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SmoothRunnings · 07-16-2009, 07:55 PM

I think having a full keyboard and touch screen really is over kill. Really RIM needs to rethink that over some more as I don't think both go hand and hand.

Imagine if Apple put a full keyboard on their iPhone I bet none of the Mac Geeks would buy it because they would be too confused to know what do with it!

A.

koolaidWTF · 07-16-2009, 08:04 PM

The Pluto doesn't have keys...

DacyJ · 07-16-2009, 10:25 PM

Wirelessly posted (My name is Bubbles)

Ouch.

SmoothRunnings · 07-17-2009, 03:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by koolaidWTF

The Pluto doesn't have keys...

Well all the rumors and pictures from Rogers suggest the Pluto will have a full QWERTY keyboard plus a touch screen.

A.

tigerbluemusic · 07-17-2009, 04:05 AM

It depends on the execution of the design I guess. Last time I checked, the palm pre was doin a pretty reasonable job?

nick.dollimount · 07-17-2009, 08:06 AM

I personally think it's a perfect idea. I LOVE touchscreens for navigation and such; zooming into pictures, scrolling, selecting things, etc. On the other hand, I'm not a fan of typing on a touchscreen; blackberry or iPhone alike. I would take a full-qwerty keyboard any day. So to combine a qwerty keyboard with a touchscreen is like the love-child of wicked and awesome. I can't wait =D

ndub33 · 07-17-2009, 08:32 AM

I think a lot of people would agree with that. My wife has an HTC Wing, and loves having the ability to type and dial phone numbers from the keypad and use the touchscreen for everythng else.

ifonline · 07-17-2009, 08:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SmoothRunnings

Imagine if Apple put a full keyboard on their iPhone I bet none of the Mac Geeks would buy it because they would be too confused to know what do with it!

No need to be an ass. I think the combo of touchscreen and physical keyboard is one of the great things about the Pre. It seems to me that they do go together perfectly. You can use the screen to quickly tap on buttons or select objects, while you can use the keyboard to quickly type text. Best of both worlds as I see it.

ArgonNJ · 07-17-2009, 12:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SmoothRunnings

I think having a full keyboard and touch screen really is over kill. Really RIM needs to rethink that over some more as I don't think both go hand and hand.

Imagine if Apple put a full keyboard on their iPhone I bet none of the Mac Geeks would buy it because they would be too confused to know what do with it!

A.

How wrong you are. First a touch screen and physical keyboard would be great. Moving and zooming around a web page is a pain in the butt without a touchscreen. On the other hand, typing is a pain without a keyboard. A marriage of the two is a no brainer. Your shot at iphone users tells me your real purpose for this post. Many iphone users would love to have a hardware keyboard.

hcheun · 07-17-2009, 01:01 PM

different folks, different strokes, to one their own. My opinion, a combo would do alot of justice, but personally, i will forever need physical keys, whatever they are paired up with, regular or touchscreen.

Laxxkid6886 · 07-17-2009, 02:35 PM

I think a full QWERTY and touchscreen is AWESOME. I think that is the only improvement that could be made on the Bold (besides it needs a 3.2 MP camera). I honestly can't wait to see what the "Pluto" will look like.

kurichan · 07-18-2009, 11:42 AM

+1 Touch Screen + Keyboard.

Wish it didn't have to be a slider tho.

mkatari · 07-21-2009, 04:39 PM

Touch screen and keyboard would be awesome.
Instead of a slider, it could be a clamshell, that would be cool.
Did the rumors include a release date and carrier ?

rambo47 · 07-21-2009, 07:53 PM

The original convergence device, the Palm Treo, showed that if you do it right it can be a great combo. The Palm Pre shows what happens if you make the keypad too small. The Storm with a full slide-out QWERTY keypad could be neat if they didn't simply add the thickness of a keypad to the current design. That's the trick - fit it into a sleek package without compromising away the functionality.

