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Portables Java Programming Hardware

RIM's New Blackberry Ditches Thumboard 161

Posted by timothy from the but-that-was-the-coolest-thing-about-it dept.
Eric Giguere writes "Research In Motion's newest BlackBerry, the 7100t, aka 'Charm,' has a more conventional phone form factor. It does this by ditching the thumb keyboard for an extended keypad with predictive text input. It also adds Bluetooth. The changes are mostly physical, the device is still running the same basic software -- existing Java apps should run with only minor changes. More details at the BlackBerry.com website." xRelisH supplies this link to a review of the device from MSNBC.
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RIM's New Blackberry Ditches Thumboard More

RIM's New Blackberry Ditches Thumboard

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  • Predictive entry sounds better than others (Score:5, Interesting)

    by chrisbw ( 609350 ) on Wednesday September 08, 2004 @06:14PM (#10195298) Homepage
    I'm really used to the current BlackBerry keyboard, but I'm really interested in seeing how they implemented their predictive text entry. I read another article this morning about it, and apparently it "learns" as you go, and dynamically adjusts its recognition list. This is much better than what my Sony-Ericsson mobile can do with SMS messages.

    • I use the predictive text for SMS on my Ericsson phone, and I'm always amazed at how accurate it is. I think this is a good thing for the Blackberry to reduce the size and cost of their devices and drive penetration. (Fewer keys = fewer moving parts = less breakage)

      With everything that new cell phones do, though, I'm curious as to how Blackberry devices differentiate themselves. (I've never used one myself.) Mine can send and receive e-mail messages and it was a cheapo T226. Granted, it can only handle sho

      • how Blackberry devices differentiate themselves
        i'm guessing they use the chain rule
      • With everything that new cell phones do, though, I'm curious as to how Blackberry devices differentiate themselves. (I've never used one myself.) Mine can send and receive e-mail messages and it was a cheapo T226.

        Blackberry devices are indented for corporate email environments. Using additional server software, they can sync with an exchange environment (at least email and calendar), among other corporate email solutions.

        Good Technology does a much better job of synchronizing with exchange in my opin
      • I had some bad luck with predictive entry on my T68 once. I was living in the Philippines, sharing a house with one of my coworkers. Texted him something similar to the following:

        Cant find jews. Jews on table by door/tv? Plz find jews, bring to work.

        jews = 5397 = keys.
      • I have negative thoughts about removing the the keyboard. I always thought that was a huge plus. Remember, a majority of Blackberry users are the suits who could care less about the technology and just want to do nothing more then send and recieve their corporate email and have the ability to read attachments. Many of these people can not even understand the difference between "GSM", "gprs" and the "GPRS" signals and what they are for. Any learning from the predictive input better be stored on the sim
        • I have negative thoughts about removing the the keyboard. I always thought that was a huge plus. Remember, a majority of Blackberry users are the suits who could care less about the technology and just want to do nothing more then send and recieve their corporate email and have the ability to read attachments.

          On the contrary, they care very much about the technology. They want a keyboard, a real keyboard, not a cell phone number pad.

          I hate number pad schemes and I really, realy loathe anything that is

        • What's the diff?
      • "I'm curious as to how Blackberry devices differentiate themselves"

        Yeah, they look quite ordinary too.

        In fact, I think they should rename themselves "RedCherry", and come up with a revolutionary user interface that comprises only of 2 red knobs......

        They can even patent it and sue all the women for infringing on their IP!
    • that's not really new, that sounds just like the t9(predictive text input) I had in my benefon io.. hmm. 5 years ago? most phones have that ability to make the thing learn words(and different lists for different languages and so on).

      regular thumb typing isn't THAT slow either when you're done enough of it.

      (besides, if you have to switch between languages often of speak slang words and abbreviations a lot predictive text input blows, and yes checked my phone just right now and it can be taught words, but I
    • I find it very annoying because most of messages i write aren't written in English. Thus all predictions are useless to me and have to turn it off. All of it would change if I just could plug in a new dictionary. I don't think extra non english customers ever hurt.

  • exist? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by BoldAC ( 735721 ) on Wednesday September 08, 2004 @06:14PM (#10195303)
    existing Java apps should run with only minor changes

    It's freaking java. Why do all of these device makers continue to change small things that make all of the previous software libraries not work!

