With the VZW 8130 coming out in a few weeeks how hard is / will it be to go from full QWERTY to Suretype?

I have the 8703e on VZW now and have nver used the smaller form factor.

Any insight would be great. If not I may have to wait another year for VZW to release the CUrve (whenever that might be)

Thanks...

jawsnj, I'll be completely honest--it all depends on your temperament. If you welcome other challenges in life and adapt to change well, and are willing to give SureType two weeks using it, you will come to love it. And you will probably like it better than the qwerty keyboards.

I know both sides of the story, I have used both. It took me about two weeks to learn and be fast on SureType, and when I moved to an 8700 afterwards, it took me another two weeks to get used to the qwerty again. A moderator (no names, JC knows who he is) on this board just moved from SureType to QWERTY and he is adjusting slowly, but as he commented a day or so ago "I was so much faster on SureType."

Your mileage may vary, but truthfully, it depends on your attitude to accept change.

Your question is pretty much unanswerable.
What's an easy adjustment for one, simply might not work for someone else.
How you'll adjust to SureType is only something that you can experience for yourself. I'd suggest you go to an AT&T or T-Mobile store and play with one of the Pearls they have on display.
You should be able to get a feel for the typing rather quickly.

And that is where we disagree. I think you need to give it two weeks with an open mind. At first blush, it is horrible, until you understand the basics and principles of SureType.

Actually did go to AT&T to play with the pearl. It seemed to be ok, but from what I am hearing 2 weeks seems to be the time table.

I can give up 2 weeks for the prospects of a newer alternative to my aging 8703.

And worst case senerio VZW has 30 day return. Thanks for the input...

Now all I have to do is wait ANOTHER 3 weeks HUH...

Last time I checked... you weren't allowed to disagree with me.
Did someone change the rules? ;)

Yesterday was Columbus Day.

Ah, yes. I stand corrected.

I tried the 8320 for two weeks, and I switched back to the 8100. To me, the keys were too small for my liking, but I still think its a nice phone overall.

I actually had the same exact question: how difficult is it to go from the qwerty keyboard to suretype?
I had the opportunity to use a Pearl yesterday and actually ended up enjoying it. I remembered someone here saying something like 'if you don't watch everything you type, you'll be fine'. So, as I was typing, I was just making sure it was hitting the right keys, instead of staring at the screen to see if I had spelled 'the' correctly.
In the end, it's a pretty slick little technology. Nice job RIM!!

And to go along with what others have said in this thread, I definitely think its your attitude that is important. I had used an older candybar BB about 2 years ago and went into it with the 'god, what kind of a piece of junk is this?!?!' attitude and I hated it. I went into this last encounter with a much more open and positive attitude and typing was no problem.

Agreed - I think that's the key. I got pretty fast with Suretype pretty quickly and I love the ability to use my BB one-handed. Again, though, to echo what's been said above - it is largely personal preference.

I agree... I had the blackjack with the full screen and was enjoying that til I got my Pearl... took me a couple of days to get the hang of it and it is pretty impressive how the phone seems to know what you want to type. Don't watch the screen and you'll do fine.

The Pearl was my first BB. So getting used to SureType was not that bad. I think the key as stated is not to look at the screen but make sure you're pressing the right keys. It's a lot easier than using a stylus & screen keyboard as with my PPC.

I am developing the "left-handed typing while walking the dog" technique. Kind of hard when you're right handed.

Thanks for the input...

I recenlty stopped by an ATT store and played with the Pearl. I actually liked it more then I expected too.

Now I really cant wait until the VZW Pearl hits the street...

Thanks again.

It's actually easier to go to SureType from full QWERTY. If you were coming from a standard 12345678 keypad, there'd be a longer learning curve. Personally I doubt it'll take more than 45min of use to adjust. I'm not a BlackBerry fanboy, but I do believe that the Pearl is the easiest pretty Smartphone to type with on the go. IMHO, the other BlackBerry's aren't pretty, and the iPhone requires two hands to type with effectively, and even then it isn't nearly as efficient as even SureType. Palms are ugly or bulky, and the Moto Q & Samsung Blackjack lack BlackBerry level power, and imho, the Pearl is still prettier.

I was also wondering this... So I downloaded the Blackberry Device Simulator and played around with it for a little bit. I am very impressed.

If I typed "Is that yours?" It made the first word "is" automatically.
But if I typed "Let us know." It made the second word "us" automatically.

The U & I are on the same key, it's amazing how it knew to make the second word "us" in example #2 because the first word in the sentence was "let", and "Let is" wouldn't make any sense.

Download the BlackBerry® Device Simulators v4.2.1.94 (8100 Vodafone)here...

https://www.blackberry.com/Downloads...187E0EC71ADE54

Suretype is great, and I cant wait either. My 7130 has been PERFECT but I want the Pearl