The BlackBerry browser may not be perfect (for now) but it does offer a few options similar to a desktop browser. For example, you can change the browser identification to be able to view websites as if you were visiting them from a Firefox or Internet Explorer web browser. Another set of features is caching. What is cache? Here’s a good description from WikiPedia:

In computer science, a cache (pronounced /ˈkæʃ/ kash) is a component that improves performance by transparently storing data such that future requests for that data can be served faster. The data that is stored within a cache might be values that have been computed earlier or duplicates of original values that are stored elsewhere. If requested data is contained in the cache (cache hit), this request can be served by simply reading the cache, which is comparably faster. Otherwise (cache miss), the data has to be recomputed or fetched from its original storage location, which is comparably slower. Hence, the more requests can be served from the cache the better the overall system performance is.

Like all things on any computer or mobile device, stored info takes up memory. If you browse the same bunch of websites every day (like BBRocks.com ) then caching web pages is ok but if you visit random web sites more often then those web pages are taking up your BlackBerry’s memory by storing content on it. Also, if you view a web page initially with your browser identification set to BlackBerry and later switch to Firefox or Internet Explorer, you would need to clear your cache in order to view the full version of the site.

Clearing cache is also good if you do a lot of mobile banking or browsing with logged in accounts and want to simultaneously log out of everything from your device by removing the “logged in cookies”. Unfortunately you can’t select which cache to remove, only remove in bulk.

The following Quick Guide will help you clear your BlackBerry web browsing history, content cache, pushed content and cookie cache.

Note: These options will only clear content for your BlackBerry Browser, not third party browsers.

1. Find your Browser application icon and click it.
2. While in the Browser open the menu and select Options.
3. Scroll down and click on Cache Operations.
4. Options available in Cache Operations screen (must select Clear for each option to clear its contents):
   • Clear History: Clears all your BlackBerry web browsing history.
   • Content Cache: Web page elements like images, styling, etc for faster loading when visiting the same web page again.
   • Pushed Content: Automatically pushed content from things like emails, special alerts you’ve subscribed to, etc.
   • Cookie Cache: This stores your browser’s information so the web page basically knows who you are, where you’re coming from and going. For example, if you login to the Facebook mobile web page and enable “Remember Me”, Facebook will put a cookie in your cache so that you aren’t logged out when you leave the page.
5. Back out and let the browser clean its memory.