Five Tip Friday ? Using your BlackBerry smartphone or BlackBerry ...

Put your apron on and get your oven mitts ready, because today I?m providing some tips I?ve cooked up for how your BlackBerry? smartphone and BlackBerry? PlayBook? tablet can aid you in the kitchen.

1. Converting weights and measures

As someone who enjoys cooking, I end up doing a lot of weight and measurement conversions. The Calculator apps on my smartphone and tablet both have unit converters built in, which I use to ensure that my conversions are correct.

BlackBerry smartphone

1. From the Home screen or from within a folder, select the Calculator app
2. Enter a value, Press the Menu key and choose one of the following:

3. Select a conversion type.

BlackBerry PlayBook tablet

1. From the Home screen or from within a folder, select the Calculator app
2. Swipe down from the top bezel and select ?Unit Converter?
3. Enter a number and then select the conversion type.

2. Print recipes using Print To Go

Print To Go? allows you to ?print? documents ? in this case, recipes ? from a Windows? PC to a BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. Anything that can be sent to your computer?s printer can alternatively be sent wirelessly to your tablet as a PDF file. For example, my wife is using Print To Go to catalogue her mother?s handwritten recipes by scanning the recipe and then making it portable by printing it to her tablet.

To learn more about how to use Print To Go, check out our blog post on Getting Started with Print To Go.

3. Use the MemoPad app for your shopping list

One of the first comments my mother made after receiving her first BlackBerry smartphone was she now understood why people walk around the grocery store staring at phones: they are following their shopping lists. I use the MemoPad app for my grocery list, deleting items from the list as I add them to my shopping cart in the store.

To create a shopping list, open the MemoPad app form the Home screen or from within a folder of your BlackBerry smartphone and select ?New Memo?. I try to organize my list into the different sections of the grocery store so I?m not weaving from one section to the next.

4. Use the Clock app?s Timer

The timer on my stove is fine, as long as I?m within earshot of the kitchen; however, this is often not the case. To ensure that I don?t overcook a meal when I?m away from the kitchen or when I?m outside using the BBQ, I use the Timer on my BlackBerry smartphone or BlackBerry PlayBook tablet.

BlackBerry smartphone

1. Select the ?Clock? app from the Home screen or from within a folder
2. Press the Menu key and select ?Timer?
3. Press the Menu key and select ?Set Timer?
4. Set the time, followed by ?Ok?
5. Select the Start/Stop icon (circled in red below).

BlackBerry PlayBook tablet

1. Tap the ?Clock? app from the Home screen or from within a folder
2. Swipe to the right until the Timer is displayed
3. Tap the clock face and set the time using the dials
4. Click ?Start? to activate the Timer.

5. Food and Drink apps

Within the BlackBerry App World? storefront there is a wide variety of apps that can help you in all aspects of preparing a meal. You can find apps for wine pairing, recipe books and recipe storage ? and even apps that can help you find restaurants in case you burn the odd meal like I do.

Check out these apps in the Food & Drink section under the Entertainment apps category in BlackBerry App World.

Bonus: Double tap to make Adobe? Flash? objects full screen

YouTube? has videos posted by chefs showing cooking techniques, and I like to watch these in the kitchen so I can pause and play as I watch. Double tap on a video to make it full screen, tap the screen once to display the controls such as pause and then swipe down from the top bezel to exit the full screen view.

Have your own tip for using your BlackBerry smartphone or BlackBerry PlayBook tablet in the kitchen? Leave it in the comments below!

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Source: http://helpblog.blackberry.com/2012/10/blackberry-device-kitchen-tips/

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