BlackBerry Storm 2 dropping SurePress screen?
By Jacob Schulman 
posted May 15th 2009 5:50PM
posted May 15th 2009 5:50PM
[Thanks, BBninja1389]
posted May 15th 2009 5:50PM
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It has already been speculated that "sure press" has been dropped for some mystery technology called "true press"
Boy Genius talked about it back in April
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/04/06/blackberry-storm-2-with-wi-fi-and-a-new-screen/
A wise move....
I feel sorry for the one who came up with this SurePress "technology".
It was a good idea... they obviously just never put the idea in the hands of a person to discover that the implementation was exceptionally crappy and that it should have been removed immediately.
Well it sounded like a really good idea... on paper. I for one wanted the Tegra UI to benefit from a screen like this, so there won't be any conflict between scrolling and clicking....
But it does hinder typing a lot as you cannot type more than one letter a time...
I'm not sure it ever was a good idea. The problem with touchscreen text input is not being able to feel where the keys are, you have to look. You don't need *extra* feedback to tell you that you touched the screen, which you already know because your fingers have nerve endings in them.
Now, if they could find a way to simulate real key feel on a touchscreen... :)
Thank GOD!!! I will definitely be buying one of these now! I currently have an LG Dare on Verizon and absolutely LOVE the touchscreen on it! It is stationary and has haptic feedback. All this time after trying out the Storm and passing on it, I was thinking "man, I wish it had a touchscreen like my Dare, cause I'd TOTALLY buy it if it did." Looks like a LOT of other people, and obviously someone with some sense at RIM, had the same idea. It's great to see that this phone could really be a game changer now...in my personal opinion, of course.
@Unix Systems Engineer
Thank you for mentioning that! I'm been arguing that point for years! People keep buying the hype of "active feedback" or "haptics" without even really thinking about why! As you say, the real problem with touchscreen is NOT about getting confirmation that you touched a "key" -- it is the fact that you can't intuitively feel the keys forcing you to look at the screen when typing.
Obviously it is far easier for manufacturers to completely gloss over the issue with marketing and just activate a vibration mechanism whenever a key is pressed.
good move IMO
but if this is the "new input method" they are saying, bleh
I personally prefer the clicking screen over any stationary idea. You can highlight without actually selecting. Dumb idea RIM, keep the clicking screen, refine a bit.
So what's the advertising angle?
"Now without the obnoxious SurePress clicky screen!"
Hahaha! Nice! Loved it! I'm seriously laughing just imagining the television ad. Good stuff!
Seriously?! if you guys wanted another usual, same old same old regular touch screen, why did you get the storm?!
I understand that it's blackberry, but go ahead and switch over to the omnia, or switch over to at&t and get the iphone so you can get your stupid normal touch screen.
I thought it was and I still think it's a GREAT idea to have to click screen, knowing how successful they were in sales with such a DIFFERENT approach to a touch screen product. why is it that people want the Unique phone to switch over to what everyone else sells?!
it's a click screen, it's different, if you don't want to be different and want a "regular" touch screen then GET A IPHONE! or a omnia, or a dare, or a versa.
those of you ragging on the storms screen probably still use your phone, and don't even care about it until someone mentions it or you read up on another comment on forums or something and start complaining.
LEAVE THE STORM AS IS! except visual upgrades... and a better OS =P
What does this mean for apps for the first Storm that used the click-screen? Bad news for BB developers?
Is your name Epsilon-"Not" on purpose (instead of Epsilon-"Naught")? Perhaps, to clear it up, you should just change your name to "Permittivity of Free Space"/"Vacuum Permittivity"...
The "Not" is a play on words with "Epsilon-Naught", it is indeed deliberate... good to see someone gets the reference, though.
I have dust under my Storm, but my buddy with a Curve2 on AT&T has the same issue. I think it's just a RIM thing - which they desperately need to fix!
I had lots of dust under my two last Motorola phones, so it's definitely not just an RIM issue.
I think its just that dust is so hard to keep out of the space between the screen and its cover. I have had this issue with cell phones along with other electronics.
When I read this, I almost cried tears of joy. That stupid clicky screen thing never should have seen the light of day. I always cringe when I hear those lame Verizon commercials touting "I touched it, and it clicked!" Such a shame to make an otherwise perfectly good capacative touch screen mechanical.
I have no problem with dust on my storm.
I see all the posts from peeps who have never owned a Blackberry Storm hating on it, but I can tell you there are about 30 people here in Vegas that I personaly know that have the Storm and we all love the Sure Press, best tuchscreen on the market, but that dose not mean that there are not things they could do to improve the phone, because there are, OS needs to be a bit more stable, also needs more program storage room and oh, yeah seal the screen from dust.
Just the odd run through with a toothpick and it's all good for me.
I know of a friend as well that loves the Storm. I don't directly bring up the clicky screen, but I kept asking if it's easy to use and he says yes once you get the hang of it.
Storm users, if you had the option of removing the clicky screen from your phone and replacing it with a regular capacitive screen, would you?
I think it's nice to have that tactile response to what you type.
I don't think the Sure Press is perfect, but I woudn't of got a touch screen without it. Typing text can be a pain after a while, but part of this is due to the slow response of the OS. Navigating through menus with Sure Press is awesome though. I also like the fact you can touch something first to have more info and then click if you want.