    The platform is going to do better if there is more software available.

    • Re:exist? (Score:3, Insightful)

      by lseltzer ( 311306 )
      You're being too soft on Java. This is inherent in the dishonesty of Java marketing. Write once run anywhere my ass.

    • Re:exist? (Score:1, Flamebait)

      by Kenja ( 541830 )
      "It's freaking java. Why do all of these device makers continue to change small things that make all of the previous software libraries not work!"

      Your right! All computers ever made and that ever will be made should have the same exact interface and hardware. None of this "diferent screen resolution" crap.

    • Re:exist? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by doodlelogic ( 773522 ) on Wednesday September 08, 2004 @06:59PM (#10195644)
      Why do all of these device makers continue to change small things that make all of the previous software libraries not work!

      You could also ask:

      Who are device makers' principal direct customers?

      How do these customers, whether retailers or network providers, afford to sell their phones at below cost price?

      Can an industry sustain the sale of loss leaders if it does not lock its customers into buying aftersales upgrades, additional features and ported programs?


      My ten pound phone device thingy has been pricier than even the natural sceptic that I am likes to admit.
    • It's freaking java. Why do all of these device makers continue to change small things that make all of the previous software libraries not work!

      Because there are several different versions of the J2ME. And up until MIDP 2.0 (the most recent version), they all sucked for certain things... no image transparency, no direct access to mutable images, that sort of thing... so some manufacturers wrote their own APIs (Nokia is a notable one, their UI API is very good)

      Then on top of that there are optional exten

  • I thought the full... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ObjectiveGiant ( 767054 ) on Wednesday September 08, 2004 @06:16PM (#10195326) Homepage
    ... keyboard was what made these things so attractive. I txt on my cell phone quite frequently and I'm not crazy about T9 input. It's a bit of a pain to check behind yourself to make sure the correct word was selected. Obviously it's better than pounding one button 3x to get the right letter you want but isn't this a downgrade for this type of device?
    • Here here. I was seriously researching the blackberry because it's full keyboard is much better to respond to an e-mail than predictive text messages, which I use now on my cell phone. My interest is lost as I do not want to buy old technology.
      • You do realize they do continue to make those full keypad blackberry's still?
      • I totally missed this at first, but notice that this new product only has 2 characters per button, rather than the cell-phone standard 3. This means that any given word you type will have a great deal fewer simmilar words to confuse the system.

        For instance, any given 5 letter word entered using predictative text-entries on a cell phone could be anything among 3^5 = 243 possibilities, whereas this unit will have a mere 2^5 = 32 possibilities.

        Of course, this assumes that every combination is equally likely
    • Read the bloody article before passing judgement.

      1. This doesn't use T9 input, it uses something more like T13 (two letters per key) which is clearly going to be way more accurate) and has a QWERTY layout not an ABC layout like most phones.

      2. T9 is amazingly fast, and it would be faster if it actually auto-completed words (I mean, if you are guessing at the word already, then why not auto-complete the damn thing? Maybe it is just a problem with my old Nokia 6100) - T9 also meant the end of txt spk because

      • I did "read the bloody article" and I'm not passing any judgement.

        Response to 1:
        I didn't say it uses T9.(Although it might look like that was my intention.) I was trying to relate my experience with a similar system to what the article discussed. My experience with T9 have been less than steller but I use it on a device that is a phone with text messaging functionality... Not something that is meant to be used for email and the like.

        Response to 2:
        I agree 100% that auto-complete would be a 100% improve

        • Yeah, the Nokia looks like it is using the classic Psion 5 layout, which in my opinion was the single most awesome portable computer / PDA device ever made (especially considering that was so long ago) and it had a great keyboard. Even the cut-down Revo model simply rocked.

          Please, someone, make a device that merges a decent phone with the Psion layout AND keyboard (yes, the Nokia communicators do mimik the Psion layout in a non-stylish way, but not the keyboard).

