A View on View :: Not Getting a Blackberry Pearl

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Not Getting a Blackberry Pearl

by Mark Evans on Wed 25 Oct 2006 07:33 AM EDT | Permanent Link

After being given seven whole days to evaluate the Blackberry Pearl, I've decided...not to get one. Why? It likely has much to do with the fact I'm a long-time user of Blackberrys with a QWERTY keypad. As much as the Pearl's SureType keypad is supposed to be inuitive, I found it frustrating. Rather than jump on the Pearl bandwagon, I'm going to wait for the 8800 to come out later this year. While it's not as sexy as the Pearl, it's what I know and like. As for the Pearl, it's got a lot going for it. The small size, great screen and functionality is impressive, and I easily understand why carriers have been having trouble keeping it on the shelves. It's just not for me.

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Re: Not Getting a Blackberry Pearl

by sternthinker on Wed 25 Oct 2006 10:28 AM EDT | Profile | Permanent Link

Hi Mark. A more charitable explanation for RIM's choice of that unquestionably annoying keyboard is that RIM is targetting 1st time buyers, who have been using an "ordinary" cell phone -- and therefore don't have previous BB keyboarding experience. If this is hypoithsis is borne out, RIM will have trained an emerging, younger customer cohort to becooe comfrotable with RIM's new, proprietary keyboard. Now that's a significant switching cost, IMO. I think RIM chose the right keyboard for the Pearl.

Re: Re: Not Getting a Blackberry Pearl

by Mark Evans on Wed 25 Oct 2006 11:52 AM EDT | Profile | Permanent Link

you won't get any arguments from me about rim's decision to go with the suretype keypad. that said, it's good to offer choice to attract as many users as possible.

Re: Not Getting a Blackberry Pearl

by Anonymous on Wed 25 Oct 2006 10:59 AM EDT | Permanent Link

I agree, the boss just got a Pearl as 3 of us int he office have 7290's and I played with his for a couple of hours and just could'nt get the typing down as easy. I'll wait for the 8800!

Re: Re: Not Getting a Blackberry Pearl

by Anonymous on Thu 26 Oct 2006 01:39 PM EDT | Permanent Link

I suppose i would qualify as a nextgen, as I started with the 7100r so i'm used to the SureType. In fact, I bet I could out -wpm anyone with QWERTY on a bb.

The trackball is incredible. You can scroll in all four directions through text, comfortably and with ease. The 7100r browser used to have a lot of glitches/hang-ups, those are all gone.

The camera is handy. Ran into two NHL hockey players at a Nashville starbucks (I was visiting for the game too, from YVR) and the camera was a last minute kodak moment saviour.

Re: Not Getting a Blackberry Pearl

by Rob Hyndman on Fri 27 Oct 2006 08:20 PM EDT | Profile | Permanent Link

There's no question that they're targeting first time BB users, but they've been quite open about that.

As to first time cel users, um, no. I now know several long time BB users who are now on it. (Psst - it's smaller.)

And the BB has always been a damnable brick.

Dudes - lose the holster (and the man purse). It looks about as badass as bermuda shorts and black socks, and no, the chicks don't dig it.

Re: Re: Not Getting a Blackberry Pearl

by Anonymous on Sat 04 Nov 2006 06:53 PM EST | Permanent Link

Hello,

We just got these Pearls at our office and were all network and software engineers. And though I agree with the problem with the sure-type, YOU CAN TURN IT OFF. I have and am very happy with the Pearl now, way better then the 7290 I had. It seems that the whole office likes it, though some of the software guy's are toughingg it out with the sure-type.

Re: Not Getting a Blackberry Pearl

by Anonymous on Sat 23 Feb 2008 06:42 PM EST | Permanent Link

Are you positive it was SureType and not predictive input that was frustrating you?

I hated the "Suretype" on my pearl until I found a way to uncheck predictive text. Now it works as you want it to, just don't look while typing, and when you are finished your sentence it is perfect.

