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One of the dominate features of the PKB seems to be these shortcuts but why is this such a unique experience with a PKB? All it takes is a key/gesture to launch a keyboard then click the key to launch the shortcut. At worst it's an extra key/gesture but could Blackberry not add a speed key on the VKB as well to do the same thing as the PKB?
The point of a PKB shortcut is that you can do things by feel, without having to look at the screen. If you're going to turn on the screen and look at it, why not just tap an icon? Why bother with another step of activating the keyboard? That makes it fairly pointless.
The only advantage I can see would be speed in comparison to having to navigate from the home screen to the desired app. If I could swipe up a la BB10 and get a page of customizable shortcuts, including messages to specific contacts in the Hub, that would be an improvement over current Android navigation.
Posted with my trusty Z10
The point of the shortcuts is that the keyboard is always there, thus the shortcuts are always there so you can quickly launch the shortcut without scrolling through endless apps.
VKB shortcuts would only need an extra step to launch the keyboard and everything else should function the same. A switch or shortcut mode could be enabled that triggers shortcuts in the keyboard so whenever a keyboard is present there could be an option to enable shortcuts like a VKB speed key.
It could potentially be more feature rich as a VKB can do more with graphics than a PKB. For example greying out keys that are not set up or showing different colours. Long presses could pop up a small list of apps to launch similar to how long pressing a VKB pops up alternative letters but showing the app icon instead of a letter.
It seems pretty straight forward and could easily be a feature you could disable but it would make the VKB products better sync'd with the PKB.
Given that, in the real world while using apps, the PKB shortcuts require two steps (Home button + shortcut on KEYone, Speed Key + shortcut on KEY2s), I think a gesture + shortcut menu from anywhere on a VKB is viable.
If course, if BlackBerry could have implemented a shortcut gesture from anywhere easily in Android, they probably would have brought us Peek and Flow from.BB10. So it might be a technical issue.
Posted with my trusty Z10
Peak and flow I think move away too far from a android native experience which is not the focus of BBMo. They want a android user to pickup a BBMo device and know how to use it oob but at the same time a Blackberry user to pick it up and it distinctly look and feel like a Blackberry.
Perhaps, but I'm afraid it's more likely a technical issue where no launcher is permitted to have gestures that are active while other apps are active.
Posted with my trusty Z10
Huh? Android and iOS has shortcut menues... why would they add shortcuts to a keyboard?
Beside it’s much easier to see the name of the shortcut on a tile than to try and remember which letter was associated with which shortcut.
How can I set and activate a shortcut to email a business contact from a specific email account in the Hub in Android?
Posted with my trusty Z10
I don’t know about Android (don’t have one) but it’s relatively easy in iOS. Anyone with some basic programming skills can do it. If not, they have a huge library of shortcuts to choose from.
https://support.apple.com/en-ca/guid...ts/welcome/ios
Hmm....built in convenience vs. "basic" programming customizations? As for the "Built in" shortcuts in iOS, iOS doesn't even HAVE the BlackBerry Hub, so it's impossible that they have a"huge library" of shortcuts for it.
The post is about replicating the BlackBerry KEYone and KEY2 PKB shortcuts in BlackBerry Android phones. iOS isn't really applicable as it doesn't offer the BlackBerry software in the first place!
Posted with my trusty Z10
I don’t know. I thought that OP was asking about making shortcuts on VKB keys. I was just replying that that iOS and Android already have shortcuts, but not implemented on the VKB.
I never said that iOS has shortcuts for the hub... and I don’t really care. To me a shortcut is to make tasks faster. For instance, if I email someone often, I can have a shortcut to send him an email... no need to launch app and type his name.
Or one cool thing that I had been using is a shortcut to call into my conference call. Pressing the shortcut just reads my next appointment and calls the number to join conference call. I believe this implementation is much much better than using keyboard keys and trying to remember which keyboard key is linked to which shortcut.
Double post
I understand that you're talking about shortcut icons on the home screen for iOS. Sure, that works perfectly well on Android as well.
But that approach still requires returning to the Home Screen and navigating to the shortcut. If you have 30-50 shortcuts, that will require multiple navigation gestures, in addition to navigating to the Home Screen.
The value of KEY2 style shortcuts is that up to 52 shoetcuts can be executed from within apps without first having to navigate to the Home Screen. The OP is looking for that kind of functionality without the PKB.
Well it’s just a couple of gestures! I think on a virtual keyboard, that’s the best you can get! That’s why I don’t see the reason why iOS or Android will implement shortcuts on the virtual keyboard.
And I think the additional one or two gestures is compensated by the fact that you don’t need to remember what 50 shortcuts and which letter it’s associated to.
Man, you and I must use our phones very differently! Not only do I easily remember 50 shortcuts. I would use 150 if I could. And, since I use them hundreds of times a day, I would be adding up to 1000 extra gestures a day if I used desktop shortcuts.
By the way, I do in fact have over 50 desktop shortcuts, in addition to the PKB ones. I use those for websites and other actions I only use 1-3 times per day.
Posted with my trusty Z10
Haha well you’re a hardcore shortcutter! I’m not! Though I’m starting to like them since the last iOS update, shortcuts are automatically suggested and created through AI now.