[ZeroBarrier]

Thank you to the OP for the plethora of information and responses to everyone's questions.

ZeroBarrier: I just want to make sure... are you having the number input issue on the virtual keyboard currently as well?

Also, I think it would be fair for you to at least thank the OP for answering all your questions while dealing with your doom and gloom like responses.

Finally, I believe the Classic is being released to realign older enterprise users with BlackBerry's newer of earrings. Plus the POTUS wants a new BlackBerry with a tool belt since John Chen visited the white house. That's what I think.

I don't have a Passport, I have a perfectly functional Q10; and no, I don't have any issue entering very long strings of digits because I have an alt key and numbers right on the hardware keys themselves.

I thought POTUS was getting a Passport, saw a pic somewhere on this forum with a Whitehouse seal on the back of a Passport.

Posted via CB10

[SenorPistachio]

What you are calling others are out of minds? without trying or even touching the phone?

I think he's responding to the people that think this will be the device that saves BBRY. There are some people that are acting a bit hyped as if it's the best phone ever, and the problem that this guy, a few others and me as well see, is that almost every BB qwerty phone has had the same type of keyboard ( not talking about the gestures ), which worked out really well for a lot of people, if not everybody. ( i never saw people complaining about having to press ALT icw a button to get a question mark for example ).

What BBRY is doing right now is taking it one step back, by removing those buttons and making people use the on-screen symbol system. I can't judge because i haven't used it, but i don't like it due to the fact it clutters up the nice and big screen for no reason at all, and i'm used to type blind, which i can't do if i use the Passport, unless i don't use symbols.

You know what would have been an improvement? Having all phones with QWERTY's up until the Passport use an on-screen menu to select symbols, and THEN introducing the ALT button and mapping the symbols to the QWERTY keyboard. Now it's switched around and i don't really see how this makes the keyboard any more efficient. They could've easily used the gesture system instead of an ALT button and still mapped the symbols to the buttons like it is right now with the Q10 for example, and the people that want to use the on-screen menu could use that.

However, from what I've read is that the symbols are mapped to a hardware button, except for the comma button. I don't know...i just find it a bit...weird.

[Moopusmaximus]

It doesn't "clutter" the screen. You're getting a single virtual row of keys on the screen. The big keyboard doesn't come unless you hit 123Sym button.

[ZeroBarrier]

It doesn't "clutter" the screen. You're getting a single virtual row of keys on the screen. The big keyboard doesn't come unless you hit 123Sym button.

In my case, the full virtual keyboard would be n the screen 50% of the time, and that's just unacceptable.

Posted via CB10

[SenorPistachio]

It doesn't "clutter" the screen. You're getting a single virtual row of keys on the screen. The big keyboard doesn't come unless you hit 123Sym button.

True, but both could be easily prevented by not changing something that doesn't need change in the first place.

Why do i have the big screen? To fill it with a single row/ big virtual keyboard? Nah..

[iamagod]

For the population that lives in climates that get winter (about half of North America and much of Europe), and thus wear gloves for months of the year when outside, the trackpad makes your phone functional again without getting frostbite or buying gloves with special fibers sown into the fingertips (that don't always work perfectly)

The trackpad is also good for selecting targets on web pages.

I'm surprised you say the BB favored looks over functionality, when one of passport's main criticisms is that it's ugly.

Yea. He clearly has no clue what hes talking about.

Posted via CB10

[--TommesJay--]

The point of having a hardware QWERTY keyboard is to type on it, not the screen. If I wanted to tap a virtual on-screen keyboard I'd just get a Z30 instead of a QWERTY keyboard device.



The Passport is not an all-touch phone, that should be painfully obvious. BlackBerry's choice to strip the QWERTY keyboard of ****, alt and sym keys is just mind boggling stupid on a whole new level.



Posted via CB10

Uhmm...

Numbers (from screenshots) are mapped to the physical keyboard as well. Now what happens if you press and hold the SHIFT key? I think it will activate caps lock and you're able to type strings of numbers with the mapped hardware keyboard, no?

[Nemzy]

True, but both could be easily prevented by not changing something that doesn't need change in the first place.

