The truth about the accelerometer....
Ok....After using my Storm in the real world since its launch date (.65 > .75 > .83 > .85 < .83), I have come to the conclusion that the accelerometer is the biggest single problem that I have with the Storm. Why.....becuase its WAY TOO SENSITIVE!!! On any of the aforementioned OS's, its just too sensitive to use in the heat of business in the real world, when the phone is not a toy, but a vital business tool.
I am not a robot. I do not, in the heat of business, hold my phone at perfect 90 degree angles ALL THE TIME....getting in and out of my car, juggling my brief case, papers, phone, coffee cup. I am human, and hold the phone however the **** I happen to hold it at any given moment. Sometimes thats all over the place!!! Looking at the phone while getting in or out of my car, for example, the thing is switching views 4 or 5 times in 20 seconds as it reacts to my moving around. If I am on a call, or trying to answer a call, or multi tasking while on a call....all I am doing is chasing the view around which is switching faster than I can react to it! And until its settled into a firm view, where I have let the phone stop switching views by holding the device at a perfect 90 degree angle for several seconds, the phone is locked up and non-responsive. In the heat of the moment, while on a call, or "on the move"....its TRULY frustrating and really not functional! I am trying to check a text while on a call and getting out of my car, and I CANNOT press the SMS button because the phone will NOT stop switching around!
There are times when having the auto-switch is great...when I am being deliberate with the phone, or sitting and paying strict attention to my beloved new toy. But this is a Blackberry after all, which means business first! Right!!!!??? There absolutely MUST be an update to the OS which allows 1. the OPTION of manually switching the view, and 2. a Sensitivity setting for the auto-switch.
I have played with the I-Phone (and I have an iPod touch), and even though the accelerometer implementation on that device is much less useful overall than on the Storm, it is WAY BETTER in this way: If you are in portrait view on the main screen, or on a call, it WILL NOT swap views on you unless you deliberately choose to go to a browser or other relevant function where landscape view is useful. I don't EVER need to be in landscape view while simply holding the device in my hand (which is a natural portrait view orientation under any circumstances), unless I have a deliberate need to USE THE DEVICE for a function where landscape view would be relevant! Having this thing jump around irratically at every little human movement is just silly, and completely detracts from what is otherwise a sophisticated device in every other way.
Regardless of RIM adding such features and adjustments to a future OS build (which I find unlikely, or they would have considered it by now), what is the possibility for a third party app to intervene with the accelerometer? Does the API allow this? I see this as a similar situation as the Screen Lock app that was recently put out by an awesome Crackberry memeber. Its a seemingly essential OPTION that many would want....but the option is missing from the OS. I cannot believe that I am alone in this experience, and will bet that a third party app to allow this feature (manual view switch, and/or sensitivity adjustment) would be in demand by the masses.
Your thoughts.............???????????
Thanks!