Hello Everyone, 

Here is a quick reminder about an often overlooked and sometimes troublesome keyboard feature of the Samsung Blackjack II Smartphone running either Windows Mobile 6.0 or 6.1 that may be of a particular interest to the visually impaired who, like me, understand that silence is not always golden. 

The second key to the right of the [SPACEBAR], on the bottom row of the Samsung Blackjack II QWERTY keyboard, is the [Silent] key.  While a short tap of the [Silent] key has no effect on the device, pressing it for two or more seconds will change the phone’s sound Profile to Silent.

Those using Code Factory’s Mobile Speak software should be aware that as of this writing, there is no MSS change-in-status indicator when using this key.

Please note that the [Silent] key functions as a toggle; that is, to reactivate your previous sound Profile, press and hold this key for two or more seconds.  If done correctly, pressing this key will cause the phone to either play a sound or vibrate, depending upon which sound Profile is reinitialized as a result of using this key.

NOTE 1:
When used in Windows Mobile 6.1, it is possible, though highly unlikely, to have a non-silent/vibrate Profile selected and yet hear no system sounds on the device as a result of having accidentally pressed the [Silent} key.

NOTE 2:
When held for longer than 4 seconds, Mobile Speak users will notice that MSS treats the [Silent] key as if it were the MSS modifier key ([Home]).

As a general rule, I strongly recommend that the blind and low vision do not use the [Silent] key on the Samsung Blackjack II.  However, if at anytime the device does not play any system sounds, after you verify that the sound Profile is set to a non-silent/vibrate Profile, try using the [Silent] key to toggle the system sounds back on.

Click Here to read previous article in this series. 

Enjoy,

Mark