Blackberry Thumb Treo Thumb
Day 4 The features of the Treo are awesome. I have already gathered enough info from the manual for several posts. For example, a common theme is the ability to capture, send and receive pictures, voice, or video. You can send these in an email or mms message almost instantly.
However, there is one big potential barrier for me with all of these features and that is its ergonomic use. There is actually a term called Blackberry Thumb and it affects Treo users just as well. The repeated use of the thumbs to enter text cause repetitive stress injuries. When I think of using this device long term this comes into mind. Even through there have been advances in gesture technology there is only one device that comes close to realizing its full potential.
The device is actually one of the best selling handheld devices ever. It is the Ipod. I come back to it every time when thinking about how to improve the PDA. The whole basis for the Bonsai GTD implementation came from the interface of the Ipod. If I were given the choice between using a scroll wheel or a 5 way navigator I would choose the scroll wheel. When I think of the new Iphone and the way you can scroll through your contacts by using your index finger it makes me think that this device was designed for the human hand not a robotic one.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WncTZIKVa6A]
I use a Nokia 6822 and it has a transparent joystick in the center not unlike what the Zire 71 had. I wonder what research went into adopting the D pad over the joystick. I seem to remember early reviews of the D Pad complaining about how hard it can be to differentiate certain movements given how flat it was. I can rest my thumb on top of a joy stick and with the slightest motion move up, down, left, and right and all without “pressing”. I only have to press to select an item. I still experience a tactile response with this option. It makes me think there is no accident that inside the word pressure is the word press. Using the D pad I must press for all those points of direction. I believe that the ergonomic nature of a 5 way also has to do with the location of the center movement device within the size of the device. Pressing with a bent thumb rather than a flat one I assume aggravates things.
This particular phone also has a fold out keyboard which gives more of a keyboard like typing surface than even those slider keyboards. Ergonomic keyboards usually have a space between the left and right side of the keyboard and this one provides that with the screen being in the middle. Holding the whole device is much better than what I would assume would be a top heavy orientation with the slider.
The following is the only video I could find about Blackberry Thumb on the net. I believe the dialog is out of sync.
The following link is an article about it. Click here
So at this point my option is to actually use the virtual keyboard alternative, in which case I would prefer the extra screen real estate over the keypad and compatibility with my Palm Master App Tengo. I would also prefer a joystick that I could use to navigate in a landscape mode given that a 5 way in portrait mode is best situated in the center of the device. Landscape mode also provides more space for viewing more details about an item at first glance. You would just be sacrificing seeing more records but you can always flip. Let’s see what develops.