          The biggest problem I have with any type of
    • I've never liked using a pad designed for TouchTone signaling to enter text. QWERTY may have been designed for typewriters but at least it was designed for entering text, not generating DTMF sounds for the phone company. The TouchTone keypad's design was made for telephone dialing and it's enough of a painful stretch to use it for menu systems -- if you are cursed with a Trimline. cellular with no headset attached, or oher keypad-on-the-cheek phone you have to take it away from your ear to push the next b
    • The new board is a hybrid, 21 keys.

      Basically each key represents two characters, in a qwerty-style arrangement, with the middle block of keys doing double duty for number entry. Because each key represents a diad, not a triad, of possible entries, I imagine the predictive text entry is much closer to type-and-forget than T9.

      So it's somewhere between a thumbboard and a typical cell phone. If my phone didn't have a full thumbboard I'd probably be interested in seeing how this performs...

  • Predictive text (Score:5, Insightful)

    by scowling ( 215030 ) on Wednesday September 08, 2004 @06:16PM (#10195327) Homepage
    I'd be very surprised if the predictive text system works as well as the reviewer appears to indicate, unless the only words you use are common ones (or if you're willing to use up virtually all of your storage on your custom dictionary entries).

    Every predictive text system I've used in the past has been slower (due to dictionary-adding, backspacing, and so on) than it would have been by using more 'traditional' input methods like thumb-texting.

    Maybe it's just me, but I doubt it.

    • Re:Predictive text (Score:3, Interesting)

      by yaroslavvb ( 234811 )
      An unrelated question I was pondering -- do any thumb-texting predictive text devices use predictive method more advanced than Markov chain? (essentially just looking at list of words that start with already typed prefix) That's how it seems to work on all the cell phones I tried. There's enough research out there to make a more advanced system. For instance, a word level Markov chain that offer words that are likely to follow first. Or an approach that would allow better generalization, such as decision tr
      • do any thumb-texting predictive text devices use predictive method more advanced than Markov chain? (essentially just looking at list of words that start with already typed prefix) That's how it seems to work on all the cell phones I tried. There's enough research out there to make a more advanced system. For instance, a word level Markov chain that offer words that are likely to follow first. Or an approach that would allow better generalization, such as decision tree predictor.

        Hmm, I hadn't considered t
      • Someone in another thread said it learns, so perhaps it uses a simple method like a Markov chain and then re-sorts the list based on words you use, and offers suggestions by presenting you with the most common Markov matches first.
    • Prepare to be surprised. I laid hands on a pre-production model the other day and because there are only 2 letters per key the predictive text is pretty darn good. Walt Mossberg over at WSJ says that typing URLs and email addresses can be hard and I agree the predictive text doesn't help you much there, but for the majority of the typing you'd do (responding to emails, posting on slashdot) it's pretty darn good. It's leaps and bounds better than T9.
    • That's why there is a button which you usually only have to press once or twice to switch between predictive text and manual entry. That way you can use the faster system depending on what word you're entering.
    • It starts out with 35,000 words. Sure you're going to use some words that aren't in the list, especially proper names and whatnot... but most people only use about 10,000 words in their everyday speech. The chances that large parts of your vocabulary will be absent are pretty small...

      Couple that with the fact that this predictive text system is based on diads, not triads, of letters and I think you'll find it's pretty performant. Of course I'm just speculating here, I haven't tried it yet...

  • Whoops (Score:5, Funny)

    by darth_MALL ( 657218 ) on Wednesday September 08, 2004 @06:19PM (#10195361)
    I accidentally just dropped my BB 6280 and it broke into 12 peices! Whatever will I do? Hey boss! I have an idea for a replacement!

  • The keyboard was their main feature (Score:5, Insightful)

    by stripmarkup ( 629598 ) on Wednesday September 08, 2004 @06:19PM (#10195364) Homepage
    So far, the Blackberry is the only mobile device that I've found useful for web browsing and emailing. The qwerty keyboard is the main reason, it's much better than, say, the one in the Treo 600. The new Blackberry looks like any other cellphone. I know that I'll never be able to compose email or search Google nearly as fast with the predictive input, no matter how good it might be.
    • And as an added fact... I remember when I worked at RIM, Mike L. (the CEO) specifically told all of us workers that the blackberry will never be an all in one device. It will not be a phone, an mp3 player or a remote control. It will be a 2 way pager that does email, that's it, that's all.

