[BadTrackball]

I don't like the trackball on the 8310 and prefer the earlier wheel. Within 5 days of purchase, some sticky fluid had dried on the trackball making vertical rotation difficult. The rotation problem is identical to the rotation problem in early mouses that lead everyone to move to optical mouses (from the early versions that had a ball that rotated).

The reason I liked Blackberry products in the past was the reliability. This design is not reliable and can not be reliable -- it relies on a mechanical interface (the rollerball) that was discarded long ago. If you need to move away from the wheel, please use an optical or electronic approach rather than a unreliable mechanical approach.

[JSanders]

uh, you obviously did not read our unwritten rule #417, "All polls posted must have an option "I want more beer", or in your poll's case, "You are about two years late in ranting about this issue".

One, the trackwheel, if you haven't noticed, is just as mechanical as the trackball.
Two, I have had three trackball devices, and so far, none of the three trackballs have failed me (one is well over a year old).
Thirdly and finally, any sticky fluid on your thumb would have gotten on a trackwheel as well as a trackball regardless of which you had. Keep your hands clean and don't use sticky hands on a BB.

You have your opinion, I have mine. Outdated, lol, the wheel is like THE oldest tool of mankind, next to using a stick to beat over someone's head! and

[LunkHead]

Oye.....

If you are going to post a poll wanting opinions then at leas make it unbiased....

Your poll offers these options:

Yes, an optical approach would be more reliable
Yes, a electronic approach would be more reliable
No, I prefer outdated unreliable technology

Optical or electronic???? Please......... No thanks.....

So I guess my only option is to select I prefer outdate

Again.... please.......

Get a Treo, it's ALL you........

[d_fisher]

<sarcasm>
I spilled Coke on my keyboard and now my keys are sticking. Why in the world would anyone make a keyboard with 100+ mechanical keys? Thats just stupid!
</sarcasm>

Seriously, you can't blame the device when you admit to getting something sticky on it. There is nothing unreliable about the trackball, or a non-optical mouse for that matter. I have a T-Mobile Pearl that I got a few days before the official release. I have had to clean the trackball ONCE but other than that its worked perfectly.

At work I support 3400+ BlackBerry devices. Of those, 1000+ have a trackball while the rest are older models with the trackwheel. I have personally found that the trackball is more reliable than the trackwheel. To date I have only had one reported incident of a failing trackball. Compared to the trackwheel..I probably got 7-8 reported trackwheel failures over 2+ years. Still pretty good in my opinion.


EDIT: I have modified the third poll option. It was unjustly negative and practically implied that you have to be a behind the times moron to choose it.

[ezrunner]

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8800/4.2.1 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

Besided the trackball is easily replaceable! Where as the trackwheel is much more involved. Trust me I replaced the trackwheel myself enjoyed doin it but wheew talk about anxiety!

Cost 50 bucks for part

Time about 30 minutes mabt 45!

Replaced trackball pop out then pop new one in

Cost 15 bucks

Time minimal maybe 30 seconds

[Soapm]

I like the track wheel as it is good to use at arms length. I don't see as well as I once did and usually hold my device at arms length to see it. I also put my berry in my back pocket a lot. I guess we'll see how the track ball holds out.

Is their a way to lock the track ball so it's not macking selections while in your pocket?

[ezrunner]

lock the keyboard!!!

[Soapm]

Originally Posted by ezrunner

lock the keyboard!!!

The curve has a key???

[John Clark]

Which model BB? The 8320 you can hold the mute key on the top for about 1 sec and put it in standby. That's what I do when it's in my pocket.

[ezrunner]

Originally Posted by Soapm

The curve has a key???

disable dial from homescreen and you can press the K key to lock the keyboard, also JC's method orks just as well

[BBHorrigan]

When the balls first came out, I was like forget this they suck burn them, I'm bringing back the wheel, but after you use a ball for awhile, you kinda get use to them, they are so much more efficent

[daphne]

Or you could have the Q -- with a trackball *and* trackwheel.

But my friend has the Q and she does nothing but complain about how crappy it is. I dunno why her company would have picked the Q over a Blackberry....

[ndub33]

I've had my Curve for about 3 months now, and a Pearl for a year prior-no trackball issues to report.

[King-B]

Lets leave the electronic approach to Motorola and LG.