Why do i have the big screen? To fill it with a single row/ big virtual keyboard? Nah..

Erm you have a big screen for a lot of other things. You do realise that these "issues" you speak of are only applicable when you are typing numbers and symbols. Is that all you do on your phone?

[--TommesJay--]

I think he's responding to the people that think this will be the device that saves BBRY.

Not even once have I read anyone claim the Passport would be a savior.

The only ones that see upcoming BlackBerry phones as "meant as one hit wonders to save the company" are BlackBerry bashers who don't get the idea of BlackBerrys business model.

[ZeroBarrier]

Uhmm...

Numbers (from screenshots) are mapped to the physical keyboard as well. Now what happens if you press and hold the SHIFT key? I think it will activate caps lock and you're able to type strings of numbers with the mapped hardware keyboard, no?

What shift key? All you get is a virtual on screen shift button, on a QWERTY hardware keyboard device... So I would still have to peck at the screen every few seconds; no thanks.

Erm you have a big screen for a lot of other things. You do realise that these "issues" you speak of are only applicable when you are typing numbers and symbols. Is that all you do on your phone?

For work, yes. I type people's names and phone numbers in the Remember app all day. Anywhere from 50 to 100 people a day. This phone is definitely not designed for any business profesional that types names, numbers and punctuates everything properly. Had it been designed for such people the keyboard would allow for more input that just English letters.

And what's the point in having a nice big 4.5" screen if it just going to be cluttered with a virtual keyboard 50% of the time, even though the device has a hardware keyboard. Seriously?...

Not even once have I read anyone claim the Passport would be a savior.

The only ones that see upcoming BlackBerry phones as "meant as one hit wonders to save the company" are BlackBerry bashers who don't get the idea of BlackBerrys business model.

Have you not been reading these forums much? There's plenty of people clamoring left and right that this phone is going to be a huge success.

What business model is that? The last couple of years BlackBerry has just been releasing phones and hoping something finally sticks; and the Passport is another shining example of just that.

Posted via CB10

[II ARROWS]

Here's ,a quick question.
How "noisy " is the key board?
I often bang out emails in bed much to the annoyance of my lovely wife.
If this thing is "clicky", and loud, my wife certainly won't be happy....

Isn't sound one of the best way to give feedback on "key" press of virtual keyboard?
I always hear people with touch screen typing loud as hell, worse than a very hold typewriter.

[II ARROWS]

I'm surprised you say the BB favored looks over functionality, when one of passport's main criticisms is that it's ugly.

Do I have to quote every single person that say otherwise?
Especially after the first official reveal from Chen, the flag turned. I am one of them.

I could, but tomorrow I have to wake up early.

[ZeroBarrier]

Do I have to quote every single person that say otherwise?
Especially after the first official reveal from Chen, the flag turned. I am one of them.

I could, but tomorrow I have to wake up early.

To me, the Passport has never been hideous, but I would have loved it had they rounded out those sharp corners. The device still looks like it'll wreck havoc if dropped on hardwood floors, and possibly even crack tiled flooring too.

Posted via CB10

[--TommesJay--]

What shift key? All you get is a virtual on screen shift button

But....it's still a SHIFT key, right?

[MarsupilamiX]

Not even once have I read anyone claim the Passport would be a savior.

The only ones that see upcoming BlackBerry phones as "meant as one hit wonders to save the company" are BlackBerry bashers who don't get the idea of BlackBerrys business model.

You're kidding right?
A big number of CB users praise the Passport as being another hail mary phone.
And I am pretty sure that you were in some of those threads.

You don't need to be a basher to understand that the Passport is the hail mary device of the physical keyboard.
If that phone doesn't sell well, then you can be sure that the keyboard niche is too small for even one player.

And btw, it seems as though you don't understand BlackBerry's current business model.
If the phone division isn't break-even, there won't be a phone division anymore.
So yeah, you can bet that the Passport is either one of BlackBerry's saviours or yet another phone that made it fail.

But....it's still a SHIFT key, right?

Depending on how you define "key", it isn't.

Posted via CB10

[ZeroBarrier]

But....it's still a SHIFT key, right?