      Boy oh boy was he bad at predicting what the market demanded... I'm kinda happy I'm no longer there... their idealistic vision were trampled right around the time the bubble burst... now they no longer create innovative
    • I'm willing to give the new BB a try. I'm used to my current version, but it's a bit clumsy as a phone. GREAT for email and web browsing however! It's such a breeze to use the QWERTY keyboard

    • Re:The keyboard was their main feature (Score:5, Informative)

      by Digital11 ( 152445 ) <digital11 AT gmail DOT com> on Wednesday September 08, 2004 @07:12PM (#10195755) Homepage
      Then you should try the Danger Hiptop. Blackberry's email interface is better (because it handles folders, etc in a better way) but everything else about the hiptop SMOKES the Blackberry.

      And on the subject of predictive text input. Screw that, I can type 50+ WPM EASILY on my Hiptop.
      • (because it handles folders, etc in a better way)

        Are you smoking crack (and nott the crackberry kind). I'm running a 7280 with 3.7.1.41, and to say it handles folders is a bit of a mis-statement. Yes, it will sync folders. Yes, you can drill down into them. You have to drill to display them, and by default, the main inbox view will show you the contents of everything but your sent items. This alone makes it well-nigh impossible to do anything serious with it as the blackberry inbox != your email inbox.
  • "Boo hoo, why can't I have a phone that just makes calls. I have 20 other devices that I carry on my batman like utility belt that do each_function_separately."

    I personally am happy to see a phone like this hit the states. When the new ericsson phones [phonescoop.com] release we'll really see something interesting.

    • Some of us don't feel the need to check our email whilst walking, or listen to mp3s on a phone. Some of us believe in that tireless old adage "The right tool for the right job." Still others of us don't have a lot of devices to carry...for me it's keys, ipod, wallet, phone stays in the car or on the desk or in my jacket pocket. I don't carry a palmtop because the input methods are invariably shite, don't carry a camera unless I intend to take pictures of things (and let's face it, camera phones take shitty pictures anyway, why waste the money) and I don't need retarded games or ringtones.

      Am I anti-convergence? Fuck no, it's good to see people creating shitty devices that do too much, because it makes them appreciate the simple things in life. Like a phone that's just a phone, or a notebook that doesn't erase everything you're doing if your brother text messages you. Convergent devices are good things, they're just nothing I would ever want to own. I like to be able to USE the things I own.
      • Already too much stuff on my belt. I have the PDA-phone-MP3player, Leatherman Wave, Mini-Mag flashlight, zippo ligher, and a Keychain. If only SOMEHOW I could get all these other devices to merge into one SUPER-ULTIMATE-ALL-PURPOSE TOOL of MAXIMUM ABILITY....

        One gizmo to rule them all, maybe?
      • Some of us don't feel the need to ... or listen to mp3s on a phone

        And some of us are digital DJs that find it quite convenient to be able to carry a portfolio of our work with us, inside our cell phone, a device we would be carrying around anyways. I'm all with you when it comes to detesting unnecessary bloat in personal devices, but just because it isn't useful to you doesn't mean it's bloated and unworthy of existance...

    • I would be happier with Ericsson's new phones if any of them looked like being the successor to the P900. Right now I have higher hopes for the Motorola A780, which should be a favourite amongst all geeks really. ;-)
    • Boo hoo, why can't I have a phone that just makes calls. I have 20 other devices that I carry on my batman like utility belt that do each_function_separately.

      The problem is that these devices often look more practical than they are IRL. I own a (cheap, ebay-acquired) Treo. The small keyboard looks really good until you actually try it. On the bonus side, with that thumb training, I'll probably be able to to pull-ups with my fingers by the end of the month...

      Another thing is that these devices are often m
    • I personally am happy to see a phone like this hit the states.

      The only problem with combination phone/PDA devices is that it can never be the right size. A phone is supposed to be small and compact. A PDA is supposed to have a larger screen so you can actually do stuff on it. If you combine the devices into one, it's never going to be adequately sized.

      OTOH, that's the only combination I dislike. Combine other things, sure. Thanks to my cellphone, I save money not buying a watch. If I had the money to b
  • From the looks of the 20 key keypad, it looks like it's going to use a form of predictive text that would help the "QWERTY" users more than the traditional T9 SMS user. I hope they hit the T-Mo stores soon so I can take it for a test drive.