DacyJ · 07-21-2009, 07:59 PM

Wirelessly posted (My name is Bubbles)

Quote:

Originally Posted by rambo47

The original convergence device, the Palm Treo, showed that if you do it right it can be a great combo. The Palm Pre shows what happens if you make the keypad too small. The Storm with a full slide-out QWERTY keypad could be neat if they didn't simply add the thickness of a keypad to the current design. That's the trick - fit it into a sleek package without compromising away the functionality.

An idea of what you mean by getting the thickness right, gone wrong, is the ATT 8125. Touch screen with slide out keypad and about the size of a brick, I have one.

jcmtyler · 07-21-2009, 10:47 PM

Palm Treo was indeed way ahead of its time and I think represents the ideal for balancing screen size with text entry, navigation, and overall usability on a mobile device. In particular I think the directional keypad combined with touchscreen is much much better than anything RIM has offered so far, and I am a huge BlackBerry fan and love my Curve 8900. However the ability to hit a directional keypad 3x to get to a menu option that you have memorized is so much nicer than spinning a trackball and hoping you get it right and don't get stuck on a piece of lint. Plus the ability to use multi-touch gestures on a touchscreen makes web browsing, document viewing, and zooming a breeze. Optical trackpad is better than a trackball, but still I don't think will be good enough, unless they can figure out a way to recognize border touches as directional keystrokes.

So yeah, BlackBerry Curve 8900 keyboard + Palm Treo directional keypad + multi-touch touchscreen, in a Curve body sounds just about perfect to me.

One day of course someone will come up with a viable alternative to keyboard entry and devices will all go the way of the iPhone, perhaps with a foldable screen. Voice activation has made great strides but isn't there yet and obviously doesn't work well in a quiet environment. Maybe some combination of pupil-tracking and thought-transmission will be the sweet spot =)

skeevecr · 07-22-2009, 08:20 AM

Thought transmission would horribly reduce the potential market for a product nowadays.

XBeX · 07-23-2009, 12:22 AM

full keyboard and touch screen, they cancel each other out in my opinion.

SmoothRunnings · 07-23-2009, 08:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ifonline

No need to be an ass. I think the combo of touchscreen and physical keyboard is one of the great things about the Pre. It seems to me that they do go together perfectly. You can use the screen to quickly tap on buttons or select objects, while you can use the keyboard to quickly type text. Best of both worlds as I see it.

If there is more things to press or tap there will more things to go wrong. :0)

You know know how many times I have accidently put my own into the voice mode were it starts asking "say a command" when I put it into my BB holster to have to pull it out and tap the power button a couple of times. Having the screen touch sensitive with keyboard plus the extra buttons suggests to me from a marketing stand point that RIM really want their new Pluto to break more often, or people who are clumsy to switch to another device all together.

SmoothRunnings · 07-23-2009, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jcmtyler

Palm Treo was indeed way ahead of its time and I think represents the ideal for balancing screen size with text entry, navigation, and overall usability on a mobile device. In particular I think the directional keypad combined with touchscreen is much much better than anything RIM has offered so far, and I am a huge BlackBerry fan and love my Curve 8900. However the ability to hit a directional keypad 3x to get to a menu option that you have memorized is so much nicer than spinning a trackball and hoping you get it right and don't get stuck on a piece of lint. Plus the ability to use multi-touch gestures on a touchscreen makes web browsing, document viewing, and zooming a breeze. Optical trackpad is better than a trackball, but still I don't think will be good enough, unless they can figure out a way to recognize border touches as directional keystrokes.

So yeah, BlackBerry Curve 8900 keyboard + Palm Treo directional keypad + multi-touch touchscreen, in a Curve body sounds just about perfect to me.

One day of course someone will come up with a viable alternative to keyboard entry and devices will all go the way of the iPhone, perhaps with a foldable screen. Voice activation has made great strides but isn't there yet and obviously doesn't work well in a quiet environment. Maybe some combination of pupil-tracking and thought-transmission will be the sweet spot =)

I guess but I bet RIM will leave out one key feature...the pen! :o)

Primerica and I am sure other companies are looking to or have relased applications that require a customer signature. Primerica uses the Treo devices to achive this without having to lug all that extra paper work with them, even though I personally would refused to sign my life to away to a PDA device. ;)

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