RIM's New Blackberry Ditches Thumboard

Eric Giguere writes "Research In Motion's newest BlackBerry, the 7100t, aka 'Charm,' has a more conventional phone form factor. It does this by ditching the thumb keyboard for an extended keypad with predictive text input. It also adds Bluetooth. The changes are mostly physical, the device is still running the same basic software -- existing Java apps should run with only minor changes. More details at the BlackBerry.com website." xRelisH supplies this link to a review of the device from MSNBC.

Comments

Predictive entry sounds better than others

[chrisbw]

I'm really used to the current BlackBerry keyboard, but I'm really interested in seeing how they implemented their predictive text entry. I read another article this morning about it, and apparently it "learns" as you go, and dynamically adjusts its recognition list. This is much better than what my Sony-Ericsson mobile can do with SMS messages.

And cue the anti-convergence zombies..

[Jakhel]

"Boo hoo, why can't I have a phone that just makes calls. I have 20 other devices that I carry on my batman like utility belt that do each_function_separately."

I personally am happy to see a phone like this hit the states. When the new ericsson phones release we'll really see something interesting.

Re:Predictive text

[yaroslavvb]

An unrelated question I was pondering -- do any thumb-texting predictive text devices use predictive method more advanced than Markov chain? (essentially just looking at list of words that start with already typed prefix) That's how it seems to work on all the cell phones I tried. There's enough research out there to make a more advanced system. For instance, a word level Markov chain that offer words that are likely to follow first. Or an approach that would allow better generalization, such as decision tree predictor.

Stupid blackberry web support

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm currently developing a web application that must work on blackberries, and I am coming to abhor them. They don't render anything except the most basic html (that is, the few blackberries that even have a browser). The browser support is absolutely atrocious. Form filling is insane, and scrolling to the next page makes no sense at all.

Re:Cool!Now there are no competitors for the sidek

[cft_128]

RTFA, it doesn't use T9, it has 20 keys. Not what you are expecting. I have used a beta Sidekick II, it is pretty nice, a little cartoony though.

missing option

[austad]

The thing that I find sorely missing from every "business-class" phone is the ability to use 2 SIM's in it at once. Nearly everyone has a personal phone, and nearly every company provides a phone for their employees. Who wants to carry around 2 phones? Not me. I find myself forwarding the company phone to my personal one and eating the cost of the minutes.

If it won't fit in my pocket, it's not going with me. I don't want a bat belt full of crap.

I've seen SIM adapters that allow you to put 2 SIM's in the phone, but it asks you on power-up which one you want to use. I want to be able to use both of them at once. A 2-line GSM phone. That would be killer.

shit time to look for another phone

[codepunk]

The best part about the blackberry is the damn keyboard, what a bunch of tards. I use mine to ssh the boxes at work all the time. I am sure this adaptive bullshit is going to really work with vi commands.