Although I don’t use a BlackBerry on a daily basis, I understand them and the people that swear by them. They are fast, simple, and functional devices that easily empower business use with a sturdy feel in a stylish package. BlackBerries are great.
Maybe this is why I had such a difficult time understanding the touchscreen focused BlackBerry Storm. For those that don’t want to go back and read that post, mainly I argued that the touch-centric device took away from what makes a BlackBerry so great - pure functionality. By forcing the user experience to be entirely touchscreen, it makes even the simplest task - like checking email - a hassle.
My biggest gripe was that BlackBerry scrapped the clickwheel/ball, in favor of the poorly implemented finger dragging mechanism - meaning that if you wanted to navigate between two emails you’d have to click, hold, drag down, wait, and hope you didn’t overshoot. Considerably more difficult (and annoying) than rolling a little ball a little bit.
So I gave BlackBerry the advice that they should have started the move towards touch devices a little safer - testing the waters by adding a touch screen to their already popular devices - as opposed to the Storm, which was a full on belly flop into the murky drudges of Lake Touch. Now, only a few months later, a new device leaks into Rumorville (related note: Lake Touch is actually the main tourist attraction of Rumorville, millions flock there every year).
Courtesy of CrackBerry.com (who speculates this is likely a fake) we have a leaked image of the BlackBerry 9900 for Rogers (oh, Canada…).
The 9900 is basically a Bold, but with a touchscreen… and without a clickball. Dammit BlackBerry, you missed my point. This is a perfect opportunity to trial touch capabilities within the BlackBerry OS - figure out the kinks and work on the the numerous bugs - but retain the full functionality of why people love BlackBerries. But I think this misses the point, again.
The Storm was a big overstep also because of its lack of a physical keyboard, so I guess the 9900 is at least a step towards sanity. But forcing users to still use the finger drag scrolling, clickable screen, and dysfunctional touch OS just seems cruel.
I guess all I’m saying is that I’m all about innovation, but it should come more gradually through an evolution. To me, it seems like BlackBerry is forcing evolution by skipping generations - which ultimately leaves the newer models missing the fundamental core of what makes a BlackBerry so cool.
Or maybe I’m just sad that we continue to lose out in the War on Buttons.
April 6th, 2009 at 11:07 am
if they left the clickball, no would use the screen and they wouldn’t get the trial data they need…or at least not enough of it. I’m sorry, but as cool as touchscreens are, they are not as functional as buttons and functional people will use what is more functional on the phone….BUTTONS.