Do You Buy BlackBerrys for Their Keyboards?
With all of the hype surrounding the BlackBerry Torch 9800 and its inclusion of both a physical keyboard and touchscreen, I have to wonder how many BlackBerry owners purchase them because they want a real keyboard. Research In Motion (RIM) touts its QWERTY keyboards as a key feature in its lineup of smartphones, and they certainly are some of the best in the world.
The reason why BlackBerrys and their keyboards have become synonymous is due to a variety of reasons. Remember back in the dark ages of cell phones circa early to mid 2000’s? To text message you didn’t really have that many options. The dreadful T9 predictive text method (or the even worse method of ‘multi-tap’) on traditional phones was pitted against the BlackBerrys QWERTY keyboard and people realized that they could actually be productive.
Imitators of course rolled out keyboards of their own and the three-way battle between smartphones, regular phones (dumbphones?) and feature phones erupted. It wasn’t until Apple and Google popularized the touchscreen with the iPhone and Android OS that RIM’s keyboard faced any real competition as a method of entering data.
Of course, the iPhone sells quite well with only four buttons—and two of those are for the volume. Many Android OS phones are also sporting touchscreens as a data entry method but most still have slide-out physical keyboards as a backup. In my experience, many Android phones simply do not have good enough touchscreen typing software to let them take out the physical keyboard. Haters go ahead and hate.
This makes me wonder if BlackBerry owners want real keyboards or if real keyboards are just something that BlackBerrys come with. (Kind of a chicken and the egg problem.) My question for you is do you buy BlackBerrys because of the keyboard? I have a suspicion that if BlackBerrys with only touchscreens—besides the current Storm series—came out, a lot of you would pick one up in a heartbeat as long as they are comparable to the iPhones’ touchscreen. Are real keyboards that necessary anymore? I want to know what you think.
Tags: touchscreen, BlackBerry, Apple, Android, sliding keyboard
I have used both BlackBerry Storm and Apple touchscreens and have to say; after prolonged use on the Storm, I find its touch and click screen screen more user friendly than the Apple’s single touch method.
I think although people have gotten used to the BlackBerry’s physical keypads on past models, and maybe still ‘prefer them’, this is more to do with what they are used to seeing/using than what is necessarily better.
People are becoming a lot more used to using touchscreen thanks to better technologies and dedicated operating systems offering much better user interaction experience.
The only downside I can see with mobile devices using touch-keyboards is when using them in the rain. This is obviously where the new 9800 Torch will be handy though, I think this is more BlackBerry playing it safe than thinking of usability.
Lets face it: people don’t like change unless its Apple branded. Maybe because they’re just better at it?!
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One of the fundamental functionality that BB offer is the communication experience. This means, Email, Instant Messaging, BlackBerry Messenger (more than a simple IM), text messaging, etc. There is no discussion that BB is the #1 in terms of experience, security and efficiency in communications. They know this and there is no surprise that a keyboard offers the easiest experience for users.
I’m not saying that keyboard is better than touchscreen but let’s face it… typing is so much easier.
I think BB made a really good point with the BB 9800 Torch device – they offer the best of 2 worlds the keyboard and touchscreen – for sure BB lovers will appreciate this.
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