Comments on: New RIM keypad patent; RIM looking for parts more breakable than its trackball?

By: stuckey

stuckey — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 07:34:16 +0000

Lol, seriously go ask any retailer if they have had a problem with blackberry trackballs! They will more than likely say yes…they may not tell you the newer ones but the original curve models and many many many blackberry pearls have had issues! Its a very common issue amongst the blackberry and the only reason I know this is because I’ve been researching them for about 2 months cause I’m thinking about getting a new device.

By: Chelly

Chelly — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 01:18:18 +0000

Wow. Defending the trackball that was stolen from Tmo’s Sidekick 3? LOL. Blackberrys suck. I feel I am qualified to make that assessment since I stupidly enough bought one 2 months ago after all the back and forth between BB and SK users. I’ve been a SK user since the 2. I have the 2,3, and LX all fully functional and sorry Blackberry, they pwn you. Also I have barely used the wretched thing and guess what…the trackball already sticks. Lucky for me I’m on flexpay…switching to a SK acct and selling this unlocked POS very soon.

By: BRH

BRH — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 01:08:48 +0000

When’s US Cellular getting a new BB? PUH-LEEZE let it be before my hair starts to turn gray!

By: Berryadict

Berryadict — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 06:32:54 +0000

This doofus pinhead’s never used a Blackberry. That’s obvious from his bogus disparagement of BB trackballs. As a matter of fact, I bet his fried brain’s about the size of a trackball.

By: Ervel Flick

Ervel Flick — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 05:43:01 +0000

Do you know how to recognize an iPhone fanboy?

Show them a touchscreen, any touchscreen. Even one from 2002, like the Samsung SPH-i730, which is a large, silver touchscreen phone. Watch them get all “IPHONE RIPOFF ZOMG”

It’s just as bad on both sides.

By: pinguino1

pinguino1 — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 05:07:42 +0000

Do you know how to recognize a BB fanboy?

Show them the most stupid, ridiculous BB Keyboard idea ever created.

And watch them jumping crazy mad to defend… the track ball.

By: ilikephonesthatwork

ilikephonesthatwork — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 03:49:08 +0000

Yeah lots of love for BGR here as well, but I have NEVER read a post of a general trackball issue, ANYWHERE! Of course haven’t read every post on the web, but c’mon that’s a stretch. WOW you guys are starting to get on my nerves with the statements that lack merit.

By: Kent

Kent — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 02:52:19 +0000

How hard is it for rim to make a decent slide out keyboard with full screen a la iphone and htc shift keyboard with the hinge
It can’t be that hard…. can it?

By: CarBob

CarBob — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 00:53:08 +0000

Okay people, take a deep breath and settle down. I can’t believe the caustic comments that are in some of these posts.

Whether we are BlackBerry fanboys or Apple fanboys, can’t we all just get along? BTW, I’ve had BlackBerrys for more than four years and so far nothing has broken down.

PEACE.

- CB

By: neenjah

neenjah — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 22:49:47 +0000

This is the 9190 NinjaBerry.
It will never see a public release.
Ninjas will be given these so when someone recognizes us, we flip out the keyboard and have a throwing star.

Plus the trackball flips out and turns into a bowl and you toke from the speaker port on the top, because they had to be high as shit when they came up with this idea.

By: Ervel Flick

Ervel Flick — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 22:38:29 +0000

Never ever seen a BlackBerry trackball break, and I’m a BES admin. I’ve also had 6 or 7 BlackBerries of my own, and never had any more trackball issues than occasional stickiness.

In all seriousness, the RIM bashing here is pathetic. First the Storm return rate BS, then this… whatever.

Although I heartily agree; that keyboard sucks. As has been said, I hope it’s just a blocking patent, not a production model.

By: Smooth Op

Smooth Op — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 22:36:49 +0000

Does anyone remember the ThinkPad (701?) with the butterfly keyboard that flipped out when you opened the screen? This looks pretty similar. It was actually quite durable and you could pick the whole thing up by the keyboard, no problem. But that was on a laptop, not a mobile so it remains to be seen if this can be implemented similarly.

By: JLR - Canada

JLR - Canada — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 21:56:27 +0000

I’ve been using Berries for awhile and never had a trackball issue. That being said I have a buddy who is on pearl number 3 because of trackball issues. These are phones people, they break, all of them.

As to the patent, its ridiculous. I am a thumb texter and can’t even imagine how to wrap my thumbs around this beast.

By: tmo4life

tmo4life — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 21:55:54 +0000

The trackballs don’t “break.” Ever. Stop eating greasy burgers and fries while rubbing your fat fingers all over your trackball and you’ll find it lasts a lot longer. Its dirt and hairs and grease that get into them and the rollers stop rolling because of it. Same thing happens to sidekicks and everything else that uses a trackball. It will happen to this G1 I’m posting from. But unlike RIM, the other companies don’t make them quite so easy to replace… so quit being a whiny faggot and spend the 8 bucks for a new one.

By: Lauren

Lauren — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 21:27:16 +0000

Wow, what’s with all the animosity on this post? Everyone just needs to calm down and stop biting everyone’s proverbial heads off.

I’ve only heard of trackballs failing when people stick foreign objects in them or pour liquids on it. I’ve gone through three BlackBerrys and not one has had hardware issues.

Oh, and the new patent looks like it could be ridiculously fake. Is it just me?

By: TrumanHW

TrumanHW — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 21:21:07 +0000

Yup -if you own a BB for over a year, and text like a girl rehashing everything her day included from parking at the mall taking too long, to the guy who asked her out that wasn’t cute, to how she was 10 minutes late to work, in a year, you’d wear it out or get some debris in it that’d make it stick or not register movement. There’s not a lot that can be done about it though, and you can always open it and clean it, or get new pieces for 10$.

