The only thing that I miss from blackberry physical keyboard is that I think that one handed typing is easier with a physical keyboard.
Other than that no, I am one of those from that strange minority that actually likes iPhone onscreen keyboard. And I am not even a frequent swipper.
Ask HN: Do you still miss your RIM BlackBerry?
191–200 of 268 posts
Re: Ask HN: Do you still miss your RIM BlackBerry?
#192I miss my Sidekick2 (aka, Danger Hiptop2) That thing was a joy. Amazing typing speed. Best opening motion (quality of a fidget toy) and it ran a flavor of BeOS. The Blackberry of millennials.. my wife had one too. We texted a lot back then. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danger_Hiptop
Me too. My all time favorite phone. I don't remember another phone bringing me so much joy.
Re: Ask HN: Do you still miss your RIM BlackBerry?
#193No one has yet mentioned the Blackberry Priv, an Android phone with a quality keyboard sold as recently as 2016. I loved it so much, but it recently stopped holding charge among other issues, so I had to get a new Samsung. I type an order of magnitude slower now, and I write constantly. But there is no alternative. I don't know if you guys are aware, but https://www.onwardmobility.com/ is supposed to release a new An…
I currently use a Blackberry KEYone, which I chose solely because of the physical keyboard. I haven't had any Blackberry before so I don't know how it compares, but there's a good chance if they keep releasing ones with a keyboard, I'll keep going for them. One feature that I'd definitely miss without it is, on the home screen, every letter on the keyboard doubles as two configurable shortcuts (short and long press).…
I use the Bixby key on my Samsung as a convenience key. Using a third-party app (bxActions), I have a short press mapped to play/pause like BlackBerries had, and a long press mapped to the flashlight.
There is also a hidden API permission you can grant using ADB that allows for long-pressing the volume buttons to skip tracks. I use this APK for that: https://github.com/Incineroar/skipTrackLongPressVolume
Re: Ask HN: Do you still miss your RIM BlackBerry?
#194I never had a blackberry and miss it anyway. I loathe touch screens, you can't call anyone if it is raining, they are fragile, touch keyboard is super fiddly and I hate typing on it and so on.
I got myself a Kaios phone but unfortunately the manufacturer was so stingy on RAM that it keeps crashing every five minutes, so I am using a hand-me-down Android now.
Re: Ask HN: Do you still miss your RIM BlackBerry?
#195Not at all. I got a few of my old BlackBerry's out last year during lockdown when I had a big organise in my home office. I charged and powered a few on because nostalgia hit a bit plus I had time to kill with being in lockdown. Using them for just a few hours I realised how bad they are. The screens were awful, navigation was horrible, the keyboard hurt the tips of my thumbs and they were slow. So so slow. I don't r…
Yeah I carried a BlackBerry for work and switching to an iPhone 4 was astoundingly better. I could type way faster on the iPhone because I didn’t have to push those tiny hard little keys. Tap typing was way faster and easier for me. The trick (which I think a lot of people never learned) was to just power through everything you wanted to write, and then go back and correct. A lot of typos got corrected by the softwar…
Did you ever use any of the newer BBs? The experience was much closer to that of the iPhone.
Re: Ask HN: Do you still miss your RIM BlackBerry?
#196Yes. The physical keyboard was so much faster and accurate vs the "on screen" version most phones have now. The BB was also built like a tank. i once had mine fall off while i was running down 3 flights of granite stairs. It hit my leg on the way down and was kicked a good distance. After clearing the stairs, i put the battery back in and closed the door and it was good to go. Try that with a "modern" smart phone. My…
I had a Blackberry Classic. The Android support was kind of garbage - but the physical keyboard was incredibly easy to type on and the trackpad was really helpful, and yes, the thing was built like a tank. I was once out running near some train tracks, had the Blackberry in one hand (I had no pockets and was probably using it for a stopwatch or a map or something), tripped on something, hands went out in front of me... and I broke my fall by slamming the Blackberry right into the steel rail. It was fine.
Re: Ask HN: Do you still miss your RIM BlackBerry?
#197I vastly prefer on screen keyboards. I'm faster with them, it requires a lighter touch, and the auto correct is good enough. What I miss about blackberries is that they were messaging devices, with OS level integrations around messaging that went beyond the notification system of today. For 90% of messages i send, i could simply use a generic sms style interface through a system-wide messaging app, only jumping into…
Which message services are you referring to? The most popular modern messaging apps wouldn’t work with the single interface nowadays. FBM, WhatsApp’s. I don’t know if third party integrations would be allowed so other apps could get integrated.
BB10 had integrated messaging. WhatsApp and other third-party apps were fully supported.
Re: Ask HN: Do you still miss your RIM BlackBerry?
#198Yes I miss it everyday, I feel so clumsy typing on a piece of glass, and make soo many typos. I could type BLIND without typos whole emails while maintaining a casual conversation (much to the annoyance of my girlfriend). There are a lot of BlackBerry-stans still on crackberry.com holding out on older and newer BlackBerry phoned (key2 being the latest). Really loved my Q10 with bb10os and my Keyone running Android! S…
> BlackBerry licensed Onward Mobility to make another keyboard phone I would instantly throw away my IPhone (despite being happy with macOS/iOS) for a Blackberry like phone with LineageOS.
I think they are security wise very closed, bootloader is encrypted or something
so hard to guess if that would be possible. Still would be nice
Re: Ask HN: Do you still miss your RIM BlackBerry?
#199Yes I miss it everyday, I feel so clumsy typing on a piece of glass, and make soo many typos. I could type BLIND without typos whole emails while maintaining a casual conversation (much to the annoyance of my girlfriend). There are a lot of BlackBerry-stans still on crackberry.com holding out on older and newer BlackBerry phoned (key2 being the latest). Really loved my Q10 with bb10os and my Keyone running Android! S…
not quite the same, but
https://www.amazon.com/fosa-Wireless-Bluetooth-Keyboard-Port...
Re: Ask HN: Do you still miss your RIM BlackBerry?
#200I could type 55 wpm on the keyboard. Every time I use a screen keyboard I feel like I lose 10 IQ points. I can use a physical keyboard without looking, but the screen keyboard takes twice as long and consumes my full attention if I want any speed. The blackberry felt like an extension of my brain on the internet. Touchscreen devices feel like an extension of the internet in my brain + eyes, not as nice. I used my bla…
Do you use Swiftkey-like typing on your keyboard? On my Android phone I find I can type so fast with it, and I barely have to look at the keyboard.
any tips on how you learned it. I've never been able to get it right