ATTN RIM: I vote YES on touch screen disable
I join this thread in the hope that someone from RIM is listening. I LOVED my BB 9650, and when it came time to upgrade, I looked VERY closely at the 9900. But the first thing I noticed is that when I was using the scroll pad (that I was already VERY comfortable with) every time I scrolled "up" I inadvertently hit the touch screen, and relocated the cursor. NOT GOOD. Makes this a clumsy device, like the Android and Iphone. Maybe the best thing about a BB is how quickly and accurately you can perform operations, without having to stare at the screen to ensure you are selecting the right item, or go back when you've hit the wrong one. If RIM is smart, they will find a way allow a user to disable the touch screen, preferably by toggling on/off with a hardware button or at least something on the screen, in the same fashion that one might toggle the bluetooth radio on/off, or the touchpad on a laptop. I toggle my laptop touchpad off ALL time (like when I am using a mouse, or typing a long document); it would be perfect for me if I could keep the touchscreen off until I needed it (like in viewing a document, or a mapping feature.) Some in this thread have expressed that they can't imagine why one would want this function; in my case, it caused me NOT to buy the device. There are still some big things about the BB that are superior to any other phone out there, and instead of trying to compete with Android/Iphone on what they are good at, RIM should continue to make their name based on being the best business phone out there. Fast, accurate, satisfying functionality. NOT clumsy. Listen up, RIM. There are still a lot of adults that don't care about streaming youtube videos, or playing games on a big handheld screen. We still need a phone that makes our business lives easier, so we can get back to our real lives. We don't want to be playing with our phones all day.
I ended up "taking the leap" and getting a Samsung Galaxy SII. No doubt it is a cool device, but I now realize that with all it's power, it isn't as good for business as my old BB9650. I spend too much time "two handing" it, going through menus, etc... I think about going back to a BB everyday. Maybe if someone writes a "toggle touchscreen on/off app" I'll do it. In fact, I surely would.