This latest iteration is probably DISINFORMATION, not a sincere production idea. What would you hold while you were texting, carefully, the unsupported keys?

And yes, the OS does need some refinement, and stability improvement, and SORT ENABLED MESSAGES or even better, THREADED SMS! They need an APP-Store, they need better multiple-recipient-sms features. New design feature? How about a real qwerty flip phone .. ala VX1000 LG? How about fixing the 3g battery life? How about making them thinner, and longer so that my mouth lines up to the mic and noise cancellation can become as good as it was before it landed on my cheek? Baby-steps…..

By: Prof. Moriarty

Prof. Moriarty — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 20:32:13 +0000

Why can’t RIM replace the trackball with an “optical mouse” that’s showing up now on recent WinMo devices? No moving parts. No stuck/dirty/jumpy trackball to clean or replace. Better accuracy IMO. But of course we’re talking about RIM here. Apart from the innovative click screen on the Storm, I’ve yet to see anything else remotely innovative on any of their models, and I’ve been monitoring them for quite a while.

By: nategiggity

nategiggity — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 20:28:56 +0000

Been a BB user for a long time and never had a trackball go bad. I am sure they do…but wouldn’t call it a major issue. I know lots of BB users and have never really heard of any major issues with the hardware. I am sure it happens, but once again wouldn’t call it a major issue. That being said, I think this design looks pretty gay!

By: erica

erica — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 20:25:39 +0000

@illa.

Maybe if you minded your own trackball you wouldn’t be concerned about mine. And if you’re hellbent on pseudo mediocrity with sexual references I’m sure there are a plethora of midget porn sites thatd be happy to extend a trial. Doubtful bgr is a forum for your expertise or lack thereof.

But enough sidetracking. Back to the bb bashing!

By: tory from Dallas

tory from Dallas — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 20:11:49 +0000

My trackball on my pearl has gone out. Twice. It seems it always loses the ability to go a certain direction. One time, it won’t let me roll down. Another time it wouldnt let roll right. Both times however, tmobile sent me a replacement for free.

By: Hash

Hash — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 19:37:28 +0000

U guys have become f*ckin apple fan boys. Cut this sh*t out. Common. First of all who knows if this is going to come to life or not. Even if it did, RIM’s head is bigger then urs & they will make it doesn’t break.

And who hell says that the trackball is breakable? It will be if you f*ckin drop & or feed it your dog

Damn bg. I like you & everything, but this is getting stupid

By: Frz

Frz — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 19:34:52 +0000

@ perspective…

I’ll go and read whatever I damn please, thanks . Apparently, you’re so caught up on generalizing all people who post, that you’ve become delusional.

My point is that if you’re going to complain about anything, it should be OS issues, which have undoubtedly increased in the past 2 years.

It just seems to me that every little thing regarding BB is negative right from the outset.

BB hardware is usually good, and yes – there are obviously failures as well, regarding trackballs, maybe certain keys, etc.

Nothing has ever been made fool proof – but do provide me with some stats (as someone has already stated), then we can have objective discussions.

By: Illa

Illa — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 19:34:26 +0000

@erica: Don’t treat the trackball like it’s a part of your anatomy and you probably won’t wear it out so fast.

By: erica

erica — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 19:10:22 +0000

Looks like they’re trying to make a phone with the same proportions as a pearl but with a full qwerty. Thing is, the inconvenience of it all.

Texting, depressing the buttons to unengage the expanded keyboard, reengaging for another lengthy text. The convenience factor – low. isn’t that supposed to be high on the list of priorities when they’re creating a new model? I can’t believe this idea got past anyone and actually made its way to a patent office. Ugh.

@dtest54 – no kidding. I hate the browser. Sick of the parsed out software/hardware and them just chucking every idea down the corridor to desperate bb users looking for the next new thing when in reality we’re just guinea pigs for whatever idea they fathom. every update on their software is minimal with “updates”. Do something rim? Maybe if rim stopped investing in crap devices they’d actually have the time to create a new music player – browser – and integrate new ideas into their phones!

@julius. I’m a bb fanatic. I get every new device that comes out. And seriously, I’ve had 7 exchanges in one year relating to os issues and trackballs kicking the bucket. It may be RIM but it isn’t impervious to flaws with builds. Those trackballs are handy but again – not impervious to damage.

By: pheer6224

pheer6224 — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 18:33:42 +0000

It’s the Sierra Wireless Voq incarnate!

By: bb214

bb214 — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 18:29:48 +0000

Its not happening, those specs were abandoned before we came up with the pearl flip. For those of you interested in the 8900 US release, we sent the phones to ATT, now its up to them when they decide to release

By: Perspective

Perspective — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 18:13:46 +0000

RE: “BlackBerry Hating”

Frz and others, the only way you would now this site is Blackberry negative is if you actually read it every day. Why don’t you do all the non-whiners a favor and jump over to Crackberry or something similar, instead of whining about how your feelings are hurt here. This is a blog, not “Oprah.” Wusses.

By: Perspective

Perspective — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 18:08:41 +0000

It’s official; RIM is officially out of ideas.

By: Frz

Frz — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 18:08:26 +0000

I wonder when the last positive post for BlackBerry was on this site? Even when they reported positive earnings, your tone was negative.

I also love how we are all hardware experts now – I’m sure the hardware designers at RIM know a thing or two on how to make a decent device and I doubt they will allow anything as ‘fragile’ as you say to go into the market.

What’s the deal BGR folks – lots of hating on the BlackBerry?

By: Esquire0399

Esquire0399 — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 17:36:31 +0000

I just don’t see why this is even necessary. Who on Earth thinks the Pearl is too wide as it is?