[hahersch]

I am going to be traveling next week and am putting everything in my calendar. I am taking off at 9:35am (EST) and landing at 10:25am (CST). How does the BlackBerry calendar (if it matters, I have an 8310) handle this? Should I plan it to end at 10:25am and it will automatically switch time zones AND adjust the calendar when I get there? Or do I plan it for 11:25am and have it fix that? Do you guys understand my question? I'm really confused on it. I think right now my time settings are set to AT&T Network. Do you all recommend I leave it as that or change it to the BlackBerry Network?

[DennisLocke]

Wirelessly posted

When you sync time with the network it will always asjust based on the time zone setting in your device. If you want your blackberry to be in the correct time zone you'll have to change it manually under Options\Date/Time. This will automatically adjust your appointments to the new time zone.



It can be confusing when scheduling new appointments for a time zone you're not in. Fortunately you don't have to do these adjustments in your head. Simply schedule your appointment as you normally would but in the appointment specify the time zone for the appointment and the bb will do the rest.

Thanks, Dennis . .

[MBW]

Also, if your appointments originate in Outlook (2007 anyway), look for and turn on the Time Zone feature. You enter your start/emd times and their relevant time zones and Outlook does the math.

[hahersch]

But that still doesn't help me with the fact I take off in EST and land in CST. Can someone give me a walk through on exactly what to do to make this transition seamless? I am thoroughly confused by all of this time zone junk. Why do I need to manually change the time zone if it will update automatically? What does changing the calendar time zone actually do for each appointment?

[djm2]

1. Time zone will not update automatically (by itself). You must manually change the time zone -- not the time.

2. To book your flight, many carriers will send you an Outlook calendar entry that will address this. However, to do it manually:

a. Enter departure time in EST
b. Look up duration, and in Outlook calendar specify the duration. It looks like your flight is one hour and 50 minutes. Enter that for how long the appointment is.
c. In your Outlook EDT based it will say that the appointment lasts until 11:25.
d. When you arrive in your CDT location and set the time zone, 11:25 EDT becomes 10:25 CDT (correctly) and you are on schedule.

[CanuckBB]

Or...


Ignore TZ.

Enter takeoff at 0935 and landing at 1025. When you get to your destination, change the TIME on the berry.

I find that uless an appointment actually traverses TZ, like a call between cities, it's easier to just enter everything in local time, and change the device time.

[djm2]

Originally Posted by CanuckBB

Or...


Ignore TZ.

Enter takeoff at 0935 and landing at 1025. When you get to your destination, change the TIME on the berry.

I find that uless an appointment actually traverses TZ, like a call between cities, it's easier to just enter everything in local time, and change the device time.

Good point, and probably especially relevant if you are not booking enterprise-wide appointments across multiple time zones.

[celltechy]

So I like the idea of changing the time. But what happens now if the time changes automatically? E.g. It leaves my time zone as EST but pushes the time 1 hour back because it is synching with either blackberry or network time? Will it change the calendar appointments. Nothing I'm doing is enterprise and I don't use outlook. Everything is personal use done via the BB calendar on my 8310.

[tpoon]

You will have to adjust your time zone, which can be completed in your Setup Wizard.

Happily using Hosted Exchange on my Blackberry Curve The Message Center Exchange Hosting

[CanuckBB]

Originally Posted by celltechy

So I like the idea of changing the time. But what happens now if the time changes automatically? E.g. It leaves my time zone as EST but pushes the time 1 hour back because it is synching with either blackberry or network time? Will it change the calendar appointments. Nothing I'm doing is enterprise and I don't use outlook. Everything is personal use done via the BB calendar on my 8310.

The BB does not adjust time automatically. So when you travel, you have to go to time settings, and then either change the time or the TZ. Changing the time does not affect the appointments. Changing the TZ will. If you forget, or can't, specify the TZ of an appointment, it is assumed to be in the TZ set when entered, and stored as UTC +/- offset. you change TZ, offset changes, displayed time changes.

[celltechy]

I'm sooo confused an I donno why. My flight leaves at 935am EST and lands 1025 CST. So if I set it like that then I would have to change the time manually and it wouldn't adjust the time of the calendar entry. If I set it to land at 1125 (EST) and then change the time zone to CST it will change the time to 1025 (on the clock when I land) and change the end of the calendar entry to 1025? Will it change the departure time? I guess I don't need to worry as much about the flights and more about the appointments. So if I schedule an appointment in somewhere that uses CST, should I set it to 3PM (just an example) while I'm in Eastern and set the time zone in the appointment to CST or should I leave it as EST and then just change the time zone in settings when I get to my destination and it will adjust all entries. Thanks guys for all your help. I don't know why this is confusing me so much.

Originally Posted by CanuckBB

The BB does not adjust time automatically. So when you travel, you have to go to time settings, and then either change the time or the TZ. Changing the time does not affect the appointments. Changing the TZ will. If you forget, or can't, specify the TZ of an appointment, it is assumed to be in the TZ set when entered, and stored as UTC +/- offset. you change TZ, offset changes, displayed time changes.

[CanuckBB]

Yes, it's confusing.


Calendar entries are stored internally as UTC. Always.

When the calendar is displayed, it takes the UTC time and adds/substract the offset.

So, if you enter 0935 and 1025, both in EST, then changing only the time will be OK.

If you enter 0935 EST and 1125 CST and change the TZ to CST when you land, your arrival time will show 1025, your departure will show 0835. All of your future appointments entered for EST will show 1 hour early. You then have to remember to add the hour to figure out the real time of that appointment next week. Also, if you book an appointment for when you'll be back in EST while the berry is set to CST, when you change the TZ, the appoitment time will change.


That's why I prefer changing the time only. I like that if I'll be in a different TZ next week, I can look at my calendar and see a 1400 appointment and not have to try to calculate TZ offset. But that's just me.

This debate has been going on forever, and it's precicely because of it that the berry won't auto adjust either time or TZ.

[DennisLocke]

Wirelessly posted

Both the device time and the time zone (tz) can be changed under options\date/time settings.

Dealing with more than one tz can be very confusing so when entering out of town appointments, I always specify the actual time along with its associated tz. For example if I have a meeting in Atlanta at 1pm I put it in the calendar as 1pm Eastern. On the calendar it will show as noon (central) until I change the device tz to Eastern. When that happens the device time will advance one hour as will all appointment display times. (Now the appointment that showed as noon Central will show as 1pm Eastern.) This keeps me on time for events back home as well as those in the destination tz.

From a technical perspective the tz can be specified when entering the appointment directly in the BB or when entered using Outlook. This way it doesn't matter what tz the device is using when the appointment is entered. As long as you specify the correct tz on the appontment, it will always show up correctly for the then current device tz setting.

For travel between time zones I set the travel time using the departure tz and manually adjust the arrival time (+/-) so that it will show correctly when I change the device tz for the destination.
As for finding available time in the right tz, that's another challenge/discussion all together.

[monkeypaw]

Unless you're flying the plane don't worry about the arrival time, worry about making it to the airport on time and don't mess with departure time in your time zone.

Then make the appointments when you need them to be for where you're going. For time zone change trips I add the time in the name of the appointment just in case I forget to change the timezone or it is set to that timezone and gets changed. Then I know when it's supossed to be even if the reminder is moved.

[Flashasic]

Anyone know how 8310 can automatically show the local time in different time zone. Most phone can lock onto to network time and show the local time without changing time zone and so on. Can BB8310 do it?

[JSanders]

The BlackBerry, any model, won't do it.