Before I started using BlackBerry 10 I had already written off the Hub feature. The Hub basically consolidates your e-mail, text messaging, BBM, Facebook, Twitter, alerts phone calls, and voice mail into one central place. It allows you to quickly and easily read, compose, and manage all of your messages across multiple platforms and accounts.
Presenting a lot of information in once place can feel overwhelming -- if not chaotic. Thankfully, BlackBerry built in controls to manage which accounts show up in the Hub. If you'd rather not have every Facebook like and comment show up next to your work e-mail, you can turn it off with a few taps. Here's how:
- Launch the Hub on your BlackBerry 10 device.
- Tap the menu icon in the bottom-right corner and select Settings.
- Select Hub Management from the Hub Settings screen.
- Here you'll see a list of all accounts connected to your Hub. You can turn them off individually by sliding the On switch to the left.
You'll still be able to access these accounts in the Hub, but the messages and alerts from any respective accounts you shut off will no longer show up under the main Hub category.
You'll need to switch to any hidden account by sliding out the category list and selecting it.
As it turns out, I don't find the Hub to be all that overwhelming. In fact, it's won me over to its usefulness. Being able to send a text, Twitter DM, Facebook message, and an e-mail from the same screen without having to jump between apps is a great way to communicate.
What about you? Is the Hub overwhelming, or just the right mixture of information?