when compared to full keyboard how does suretype stand up?

ok i had the full keyboard 7520 and i now have the 7105t i love the fact that i can type with one hand....YES it does take time to get used to it but i had it under control within a couple of days and that was pushing it......i prefer it now over any full keyboard.....

also you will find many people saying that its great but not for long messages...thats b/s.......b/c i i write a lot of long emails and messages on my 7105t and dont have a problem whatsoever of mispelling or anything aslong as you get the hang of it

I cannot complain, I love it, and whip out messages fairly fast. Now take in mind
I have very limited exp on the 72xx series.

Agree with prior posts. I got used to smaller keyboard pretty quickly, and actually type a little faster on 7100 than I did on my old 7280.

Big complaint is reduced number of keys reduces the number of shortcuts available....I loved being able to hit CTRL+WHATEVER for many different shortcuts. I use the trackwheel a lot more on the 7100 than I did the 7280. Would be nice if OS 4.1 allows you to program more shortcuts, but haven't heard about that being a feature.

Add me to the list - I think its a great feature and agree, its cool as hell that you can type with one hand. I can type fast as hell wtih suretype!

I love suretype and am getting used to it. I also like that I can type with only one hand.

The only thing I like about it is that it makes the device smaller...

dranger you are right about that and i aslo find it that i can tye faster on suretype then the regular keyboard. It took me a couple of days to get used to it. When i use other devices it just feels weird with out suretype

I almost laugh when I see my friends trying to SMS message on their phones, seems so inefficient

When I first got the 7100G it was my first BB. My pops has the 7250 with the full size keyboard. With my only knowledge of BB's at that time coming from his e-mails I noticed two things: (1) His big paws were too big for the tiny keys on the 7250 and (2) BB do not have a built in spell check.

When I received my 7100G, I immediately purchased bbSpell with a 2-year license. I was very reluctant to buy bbSpell because I do not like to pay for annual licensing agreements for this type of software (vs. 1-time buy). Although I was reluctant to buy a spell checker, I was worried about sending out mispelled e-mails to my customers. Then time passed and I became quite fluent with the 7100G.

The one thing that I noticed over time was the fact that with SureType on I rarely needed spell check; but you still need to proof read! SureType offers suggestions to the words you are considering using as you type the letters based on the mathematical probability that exists with the letters you enter. Overall it works quite well. If you get into a rush, as many of us often are, you must take the time to proof read your message.

When I'm spazzing out on the keyboard trying to type a message, I often just type the words out on the shared letter keys of the 7100G and do not pay much attention to the SureType offerings. This is dangerous. The other day I was typing a message to a friend and mentioned that I would "throw my hat into the ring" and it translated into "throw my gay into the ring". Can you see how the message quickly changed? The safety net of bbSpell would not catch that one because "gay" was spelled correctly.

So, what is the lesson of the day?...

Thanks for all the info,
I like the faster processor and larger memory with the 71XX. I'm worried that being a bad speller already I'll never get any help from suretype.
MIKE

Actually I think that SureType actually helps the bad spellers. If you have a full QWERTY keyboard you will get no help when typing and spelling words, atleast with SureType it predicts your word and you can see if it isn't coming up with anything close to what your thinking, and it is a common word (i.e. not an acronym or a Company specific term) then you know your spelling it wrong and can try again.

Also, I have found that while typing it is easier to identify errors in your text. When you mistype, even just 1 letter, using Suretype it will usually completely change the word you were typing.....thus while proofing your email it is very obvious that you made a mistake. Unlike a QWERTY keyboard where you could easily miss a 1 character mistake.

With that said my only complaint, and its a very minor one, is that some words use the same sequence of keystrokes, for example when I try and type "see" I get "are", and you just have to be consciously aware of this and tell it to select the correct word.

I love suretype, I used a 950, 7510, 7520 before my 7100g and I found it an easy transition to the 7100, and I find it very easy to type. I will say that the QWERTY keyboard is easy for longer emails, and for some appointment creating etc, but overall I lover the Suretype feature.

-Brad

for what its worth... i had a 7230 and when I switched to a 7100t I could never get used to it. I hated it... too many words like "are" and "see" use the same keys and names and email addresses are a pain. After a couple of months I switched back to a 7290. That said, my wife, who never owned a BB, wanted my old 7100t and she loves the suretype. Having never used the full qwerty keyboard, she felt like she was stepping up from the keypads on run-of-the-mill cell phones.

How did your friend reply?

lol, thats hilarious. Sorry if this offends you, but you must find some humor in that.

Because of the previous issues with SureType, I did note the error.

For the record and for all of you "PC" people out there, my comments were strictly a regurgitation of the facts as they occurred and make no judgement to anyone's choice in lifestyle.

I actually like the suretype. I find it very easy to type any length of message. I really like the fact the I can type a message one handed.

Word of warning, make sure you load the legal, medical and/or financial dictionaries on to the handheld. Came from a 7510 to a 7520 to 7100i. First two days were not fun but then got used to typing message without looking at screen. Then had to fix numerous errors. Benefit was much better emails. Then loaded on the all additional dictionaries (I am a medical director of a laser company). Huge difference. Knew my words and really could fly. Not sure I would ever go back but without the additional dictionaries would probably be back on the 7520.

Where are these dictionaries located?

App loader to load latest 7100i handheld software.