[zenxacred]

^^ exactly. being proficient with a keyboard (which most everyone is nowadays anyway) is a big bonus. though it may not work for anyone with largesse fingers.

i have mu thumbnails slightly onger than the rest of my fingers and it makes it perfect for me

[Ruger]

I LOVE suretype. At first it takes some getting used to, but once you adjust you are off and running. I'll never go back to multitap, makes me feel like a teenager or something. And the aching fingers from the thing being so small will go away. I hope.

[BES admin]

If you hold the sym/* key, from within messages, the keyboard input method will change from Suretype to multi-tap.

[rambo47]

SureType on the Pearl is head and shoulders above qwerty on a Treo. Personally I like it, but for those that swear it was thought up by Satan himself, salvation is just around the corner with the 8800 (courtesy of Boy Genuis and Engadget). Pearl style, qwerty keyboard. You might have to sacrafice your camera though.

[Stinsonddog]

Originally Posted by rambo47

SureType on the Pearl is head and shoulders above qwerty on a Treo. Personally I like it, but for those that swear it was thought up by Satan himself, salvation is just around the corner with the 8800 (courtesy of Boy Genuis and Engadget). Pearl style, qwerty keyboard. You might have to sacrafice your camera though.

That's what I am waiting for. Never liked suretype but they say the 8100 is better than the 7100.

[headtailgrep]

Originally Posted by LDM

is there a way to turn this horrible thing off and just juse multitap??!?! It doesn't natively know dirty words, either! hrmph!

Then you bought the wrong device. I will never use suretype. I'm a QWERTY man. I'm waiting for the 8800, period. Suretype keeps me away from the pearl, even if it was given to me for free...

[SanFrancisco]

One tip on getting used to SureType is to NOT look at the words as you are typing.

This is because when you see the word initially being typed incorrectly there is a tendency to want to stop and correct the word with multi-tap.

RIM suggests NOT looking at the words as they show up on the screen for precisely this reason [SureType has not yet guessed the correct word you are typing].

I experienced SureType on my 7100t and when I first got it I did look at the words and stopped to backspace so to correct them. Once I stopped doing that, I loved SureType.

There is a learning curve with SureType as you manually have to teach it unique words. I am a lawyer in federal court. I had to teach my 7100t all sorts of legal words and names of places and people.

Once SureType learned terms unique to my business/profession, it was smooth sailing.

Don't turn off SureType, give it a chance for a month or so. You will get used to not looking at the screen and letting SureType do its thing. Come back in a month. You will report that SureType is the greatest feature on the 8100.

[SanFrancisco]

Oh, another great feature on the 8100 compared to the 7100 series, it's a lot easier on the 8100 to highlight words that need correcting.

With the 7100 series you had to hold down a combo of keys to navigate to spots on the display, normally to words or characters that needed to be edited.

With the 8100 you move the cursor around just like one does with a desktop PC. I suspect that is why they came out with the trackball, because navigating with key combinations was cumbersome.

I never did learn how to move up, move down, move sideways, etc. in the 18 months I had the 7100. It was a drag.

[brmcguire]

I second that. I type as each letter has its own key. If you pay attention to how each key has two letters, your toast. As San Fran said, you need to not look at the screen and SureType typically gets it right. Its a very good alternative to a full key board. I actually find it faster.

[kathrynhr]

Ditto brmcguire. The last few weeks have been my first experience with SureType, and I love it. I also love that you can type one-handed with it almost as quickly as you can type two-handed on a qwerty device.

[thriller]

The 7100 was my first device and i got used to it and like others said give it a chance and don't pay too much attention to the letters while you type. It gets it right most of the time. If you turn it off, then it beats the whole purpose of having a suretype device.

[tommyboy]

Originally Posted by kathrynhr

Ditto brmcguire. The last few weeks have been my first experience with SureType, and I love it. I also love that you can type one-handed with it almost as quickly as you can type two-handed on a qwerty device.

I believe that if you use SureType it really helps if you're a good speller. This is my problem - I'm a horrible speller.

A good suggestions is to spend some time setting up custom words - IE, I set up words that I often use:

ppl = people
wo = with out
ty = thank you

...you get the idea... saves time that way.

[GMK]

Originally Posted by tommyboy

I believe that if you use SureType it really helps if you're a good speller. This is my problem - I'm a horrible speller.

A good suggestions is to spend some time setting up custom words - IE, I set up words that I often use:

ppl = people
wo = with out
ty = thank you

...you get the idea... saves time that way.

Another useful suggestion is to go into the custom wordlist and delete the mistakes that are in there. I'm finding that this new version of suretype is very aggressive in putting words into the list including: accepted mis-spellings, names off of spam email and other words that I can't even imagine how they got in there. If you type in a word that isn't what you want and then continue, suretype adds it to the list, even if you go back and correct it. I spent a good half hour the other day deleting all kinds of garbage. Keep an eye on the list

[Lex Luthor]

I never thought I would ever say this...

"I am lovin' the SureType!!!"

I have gotten so used to it and now it's no longer an issue for me.

[brmcguire]

Originally Posted by tommyboy

I believe that if you use SureType it really helps if you're a good speller. This is my problem - I'm a horrible speller.

A good suggestions is to spend some time setting up custom words - IE, I set up words that I often use:

ppl = people
wo = with out
ty = thank you

...you get the idea... saves time that way.

This is a good point. You will need to know how to spell in order for SureType to understand what you are trying to type. I just the other day was a little frustrated with not being able to have SureType pick up a word that I was totally trying to spell.

[antisepsisDC]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.0) BlackBerry8100/4.2.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

I really don't like how you can no longer go to the next word using the keypad. And I don't like how it gets confused in a webpage form, not knowing whether you mean to page up or enter an I, for instance.

[archiberry]

Is there any way to edit the custom wordlist outside of the BlackBerry? It would be great to add any new words and correct the mistakes etc. with the convenience of a large screen and full keyboard... though I have been editing the list at airports sometimes..