For those who want to give it a try without predictive input go to Options --> Language --> Input Options (at the bottom) and uncheck predictive input at the bottom. You will be amazed at the difference.

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\n"; return $new_ad_params; } } /** BEGIN Backwards Compatibility Routines */ if (! function_exists('array_combine')) { function array_combine($keys, $values) { foreach($keys as $key) $out[$key] = array_shift($values); return $out; } } if (!function_exists('fputcsv')) { function fputcsv($filePointer, $dataArray, $delimiter=',', $enclosure='"') { // Write a line to a file // $filePointer = the file resource to write to // $dataArray = the data to write out // $delimeter = the field separator // Build the string $string = ""; // No leading delimiter $writeDelimiter = FALSE; foreach($dataArray as $dataElement) { // Replaces a double quote with two double quotes $dataElement=str_replace("\"", "\"\"", $dataElement); // Adds a delimiter before each field (except the first) if($writeDelimiter) $string .= $delimiter; // Encloses each field with $enclosure and adds it to the string $string .= $enclosure . $dataElement . $enclosure; // Delimiters are used every time except the first. $writeDelimiter = TRUE; } // end foreach($dataArray as $dataElement) // Append new line $string .= "\n"; // Write the string to the file return fwrite($filePointer,$string); } } if (!function_exists('fgetcsv')) { #TODO - Remove or ??? #Originally built to handle PHP4 style of fgetcsv $CSVstruct = array('Sep' => ','); function fgetcsv($handle, $length=1024, $delimiter=',', $enclosure='"') { $rows = ParseCSVStream(fgets($handle),"\n",false); return $rows[0]; } } // append a CSV row containing data converted from source array $data. Actual conversion is done by ExCSVRowWalker() function AppendCSVRow($data) { global $CSVstruct; array_walk($data,'ExCSVRowWalker'.($CSVstruct['OutEOL']=="\n"?'N':'')); $CSVstruct['File'] .= implode($CSVstruct['Sep'],$data).$CSVstruct['OutEOL']; } // returns an array of rows (each row being an array of columns) with parsed data. Returns false when conversion fails. Auto-detects Win/Mac/*nix newline characters, which are converted all to the sequence specified (defaults to $CSVstruct['OutEOL']) for your convenience. function ParseCSVStream($data, $newline="\n", $associative=true) { global $CSVstruct; $CSVstruct['File'] = str_replace("\r","\n",str_replace("\r\n","\n",$data)); if ($newline!="\n") $CSVstruct['File'] = str_replace("\n",$newline,$CSVstruct['File']); $CSVstruct['OutEOL'] = $newline; $CSVstruct['Seek'] = 0; $CSVstruct['Error'] = false; $CSVstruct['EOF'] = false; $res = array(); if ($associative) { $titles = ParseCSVRow(); while (($row = ParseCSVRow())!==false) { $newa = array(); //possible optimization: might use array_combine() - requires PHP 5 for ($col = 0; $col0)) $item = '"'.str_replace('"','""',str_replace($CSVstruct['OutEOL'],"\n",$item)).'"'; } function ExCSVRowWalkerN(&$item) { if (!is_numeric($item)&&(strlen($item)>0)) $item = '"'.str_replace('"','""',$item).'"'; } // read next line from buffer. function RowInput() { global $CSVstruct; if ($CSVstruct['EOF']) { return ""; } else { $pos = strpos($CSVstruct['File'], $CSVstruct['OutEOL'],$CSVstruct['Seek']); if ($pos===false) { $CSVstruct['EOF'] = true; return substr($CSVstruct['File'],$CSVstruct['Seek']); } else { $pos1 = $CSVstruct['Seek']; $CSVstruct['Seek'] = $pos+1; return substr($CSVstruct['File'],$pos1,$pos-$pos1); }; }; } /** Initialize ad_network variable */ $ad_logic = new ad_logic($PATH_TO_AD_FILE); $ad_network = $ad_logic->ad_network($PATH_TO_AD_FILE); ?>