Not really; it's an on screen button. Something that will make me stop typing while blind typing, look down at the screen to peck at, then continue typing. In fact I think blind typing on the Passport might not be truly be 100% possible. The comma isn't mapped to any hardware key, so you'll always have to look down to punctuate with a comma, every since comma.

Posted via CB10

[--TommesJay--]

You're kidding right?
A big number of CB users praise the Passport as being another hail mary phone.
And I am pretty sure that you were in some of those threads.

You don't need to be a basher to understand that the Passport is the hail mary device of the physical keyboard.
If that phone doesn't sell well, then you can be sure that the keyboard niche is too small for even one player.

And btw, it seems as though you don't understand BlackBerry's current business model.
If the phone division isn't break-even, there won't be a phone division anymore.
So yeah, you can bet that the Passport is either one of BlackBerry's saviours or yet another phone that made it fail.



Depending on how you define "key", it isn't.

Posted via CB10

Lol. I don't praise the Passport at all and especially I don't see it as a big "savior" or "turnaround device", which was the original point. All I do is encountering all those stupid "nobody will buy it" and "DOA" claims.

It's pretty simple: BlackBerry has a hard stand. There's no way they can compete in the mass consumer market all other vendors are aiming at. So all they can do at this point is trying to get independent of hardware sales in the mid term. At the same time they should try to keep the devices business as hard they can. One way that won't work however is a mee too approach aiming at the mass market, we already saw how that panned out (Z10/Z30). So what's left? Seeking a small but viable market segment and serve it differentiated and best, working around the competition. Whether that viable niche does exist and whether it'll work out or not remains to be seen, but after all it's the only option that's left. I for one see them making the right decisions and do hope (just as they hope) it'll work out for them, that's all.

[--TommesJay--]

Depending on how you define "key", it isn't.

You really love nitpicking words, right? That's why I find it so annoying discussing with you btw.

[chrispmoto]

You guys have butchered this thread.

Z30 user and lover.

[--TommesJay--]

You guys have butchered this thread.

Z30 user and lover.

Every Passport thread to come will have those two complainers in it so we better get used to it.

[Rowan M]

You guys have butchered this thread.

Z30 user and lover.

^ This. I was actually enjoying the thread until the keyboard (shift+alt key) complainers come in, which I believe has a couple of threads dedicated to it already.

Posted via CB10

[ZeroBarrier]

The mods have already had to clean this thread of personal attacks directed at members. Let's not have that happen again. I suggest keeping your personal opinion about other members to yourselves and stay on track discussing the Passport which is. What this sub-forum is for.

Posted via CB10

[ZeroBarrier]

The mods have already had to clean this thread of personal attacks directed at members. Let's not have that happen again. I suggest keeping your personal opinion about other members whose views don't align with your own to yourselves and stay on track discussing the Passport which is. What this sub-forum is for.

Posted via CB10

Posted via CB10

[--TommesJay--]

The mods have already had to clean this thread of personal attacks directed at members. Let's not have that happen again. I suggest keeping your personal opinion about other members to yourselves and stay on track discussing the Passport which is. What this sub-forum is for.

Posted via CB10

Yep I read those forum rules and guidelines as well as thread cleanups, closings and warnings on almost every second page in every thread. Yet I still have to find personal attacks that are anywhere near other forums. it's utterly ridiculous in here.

[anon(4044683)]

Please create a new thread and put all your complaints. Do not hijack this thread, please.

What shift key? All you get is a virtual on screen shift button, on a QWERTY hardware keyboard device... So I would still have to peck at the screen every few seconds; no thanks.



For work, yes. I type people's names and phone numbers in the Remember app all day. Anywhere from 50 to 100 people a day. This phone is definitely not designed for any business profesional that types names, numbers and punctuates everything properly. Had it been designed for such people the keyboard would allow for more input that just English letters.

And what's the point in having a nice big 4.5" screen if it just going to be cluttered with a virtual keyboard 50% of the time, even though the device has a hardware keyboard. Seriously?...



Have you not been reading these forums much? There's plenty of people clamoring left and right that this phone is going to be a huge success.

What business model is that? The last couple of years BlackBerry has just been releasing phones and hoping something finally sticks; and the Passport is another shining example of just that.

Posted via CB10