  • The price (Score:5, Insightful)

    by halo1982 ( 679554 ) * on Wednesday September 08, 2004 @06:22PM (#10195401) Homepage Journal
    At $199 I would buy this phone in a second. With the current Blackberries being $349+ and being kind of awkward to dial out/talk on, this is exactly what I want. And Bluetooth is an added bonus.

    • Re:The price (Score:1, Redundant)

      by dasmegabyte ( 267018 )
      Sure. And at $13,000 I'd buy a BMW M3 in a second. But that's not what they cost.

      Am I the only one who's sick of the "I'd buy it if it were half the price / a quarter of the price / a penny per megabyte" posts? God, shit's not cheap, man -- development, design and promotion cost money, and this attitude of not-paying-a-lot-for-that-muffler is why so many companies outsource all their development and manufacturing overseas.

      Get it through your thick skulls, people. Shit isn't cheap to design or to produ

      • Re:The price (Score:3, Informative)

        by generic-man ( 33649 )
        Sorry to interrupt your rant, but the new Blackberry really does cost $199.

        If you had bothered to read the article before cursing up a storm, you could have seen the sentences: "Now, the best part of the equation. T-Mobile, the only cellular carrier to sell the 7100t, has priced the device at a mind-boggling $199."

  • Utter genius. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Moofie ( 22272 ) <lee@ringofsat u r n.com> on Wednesday September 08, 2004 @06:25PM (#10195423) Homepage
    They have gotten rid of the second-most-odious text input method (a thumb keyboard) and gone straight to the most odious.
    • They have gotten rid of the second-most-odious text input method (a thumb keyboard) and gone straight to the most odious.

      There are far worse methods of input than a thumb keyboard... like graffiti-style handwriting recognition. Or voice recognition. Or a typical numeric cellphone keypad (which this is not).

      This looks like a full keyboard with 1:1 key:letter, but it does predictive input. Not a step up, but not as bad as it could be.

      • I (me this one) love Graffiti. My speed and accuracy are FAR higher than with anything that's operated by my thumbs.

        It's why I don't have a Treo, and I can't figure out the appeal of the Blackberry.

  • I hate my Blackberry (Score:5, Informative)

    by DevilM ( 191311 ) <devilm@@@devilm...com> on Wednesday September 08, 2004 @06:32PM (#10195478) Homepage
    I hate my Blackberry for the following reasons:
    • Talking on it without the earpiece sucks
    • The natural place where you hold the device is also the button to end a call
    • It is too easy to answer a call and put the person on hold
    • If I am using any PDA functionality and a call comes in my work is lost
    • Sometimes people can't hear me when I answer the phone
    • Sometimes the keyboard lock unlocks without my input
    • Deleting email on the Blackberry doesn't delete it in my mailbox
    • It has trouble telling the difference between the same number with and without a 1 (long distance)
    • It thinks all 10 digit calls nees a 1
    • The keypad letters are wrong for the number pad, which makes it highly annoying to dial a number by name (1-800-get-a-clue)
    • When adding a number to the addressbook it assumes the number is a work number
    Give me time, I will think of more.
    • The natural place where you hold the device is also the button to end a call

      Yeah, that has to be my biggest bane with it, I still use my Motorola to make phone calls, you'd think though that someone would have mentioned it to them, or they could have figured it out themselves with field testing it.

    • Re:I hate my Blackberry (Score:2, Informative)

      by Net0ps ( 84891 )
      I'm not completely sold on mine either, but some quick off-the-cuff responses to (some of) your complaints:

      # Talking on it without the earpiece sucks
      Agreed. A good earpiece makes a big difference with it.

      # The natural place where you hold the device is also the button to end a call
      True, although you have to hold that button down in order to end the call. I've found a loose grip and/or moving my thumb slightly to grab the housing rather than the button works fine for me, but obviously YM she is much V.

      # I
    • How about...

      • I get work email when I am not at work

      I told my PHB "No way man".

    • In reguard to the deleting email, the option you are looking for is called Wireless Reconcile. I belive once you turn that on, deleting email on your Blackberry will delete it from your computer's mailbox.

