[Brad00111]

So you all have had some time with the 8100, and I searched and it didn't look like there had been a poll, on what I think is a critical question, is the trackball the new BB option or are you all true old school fans and prefer the trackwheel?

[BlissX]

I prefer and love the TrackBall. But I come from the SideKick 2 scrolling wheel. SK3 with the trackball was simply beautiful, other than the fact that the phone sucked, IMO.

So when I heard the 8100 would feature the lil ball, I knew I found my new phone.

[JeffAUV]

It's definitely different, but I think I will grow to love it. My only complaint is that it makes it harder to play BrickBreaker

[PGChi]

I am only worried whether the joy stick is sturdy enough. I have used the heck out of my old BB 7105T using the scroll wheel and did not have any problem. The joystick scrolling is fine but pressing the joystick to select anything gets me the doubt if the joy stick is sturdy enough. It sure feels a little flimsy.

[slevin]

I personally love the trackball

[plakius]

i don't know yet ... part of me likes how you can move up down left right over web pages ... part of me misses the wheel ... with the wheel i felt i had a full on grip and my BB was a machine ... i am feeling a little danty with this one .. ... blah blah blah .. i think im just still hating on the suretype keyboard

[GMK]

The trackball is a far superior input device vs. the scrollwheel. There is no comparison in the browser. Up, down, left, right - on diagonal moves it stair steps through a page. Wonderful. Plus, the trackball is where the action is, on the keyboard, no more having to go to the side of the gadget to use the scrollwheel. Best BB invention yet.

[mwilson]

Originally Posted by GMK

The trackball is a far superior input device vs. the scrollwheel. There is no comparison in the browser. Up, down, left, right - on diagonal moves it stair steps through a page. Wonderful.

A quick side question in reference to the browser thing you mentioned above -- mine only renders pages scrollable up-down; it breaks the normal layout so no left-right scrolling is possible. Does anyone know how do set the browser to display a page the way it is intended? I tried playing with the emulation setting, enabling the HTML tables, etc.

Thanks,
Mike

[GMK]

I think it has to do with the actual web page you are viewing. When the page is compressed by BB to open on the 8100 most links are arranged vertically. However, on some pages there will be horizontal links. You can get to the link by trackballing horizontal or vertical but if you are viewing an image at high res in the browser (read too large to fit the screen) horizontal, vertical and diagonal are functional. much better than having to do the ALT trackwhell to scroll horizontally plus its much faster than my 7105t, almost but not quite real time.

I don't think you have many options to make the pages appear the way you, or I, may want to see them other than turning off images. This is controlled by BIS and actually I think they do a pretty good job. Try out the new preview mode on large pages, works great for quick navigating.

I'm not sure of this but you may have more rendering options in third party software such as Opera. I remember reading somewhere that Opera uses its own web page server to compress pages.

BB browser is fine for my needs.

[mwilson]

Thanks, GMK. Will look into Opera. I agree that for quick browsing, the way BB renders the content is great. It's just that sometimes I wish I had control over this aspect. Coming from PocketPC, I was used to the mobile IE providing options to render to fit the screen horizontally, or to display the page as intended.

Sorry for the mini hijack of the thread.

Back to the trackball: I love it!

Mike

[nickp]

Trackball all the way. I love the fact that you can scroll left and right in any message field, without the need to hold the ALT key and trackwheel. I was skeptical initially but it took all of 10 minutes use, for me to get used to and prefer over the trackwheel.

[rjharary]

trackball is amazing up down left right! I love it!

[gdog]

Trackball works on the suretype size Blackberrys but they would suck on a full size blacberry. You'd almost need two hands. Scroll wheel all the way on the full size BB's

[ceebz]

I'm sure I'll adjust but, I am not liking the trackball all that much.

I miss the trackwheel.

[stealthx32]

If it doesn't wear out like the trackwheel, then hell yeah.

[pulrang]

It seems that RIM is going the way of the ball but I think they would be remiss if they don't keep a model around with a trackwheel. All of us aren't clamoring for tiny/skinny devices - I personally think the 8700 is as small as a full QWERTY BB needs to be, thickness included. I like the trackball too but my mind is in tune with the wheel - why reinvent it?

[mortys11]

i agree, full keybord ( 2 thumb typing design) should have the side wheel and sure type devices (1 Thumb typing)should have roller ball.

The side wheel is a signature BB feature....this reminds me of Coke rolling out New Coke!

Best BB features i like

- Side wheel for quick navigation / selecting
- push email of course
- hold key for capital letter...(all the key shorts are brilliant)

i love the new look and size of the 8100 but the way i have my 8700 configured will be hard to pass up.

Still undecided

[dmoffitt]

my thumbs hurt less!