In the end, I blame it all on the OS...
It takes some getting used to, but I love the feel of the SurePress screen over traditional touchscreens. I don't have any issues with typing speed or being slowed down because the screen needs to be clicked. I do have issues with the firmware though, and while it's gotten significantly better (if you install the leaked BETA's, that is), it's still the biggest drawback of the phone. I'm constantly typing away and watching the letters and words appear slower than I'm typing, which causes more errors for me than screwing up because the screen clicks.
I love the sure press on my storm... Honestly I have a friend that switched from his G1 to an unlocked Storm because he liked it so much so I don't see the issue that everyone's stating.
At the end of the day, I think RIM moving away from the Sure Press is a mistake. The software is all that needed improvement.
"This should be great news for all you folks having dust-under-screen issues on your first-gen Storms"
----------------------
yea, GREAT fucking news. Those of you with dust under the screen have two options - put up with that nonsense until your contract expires and watch the 2nd gen buyers laugh at you or pay list price for a replacement on a lousy design.
I bought a storm just to get on Verizon and keep some semblance of the iphone experience. Boy was that a mistake. Sure the network is great and I finally get great coverage, but the phone is being reflashed weekly to try and make it stable. Add to that dust, wobbly screen and memory drain from hell. Ok I'm done, gonna have a bneer to feel better.
My Storm had the dust under screen issue and Verizon replaced it without any issues.
Don't worry, my iPhone 3G has a few dust specs under the screen too. :( I don't believe the iPhone 2G had this problem.
My iphone 2G didn't have the issue but my 1G sure did. And that AMPS service was lacking to say the least....
I'm wondering if I complain enough about the dust under my screen when the storm 2 comes out, that maybe I can convince them to give me the new storm, or at least if Verizon will run some program to get the storm 2 if you have the dust issue (doubtful)
Other than that, I love the typing, which did take time to get used to, but only a short amt of time. The OS still bugs the hell out of me, especially when it likes to hang for a bit and I am always afraid to reboot because of the forever start up time.
Don't worry, I have a first gen iphone with a dead band on the bottom of the screen. Apple refuses to do anything about it and AT&T said it's not their problem. 4 months left on the contract and I can't use the damn thing or cancel service without paying a fee.
@Jlivengo
That's a bummer. I just received a free 1G iPhone refurb earlier this week from Apple due to the same problem you described. I wasn't able to use the bottom row of the keyboard in portrait view. Text messaging, emailing and using the App Store to download new apps wasn't possible. I just called 1-800-MY-IPHONE, briefly described my issue and the rep. came back on the line 30 seconds later to tell me they'll be sending me a fully working phone. Plus, I only had the one year warranty for a nearly two year old device. I heard Apple is replacing non-functional 1G iPhones that fall within a certain string of serial numbers.
If you haven't called the number, you may want to try going down that route.
The surepress actually isn't a bad idea in concept, but the implementation in the storm 1 left alot to be desired.
but I really just prefer real qwerty anyway....where's my tour verizon!
im no fan of that current screen, but take away its main marketing point and the phone just becomes boring.
Yes, this would be a huge PR disaster.
Although I do hate the screen. Its a pain to use. Especially if you've used the iphone or G1
To me, "True Press" seems to be a play on "Sure Press". Rather than using an actual button behind the screen to register a click from the capacitive touch screen, it uses a pressure sensitive layer to register a touch to the screen behind the capacitive screen. Doing it this way would allow RIM to not need to redevelop much of the hardware as it's basically the same input to the OS. It could also be backed by a haptic feedback to notify of the "click". Ditching the clicking hardware would also let the phone get slimmer (which the pics suggest). So end the end, the Storm 2 would still have a "click" screen; it's just pressure based rather than a mechanical button.
I personally really like the clicky screen
I love my Storm, and I haven't had the problems other people have had with the flakey os problems on Crackberry. I went with the lates 144 beta build and love it. No dust under my screan but I did put a screen guard on it as soon as it came out of the box, so that helps. Also,, I love the clicking too..
Yes!
It they drop the click screen without improving it the Storm 2 is just another me too device. Personally, I bought the Storm over the iPhone because of the click screen. It's much easier to navigate the web when hovering and clicking are two separate actions.
A sick statistic
Att has 2 times more active working smartphone than verizon.
Thanks to storm failure rate n iPhone success rate.
So. Technically att transfers more data than any other cell company in USA.
Who cares. Its a P.O.S anyway. I wanted to like it. I bought it. And returned it even faster. Wouldent even try the second version if they gave it to me for free.
I bet you're very happy with your iPhone, since that's what you really wanted from the get go
Well your problem is you're obviously very impatient and will never be very happy with any device that requires even the slightest learning curve.
Well, how is this good news with people stuck in contract before they can upgrade?
Questions for BBninja1389:
The haptic feedback, have you tried it? Are there haptic menu options besides on/off? Is it like the whole phone vibration like Samsung/LG, or just under the finger like Nokia Haptikos/5800?
Thanks
It's called a Button Screen... you know it's way easier just to have it touch and that's it, no haptic, no moving, iPhone users learn quickly to train there eyes to know what they are typing or touching, the Blackberry S2 screen look better to use this on for the keyboard, I have never typed as fast as I can on the iPhone I did with any other QWERTY or numbered button phones.