altogether:

The Folder Management option allows you to specify the cache folder on the PC where files are ‘staged’ for sending to or retrieving from the handheld.

The Shared Contacts and Shared Calendar folders are stored within the Unite! Software itself, there is no connectivity to an external PIM source, such as Outlook. But any information entered onto the Unite! Server is updated on the associated handhelds automatically.

An administrator of the Unite! server can also control other users’ devices from his or her own device without having to be sat at, or controlling the Unite! server itself. For example, if a user loses their handheld, the administrator can page the device to help locate it, or can change the password on that device, or wipe it completely. An icon for Remote Device Management is added to the menu and lists the devices of the other associated users, Options available include Wipe Device, Set Device Password, Page Device and Manage Email Passwords.

To transfer pictures, music and other files between the handheld and the Unite! server, the handheld must have a microSD card inserted in it, and the handheld must also be running version 4.2 or later of the handheld software. When connected via the USB cable, the handheld will synchronise automatically with the contents of the Folder specified in the Folder Management section in the web interface. By default this is c:\Document and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Research In Motion\Blackberry Unite\(username)\
Two folders are created: ‘To BlackBerry’ and ‘From Blackberry’.
To browse the contents of the Unite! server remotely, click on the Download Manager icon from the menu. Press the Menu button and select the option to View File Browser. The folder structure of the remote PC will be displayed. When selecting a file and pressing the menu button you have the option to ‘download file’ or ‘view file’.

Bootnote – when a handheld is associated with a Unite! server, an additional profile is added to the handheld so that you can be notified differently if you receive an email from a user on the same Unite! server than if you receive an email from anyone else, for example.