    • Re:I hate my Blackberry (Score:4, Informative)

      by camusflage ( 65105 ) on Wednesday September 08, 2004 @11:30PM (#10197586)
      Talking on it without the earpiece sucks

      Fair enough.. It's like talking into a pop-tart.

      Sometimes the keyboard lock unlocks without my input

      Try a password. This will guarantee it won't unlock itself. "lock on holstering" is also your friend as well.

      Deleting email on the Blackberry doesn't delete it in my mailbox

      wireless sync, wireless reconcile, delete on handheld and mailbox. This will automatically delete items in both places when deleted in either.

      It thinks all 10 digit calls nees a 1

      I dial with only ten digits all the time.

      The keypad letters are wrong for the number pad, which makes it highly annoying to dial a number by name (1-800-get-a-clue)

      Use the crescent/number key and hit the letter. Not only will it send the appropriate tone, but it will display the letter on the screen.
    • because, and despite the above quirks ...

      I get my emails and meetings and corporate address book delivered without any hassle what so ever, not one single bit of hassle, where ever I am. And, as the Head of IT responsible for supporting these devices, this is worth it's weight in gold.

      No synching, no cables, no drivers, no connection errors, no download while you wait frustrations, no overly complicated apps, no ability for users to add yet more overly complicated apps and so on.

      Now, is the best phone? N
    • My "Blue"Berry is about twice as wide as my P900, and it has about half as much functionality. Also, RIM is a sleazy company and should be avoided for any other option. When are the mobile carriers going to offer alternative secure push email services?

  • More reviews (Score:4, Informative)

    by zaxios ( 776027 ) <zaxios@gmail.com> on Wednesday September 08, 2004 @06:33PM (#10195480) Journal
    PC Mag [pcmag.com] and Forbes [forbes.com] have reviews and InfoSync [infosyncworld.com] has a detailed news article. Forbes provides some perspective to the objective of integrating personal organizer with phone. PC Mag reads a bit like a spec list. I found the MSNBC review provided already more interesting, but you can look for yourself.

  • Fun... now I have another thing to recharge/worry-about-battery life and lose!
  • ...it's butt ugly. My thumbs are killing me just looking at that, um, key pad thing.

  • thumb keyboard is what makes the blackberry worth a damn... well at least now Danger does not have to worry about competition for the sidekick 2 having used predictive crap hole 1-9 keyboards, the blackberry and the sidekick I would have to say they rank as first by far Sidekick second Blackberry and a distant third num-pad I love de-innovation

  • BlackBerry vs. phone and PDA (Score:3, Insightful)

    by zaxios ( 776027 ) <zaxios@gmail.com> on Wednesday September 08, 2004 @06:44PM (#10195559) Journal
    I regret reposting so soon, but I've been reading the thread and I have to ask, Does BlackBerry succeed in actually being a good phone or a good PDA? MSNBC says it has "four hours talk time and eight hours standby". With battery life like that, how can this be a useful phone? If BlackBerry has adopted a "more conventional phone form factor", what's it like to use as a PDA? Really, does integrating phone and PDA really provide a better and more convenient experience or does it just implement the worst of both worlds - a smaller screen than a straight PDA and worst battery life than a non-smart phone? Wouldn't it just be better to buy two separate devices?

    • Um, read it again (Score:2, Informative)

      by nanotech ( 34819 )
      Battery life is 4hr talk and 8 DAYS standby. Reviewer claimed he got 4 days out of it with moderate use.
    • I agree with you completely about the screen size. I would far rather have a GSM card in a PDA, than PIM software built into a phone. That being said, a GSM card in a PDA makes for a phone which is a bit awkward to hold. What I really want is a phone with nothing but a phone, plus Bluetooth and GPS. :-)
  • I'm looking at the pictures of the new blackberry and the qwerty keyboard looks like it uses 14 keys to represent chars A-Z. Is this misrepsentation by calling it a qwerty keyboard? Sure the keys are in order like a normal keyboard but without the individual keys, I think this blackberry loses its most signficant appealing feature, a keyboard.

