In the Portrait (normal/narrower view), can we still type with QWERTY or does it automatically go to SureType? Is this an option that can be changed? I saw in the Kevin Byrne screen captures blog that QWERTY is not an option in Portrait. Is this a final verdict? Thanks.

No qwerty. You can choose between Suretype and multi-tap.

Monty, I wish that was an option also, but from what I've read, RIM bailed on making the phone wider to allow for qwerty in portrait due to all the whining complainers who want microscopic phones so they can drive on the turnpike doing 80 and text with one hand.

Originally Posted by Mamaluka:
Monty, I wish that was an option also, but from what I've read, RIM bailed on making the phone wider to allow for qwerty in portrait due to all the whining complainers who want microscopic phones so they can drive on the turnpike doing 80 and text with one hand.

Haha. That's a perfect way to put it!

Originally Posted by Mamaluka:
Monty, I wish that was an option also, but from what I've read, RIM bailed on making the phone wider to allow for qwerty in portrait due to all the whining complainers who want microscopic phones so they can drive on the turnpike doing 80 and text with one hand.

That's so annoying. Qwerty is so much easier to use then anything else, I don't understand how anyone would choose suretype over it.

Originally Posted by Mamaluka:
Monty, I wish that was an option also, but from what I've read, RIM bailed on making the phone wider to allow for qwerty in portrait due to all the whining complainers who want microscopic phones so they can drive on the turnpike doing 80 and text with one hand.

What's the big deal? If you want to type in qwerty, turn the phone 90 degrees!

I don't understand your point. If the people that want qwerty so they can type with one hand are whiners, what would be the point in making the entire phone wider?

suretype has its advantages.anyone who has given it a chance would most likely agree. I for one was pleased the storm has qwerty and suretype.

Originally Posted by 01deuce:
suretype has its advantages.anyone who has given it a chance would most likely agree. I for one was pleased the storm has qwerty and suretype.

sorry for my ignorance here.... what is suretype? is it like T9 word? is it a pearl thing?

look at a pearl, two letters per button.qw er ty ui op. and it is very good at correctly finishing words. if you push the qw then the er three times you type WERE by only using two keys. just one example.

i don't know why they wouldn't put in an option for all 3, it can't be that hard. qwerty in portrait would be small, but why not have the option

Originally Posted by ShortSxit:
What's the big deal? If you want to type in qwerty, turn the phone 90 degrees!

I don't understand your point. If the people that want qwerty so they can type with one hand are whiners, what would be the point in making the entire phone wider?

I think the point is that with current QWERTY BBs one can "one hand" the device in Portrait layout without issues. Because of having to flip the Storm 90 degrees, this limits the ability to handle the device efficiently.

I agree, RIM should have given us the ability to QWERTY in portrait mode. Also, RIM didn't have to shrink the keyboard and suffer from tiny keys. From what I've seen of the Storm, the screen will activate a "glide" effect if you draw your finger across the screen. What RIM should have done is put up a small QWERTY keyboard in portrait mode, but have it ZOOM in on keys as people put thier fingers on the screen (wherever that may be). That gives people a good ZOOM view of the key being selected and they could simply then press down to register that key. Simple solution... I would have suggested it in the development meetings at RIM had I worked for them. :-)

Originally Posted by Atoms22:
I don't understand how anyone would choose suretype over it.

Bigger buttons

Originally Posted by JRSCCivic98:
I think the point is that with current QWERTY BBs one can "one hand" the device in Portrait layout without issues. Because of having to flip the Storm 90 degrees, this limits the ability to handle the device efficiently.

I agree, RIM should have given us the ability to QWERTY in portrait mode. Also, RIM didn't have to shrink the keyboard and suffer from tiny keys. From what I've seen of the Storm, the screen will activate a "glide" effect if you draw your finger across the screen. What RIM should have done is put up a small QWERTY keyboard in portrait mode, but have it ZOOM in on keys as people put thier fingers on the screen (wherever that may be). That gives people a good ZOOM view of the key being selected and they could simply then press down to register that key. Simple solution... I would have suggested it in the development meetings at RIM had I worked for them. :-)

I don't know much about blackberry but if it's anything like an iphone won't there be some kind of app that will do this? I know Iphone has many apps for different types of keyboards. Why wouldn't this be available for the storm?

Because no one has written one yet. And from what I've seen so far from the Blackberry dev community, that may not come soon enough as there's not that much interest in the platform from people who would write such an app.

Originally Posted by JRSCCivic98:
I think the point is that with current QWERTY BBs one can "one hand" the device in Portrait layout without issues. Because of having to flip the Storm 90 degrees, this limits the ability to handle the device efficiently.

I agree, RIM should have given us the ability to QWERTY in portrait mode. Also, RIM didn't have to shrink the keyboard and suffer from tiny keys. From what I've seen of the Storm, the screen will activate a "glide" effect if you draw your finger across the screen. What RIM should have done is put up a small QWERTY keyboard in portrait mode, but have it ZOOM in on keys as people put thier fingers on the screen (wherever that may be). That gives people a good ZOOM view of the key being selected and they could simply then press down to register that key. Simple solution... I would have suggested it in the development meetings at RIM had I worked for them. :-)

I swear Civic, I think you'd find something to complain about regardless. :-) Anyways, full QWERTY in portrait mode wouldn't be good. I'm telling you that the keys would be too small. And RIM dev is going to come on fairly strong after this first conference, and especially with this device. :-)