[guinda35]

Originally Posted by Jeevo

It's not a rumour I've really heard but more phones are becoming touchscreen now and im not sure I can cope without buttons.

Though I've never owned a touchscreen phone I've prodded at text entry on an iPod Touch and it didn't feel right. Maybe I would need to get used to it.

I carry an iPod, which is an iPhone without phone or camera features (and no sim chip or monthly charge), along with my ATT 9700. I've found that the main difference in using the touchscreen and the 9700 buttons is that I can use my thumbs on the 9700, while on the iPod my thumbs are clumsy when I try to use them on the touchscreen keyboard, and I am forced to use my index finger.

This makes the touchscreen harder for me on long texts. I can comfortably grasp the 9700 as I type away on the buttons, versus having to gingerly hold the iPod in one hand while I poke the touchscreen with my other hand's finger.

The iPod works great for me when I am in wifi range because of its applications and Safari software, which is why I carry it, but it is relatively useless in comparison to the 9700 when it comes to drafting long emails, downloading and editing documents, and other input intensive business uses -- which is why I carry my Berry.

So, no, I hope the buttons are here to stay -- at least until they figure out how we can easily speak our text into the smartphones without the quirky "say a command" BS we have now.

[re:charge]

touchscreen is relatively new (a few years). first the people who go crazy for the newest tech will dive on the first revision of something, then start crying about it's bugs & hardware failures. still today, there are terrible touchscreens being sold (& some really good ones)... but generally still too young for the rest of us (imo) to make a proper decision. mobile phone manufacturers love it because previously their designs were getting like cars - samey & boring. that doesn't necessarily mean perfection though.

i actually think BB could make a smartphone with numeric / t9 keys. wether you type with t9 or qwerty is academic, they both take getting used to. but that would take away some of the identity.

still early days for touchscreen imo.

[akosnitzky]

With the slider coming out I am curious to see the extent the button keyboards will be used

[Wuzzer]

IMHO, BlackBerry's have always been identified by their superior keyboards. I recently read a CNN article that said something along the lines of "whenever someone thinks of a physical keyboard, BlackBerry is the first that comes to mind, regardless of if it is actually a blackberry."

[ubizmo]

I think the SideKick has the best keyboard in the industry. It has dedicated number keys, and the spacing and arrangement of the keys are perfect. When I switched to BlackBerry, I took a large step backward, as far as that was concerned. The BlackBerry has other advantages over the SideKick, but the keyboard isn't one of them. Of course, the "cost" of such a comfortable keyboard as the SideKick's is that it has to be in landscape orientation. Given the limitations of portrait orientation, I think BlackBerry's keyboards are about as good as can be expected. After two and a half years using a BlackBerry, I'm very comfortable with the keyboard, in tandem with massively loaded auto-text. But I'd never say it's as good as the Sidekick's.

Ubizmo

[HannaBB]

gees i sure hope NOT!! That's one of the reasons i have a BB, the buttons!! I like to feel the keys when i type, don't like touch screen stuff much... so i do hope they keep their keyboard the way it is!

[kichigai]

I doubt it. BlackBerries are about three things:

• Reliability
• Security
• Functionality

Ditching buttons entirely has the potential to compromise too much on functionality (ever tried typing a long message on a touch screen? It's not the best experience).

[xayoz]

really doubt it...some people like touch screen, but some people absolutely hate it...if BB went stricly touch, with no models with buttons, they would lose customers to other brands that still do buttons, like palmone or samsung

[tgaskill]

I doubt it. The trend is moving toward touchscreen-only smartphones, but the keyboard is one of few reasons die-hard BB fans don't move on to greener pastures.

[judeeg2003]

I sure hope they never get rid of the BB keyboard! I love it much better than a touch screen for texting and emails...