Like receiving a gift during Chanukah and not being able to use it, there was nothing more frustrating than getting my just launched BlackBerry PlayBook review unit last week, and not being able to use it to its full potential. Why? Simply because it couldn’t establish a solid Bluetooth connection (or “Bridge” as BlackBerry is calling it) between my PlayBook and Torch. So — as I do with most issues — I took to Twitter with my frustration and found that the bridging issue — specifically with the Torch 9800 — was a hit or miss across the board, with no ACTUAL solution. Some said OS version had to be updated, others that the password had to be removed; tried both, neither worked for me. At this point I was both losing patience and a bit of interest as well.

Well, my luck this morning was good, because a follower on Twitter by the name of Greg McMillan approached me saying he had a fix and it worked for him — WIN. I followed the steps below and low-and- behold as you see from the image above, I haz bridge now between my PlayBook and Torch. Being that this is such great news, what kind of guy would I be if I didn’t share it with you all? A pretty douche-y one, obviously. So..here it is, how to fix the bridging issue between the BlackBerry PlayBook and Torch 9800:

Delete Bluetooth pairs on both the BlackBerry Smartphone and the PlayBook.

- On the Torch, go to Options

- Go to Network and Connections

- Go to Bluetooth Connections

- Press the menu key and choose MAP Options

- Uncheck all options under Message Services

- Press the Back button and choose to Save ( I encountered issues with it not letting me save the new settings; if that happens for you as well, just discard and keep going).

- Within the Bluetooth Connections screen, press the menu key

- Select Options

- Under Serial Port Profile, uncheck everything but Data Transfer

- Press the Back button and choose Save

After going through these steps, restart both the BlackBerry Smartphone and the PlayBook then attempt to use BlackBerry Bridge again, it should connect flawlessly this time.

I am now rocking with a solid bridge and can finally start doing my review of the BlackBerry Playbook. Thanks to all who tried to help and more specifically @PlaybookPros for coming through for me.

Let’s do this