[anon(153966)]

Maybe it's because I've been using an iPad for years, I simply can't get use to typing and browsing on the BlackBerry Playbook...

Let me explain\ask...

1. Typing - I can type no problem, but unlike a BlackBerry device there is no option to have 'Word Substitution', right?

2. When typing is there no quick way to enter a comma, and an apostrophes, etc. easily? Seems to me like there are so many steps involved, i.e. pressing so many keys. I'm used to pressing and holding one key, then dragging my finger to the item I want [iPad].
Same with entering a letter in CAPS, not necessarily one that is at the start of a sentence, but...

3. Browsing - the experience itself is okay, again, I'm simply putting this down to what am use to on the iPad. But, when certain pages load [even CrackBerry.com] it doesn't seem to be the fastest. I take it this is because it is using the full website, versus a mobile version, right?

I'd appreciate your feedback...

[kbz1960]

1. The way it is right now, maybe the 2.0 OS update will make it better?

2. There is a comma on the default main screen inbetween the m key and shift. Not sure what you mean by sliding but if you hold the shift key it will lock caps on.

3. Are you talking bridge surfing or wifi surfing? Bridge is much slower then wifi and yes part of a page taking longer to load is due to flash and receiving the full page. I think partly also due to the way it handles java script which may be improved by the elusive 2.0 update again.

[anon(153966)]

Thanks for the info...

I noticed the comma, but let me give an example about the apostrophe. If I'm typing a word that needs an apostrophe in it, I have to type the word, press sym\alt [bottom left corner - don't have my Playbook with me to verify the key], then the letter I want, then I have to press ABC to get back to the normal keyboard layout to continue typing...

Does that make sense? On some other devices, it seems a bit simpler...

Browsing - initially I was using the bridge\browsing. Then I figured out how to use the normal browsing. I'm wondering if I should turn off flash\java scripts etc, to thus allow faster browsing, and then if I need to get to a page that requires it, turn it on.

What do you think?

[kbz1960]

Yes it isn't simple to get the ' symbol, takes 3 touches.

It's up to you on flash and java script, I find it very livable on wifi and close to my laptop on bridge is another story though.

The bridge has been updated today so that means a pb update soon, hope some of your issues will be addressed in it plus more goodies but won't know till we get it on.

[robsteve]

In regards to slow web pages, I think a lot of it has to do with the loading of ads. Some of these pages are slow on my Mac as well and you can see when it pauses, it is looking up/loading an adserver site. For a PC/Mac you can edit your hosts file to get rid of a lot of the ad servers to speed up some of the web sites. It would be nice if we could do this with the PlayBook, but the hosts file is a protected read only file.

As for symbols and the keyboard setup, I still find it awkward even after having the Playbook since April. Part of the problem is the symbols and shift modes are completely different than on the Blackberry phone, the other is the most common symbol (for me) after a comma and period, the apostrophe is on the other page and needs the three key presses. This may have been missed in development, since the phones would automatically insert the apostrophe.

My solution for the keyboad was to get a bluetooth keyboard for the times I need to do lots of typing on the Playbook.

Robert

[s219]

These are two areas where the PlayBook indeed falls behind the iPad, and I hope it improves.

As of now, the iOS keyboard and text entry system is smarter and more streamlined. Your example of tapping a key and then sliding among the popup for extra choices is a perfect example. It means you can do something in one tap with iOS compared to 3 taps on the PlayBook.

As for browsing, I have had this complaint about the PlayBook since day one, and it has not gotten better. It has nothing to do with the type of site and full versus mobile -- pick something like engadget.com which loads a full site on both devices and you'll see a massive difference (even with Flash off on the PlayBook, it's still 2-3X slower than an iPad 2 loading the site).

You can turn off Flash for improvement on sites with many ads, and then also turn off Javascript for sites that are heavy with code. That improves the PlayBook quite a bit. Just forget that notion of the full web...

[ubizmo]

I noticed the comma, but let me give an example about the apostrophe. If I'm typing a word that needs an apostrophe in it, I have to type the word, press sym\alt [bottom left corner - don't have my Playbook with me to verify the key], then the letter I want, then I have to press ABC to get back to the normal keyboard layout to continue typing...

Does that make sense? On some other devices, it seems a bit simpler...

Yes, and one of those other devices is...the BlackBerry smartphone!

It seems that the PB keyboard was conceived of as a touch substitute for a standard laptop keyboard. That might be okay if people could actually type on it like a real keyboard, but I'm willing to bet that only a tiny fraction of users could even think about doing that. I'm a pretty good touch typist on a real keyboard, but there's no way I can use the PB's keyboard in an equivalent way. Therefore, I have to use a few fingers to peck at keys, which is much less efficient, and which is why the efficiencies of smart caps/punctuation and auto-text are so important. RIM just got this wrong. Many of us are hoping that this will be fixed soon in an OS update, but there's been no official communication about it that I know of.

[FF22]

Besides the apostrophe, I'd like the ???? mark to be on the main page of the keyboard. Or is rim trying to encourage the new shorter message/txt entering schemes used by kids (no questionmark as it wastes characters!)