The Thunder and the rain!
July 14th, 2008 | by BBAdmin |
Stories of the BlackBerry Thunder are the gossip of the moment on tech sites with the odd leaked pic here, assumed specs there, and the occasional stab at a presumed release date, but one thing that’s interesting with all of this is people’s reactions to it.
I’m a firm believer in the thumb board.
I don’t think touchscreens are helpful as they’re more fiddly to use, they can never provide the right type of feedback, and the battery life always suffers… to put it bluntly, I couldn’t care about the Thunder.
What’s interesting is that I’m not the only one, and that’s odd. On BlackBerryForums, we’ve had people talking and wishing for a touchscreen BlackBerry for years… and yet now we can see it on the horizon (however many months away that may be), the general consensus is that we don’t actually seem to care that much for it anymore. Perhaps we’ve grown accustomed to our thumb boards, perhaps we’ve realized how fickle we were and that a touchscreen, like a set of 20” spinners on your Hummer, actually isn’t all that cool afterall. We’re hardened smartphone users. We’re functional and we’ve come to realize that a touchscreen won’t help you type better or faster - in the same way those 20” spinners won’t help your Hummer climb a mountain.
RIM had it right.
For several years, every Windows smartphone that came through the door had a full touchscreen, and then something happened - we started seeing devices like the Qtek 9000, the HTC S620 and TyTN all coming with keyboards in some guise or other. This was no coincidence. Manufacturers like this realized that a pure touchscreen device was a royal pain in the arse, and that there was never going to be a substitute for real keys on a real keypad. In essence, they saw what RIM was doing and they knew it was the way forward.
So if RIM had it right all along, why make this ugly device which we’re all calling the Thunder? As always, they will have many fingers in many pies, as will buy it. However, I would predict that the majority of people that will part with their cash for a Thunder will be first time BlackBerry users - and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. You need to add to the subscriber base rather than just keep spitting out new BlackBerry devices to the same old users. To those of us that know it well, the continuation of the thumb board is where most of us will pitch our tents.
4 Responses to “The Thunder and the rain!”
By PKIronMan on Jul 14, 2008 | Reply
I know the thumb board very well. Tuned in on it nearly ten years ago. However, I’ve found that ~reading~ on my BB quickly became the norm. Responding was minimal for me so the push and encrypted email (S/MIME) has become the priority over the past few years. So I welcome the screen real-estate if the Thunder uses it well.
By Frank on Jul 14, 2008 | Reply
I think Blackberry users are simply looking for a change. If you look at the array of blackberrys available, you’ll notice that the changes between the devices as far as how you supply input to them hasn’t changed much. They transitioned from the click wheel to the trackball, and in some cases from the full qwerty to the suretype keyboard. However, your still using a mechanical keyboard, and a mechanical selection tool.
I myself am somewhat of a gadget geek and I get bored very quickly with my gadgets, so I would think those BB users that are like me, are looking for a change as well. I’m tired of paying for old technology constantly reproduced in a different color or shape. I’m an 8830 user and I don’t really see a reason to stop using it. None of the newer phones interest me enough to lock into another 2 year agreement. I want something new, something that makes me feel refreshed when I use it, something that is different!
By Frank on Jul 14, 2008 | Reply
Additionally, in your article when you discuss the failure of Windows Mobile devices that use touchscreens, you claim that touchscrees used in phones do not function well, or fit the niche, but I think your basing your judgements on poor implementation and that the usage of touchscreen technology in the cellular industry is a good direction to move in.
By Rebecca on Aug 12, 2008 | Reply
I would absolutely LOVE a blackberry touchscreen, AND if verizon is the carrier i will be ecstatic!! I really do hope they make this and it comes out soon. I am so bored with the blackberry phone being updated to a almost the same version.