  • Problem with predictive texting (Score:3, Insightful)

    by m0RpHeus ( 122706 ) on Wednesday September 08, 2004 @06:54PM (#10195612)
    Is when the products are used on countries where the language is not supported by the device. This is my only frustration with predictive texting on my Sony Ericsson phone. I assume the same would be true with this new Blackberry. Yes, english is just fine, but when I need to text using our native language (that is not supported) predictive texting is useless. Also, predictive text is kind of useless if you're texting a lot of techinical jargons.

  • Tmobile URL - (Score:2, Informative)

    by Blimbo ( 528076 )
    http://www.getmoreblackberry.com/

    From the web site
    "Register now and you will be one of the first to know when the new BlackBerry 7100t is available for sale. Plus you'll be entered for a chance to win a Bluetooth wireless headset, the ultimate accessory for your new phone."

  • but... (Score:2)

    by bani ( 467531 )
    ...can it run linux?
  • Wasn't Java promised as a "write once, run everywhere".... it always cracks me up when I'm asked to choose which platform to donwload my Java app for.... um, Java?

    --D

  • Stupid blackberry web support (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I'm currently developing a web application that must work on blackberries, and I am coming to abhor them. They don't render anything except the most basic html (that is, the few blackberries that even have a browser). The browser support is absolutely atrocious. Form filling is insane, and scrolling to the next page makes no sense at all.
  • I had the opportunity to test one of these out, what surprised me was how good the predictive text actually was. I am going to be ditching my current BB for one of these as soon as I can manage.

    This is the first one I think that I actually like the look for, I just hope with that nice LCD there is some good games for it.

  • This is awful for a simple reason. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by piecewise ( 169377 ) on Wednesday September 08, 2004 @07:36PM (#10195942) Journal
    One of the reasons Blackberries have become so popular is because of their professional look. Lawyers, politicians, consultants, everyone else in DC and in other parts of the country love the Blackberry. And we love keeping it on our belts as a status symbol.

    This new Blackberry looks like a toy and like every other phone. There's nothing so appealing about it. I think RIM has really given up that professional tone and they'll be upsetting quite a few customers.

  • Comment removed (Score:3, Interesting)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Wednesday September 08, 2004 @07:48PM (#10196049)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • If it's the company phone doing the forwarding to the personal phone, why doesn't the company pay for the forwarding? The stingy motherfuckers!

      But think yourself lucky. My last three phones, not a single one even supported one SIM, let alone two. :-)

  • ...not a Thumboard? Just wonderin'!
  • Now, I know I've griped often that the phone applet on this thing sucks, but I think turning the thing into a more cellphone-like device is the wrong answer. How about just fixing the phone app? Like, say, using a different button to hang up a call than the one your thumb naturally finds when you hold it?

    Losing the keyboard means they lose me, at least. I use my blueberry to SSH into a Unix machine. I do not want to try to be typing on a bash command line and having it try to use predictive text to figure
  • RIM is making the best -- by far -- PDA/Phone combo on the market. Bar none.

    Im going to trade my present phone (had it for 30 months or so) for one of these units.

    Terrific!

  • Losing the full keyboard? I think not (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Did ViewSonic stop selling CRTs when LCDs came out?

    So, what makes you think that RIM is going to stop selling BlackBerrys without the full keyboard. If you don't like it ... don't buy it ... buy a one with a full keyboard.

  • shit time to look for another phone (Score:3, Interesting)

    by codepunk ( 167897 ) on Thursday September 09, 2004 @02:14AM (#10198294)
    The best part about the blackberry is the damn keyboard, what a bunch of tards. I use mine to ssh the boxes at work all the time. I am sure this adaptive bullshit is going to really work with vi commands.

    • The best part about the blackberry is the damn keyboard, what a bunch of tards. I use mine to ssh the boxes at work all the time. I am sure this adaptive bullshit is going to really work with vi commands.

      1. The announcement of a new product doesn't mean the one you currently own is no longer functional and requires immediate replacement. Resist the urge, I know it's tough.
      2. They have announced a new, and additional product, not the retirement of other products.

      RIM has long had a variety of different pro

  • I notice these are only available in the US through T-Mobile. Any added infrastructure needed to support these new devices in Canada (RIM's home!)? Or was this just a economic decision by distributors.

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